So my brother and I went to see the Flash… he wanted to go, asked if I was interested, and I said… “sure.” Even though I said, I had no real incentive to go myself, I did say that unless there was a get-together and someone else was footing the bill, I’d consider it. So… listen, I gave him a live concert playing Jedi that cost a hell of a lot more than tickets to a movie screening. Although I will consider that the Jedi thing was money well spent, while the movie… I guess we could talk about it.
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.
No Amount Of Memberberries Can Make Me Care About This Flash(point) Movie
The Flash movie is a little over a month away from being released… and I am not excited about it.
I’ve already talked a bit about the second trailer that came out a couple weeks ago over at the DTM-Cast – it’s practically the last 5-10 minutes of the program – but I will re-iterate what I said there here. I’m kinda stoked that they somehow managed to convince Michael Keaton to do one last run as Batman and while him being copiously CG’ed doesn’t instill much inspiration, I would be totally down with seeing the dude come back into the fold. Clearly, I’m not the only one; a lot of people are excited over this.
So they brought back Michael Keaton to the Batcave… and this – this – is the fucking movie they decide to put him in.
Forget all the shit that’s going on with Ezra Miller in real life that’s apparently being glossed over because he/she/they/it/shit/whatever scores points on that diversity checklist that protects you from punishment for being an all-around horrible human being. I was never a fan of Miller’s take on the character; I find his/her/their/its/shits/whatevers take on Barry Allen to be annoying as fuck and not in an endearing way. Not even the almighty Snyder Cut did much to fix the issues that I had with this jabron, so to have an entire movie focused on this version of Barry Allen was already raising several red flags.
And then you add in another version being played by the same actor… fuck me, I would’ve been happier if it had been Grant Gustin doing a different version of Barry that isn’t whatever he does on the CW show… or maybe bring back John Wesley Shipp as 90s Flash; fuck that Crisis crossover because I don’t count that shit. Hell, I’ll even take the guy who played the Flash in that shitty Justice League pilot that never made air!
(Fun fact: The Justice League pilot film features a character called Fire, who was played by Michelle Hurd, who is probably better known these days for playing that Raffi person in Star Trek: Picard. The more you know, I guess.)
But on top of all of that, the premise of your one Flash movie that you’ve been trying to turn into a thing for a good long while… is based on the comic book event called Flashpoint, where Barry goes back in time to save his mom from dying and that results in the timeline getting fucked up. And now he has to assemble a team together to go and fix his fuck-ups.
For the record, I’ve never been a fan of Flashpoint; I’ve said as much in the past. So for a whole movie to be based on that is even more a red flag.
But the sad thing is that we’re not even doing the actual Flashpoint story here. Michael Keaton is playing Bruce Wayne, not Thomas Wayne as was the case in the comic. And the big cataclysmic event taking place in this movie seems to be a retread of Man of Steel – except now instead of a Superman, we now have a Supergirl… or a Superwoman… or something? We got a new Super person who probably would’ve been better off wearing Henry Cavill’s old costume instead of the cheap costume they stuck her in. I mean, seriously, this looks something you’d get off AlieExpress for twenty bucks. It’s that bad looking and a surprising oversight from a studio who is usually more careful in how to present these characters.
Also, this thing is dealing with multiverses, isn’t it?
Apparently, James Gunn – the fellow overseeing the DC Universe creative direction going forward – says this is going to change everything. I wonder if this was always the case or something he pulled out of his ass to justify this thing’s existence. And I’m not railing on James Gunn – he produced a couple entertaining films with his Guardians movies and his take on the Suicide Squad. So I want to think he did what he could to make this fit in with the rest of his plans for the DC film stuff.
If only he could have done the same for Shazam 2… hell, Aquaman’s sequel is supposed to be coming up. Does that fit into the grand scheme of things or is it a case where they have to release this in order to recoup the money spent on this thing? Oh wait, Amber Heard’s in that one, too, isn’t she? That’s another one with some issues that are seemingly glossed over, aren’t they?
And people give wrestling fans shit for enjoying people with spotty reputations.
Look, for those who are looking forward to this thing, more power to toy. I hope when this thing comes out, it turns out to your liking and you enjoy the show. But as for me… yeah, unless there’s a get-together and somebody else is footing the bill… I’m gonna pass on this one. Thanks but no thanks.
Section 31 Movie A Thing Now… Okay, Cool.
So the long-rumored Section 31 television show is now going to be a television movie. And they’re bringing back Michelle Yeoh’s mirror universe Emperor turned captain dick character back into the fold so we can find out what happened after she stepped back in time.
You know what? I’m fine with this. I was weary of a Section 31 series because what would be the point, but a one-shot television movie sort of thing wouldn’t be such a bad idea. And if you’re really going to go forward with this whole Star Trek: Legacy thing that people are having boners over, a series of occasional television movies would probably be the best way to go about it and features a bunch of characters and such going off on their own adventures.
Shazam Underperforms At Box Office… What Did You Expect?
So the new Shazam movie came out this past weekend.
Raise your hand if this is a surprise to you because it sure was to me.
Unlike the first movie, which had a bunch of press behind it, this “Fury Of The Gods” film went under the radar. Nobody talks about it, nobody is promoting the thing, nobody is marketing the thing, and as such, nobody knows that it’s a thing that exists until it’s already out. I didn’t know the movie had been released until someone I subscribe to on Youtube did a review on it. At first, I thought they got an advanced screening or something, but nope. Turns out the movie has been out since Friday.
Well, color me (not) shocked, but apparently Shazam underperformed at the box office. I won’t speak to the quality of the film since I have not seen it – reactions have been mixed, with critics not caring for it, but the audiences enjoying it – but in regards to the film not being an instant money maker without any kind of marketing machine behind it, only one thing comes to mind…
What did you expect?
Listen, you assclowns. If you’re going to spend money on this big blockbuster motion picture, then you need marketing. Yes, that costs some money, but at the very least, people will know about your movie and any failure at the box office can at least be attributed to lack of interest as opposed to lack of marketing. I get that there’s a big reboot of this whole universe coming up and this is being thrown under the bus as a result despite the higher ups claiming that they’d like to retain the Shazam crew for future projects if this does well.
Look, I enjoyed the first Shazam film. I thought it was a fun little superhero movie released during a time when genuinely fun superhero movies from DC were an endangered species. This second film looks to be more of the same – for better or worse – but it’s not high on my list of must-see movies. I’ll wait until it hits DVD.
And no, the Rock refusing to cameo in the movie is NOT the reason for its underperformance. Last time I checked, Black Adam wasn’t exactly a box office winner, either.
Yeah, so… bye.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s “Final” Trailer
It looks like a Mario. It moves like a Mario. But does it talk like a Mario?
Does it really matter? I’ve heard Mario get voiced by a bunch of people? Here’s another to add to the list.
At least, the movie looks like it’ll be fun. A nightmare to point out all the references, but it’ll be fun.
We’ll see, I guess.
A Word On The Bond Edits
For those who haven’t heard, James Bond is celebrating his 70th Anniversary this year and rather than a new movie that’s going to feature 100 callbacks to prior films whether they make sense or not, we’re going to be getting reprints of all the original Ian Flemming books… except not really.
Apparently, there’s word that the new reprints are going to be edited for content – presumably to remove or perhaps rework certain wording that might not be “appropriate” for modern sensibilities. Naturally, this has caused some people cry foul and throw out accusations of censorship and changing the original works without the consent of the original author… although I’d imagine the Fleming estate or whoever was in charge of Mr. Fleming’s holdings would have approved such edits before any announcement was made in regards to said re-releases.
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I can understand the desire to present a version of these novels that can be read by anyone without any possible fear of controversy. Those books were written during a time when certain attitudes and wordings were commonplace and more widely tolerated, if not outright accepted. I’m saying that to be the case; this is WAY before my time, but I would have to assume that’s the case. So I can understand the desire to present these classic stories in a way that can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone.
On the other hand, just the fact that these works are being edited at all does not sit well with me. Not just in the sense of censorship – which is also a grave concern – but it raises the question as to how much of the work you’re reading was written by the original author and how much of it was edited for content. I fear that it eventually gets to the point where we might be getting heavily edited editions of these books that may be nothing but edited for content text with nothing of the original author’s work remaining. It’s almost like taking a bunch of scenes from a movie, shot with a certain intention, and then somebody else reworks those scenes to be completely different.
I am not telling you to either condemn or condone this practice. I’m only offering my five cents on the matter. Am I concerned about this practice being the new standard for literary works in the future? Certainly. Do I think this is going to be a major issue going forward? Absolutely. Is there anything we can do about it? Not really. I could suggest if you don’t want to support these things, don’t give these people your money… but the reality is that if you don’t buy it, somebody else will. And a franchise like James Bond is no doubt going to sell some books on name value alone without a care as to whether the work is representative of the original author’s writings.
I guess we’ll have to see.
Elon Musk Buying Twitter Could Mean The End Of The Twitter And I'm All For It
So, for those who haven’t heard, some rich dude named Elon Musk bought Twitter and is in the process of implementing changes. One such change being a monthly subscription for a blue checkmark as opposed to the spotty approval process for said checkmark. People are already jumping off the platform as a result and some are even signaling the end of Twitter, either as they know it or as a whole.
Ncuti Gatwa Is The 14th Doctor In Doctor Who
Source: https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/official-ncuti-gatwa-is-the-14th-doctor-97203.htm