Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 2, 2021 6:34:11 GMT -5
I've been middling on the Disney+ shows so far. WandaVision was a strong creative exorcise though it tended to strain at times. Falcon and the Winter Soldier had strong action and themes but a disjointed narrative. Loki is the weakest so far, because it's entire concept of "time keepers" seems like a huge stretch when Endgame made a big deal of multiple timelines being embedded into its entire premise. Maybe the show will make it work, but so far it's entire purpose seems to just be the idea of hammering home that Loki is in love with himself.
They're all fine from an entertainment standpoint, but they're all missing at least one big element to make me really love them. Honestly, the one major thing I think when I finish each episode is "Damn, I really miss Agents of SHIELD." I don't think that's the reaction they're hoping for.
I'm looking forward to Hawkeye though. The comic run it's based on is outstanding. I hope the series is half as fun as that.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 2, 2021 18:24:09 GMT -5
I was wondering if they were planning to bring in the Time Keepers, and what part they'd play now that the timestream was monkied with. Has Immortus (or Kang) shown up in the series?
I haven't seen any of these, I haven't subscribed and am hoping they'll get DVD releases that I can check out from the library.
I like the lead casting on Hawkeye and She-Hulk, and while I don't know which Hawkeye story they are doing, she's had several winners. So that is one to look forward to.
Agents of SHEILD I quit on after a couple or so seasons (it was just wasn't doing it for me, and the Fitz/Simmons soap opera was becoming a drag), but it stuck around a while, so somebody, several somebodies, liked it (and maybe it got stronger as it went)
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 2, 2021 18:38:41 GMT -5
I haven't seen any of these, I haven't subscribed and am hoping they'll get DVD releases that I can check out from the library. It's pretty much confirmed at this point that that is not happening.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 2, 2021 19:14:07 GMT -5
I haven't seen any of these, I haven't subscribed and am hoping they'll get DVD releases that I can check out from the library. It's pretty much confirmed at this point that that is not happening. Well then, F-U Disney. Don't want to watch your dumb old series anyway.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 2, 2021 20:09:15 GMT -5
It's pretty much confirmed at this point that that is not happening. Well then, F-U Disney. Don't want to watch your dumb old series anyway. BUT YOU'RE MISSING OUT ON MIGHTY DUCKS: GAME CHANGERS!
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 2, 2021 20:40:58 GMT -5
NOOOOOOOO!
Maybe one day, if Hawkeye gets really stellar reviews I'll try it out and catch up with the others. There needs to be enough content there to make it worth my while. Though after subscribing to Netflix for Singular Point, I found that everything else I've tried watching has been awful (Woman in the Window, Mitchells vs the Machines, Thunder Force, that Bo Burnham thing everyone is slobbering over, but is actually a POS), it's difficult to know if it'll be worth your while.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 8, 2021 21:34:15 GMT -5
Black Widow was pretty good until the theater went haywire and my audience had to watch the third act without sound.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 9, 2021 4:02:03 GMT -5
Good thing your a master lip reader (much like O.K. Connery) and were able to translate the feature for the audience.
Oh, and the What If? trailer
I remember when this comic came out in 1976, I was 15-years-old. Issue #3 really stuck with me, "What if the Avengers Had Never Been?" I don't know how well it holds up, but at the time I thought it was amazing, especially that fluid Gil Kane art. Stark had them all in different colored Iron Man armors, green, blue, I think Janet Van Dyne was in pink or a purpleish armor, it was pretty cool.
I bet I still have that issue in my Iron Man box, I should try and dig it out.
Hope the series captures the awe and mystery of the original series (wait, that was the Outer Limits tag line)
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 9, 2021 6:31:59 GMT -5
So, I've never been feeling huge anticipation for Black Widow. For a while both it and Wonder Woman 1984 were being treated as Holy Grails during the pandemic where they just kept getting further and further away. WB just took the hit and tossed WW84 onto HBO Max, along with about all of its 2021 slate (most of which are meh, but In the Heights is frickin amazing). Black Widow kept slipping, but I felt apathetic about it. It's not that I didn't want a Black Widow movie, but a post-mortem flick after her death in Endgame seemed like a "Participation Award." Natasha deserves better than that. And as more of Phase Four was revealed, juicier prospects kept popping onto the scene: Shang-Chi, Multiverse of Madness, Jane Foster as Thor, Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield in No Way Home, the curiousness of a post-Chadwick Black Panther movie... Black Widow just seemed like a hurdle to get past. It had to come out so we could get to the rest. Now after a pandemic that chased off all superhero movies for a couple years except the suicidal New Mutants, I don't know if I was suffering from withdrawal, but Black Widow kind of blindsided me with how damn good it was. If this is a consolation film for Scarlett Johansson and the character, then at least they made the most of it. Black Widow is some damn fine escapist cinema and probably the best thing the MCU has offered since Infinity War. It really is the movie that fans always knew they were missing out on. It's just too bad it came out as late as it did. Cate Shortland seems to take huge influence from Joe and Anthony Russo's Captain America films, specifically Winter Soldier, which it echoes quite a bit of visual style from. She also slyly ties into Civil War by using the large establishment font that that film used for each new location. Black Widow doesn't really feel like its own beast because of this, though it does utilize more humor to ease the tone. Humor is specifically utilized by David Harbour's Red Guardian and Florence Pugh's Yelena, who play the film more broadly than the more stoic Scarlett Johansson. It's not always what a scene needs, and sometimes it can spoil a sequence with a gag that doesn't need to be there, but when it works the movie stays brisk and fun. I'm not going to go the extra mile and say Pugh deserves any standout treatment, unlike many who are praising her. I think Harbour's character works a bit more than Yelena does, but she's pretty good here. But I've never been fully on board the Florence Pugh hype train. I thought she was the cringiest part of Little Women (which apparently was an Oscar nominated performance for some reason), though I liked her in Midsommar. Action is pretty good, as is the pacing. If I have to fault the film with anything major it's that its tone can shoot itself in the foot. There is a climactic scene that echoes Natasha's first scene in Avengers as well as her interrogation of Loki in the same film, where she tricks the villain into a false sense of security to the point that he feels he needs to monologue his entire plan to her, and this scene isn't played with the playful sense of irony that those Avengers scenes were, so the whole thing comes off as serious scene they crafted out of an old joke. Also, Taskmaster is really cool in the screentime given, but the problem is that the storyline for the character is largely swept to the side. Taskmaster mostly seems present to have someone vaguely superpowered in a goofy costume to challenge Natasha. And the film even finds its way into the trope that everyone has noticed by now in the MCU, where the villain finds a way to be a mirror of the hero. There are a few twists to the character here that I won't get into, and while I get them, they feel a bit underserved. But as the third act started ramping up, apparently a power shortage occured and the sound went out for a good five to ten minutes. Luckily the scenes where mostly action scenes, and it wasn't that hard to figure out what was going on. The movie looked cool anyway. My big gripe about this was that my screening was a ScreenX showing, and when the sound went out, so did the side projectors. Because of this I missed out on seeing the freefall action scene in the ScreenX format, which was likely the reason to see it in ScreenX at all. This is also the second time I've been to ScreenX (after Birds of Prey) and both times had broken projectors for a good portion of the movie. Either I know how to pick the bad screenings or the format sucks. I'm going to see it again in 4DX to catch what I missed in the last act however. End Credit Scene: There is only one, and it takes place post-Endgame, as Yelena visits Natasha's grave but is visited by Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which was supposed to be her big character reveal before it got pushed back due to the pandemic. It seemingly sets up the Hawkeye series, as she hands Yelena a photo of Clint and tells her that he's responsible for Natasha's death. I'm going to say Black Widow is worth the wait, and one of the better movies I've seen not only this year, but since 2019, up there with other 2021 winners like Raya and the Last Dragon, In the Heights, and Mitchells vs. the Machines, and it's also better than most any movie I saw in 2020 (where only Invisible Man and Bill & Ted were standouts). It's been a long time coming, but I am finally hungry for Phase Four. Just let's not get too crazy with the overeagerness with those Disney+ shows. Also, the opening credits to this movie alone are better than pretty much anything Stephen Dorff has been in in his entire career. I said what I said. MCU Rank (Back in Business!)1. Black Panther 2. Captain America: Civil War 3. Thor 4. The Incredible Hulk 5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 6. Avengers: Infinity War 7. Doctor Strange 8. Iron Man 9. Black Widow 10. Avengers: Age of Ultron 11. Captain America: The First Avenger 12. Avengers: Endgame 13. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 14. Thor: The Dark World 15. Iron Man Three *(WandaVision) 16. The Avengers 17. Guardians of the Galaxy *(The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) 18. Spider-Man: Homecoming 19. Captain Marvel 20. Ant-Man 21. Spider-Man: Far from Home *(Loki) 22. Ant-Man and the Wasp 23. Thor: Ragnarok 24. Iron Man 2
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 21, 2021 17:09:23 GMT -5
Leslie Grace, who recently played the co-lead role of Nina in the wonderful In the Heights, has just been cast as Batgirl for the upcoming HBO Max movie and I am totally here for it.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 6, 2021 3:53:23 GMT -5
Remember way back when we were excited for that first Suicide Squad movie? And then we got there and...yeah. Maybe we overrated it in our heads because of how in denial and bitter we were about how bad Batman v Superman was (I know me and my friends did), but eventually we woke up and was like "Maaaaaaan, that movie wasn't very good was it?"
I mean, David Ayer can do his recut of the movie if he wants, I don't care really. Zack Snyder's Justice League was gutter trash that made me long for the theatrical cut, but I'm glad it exists so we can close that book and erase that question mark. There are certain things about Suicide Squad I have to accept were always going to be in that movie and it's hard to see how a recut of it will improve it enough to make it significantly better, no matter how much music you erase from it.
Anyway, whatever you expected from Ayer's Suicide Squad, I think it's generally agreed that it either didn't deliver or did what it delivered pretty poorly. It feels like going into the sequel there is an attitude of "You know, let's actually know what our movie is and stick to that." James Gunn was a surprising choice for director, as the first Suicide Squad tried hard to ape what audiences responded to in his Guardians of the Galaxy series stylistically. I guess if anybody's going to say "Here's what you did wrong," he's the guy to do it. Luckily he also infuses the Suicide Squad franchise with its own personality instead of copying one from his other movies. The new Suicide Squad is pretty much what I think most would hope that first film was based on those awesome trailers.
It probably isn't much of a surprise to say this film takes a GI Joe: Retaliation approach, where the previous film technically happened, it just readjusts its direction (and maybe kills off a few characters played by people who want out of their contracts). The Suicide Squad is in less of a rush to make people forget the previous movie though, which I respect if nothing else, because acting like your missteps don't happen is just farting in public and acting like it wasn't you. The Suicide Squad isn't technically a sequel in that it continues a plot, it's just a brand new mission with a handful of familiar faces and a whole load of brand new ones. The tone then morphs from the gritty misfit movie of the previous to a celebration of the weird and chaotic personalities that litter the DC villain underverse, often with the smile as their heads are exploding. For those who are more into James Gunn's movies like Slither or Super over Guardians of the Galaxy, it's very welcoming and exciting that Gunn got to play with these toys and dip his toes back into that pool again.
On the other hand, James Gunn also has been making rounds about the high bodycount of Squad members in this movie. He's not lying, but the ratio of expected to unexpected leans heavily toward the former. Those you expect to live do, and everyone who looks like canon fodder is, and it's really not hard to differentiate between the two. And probably the most surprising death of the movie was backtracked in the movie's end credit scene (and also retcons another death in another credit scene too). Gunn seems to want to impress us with unexpected twists and turns, but there are not really a lot of twists here, so I'd have to call that a failure.
Also the movie has a non-sequential narrative, not entirely different from Birds of Prey. Birds of Prey had the advantage of being told first person through a character with a scattershot brain, which worked to its advantage. The Suicide Squad has no such excuse except its own quirkiness, and the the movie feels disjointed as a result. It's not hard to reroute your brain back onto the movie's course, but it gets tiresome after a while.
All of this is to say my biggest complaints about The Suicide Squad was "I wish it were more surprising" and "I followed it, but was a little behind at times." That seems like a pretty good track record really. I mean, the worst thing this movie does is that the title people got lazy and just slapped a "The" in front of "Suicide Squad" and said "whatever." Well, that and it's pretty obvious Bloodsport is just Deadshot with a new name. Those are worth living with for two hours of glorious mayhem, carnage, and probably the best showcase of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn yet (her escape scene halfway through the movie is a wonderful ballet of death). If this is the future of Task Force X, I'll say sign me up for another round.
Milton Cinematic Universe Ranking: 1. Wonder Woman 2. Shazam! 3. The Suicide Squad 4. Man of Steel 5. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) 6. Aquaman 7. WW84 8. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 9. Justice League 10. Suicide Squad
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 18, 2021 2:43:58 GMT -5
Just dropped in to say I loved the opening to this week's What If...?
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 24, 2021 8:37:16 GMT -5
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Sept 4, 2021 19:06:31 GMT -5
My last few weekends have had my days off interrupted with mandatory overtime shifts, which sucks for me primarily because I injured my ribs a few weeks ago and I'm not getting the time I need to let them heal. Also, Shang-Chi was this weekend and they tried to interrupt my Shang-Chi. Joke's on them, because I saw it anyway. Right off the bat, I'm going to say best fight choreography in the MCU. The fights are stunning and quite incredible to behold. I believe the Weekly Planet guys said that Jackie Chan's team worked on this movie, while I haven't fact checked that, I certainly believe it after seeing the final product. Everything is fast, furious, and playful, with that little Jackie flavor even if it isn't Chaplin/Keaton-eqsue with its creativity. If you're there for the action, this movie delivers. Also delivering are the film's leads, Simu Liu and Awkwafina. They are delightful personalities and their chemistry is on-point. The movie left me wanting to see more of them, and in the cinematic universe game, that's a good thing. These are all the positive things that really count, and based on those aspects I recommend the film as it's a quality good time. But I also do so with reservations that need to be noted. First thing that needs to be stated is that the plot is very jumpy. The first two acts are very rapid-fire, and they constantly jump from location to location just to set up a new set-piece, while forwarding the story does happen, it always seems to be in minimal chunks that are secondary to Shang-Chi punching people. It also gets set into motion with a very trite "I've been keeping my secret from you, and now we're on an adventure" push that sets it into motion that I really didn't care for. The movie finally settles itself down in the third act, and while I've read some people thought this portion of the film was too slow in comparison to the rest of the film, I was just glad to see the movie finally telling a story instead of shouting bits of information at the audience in between fight scenes. I also wasn't crazy about the portrayal of the Ten Rings. I get they need to differentiate them from the Infinity Stones, I think they could do better than "They just do blasty sh*t." It doesn't seem like they're done with them in the MCU, so maybe we'll see them explored more. But still, Xu Wenwu had centuries with these things and that's all he can do with them? Speaking of, those who hated Iron Man 3 will be excited to see the Mandarin here and Tony Leung is pretty solid, though it might not be the portrayal they're expecting. This version gives him a sympathetic plight and he's not really in it very much. He also waves off the title of "The Mandarin," claiming "They didn't know my real name so they gave him the name of a chicken dish," which is probably my favorite line in the movie. This movie has returning characters left and right, and I'm not sure if it's because they didn't think Shang-Chi would sell the movie by himself, but there are some surprises in addition to the Wong/Abomination fight we've already seen in the trailer (which isn't as big in the movie as you might think). But there was a cameo that I was hoping for that surprisingly helped push the third act, but I was happy to see the legitimization of that character. Also end credit scene, because of course there is. I like how Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers are trying to figure out where the Ten Rings came from, but I'm curious about Bruce being in Bruce form and not his Hulk form after Endgame made such a big deal of him becoming Hulk permanently. Is She-Hulk gonna tie into this? Shang-Chi is well worth seeing in a theater if you can do so safely. It's great fun, though I didn't like it as much as Black Widow or Suicide Squad. But so far the Phase 4 flicks are hitting the spot. Here's to Eternals! MCU Ranking1. Black Panther 2. Captain America: Civil War 3. Thor 4. The Incredible Hulk 5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 6. Avengers: Infinity War 7. Doctor Strange 8. Iron Man 9. Black Widow 10. Avengers: Age of Ultron 11. Captain America: The First Avenger 12. Avengers: Endgame 13. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 14. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 15. Thor: The Dark World 16. Iron Man Three 17. The Avengers 18. Guardians of the Galaxy 19. Spider-Man: Homecoming 20. Captain Marvel 21. Ant-Man 22. Spider-Man: Far from Home 23. Ant-Man and the Wasp 24. Thor: Ragnarok 25. Iron Man 2
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Sept 22, 2021 7:46:09 GMT -5
This is kind of a neat video that popped up on my Youtube feed. This ladyy judges Chinese being spoken in American media. In this one she takes a look at Agents of SHIELD, specifically Ming-Na Wen and Chloe Bennett. She even nerds out at finding out Ming-Na was the voice of Mulan and unearths Chloe's Chinese singing career.
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