Sorority Party Massacre
Look, I really don’t care who the Director is, if you give me a title like Sorority Party Massacre, I’m coming in with certain expectations. A college coed lost in the country near an old car garage is a good start. Scream style phone call from the killer helps too. Gas mask killer with acid is a definite promising start.
Sorority Party Massacre is a Chris Freeman and Justin Jones collaboration. That definitely gives it a different style and polish than some of the other Jones films. The credits are done over a nice collage of bloody gloves and severed limbs. These guys are totally trying to sell us on the hard-core horror aspect. For me, all you had to say was Richard mall and Kevin Sorbo.
Super Bowl is a place captain dressing down a maverick comp… Lethal weapon style. Sorbo is making the most of his cameo, but it may actually distract little bit from the cop was going to be one of my main characters. Ron Jeremy is a cop in this department too… Inexplicably. Anyhow, Sorbo is sending our detective out to check on his sorority daughter, to make sure she’s OK in this backwater town of Grizzly Cove. Richard Moll will take him on his boat. The thing is, Moll’s boat is the only way to get to this island. And he doesn’t remember seeing the sheriffs daughter. Neither did the local cops… They use us as an excuse though, to introduce us to the girls that did arrive…. Not only does it serve to get familiar with the arc types will be watching die, but it’s also a good opportunity to throw some gratuitous cheesecake at the 
screen.
Cop’s daughter never showed up to this… an event that brings girls from different sororities together to compete for a grant. It’s a little vague what the grant is for… But that’s fine. It’s really just an excuse to line up a bunch of bikini-clad victims.
Someone is sleeping in the stables. Also, one of the sorority girls has just been sent to clean the stables. Guess who gets killed next ?
With an hour runtime left, it’s time for the cop to start his investigation in earnest. There’s still plenty of hot codes to investigate, even if the Chiefs daughter is dead. The head of the competition seems kind of sketchy and I miss congeniality way, and so does the mentally challenged groundskeeper.
There’s actually a lot more law and order/CSI detective work going on here and I would’ve anticipated. I almost feel that down. Really, with a title like sorority party massacre, you’re expecting nudity, and gory kills. Our second act is almost entirely the detective’s show. Like, I’m kind of glad that we got those long intros to each of these girls at the beginning… Because I feel like I’ve barely seen them since then. And where is the cool killer I saw the beginning of the movie??? It’s literally 
been an hour since I’ve seen it! (yeah…sadly, he’s not coming back)
258
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
So much TV! – week of 6/22/22
It’s gonna be a crowded week. I know my wife was just complaing that it’s all summer reruns for her, but for me, everything is firing on all cylinders, full speed ahead.
Superman and Lois is back, and there’s something to be said for a series like this… Where every single episode feels like the penultimate episode. As bizarro world attempts to merge with earth, Superman is down for the count and powerless. It’s up to all of our second string heroes, including Jordan as well as stealing his daughter to protect Smallville. In the meantime, The evil doppelgängers are back, looking for their counterparts and looking to take out Clark while he’s still vulnerable. All of this goes on, Lana finds herself coping not only was just learning the job of being the newly elected mayor, but also dealing with an extinction level superhero crisis and trying to pull the town together in the midst of it.
Over in The Flash, I gotta say, I almost feel now like I’m reading comics again. This episode picks up where last week left off, with our new speedster, and her boyfriend who is definitely not the reverse flash. Definitely not. While flash attempts to train her, and iris tries to cope time jumping sickness, the avatars of the different forces show up again, this time very definitely the villains of the piece. I’m enjoying this, because we get a lot of interesting continuity, despite these being very self-contained episodes. We’re getting callbacks we’re getting characters from various stories mingling, it’s very much a comfortable old friend. It’s very much pulp fiction. It’s very much just like reading a comic book… And I think that’sThe Flash achieving its highest and best destiny.
Then there’s Miss Marvel… which is nothing like reading a comic book. Last week I mentioned that I was starting to see a pattern, and I think I really have cracked their formula. 85% world building, 15% action. Because that’s really what this is. It’s a very talky 35 minutes or so and 15 minutes of superhero shenanigans. The story is mostly concerned with Kamala getting ready for her brothers wedding… And the wedding itself. The Band playing the wedding by the way? “BROWN Jovi“. I absolutely screamed. I’m not sure if I’m finding it appalling or hilarious… Equal parts both probably.
the legend of the djinn. I’ll admit, I like this, it actually gets me back into the mood to watch Wishmaster again. It’s also an interesting take.
So, does Obi-Wan stick the landing? It’s a really hard question to answer. It does and it doesn’t. I get all the resolution I was looking for and a lot of what I wanted… But it also comes with a lot of stuff that I just don’t care about. You see the problem with stretching this film script out into a six hour mini series, is all the stuff you have to fill-in, and I have said repeatedly, I am certain that Reva is an add-on designed strictly to stretch this thing out to six hours with a B storyline. The thing is, we still need to wrap up that be a storyline… And she takes up half the episode to do it. I feel a little bit like I did back in the day, watching the Phantom Menace. Specifically, watching the finale of the Phantom Menace. I did not care about watching little Anakin Skywalker fly a fighter craft, I didn’t care about the Gungan massacre, all I wanted to do was watch Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi fight Darth Maul. Every time they cut away from that fight and the jewel of the fates, I would just roll my eyes and count down the minutes until I can get back to the A storyline… The thing that mattered to me. I felt that a lot in this episode. Reva heads out to Tattooine to murder Luke… And she gets an attack of conscience, flashbacks of Anakin killing younglings… And just can’t. That’s it. That’s all it is. But it takes up at least 20 minutes of this episode, interspersed through what we really want to see… The showdown between Vader and Kenobi.
enhances what it’s come before. I’ll give them full marks for this very smart moment. I will also extend a heartfelt F@#$ YOU to everyone who is sharing this photo 12 hours after the episode dropped. I didn’t get to watch it for two days, and all of you ruined what should’ve been a moment for me. This should’ve been a shocking surprise, but it was all over the Internet, and that does piss me off. I didn’t even get a day grace… And it’s one of the reasons I’m getting less and less patient with the Star Wars community.
The Orville has done an excellent job of really being Star Trek… Copying the aesthetic and the trajectory… And for the first time I wonder and worry if they’ve also swallowed the poison pill of modern Star Trek. The Orville hasn’t been without its social justice and political points… Although it’s generally been fairly evenhanded with them. But with this episode, featuring the election of the Krill… The bad guys, basically religious Klingons, I wonder if they’re getting a little heavy handed with their political commentary. We have an election that changed suddenly… mysteriously… almost overnight! And yet we have the leader who wins being very much A nationalist and an ideologue… All the things they said President Trump was. Of course one could also apply that to current President Biden, who governs every bit as an extremist as they all said Trump would be. The fact that there is suggestions of a stolen election… Or a challenge to it… Like I said. It’s heavy-handed and I’m feeling a little attacked. I actually chatted with us a little bit with one of my friends who does not share my political leanings. He’s not necessarily my opposite or even in the middle, but more of a cynic… and unlike other people who I hear frequently say “I hate all politicians“ and claim to be independent… He actually is. From his viewing, he saw a bit of skewering of both sides… And I’m content to leave it at that. I know my bias. Still, it’s clumsy and really not what I want to watch The Orville for. It’s a shame too, because the episode is gorgeous. The Krill homeworld is shocking how detailed and well realized it is. It’s just gorgeous and a monstrous bit of science-fiction design. Is everything you want from a future alien city.
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Last Weeks Pulls 6/22/22
I’ll be honest, I have absolutely no interest in DC‘s Dark Crisis 
or any of the repackaged 5G that they’re trying to roll out here. They’ve largely made the DCU so unrecognizable to me that it’s off-putting and, the stories just aren’t that interesting.
were kids, and The title was genuinely fun. I know they’re trying to rope us in with nostalgia, but fun was what I was still hoping for.
released a new issue of New Fantastic Four. That’s that strange 90s team up between Grey Hawk, ghost rider, wolverine and Spider-Man. I don’t know where these gimmicks are coming from …I don’t know who’s green lighting the stuff… But on the other hand, I’m obviously encouraging them because I keep buying it. It’s an interesting revisit to that era… I’ve always wanted to read more Grey Hulk, so this definitely scratches that itch. It’s also a nice demon based story, kind of in line with what we’re seeing in the current ghost rider run. A bunch of people being mind controlled by some demonic thing and attacking everything in sight. Come to think of it, it almost feels a little bit like what we’re seeing in Worlds Finest as well. In any event, it’s an interesting little story, although I almost wish I’d been a one shot. We get a to be continued… And I’m not sure if this is going to have the legs to go multiple issues or to keep my interest that long. We’ll see what happens.
A big surprise for me this month was the Perry White book. Much like New FF. I have NO idea who’s idea was to put this out… A collection of stories featuring the editor in chief of the daily planet… with some hijinks involving Jimmy Olsen as well. But you know what, this was delightful. Way more interesting that had any right to be. We got a team up with Wildcat… charmingly titled “old guys talking in bars”, we get some reprints here and there – I’ve only read about Perry’s super cigars, I’ve never actually seen them. Good to see Curt Swan reprinted and to finally experiences classic story upfront. Not sure how they got away with it actually, considering the anti-smoking sentiment we have in 2022!
usly, the book is just fun. I’m shocked at how much fun I had with this… But perhaps I shouldn’t be. After all, I’ve always said that one of the great strings of the Superman comics is in fact the supporting cast.
Of course that’s probably because Spider-Man still a convoluted mess and I don’t know what’s going on. There’s a sort of Spidey saves the day resolution for this issue, and another one of those sort of bread crumbs drops… “What’s going on here?“. Black cat swings by to see Mary Jane for some reason and it’s weird, it’s almost like she’s surprised to see the daughter. “Hmmmm. Cute kid.” You know, that’s remarkably cryptic. Impressively so considering it’s simplicity. 
quite the same. I have to say, this issue feels a lot like the old Nightwing series… I’m really enjoying watching his relationship with Barbara start to takeoff again. This is something that I see them exploring both here and in Batgirls, and I’m really up for it. There’s not an enormus amount of Nightwing shenanigans going on here though… It’s a fairly simple straightforward story. I picked a good issue to try out with a contained narrative. This area of the Haven is seeing increased crime, and the police are using it as a excuse to hassle the locals. Of course the police force anywhere near Gotham is going to be corrupt, and it turns out these guys are using the crimewave as an excuse to step up patrols and triple the amount of cops in the area. They point out, quite correctly actually, that if there’s increased crime in the area, you need a increased police presence… But Nightwing replies, asking if making these kids feel like criminals is gonna make them feel safe…Now, of course these bad cops take it a step further, hassling kids playing basketball in broad daylight at noon on a Sunday or something…, But I still feel a suggestion that all police activity is harassment, all cops are bad, and that if they just left it all alone, everything will be all right… After all it’s probably the cops causing all the trouble anyhow! It’s a drag too, because I was really liking this book… Until I got smacked in the face with a large baseball bat labeled “the message“.
On the other hand, there’s absolutely no message in Elvira… Other than cleavage is good.I know I keep saying this, but it’s a ridiculously self-aware book. The best part of it being, Jack Torrance keep speaking in Jack Nicholson quotes. There’s a lot of Batman quotes here, along with the occasional “You can’t handle the truth!“ At one point he confronts Elvira with a “did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?“ To which she responds “you wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts!“ It’s all insanely glorious. There’s a couple of pokes at Kubrick‘s directing style as well, the use of banner slides to tell you which day it is… That sort of thing, and even an acknowledgment of the recent Dr. Sleep film. But the part that’s truly horrifying is when you see what’s written on Jack’s typewriter instead of “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy“. It’s genuinely good stuff, and we can see by the end of this book, that is leading her into her next film… Alien. Once again, I can’t wait.
The thing that is so charming here is that it’s really the best possible venue for the character. Elvira has always been fundamentally a horror host, so dropping her into these movies… It’s really just an extended version of the things that a lot of posts like Zacharly would do, green screening themselves into the movie. Elvira is taking this to a whole new extreme, but it fits. It gives her a chance to be a character, while still retaining her identity as a host.
If you’re a fan of the current ninja Punisher run, You may want to check out Punisher war journal. It’s a nice self-contained story, but it’s a side quest. Definitely something that they’re doing in another book so that they don’t interrupt the flow of the main story going on in the main book. Or journal still evokes a desire for gunplay, and I have to admit, while this is a Punisher story… It’s a Punisher story largely without firearms. There’s a few, but I have to admit I miss them. Then again, props on them for at least giving us a scene or two of ninjas with guns. I understand cinematicly why you never see them using firearms in the movies, but realistically, just like any good spy I would assume a ninja would use any weapon at his disposal… That includes firearms. I think at the end of the day, this is still gonna go down as just one of those “weird“ periods in the Punisher’s history, much like the mobbed up ponytail storyline, or the Demon Hunter one… Marvel’s just not sure what to do with him right now because he’s a little too politically incorrect, but at the same time a little bit too popular to just rest the character. I’d still prefer all of this is the side quest, and alternate universe whatever sort of thing, but I’m still enjoying the ride a lot more than I expected to, so I’m sticking with this.
257
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
256
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Toyhio Summer 2022
Dude, I wasn’t even planning on going to Toyhio this tie around! but Mayday let it drop that there was an open seat in his buddy’s van and I jumped in to let someone else deal with the hassle of the drive.
It remains true, I really like Toyhio, but this time I didn’t have anythign I was actually looking for (since I wasn’t even intending to go). I found a few comics I was interested in, and hit the box of $1 Lego mini figs hard, scoring the best Harley Quinn (a Suicide Squad style one) I’ve ever had, as well as a venom that is REALLY reminiscant on the suit I wore to Free Comic Book Day. There were definately a few deals to be had and honestly, I passed on a couple of figures I really should have grabbed – a couple Cenobites, a Chuck Norris figure – even a vanishing Fozzie.
Nevertheless, I was thrilled to finally get a 2009 Enterprise an grab it for only $2. ATermnator figure with a Arnold shell was also a great buy and I even got the Road Ripper min for less than half the retail price.
All in all a good day and a fun show. They’ve got me hooked, and I’ll be back.
254
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Last Weeks Pulls 6-15-22
You’re not alone Gwen. At this point, I kinda hate the sound of your voice too.
I know, I know, I should have known better than to pick up this month’s Spider-Gwen, but man, I REALLY want to like this book. I want to like the concept and the quirkyness and I just DON’T. This arc is just full of low effort copy and paste versions of an already derivative character ….AND it’s going on at the same time they’re doing THE EXACT SAME THING with Miles Morales over in What if! Gahhh! (and now I’m going to have to build that Iron Gwen armor for Maddie aren’t I?)
On the other hand, I have to say, I noticed something this month in a lot of the flagship titles. They were fun. Good old fashioned adventure.
Cap is a relaunch, but this run of FF and Iron Man have been going for a bit now so that’s one of the real tests. Can you just drop in to see whats going on, and have some fun in a single issue? You sure can. I can see we’re in the middle of a bigger story in FF, but never felt to lost. Yeah, I can see that there’s some interesting relationship stuff going on with Tony and Patsy in Iron Man, and I can roll with it since it doesn’t take away from main feature – Tony in the suit vs a Gorilla. (It’s the Silver Age at DC all over again!)
Over in Cap, it gets a little introsp
ective- trying to set the tone of the series, but it’s all supporting a good old fashioned bad guy beatdown. Bucky/winter Soldier is back at Caps side for some reason, but okay. Cool. You can see they are setting up for something bigger – I don’t know If i’m up for that much bigger ride yet, but this first issue was great.
And hey…I’m behind on Batgirls aren’t I? It’s weird…I don’t know how I missed issue six, but considering it wraps up that first run, I had to grab it before i started up on number six.
This series has been a been a fun ride, built mainly on the strength of our two young Batgirls. Watching Cass and Steph fight together is always a fun time- there’s a choreography to them, both in action and personality that’s really worked well over these first six issues and now I really want a trade paperback collection.
My only objection is the whole ex-boyfriend drama between babs and the villian. Not even the drama itself as much as how dumb it’s portrayed. Panels like this and the whole “W were never official!” thing….it’s just jr high cringeworthy. This isn’t Friends. You aren’t Ross and Rachel. This is…. *sigh*. It’s a misstep. That’s all. It’s also a perfect example of how Barbara’s best contribution to this dynamic is as mentor and manager, rather than participating directly in adventures.
Still, with that one done, it’s time to move on to issue seven and….wow. Just wow. As much as I was into the style that Jorge Corona was bringing to the series, wow o wow, huge props to Robbie Rodriguez for seriously stepping up the art game on this book. While Corona leaned into the heart and sometimes goofy nature of the ladies, Rodriguez gives the Batgirls a more flowy look that is highly evocative of early Jae Lee and creates a drama that just flies.
There’s not tons to say about the story. We’ve kept the same writing team and it’s a part one that sets things up with a good adventure, but like I said before, the real reason we’re here is to watch Cass and Steph hang out. It’s just us spending time with some friends and perhaps remembering the better parts about being that age… you know. if you were also a superhero.
Dick Grayson shows up at the end to help Babs infiltrate the Iceberg Lounge (Cass watches them from a roof top lamenting how much fun it would have been if she and Steph could have dressed up too!) and I really can wait to see more of that.
Good pulls this week. The world needs more fun comics.
Then again, maybe it needs some more disturbing ones too. I finally got through most of my Free Comic Book Day Stack, and the one book that really stood out to me was a creepy little book called “Bunny Mask” It’s hard to describe. Bunny mask is a strange entity looking fore sickness, and doling out justice as she sees fit. It’s exactly the sort of book Vertigo would have published and it deserves to be just as big as an indie as it would have been with Vertigo. It’s disturbing and creepy and absolutely beautiful. This one is really my highest recommend. It’s on issue two this month so you don’t have to worry about being to far behind. This is the perfect time to jump on board.
Week of 6-15-22
The Flash kicks things off right this week, jumping right in showing a race between the flash and another speedster dressed like a ninja. It’s a funny coincidence, considering I spent the weekend watching a bunch of ninja movies…
The black suited speedster in question is Dr Mina, a scientist who seems to have developed a machine that can grant a person artificial super speed. Or is it really artificial speed force? Barry’s taking it upon himself to help train her, but things go sideways when he meets her partner… Ebon Thawn, the Reverse Flash. This is the blonde hair blue eyed version of Thawn, and he’s lost his memory. It’s suspicious enough to send Barry running to check on Tom Kavanaugh‘s reverse flash, still stripped of his power, and cooling his heels in iron heights prison. Together they realize that what Mina has created is a machine that Thawn designed 200 years from now in his own quest for super speed… But it’s not creating artificial speed force. It’s tapping in to the negative speed force. Much like an atom can have a negative charge and a positive charge, Barry is the avatar of the speed force and carries the positive charge. What Mina has discovered is the negative charge of the speed force, and a lightning bolt from her hand can cancel out Barry’s powers.
It’s just a great solid superhero adventure. Mina actually stopped just short of kind of becoming a female reverse flash… And indeed, Barry even says “Central City can always use more heroes“. No it can’t! What it needs is more villains! and I’d love to see her go full Reverse Flash here. When you’re at the eighth season like this, it wouldn’t really be just a gender swap replacement of an existing character, but rather a variant that moves right along in the continuity, not taking away from the already established character. let her be a reverse flash for an episode or two, and maybe even climax it with three reverse flashes after Barry. Either way, you can tell that I’m digging on this episode, because of all the speculation…
Moreover we get not one, but three stingers at the end, it seems that there wasn’t really enough time to dedicate to the 
b storylines, so they’ve got a cliffhanger us at the end here with glimpses of Cecile and her powers going off the scale, A potential resurrection for killer frost, and new devious plans hatching with the reverse flash. It gets me very excited for what the back end of the season has to offer. You also can never go wrong with a cameo from Ray Palmer. Even if it is just Brandon Routh skypeing in, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Everything that Brandon Routh brought to the table with Clark Kent… All the charm and gawkiness without being… Well, stupid… (The way Christopher Reeve played him) it’s all dialed up to 11 when Routh plays the atom, and it just works so well.
But then we get to Ms Marvel. And see, I don’t understand Disney. They bought Marvel… A company mostly built on superhero adventure franchises. Colorful characters in colorful costumes punching people. Then they proceed to make these Disney+ shows with very few costumes, muted colors, and nearly no action, adventure or punching. I understood there wouldn’t be tons of action in the first episode because we’re basically getting an origin, but the second episode seemed even flatter. It’s Kamala’s got a crush, and somebody’s stealing shoes at the mosque. That’s basically what happens. There’s about 10 minutes of a superhero rescue towards the very end and quite the cliffhanger, but the 40 minutes or so that 
proceeded… It’s all just people talking. You know, I feel like I’ve said this before… Oh wait, I have. I said it for six weeks with Loki.
Part of me wonders if Marvel just hasn’t gotten The formula right… I mean, the Disney+ shows sure seem to be following a specific structure, but it’s not the right one. In a film, the first act is world building. You get 30 or 40 minutes of that before you move into the second act which is conflict, usually resulting in a big problem or falling out that has to be resolved shortly into the third act just before the climax. It’s a reliable structure, and when you deviate from that, you start feeling like the film is dragging. On a traditional 22 episode network television series, you probably get about 20%-25% of each episode divided world building, maybe a little bit more or less depending on the story, as well as character development all throughout, while never neglecting the action and adventure itself. For all of my talk about how the CW shows really do love their scenes of attractive people talking about their feelings in dimly lit hallways… They still understand that balance, And don’t deprive us of the important punching moments.
And yet every week I hear my friends gushing about “Marvel has done it again!“ And have the newest Disney Marvel show is the best thing ever! And I just don’t get it. I almost wonder if they’re reacting more to that shocking cliffhanger that they do seem to like leaving us with rather than the contents of the absolute self. That would make sense to me, but honestly, it’s not enough to run a series on that alone.
Fortunately, they haven’t forgotten about the action when it comes to making Obi-Wan. The imperial forces are bearing down on the underground railroad base, and it’s basically up to Obi-Wan to buy them time to evacuate… and get Princess Leia to safety.
We finally get some of Reva’s backstory… But it’s no exaggeration when I say literally everybody I knew, whether they were Star Wars fans or not, whether they like the show or not, EVERYONE ABSOLUTELY KNEW she was going to end up being one of the kids in the Jedi temple and that somehow she would’ve survived the massacre from Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan suggests that the reason she’s doing all this is really to able to get close to Vader to kill him… Which is weird, because she’s been serving Vader for a decade or two now, but it’s only now that Obi-Wan’s dreamy eyes are enough to convincing her to try and kill him? No, I still insist that this character feels very clumsily inserted into the story for purposes of padding out the length to get it to six hours, and to make sure that there’s some sort of diversity first. It’s not even that she’s awful, it’s just that she’s unnecessary. The imperial turncoat that’s been helping Obi-Wan and Leia escape…? The one that will occasionally don her old imperial officer uniform? You could have given Reva’s entire backstory to her and not missed a beat. She could have still headed up to confront Vader this episode and had a far more interesting death. And all the tracking and torture and villainous stuff Reva’s been doing? It’d all be WAY more interesting if that were Vader. I’ve said it before, but it bears reapeating. you have one of the greatest cinematic villians of all time at your disposal. Not just of sci-fi, not just of star wars….ONE OF THE GREATEST VILLIANS IN THE HISTORY OF ALL MOVIES….but you’d rather use Reva.
I can kind of see how Obi-Wan really did start off life as a film script. You can feel the pacing, especially now that we’re fully immersed into the third act, and this thing absolutely would’ve blown our socks off as a three hour film, rather than a six hour miniseries. In fact, I could go for a couple of two-hour Obi-Wan films with these kind of production values. Still, while this probably wasn’t the series best destiny, it’s still been the best of any of the Disney Star Wars that I’ve seen.
With no Superman and Lois this week, we’re rounding things out with the Orville. The thing is, I’ve never been a fan of imaginary stories. I don’t enjoy the stuff like Shore Leave, or the holodeck hijinx of Casino Royale or the Big Goodbye. Still, I’ve gotta admit, Seth MacFarlane is not gonna be able to fully realize his dream of doing a Star Trek series without at least one of these type of stories. He provides us with a sufficient McGuffin, and to his credit, the story actually gives us more of a twilight zone feel to them than a fantasy diversion. It’s an interesting aesthetic, but for me these still always feel like a waste of time.
McFarland also manages to tack on what Harlan Ellison used to refer to as “that dopey utopian bull$#@% that Gene Roddenberry loved” tm. McFarlane puts it in the mouth of the MacGuffin, a highly evolved creature, that’s at least 50,000 years beyond us… more really, since they learned how to manipulate and control their evolution. She suggests that humanity is on the right track, having left behind it’s gods and it’s myths and it’s nations, but when you become as involved as they are, you even move beyond any other identities… Explorer, captain, husband, even man or woman. Now, before people start pointing fingers and triumphantly exclaiming “See! Star Trek was always woke!“ Not only can I just kind of brush it off as one line of dialogue… (And being a student of history, I’ve noticed that every generation seems to think that they’ve evolved past a lot of those traditional concepts and identities… past ideas of God and nation and identity (and then history or reality reassert themselves and we find ourselves drawn back to those traditions). Sure I CAN address that myself, but I don’t actually have to, because in true Star Trek fashion, the show plunges forward to explore the statement further. McFarlane points out that while humans may not be as involved as our McGuffin, we’re old enough that we don’t run experiments on lower life forms the way the McGuffin has just done on us. It’s an interesting statement. It doesn’t necessarily contradict her, but it certainly gives you something to think about… and makes you wonder whether or not the McGuffin’s evolution is truly progressive and positive or not. The crew discusses it over dinner in the mess hall that night at the ship…
McFarland is pushing an atheist view here, that when you die there’s nothing, but that’s something to wrestle with. It’s an idea that we can’t truly wrap our heads around. Even the idea of it just being a formless black void after we die… We still have to be conscious in some way to perceive that… How do you perceive nonexistence? Bortus on the other hand suggests that death is noble. It’s a part of life and it has it hazards on virtue. McFarlane dismisses it as the traditional philosophical idea, but even in the dismissal, we get to listen to the point. Despite all of this, the first officer seems shocked that McFarlane would wish to live forever. He gives a marvelous justification though…
“I want to see what happens.”
I love this. I disagree with the primary tenant that McFarlane really wants to espouse, but he does it smartly – it’s classical liberalism which wants to debate the comcept, talk about it and chew it over and eventually come to a conclusion. It’s a difference between this and any of the modern Star Trek we see on Paramount plus which merely wishes to push it’s message, unquestioned. The Orville maybe stating its own opinion, but more importantly, they want to start the 
discussion. That’s why a single line can spark so much explanation from me here in this blog. That’s what Star Trek used to do.
Of course, you could justifiably say that I’m over thinking things here. But then again, hasn’t that always been the point of science fiction in general and Star Trek in particular?
See you next week.
Kickboxer : Vengeance
I’m gonna state flat out that I am a fan of JCVD. My buddy Mike would probably tell you that Sylvester Stallone is his favorite actually hero, and I know my friend Mark would claim Arnold Schwarzenegger. But for me, it’s always been about VanDamme. So when I saw this remake of Kickboxer on the shelves of the dollar tree, I had some serious mixed feelings. Mostly, kickboxer is not the sort of movie that needs a remake. It really didn’t even need sequels, although one might argue they were sequels in name only considering they featured the brother and not VanDamme at all. But there he is, JCVD on the cover… in a reduced role that I suspected would be nothing more than a cameo. (Gina Carlos on there too, sadly, she’s a little more than a valet/bodyguard and barely in this thing!) Still, I had to know. Sometimes you watch a movie that you’re pretty sure you’re not gonna like, just because you have to see what they did.
I’m always happy to be proven wrong. Kickboxer Vengeance is equal parts remake, single, homage, and altogether a love letter to the original film. I genuinely get the impression that these people love the original, and they want to do their best to honor it.
Kickboxer vengeance actually follows a lot of the beats of the original, with our main character, Eric Sloane losing a brother to the hands of underground fighting champion Tong Po, massive monster of a man played by Dave Bautista. Eric sets out to avenge his brother and seeks a new master, even trying to infiltrate Tong Po’s evil dojo (at least, I guess that’s what you’d call it… It’s more like a cult fortress), and eventually finding the retired VanDamme, that is, Durand, to mentor him. VanDamme puts him through his paces, much the way we remember happening to him in the original, all while a female detective tries to track down illegal fighting ring, and tries not to fall in love with our main character. It culminates in the requisite showdown, because like I said, the movie 
really does follow the beats in the original. Bringing back VanDamme for this remake though is an impressive idea. They’ve change the names, so we know it’s not a sequel although part of me actually kind a wish it was. I’d love to see this fit within the whole continuity and believe that this is what happened to his character from the original!
For his part, VanDamme is charming and fun and obviously still in amazing shape at his age. It’s a well done action film that actually gives him a chance to shine, and even though hes second banana, he absolutely steals the scene whenever he’s on screen. There’s been a lot of bad VanDamme action films since his prime, and only once in a while you get a real gem like JCVD or his appearance on the Expendables. This is one of those great high-quality VanDamme films and I enjoyed it way more than I had any idea I would!
253
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Quantum Apocalypse
With my previous experiment with Jones and Apocalypse fare, I feel like this is going to be painful. An asteroid is heading to earth in a very syfy looking monitoring center. Suddenly the comet shifts it’s path. The screens go blank and alarms blare as the satellite connection is lost.
HOW MANY ASTEROIDS ARE YOU GOING TO TOSS TO EARTH JUSTIN? HOW MANY?
This thing is so Asylum and TV movie and SyFy that it hurts. Disaster movie, melodrama…dogey CGI…The dollar store is too good for this thing! In fact, acording to IMDB, The title “Quantum Apocalypse” was the result of a joke: Writer Leigh Scott had an e-mail conversation with Dread Central reviewer Scott “The Foywonder” Foy (a frequent harsh critic of Sci-Fi Channel Original Films) about the Channel rejecting the previous title “Judgment Day”. Foy remarked the reason that the title was rejected was that it didn’t have a colon like many other Sci-Fi Channel films (such as “Caved In: Prehistoric Terror” and “Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep”) and jokingly suggested the title “Judgment Day: Quantum Apocalypse”. Scott liked the title “Quantum Apocalypse” and asked for permission to suggest it to the Sci-Fi Channel which approved it.
In addition to a CGI Aurora Borialis in the sky, it’s going to mes with cell phones and radio waves – and we may be looking at something else to create an extinction event. But the weird part is something is out there changing these things course – something that looks a lot like the vortex from Transmorphers….. and in a few days it’ll be in position to affect the Earth.
We cut back and froth fro the government bunker to the Mayor of the city of Parish and his family -Wife, the typical teenage boy, the cute little girl and the Mayor’s rain man autistic adult brother. It’s a charming group and honestly I’m actually more interested in their story than the asteroids. Still, while the Mayor’s wife complains about the phones being down and the son is trying to make time with his girlfriend, a couple of quirky scientists arrive at the bunker to try and figure out how to stop this outer space anomaly from destroying the world. What they really should be doing though, is talking to the autistic character. He’s brilliant and has this thing cold figured out.Big props to Rhett Giles by the way, for taking a character that could EASILY have been a stereotype or a parody and giving him some real heart. This character, Terry, is the single most interesting and compelling character in the movie. 
While the punk rock scientists are throwing in the towel and calling it the end, Terry is watching the skies with his telescope. Birds darken the skies (I swear, I feel like we’re back to Biblical epic again….) Terry has a plan and he buying parts to assemble a machine. Hopefully it’s a good plan, because Russia and China want to nuke the vortex. (and yet, I’m equally involved in the son trying to work up the nerve to kiss his girlfriend).
Terry convinces his brother Ben to drive him to Houston because he’s got the answer on how to save the planet…but is it too late? The vortex is here and it’s brought tsunami with it.
At the end of the day, this thing gets real points for some good characters. The town’s first family really humanizes the global threat, boiling down a big picture disaster into something more manageable and effective. And that’s really the thing. If this movie has a real flaw, it’s at the beginning – it’s all the stuff at the space center. It’s all weak – the characters and the look. It’s kind of like when you’re looking at something forced perspective – you mind knows somethings wrong, but you can’t quite reconcile it. That’s what all this space center stuff looks like. cramped with Jone’s signature flat lighting doing nothing for them. (we could also drop ALL the stuff with the president too. he’s never convincing in the role and it does nothing to move the film along). Some moody atmosphere and warmer filters would go a long 
way there. But it’s also the lack of connection with the government characters – ESPECIALLY the scientists. Quirky girl and straightman have no chemistry. Interestingly, neither did Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith in Independence Day, but we invested in those characters long before they teamed up because we spent time with them individually. Even more importantly, we spent time with them BEFORE the crisis. Outside of it. Give me a couple scenes with these two individually before the skies darken, and I think the bunker scenes get much better.
Perhaps it seems like I’m being overly hard on this film. Perhaps I give off the impression of a hateful troll, pecking away on a basement computer covered in cheeto dust. But the thing is, if I hated this thing, I’d just say “Pass” and move along. I’d just forget it. What frustrates me here is I see the potential for a GOOD movie here – even with these same budgetary and time limitations. This is arguably Jones’s best work and it has the ability to stand up with any summer blockbuster in terms of story and emotion. Why do I think this? Because the movie changed my mind while I was watching it. A little past halfway through I went from “Awful syfy film, pass” to “Actually good movie – provided you can turn off your brain on the ridiculous overworked premise and get past the flat bunker scenes” It’s still a recommend, despite the Playstation one CGI and goofy premise, because it really does stick the landing and gives us a clever ending that would feel equally at home in a good episode of Doctor Who.
This is one of those I’d love a redo of – reediting and fixing the bad parts, because despite some subpar element,s the good character bits and over all story still manage to shine through.
252
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Critters
I’m not sure why I’ve never tackled the Critters movies before now. I was definitely too young when the first two came out, and even though they were PG-13, my parents simply weren’t about to take me to see a horror movie. When the third and fourth came out I don’t recall much fanfare though, it seems to me that there wasn’t much in the way of advertisement, so even though I would’ve been old enough to rent the movies, I was far more interested in heading out to the theater to see Alien 3 or Hellraiser 4. Ultimately the timing was just off.
It’s long past time to rectify that so I grabbed copies of these films and began at the beginning (*sings* a very good place to start…..). As far as Gremlins rip offs, I have to admit, I prefer Ghoulies, but Critters is surprisingly well done.
It begins with the critters escaping to earth and bountyhunters dispatched to find them. 
What’s really shocking is the all star cast that we begin to run into here, not just D Wallace, but MM at Walsh as well as The occasional established veteran in their ranks.
As the critters descend upon the town, hilarity and Sue’s. The bounty hunters take various forms, and it’s a clever conceit. One that would be better exploited in the second film. We get to see the little fuzzballs roll around as well as spike people and grin and eat. It bloody and fun, it’s a little more dire than gremlins. It’s easy to see why the steak became a cult classic, and deservedly so. The film attracted enough attention to want to sequel, and that’s really where the ball will get rolling.
Week of 6-8-22
Oh wow, Superman and Lois just went full on soap opera this week. I mean it. It’s nothing but drama… With a little bit of superheroics tacked on in the last 12 minutes or so. This may actually be the first bad episode they’ve had… And quite frankly, you can skip it. Anything that was important in this episode will almost certainly be recapped when the shower turns on June 22. I’ve got to admit though, for the series to have gone some 35 episodes or so and only so now hit a bad one, it’s actually pretty good. Supergirl jumped the shark almost immediately in her second season, and this is way better produced than that. It’s not enough to put me off, but yikes. They’re making up for turning the soap opera dial down a little bit the last couple episodes this week.
One thing that I am noticing though and it bears mentioning is the character of Kyle Cushing… Lana‘s husband. Lana and Kyle are currently separated because she discovered he cheated on her years ago while he was still drinking. In general, I don’t side with cheaters. I despise them. And even when I can understand the events that led to it, I am always on the side of the person who got cheated on. That’s mostly true here as well, but what impresses me is the links to which Kyle is going to try and win Lana back, as well as being a good father and try and keep his family together. Early in that first season most of us pegged Kyle as the “grown-up frat boy“ or “craft beer douche bag“, “former high school football hero”. It would’ve been very easy for them to just slip into the abusive husband or bad dad or dumb Republican kind of tropes. Instead, they’ve given him a great deal of nuance. The fact they’re showing him trying so hard and actually being a good father… The fact that they’re treating him as a character instead of a caricature – they absolutely deserve props for that.
One of the criticisms I’ve been hearing about Obi-Wan is how much it’s reminding people of the last Jedi… Specifically comparing sad Luke Skywalker in exile and saying Ewan McGregor is kind of sad Obi-Wan also in exile. I can see where they’re coming from on this, but at the same time I think things like the Last Jedi, and the constant bait and switch tactics we’ve seen ramp up over the last few years, and a lot of the diversity stunt casting rather than organic diversity… I think all of that has made us more sensitive to things we probably would’ve dismissed 10 years ago. I think we really wouldn’t be looking at this quite so critically if it had come out say, right after the Force Awakens. Imagine this and rogue one coming out within a year of each other… and then giving us the second sequel, making us wait three years instead of two. In any event, I think some of those criticisms have been answered here. Because in episode four, Obi Wan is driven, and singularly minded. He is on mission and finally giving us the Jedi action hero that we’ve been waiting to see. It also restores something that’s been missing from the D+ SW shows. For me, growing up, I could never figure out who was the actual hero of Star Wars. Was it the space pirate Han Solo or the cosmic mystic Luke? I think that this balance of those two aspects was really the key to Star Wars success. When the prequels came out, we were really missing this as they overfocused on the Jedi, and they never quite figured out how to strike that balance in the sequels. at first it looked like Finn would become the new streetwise space cowboy, but then Disney couldn’t figured out what to do with him so they shrunk his role and his space on the poster (because China doesn’t like Black people) and basically turned him into little more than a damsel in distress for Rose Tico – really a disservice to both characters.
With the release of the Mandalorian, we finally had our gritty shooty bang bang space western hero back, but now, the Jedi were all but absent. Oh sure, we’d get a guest appearance here or there, but for the most part, they weren’t a big part of that story. Obi-Wan feels like the other side of that coin. Like we’re getting a little bit of each depending on which series you watch. I’d love to see the balance achieved a little bit more, but it seems that we may actually be getting somewhere here. I sure hope so. There’s a lot of people who have lost their love for Star Wars because of how mishandled it’s been, and Obi-Wan should’ve been a good step towards getting them back… If it’s not too far gone already.
Ms. Marvel premiered this week as well, and I’m of two minds about it. They definitely have their target audience… Leaning heavily into the fangirl, convention fiend sort of element. Indeed, the entire episode really centers around Kamala Khan and her friend trying to figure out how they’re going to get to avengers con, in the heart of the city. I recognize a lot of myself in this, especially recognize a lot of my daughter in this. I’m surprised however, at how much I also relate to the parents… And they are of course, cast as the unreasonable bad guys. That I don’t like. But then again, we’re not the target audience. (However, people my age also weren’t the tar
get audience for Stargirl….and I was completely all in on that show pretty much from the word go)
Ms. Marvel is one of those characters that is moderately popular, but that Marvel wants to make way more popular… Much like the way they hype Captain Marvel. And this first episode is very much a Captain Marvel hype machine. I’m not sure how successful that’s gonna be, but then again, I’m not seeing a ton of stuff here that bothers me or that I’d object to in the first place. It’s also very early in the story, and we haven’t gotten much happening yet except introducing our characters and learning the source of Ms. Marvel’s powers.
The Orville seem to be full of homage this week. Every time we turn around, I kind of felt like I was watching something lifted from a bit of one episode of next generation or another. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. We’re watching the Orville because it’s the best Star Trek out there right now… Which is saying something considering it’s not Star Trek.
The ships get permission to cross through Krill space… Those were the white and scaly bad guys from last year. Crossing through there and gives them access The areas of the galaxy previously unexplored… And everyone’s excited. Everyone but the Krill. When they learn that the Orville will be going through a dark expanse… Let’s just put it this way; they pray the last rights over them before they leave. They have legends about that area… Demons that possess people and hide unimaginable terrors.
That’s quite a set up. And it’s worth noting… They’re gonna pay this thing off in spades.
Just past Krill space, they come across an area that just seems like a void. There are no stars. It’s hard for sensors to penetrate, but undaunted, they had in. Inside this large dark cloud they find a bizarre looking space station. They’re 
explorers, it’s time to explore. Shuttlecraft is dispatched and the whole thing has a very Star Trek the motion picture feel to it. The tiny ship as it penetrates the black clouds, and then enters the looming space station. Watching the bizarre hatchways open in a sort of star/claw formation… And the essential alieness of it all.
Inside, I actually start to get extremely strong Borg vibes. The best of both worlds, where they’re exploring the ship and trying to figure out what different nodes and lights do in signify. 
what those notes do, is infect visitors. One of the away team is infected with a virus that completely rewrites his DNA and turns him into… Let’s just call it a monster. It’s very reminiscent of the episode of TNG where Barkley turns into a spider… Only there’s more of them, and as monsters go, they’re pretty horrifying. Perhaps too intense for broadcast television, but then again, the Orville no longer have to worry about that. Being on Hulu allows some fair that’s slightly more R-rated.
It’s interesting, because I’ve seen a lot of people complain about the sort of horror violence that we’ve seen in modern Star Trek… Myself included – though not quite so publicly – and yet here, it doesn’t bother me quite so much. Perhaps it’s because we’re dealing with monsters. There’s always been monsters on Star Trek… As opposed to watching people get their eyes gouged out by other people or watching a bunch of Falcons see a vision so horrible they blast themselves in the head with tasers… here, it’s just not so mean-spirited. Modern Star Trek is Saw, whereas the Orville is still the old-fashioned 80s slasher movie style or a 50s Wolfman flick. monsters, not cruelity. All of our characters get a chance to be heroic, and despite the other horror of the situation, the show and the crew still managed to retain an optimistic outlook. This is great stuff, and I am totally on board for the season. The weekly episodes… Honestly it’s the highlight of my week, much of the way Doctor Who used to be.
Another thing that’s striking me about the Orville is how distinct its ships look. The union ships them selves still have a lot of the Starfleet clean look to them… Definitely that same color scheme, But the design itself… Well, you’ll never mistake it for Star Trek. The same is true with a lot of the computer consoles, though everything else about the show really could be another TNG era spinoff. That of course is what has made this thing so strong. But I do sometimes find myself wishing for prettier ships… Then again, I was never a big fan of the look of the Enterprise D. The Orville is filmed exquisitely, almost to the point where I may actually like it better than the TNG flagship. Isn’t that strange?
The Flash is in a weird place this week. They kind of need half an episode to use as a bridge episode, connecting us to the greater storyline, but they also insist on throwing a big storyline that’s unrelated… And quite honestly, not that compelling. The B storyline involves the temporary editor at the central city citizen… And it’s another example of this show really dying to be and ensemble show, the problem is it’s not. The main character of the show… Well quite frankly his name is in the title. And he’s off on a secret mission… so in the mean time, the show is trying to push the supporting cast. Even worse, it’s the new supporting cast, not the characters that we really got attached to over the years. I understand, with this many episodes you do have to shuffle a little bit, but… they’re not pulling it off. We’ve had a really great run this season, but now, it’s almost like it’s catching up to them. Between this and the cast turnover, I know I keep vacillating back-and-forth, but it’s swung me back towards this should be
And man, it’s a good thing that television has been halfway decent lately, because there’s not a damn thing I want to read in comics right now. 
Spider-Man number three is just depressing. It’s nice to get a recap of tombstone‘s origins, but man, that beat down Spidey takes… It bothers me kind of the way the beat down in Superman Returns bothers me. It’s just not what I want to see.
I tried to get the Poison Ivy issue this week a chance, but… Just ugh. I don’t recognize these characters anymore. And none of the politically charged pride books, or the new and improved justice league full of anything but what we’d actually like from justice league… Say Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman? (And the real ones I mean, not the great value brand that DC is currently trying to pass off). I mean, seriously, if Grant 
Morrison could get this right while hopped up on whiskey and amphetamines, chain-smoking a dozen clove cigarettes at once, this can’t be that hard.
At least Archer and Armstrong is still interesting enough. It’s really more of an alternative comic… And I like the direction they’re going this time around. And the current stories are trying to find a way to restore Armstrong’s immortality, and it’s been a lot of fun. Exactly the sort of weird alternative Loopy fun that this title has never gotten enough credit for.
Hopefully we get better next week.
251
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
250
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
249
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Top Gun Maverick
Why another Maverick review? I mean, not only am I like two weeks late to the party, but also there’s been a million of these from far more reputable and interesting sources than me, right? Why does it matter?
Because I’m a skeptic.
My first reaction to hearing about a top gun sequel was “no one is asking for this.“ I’m a real hater when it comes to sequels coming 30 years too late. I mean it. I’m a hater and I’m a skeptic and I think if you don’t get that sequel out in about 3 to 4 years, then you might as well not do it at all. Top Gun as well, smacks of being one of those recognizable IP sequels that don’t do anything for anyone. I didn’t want this.
But the funny thing happened on the way to the forum. It started getting good reviews. I mean really good reviews, and from places that I respect… Then, it started getting good reviews from my friends. People I know. Actual faces that I look at and listen to. So I decided to give it a chance. When I was taking Maddie to go see Doctor Strange 2, I noticed that the cheap theater in my neighborhood was gonna be running Top Gun the next week and figured I could gamble five dollars. Of course that next week we had conventions and comic book sales and too much going on, and because it’s a single screen theater, the likelihood of them holding it over for two weeks isn’t great… But it decided if it was still there the next weekend, I’d go check it out. It was still there the next weekend. So, I grabbed my wife and declared it date night.
Here’s the thing, it actually lives up to the hype. It’s a good movie. Not only is it a good movie, it’s a great date movie. It’s got just enough romance for my wife, but it’s tense and adventurous, and it got her engaged. She was invested 
enough to have her hands over her mouth during the scary parts, jumping where she needed to, and grabbing onto my hand when things got serious. This is everything that a date movie should be. It’s a kind of film that makes a girl draw close to you and then jump onto you when she needs support. There’s a certain brilliance in that.
It’s refreshing though, the movie began with a thank you from Tom Cruise for returning to the theaters and coming to see this. It’s full of masculine energy, but more importantly there’s American flags everywhere and they’re unapologetic about it. It doesn’t care about your politics, it really seems to only be concerned with being a good adventure that can appeal to the broadest audience ever… something that Hollywood seems to have forgotten a bit ever since the election of the so called president orange man bad.
I’m not gonna bore you with recounts are a blow by blow that’s been done better by somebody else… But what I will say are a few takeaways;
This movie has a strong soundtrack. That’s no mean trick, because it’s gotta compete with some seriously iconic music already… It knows where to use the iconic music and callbacks, but it never relies on it. Instead it’s got its own identity.
It never forgets that it is in fact, a sequel. Maverick is front and center, and while the new cast certainly doesn’t get any sort of short shrift… they’re in it plenty, the movie remember is that 
we are here to watch Tom Cruises character above all else. This is one of those places where I felt the Star Wars sequels really failed. I didn’t have any real animosity towards the characters there, Ray was boring but Finn was interesting… Although in part two it seemed like he got downgraded to just being a damsel in distress for Rose Tico to rescue… still overall, I was content to watch the stories… But I was really there to watch the classic cast.
Unfortunately, they were kind of just a glorified long cameos. Maverick doesn’t fall into that trap. All the new characters we have more than enough screen time and development, the film always knows that it’s really Tom cruises movie and that he is the one we’re here to see. There is a refreshing wisdom to that.
This film also really understands what it is. Sometimes, a movie can get lost deciding what it wants to be… Is it a sequel? Is it in homage? Is it a reboot or a remake? Many times, Instead of just picking one of these, I feel more try and be all of them. When that happens, you get Superman returns. You get the force awakens. You get a movie that doesn’t manage to do any of those things right because it’s trying to do too many of them at once. Maverick understands that it’s a sequel. They tell enough of the story from the original that you get all of the important information, but this thing is absolutely its own film. That’s a really impressive thing. They’re 
not relying on homage or nostalgia, it is crafting its own narrative and story. Sure, we get A lot of the obligatory stuff that we want, shirtless sports on the beach, high-speed air fights, a little bit of father drama, a little bit of romance, and a little bit of buzzing the tower. All of this is just fine, we get the touches we need, but it doesn’t revel in it. Instead it has its own story to tell and tells it. If you change the names here… made it instead of “Pete Mitchell, code name Maverick” you made it “Rick Michelle code name Petemoss”… Still getting over the loss of his old partner “Mongoose”… And then just never mentioned the name Top Gun, but refer to it as “Navy flight school”… you do that with that same script, the story wouldn’t change at all. It stays as powerful and as distinct as it already is.
Another curiosity that really impressed me was love interest. Kelly MCGillis was not asked back for this film… She has revealed that she wasn’t even contacted about it. Her explanation is because she looks her age and got old and fat.
I’ve seen photos of her recently, she’s not fat, but she does look her age. She’s a handsome woman and reminds me a great deal of Judi Dench when she first appeared in the bond films in goldeneye. But she looks like she’s pushing 60. Tom Cruise on the other hand, does not look like he’s pushing 60. He looks like he’s just entering his 50s and Jennifer Connelly looks 40. And quite frankly it sounds a lot like sour grapes I’m a give us his part. She knew what Hollywood was when she got into it, and quite frankly part of this visual medium is that we like to watch beautiful people doing exciting things you can argue the value and ethics of it, but that’s the truth of it.
But what’s really interesting is who Jennifer Connelly plays. It’s something I didn’t catch until about 16 hours later when the wife and I were watching the original top gone the next morning. Towards the beginning, Maverick and goose are in James Tolkens office getting dressed down for a recent flyby of the tower, and he mentions that Maverick’s been busted repeatedly for a series of high-speed fly-bys over five towers and one admiral’s daughter. Goose leans over and asks “Penny Benjamin?”. I sat up up on the couch. I grabbed the remote and rewound for a moment. It was then that it clicked. Throughout the movie, Maverick had been referring to Jennifer Connelly as “ Penny”. A quick check on IMDb revealed that yes she was indeed playing Penny Benjamin. A character that was name dropped in the first movie but never actually seen. They could have plugged in any random character someone knew anyone to be Cruise’s love interest in this movie. The fact that they picked up on that name and ran with a continuity way beyond anything in this film requires is just marvelous. I love it.
So, again the question, why another review from me? Because I’m a skeptic. Because the only reason I want to see this was because of the overwhelming and constant positive recommendations from not only the media but my friends and the real people that I know. End it was every bit as good as they said it was. Hollywood take note; when you give the 
audience what it wants, instead of trying to tell it what it wants and then calling it a bunch of misogynists or racists or just stupid because they didn’t want what you give them… no. giving the audience what they want can make so much more money. Even if you have to hold your nose and put a bunch of American flags all through the film like Top Gun has. Even if you have to shake your head and make a straight white male the heroic lead.
We hit this late into the second week, and when we got to the movie theater, the parking lot was full. My wife didn’t believe it. She was certain everybody was just using their parking lot to go shopping downtown. No, the theater was full and two weeks later, Maverick is still breaking box offices public speaking with her wallet, and I hope Hollywood lessons, because I want more films like this not more top gun, I do think that’s done, just more films like this. More fun. More broad appeal. Give the audience what they want and be grateful that they’re showing up. That’s exactly what Top Gun Maverick did, and it’s paid off in ways Hollywood can barely imagine. Good film, and I think when it comes out, we’ll be buying a copy. Hopefully a two pack with this and the original together.
Week of 6-1-2022
One of the things that always bothers me about serialized shows over episodic are these kind of in-between shows like we had on Superman and Lois this week. It’s not really filler… Well, the subplot about Lana‘s daughter and her music might be, but for the most part, these are all story threads that need to get into the series but can’t necessarily be wrapped up in a solo adventure. There’s not so much a story going on this week as there is connective tissue being developed.
the history, everything about Superman. That’s not the Lois Lane as I know. Lois is stronger than that, even in the face of this sort of friendship. We get such a good description though, of her life and metropolis. Too busy with work, and then with being a mother… She never had time for real friends. It’s an interesting perspective and one that rings true. It’s a sort of character development that really makes Superman and Lois such an interesting series, and some of the best Superman I’ve seen in my lifetime. We get some shenanigans with the kids as well, and again I can’t overemphasize… I should hate these teenagers. These characters have so much potential to just be annoying frustrating and a distraction from the main plot, but I’m finding myself invested in everybody. It’s good stuff, and we’re starting to see the beginnings of the armor for Steele’s daughter. We knew it was coming, and I’m actually kind of excited to see it show up.h a sort of Jedi underground railroad. It’s interesting enough, but then we really get some chills with the arrival of Darth Vader. We get the whole assembly and armor sequence, and just the sheer intimidation of him wandering the streets. Indeed, I think this is a lot of what the fandom really long for. It’s the kind of thing we wanted to see in between the films and certainly during the wilderness years. It’s one of the reasons why the Marvel comics are still as beloved as they are. To see this familiar shapes… Stormtroopers and probe droids and Vader flanked by all of it, it’s a beautiful thing. Seeing him fight with Obi-Wan… I know the back of my mind is screaming they’re breaking canon, but it really is a sort of thing you want to see. The fact that they’ve got Ewan McGregor at the perfect age for this in the storyline as well is a real blessing. Especially since as I mentioned last time, he’s honestly become more Obi-Wan than Alec Guinness. It does_however one of my problems with the prequel’s. I’ve never been able to reconcile Hayden Christensen Anakin Skywalker or Jake lights for that matter, as Darth Vader. The Vader we see in episode three is evil. He’s cruel and impatient. He’s everything that made him so terrible in the original trilogy… But he doesn’t feel like Anakin in the prequel‘s. He doesn’t move the same way our talk the same way… He is far more prone to snap and murder somebody in the blink of an eye. There is so much of the refined brutality in him that it just never feels like Anakin . But I’ll tell you what it does feel like… This absolutely feels like Darth Vader to me.as racism. It’s a really tired old trope, and attacking the fans makes me less than enthusiastic about following this show… Not more. Nevertheless, we’ll see what happens next week.
e dock itself. If you’re a fan of beautiful starships, this is absolutely for you. Really lovely looking ships is something that’s absolutely been missing from Star Trek ever since the new TV series begun. While I wasn’t a fan of the 2009 Enterprise, there were some real design chops there. Everything in Discovery and Picard is just flat and ugly… The Orville understands working the beauty of a starship and it all makes it so much more fun. I am so glad to have the Orville back, I am so glad to have some real Star Trek back to watch While Prodigy catches up and gets ready to launch the back half of it season.
Not much to speak of and comics last week so I may as well tag it on here. I did pick up Deadpool bad blood… This is sort of Rob Leifield‘s triumphant return to the character he created. Thing is, the Deadpool that Rob Leifield created is not really the Deadpool we know today. There’s significant differences in tone and in general zaniness and all that’s fine. But life is treating him the way he always did. That’s his prerogative, he’s the creator. But what the sense of being, is very much a Rob Liefeld book for Rob Liefeld fans. And boy, is it ever Liefeld. I mean, Liefeld on steroids. It’s a little jarring, almost enough to make me rethink my constant emphatic defense of the man’s style.
Still, I expect that Liefeld fans will really dig this, but I got admit, it’s just not for me. Issue one didn’t do a whole lot for me, and I’m jumping off this title with issue two.
Ghost Rider on the other hand, continues to blow my mind. I’ve dipped my toe in Ghost Rider here and there over the years. He’s a staple of the Marvel universe, but he’s usually treated mostly as a superhero. Perhaps supernatural superhero adventures, or Scooby Doo – kids Halloween party levels of spook. But it’s always comic book spooky. It’s always super hero affair, it’s always comics code levels of terror.
That’s not what we’re getting from this Ghost Rider series.
This Ghost Rider book is straight up horror. Not dark fantasy, not horror edged or supernatural heroics, this thing feels like straight up horror. Not even comic book horror, like Man Thing or Tomb of Dracula… Reading this book gives me very similar vibes that I get from old Garth Ennis Hellblazer back in the day. We’re constantly seeing unspeakable monstrosities slither into existance. The writer knows he can’t pull off a jump scare but he can definitely shock you. He can create imagery that just lingers and disturbs and that’s exactly what he does. There’s a real brilliance to it and I feel like this is what Ghost Rider always should’ve been… What it always wanted to be. This one’s a book you absolutely need to go out and pick up.
Robs Gone Wrong
I remember seeing the trailers for Ron’s gone wrong on television. It was coming out right around the time when we were getting a bunch of these sort of cute iMac looking robots… I trend that had been kicked off in part by Wall-E. It looked interesting enough but I didn’t really know much about it and we just never got around to seeing it. Maddie scheduled it this week with her movie box of boom and off we went.
It’s the very near future where the new hot gadget is B-Bots… Basically, imagine if your iPhone was a robot. A capsule shaped android that was about 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall, with all the social media functions that your phone has. Cameras, filters, backgrounds and skins and interactivity. Every kid had one, really the logical extrapolation of where the smart phone would eventually go.
The only kid who doesn’t have one is Barney
… An outcast in middle school who sits alone at lunch and during recess. Well, his father gets him a B-Bot for his birthday… But it’s one that… Let’s just say it fell off a truck. They paid a guy in the back alley and this one is slightly scuffed and damaged. It also lacks the core code which means instead of merely “installing friendship“ where it loads up data about the owner, this little bot has to learn about friendship the hard way. Barney has to teach him.
It’s actually a genuinely good premise, and Ron is an amazing character in itself. The quirkiness and awkward missteps of the robot just make him incredibly charming. I don’t think I’ve related to a character this much since Stitch. We get a variety of shenanigans; Ron the B-Bot making friend requests by slapping stickers on people, and asking them if they want to come back to his “secret friendship shed”. There’s power tools and goat abuse, as well as great one liners and some very touching m
oments. They do a good job of making you sympathize with all the characters. One moment I am laughing at the mean girl getting some of the most just desserts one can imagine… And then the next I’m actually feeling kind of sorry for her. Barney is consistently a sympathetic character and you genuinely get fond of the bots themselves as well. There’s never any real talk about sentience… And that’s probably for the best. It would get us well into the weeds if we were to have a discussion about whether or not The robots were actually alive.
I have to admit I’ve got a bit of a problem with the ending. The way to make everything better and save everybody from the evil corporation ends up being Ron plugs himself into the cloud, and uploads his new programming… The one that they’ve basically accumulated as he naturally developed a friendship with Barney, and distributes this programming through an update to all the B-Bots connected to the net. I don’t like this. I pointed this out to Maddie and she raised An eyebrow for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, because maybe some of these people like their box the way that they are.”
That’s the thing I’d love it if this would’ve been an optional update, but imposing this philosophy on everyone because you think it’s the right thing to do… That really goes against my own philosophies of personal liberty. I’m not a fan with Microsoft does it to their computers, I’m definitely not a fan when the American government does it to their citizens,
Or perhaps I’m overthinking this.
In any event, this was an incredibly pleasant surprise. The film is really good and had Maddie and me laughing uproariously throughout the entire thing. I actually wish I’d discovered it sooner – it’s one of the est things to come out of Disney (fox) in a very long time and comes with my highest recommendations.
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Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Argo City Comics 