Eyes of Wakanda - Aug 18

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Eyes of Wakanda’… Pause.

Well, first let me admit that, apparently, I got it wrong – the video of Ms. Sarah and Ms. Aimee painting plastic pigeon figurines wasn’t the Kickstarter, more like a special feature to motivate the financing of the Kickstarter, or whatever… Fair enough, but listen: LN openly admits that her YouTube channel is a business venture, she is in for money – and she shares money with her underlings and coworkers. Have to respect her for her openness and honesty, if nothing else, (and there is much more).

BB, on the other hand… are largely similar, but are not as successful as LN is. In part, this is because they’re a part of PBS, and PBS overall is suffering due to the Donald’s meddling in the American world, (real life sucks, remember?), but still, the sight of Ms. Sarah and Ms. Aimee just painting tiny pigeons while muttering some facts about the pigeons from the Internet… just no…

In addition, speaking of facts, what about the ‘Eyes’? Yes, they are a work of fiction, but in the episode 1x02, they went after the ‘Iliad’, and…

Yes, true, there was a Troy in RL, and there possibly was a Trojan War in RL too, but so far, we have no idea what actually went down, so we have to accept Homer’s version as canon, which makes ‘Iliad’ & ‘Odyssey’ about as real as MCU. Moreover, Achilles, Odysseus, and co. are a part of Marvel comics – and been so for a while, nothing new here, but, again, what is with the disrespect? The second episode of ‘Eyes’ plays fast and loose with the ‘Iliad’, so it will ruffle some feathers – it ruffled mine, which is why I am writing about the ‘Eyes’ more than 2 weeks after it had aired. Pause.

Taking a breath and starting anew. In many ways, the ‘Eyes’ are clichéd and banal. In the first episode, Noni is the maverick who makes the right in choice in saving Wakanda from… what? Exposure? The Lion did not care about it, he wanted to rule outside of it, but because Wakanda had a PR problem even in the 1260 BC or so, the Dora Milaje sent Noni to bring the Lion to heel – she caused him to die instead, but, hey, she recovered the artefacts, so yay! She becomes a War Dog instead.

That is one of Wakanda’s flaws – it is isolationist, it wants to stay largely isolated, it comes down hard on those, who disagree with it, yet when those dissidents leave and start their own thing, the Wakandan government (well, the royal family) short-circuits and does its’ best to bring those dissidents to heel or just kill them. MCU and co. deal with this problem by making such renegades evil, but still, it is not one of Wakanda’s best aspects.

Back to the ‘Eyes’… sigh. The Lion was a variant Killmonger from the first Black Panther film, and the final episode actually sets up the first Black Panther film, to a certain extent. The Lion wasn’t a bad character, but as a villain? He fell flat.

In addition, in the second, ‘Iliad’ episode, we have B’Kai, who joined the Greek army to retrieve a Wakandan amulet, and he does. He also lets Helen run away with Paris-

Helen never escaped with Paris; Paris died awhile before Odysseus came up with the Trojan Horse, and Helen would eventually return home with her legal husband, Menelaus. Helen of Troy, in fact, is partially a romantic heroine from the knightly stories of later days, and partially – a modern femme fatale, but we digress.

I don’t want to discuss all the ways how much did the ‘Eyes’ mess with the ‘Iliad’, I’ll just point out that Memnon/B’Kai isn’t from Homer – he is from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’; he was an Egyptian, or an Ethiopian, general, sent to help the Trojans. He was also the son of Eos, or Aurora, the goddess of Dawn. He went against Achilles, died, and his entourage became birds. Sigh. If the bigwigs in MCU wanted to, they could have made quite a story about the Wakandan meddling the Trojan War and remained much more true to the original classical sources as well.

As for the last two episode of the ‘Eyes’… Pause. The first two episodes were connected to each other via the character of Noni and the plot continuity; the last two episodes were much more detached from each other and the first two. Were there supposed to be more episodes of ‘Eyes’ than just four? Did some rushed editing had to take place? Disney/MCU are not telling…

Anyhow, the third episode feels like a filler – the south meets the east, that sort of thing, Wakanda meets the K’un Lun, eh? It does not amount to anything… and the final episode mostly just sets-up the first Black Panther movie. Fun!

Only not, as B’Kai, for example, reminded me of Grant Ward, who betrayed his new friends for duty. Only because B’Kai’s duty was to Wakanda, not to Hydra, he is a protagonist, rather than an antagonist instead. MCU really does its’ best to recycle the old ideas in new ways, but maybe it should just go with outright new ideas instead? It worked for the new F4 film…

There is one more aspect to the ‘Eyes’, however – the African/Afro-American one. As the ‘Black Panther’ films showed, they are MCU’s Afro-Futurism reps, and for Disney/MCU, political correctness in regards to the Africans/Afro-Americans is a very big deal.

Unfortunately, before the ‘Eyes’, MCU’s latest depiction of Afro-Americans came from ‘Ironheart’ – I’m talking about Riri here. In the BP2 film, she was… average. In ‘Ironheart’, MCU did not know what to do with her, and it showed – she made Sony’s Kraven look good. Also – competent and coherent, (the movie, not the main character). Something had to be done, so MCU quickly made, or remade, the ‘Eyes’, and used them to cover up ‘Ironheart’ as the latest MCU bit that features people of color. The ‘Eyes’ do a better job of it than ‘Ironheart’ did, but then again, almost anything would – ‘Ironheart’ set the bar this low, and the ‘Eyes’ still feel like a rushed job that MCU doesn’t really needs, you know? Ah well, Disney/MCU have a better idea of what MCU/its’ audience needs than MCU’s actual viewers do no doubt… That is real life for you. It sucks. Just look at the Donald, Putin, and the Alaska story – but we will discuss that another time…

For now though, this is it. See you all soon!

 

Thunderbolts - May 3

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. In part, it might be my doing – but I never denied it – so now let us talk about the new ‘Thunderbolts’ film instead.

First, it works. It works, because it mostly keeps away from politics, whether RL or MCU, and talks about the titular characters dealing, and defeating, their inner darkness, while managing the conflict with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, or – ‘Don’t call me Val!’ Pause.

…Throughout SW, there was no mention of Val or the Thunderbolts, who are a bit of Marvel’s Suicide Squad, (run by DC instead). Moreover, the DCEU itself is being remade right now, so let us not talk about it, and get back to MCU and the ‘Thunderbolts’.

…Throughout SW, there was no mention of Val or the Thunderbolts, but now, in the post-SW MCU, there is no mention of the Skrulls, the She-Hulk, or the Marvels; MCU is pretending that all of the above haven’t existed, and the CA: BNA movie, the D: BA TV series, and now – the ‘Thunderbolts’ film confirm it; there’s a distinct feeling of ‘in with the new’ with all of them. Even the titular team is named not after the general ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, aka the Red Hulk, but after some obscure piece of MCU in-verse trivia instead. Fun!

MCU’s Taskmaster/Taskmistress is dead – a pity – and there is no mention of Kate, even though she and Yelena had plenty of chemistry in ‘Hawkeye’. However, the market (and the political climate) directs, and with 4 years of a Republican president in charge of the U.S., Disney and its’ branches, including MCU, are changing. We have discussed it, when we talked about AAA, so let us not repeat ourselves. Anything else?

The special effects were impressive, another one of MCU characters that vanished was Rick Jones or whoever, who helped Natasha in her ‘Black Widow’ film; ah well. ScarJo is going to appear in the next JP reboot now, and it makes the ‘Black Widow’ film appear like a classical masterpiece. What else?

…Everett Ross, who appeared in both ‘Black Panther’ films, was also killed off in the SW; since he was ‘Don’t call me Val!’ ex-husband, this is somewhat important. Only not, since Val is flirting (sort of) with the Red Guardian (Alexei) already. Well, since the Thunderbolts (the characters) are forming some sort of a crazy family, (minus the dead Antonia), this is to be expected. Whether or not this will amount to anything is another story; for all we know, in the next film there will be no mention of the Thunderbolts’ team… just as there was no mention of Sam in the ‘Thunderbolts’ movie, not really, making Bucky’s appearance in CA: BNW kind of strange and unbalanced…

So, in conclusion: the ‘Thunderbolts’ work. They work as a movie, and in particular – as a standalone movie. However, Disney/MCU is a live action Marvel Comics Universe, which means that it all will be interconnected – in theory. In practice, as depicted by the now forgotten AoS, this might not be so. In AoS, the first 3 seasons were sufficiently tied, with ties to the greater MCU. From S4 onwards, however, this was not the case at all, and after the final, 6^th, or 7^th, season, no one is remembering AoS anymore; they didn’t even appear on the ‘What If?’ series, (aside from Coulson, who doesn’t quite count there). Put otherwise, quite regularly, MCU discards characters, plot lines, and more – there is no guarantee that the ‘Thunderbolts’ will be different.

This is it for now. See you all soon!

BP2 - Nov 12

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the latest BP film instead.

What can be said about it? Firstly, the queen-mother Ramonda is dead. I was completely unsurprised, (just very, very emotional), for this fits perfectly into the theme of MCU’s Phase 4 – out with the old, in with the new. The wheel of time moves, and the generations replace each other: T’Challa took over when his – their – father died, and Shuri did the same once her mother was no more. Shuri is now the queen of Wakanda, and until her nephew comes of age, she is the last of that line.

…Of course, she could always marry someone else and have children, but for the moment, she has enough on her plate without worrying about continuing the family line literally. Given that she’s probably some sort of an emotional mess now, that is good. What next?

First, an obligatory shout-out to Killmonger… well, to his ghost on the ancestral plane (or plain, or whatever). This was a nice tie-up of a plot line – he is at peace now, as is T’Challa, and Shuri… she is getting there. She has not killed Namor… given how much MCU has invested into him, it isn’t surprising – he isn’t going to be killed-off after a single film… but still, having a villain redemption, (more or less), story than a killing-off tale, is a pleasant surprise. War and peace, (sorry, Leo Tolstoy), are an important part of the BP portion of MCU, so here BP2 had delivered fully again.

Now, on the topic of villains, we got the countess Val. Apparently, she’s also in charge of CIA, because of course she is, and she’s also the ex-wife of agent Ross, (who appeared in the ‘Civil War’ and BP1 MCU films). Wonderful. It is up for grabs if she is a human or an alien, so maybe we should focus on America’s role in BP2? I am not talking about senorita Chavez here either – the fact is that CIA/America had set-off the conflict between Wakanda and Talocan (Atlantis), but…

…But RL matters, and right now the U.S. is in a fix, as no one in there knows as to where the States are to go. The relations between the Democrats and the Republicans remain very bad, and no one has any idea as to what will happen in the U.S. in 2024, who will win, etc., etc. Since Disney, in all of its’ current incarnations, hates risks, especially ones that can cause it to lose money, so far it has downplayed the role of the U.S. in MCU…and may actually be remaking the up and coming MCU components on the sly. That said, there’s no U.S. in BP2-

-But there is an America in this movie: Talocan is America, Mesoamerica to be more precise. If the CIA director Val Ross (cough-cough), stands for a Republican, WASP-ish America, then MCU’s Namor/Kukulcan and his cohorts stand for a Democratic America/Mesoamerica/America of P.O.C.s – and because of CIA’s machinations it confronts the Afro-Futuristic Wakanda, which – as we have discussed in the first BP film – is a Western utopia of Africa, (so go and look at that review, would you?). Because Disney/MCU has its’ own agenda, and it is more pro-Democrat than pro-Republican, everything, of course, is resolved at the end, and there’s a happy end for everyone, except for the queen-mother Ramonda, who is dead now, and for Shuri, who now has lost everyone…except maybe her new nephew… are we done with the U.S.?

…In the BP2 film? – yeah, pretty much, for it should be noted that Bucky Barnes the White Wolf of Wakanda hadn’t been mentioned at all here; in fact, the Avengers may as well not exist (at the moment). Riri ‘Ironheart’ Williams is an American, of course, but that fact is downplayed as much as it can be so yay! …Or not, given how the U.S. is still the top dog, (especially since R.F. is experiencing increasingly many and new problems of its’ own), so Disney/MCU’s downplaying of U.S. in its’… products may bite it in the arse yet.

Overall the BP2 film works, however. Both the cast and the crew delivered to the max, and the script is tight and good and enjoyable – what more do you need? Since BP2 is a glorious spectacle for one’s soul – nothing else. I have certainly enjoyed watching it, and still heartily recommend it for everyone else to go and see it too, (if you are able).

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon instead!

Black Adam - Nov 2

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us briefly talk about ‘Black Adam’, before MCU’s ‘BP2’ steals the spotlight.

‘Black Adam’ works. It is not the most powerful or poignant installment in the DCEU series, it is not necessarily even ‘the most’, period, but it works. The villains are villains, (with the final Big Bad being an actual devil of all things), while the good guys… Pause.

The titular character is an anti-hero, right? Yeah, no, it does not work like that. When anti-heroes first entered the fray, the cultural landscape was still dominated by heroes and villains; an anti-hero was a sinner who had found redemption; the grey area was located between light and dark; people could dwell there, spiritually speaking, but sooner or later they would have to make a choice between the aforementioned light and dark… or else they were NPC characters who had no role in the piece of fiction at all. Now, though, this dichotomy is over, grey morality is a thing, and people like Black Adam are just heroes who aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty… unlike the Justice Society league, for example.

Here is…not so much another pause, as an admittance of a sticky issue: why was Amanda Waller bossing Justice Society league around? In the DC canon, she runs only the Suicide Squad, (which was absent in ‘Black Adam’), nothing else. True, the status of the Justice Society itself is suspect – these days it is more apocrypha than canon in the DC comics at worst, and a second tier to the JL at best…but we still got the JL in the DCEU, right? Henry Cavill is returning from the witcher-verse, and Gal Gadot has never left, correct? Somehow, the JL never gets a mention in ‘Black Adam’, and while the entire film never feels like a reboot, somehow it does not feel like a part of the already-established DC-verse.

…Yes, I am quite aware that DCEU - and the rest – are being overhauled by their superiors in real life, (re: the Batgirl film), but that is not a problem of ‘Black Adam’ cast and crew: they set out to make a movie, (and not, say, a pet project of The Rock), and they delivered. What else?

‘Black Adam’ is an entertaining movie. Well, naturally – it is a comic-book film, is not supposed to be informative or educational. The good people are good, the bad are bad, and Black Adam and his Kahndaq are not about to bow to the U.S. any time soon, Superman or not. Can the latter defeat the titular character is another issue, but it was not explored in the movie canon – and then there is Shazam. More precisely, Black Adam is a Shazam villain, (or at least a nemesis), so you would think that DCEU’s Shazam would appear in the movie under one pretext or another, but no, nothing. Is there some problem with Shazam’s actor in real life, I know not. Moving on?

Hard to say. Lately the Internet is being bombarded with the ‘BP2’ movie info, but I am holding out – lately MCU was more disappointing than not. ‘Ms. Marvel’ was pointedly downplayed for RL reasons… and she was flat-out lackluster, while ‘She-Hulk’ was a Mary-Sue story, period, with Titania getting the short end of the stick, here. See, a Mary-Sue cannot stand female characters that are equal with her, (and the same goes for the male characters in a Marty-Stu story), and does her best to get rid of them, or at least – seriously diminish them. This is exactly what happens to Titania: at the end of the ‘She-Hulk’ S1, the ‘Hulk-King’ and the Abomination are arrested, and Titania just… vanishes – clearly, the titular character’s deal with K.E.V.I.N. included getting rid of her for good – or something. In any case, the end of ‘She-Hulk’ S1 is all about the titular character and her new and updated family – though with her cousin the Hulk introducing his own son, the situation may begin to change – but what does this have to do with ‘BP2’?

Nothing, sadly. All I wanted to point out is that MCU’s Namor has at least some things in common with MCU’s Killmonger, (now deceased… probably). MCU’s Namor has strong Mesoamerican overtones, and some of his promo images show him wearing a jaguar-head helmet/headpiece/headdress… you get the idea. Plus, there’s his moniker Kukulkan, who was, or is, a Mesoamerican serpent deity in RL – and on the other…paw we have MCU’s Killmonger, who went with the moniker of the ‘Golden Jaguar’ in the first BP film. There are no wild jaguars in the Old World, (which includes Africa); they are an American-only species – and now we get a Namor with strong Mesoamerican connotations. Again, nothing is new under the sun, we already had a half-Japanese Namor, (located on Earth-13410, one Namor Miyamoto), so why not a Mesoamerican one?.. At this point, I am more annoyed with the endless barrage of pro-BP2 promotions, but that is another story.

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon, instead!

She-Hulk, Story - Oct 13

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘She-Hulk’ S1 finale instead.

…Actually, the ‘She-Hulk’ S1 finale – ‘Whose Story?’ – is not that much an improvement, either. Instead of returning ‘She-Hulk’ to the series’ MCU roots, the storywriters took the series in a weird direction. Pause.

Let us try again. With ‘She-Hulk’, the MCU tried to do something different from its’ previous installments – a rom-com TV series, just as the ‘Werewolf by Night’ special was supposed to take MCU into the horror genre area. This is not a bad concept, but the thing is that MCU, such as it is, does not fall into the ‘fit one, fit all’ area. Marvel comics are, well, action comics, and action-driven comics, and without that action drive, they… stagnate. Or, at least, they do not go anywhere – hence, the ‘She-Hulk’ series, (so far, but I am not being optimistic by now), which almost didn’t do anything to promote the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe further. Almost, because at the end of this episode the Marvel Cinematic Universe does go further – the actual Hulk returns, Titania seems to be a halfway decent individual after all, Blonsky is morally ambiguous instead of being a straightforward good guy, and so on.

Actually, about Blonsky – Wong does take him back to Kamar-Taj after all; given how neither of them were this season’s ‘Big Bad’, this does raise an interesting question: now what? What will this unlikely male duo do next? In addition, where does Madisynn fit into this?

Another pause. Here is the thing. The ‘She-Hulk’ S1 finale almost redeems itself; almost, because the middle five episodes of S1 had not much to do with either the first two or the last two episodes. These four eps actually have some of the ‘mainstream’ Marvel feel, and they work – more or less. The middle five – not so much. So what?

That is the tough one. On one hand, Disney/MCU can do whatever they want to do at this point – unlike the SW aspect of this juggernaut, the majority of their fans will swallow anything; on the other extremity – Disney/MCU has announced that they’re delaying a lot of their releases not too long after their official proclamation of the schedule, so, clearly, something isn’t going according to the grand plan. Consequently, Disney/MCU can diminish ‘She-Hulk’ to a nearly stationary rom-com; on the other, they may not be able to afford this, as when you think about it, any TV series, (or a movie, or a book, a magazine, etc.), is just a product that its’ maker must sell – to their audience.

…Here is not quite a pause, but more of an admittance: the above statement applies to fiction. In case of non-fiction, the situation is slightly different, as fiction applies to the audience in general, while non-fiction has a more specific, a more defined audience. However, since ‘She-Hulk’ is fiction, it is supposed to be sold to everyone, who cares about MCU…and maybe a few other folks. Instead, it appeared to have become not as successful as ‘Werewolf by Night’ was, implying that Disney/MCU is not as good at playing the market, as it would like to pretend.

This brings us back to ‘She-Hulk’. As an MCU rom-com, it was something of an experiment, here, and as such, it was expected to bring in success if it were to continue. So far, it did not do as well as Disney/MCU expected it to, and the more successful parts were the more old-fashioned and less experimental ones. Consequently, it is anyone’s guess as to where the future will take ‘She-Hulk’, and the rest of MCU, given that there already are delays and what else have you.

(Oh, wait, there is the ‘Wakanda Forever’ film coming in November 2022, but I am not holding my breath about it either, but let us wait for it to come out before we make any judgements).

…Therefore, for now, this is it. See you all soon, instead!

She-Hulk, Ribbit - Oct 7

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about this week’s ‘She-Hulk’ episode, ‘Ribbit’, since it is the penultimate one in ‘She-Hulk’ S1.

What is there to say? Let us talk about the ‘Devil’ in the room – a while back, MCU and its’ related/connected press services proclaimed that this will not be a sequel/direct continuation of the Netflix’s ‘Daredevil’ series, but rather a straightforward restart – and so it is. Somehow, Murdoch made his way from the East Coast, (Tom Holland’s third Spider-Man movie, remember?), to the West Coast, (‘She-Hulk’ takes place in MCU’s L.A.), in order to have a relationship with the She-Hulk, apparently… Pause.

Now, again, I have no problem with the two of them being in a relationship. First, Cox and Maslany really manifest chemistry between their characters… plus they have the entire red/green contrast thing going.

Second, Marvel has already done this thing with the relationships – I am talking about Matt’s relationship with Jessica Jones back when they were featured on Netflix series instead. The fact that there was no mention of her, or any other ‘Defenders’ made on ‘She-Hulk’ (so far), doesn’t matter – it only means that their fates are up in the air for Disney/MCU to decide upon, that’s all. As for Matt and Jennifer, I am reminded of the Marvel comics’ Avengers: at first, they were going to set-up Robbie Reyes, (one of the Ghost Riders), with Carol ‘Captain Marvel’ Danvers. (Yes, that one).

…And then, abruptly, Robbie/Carol ship disappeared; now, Danvers seems to be mending fences with Tony, (who isn’t dead in the comics, BTW), while Robbie is hanging around Echo, who is now the host of the Phoenix force in the comics and is about to get her own show in the MCU. (Hint-hint). What’s more, Keanu Reeves is openly hinting that he is open to becoming MCU’s next Ghost Rider. Pause.

Now, MCU already has a Ghost Rider – Robbie Reyes, played by Gabriel Luna, who appeared in AoS’ S4, and who was supposed to have his own TV show, but that failed, and he vanished from MCU after AoS’ S4 finale. That said, there was another Ghost Rider – one who turned Robbie into a Ghost Rider in his backstory, so there is room for John Wick to enter MCU. In addition, yes, there were several Ghost Rider films in the past that featured Johnny Blaze, but they are not part of MCU, so no problem from this part either. Back to the ‘She-Hulk’?

…There isn’t much left to say, actually – somehow MCU tried to turn ‘She-Hulk’ around at the 11^th hour, by having the Intelligentsia, (yet another super-secret super-villain cabal, sigh), attack her when she was receiving some sort of an award, causing her to freak out, and allowing the Damage Control people to step in, suggesting that the show might be stepping away from its’ previous rom-com incarnation. Since ‘She-Hulk’ S1 has only one last episode left, I’m not feeling too overwhelmed here, not to mention that as far as power groups go, Damage Control is just a surrogate S.H.I.E.L.D. – and we’ve discussed both it and S.W.O.R.D. in the current MCU before, so, uh, excuse me if I’m underwhelmed; the fact that the titular character here is one of the least sympathetic and popular MCU super-heroes so far doesn’t help either, (no offence to Ms. Maslany intended). As such, I won’t be holding my breath to wait and see as to how J.W. gets out of this one, as both she and Damage Control people are flat-out lackluster, and we have to wait and see as to how the new Daredevil version fares. Is that it?

Well, no, there is also the ‘Werewolf by Night’ TV special, but first – a shout-out to the upcoming ‘Wakanda Forever’ movie for its’ line that Namor is ‘Kukulcan, the earth-shaker god’. Whoever came up with that line is a moron, because Kukulcan was a different name for Quetzalcoatl – the god, the pterosaur is called Quetzalcoatlus instead – and regardless of the name, he was not a sea or an underground deity, no, he was a sky deity instead. Earthshaker is a moniker that is, or was, associated with Poseidon/Neptune instead, a much more appropriate deity to Namor, what with the trident and all, but because he is Old World and all, the movie’s scriptwriters pulled Kukulcan out of their… orifices instead.

Keep in mind, that Disney is associated with Kukulcan already – via Mr. Riordan and a certain Ms. Cervantes, who’s YA novels deal precisely with this mythology. First ‘The Moon Knight’, and now this. No wonder that Mr. Riordan appears to become done with this universe and is writing straight-out YA novels instead that have nothing to do with myths or with Disney. Well, kudos for him, ‘because his PJ is going to be a Disney+ TV series soon, it seems.

However, what about ‘Werewolf by Night’? Succinctly, it works because, firstly, it was short, compact, and precise, and Disney/MCU did not stuff it full of their Easter eggs and co. as they tend to do. (In addition, such approach works best in MCU – just look at the AC TV series). Second, it works because it is only barely connected to Marvel – it might be just your typical horror mini-movie for all that it is so no problems there. Third, the same can be said about characters – they may be from Marvel originally, but so far there’s no indication that they’re a part – that their world is a part – of the greater MCU universe, and given how MCU has been playing with the concept of the multiverse, this might be the start of something new entirely – we’ll just have to wait and see.

…Otherwise, for now, this is it. See you all soon!

What if, 'Killmonger' - Sep 15

Disclaimer: real life sucks, so let’s talk about one of its’ aspects first, instead, before returning to MCU. Where are we?

Ah yes, the YouTube. On this occasion, I watched a video called ‘Black Mamba vs. Viper’, where the victory was awarded to the black mamba, and I have to say that I disagree with it.

What is wrong with this match? For a start, the term ‘viper’ is an umbrella term: it covers the ‘true’ vipers, (such as the adder of Europe and the gaboon viper of Africa), the pit vipers, and also their immediate relatives – but that is unimportant, actually.

What is important is that the black mamba is an elaphid snake: its’ fangs are short and fixed, immobile – and its venom is a neurotoxin, it attacks the nervous system first. The fangs of the vipers – all of them – are much longer and fold when the snake closes its’ mouth – and their venom is a hemotoxin, it attacks the blood vessels first. Again, that is not important, but…

…But what is important is that snakes are scaly, rather than furry or feathery, unlike how birds and mammals are. As a result, when two snakes fight each other, they need to pierce scales, rather than fur or feathers, and scales can be tougher to pierce. The king cobra, which hunts and eats other snakes – hey, it is a living – is a cousin of the black mamba, (though do not ask me how close – apparently, the king cobra is not a ‘true’ cobra, whatever that implies beyond scientific classification), meaning that its’ fangs are relatively short and fixed and its’ venom is a neurotoxin… see above. However, it isn’t just much bigger and stronger than a black mamba – the king cobra is the biggest modern venomous snake, period, according to the official science – but it also has extra thick scales, in case its’ prey tries to counterattack with its’ own venomous bite… Put otherwise, the king cobra is a snake-hunting specialist and the black mamba isn’t, and when fighting a viper – any viper – it has to deal with an opponent whose scales might be thicker and tougher than its’ own, and whose fangs are certainly longer and sharper than the black mamba’s own… I am not saying that the black mamba cannot win this fight; I am just saying that the odds are stacked against it, that is all. Now onto the MCU?

Well yes, though given how Erik Killmonger – or N’Jadoka – has behaved in this week’s episode – we are not done with snakes. See, the way that the teaser trailer for this week’s episode was set up made us – well, me, for one – think that he might become a hero in this AU. Conversely, he became a villain, a manipulator and a blackguard, has killed quite a few people, some of whom were, or could’ve been, quite important to MCU, and have become king of Wakanda at the end, (though the episode ends with some optimism, more reminiscent of the ep 1x03 than the ep 1x04, for comparison). I am going with Shakespeare’s Richard III.

Let me elaborate. When it comes to ‘Black Panther’ the franchise and its’ corner of the Marvel universe(s), the themes of kings, kingdoms and kingships come up regularly, for all of the obvious reasons. The previous example was the 1x02 episode of ‘What if?’ which featured T’Challa as the Star-Lord, yes, but also as some sort of an outlaw king, a ‘white’ king, a fair and a just king and so on. Killmonger, conversely, is T’Challa’s direct opposite, something that this week’s episode of ‘What if?’ showed loud and clear, and that’s not a problem, but…

…But having already talked about the ‘Black Panther’ film recently in regards to the ‘Shang-Chi’ film, I got to re-digging some of my old files about the former film, and among them I found some articles that pointed out specifically that Killmonger was the villain of the movie, pure and simple, and not some conflicted anti-hero, cough. Now, this week – Sep 15, 2021 – we got a ‘What if?’ Killmonger episode, which confirms that no matter what the world, Killmonger is always a villain, and Tony Stark – for a different example – is not.

…Yes, this is a dig at the fact that there are plenty of people who are still sore at Tony, or at captain Rogers, in regards to MCU’s take on the Civil War plotline. There are also enough people who are still sore at Ward at the role he played in MCU’s AoS, especially the S1, when the effect was the strongest. Well, to put it bluntly, Killmonger was much more successful and ruthless than Ward ever was, period, so take that, critics!.. And also accept predeterminism, I guess.

No, seriously, the un- or intended other side of this week’s ‘What if?’ episode is that nature beats nurture, so to speak. Again, to use that particular contrast, but by befriended Stark, Killmonger got himself the opportunities that - anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D., ok, fine – would have dreamed about, (cough, the FitzSimmons, cough). And how does Killmonger repay Stark for all of those opportunities? With monstrous ingratitude, to put it lightly. Whereas T’Challa tries to think of everybody, and tries to make the world a better place for everyone, Killmonger cares only about himself, and the world can go screw itself for all that he cares. Fair enough, though the ‘Black Panther’ movie had that message rather muddled, and that version of Killmonger is dead anyhow, right?..

Is there anything left? Ah yes, the Hawkeye trailer that came out yesterday, (Sep 14, 2021). So far, it does a good job of capturing the Hawkeye spirit – I am talking about both Barton and Bishop – one that is serious, formidable, yet also a goofball on occasion, with some humor at least. (The Hawkeye version from the Ultimates comics lacked humor completely).  Here, we see the Avengers’ underdog finally getting his time to shine, and I’m not talking about ‘Rogers: the musical’ either. The bon mot here is that MCU is finally moving forwards from Thanos’ snap/Blip and its’ aftereffects for good… at least until Kang the Conqueror comes forth… conquering. Given that the current Avengers’ status is either ‘in transit’ or ‘undetermined’ I honestly hope that Kang will take his sweet time getting to MCU… and he probably will, as the ‘Loki’ S1 finale revealed that he has an entire multiverse for taking…and he already took over the TVA – but we digress. The point is that unlike the ‘Shang-Chi’ film, the ‘Hawkeye’ series fit well with the rest of the MCU Phase 4 – it is a transition story as Barton passes the moniker of Hawkeye from himself onto Kate Bishop.

As for everything else… oh brother. Apparently, the main villains of ‘Hawkeye’ – so far – are the tracksuit mafia, some sort of a Russian mafia variant. Oh, good Lord – now is so the time to annoy the Russians further. Not. As the U.S. has demonstrated to the rest of the world, it isn’t the shining nation on the hill that it claimed to be, and while RF’s president Putin is a staunchly anti-American man, it is just as true that for years – maybe even a couple of decades – the U.S. could’ve forced the RF to replace him with anyone else, really, like Mikhail Khodorkovsky but not necessarily, who would’ve kept the RF pro-American. Instead, the U.S. seemed to be perfectly content with Putin until 2014, when it all ended, and now they are trying to put the genie back into the bottle, only not. Biden agreed that Putin is a murderer – and then he promptly had official talks with him later the same year, (2021). Seriously, people make up your mind – either Putin is a killer and his regime is a direct affront to the American democracy, in which case any friendly discussion with him is impossible, or he isn’t, and his regime isn’t, and in that case, calling him a ‘killer’ or anything is just rude and wrong and pointless.

…As a matter of fact, MCU – and by MCU, I mean AoS – tried to do something about Russia before the ‘Black Widow’ film did. To wit, seasons 3 through 5 featured a yahoo called Anton Ivanov, who was a pitiful imitation of Ward, and who never amounted to anything because AoS just couldn’t figure out what to do with him – the man died forgotten and unlamented for, a Watchdog Alpha or not – and now MCU is returning once more to mother Russia in the characters of the Russian mafia. Sigh. Odds of them being as generic as Dreykov was in the ‘Black Widow’ movie ae quite high, hence why I am going to finish my rant for the moment, but I am not impressed, though that, of course, is irrelevant…

For now, though this is it. See you all soon!

Shang-Chi - Sep 7

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of 10 Rings’ movie instead. Where does it stand, exactly?

Why, at Marvel™, of course, sharing team Marvel’s™ standard brand of excellence! …Unfortunately, given that we are at Marvel’s Phase 4 by now, that is not enough, on its’ own – but let us elaborate.

Until ‘Shang-Chi’ rolled in, so far, all of Marvel’s Phase 4 was all about transition: Wanda and Vision have drifted apart, (putting it lightly), Bucky and Sam have become a duo, Loki has become a duo with Sylvie, and has become a proper hero rather than a selfish berk, and the title of Black Widow passed from Natasha to Yelena. Anything else? Oh yes, PP and Dr. SS, (different one from the ‘What If?’ episode 1x04, I believe), are about to embark on a magical journey of self-discovery, or at least PP does; I am not so sure about the good doctor… So, where does it leave Shang-Chi?

Kind of shoehorned into the same mould, technically speaking. Throughout the bigger part of the film, Shang-Chi travelled both literally and spiritually, both through the external world and inside of his own mind, trying to figure out as to who he really was, until he succeeded, (at least, by the movie’s conclusion). That’s not bad, but the problem is that the movie itself wasn’t a transition per se, as the ‘Black Widow’ film was, (and even that had problems…aside from ScarJo fighting Disney/MCU afterwards, cough), but rather it’s an introductory movie, not unlike the initial ‘Black Panther’ film, (another one is coming out soon enough). The ‘Black Panther’ movie had introduced Africa, (and Afro-Americans), to MCU. Now, ‘Shang-Chi’ is doing the same thing with Far East Asia, (and also its’ native people). Again, not a bad idea, but…

…But even ‘Black Panther’ had problems with its’ message, as we’ve discussed it way back when. ‘Shang-Chi’ has the same problem, and if you’ll say that its’ cast and crew went extra distance to avoid the clichés, I’ll respond that they’re inevitable, because Shang-Chi himself was a cliché – an Asian, or an Asian-American martial artist, who is trying to become ‘A Good Guy™’ person and escape his father’s shadow. The issue of Fu Manchu was mentioned repeatedly as ‘Shang-Chi’ was coming to the silver screens, so let’s not chew on it too much, but, again, Fu Manchu’s villainy worked because he was a cliché, by the Western standards anyhow – an alien, a foreigner, who isn’t, mmm, Caucasian, but who is intelligent, and rich, and formidable all the same. ‘Shang-Chi’ the movie tries to avoid that cliché by taking place – in a large part – outside of a real world altogether, but rather in the magical place of To-La…or inside Shang-Chi’s mind…or on a different plane of existence altogether…you get the drift. Not such a bad idea, but unfortunately a large part of Disney/MCU’s strength is its’ realism; the latter often tried to reference real life events and people, (especially in the first phases), and once ‘Shang-Chi’ moved away from that state of affairs, it floundered. ‘Black Panther’ didn’t go in that direction, BTW – indeed, the movie was about Wakanda ending its’ isolation, and instead becoming a part of the greater MCU world, ‘thanks’ to Killmonger and his actions – there’s nothing like that in ‘Shang-Chi’; rather, Wu Xenxu’s crime organization remains a world apart from the rest of MCU, and so’s the village of To La. ‘Black Panther’ destroyed, (well, started the process of), isolation; ‘Shang-Chi’ did none of that.

This brings us to the second big difference between ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Shang-Chi’ – the matter of ethnicity, or of race. ‘Black Panther’ was all about Africa; ‘Shang-Chi’ – about Asia, or more precisely, it is all about the Far East. Yes, it is a Western term, but since we are still living in a predominantly Western world, that is the term we are going to use. Therefore, what about it?

This is the latest attempt of the Western cinematography to break into the Far Eastern cinemas and etc. There were ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, ‘Mulan-2020’, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ to name a few, and now there is also ‘Shang-Chi’. The West does not care about the African mass media market and culture so much, in part, because the latter are so underdeveloped when compared to the U.S., but it cares about the Far Eastern version because of communism and the Far Eastern culture in general – neither of these factors are too friendly towards the West. ‘Mulan-2020’ in particular have brought those differences to the fore, and the West, embodies by Disney, folded first. Disney/MCU (+SW, etc.), may pretend to be fair, progressive, politically correct and so on, but the bottom line is all about the dollar. Given how much of the latter ‘Shang-Chi’ has brought to Disney/MCU, it obvious works, though maybe the heroic Black Widow ScarJo will do something about that with her lawsuit. Anything else?

…Just that even the ‘Black Panther’ film had some token characters of a different color, cough, that were actually important to the film; ‘Shang-Chi’ – not so much. As a result, the movie again suffers, becoming less of a movie and more of a propaganda piece…whose message is a lie, on top of everything else, and everyone is aware of it, more or less cognizantly. U.S. in general seems to have problems in this department; it seems to rely too heavily on its’ media to shape its’ own story, and it does not work. It didn’t work back in the elections-2016, and it doesn’t work now: no ‘FBI: International’ or ‘NCIS: Hawaii’ TV series will hide the fact that the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan with its’ tail between its’ legs, no so much an eagle or a lion, but rather whipped toy dog, but we digress.

No, no really. When ‘Black Panther’ was made and released, the U.S. still considered itself to be on top of the world, and most of the world played along, (cough, RF’s conquering of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, cough). Now, ‘Shang-Chi’ is playing in the world where the former statement is clearly false, and the rest of the world has to admit it. (Alternatively, it was the one doing the forced admitting). How will this affect ‘Shang-Chi’ and the rest of MCU? I have no idea, but out of the two movies, I have still enjoyed ‘Black Panther’ better.

…This is it for now; see you all soon!

Mulan trailer 2 - Dec 5

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about yet another movie trailer – this time, it is the upcoming ‘Mulan’ remake. And? What can be said about it? Looks like it is going to be ‘woke’.

…You know what; let us talk about what this term means in relation to movies, starting with the upcoming ‘Mulan’ remake. In the original ‘Mulan I’ movie, there were two specific characters that were particular: the matchmaker and Chi-Fu, aka the clerk that was there with Li Shang’s secondary army. The Matchmaker was a fat mountain of a woman; Chi-Fu – a skinny weasel of a man; both were minor antagonists, and both were physically unattractive, in a comic way. From what the remake’s second trailer shows us, ‘Mulan-2020’ will have none of this.

Is it a good thing? On one level – yes. Already, Disney/Marvel is catching flack both for the upcoming Red Guardian in the ‘Black Widow-2020’ film: not unlike Thor in ‘Endgame’, he is something of a fat funny drunk, not unlike John Falstaff from Shakespeare’s ‘Henry IV’ plays, but enough of modern people found neither Thor in ‘Endgame’ nor this version of the Red Guardian particularly funny, and they made it known to Disney. True, Disney is still going forth with this version of the Red Guardian in the ‘Black Widow-2020’ movie, as they did with the fat Thor in the ‘Avengers: Endgame’ film, but-

-But here real life sneaks in, and brings forth – the Peloton. However correctly it is spelled, earlier this week, (Dec 4, 2019), it brought forth its’ own shit-storm regarding WG and WL. To wit, sometime in November 2019 it released a short ad, which goes like this: A husband gifts a wife a Peloton for holidays, she begins to workout on it, and it changes her life somehow – because she loses weight or whatever. The end.

Let us call upon Captain Obvious, and he states that, firstly, the wife in question – ‘Grace from Boston’ – was never that fat to begin with. Yes, compared to the Kardashians she may be plain, but not everyone is a Kardashian yet, thank you very much. She may have weighted, say, 52 kg at the beginning of the ad, at the end – around 50, but then again, she was supposed to have worked-out on the Peloton for an entire year. (What is a Peloton? A souped-up exercise bike, essentially, with its’ own Internet or whatever. Where were we?) This is kind of lackluster, but to be honest, the entire ad is vapid and empty – it tries to present itself as sincere, authentic and deep, but in reality it’s lackluster, its’ actors don’t look like people that need exercise for weight loss to begin with, they don’t look like average Americans (or Canadians) who watch such ads very much, and so those average Americans (and Canadians?) tore down Peloton’s real-life stock by… 9 or 10%. Considering that an average Peloton is a luxury item, that is not such a small deal. However – what this got to do with Disney?

To begin with, a Peloton is a luxury item, just like a movie – you do not need either of them in real life, you can spend money on them if you want, but this money can always be spent somehow else, on something more necessary, and since a Peloton costs somewhere between $2000 and $2500, you better get most of your money’s worth from it…and be ready to spend more money on it, both for electric bills, (because it runs on electricity rather than on solar or wind power, from what I can understand), and for maintenance; even an ordinary exercise bike or treadmill need this sort of thing every once in a while, and if you don’t maintain them, they die, with or without electricity. 

Considering that a Peloton proportionally is more complex than an average treadmill… yeah, maintaining it is probably more expansive than an average treadmill too. What next?

Next, Captain Obvious points out that no movie – Blu-Ray, DVD, ticket, whatever – ever cost a four-digit figure. True, and you don’t have to maintain it as you do a Peloton, an exercise bike, a DVD-player or any other device, but again – it’s luxury, you can get along in your life without it, and so movie companies like Disney and Sony spent a lot of time trying to get you to spent money on their movies all the same, just as Peloton does for ads that advertise their products – and what do you assume all of those trailers are-?

Since we are back with Peloton, what was its’ problem? Why are people so angry at it, hating it, mocking it? Because Peloton’s approach with it backfired – its’ actors are unrealistic, (Grace from Boston is shown wearing pink-colored high-heels in winter, which is just is not right, because while Boston is a more southern city than Toronto is, its’ winters still get very snowy – not the best weather for high heels). They are already trim and fit, they do not relate to an average viewer of the ad, who probably is not as trim and fit – and this brings us to Marvel and Disney.

Listen: before Thor in ‘Endgame’ and now – the Red Guardian in ‘Black Widow’, there was Maui in ‘Moana’, (2016). This is notable because, firstly, ‘Moana’ is a less asexual version of ‘Frozen II’ (2019): both movies talk about ecology, both movies have female leads, (though Moana is more like Anna than like Elsa), neither movie has a definite villain: though ‘Moana’ does have a certain, cough, ‘Shiny’ crustacean, but if you compare him to someone like Jafar or Ursula, let alone the original Maleficient he isn’t that bad, and both deal with ecology: in ‘Moana’, the world is experiencing a magical analog of global warming, while Elsa’s is more of a would-be ice age – but that’s only the dressing, the underlining message is the same. Yes, Maui is acting much more morally ambiguous than Kristoff does, but that does not matter, Moana may actually be smarter than Elsa and her sister, and in the end, she does save the day… largely by herself, whereas Elsa and Anna actually need each other and to lesser extent – other people to do that.

Is ‘Moana’ a more derived and complex movie than ‘Frozen 2’? Hard to say, but it certainly is than ‘Frozen 1’. Where were we?

Ah yes, Maui. He does not look like a typical Disney male lead, now does he? And from what I can remember, when ‘Moana’ was released in 2016, Disney did catch criticism about Maui’s looks – and then people began to defend Disney’s choice, and this brought controversy, something that Disney is trying to avoid.

Disney/Marvel went on ahead with the fat Thor in ‘Endgame’? Yes, but Thor was only one character out of many in that movie, and Disney/Marvel’s approach to controversy was to do its’ best to kill it, especially after the Tony/Steve rivalry began to get out of hand and the Marvel fandom was already semi-split and divided as to whether or not Hydra was Nazi or only evil? In SW, Disney did its’ best to plough over the fans’ complains, so ‘Solo’ made only millions of dollars in cash, not billions, because enough people had enough of Disney/SW, so now Disney is spending a lot of money to make a lot comics, animated series, series like ‘The Mandalorian’ and etc., to turn the public opinion back in their favor. This brings us back to ‘Mulan 2020’.

Firstly, ‘Mulan 2020’ already had had controversy, when earlier in 2019 the movie’s female lead, Liu Yifei, made an anti-Hong Kong statement; whether she was right or wrong is another question, but many people became genuinely angry at her statement. The result? Neither she nor anyone else of ‘Mulan 2020’ cast and crew made this sort of statement ever again for the rest of 2019, Disney wants to make money, damn it, not to cause controversy!

…We might have already discussed it in regards to ‘Frozen 2’ – around the time it was released, Ms. Jennifer Lee, who was in charge of it, made a statement that roughly amounted to ‘Elsa knows her sexuality best, she’ll tell us who she likes when she decides to’, and this statement reveals, that as far as women go, Ms. Lee has really big-ass balls, because it takes genuinely big-ass balls to make this sort of statement. Listen: Elsa is a fictional character, made by CGI. A live actress voices her, but only because Hollywood has not figured out how to make machines speak as well as real people – for now. Elsa is going to have a relationship with whomever the script tells her to – male, female, human, non-human, etc. Nothing more, nothing less, but-

-But the truth is, whether Elsa will be revealed as gay or as straight, plenty of fans will be upset and angry about it…maybe angry enough to abandon the ‘Frozen’ franchise – something that might’ve occurred to Disney’s SW franchise around the time of the ‘Solo’ film (2018). Not surprisingly then, Disney is trying its’ best to avoid a repetition of this situation from that time and until the present, let alone the future: MCU’s Red Guardian may be stirring controversy, but you don’t hear this about any of ‘Mulan-2020’s characters, now do you? They all appear to be physically attractive at the very least – just as the spouses of the misfortunate Peloton ad are. This also makes them about as relatable as the spouses of the Peloton ad are, and with the removal of such canon characters as Mushu the dragon and Cri-Kee the cricket, Disney may discover that their strategy has misfired instead.

…What strategy, you may ask? Simple: the ‘Black Widow’ trailer has generated plenty of discussion. The second ‘Mulan’ trailer – none at all; in fact, its’ timing may have been deliberate – Disney is burying it under the heap of SW-related news. Disney does not like controversy, especially when its’ ‘heartland’ – the Disney princess franchise – is involved. This brings us back to ‘Frozen 2’. In it, Disney has genuinely made something new – the new ‘Frozen’ film has nothing in common with the first movie save for the main characters – but when it comes to the underlying message, its’ depiction of the new Arendale-world as an ecologically-friend utopia, it falls flat. Even IGN, which these days hates to make negative reviews, admitted that Disney didn’t quite go the distance with ‘Frozen 2’; whatever it plans to do with ‘Mulan-2020’ may experience the same problem, and this brings us back to ‘wokeness’. It may be becoming a term with multiple meanings, but apparently in relation to movies and similar media? It is beginning to mean ‘inoffensive’, ‘vapid’, and ‘bland as possible’, as the characters of the Peloton ad show. They have no personalities, no characteristics that make them unique – and in Western societies, everyone is unique. Just ask Greta Thunberg, would you? ‘Mulan-2020’ doesn’t appear to be as bad as this ad, but neither it is as ‘bland’ as Disney might assume that it would be: for example, the new Shan-Yu still does have a falcon – only it’s no longer a mere bird, but his witch girlfriend, who’s the brains behind this invasion. Pause.

The ‘Mulan’ trailer 2 mentioned a phoenix that guards the imperial throne. This is worthy of a digression: the movie is talking of a Chinese phoenix, which, incidentally, is nothing like the Western phoenix. The latter is a Solar symbol, its’ depiction vary, but usually it is vaguely eagle-like, (because in Christian symbolism, the eagle is connected to the sun, a religious relic left from the pagan times). The Chinese phoenix looks much like an elaborate, more derived version of a rooster, or one of its’ wilder cousins, a pheasant of some sort. (The males of Asiatic species can look even more unusual than the peafowl males do). Why, sometimes it is even used in place of the rooster in the Chinese zodiac – but the point is while in the past there were male Chinese phoenixes called feng, and female, called huang, these days the Chinese phoenix called simply fenghuang and it is baseline female – an opposite to the Chinese dragon, which is baseline male.

Pause. Mushu the dragon exchanges a look with Captain Obvious and leaves to pump some weights: he needs to get into shape with a potentially hot phoenix girlfriend.

It must be pointed out that the Chinese phoenix is just as mythical, imaginary and make-believe as the Western phoenix is; it may be based on a wild pheasant or a domestic rooster, but that is it. Very quickly it became its’ own entity, and it is one that has no literal connotations with reality. There is no fire behind this smoke, no cryptid behind this myth. End of story.

…But the question of whether or not Mulan will learn/figure out as to how to turn into the phoenix to challenge the evil barbarian-witch for the supremacy of the skies has just began. Disney is trying to avoid controversy…but this way lies blandness and lack of interest from the potential viewers; as ‘Frozen 2’ showed, if you don’t go the full distance, you don’t catch the full attention. Yes, by making a concise, intentional statement you, well, officially commit yourself to some cause or another; you will be judged by its’ standards, good or bad. Pause.

…The problem with such state of affairs that it will cost you something or other, no matter how clever or powerful you may consider yourself to be. Fair enough, but remember the parable of the bat: beasts went to war with the birds, the bat tried to sit on the fence, siding with the winner, but eventually both sides caught onto her game and exiled her from both parties, condemning the bat to a life of ignominy and darkness. Disney, of course, is nothing like that, it has its’ own cause and commitment – money. Ergo, any attempts to do something truly radical and progressive will always fall flat, as they did with ‘Frozen 2’, with Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ (2018), no matter how Disney and its’ associates claim otherwise. Genuine, authentic commitment to anything other than money always costs money. Disney is not ready to lose money for anything, as the events surrounding ‘Solo’ showed. And thus, Disney and its’ movies (in all of its’ incarnations) will never be as radical and new and authentic as Disney always claims and/or tries to make them. The end.

…This is it for now – see you all soon.

The upcoming JW3 film - Sep 25

To continue talking about movies and their trailers, let us get the obligatory disclaimer out of the way: real life sucks. More specifically, I do not like climate warning, but I have to admit that I like young Ms. Thunberg even less: her belligerent approach is the last thing the world needs, and her entourage is somewhat reminiscent of the Hitler youth from the 1920s and 30s, which is bad.

Pause. The year 2019 – since we are talking about movies and related memorabilia – saw the release of the movie ‘JoJo Rabbit’, where the titular character has an imaginary friend. The friend’s name is Adolf Hitler, and the movie is not a horror like the ‘It’ franchise is, but is supposedly more light-hearted.

I do not like censure and censorship, but I have to admit that I am on board with the RF government on this one: they refused to show this movie in their country. You just don’t mess with some things, and to someone like them, ‘JoJo Rabbit’ may seem like an early half-assed attempt to re-write history by pretending that Hitler (and his regime) was imaginary, and the WWII was all the Communists’ fault, and all the information to the contrary is fake news. It is paranoid, yes, but some things you just do not fiddle with, not unless you want to set-off a chain reaction.

…The Donald appears to have set-off a chain reaction again, seeing how he has twitted a Tweet or two regarding Ms. Thunberg; the tweet is supposed to be taking sarcastically and despairingly, but, sadly, there is no indication that he isn’t trying to be genuinely nice here. Of course, he may also be genuinely trying to get himself impeached, but this is not my point here; my point here is that Ms. Thunberg’s take on things sometimes isn’t too different from the Donald’s; Ms. Thunberg has Asperger’s, (or something similar); what about the Donald? Is he conventionally sane, even? Maybe the good politicians of Washington D.C. just should have him assessed, and-

-and what if he is mentally or psychologically deviant? Then what? Aside from the fact that part of the reason as to why hasn’t been impeached up to date because if he does, his role will be taken over by Mike Pence, who is feared and hated, (whereas the Donald himself is more like hated and reviled instead), then where does it leave the U.S.? With a president that really conventionally not sane? With a president who has been removed for precisely the same reason, yet who had been competent enough to get himself elected in the first place? Somewhere else? Hypothetical, let alone real-life, situations like this one can cause the West to re-evaluate its’ values, something that it really does not want – but we have digressed.

Let us talk about movies… apolitical movies. How about the third ‘Jurassic World’ film? It will feature not just the new-original cast, but also the original cast – Ian Malcolm, Dr. Alan Grant, and Dr. Ellie Sattler. Put otherwise, we can safely say that this reboot of the JP franchise ran out of steam and ideas. Both the ‘Fallen Kingdom’ film and the BBR short feature depicted humans living in a new ‘Jurassic World’, co-existing with dinosaurs and other formerly extinct Mesozoic monsters, now reborn thanks to Dr. Wu and his wizardry. That is a good enough concept, but somehow the first two ‘Jurassic World’ films did not really do it justice; the BBR short feature did a better job, but it really isn’t that much different from the ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ film with some elements of the ‘Jurassic Park: The Lost World’ movie thrown in. Yes, it has done its’ job in getting people excited once more about dinosaur movies… but only to a limited extent. The first two ‘Jurassic World’ movies just dropped the ball too much as far as most of the audience members believe, and it is unlikely that the third film will change this state of affairs. Anything else?

There is now a trailer for a film named ‘Primal’, that is supposed to come out later this year or sometime around that. It features a ship in a storm, where a dangerous convict has escaped and released the rest of the ship’s cargo, including a white jaguar. What is the punchline?

There are no white jaguars; there are white tigers and lions, (and boy, are they a real-life mess and a half), but not white jaguars or leopards. (There may be albino jaguars and leopards, but I have not heard of them either). The black or melanistic jaguars and leopards are called black panthers, a fact that became quite known since MCU’s ‘Black Panther’ film, but white jaguars and leopards just do not exist. Put otherwise, ‘Primal 2019’ is just as fantasy and unreal as ‘Frozen II’ will be, (or ‘Frozen I’, for that matter). Still, jaguars don’t appear in movies very often, (even as just monsters – judging by the trailer, the white jaguar could just as well been an Indoraptor from the JP franchise, both animals do about as much and are just as real), so hopefully I will be able to see ‘Primal 2019’ (or whatever), when it comes on screen…

Well, this is it for now. See you all soon!

Real life & etc. - Sep 20

…Sometimes, life sucks. Sometimes, some days just feel wrong, no matter what, and sometimes, you just think about the future and wince: you can see what is coming clearly, you just cannot figure out a way to get out of it.

Or maybe you can, you just are not sure, (or maybe you are), if the way out is not worse than staying on course is. Or maybe it is worse, but you are just going to go that way anyway, because which is the lesser evil here? …But we digress.

…No, not really, we do not. The hurricane Florence is gone, whatever is going on down with Kavanaugh and his accuser is a storm that few people want to touch, and whatever changes the ‘me too’ movement was supposed to bring were not brought, and people are beginning to experience backlash from it instead. That is important, because if ‘me too’ does not begin to bring-in sociopolitical advantages, but brings disadvantages instead, its’ support, official or unofficial, may begin to dwindle and then…it would end, leaving everyone right back where they have started…if by ‘everyone’ one means Americans. Even Canadians never got as much involved with ‘me too’ as their southern neighbours did, never mind the Europeans, and-

And nothing. The Americans love to believe that they are the entire world when they are not. Post-1990s they could – and did – impose their will and values onto the rest of the world and it worked…until it did not. Everyone and everything, even a country, even its’ regime, have a time limit, and once it runs out, that is it. You are screwed. Well, not necessarily screwed, but certainly done, and will have to invent something new or bide your time until the next opportunity to bring back your old bag of tricks. What next?

Yes, Russia, (and maybe China, and other countries), have participated in steering the U.S. in the direction of the mess that it is currently in, but so did the U.S. itself – it has no idea where it is going; it still has, well, democracy as its’ political polar star/lighthouse/traffic light – you make the metaphor – its’ light has grown vague and indistinct, and this is bad.

Look at Russia – it doesn’t have anything like democracy in its’ system of values, not anymore: Putin is apparently setting himself to be the modern Ozymandias: ‘look at my works, yet mighty, and despair!’ with not a sentient soul around to appreciate the colossal wreck – but it still has plenty of will and determination…and also an idea, or even – the idea, that democracy and Western-style politics is good, and it tries to go there, and maybe, one day, they will even achieve it, whereas the U.S….

Whereas the U.S. does not have that, or perhaps – it has too many majorities in it instead. There are too many people who have, well, ideas, of where the American democracy should go, and they all are pulling it in different directions, set against the background of the still-weakened state/country of U.S.A. The concept of ‘Balkanization’ of U.S. is not anything new; it is actually a common American dystopia, depicted in ‘into the badlands’ show among other things, for example. Will it come true in real life? We will have to wait and see.

Does the mention of ‘Badlands’ bring us back to the realm of fiction? In there, various goings-on are happening, too. The ‘Charmed’ reboot is happening in October 2018 and already there are people praising it for being ‘woke’ (or whatever), for having a mixed-racial cast. Sigh. The various films have already tried this out. ‘Black Panther’ – with a primarily Afro-American cast. It was praised…until people realized that ‘Black Panther’ was not about ‘real life’ Africa, but more about an idealized, American version of Africa – and the hype about that movie quickly died. ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ had a primarily Asian-American cast, (if not an exclusively one), and the same thing happened, only quicker, because as far as movies go, ‘Asians’ were less fictional than BP was, so its’ differences from reality are starker and more obvious. ‘Charmed’ isn’t a movie, it’s a TV series reboot, one that deals with witches and demons (among other things; the original series also had ghost pirates, ancient Greek gods and demons, and anything else, really), and the real-life racial issue didn’t really feature much in it; from the trailers of the reboot, it seems that the reboot will go down the same route, the races of the actors and actresses playing regardless.

The worst that can happen? ‘Charmed’ v2 will be a variant of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, in which Rowling has racebent Hermione, making her Afro-British, and by extent, Rose and Hugo Weasleys, (Hermione’s children with Ron) into biracial people. (Though yeah, I do not remember Hugo being in the story, but still. Let us mention him by default). And what happened next?

The play did not bomb, but only because the actors delivered – yay for them. There had been rumors of a musical/movie adaptation of the play, but the matter of Hermione and her race has come back once more. Either she really is Afro-British, in which case we need an Afro-British, or an Afro-American, actress in the HPCC movie, and that…isn’t something that is easily done by anyone, not even Rowling herself, who is very pointedly involved with the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie series, (where the bulk of characters, and especially – main characters, is Anglo-American, or European…basically, Caucasian), and not with anything ‘Cursed Child’-related. This means that all of her words in defence of Noma Dumazveny had been just that – words, and if the readers/viewers/fans are not buying them, J-Ro will easily switch back to an Emma Stone-Hermione, as she did with Jim Kay.

To be more precise, in collaboration with Jim Kay, J-Ro has started to re-release her HP books: they are already up to ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’, and the Hermione featured there is more like Emma than Noma, to put it blankly. Merlin knows why, of course, but if people are praising J-Ro for being ‘woke’…then maybe they should not, and she is not. Not really.

This, of course, brings us to Rick Riordan, who in his last novel, ‘Burning Labyrinth’, or ‘Burning Maze’, or whatever, also showed that he didn’t have to be ‘woke’ either if it didn’t deliver, and who has also started to release illustrated hardcover versions of his novels; so far, there’s only ‘The Lightning Thief’, done by John Rocco, (who seems to be Riordan’s artist of choice, when it comes to illustrating his novels and mini-novels in color), but it’s a start.

The dramatic irony is that J-Ro’s novels, illustrated by Jim Kay, are not selling so hot, and neither is the illustrated hardcover edition of ‘The Lightning Thief’. People just are not buying those books as much anymore, so both J-Ro and Riordan have their work cut out for them and need to invent new tricks or something, (as we have talked in the beginning, here). J-Ro is already doing this approach with her FB films; Riordan…we will have to wait and see.

Speaking of movies… a Disney/SW representative has made a statement, that they will be slowing down with the new films; after the SW9 movie is release, no new SW movies will be made for a while. This isn’t surprising; in fact, after ‘Solo’ this statement was to be made soon or later – right now, Disney has brought SW and itself into a corner when it comes to SW movies; but there’re always TV series to keep the SW franchise afloat. Maybe it will work in the end.

Anything else? No, not for the moment; see you all soon instead!

Pathfinder & real life - Aug 24

Real life sucks. In this particular instance, the suckage began when we were finally wrapping up our Pathfinder adventure path – the giants’ one – when one of our members proclaimed that Pathfinder the franchise was undergoing a reboot.

That is nothing new in the world of RPG; D&D, for example, has went through at least five reboots/editions, and does not appear to be stopping, not yet. For Pathfinder to go through a second, or a third, reboot is not unnatural or anything like that, it is only the question of whether we will continue to play it. We are going through the official playtest manuals/adventures/etc., and it does not feel as good as the previous edition, so maybe we will tone down our involvement with Pathfinder in the future.

…And don’t try to talk about loyalty; all too often, for various RPG franchises, loyalty is translated into sinking money into their property – whether it’s D&D, Pathfinder, SW, (yes, that one), or something much more obscure, such as ‘space 1889’ (or whatever it is called). As long as people are investing money, time and effort into an RPG, they are loyal to it, the end. When they stop, they are not loyal apparently anymore. Also the end and it is very hard to make a debate about an RPG, even if you do not have much of a life, (as I do).

Anything else? Apparently, there’s a petition going around about not making Zendaya the next ‘Little Mermaid’ in case Disney will a make a live adaptation of that animated classic too. Sigh.

Listen, when it comes to race in the movies, ‘nose goes’, as says Aru Shah. Everyone is singing accolades for the LJ Netflix movie, and no one cares that Lana Condor, who plays LJ, is Korean-American, whereas in the novels LJ was half-Korean half-American instead. Vietnam and Korea are as different as, say, U.S.A. and France are, yet no one is making a big stink about it in regards to the LJ film, while KMT, Rose Tico, another Vietnamese-American actress, was dragged through the mud… How is this for (in) consistency?

…Now while we are talking about Zendaya, let us talk about ‘Spider-Man’ and the rest of the MCU. It isn’t surprising that with Spidey away, Zendaya cannot play the role of Michelle Johnson in MCU, (and yes, Marvel has blinked there, it’s a different MJ, cough), so she is potentially free for other roles, even ones associated with Disney – and this brings us to the A:IW film.

Let us take a brief look at the roster of the dusted characters there. Bucky Barnes – a divisive, controversial character: some people love him, some hate him, and all are vocal. Wanda the Scarlet Witch – ditto. Black Panther… he was championed as some sort of an African champion and was this amazing movie milestone, until people began to proclaim him to be instead, an idealized Afro-American stereotype, an appeaser, and a conformist…basically, what Killmonger was accusing him of being. The hype died quickly after that. Ditto for ‘Asians’ – now they are proclaimed mainly as a movie success and nothing more, which is fairer for them, but still… And Spider-Man, who is already divisive – and not as a character. Rather, the rights to his franchise are owned, co-owned, by both Sony and Marvel, and even as the ‘Homecoming’ film was being made, people learned that Sony and Marvel do not get along all the time. Now, the ‘Venom’ film is coming in 2019, and even trailers it is said that the film is made in association with Marvel, not as a part of it. Odds are, before Spidey returns to the big screen, Sony and Marvel will need to work their issues first.

As for divisive, controversial characters… Disney/MCU is quietly getting rid of it all controversial elements, whether it is something more vague, like Hydra, or characters, such as Bucky and Wanda, or real life people, such as James Gunn. He was supposed to produce ‘GotG Vol 3’ movie, but then got fired because of ‘me too’ related reasons, and… the cast, (and maybe the crew) of GotG franchise rebelled, and it all…ended in nothing: James Gunn is still gone, (there were negotiations, but apparently they didn’t work), but the movie too is put on hold, and it is shaping to be a lengthy one: how it will affect the next ‘Avengers’ movie, (which also features the GotG), is anyone’s guess.

Now it is still a better approach than the opposite number that had been executed in the SW enterprise by the Disney/SW team – ignoring the criticisms, and calling the fan-critics retrogrades, obscurantists, idiots, trolls and the like. Only now the Disney/SW team discovered that these retrogrades, obscurantists, idiots, trolls and the like are also the SW fan base, and as it falls apart into pieces, there are fewer people who want to give their money for tickets for a SW movie. Disney hates losing money, so again, it is anyone’s guess as to what the SW9 movie will look like. KMT/Rose Tico is going to appear in it, but in what capacity and how exactly is another question.

Anything else? We are trying some of the Pathfinder playtest adventures and do not exactly love it; it feels rather like D&D 5 ed. adventures with a slightly different layout & format. We got into Pathfinder because we did not like D&D 5 ed. in the first place, and now that it is no longer the case, we might have to rethink it, our RPG strategy – but that is life for you.

This is it for this time, see you all soon!

Crazy Rich Asians - Aug 19

…‘Crazy Rich Asians’ have aired this month at last. Already there are issues with them. How come?

Firstly, the plot. Despite the statement that the movie drew its’ material from the entire trilogy, it is still largely based on the first novel, the initial ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. Before anyone begins to argue, let us immediately agree that yes, the novel is about the nouveau-riche of Asia, the new aristocracy that is supplanting the old, European one, so calling the movie derived from the novel some sort of a breakthrough is a misdirection. …Or is it?

Before we discuss this matter further, let us look on the more technical aspects of the movie, how it is different from the novel. One notable difference is Astrid’s plot line – in the movie, it is downplayed; she and her husband break up and this is it. In the novels,…it lasts for the entire trilogy, and it is one of the least comic plotlines there, too. It is an inverted mirror to Rachel and her man, Astrid married outside of her class, a poorer man, and their marriage didn’t work, as he became a jerk and a stereotypical domineering husband, (in a bad, non-sexual way). Fortunately, her ex-boyfriend was there to save the day and help her and her son, so it all works out at the end of the trilogy. Yay! …But with fewer laughs than you might think.

…That is actually an interesting point. Not unlike the LG trilogy by Jenny Han, KK’s CRA trilogy is not exactly as comic as the movie may make you think; there are plenty of comic moments, but both trilogies have plenty of drama, too. This is reminiscent of yet another supposed rom-com movie, ‘Maid in Manhattan’, back in 2008. Remember? It has starred J-Lo and some other celebrities? It was a good movie, but it was not exactly a comedy, for a number of reasons.

One is that J-Lo is not really a comic actress; Salma Hayek, (re: ‘Fools Rush In’ from 1997), is, but J-Lo is not. Her current TV series, ‘Shades of Blue’, is a very good TV show, but it certainly is not a comedy either, and ditto for ‘Maid in Manhattan’ film. There were a number of comic/funny scenes in that movie, but as a rule, J-Lo was not in them. Funny just does not come naturally to her, and neither does romance, apparently: there was zero chemistry and Ralph Fiennes in all of the scenes that they were together, which was bad, because they were the lead characters in the movie.

Mind you, ‘Maid in Manhattan’ had plenty in common with the CRA film – both films talk about social inequality; both movies are set in big, famous cities, and etc. Both movies are also American, but mayhap we are getting distracted?

No, not really: another major difference between the CRA film and the novels is the downplay of the fact that Rachel’s biological father was an important member of China’s communist party – it is not featured as prominently in the movie as it is in the book.

…This was actually a point of realization for me, when I read the novel: it was set in Singapore (primarily), yet the characters came across mostly as Chinese, so I actually did some research about Singapore and China and learned, to my embarrassment, that Singapore wasn’t all that close to China, but actually quite far away, which brings us to the next point.

Firstly, the critics of the movie are not wrong: CRA is downplaying the multiethnicity of Singapore, focusing primarily on its’ elite, which is apparently mainly of Chinese origin, both in the movie and the novels. As such, it raises an issue: just how much of making the movie is an international win?

This brings us to Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’, (released in Feb 2018). It is a different movie from CRA, but it had been handled similarly – it was proclaimed to be an African movie, an Afrofuturistic movie, and etc. – and then people began to examine it more closely, look at the technical angles, and began to realize that it actually didn’t have too much to do with Africa, especially with real life Africa, such as it is: Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ featured an idealized American, or Afro-American, version of Africa, which is another matter altogether – and the same thing is going down with CRA. It has less to do with real life Asia and more with a stylized, fictional Asia of the novels’ author first and the movie’s actors, filming crew, scriptwriters, the director, etc. second. It is still a very impressive feat of cooperative achievement, very important for Asian-American actors in Hollywood, but just like ‘Black Panther’, CRA appears to be reaching out for being a movie of international importance – and this is where it falls flat, as Asians abroad, (especially those native to Singapore), have very different opinions of it than the people back in U.S. do, and it shows, as all the hype about CRA the movie is dying down already.

Does CRA matter? Yes, because right now U.S. is wrestling with the temptation of getting rid of its’ international utopia…for good. This is an ambiguous move, not because if the States do it, it is the end of the official-unofficial Pax Americana that has been going on since the end of the Cold War. Fewer people outside of U.S.A. want to get rid of it than the Americans pretend, but it is enough for the Americans to grow increasingly disillusioned with the utopia that they have been building since the 1970s, actually, and this is not good either. If U.S. stops even trying being an international arbiter, (as they have pretended to be in the post-Cold War years), this is it. The end of an international democracy and the end of a world that we have lived in for more than twenty years by now. What comes next will be different – just different, but we got sidetracked.

No, not really. CRA is a good movie adaptation of a novel, with plenty of technical differences from its book cousin. This is a regular occurrence for such films – the LG movie is different from the book as we have discussed earlier, and so’s ‘Freaky Friday’, or rather – its’ latest reboot, (that has also aired in August 2018). Somehow, people forgot that in the original novels… that is right, there were at least two novels – in the first, mom and her daughter switched places, in the second – a father and son, and they were all one family, a stereotypical nuclear family. In most of the adaptations, the family usually misses a father, and the son is much younger than his sister is. Somehow, there was never any stink raised over this odd development, so there is that. The latest FF movie version was wonderful all the same, too, but we are talking about CRA here.

…And it is the same thing. Whatever justified criticism CRA’s message might be bringing forth, the setting – the city of Singapore – well, does not. Everyone likes it, but many people loved ‘Black Panther’s’ Wakanda too, and let us be honest: while the setting can have some importance to the plot, (i.e., in ‘Main in Manhattan’, Manhattan and NYC did play an important role in having the plot go along), people usually stay to watch any movie for its’ actors – and this is what they’ve done for CRA: they watched it, and they judged it. As a movie, CRA is a success; as an attempt to affect real life politics, especially outside of the U.S., it is not so much, just as ‘Black Panther’ was not, (do people even talk officially about that film anymore?), so let us just accept it and move on.

…And for now, this is it. See you all soon!