Films and TV (Untagged spoilers)

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

I saw Spider-Man: No Way Home. I have to say, when this movie fires, it fires on all cylinders. The audience I was with openly cheered no less than a dozen times. The movie isn't without its flaws, but it does nail some pretty epic stuff and more than justifies the price of admission. I think I need to process it a little more before I can give an accurate assessment of my thoughts and feelings, but I will say right now my first impression is the film is the best MCU Spider-Man movie by a large margin in my opinion and is absolutely worth seeing for a multitude of reasons.

► Show Spoiler

The 2 big highlights for this is obviously seeing all the different Spider-Men, and villains from the various film continuities on the big screen together. It is a lot of fun seeing the actors reprise their roles and interact with each other. Seeing Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire back as Parker and in the suits is a pretty cool thing to see, I won't lie.

Green Goblin, Ock, and Electro get the bulk of the villain screen time, but Lizard and Sandman do have their moments, even if they are few. The movie does a good job of making you feel pity and sympathy for most of the villains, and thus you're rooting for Peter to help them rather than just condemn them to die without a second chance. Electro is much better here than he was in his original movie of you ask me. But the movie truly belongs to Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina when it comes to the villain side of things; they command the most presence, do the best acting, and have the biggest impact on the narrative. Ock is fantastically done both when the tentacles are in control and when he regains his mind and helps save the day. And the Goblin is at his most deliciously evil here; he manipulates everyone around him and proves he is Spider-Man's archenemy for a reason: besides wanting to conquer this new world he finds himself in, he makes it a pet project to either kill MCU Peter, or failing that, corrupting him and remaking him in his own image. Just when Peter looks like he's gained the villains' trust and reform them, Goblin successfully turns them against him, beats the shit out of him, and kills Aunt May before trying to stop Strange's attempt to fix the multiverse.

Aunt May's death is handled very well, given a lot of emotional weight, and she heroically goes out trying to save Peter from Goblin. And she even gives Peter the "With great power comes great responsibility" speech before she passes, which when combined with the wisdom Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire bestow on him later on, gives him the spark to push through his pain and grief and keep going.

Andrew Garfield gets a moment to redeem himself for failing to save Gwen, and Tobey Maguire gets to reconnect with Otto one last time.

Goblin does such a good job of getting under Tom Holland Peter's skin by the climax, pushing Peter to become more like him, that he goes into killer-rage mode and the two fight it out viciously, with Peter quickly getting the upper hand and beating the absolute fuck out of him before trying to murder him with his own glider, before he's stopped by Tobey Maguire. Tobey gets stabbed by the Goblin for his trouble, but he survives. Norman gets cured of the Green Goblin persona and loses his powers at the end, horrified at what he's done, and gets sent back to his own universe along with the rest, presumably at the very moment before he gets impaled; puts his "Peter? Don't tell Harry..." line in a new light.

When the multiverse is breaking open, there's a ton of blink-and-you'll-miss-it shots of other Spider-Man villains you can just barely make out through the cosmic chaos. I couldn't begin to catch them all, but I think I saw Scorpion and what may have been Kraven at the very least. I overheard one person in the audience say to their friend they thought they saw Morlun.

Matt Murdock/Daredevil--played by Charlie Cox--is MCU Peter's lawyer.

Ned shows a talent for magic.

All the referenced memes you could ask for are here and accounted for, up to and and including "You know, I'm something of a scientist myself." All the classic lines and callbacks are here as well.

Mid-credits teaser is Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock/Venom drunk at a bar getting filled in over all the crazy shit that's gone on in the MCU and saying they should pay Spider-Man a visit, before Strange's spell warps them back, but a tiny piece of the symbiote is left behind, so MCU Peter can clash with Venom in the future.

After credits scene is a trailer for Doctor Strange's next movie, which features Strange teaming up with Wanda to deal with multiverse shenanigans. During the trailer there was a shot of an avatar of Shuma-Gorath attacking a city and Mordo hunting down Strange, but the overall Big Bad looks like an evil alternate universe version of Doctor Strange himself.

[magnuskn]

Just came home 20 minutes ago from Spider-Man No Way Home... and it was excellent. Easily in the top tier of Marvel movies (probably in the top five). I really can recommend it.

[Dragaros]

Just came home 20 minutes ago from Spider-Man No Way Home... and it was excellent. Easily in the top tier of Marvel movies (probably in the top five). I really can recommend it.

I've had time to ruminate on it beyond my initial hype, and I can confidently say I concur with this 100%. I'll definitely be seeing this one more time in the theaters if my schedule allows.

///

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

"Cryptic new images from The Witcher live-action prequel series 'Blood Origin' emerge. Coming to Netflix in 2022."

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwf7EssFnXU

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqbZlAEUb5w

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8X6e-rinN0

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7LMFmSIKbI

[magnuskn]

So, I finished season two of The Witcher.

It was good. But you have to accept that the show clearly isn't doing the same story as the books, at least in general structure. Because I was pissed off after an early episode change to the lore and had to take a step back and let the idea that the show and the games and the books are not the same really settle for a day.

The forced diversity still is a bit "eh", but Anya Chalotra does such a good job with Yen (and the rest do okay) that I overlook that aspect and just take it for what it is.

Still pissed that they went with the polish name of Dandelion, though, i.e. Jaskier.

[Dragaros]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFGS4zZWGoA

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL9BBAR4WCw

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFq78_Nwpws

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMSdFM12hOw

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWVs43o0KLU

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https://www.empireonline.com/movies/new ... ive-image/

[Dragaros]

"King Ghidorah turns 57!"















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[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ooD2CZZig

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyUx2wkUst4

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvCteBCjlg

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0svPonHFTYw

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxNjrI9pJAY

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhqNW1AZIcM

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-N_6zCwJOU

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9cXIgatarA

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt_UqUm38BI

WELCOME TO THE CHAOS DIMENSION

[Dragaros]

"The 94th Oscars shortlist for Best Visual Effects."

[Mazder]

Just came home 20 minutes ago from Spider-Man No Way Home... and it was excellent. Easily in the top tier of Marvel movies (probably in the top five). I really can recommend it.

Just saw it myself tonight, damn good film!

I saw Spider-Man: No Way Home. I have to say, when this movie fires, it fires on all cylinders. The audience I was with openly cheered no less than a dozen times. The movie isn't without its flaws, but it does nail some pretty epic stuff and more than justifies the price of admission. I think I need to process it a little more before I can give an accurate assessment of my thoughts and feelings, but I will say right now my first impression is the film is the best MCU Spider-Man movie by a large margin in my opinion and is absolutely worth seeing for a multitude of reasons.

► Show Spoiler

The 2 big highlights for this is obviously seeing all the different Spider-Men, and villains from the various film continuities on the big screen together. It is a lot of fun seeing the actors reprise their roles and interact with each other. Seeing Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire back as Parker and in the suits is a pretty cool thing to see, I won't lie.

Green Goblin, Ock, and Electro get the bulk of the villain screen time, but Lizard and Sandman do have their moments, even if they are few. The movie does a good job of making you feel pity and sympathy for most of the villains, and thus you're rooting for Peter to help them rather than just condemn them to die without a second chance. Electro is much better here than he was in his original movie of you ask me. But the movie truly belongs to Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina when it comes to the villain side of things; they command the most presence, do the best acting, and have the biggest impact on the narrative. Ock is fantastically done both when the tentacles are in control and when he regains his mind and helps save the day. And the Goblin is at his most deliciously evil here; he manipulates everyone around him and proves he is Spider-Man's archenemy for a reason: besides wanting to conquer this new world he finds himself in, he makes it a pet project to either kill MCU Peter, or failing that, corrupting him and remaking him in his own image. Just when Peter looks like he's gained the villains' trust and reform them, Goblin successfully turns them against him, beats the shit out of him, and kills Aunt May before trying to stop Strange's attempt to fix the multiverse.

Aunt May's death is handled very well, given a lot of emotional weight, and she heroically goes out trying to save Peter from Goblin. And she even gives Peter the "With great power comes great responsibility" speech before she passes, which when combined with the wisdom Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire bestow on him later on, gives him the spark to push through his pain and grief and keep going.

Andrew Garfield gets a moment to redeem himself for failing to save Gwen, and Tobey Maguire gets to reconnect with Otto one last time.

Goblin does such a good job of getting under Tom Holland Peter's skin by the climax, pushing Peter to become more like him, that he goes into killer-rage mode and the two fight it out viciously, with Peter quickly getting the upper hand and beating the absolute fuck out of him before trying to murder him with his own glider, before he's stopped by Tobey Maguire. Tobey gets stabbed by the Goblin for his trouble, but he survives. Norman gets cured of the Green Goblin persona and loses his powers at the end, horrified at what he's done, and gets sent back to his own universe along with the rest, presumably at the very moment before he gets impaled; puts his "Peter? Don't tell Harry..." line in a new light.

When the multiverse is breaking open, there's a ton of blink-and-you'll-miss-it shots of other Spider-Man villains you can just barely make out through the cosmic chaos. I couldn't begin to catch them all, but I think I saw Scorpion and what may have been Kraven at the very least. I overheard one person in the audience say to their friend they thought they saw Morlun.

Matt Murdock/Daredevil--played by Charlie Cox--is MCU Peter's lawyer.

Ned shows a talent for magic.

All the referenced memes you could ask for are here and accounted for, up to and and including "You know, I'm something of a scientist myself." All the classic lines and callbacks are here as well.

Mid-credits teaser is Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock/Venom drunk at a bar getting filled in over all the crazy shit that's gone on in the MCU and saying they should pay Spider-Man a visit, before Strange's spell warps them back, but a tiny piece of the symbiote is left behind, so MCU Peter can clash with Venom in the future.

After credits scene is a trailer for Doctor Strange's next movie, which features Strange teaming up with Wanda to deal with multiverse shenanigans. During the trailer there was a shot of an avatar of Shuma-Gorath attacking a city and Mordo hunting down Strange, but the overall Big Bad looks like an evil alternate universe version of Doctor Strange himself.

I couldn't agree more, it's a ride of Spiderman movie history all the way through!

► Show Spoiler

As far as the Venom symbiote left behind thing, I don't know if Tom Holland is going to stay on any more as Spiderman to do that so it'd be yet another spiderman/symbiote thing if so.
I mean, I'd love for Tom Hardy to be the MCU Venom but it's sadly not to be...

[magnuskn]

Sssssooooo.... Hawkeye. This didn't hit the mark for me at all. By far the worst TV series out of the Disney+ Marvel stuff so far. Tonally all over the place, dumb behaviour by way too many characters (the new Black Widow is behaving on the level of a mental retard in her decision making), pay-offs are pretty weak emotionally as well. A shame, especially since after Arcane I am very pro-Hailee Steinfeld. Also, Jeremy Renner looks ready to retire. If you think Bruce Willis phones it in, I think Renner is waaaaaaay worse here.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYX2_lDYZpI

John Wick Will Return

[Mazder]

Sssssooooo.... Hawkeye. This didn't hit the mark for me at all. By far the worst TV series out of the Disney+ Marvel stuff so far. Tonally all over the place, dumb behaviour by way too many characters (the new Black Widow is behaving on the level of a mental retard in her decision making), pay-offs are pretty weak emotionally as well. A shame, especially since after Arcane I am very pro-Hailee Steinfeld. Also, Jeremy Renner looks ready to retire. If you think Bruce Willis phones it in, I think Renner is waaaaaaay worse here.

Should I watch MCU Daredevil before watching Hawkeye?
I know the big guy is in it but should that be my first impression of him?

[Alienmorph]

The Netflix shows now are considered non-canon, or at least set in an alternate universe (since now we're running on Multiverse "canon" is a conveniently loose concept).

That said... I would definately recommend the first two seasons of Daredevil, at the very least.

[magnuskn]

Sorry, never watched Daredevil. I found the Kingpin actor painfully overacted his lines.

[Alienmorph]

Alright... just watched Matrix Resurrections, and I must admit I had a decent time with it. Still reeks of the same "must revive IP... need more money" smell Jurassic World or Force Awakens had, but it had better worldbuilding than both of those combined, didn't just brush off the events of the original Matrix movies and it used the very meta nature of itself to also poke at nostalgia bait movies in general. Like, there's a whole scene making fun of the damn writers rooms full of smug, talentless assholes trying to maximize the appeal of intellectual properties they didn't create. Visuals and action were good, and the actors did all a good job.

Spoiler-wise... pretty close to the leaks...

► Show Spoiler

So chronologically we're about 50-60 after Matrix Revolution, what happened is that after the events of the original trilogy the machines had a civil war, as freeying too many humans threatened to cause a major energy crisis. Eventually a new AI known as the Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris' character) takes over, rebuilds the Matrix, takes control of the Sentinels and reignites the war with the humans, eventually whiping out Zion. But the free humans survive, in no small part thanks to the help of the machines and AIs that want peace, and togheter they build a new hidden city, Io.

The Analist has a better understanting of human psycology than the Arcitect did, and uses all kinds of emotional manipulation on the humans in the Matrix to maximize neural activity and thus energy production. He also does it to control Neo as well. Turns out he and Trinity were indeed dead, but they were both resurrected with advanced tech, and the stucked in a sort of limbo where Neo is a game developer who made a popular trilogy of videogames based on the events of his real life, and Trinity the married friend he's got a crush on. So that thei're still in each other life, but not so close they can just reunite and break free.

Agents are still a thing, but thei're a lot more covert now. There's also a thing called "swarm mode" that lets the Analist cause everyone in a given area go bersker and attack resistance fighters. The new Morpheus is also an agent AI created by Neo, made to be a mix of the original Morpheus and Agent Smith. He and other programs now can use swarms of nanomachines to manifest themeselves in the real world.

The Analist managed to piece back togheter Agent Smith too... he doesn't have his god-like powers anymore but he's still pretty badass, and he has been hidden in plain sight as Neos' business partner. Once he too regains his memories he becomes fiercely dedicated to break free from the Analist too, but seems initially convinced he needs to get rid of Neo to accomplish that. Eventually he realizes Neo and Trinity are hsi best chance of take care of the Analist and he shows up in the nick of time during the climax to incapacitate it.

At the end Neo and Trinity are reunited, and now they both have the power of manipulating the Matrix.

[magnuskn]

Since there has been a COVID scare over the weekend in my family, I haven't been able to watch it yet and will only be able to do so next weekend (well, if the COVID scare doesn't turn into anything more serious, but that seems unlikely at the moment). So, still dodging spoilers like crazy for this one. ^^

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWLFEzyn9J8

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s27xpz-qi-M

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wCH1K-ckZw

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34gHaRiBIU

[Dragaros]

"‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Third-Best Christmas Ever With $31.7M US; Domestic At $467M+ & $1.05B WW – Sunday Update"

"Spider-Man: No Way Home Crosses $1 Billion At The Box Office In Just 12 Days"

"Spider-Man: No Way Home Becomes First Movie to Make $1 Billion at the Box Office in COVID Pandemic Era"

[Ragabul]

Been doing a binge catch up of Marvel content which I'll be honest I've mostly written off (other than Spider-man) since Endgame. So far I have watched Black Widow, Shang-Chi, WandaVision, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Black Widow was aggressively mediocre, better than Captain Marvel, not as good as Wonder Woman. Shang-Chi I somewhat expected to like anyway but ended up enjoying more than I expected. I approve of what seems to be a wholesale lean-in into the more "magic" part of the Marvel universe since I like fantasy more than super-heroes/sci-fi stuff anyway. Between Scarlet Witch, Dr. Strange, and Shang-Chi, it seems there is going to be a lot of that.

Of the lot, I'd say WandaVision was the best. Hard to go into without spoilers but it succeeded in making a previously flat, somewhat annoying (because she sucked screentime from better characters) character into unquestionably the best female character in the MCU and one of the better ones in general. She might even have jumped up to my favorite in the remaining/new roster. She's a character that really appeared to need the slower pace of a TV Show. There's a lot of subtle stuff that a 2 hour action movie she's sharing with 10 other people just can't address.

The Falcon and the Winter Solider was the most pleasant surprise. Fully expected this to be a write-off watch for nothing but getting plot details, but it was quite well done. Again, Bucky gets the service of the slower TV Show pace (though he never suffered to quite the same degree from the movie problem as Wanda did). And they fleshed Sam Wilson into something besides "that C list black dude with wings." Was also pleasantly surprised that potentially very hamfisted, annoying social commentary was done pretty well. It actually mattered to the characters and story being told and was not just some awful corporate quota junk. It also did not fall into trendy, judgy racial nihilism as is unfortunately all the rage in so much now.

► Show Spoiler

Also, thank god, they made the new "Aryan" looking white guy Cap a deeply flawed person without taking the stupid low-hanging fruit option of making him a fascist or a racist or whatever which was also good.

(Also, a minor "yay" that the new Cap is from Louisiana).

[Dragaros]

I saw Matrix Resurrections. So this film is proving to be very divisive from what I'm seeing. Folks seem to either hate it, or love it, with the hate being the majority. I'm probably in an extreme minority on this, but I actually find myself somewhere in the middle, much to my surprise. For every element in the movie I disliked, there was an element I enjoyed, so it kind of balanced itself out. Its not great, just kinda… ok-ish? It’s a sloppy, messy movie that sometimes takes too long to move along and other times goes too fast and it certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the first Matrix, but it didn’t do anything that made me despise it either. It exists to just set the stage for a new trilogy, but I'm actually alright with that because this film raises a ton of questions that I want answers to and I'm invested in that. I disliked the direction the story went in with Reloaded and Revolutions, and this movie actually addressed some of my issues so that was a plus. This might be the most meta movie I’ve seen in a long time: being a meta commentary of the Matrix franchise itself, the movie industry and its obsession with sequels and reboots and bringing back old IPs, lamenting the lack of originality and creativity and art in Hollywood, etc. Sometimes it's clever and amusing and sometimes it's pretentious and getting high off its own farts. (I've even seen some people speculate that this whole movie was a massive stealth troll job to spite WB, and I don't believe that's true, but it's absolutely hilarious to think about.) Its also super nostalgia-bait heavy, but they do make it a plot point/theme in the narrative to be fair, so I didn't mind it but I can understand if other people do. One thing that is super noticeable is that the fight scenes are radically different compared to what you expect a Matrix fight scene: the camera work, the choreography, etc., but again it does make sense in-story and Keanu is getting old so I don't begrudge him that, but I did miss that "dance like" quality the previous films had with their action. The ending is a little abrupt and the best action scene is in the middle of the film rather than the end. All the returning characters where treated respectfully and their previous actions did have long-lasting consequences and made a difference, so no one or their accomplishments was just thrown out the window for whatever contrived bullshit reason, so good on the movie for that. Also, I actually really dug the Bugs character; she was a welcome addition. The new info we got on what's been going on in the real world with the machines and the conflict/peace between them and the humans was super interesting, I want to see more of that. There are a few retcons in how the story treats the nature of the One, but they're actually very easily explained and hand-waved away so I didn't mind them to be honest. Overall, I don't regret seeing it, I had a much better time watching this than I did the likes of Black Widow or Eternals that's for sure, but I can understand the perspective of folks who don't like this movie as well. I do recommend seeing it if you're a big Matrix fan, but it looks like I'm in the extreme minority on that stance, so take that advice as you will.

► Show Spoiler

I actually didn't mind the new actor playing Smith, but I did really miss Hugo Weaving. But again, it does make sense in the story. Smith in this movie is like a reincarnation in that it's the same individual in essence, but there are some differences. For one, Smith is capable of forming temporary alliances with Neo now; he still hates him and want to kill him, but his perspective is more "calm" and long-term this time around. He still seems himself as superior to both humans and his former machine masters, but he's not quite so genocidal or nihilistic as before, at least for the moment. He also seems to treat his relationship with Neo as more of an eternal struggle a la Batman vs Joker, and he's fine with that as he gets to perpetually mess with Mr. Anderson, or "Tom" as he likes to now call him. He's lost his virus replication power, but he's still got super strength, speed, and that Agent ability to hop around bodies. And since he's once had the code of the One and the Oracle as part of him, he's immune to the Analyst's time manipulation ability. Smith is the true wild card of the movie, causing chaos wherever he goes and messing up others' plans to suit his enigmatic agenda.

The Analyst was a surprisingly fun baddie. Much more than the Architect at any rate. And him weaponizing bullet time against Neo was actually a cool idea.

The Merovingian is still around, though he looks like a crazy homeless guy now who lost almost all of his resources and network when the new Matrix was instigated, and gives rants about how much he hates facebook and twitter and wikipedia.

So in the real world 60 years have gone by since the last film. The peace Neo brokered didn't last because energy scarcity from less humans plugged into the Matrix lead to civil war among the machines: some want to co-exist with humans in peace, and others don't. Zion was destroyed or abandoned, but the humans were able to build a new, better city with the help from their machine allies, so they're actually in a better position now than ever before. Neo's actions may not have lead to a sunshine and rainbows happy ending, but he did make real, long-lasting progress, which could cause the conflict between man and machine to genuinely end one day, and the Earth restored to its former glory thanks to humans and machines combining their skill sets together. It'll take baby steps to get there, but it's proven to be possible, and it's worth fighting for. I really liked it when Bugs tells Neo not to despair because his actions didn't quite lead to the outcome he wanted or hoped for. Even small ripples in the pond can have big consequences in the end. Neo might not have been the one to drive the last nail home, but he was the first domino that started a massive chain reaction that could lead to the desired outcome in the final accounting.

The Sati program returns, now all "grown up" and helping Neo and the humans.

The stuff with the Bots and Swarm Mode was neat, but not as memorable as the old-school Agents.

So the real Morpheus died at some point in the last 60 years, and we get a new Morpheus who's a program. The actor does a good job in the role, but you really do miss Laurence Fishburne, and the character feels different enough that it feels weird call the character Morpheus.

Trinity has always been a metaphorical catalyst for Neo, but now she’s literally his catalyst, to the point that she becomes part of the One power herself, including the flying. Looks like their "source code" is so intertwined with each other now they can only access the full power of the One when they're together. So now there’s The Two of One or The Two, I guess. Hell, with Smith being so connected with Neo as well I guess you could almost call them The Three, or The Trinity.

It almost feels like a Legend of Zelda Triforce situation: Smith is Ganondorf, Neo is Link, and Trinity is Zelda.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XEjtmQ9_fk