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[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: May 10, 2019

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting Vol. 19 - THE ETERNALS Movie

Created by Jack Kirby in 1976, Marvel Comics' Eternals are an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth. The original instigators of this process, the alien Celestials, intended the Eternals to be the defenders of Earth, which leads to the inevitability of war against their destructive counterparts, the Deviants.

Slated to be one of the films for Marvel Studios' Phase 4, an Eternals live-action movie is currently in pre-production with casting already underway. Not particularly happy with their choice with Angelina Jolie as Sersi, I thought it'd be fun to do my own fantasy casting for the film. Most of the characters chosen are reportedly set to appear in the film including Hercules who is rumored to be introduced as gay or bisexual.

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting:
Vol. 1 - Ant-Man [Link]
Vol. 2 - Fantastic Four [Link]
Vol. 3 - Black Panther [Link]
Vol. 4 - Guardians of the Galaxy [Link]
Vol. 5 - Doctor Strange [Link]
Vol. 6 - Justice League [Link]
Vol. 7 - X-Men reboot [Link]
Vol. 8 - Daredevil [Link]
Vol. 9 - Inhumans [Link]
Vol. 10 - Spider-Man reboot [Link]
Vol. 11 - Preacher [Link]
Vol. 12 - Captain Marvel [Link]
Vol. 13 - Old Man Logan [Link]
Vol. 14 - Namor: The Submariner [Link]
Vol. 15 - Cloak and Dagger [Link]
Vol. 16 - Aladdin [Link]
Vol. 17 - It: Chapter Two [Link]
Vol. 18 - Shang-Chi [Link]


Dragonlord's Movie Adaptations:
Namor: The Sub-Mariner [Link]
Old Man Logan [Link]
Captain Marvel [Link]


Dragonlord's Fantasy Battle:
Avengers Vs. Guardians of the Galaxy [Link]

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

10 Reasons Why JUSTICE LEAGUE Flopped at the Box Office

Warner Bros. and DC Film’s Justice League made its long-awaited launch last week and it debut to a dismal $96 million at the U.S. box office. The film was tracking to open at $110-$120 million last October. Cut to the present, it couldn’t even crack the $100 million ceiling. Compared to Man of Steel ($116M), Batman v Superman ($166M), Suicide Squad ($133M) and Wonder Woman ($103M), Justice League has the lowest opening weekend for a DCEU film ever. This would be unfathomable five years ago.

When The Avengers (2012) was released and everybody was losing their shit and declaring it to be the best comic book movie ever, the film had a whopping $207 million U.S. opening weekend and ended its theatrical run with $1.5 billion worldwide. People back then were saying that a live-action Justice League movie had a strong chance of beating The Avengers’ box office records, after all DC’s A-team was more popular and more well-known than Marvel’s “second-tier heroes.”

So who or what is to blame for the poor box office performance despite the promise of DC’s most iconic superheroes all gathered in one movie. Putting aside the quality of the actual film, below is a list of reasons why Justice League flopped at the box office.


1. Post-Traumatic Snyder Disorder

A lot of people found Batman v Superman relentlessly bleak, joyless, overlong, disjointed and crushed by its grim and incoherent narrative. So when they learn that Justice League is from the same director that made BvS, the thought of revisiting Snyder’s world seemed so unappealing and tedious to them. When they see the dark aesthetics and slow-motion action in the JL trailers, they conclude that JL will be more of the same as BvS.

With JL’s disappointing box office results, the general public is basically saying with their dollars that they don’t want to see a Zack Snyder handling the DCEU. The public actually told this to Warner Bros. with the poor box office performance of BvS last year but the studio refused to listen and now they’re paying the price… again.


2. Batman v Superman was already a Justice League movie

The reason why the gathering of DC’s most popular superheroes didn’t feel quite as special in Justice League because WB already spoiled that moment with Batman v Superman where the Trinity (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) met for the first time and battled Doomsday. The $166 million opening BvS received would have belonged to JL if the Trinity didn’t meet already. Sure, JL featured Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg joining the team but the casuals didn’t really care much for these “2nd-rate characters” since WB never gave them a solo movie prior to this, hence, the public didn’t really know them or cared much about them.


3. Rotten Tomatoes "cover-up" and score

Rotten Tomatoes has become a very popular review aggregation website to the general public. So when RT withheld its score for Justice League to promote their Facebook show See It/Skip It (they also withheld their scores for other movies even before this), the public mistakenly thought it meant that JL must be really bad due to the embargo since Warner Bros. has a minority stake in RT. That incident and along with the actual RT score of 40% discouraged a lot of moviegoers to seeing BvS.


4. Poor word of mouth from the general public

Even if you take out RT and the critics out of the equation, the public word of mouth has been mixed. Half that have seen Justice League thought it was good but not great, and half thought it was just above average or decent. Not exactly encouraging to hear for those undecided moviegoers, nor is it compelling enough to make them buy a ticket.

Five years ago when The Avengers came out, posters were singing its praises and raining down 9 and 10 star ratings like they were in a strip club. As of this writing, there’s barely any 9s and zero 10s so far in the Justice League ratings poll.


5. Marketing too early causing Justice League fatigue

To assure the public that Justice League was not going to be as dark and gloomy as Batman v Superman, Warner Bros. invited the media on June 2016 for a sneak preview of a comical meeting between Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen and a scene where the team, except for Flash, disappears on Commissioner Gordon. WB then released the first official Justice League trailer to the general public at Comic-Con on July 2016, one year and four months before the film's release date. Since then, the public has been steadily bombarded with promos for the next 16 months which could have caused a Justice League fatigue among moviegoers.

This is one of the problems with Warner Bros. handling of the DCEU, they’re always reacting, sometimes over-reacting, and don’t have enough overriding vision. Let’s take a look at how Marvel Studios is handling their marketing for Avengers: Infinity War. Aside from the sizzle reel shown to the Comic-Con attendants, they still haven’t released a single official trailer for Infinity War yet and that movie comes out in just five months.


6. No Superman in promos

Superman is noticeably absent from most of the marketing promos and posters for Justice League. I actually applaud them for not spoiling Superman’s return, even though everybody who followed the movie’s progress knows he is in there. But the fact is that the presence of Superman in the trailers and posters could have enticed casual viewers to go watch the movie and give JL an extra $10-$15 million boost to its opening weekend. Not really important but the team photos from the posters sorely lacks the vibrant blue color from Superman’s costume (plus they badly need a bright green color from Green Lantern).


8. Thor: Ragnarok steals thunder

Thor: Ragnarok came out 2 weeks ago and, not only received tons of praises from critics and audience alike, but debut to a surprising $122 million ($28 million more than Justice League). If somebody said last year that Ragnarok would defeat JL at the box office, that person would be laughed at. A Justice League insider tells THR, "If a B character from Marvel shut downs and outperforms the A team from DC, that’s an embarrassment." Indeed.

Ragnarok also earned $21.7 million on its 3rd weekend and possibly diverting ticket sales from JL. It’s also possible that casual moviegoers’ superhero fix have been met with Ragnarok and they’re no longer interested in seeing another superhero movie for the time being.

It's funny looking back at an old interview Snyder made back in 2008 where he made this foot-in-the-mouth statement, "The Marvel universe has gone nuts; we’re going to have a fricking Captain America movie if we’re not careful. Thor, too! We’re on our second Hulk movie. And Iron Man — $300 million domestic box office on a second tier superhero!" And this one in 2011, "I’m like, really? Thor? Thor has a movie? [Laughter.] Really? I mean, come on."


7. Steven Chbosky’s Wonder

Steven Chboksy’s drama Wonder starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson earned an impressive $27 million, stealing some of the Justice League’s ticket sales. RJ Palacio’s New York Times bestseller tells the story of a child with Treacher Collins Syndrome trying to fit in at a new school. Wonder is produced by Marvel Studios. (No it’s not)


9. Reports of post-production troubles

Due to a family tragedy, Snyder left Justice League on May 2017 and Warner Bros. assigned Joss Whedon, who was already brought in by the studio months ago to rework on the script, to finish post-production and film the reshoots. On July 2017, word got out that the massive reshoots cost $25 million (the average reshoot for this type of movie cost around $6 to $10 million). Henry Cavill's mustache was also an issue as he was filming Mission: Impossible 6 at the same time as the Justice League reshoots. Paramount refused to let Cavill shave his mustache, so WB had to spend millions just to digitally remove the facial hair in post. Soon, reports came in that WB has neutered Snyder and will no longer be a major creative influence for the DCEU. Near the JL release date, the negative buzz on Henry Cavill's CGI'd mouth began to circulate. All of this behind-the-scenes post-production drama and negativity could have influenced moviegoers into thinking that JL was going to be a disaster and not worth it to see at the cinemas.


10. Seventh member was deleted from final cut

One of the reasons for Justice League’s stumble at the box office is the removal of all the scenes of the seventh member - Steve - in the actual movie despite being heavily promoted in their posters [1] [2], cover books [3], behind-the-scenes photo [4] and they even showed a clip [5] of this member in action. Snyder even teased Steve way back in 2015 when he tweeted a Justice League image with the slogan “Unite the Seven.” Such a shame, I for one would have liked to see war criminal and Marvel turncoat Steve kick some parademon butts.








10.5. [Bonus] Some people thought it wasn’t happening or it’s not real

For years, @prod2821 kept telling posters that the Justice League movie is not happening and it’s not real. This might have affected a lot of the posters into believing that the movie is fake and influenced them to just watch The Punisher on Netflix instead. My "sources" tell me that San Antonio has the lowest ticket sales for Justice League among all the cities around the world.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

BLACK BOLT
Black Bolt is the leader of the Inhumans. With his destructive hypersonic voice, he has the power to destroy cities with a shout. In the GIF below, Black Bolt is stranded on Earth. First thing he does is shoplift by not paying for the new suit. He is later arrested by the police.


MEDUSA
Queen of the Inhumans, Medusa has prehensile hair capable of animating her hair for a number of feats. After having her hair shaved off by Maximus, Medusa wandered through the city of Oahu. Upon seeing an ATM machine, she demands money from the machine.


GORGON
Leader of the royal guards, Gorgon is able to cause seismic shockwaves when he stomps his hoof. Now watch him face off against his most daunting enemy yet - the beach.


KARNAK
Karnak has the ability to see flaws in every design/action and has highly-accelerated thought process to see multiple scenarios in his mind. Unfortunately Karnak couldn't see that loose rock which made him fall off a cliff and damaged his brain.


CRYSTAL
The princess of Attilan that has the power to control the elements which makes Crystal one of the most powerful Inhuman. They don't really show us much of her in action. Instead we are treated to special moments like how Crystal learns the "hang loose" Hawaiian sign or this magical scene where she learns "high-five" for the first time. She gets a thumbs up for good measure.


MAXIMUS
Maximus doesn't have any powers, he's just a schemer and a weasel. His sibling relationship with Black Bolt makes him look like a bland version of Loki. Maximus does excel in one thing though and that is touching shoulders [Link].

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

THE GIFTED Vs. INHUMANS - Which is the Better Show?

[Note: This is an old project of mine. Thought I'd finish it since Inhumans is now over.]

The inhumans and mutants have a strange rivalry going on in Marvel Comics. Since the X-Men and the mutants are owned by Fox, former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter ordered Marvel Comics not to promote the X-books anymore and pushed the inhumans as the new mutants-like race in the Marvel Universe.

This strange conflict between inhumans and mutants have spilled over to the TV world where both have their own shows. Inhumans debut on September 29 on ABC while The Gifted premiered a few days later on October 2 on Fox. So let's compare the main characters in the first four episodes of the two shows and I've provided some GIFs to highlight their feats.


ECLIPSE
Mutant with the ability to absorb and manipulate photons. In the GIF below, you can see Eclipse saving his friends by blinding the Sentinel Services and blowing up their car.


ANDY STRUCKER
Andy's power is not yet clear but telekinetic in nature. Doesn't have a code name yet but I personally think "Ripper" would be an apt title. In the GIF, Andy blows up a door to threaten the incoming lynch mob.


POLARIS
Lorna can manipulate the magnetic fields allowing her to perform various feats. In the comics, she is the daughter of Magneto. In the GIF below, Lorna just escaped from Sentinel Services custody and uses her magnetic powers to neutralize her pursuers.


BLINK
Blink has the ability to open portals to teleport people and objects from one location to another. In the GIF, Blink uses her powers to save her friends who are being chased by an angry mob.


THUNDERBIRD
John Proudstar is like the Captain America of the mutant underground. He seems to have superhuman strength, speed and durability. John also has a tracking ability and enhanced senses. In the GIF, John shields the kids from being killed by a runaway piece of a moving car.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Name: Shameik Moore Age: 21 (May 4, 1995) Height: 5'10"

Credits: The Get Down, Dope, Incredible Crew, The Watsons Go to Birmingham

Remarks: Shameik is best known for his work as DJ/break dancer/graffiti artist/drug runner Shaolin Fantastic in the Netflix drama The Get Down and starring in the indie film Dope. On April 13, 2017, Shameik was announced as the voice actor for Miles Morales in Sony's untitled Spider-Man animated movie. The talented actor and dancer would be a great fit for Miles in live-action but if I'm being honest, the downside is he looks way older than his actual age even with a clean cut and clean-shaven.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Name: Jordan Fisher Age: 22 (April 24, 1994) Height: 5'7"

Credits: Grease: Live, Liv and Maddie, Teen Beach 2, The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Remarks: I've known of Jordan for a couple of years now. He is a talented actor, singer, dancer and songwriter best known for starring in musicals Grease: Live and two Teen Beach movies. The actor made his Broadway debut in Hamilton on November 2016, playing the role of John Laurens/Philip Hamilton. Jordan is one of my top picks for Miles Morales and aside from passing through my criteria with flying colors, he has something that none of the candidates has - he partially looks Latino (Miles is half Puerto Rican).

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Name: Jaden Smith Age: 18 (July 8, 1998) Height: 5'9"

Credits: The Karate Kid, After Earth, The Get Down, The Pursuit of Happyness

Remarks: The son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden is one of the most hated celebrities in recent years. The teen gets a lot of flak due to his bizarre behavior in public, pretentious and arrogant statements, and public perception of nepotism. But before you pelt me with tomatoes, let me explain my wildcard casting decision. Though he wasn't a truly terrible actor (just wooden in some areas), Jaden's acting has improved a bit as evident from his recent work in the Netflix series The Get Down. What Jaden has in spades is that amiable and affable aura that is compatible with being Miles Morales. As for his eccentricities, he's just a kid and prone to saying and doing stupid stuff. He'll eventually grow out of this immaturity phase and could even win over the detractors with some respectable performances in the future. It could happen. Look at formerly hated celebrities Shia LaBeouf and Justin Beiber now (the latter only applies if you are still in tune with mainstream music).

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Name: Nadji Jeter Age: 20 (October 18, 1996) Height: 5'7"

Credits: Dance Camp, Grown Ups 2, The 5th Wave, Reed Between the Lines

Remarks: Nadji is an American actor, musician and dancer best known for his role in the Grown Ups films and Reed Between the Lines. He also starred in a YouTube Red original movie Dance Camp and can be seen in the video game The Last of Us as Sam. Nadji was the face of Coca-Cola print ad campaign worldwide 2011. Nadji has the looks and physique for the Miles role. Plus he's a hell of a liquid dancer which should translate well for Spider-Man's body movements and poses.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Name: Justice Smith Age: 21 (August 9, 1995) Height: 5'10"

Credits: The Get Down, Paper Town, The Thundermans, Miss Guidance

Remarks: After watching the first episode, Justice Smith blew me away with his terrific performance in the Netflix musical drama The Get Down and thought he would be fantastic as Miles Morales. In terms of acting range, he's probably the best among all the candidates I picked for the role. Justice will next be seen in the untitled Jurassic World sequel coming out in 2018.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: May 31, 2017

Dragonlord's Review of WONDER WOMAN (No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: Arguably DCEU's best film yet and the first legit good female superhero movie, Wonder Woman delivers thanks to its enthralling lead character/actress and sleek action sequences.

For decades there has been a misconception that a good female superhero movie is impossible to make with detractors always citing Supergirl (1984), Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004) as proof. Hogwash. The truth is those movies unfortunately just have bad casting, bad story and/or bad direction. Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman shatters those misapprehensions by being the first legit good female superhero movie in a major Hollywood motion picture.

Wonder Woman tells the story of Princess Diana (Gal Gadot) from Themyscira, an enchanted island comprised of battle-hardened Amazons. When Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands nearby the island, Diana learns about World War I and vows to stop the conflict by journeying to man's world by killing the god of war Ares whom she believes is the cause of the chaos.

Gal Gadot is simply captivating as Princess Diana/Wonder Woman, her charm is a delight and her beauty so radiant. They play the fish-out-of-water segments to humorous results and just the right dash as not to overshadow everything. Diana's innocence and naivete are endearing but not to the point of putting her down. When she goes into action mode, she's just a bad-ass. Speaking of badasses, the Amazons, though they only appear for a short time, were amazing to see in action especially Antiope (Robin Wright).

Themysicra is bright, striking and filled with vibrant colors. But when Diana goes to man's world, everything is bleaker and drained of color. In other words, they've entered Zack Snyder's world. Snyder might only be the writer and producer in this film, but his fingerprints are all over this, from the color grading to the impressive Snyder-esque action sequences. Thankfully he didn't infect Wonder Woman with a case of brooding and morose as he did with Superman.

Chris Pine is affable as Steve Trevor, the leading man and potential love interest for Diana. Danny Huston as General Ludendorff was a pretty good villain. Elena Anaya as Dr. Maru was a decent secondary villain. But due to the story's last act, the villains were a bit shortchanged and didn't live up to their full potential (more on that in the spoiler box below).

At times, Wonder Woman feels like a cross between Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger. Not a criticism, just an observation. These admittedly flimsy comparisons to Thor is due to the mythological background, regal ancestry and fish-out-of-water element while The First Avenger due to the period war setting and the enlisting of a special unit to assist the protagonist.

One of the best things about the film is the sensational action. The impressive fight choreography smoothly blends stylistic slow mo with fast-paced, kinetically-charged panache while maintaining motion clarity. The extended battle sequence that started in the Belgium trenches was stirring and simply outstanding. The rousing score by Rupert Gregson-Williams deserves a mention. The now-famous Wonder Woman guitar riff theme by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL is also present.

The finale battle brings about a jarring tonal shift that takes me out of the moment a little and the lack of build up for the sudden last-minute revelation was unfortunate (more on this in the spoiler box below).

For almost 10 years now, I've been saying to denigrators that a live-action Wonder Woman movie can be good if they just follow George Perez's 1987 seminal origin story or the 2009 Wonder Woman animated movie. And I was right. The 2017 movie's framework is clearly based on the two examples I presented.

Overall, Wonder Woman is an enjoyable viewing thanks to its captivating lead character/actress, engaging story, and outstanding action. There is no post-credits scene.

Rating: 8/10

Spoiler: spoiler thoughts and musings inside

Warning: Major Spoilers below.

The final battle is between Wonder Woman and Ares. Sir Patrick Morgan (played by David Thewlis) is revealed to be the god of war. What takes me out of the moment a little is that the movie, although fantastical in nature, was sort of relatively grounded in the way they portrayed super powers. Diana's super strong, fast, tough, has quick reflexes. These are all tangibles. But during the final battle, it becomes like an episode of Dragonball Z with Diana leveling up to Super Saiyan levels and with unexplained new powers and Ares teleporting, shooting lightning bolts and displaying telekinesis on a massive scale. Although they foreshadowed Diana's potential early in the movie where she accidentally zapped Antiope, it's still jarring to see the sudden introduction of high levels of super powers in an otherwise mostly grounded scenario. Many will probably enjoy this powerful version of Wonder Woman and there's nothing wrong with that. I just prefer the version with the sensible powers more.

Ludendorff and Dr. Maru didn't live up to their full potential because of the last-minute revelation that Sir Patrick Morgan was Ares, the big bad of the movie. Although Ares was mentioned many times in the movie, there was no build-up. I understand that they intended Ares to be a surprise but it was a bit erratic when he suddenly appeared and started doing Magneto stuff (even though I already knew Thewlis was playing Ares).

These are not major complaints. And maybe on future viewings I'll learn to accept it. We'll see.

I'll post more after I process the movie a bit.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: July 21, 2017

Dragonlord's Review of VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS (No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: A stunning visual sci-fi spectacle, Valerian is a fun, lighthearted, eccentric, retro space adventure with spectacular, hyperactive action.

Confession time. Going into Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, I was sort of ready to rip it apart and already preparing lines in my head like, "This year's Jupiter Ascending," or "Luc Besson's misguided vanity project," or "One of the worst movies I've ever seen."

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Valerian is a rip-roaring, fun, sci-fi adventure and has a refreshing, retro, swashbuckling vibe from the bygone 1980s sci-fi eras where it doesn't take itself too seriously.

The visual effects are simply astonishing. With a reported $210 million budget (making it the most expensive movie ever made in France), all the money spent can be clearly seen in the final product as the film wows us with top notch, spectacular special effects, dazzling production designs and magnificent set pieces.

If you enjoy watching sci-fi movies or TV shows to see different types of alien life forms, Valerian has you covered with all varieties of outworldly extraterrestrials filling the screen. Besson has been obsessed with bringing the comic book series Valérian and Laureline, from which the movie is based on, to the silver screen for decades but now has the technology to properly do it.

If the gorgeous alien landscapes, distinctive set designs, lavish makeup and costumes, stunning cinematography don't win you over, the frantic, fast-paced, thrilling action pieces will. Valerian also offers a lot of innovative sci-fi concepts and techs that's refreshing to watch. The virtual reality marketplace is so freaking cool and the action that follows is just bonkers.

DeHaan is simply miscast as the male lead Valerian. He is a good actor but I just find his natural line delivery to be too wooden. He reminds me of similar stiffed actor like Keanu Reeves. DeHaan also lacks charisma to pull off the role. A younger Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt would have killed it. On the flipside, DeHaan looked good in the action scenes, carrying himself with a cool, confident aura.

Redeeming herself from her last awful performance in Suicide Squad, Delevingne is adorably cute as the smart and sexy Sergeant Laureline. It’s not going to win her any acting awards but I liked her plucky, resourceful character. Too bad they couldn't figure out how to proceed with her character and basically turned her into a damsel in distress in the second half.

The romance angle doesn't really work, more often the dialogue was cheesy and the scenes came off as awkward to watch. Again, the blame mostly goes to DeHaan who just lacks the suave and charm to actualize it.

A couple of big name stars like Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke and Rutger Hauer grace the screen which adds to the overall fun. Besson even got some of his fellow French filmmakers like Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me), Olivier Megaton (Taken 2) to cameo as Captains welcoming the alien diplomats.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a stunning visual sci-fi spectacle that's also a fun, lighthearted, eccentric, retro space adventure with spectacular, hyperactive action. There's so much to digest in one sitting that a second viewing might be in order. I suspect that Valerian is one of those films that gets better and more appreciated over the course of time.

Rating: 7.5/10

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: July 25, 2017

Zack Snyder Will Have a Smaller Role in the DCEU Future and Other Shake-ups

Zack Snyder, primary engineer of the DC Comics movie universe since Man of Steel, whose creative vision has been polarizing to say the least, will take a significantly smaller role with the franchise going forward, as will his wife, producer Deborah Snyder, Mashable has learned.

The Snyders left Justice League as director and producer in May, saying they needed time to grieve for their 20-year-old daughter, who had died by suicide two months before. Multiple sources with knowledge of Warner Bros.' plans say that as the DC Extended Universe moves forward, the Snyders will no longer have anything like the level of creative influence that got the franchise to this point.

For its part, Warners strongly denied the notion that the Snyders would no longer be actively involved in creative decision-making. Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros. Pictures Group president and chief content officer, said in a statement that the Snyders would maintain a role:

"The Snyders remain an important part of the Warner Bros. family and are actively involved in several upcoming DC pictures, including their continued creative input on Justice League. We are excited about our partnership and look forward to our continued collaboration."

Indeed, Zack and Deborah will be getting respective directing and producing credits on Justice League — they oversaw the bulk of production after all — and it's still possible that they'll carry executive producer or other types of credits for future DC films. But that involvement will be at a distance, multiple sources say, and for the time being the two are spending time with family while figuring out their next move, which is understood to include Warner Bros. films not within the DCEU.

While the Snyders' phasing out may not come entirely as a surprse, it's sure to send a shockwave through DC fandom, which fiercely supported Snyders' films in the face of harsh critical reception. And struggles with the Snyders were not entirely due to the increasingly hostile critical reactions to their films — Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad in particular: Warner Bros. brass was becoming increasingly concerned with their tendency to drive up budgets, and have been anxious for a freshened creative direction that manifested in Wonder Woman, on which the Snyders were producers.

Zack Snyder had been heavily involved in all of DC's movies to-date; he directed Man of Steel and Batman v Superman and was an executive producer on Suicide Squad. And future films like Aquaman, Suicide Squad 2 and The Flash: Flashpoint still carry his name in producing roles.

His creative imprint — a dark, metallic visual style and grim, brooding, muscular-emo sensibility — were all over the DCEU, and will surely linger into future films. But the post-Snyders regime is widely expected to take the films in a more hopeful, colorful, comic-book inflected direction — like what we saw work so well with Wonder Woman.

At the forefront of that effort is Geoff Johns, who swiftly ascended from the comic-book world to become president and chief creative officer at Warners' DC division last year, reporting to Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment. His close creative partner and secret weapon will be Joss Whedon, who stepped in for the departing Snyders to finish Justice League.

As Variety first reported on Monday, extensive re-shoots are under way on that film, and more than the usual regularly scheduled pickup shots; sources confirm that while Snyder's action sequences are useable, a wide swath of story and dialogue are being redone.

Whedon also has Batgirl on the DC slate, which is expected to proceed on schedule. But Whedon — who never quite got the credit he deserved as a key architect of Marvel's cinematic universe alongside Kevin Feige after Avengers: Age of Ultron — will be a major part of WB's creative team in the future.

To some, the same can possibly be said for Aquaman director James Wan and Matt Reeves, the War for the Planet of the Apes director who is taking over the directing chair from Ben Affleck on the planned Batman movie. It's early yet, but Reeves' reputation after Apes could not be more sterling, his world-building chops are clearly first rate and the studio will throw its support to him.

Another person whose involvement is now in question: David Ayer, the Suicide Squad helmer, who is still listed as the director of the Harley Quinn-led spinoff Gotham City Sirens. That film was not featured in Warner Bros.' Comic-Con sizzle reel of nine upcoming DC movies last weekend, and sources say Ayer won't ultimately be part of their plans. Ayer's rep flatly denied that he's off the project, saying it's still in development and that the script is not yet complete.

But there are other signs that he's moving on: Ayer seemed to signal his discontent with his WB/DC experience at his Comic-Con panel on Thursday for Bright, the fantasy buddy-cop film that Netflix gave him $90 million to make.

"I don't think people realize the situation filmmakers face," Ayer said, stressing that Netflix didn't intervene in his process — they just let him run with it. "[Bright] isn't like, some bullshit standard issue studio PG-13 movie. I was able to do some real shit here," said Ayer, who has directed exactly one PG-13 movie in his career: Suicide Squad.

Patty Jenkins, on the other hand, is definitely in the insiders club — as if there would be any doubt of that, given that Wonder Woman is now the DCEU's most successful film.

At the very first screening of Wonder Woman for select press, Johns and the WW director held court at a reception that followed; as things wound down and people were leaving, Johns and Jenkins shared a warm embrace and exchanged kind words — they knew they had made something special, and it was clear that its director and DC's new creative honcho are fans of one another.

And the timing of changes at Warners' DC division are not entirely coincidental: Kevin Tsujihara, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, knows he needs to get his studio's most important house in order before parent company Time Warner's impending merger with AT&T. New bosses will want to see more results like Wonder Woman — which is still legging out record-breaking box office on a leaner budget — and less like Batman v Superman, which was a bona fide worldwide hit, but plunged in its ensuing weekends and cost a massive fortune.

The Zack Snyder era of DC movies is coming to a close at Warner Bros

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: July 26, 2017

Dragonlord's Review of ATOMIC BLONDE (No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: The impressive, brutal fight choreography is the only thing keeping this frigid Cold War spy thriller from fizzling out.

Angelina Jolie was the undoubtedly the queen of action movies back in the 2000s with such hits as the Tomb Raider films, Wanted, Salt and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Nipping at Jolie's crown for the better part of the past decade, Charlize Theron takes up the abandoned mantle with recent action/adventure flicks as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Fate of the Furious, The Huntsman: Winter's War and now, Atomic Blonde.

Based on Anthony Johnston's graphic novel The Coldest City, Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, a top-level spy for MI6 sent to Germany on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall to retrieve a coveted master list and to uncover the identity of the double agent called Satchel.

Veteran stunt master and one half of the John Wick architects, Atomic Blonde director David Leitch continues his dominance in the action world with staging several gratifying, bone-crunching fight scenes including a spectacularly brutal extended "one-take" shot during the film's climax in an apartment building's stairwell. Leitch downplays the gun-fu aspect in which he is famously known for and focuses more on the hand-to-hand combat facet of the spectrum.

Lorraine Broughton (Theron's character) is unquestionably a bad-ass heroine with the actress admirably doing roughly 98% of her own stunts. More Jane Wick than John le Carre, Lorraine dispatches her opponents with steely resolve and resourcefulness, using everything from car keys, an ice pick, a garden hose, or a stiletto to get the job done. Props also to the film's dose of realism as Lorraine is not untouchable as we see her get punched, bruised and even gas out in the middle of a fight.

Unfortunately there's a disconnection side to Theron's performance as Lorraine seemed so robotic, so detached and her lines so carefully calculated and aloof that it's hard to form a rapport with her character resulting in a film with great action but zero emotional stakes.

Lacing the sophistication, suspense building and spycraft mastery of a John le Carre production, Atomic Blonde's skillful action scenes are not enough to overcome its muddled narrative. Adding to its murkiness is David Percival (played gleefully by James McAvoy), a British spy that has gone "native" in Berlin. They already showed their cards too early by revealing Percival can't be trusted but the film and Lorraine still continue to play along up to the not-so-surprising bitter end.

The film is narrated by Lorraine in flashback mode, which is a format I'm not too fond of because it automatically ruins half of the tension since you already know the protagonist is alive in the future. But at the same time, I suspected from the start they orchestrated it that way to set up a twist in the end.

For the pervy readers, yes there are glimpses of nudity from Theron and she has a steamy sex scene with Sofia Boutella playing a French operative who makes the stupidest action in the film (see spoiler box below).

Continuing the visual style he displayed with John Wick, Leitch likes to play with saturated neon colors that accentuates the decadent side of Berlin. A slew of 80s New Wave, Techno-Pop and other popular songs blare through each scene to mostly positive results (the "99 Luftballoons" was too obvious though).

Theron sports a brunette hairdo in the end and she looks absolutely stunning, thousand times better than her normal character's platinum blonde look. It's also the first time Lorraine has shown her true self and if they hope to do more sequels, that is the character I am interested in investing in.

Rating: 6.5/10 or 7/10

Spoiler: dumbest moment in atomic blonde

In one the most dumbest actions I've seen from a trained spy, Delphine (Sophia Boutella), who is at her apartment, calls Percival (James McAvoy) on the phone and threatens to expose him as a traitor. She then spends the next hour in her apartment packing up her stuff. To the surprise of no one, Percival shows up and kills her. Granted Delphine was still new at the spy game, there's no excuse for having no common sense.

 

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Two submersible ships are in a high speed chase somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The warlord Attuma and his raiders are inside the front ship. They are being pursued by the second ship led by King Namor and Andromeda. The two ships exchange fire and both ships get damage. Namor's ship is incapacitated. Namor swims out to chase Attuma's wobbled ship.

Two underwater ships are in a chase somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The warlord Attuma and his barbarian horde are in the first ship. They're being chased by Namor in the second ship. Namor is accompanied by Andromeda and a few soldiers. Both are firing at each other. Both ships are damaged. Several Atlantean soldiers are injured during the explosion on Namor's ship.

Desperate to avoid capture, Attuma's ship surfaces and arrives at Staten Island, New York. Attuma and his horde run through the city. Namor, Andromeda and an Atlantean soldier give chase. The two sides battle with civilians in the line of fire and several cars and properties are being destroyed. The New Yorkers flee in terror.

Maria Hill, who is in the vicinity visiting relatives, arrives at the scene and takes down one of Attuma's minions. Attuma attacks Maria. Namor pounces on Attuma and saves Maria. During the battle, Maria witnesses Namor saving a couple of civilians from harm's way. Namor defeats Attuma after a glorious battle. Namor and Andromeda round up Attuma and his horde and proceed back to their ship.

The police arrive and orders Namor and everybody else to surrender. A tense stand-off ensues as Namor refuses to abide citing he is the king of Atlantis and they are going back to the ship to take the criminals back home to face justice. A nervous rookie cop fires his gun, hitting one of Namor's soldiers on the shoulder.

Namor and Andromeda are about to attack the cops and vice versa when Maria intervenes, tells the cops to stand down. Maria acknowledges the volatile situation and rather risking a war with a powerful nation, she tells Namor they are free to go. Namor admires Maria's bravery and intellect, as well as her beauty. Namor asks for her name. Maria introduces herself and gives Namor a communication device to set up diplomatic talks between their two worlds.

 

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Update: October 31, 2024

Dragonlord’s Review and Season Recap of AGATHA: ALL ALONG

[Warning: Spoilers below but since you most likely are not interested in watching this you might as well read the review.]

When Marvel Studios first announced that they were going to make Agatha: House of Harkness Agatha: Coven of Chaos Agatha All Along, my first thought was but why..? Agatha Harkness was a good villain in WandaVision but nobody was clamoring for a spinoff series and most fans (including me) were perplexed why this was even greenlit in the first place.

The miniseries debut with two episodes on Sept. 18, 2024. I watched the premiere episodes out of curiosity. It was not bad, not great either. But it had a certain spooky charm similar to 1993’s Hocus Pocus and the cozy mystery adventure aspect of the story swayed me to check out the third episode next week. I was thinking I would be dropping this show around the third episode similar to other Disney+ female-oriented shows like The Acolyte (stopped after third episode) or Echo (stopped after the first episode). Agatha’s third episode came and I still didn’t love it but it was amusing enough to keep continuing to check out the new episode next week. To my surprise, the series got better and better with each new episode to the point where I was now enjoying it. Episode 7 in particular was amazingly written and the best one of the nine-episode miniseries.

Agatha All Along (miniseries) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Episode One – "Seekest Thou the Road"
Three years after her defeat by Wanda Maximoff in Westview, New Jersey, the witch Agatha Harkness is trapped under Wanda's spell, believing herself to be the police detective Agnes O'Connor within a crime noir television series titled Agnes of Westview, where she is fixated on a Jane Doe murder case. One night, a teenager breaks into Agnes' house, looking for "The Road". Agnes believes he is tied to the murder case and arrests him. Rio Vidal, an FBI agent, comes to Agnes and helps her remember her true identity and realize the Jane Doe she is seeing is actually Wanda's body. Waking up from the spell, Agatha realizes that her powers are gone and that Rio, a fellow witch with whom Agatha has history, is there to kill her. Agatha convinces Rio to spare her until she gets her powers back, but Rio warns Agatha that the Salem Seven will soon come after her. After Rio leaves, Agatha is unsure what to do about the "Teen", whom she actually kidnapped while under the influence of Wanda's spell.

Episode Two – "Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate"
Teen reveals he freed Agatha from the spell and wishes to travel the Witches' Road, which rewards any witch who survives its trials what they desire most—in Agatha's case, the restoration of her powers. Agatha also realizes magick is preventing her from learning any personal information about Teen, including his name. Needing a coven to open a portal to the Road, the pair recruits the witches Lilia Calderu, Jennifer "Jen" Kale, and Alice Wu-Gulliver who all have reasons to walk the Road as well. Needing a "green witch" but not wanting to recruit Rio, Agatha instead turns to Westview resident Sharon Davis, a talented gardener. As the four witches and Sharon perform the ritual to open the gate to the Road, they and Teen escape through it to narrowly evade the Salem Seven. The group then removes their footwear and sets off on the Witches' Road.

Episode Three – "Through Many Miles / Of Tricks and Trials"
Agatha explains that to reach the end of the Road, the coven will face trials focused on different branches of witchcraft. They also realize that Teen's sigil prevents any witch from learning his identity. At the first trial, the coven finds a coastal house with a bottle of wine that everyone but Teen drinks. Jen privately warns Teen not to trust Agatha, who is said to have traded her child for the Darkhold. A timer starts counting down, and Jen realizes the wine was poisoned as Sharon faints. As they gather ingredients to create an antidote, the witches hallucinate: Lilia sees her younger self and her maestra from the Renaissance era, Jen hallucinates a doctor forcing her underwater, Alice sees her mother Lorna Wu about to commit suicide, and Agatha sees a crib containing the Darkhold. As they prepare the antidote, the house is brought underwater, threatening to drown the coven. With a few seconds left, they finish the antidote, drink it, and feed it to Sharon. Water pours in, but a tunnel appears in the oven and the coven escapes through it back to the Road. As they recover, Teen discovers that Sharon is dead.

Episode Four – "If I Can't Reach You / Let My Song Teach You"
After burying Sharon, the coven is forced to summon a replacement green witch. Rio emerges from Sharon's grave, much to Agatha's annoyance. The coven encounter a house with a 1970s aesthetic that prompts renewed feelings of grief for Alice as it turns out to be a recording studio tied to Lorna. Just as Rio playfully suggests to Agatha that they betray the others, which is overheard by everyone, Teen accidentally plays a record backward, summoning the demon who is the source of the curse in Alice's family. To fight it, the group plays Lorna's version of the Ballad, revealed to be a protection spell, and Alice is able to kill the demon. As the coven leaves the house, they notice Teen had been severely wounded during the trial. Back on the Road, Jen is able to heal his wound, saving his life. Later on, Lilia, Alice, and Jen bond while Rio alludes to her history with Agatha. Teen asks Agatha what happened to her son, but she does not answer. Later, as Agatha tries to kiss Rio, she tells Agatha that Teen is not her son.

Episode Five - "Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power"
The Salem Seven arrive on the Road and chase the coven, who evades them using makeshift flying broomsticks. After being pulled back down by the Road, they enter the next trial which takes the form of a cabin with a 1980s aesthetic. The group uses an Ouija board and makes contact with Agatha's mother Evanora, who was killed by her daughter in 1693 along with her previous coven, revealed to be mothers of the Seven. Warning the coven to leave Agatha behind, Evanora possesses her and attacks the group. Alice uses her powers to expel Evanora from Agatha, who proceeds to absorb Alice's magic. Teen, noticing another spirit's presence, stops Agatha by shouting its name: Agatha's son Nicholas Scratch, but not before Alice dies. Agatha insists that it was accidental, but Teen lashes out at her as well as Lilia and Jen, who affirm that their goals are the same as Agatha's. The latter mocks Teen by stating that he is just like his mother; angered, he magically forces Lilia and Jen to toss Agatha into a mud trap, then blasts them in as well. As the witches sink, a headwear similar to the Scarlet Witch's appears on Teen's head.

Episode Six - "Familiar by Thy Side"
In flashbacks, William Kaplan, a teenager from Eastview, is celebrating his bar mitzvah where he encounters Lilia. Reading on his palm something she does not disclose, Lilia casts the sigil on William to protect him, instantly forgetting his identity. The party ends when the Hex, created nearby by Wanda, begins to collapse.[a] While driving past Westview, William and his parents get into a car accident and he dies, but at that moment, Billy Maximoff's soul enters William's body, resurrecting it. "William" struggles to adjust after the accident due to his newfound ability to read minds and his lack of memory of his life before. Three years later, William and his boyfriend Eddie meet with Ralph Bohner, who used to be controlled by Agatha inside the Hex.[a] He tells them about what happened there and about Wanda's twins Billy and Tommy, making William realize he is actually the former. Determined to use the Witches' Road to find Tommy, whom he can still sense, Billy goes to Agatha and breaks Wanda's spell.[d] In the present, Agatha escapes the mud and, realizing the sigil has been destroyed, deduces Billy's goal and tells him that they must continue together since he cannot control his power.

Episode Seven – "Death's Hand in Mine"
Agatha and Billy continue on the Road before coming across a castle. Upon entering, the two are garbed as the Wicked Witch of the West and Maleficent, respectively, and are presented with tarot cards. If they do not place the proper cards in the correct sequence, swords hanging from the ceiling fall down. Flashbacks from Lilia's first lesson in divination reveal that she has been experiencing her life out of order, explaining her memory lapses. After falling through the mud, Lilia discovers that Rio is the personification of Death (something Agatha knew), who forebodes that her time is coming. She awakens Jen, and after evading the Salem Seven, they venture through the tunnels before reuniting with Agatha and Billy (Lilia is dressed as Glinda, Jen as the hag version of the Evil Queen). Knowing the trial is hers, Lilia places the cards in their proper order, saving them all. Prompting everyone to flee through the exit, Lilia chooses to stay behind as the Salem Seven approach. She flips one of the cards, causing the entire room to flip, impaling the Seven and herself on the swords. In the last scene, a young Lilia gleefully attends her first lesson in divination.

Episode Eight – "Follow Me My Friend / To Glory at the End"
Alice awakens to discover Rio (as Death) awaiting her. After arguing that she still has time, Alice walks with Rio toward the afterlife. In the present, Rio informs Agatha that she is there for Billy, who she views as an abomination for gaining a second life. Agatha agrees to give Billy to Rio. Billy and Jen rejoin Agatha at the end of the Road, discovering that it goes in a circle. Billy puts his shoes back on, and the three are transported to a version of Agatha's basement with grow lights that slowly go out. Jen learns that Agatha was the witch who bound her and performs the unbinding spell. She regains her abilities and vanishes, having gotten what she needed from the Road. Agatha helps Billy locate Tommy's soul, and Billy places it in the body of a drowning boy. Billy also vanishes, and with a seed from her locket, Agatha grows a flower within a floor crack, completing the trial. She escapes into her backyard, where Rio attacks her. Billy intervenes, giving Agatha some of his power, but Rio orders them to choose who remains with her. To save Billy, Agatha kisses Rio and dies. Rio allows Billy to leave, and he returns home. Upon entering his room, he realizes that many of the objects in it match aspects of the Road and hears Agatha laughing.

Episode Nine – "Maiden Mother Crone"
In 1750, Agatha gives birth to Nicholas but is warned by Death that she will eventually take him. Agatha spends the next six years raising her son while killing witches, which Nicholas grows to oppose. Together, they create a children's song that would eventually become the Ballad of the Witches' Road and take on a life of its own. Eventually, Nicholas grows sick and Death takes him, devastating Agatha. With nothing holding her back, she spends centuries murdering witches and stealing their powers by conning them with the promise of the Road. In the present, the ghost of Agatha tells Billy that he made the previously nonexistent Road a reality with his magic. He blames himself for the deaths of Lilia, Alice, and Sharon, to which Agatha retorts that she was already planning to kill them and that Jen is alive, having escaped the Road with her powers restored because of him. Billy returns to Westview and tries to banish Agatha which she resists, afraid of having to face Nicholas in death. Billy relents and allows Agatha's spirit to guide him. After sealing the entrance to the Road and recording the names of the fallen, Billy and Agatha set out to find Tommy.

 

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Update: August 6, 2017

Dragonlord's Review of BABY DRIVER (No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: One of the best action films of the year, Edgar Wright's stylish music-driven crime thriller is high-octane rush.

If you mix in The Driver, Heat and La La Land and add Edgar Wright's snappy, energetic style of filmmaking, you might get something like Baby Driver, one of the best original (not a sequel or superhero) action movies of the year.

The film revolves around Baby (Ansel Elgort), a skillful getaway driver who suffers from Tinnitus and constantly listens to music on his earphones to drown out the noise in his ears. After repaying his debt to crime boss, Doc (Kevin Spacey), and finding the love of his life, Debora (Lily James [mine!]), Baby is forced to do another bank heist with a bunch of violently unstable crew that puts him and everyone he cares for in danger.

The film starts off with a crackerjack car chase sequence as we see Baby deftly weaving through any obstacles on the road and outmaneuvering his pursuers. All the car chase scenes in the movie are as exhilarating as they are impressive with their use of practical effects and excellent stuntwork.

Music plays a big part in the movie, not just in the way Wright synchs the action with the beats of the songs, but even the characters themselves are talking about the tunes. The eclectic soundtrack, comprising mostly of punk rock, classic rock, soul, R&B, jazz, give the film a retro style. But their use of Bob & Earl’s “Harlem Shuffle” is so goddamn tantalizing because the opening fanfare [1] makes me wish it was House of Pain’s “Jump Around” instead.

When they first announced Elgort as the main lead, I thought it was a mistake as he looked too dorky from the few movies I've seen him in previously. After watching Driver, the young thespian still looks awkward but it works for him as it fits his socially inept character. Baby is exceptionally good-natured, which makes him easily likable, and his mad driving skills gives him an aura of coolness. Add in the fact that Ansel is a talented singer, dancer and DJ in real life which just makes him the perfect actor for the role.

Debora, played by the gorgeous Lily James (mine!), is Baby’s love interest and although their courtship is brief, Wright stages it so masterfully that makes it somehow believable that the two would be willing to run away together or risk their lives for each other. Debora is so disarmingly charming and congenially sweet that the only far-fetched part is how come there isn’t a drove of suitors lining up to woo her.

The film’s rogues gallery is another integral element that makes this American crime caper so gratifying to watch. Bats (wonderfully played by Jamie Foxx) is the most dangerous among Baby’s crew. He is volatile and lacks impulse control. There’s a foreboding sense of danger very time Bats is on screen.

Buddy (Jon Hamm) is a former Wall Street trader turned sociopathic bank robber. There’s an endearing big brother relationship he has with Baby early on which is why it’s unfortunate that things turned out the way they did later on. Jon’s performance also validates what I said months ago [2] that he would be great as Cable.

Rounding up the rest of the memorable outlaws are Darling (played by hottie Eiza Gonzalez - mine also!), the sexy wild child wife of Buddy; Griff (Jon Bernthal), a brash thug who constantly torments Baby; and Doc (played by the always superb Kevin Spacey), the criminal mastermind of this gang of thieves.

Baby Driver proves once again why Edgar Wright is one of the most underrated action directors working today. If this is still playing at your local cinemas, go check it out. We need to support more films like this.

Rating: 8.5/10

Spoiler: spoiler thoughts on Baby Driver

The following are just my musings on the film and they do not negatively or drastically affect my opinion on the quality of the movie.

For a guy who is supposed to be meticulous and extra cautious, Doc (Kevin Spacey) makes a few questionable decisions like staying in the same location waiting for his crew to show up. What if they were followed? Or what if they were caught and ratted him out.

Another dubious scheme of Doc is his flimsy getaway plan involving parking lot buildings but no concrete method to implement them except for just gambling on Baby’s expert driving skills to deliver them to their destination.

But the biggest head-scratcher is Doc constantly hiring an unstable psychopath like Bats (Jamie Foxx) who has anger and impulse control issues and kills almost everybody he meets or can’t resist to physically assault a store employees which all results in drawing a lot of heat on him/them from law enforcement.

Doc changing his mind and wanting to help Baby and Debora seemed out of the blue. They should have set it up better to make it more convincing.

I really wanted Buddy (Jon Hamm) and Bats to trade places as the Terminator-type antagonist chasing Baby in the third act. I really liked Buddy for the first two-thirds of the movie and that’s why it’s so unfortunate to have him become the villain in the end.

The ending was a refreshing change of pace as Baby didn’t get away scot-free and actually spent years in prison. Thankful also Baby and Debora didn’t go out in a blaze of glory at the end, that would have been a total downer.

Love that one-take shot sequence early in the movie where Baby goes out to get coffee.

After watching the movie, I’ve looked at YouTube clips of Ansel Elgort (alongside Jamie Foxx) promoting Baby Driver in talk shows and radio shows. He is a pretty cool dude and multi-talented. Didn’t really like the guy before this, but now I’m a fan of the actor.

But at the same time I think it is fair to critique my review a little since I have become sort of Mayberry's "reviewer."
BATSTITIIFTCMRALSIHBSOMR

 

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Update: August 19, 2017

Dragonlord's Review of THE DEFENDERS (Spoilers)

Bottom Line: A slight improvement from the last two Marvel-Netflix shows, The Defenders' story is too unremarkable, its scope too limited, that it might be better suited as a 2-hour movie.

[Warning: The following review contains spoilers]

Marvel's The Defenders start off with showing the four main characters (Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Danny Rand) and what they've been up to since the end of their respective seasons. It's a slow burn for most of the first two episodes but things finally get interesting once Danny meets Luke at the end of episode 2. The four heroes eventually come together and learn they share a common enemy - The Hand.

The Defenders limited series is thankfully eight episodes only (compared to the standard 13 episodes of the Marvel-Netflix solo series) and some episodes are under 45 minutes. But considering the limited scope of its story, Defenders could have trimmed the fat and produced a tighter and leaner storytelling with a 6-episode run.

The action is pretty decent. The acting is mostly good. The dialogue is half of the times awkward and inept. But the story is just disappointing. Defenders is supposed to be the culmination of The Hand storyline that they've been cultivating for years in the Daredevil and Iron Fist shows. The payoff turns out to be just blah. The Hand's ultimate goal in New York is to open a mystical door underneath the ground to harvest dead dragon bones so that they can live longer. The dreaded Black Sky turns out to be just an enhanced but still beatable version of Elektra.

As for the individual main characters, Matt Murdock has retired as Daredevil and is just a pro bono lawyer despite missing the thrill of being a crimefighter. His old debbie downer pals, Foggy and Karen, continue to guilt-trip him to stop being Daredevil (and possibly saving a lot of lives in the process). Matt seems to be the most reasonable member of the Defenders, despite foolishly not telling the group of his relationship with Elektra and creating more unnecesarry drama in the process.

Jessica Jones closed her private investigation business and is just drunk most of the time. Her sardonic personality and acerbic tongue makes her so fun to watch in a team setting.

Luke Cage was cleared of his name and is released from prison. He starts off as a self-righteous, sanctimonious hypocrite in the first few episodes but settles in to normalcy later on.

Danny Rand, along with his girlfriend Colleen Wing, has been hunting the Hand all over the globe for months. When he gets too emotional or angry, Danny is cringey to watch. But when he displays his fun-loving, carefree personality, the character shines the brightest (more on that later).

Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver) as the leader of The Hand and the big bad of the show didn't live up to expectations. She wasn't very menacing or memorable. Instead, they constantly highlight how Alexandra is so sophisticated and elegant, sporting the latest haute couture fashion line-up and shamelessly name-dropping famous people and cities from ancient times. The only evil thing Alexandra did was caused a minor earthquake that killed Trish Walker's car.

Whatever dark, exotic mystery The Hand had has been eradicated in this series. Gone are the cool ninja concept and replaced with an international group of ethnically diverse criminals headed by the five fingers - Alexandra, Madame Gao, Sowande, Murakami and Bakuto. In Iron Fist, I shuddered upon learning this Wilmer Valderrama-looking mofo with a Japanese name (Bakuto) is the leader of a United Colors of Benetton faction of The Hand. Now I see that the Benetton aspect is the norm for this version of The Hand. How disappointing.

The cunning Madame Gao and the lone wolf Murakami are cool but what the hell is Sowande a.k.a. White Hat doing hiring untrained kids to do The Hand's dirty work. Doesn't The Hand have enough professional operatives to do these jobs. This just reminds me of the ridiculously silly premise of the TMNT movie (1990) where Shredder recruits juvenile kids to become Foot ninjas. On top of that, White Hat is even seen driving a van to deliver these kids to their destination. Show some dignity, dude, you are one of the leaders of The Hand for crying out loud.

The great (and bad) thing about these Marvel-Netflix shows is they are shot in New York. Unlike other TV shows supposedly set in NYC, the Marvel-Netflix series look and feel authentic. Well, soak in the scenery because a sizable amount of the production budget goes into the shooting since everything in New York is so expensive. What it means for these Marvel-Netflix shows is that there's less budget for special effects and trimming down the fantastical parts of the script.

Music used for the ending credits is half of the time so lethargic and boring that you might think they don't want viewers to get pumped for the next episode.

The show uses scene transitions showcasing New York subway trains. It's an interesting choice. I keep on waiting for Detective Andy Sipowicz to show up.

In episode 2, Danny punching Luke in the face should have killed him or the very least knocked him out. Luke's only invulnerable on the outside but everything on the inside is normal. Luke almost died when he took a shotgun blast to the face in Jessica Jones. Imagine shooting a vault door with a shotgun. Nothing happens, right. Now imagine Danny using his Iron Fist to punch the vault door. The force of Iron Fist's blow is so powerful that the vault door is going to fly several meters away. Now imagine that same force applied to Luke Cage's face, it should turn the insides of his face into jello.

One of the "stand-out" moments of the show was in episode 3 when Luke called out Danny on being privileged and beating up a black kid. It's a known fact that in order to have friction, characters often say stupid things to ignite that spark. Yes, Danny could have been more compassionate and less callous in his statements but Luke said some pretty dumb things. First, Luke criticized Danny for beating up somebody that was just trying to feed his family. If we follow that logic, Luke should also be ashamed of beating up criminals that were just trying to feed their families. Second, Luke calls out Danny for having the power to change the world before he even became the Iron Fist. I guess Claire forgot to mention to Luke that Danny was stuck in a monastery for 15 years.

Danny walking to Midland Circle in episode 3 and threatening The Hand was just plain stupid. Danny has shown time and time again that he's one of the dumbest superheroes in the MCU. Danny keeps on bragging about being the protector and the gatekeeper of K'un-Lun but his physical prowess is unimpressive and does not match his bravado. Imagine Danny at the gates of K'un-Lun and two dozen skilled Hand ninjas attack the entrance, what do you think will happen? Yup, K'un-Lun is fucked.

In episode 4, they finally got the character of Danny right. Whether he was smoothly negotiating with the restaurant owner or just joyfully eating chowing down some grub, Danny was the MVP in the Chinese restaurant segments. While everybody else on the Defenders team was being broody, skeptical or just being a negative nancy, Danny had a happy-go-lucky attitude and generally having fun that was a welcomed breath of fresh air from the dourness of the show. Unfortunately, Danny goes back to being an emo angry man-child after episode 4.

The Hand's ultimate goal is finally revealed and it is disappointing. Rather than follow the comic books' epic plot of bringing an outworldly all-powerful demon - The Beast - into Earth, this version of the Hand just wants to mine the bones of a dead dragon to gain eternal life and eventually go back to K'un-Lun.

Overall, The Defenders is a decent and somewhat entertaining limited series but could have been more awesome with a better story and superior quality control.

Rating: 6.5/10

 

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Dragonlord's Review of Marvel's IRON FIST Season One (Spoilers)

Created during the 1970s when the Kung Fu craze swept Hollywood, Iron Fist a.k.a. Danny Rand is one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe. Orphaned as a child during a trip at the mountains of Tibet, Danny was taken in by the denizens of K'un-Lun, a mystical city that only appears on Earth every 10 years.

Danny grew up to become one of K'un-Lun's greatest warrior and ultimately acquired the power of the Iron Fist, the ability to summon his chi to reinforce the power of blows struck by his hands. When K'un-Lun reappeared on Earth, Danny left to avenge his parents' death and eventually took over his father's multi-million business company.

Pretty good origin story, eh. Unfortunately, Marvel-Netflix's Iron Fist is a watered-down, lackluster adaptation of what could have been an exciting action-packed show filled with fantastical mystical elements and rich, exotic characters.

Episode 1 - "Snow Gives Way"

The show starts out with Danny arriving in New York City dressed as a barefoot hobo trying unsuccessfully to convince everyone that he is the real Danny Rand. It's a pretty intriguing set-up but badly executed. For starters, they could have withhold showing the flashback scenes 9 minutes in to create some mystery whether he is telling the truth or not.

But the biggest misstep from the get-go is the characterization of Danny Rand. Instead of (just an example) a cool, wise, zen-like, bad-ass martial artist whose Eastern philosophies help influence everyone around him for the better, what they gave us is a sweet but naive, immature, hot-tempered man-child.

He reaches out to his childhood friends Ward (Tom Pelphrey) and Joy Meachum (Jessica Stroup), who now run his late father's billion dollar company Rand Enterprises, but they don't believe his identity since Danny, along with his parents, died in an airplane crash in the Himalayas 15 years ago. Danny stupidly doesn't even have any semblance of a plan on how to prove his claim and ends up just stalking and harassing the Meachums.

Danny stumbles upon the martial arts dojo of Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) and asks for a job as a Kung Fu teacher. Rather than displaying his martial arts skills to prove he's legit, he gives a lame job interview like a schmuck.

Ward goes off to see his secretly alive father, Harold Meachum (David Wenham), who was the co-founder of Rand Enterprises and died 12 years ago but was resurrected by The Hand and is now hiding in a penthouse suite. The moment Ward enters the condo, we see punching bags and dumbbells. Immediately I knew right there and then that Harold and Danny would physical fight at the end.

After Danny sneaks in to her business office, Joy drugs Danny to sleep. Thank God because Danny was about to have another flashback scene about the plane crash. Danny is sent to a mental hospital. Ah shit, I spoke too soon, they just did another obnoxious flashback airplane crash scene to end the episode.

Episode 2 - "Shadow Hawk Takes Flight"

While being locked up in the mental institution, Danny recounts his plane crash story (for the nth time) complete with the same flashback scene ad nauseam. But now they've added more repetitive flashback scenes of Danny meditating in the mountains and an eagle soaring. The show doesn't have enough quality content that it's just repeating itself.

Colleen is being stalked on the streets by suspicious individuals who then attack her on the playground. After she beats them up, it is revealed that this was just her students and these "exercises are about trying to teach [them] how to perform in the real world." LOL, is she teaching her students how to become muggers and hoodlums?? The lecture she gave afterwards was just cringeworthy.

Scene of Harold hitting the punching bag. Yep, Harold and Danny are going to fight in the end.

And for those that forgot that forgot that young Danny was in a plane crash, we are treated again to another flashback scene of that crash. Yipee.

Ward visits Colleen at her dojo and tries to convince her to sign some papers attesting that Danny is a menace.

Danny throws another hissy fit at someone who doesn't believe he is the real Danny Rand.

Ward visits Colleen at her dojo at night and tries to convince her to sign some papers attesting that Danny is a menace. Ward visits the very next morning with the same proposal but this time with actual papers to sign. Another proof of the show's dragging manipulations when the two scenes could have been easily combined into one.

Danny does his Wushu rhythmic exercise and since 19 minutes have passed since the last airplane crash and meditating on a mountain flashback scenes, so of course they're going to show them again.

100 minutes into the series, the first truly good moment finally happens on the show. Joy receiving a package from Danny that confirms Danny's authenticity. The emotional response by Joy at realizing his childhood friend was still alive was just terrific.
After some research, the doctor finally believes his patient is the real Danny Rand. Then like a dumb schmuck, Danny proceeds to tell his outlandish story about a mystical city from another dimension that appears every 15 years and about his super powers. Extremely naive or just plain stupid, Danny doesn't have enough common sense to know how crazy his story sounds.

Ward gets a phone call from Frank N. Stein a.k.a. dad. Harold tells Ward they need to "remove" Danny as soon as possible. Ward tells his dad he doesn't want to be involved because he doesn't "do that kind of thing." Bitch, please. You already sent three of your goons to kill Danny in the first episode.

After being roughed up by some inmates which apparently cleared up the drugs' fogginess, Danny finally summons his iron fist powers and escapes from the mental institution.

The first two episodes are over and it's disappointing to say the least. Not only did they give us a lame protagonist that's not very likable and a story that's so boring instead of embracing its fantastical nature, it's deliberately slow, dragging and repetitive.

Episode 3 - "Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch"

Ward's goons breaks into Colleen's dojo searching for Danny and gets beaten up by Ms. Wing for their troubles. After the goons leave, Colleen tells the hiding Danny he should leave in the morning. Colleen looks so cute in her sleeping attire.

The next morning Danny refuses to leave the dojo











One of the appeals of viewers watching a superhero show is fantasizing themselves of being that character. You just get this feeling that nobody wanted to be like Danny Rand after watching the show.

Iron Fist is divided between the corporate world and the action adventure world. It does a poor job at both. I’m going to use Showtime’s Billions an example because it is concurrently airing with Iron Fist. Billions is a great example on how you can have a series showing people just talking about business and it’s riveting.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Iron Man 3 (Dragonlord's Review)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (Dragonlord's Review)

Ant-Man (Dragonlord's Review)

Captain America: Civil War (Dragonlord's Review)

Doctor Strange (Dragonlord's Review)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Dragonlord's Review)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (Dragonlord's Review)

Thor: Ragnarok
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/thor-ragnarok-v-3-dragonlords-review.3644387/

Black Panther
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/black-panther-v-4-dragonlords-review.3711223/

Avengers: Infinity War
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...billion-worldwide-dragonlords-review.3754139/

Captain Marvel
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/captain-marvel-thread-v-4-dragonlords-review.3924093/

Avengers: Endgame
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...-box-office-champ-dragonlords-review.3949981/

Spider-Man: Far From Home
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/spider-man-far-from-home-dragonlords-review.3695313/