The Sword and Laser discussion

I watched "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" . It was so good. I should have read the book, but how can one go wrong with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

John (Taloni) wrote: "We're watching all the MCU movies in order."

I started doing that 2 weeks ago. 2 more movies to go. I'm getting ready for Black Widow to hit the theatres.

There are some that I might not bother to watch again on a future watch through. (The Incredible Hulk, Thor:Dark World, Age of Ultron, Doctor Strange. Guardian otG 2). The rest are good.

I think you are being kind calling Iron Man C level. Growing up he was definitely a minor league character for Marvel.

But the MCU revolves around Iron Man

I've been slowly re-watching the MCU movies as well. I started sometime during peak covid lockdown last year while playing WoW Classic. Once I went back to work full time I kind of fizzled out on Iron Man 3.

Lately I started back up again and just re-watched Ant Man, which I liked a lot more on re-watch than I remember when seeing it the first time.

I'm a huge Spiderman fanboy, so my rankings are skewed (Homecoming is my favorite MCU film), but Winter Soldier is such a great movie. It's easily the best of first 2 phases for me, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy.

For as much as I love RJD, I thought all of the Iron Man movies are pretty weak except the first one. In the 3rd one he spends too much time out of the suit.

In general I don't care much about any of the MCU characters except Spiderman, but the casting and way they tied the movies together made me care about them.

I agree that RDJ is a big part of what made the MCU get off the ground. It's easy to forget the MCU started with Edward Norton's Hulk. I liked him as the Hulk, but I probably like Ruffalo better.

I think most of the best films came out in phase 3 (Homecoming, Ragnarok, the last 2 Avengers movies, Black Panther), but overall I don't think any of them are bad movies.

Although there are a few (like IM3 and Age of Ultron) I'm not likely to watch again unless I decide to do another massive re-watch.

Gary wrote: "Watching Babylon 5 Season Three on DVD from the library.
I read the Babylon 5 tie-in novel, The Shadow Within (Book #7) by Jeanne Cavelos. The novel tells the backgroun..."

Amazing that you can find those B5 Novels in your library. They are really hard to find nowadays and go for big bucks on EBay.

I liked Age of Ultron, but upon re-watch I thought the biggest problem was they just tried to jam in too much story. Maybe taking most of the first third or so of the film's story and putting it in other MCU films would have allowed a slower buildup of suspense, then the Avengers film could have focused on action and resolution. I was also impressed with how the seeds for Civil War were planted throughout Ultron.

I enjoyed all the MCU movies (to greater or lesser extent) except two. Each because they used a trope that I despise.

(view spoiler)[
Iron Man 3 had a cute kid who bailed out the hero on a few occasions. When you throw in the whole Mandarin problem, I find it painful to watch.

Captain Marvel (I know this will be controversial) had an elite team of super aliens somehow get their butts handed to them by people who didn't know aliens existed the week earlier (Fury, Rambeau, Baby Rambeau). Don't tell me the Kree are elite if people using unknown technology can beat/kill them so easily. It's a shame, because Captain Marvel herself was well executed, and her powers made her victories not only believable, but mandatory. (hide spoiler)]

Rob wrote: "It's easy to forget the MCU started with Edward Norton's Hulk."

Iron Man came out a month before The Incredible Hulk.

Hmm. Yeah. Not sure why I thought that was the case.

Be...cause...it stunk up the joint? Wasn't really a part of the MCU, and they quietly replaced Hulk with a different actor for subsequent MCU appearances? FWIW this version of the Hulk isn't on the "MCU" list that we're watching. Disney has it as Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and on from there.

Disney don't have the MCU Spider-Man movies either.

Sony own those rights and Universal own the Hulk.

I liked the Norton Hulk movie alright. I'm just following the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

I skipped Hulk because you can't stream it (without buying it).

When I get to the Spider-man films I'll just watch my own copies.

I own 11/23 MCU films (mostly from phase 3: 7/11). The rest I've been watching on Disney+

John (Taloni) wrote: "Be...cause...it stunk up the joint? Wasn't really a part of the MCU, and they quietly replaced Hulk with a different actor for subsequent MCU appearances? FWIW this version of the Hulk isn't on the..."

It’s totally part of the MCU. That’s where Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is introduced, and RDJ is in the stinger recruiting him.

Edward Norton was replaced because he was being his usual Edward Norton primadona self (aka “douchenozzle”). Mark Ruffalo was Marvel’s first choice, but Universal wanted a marquee name. In The Avengers Banner references events in Incredible Hulk. “The last time I was in New York, I kinda... broke Harlem.”

It’s rumored that Abomination (Tim Roth) will return, possibly in Falcon & Winter Soldier but probably in She-Hulk. It’s canon that the two students filming the army attack the Hulk are Jack McGee (the reporter from the TV series) and Jim Wilson, nephew of Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon.

Related trivia: the little kid wearing the Iron Man mask in Iron Man 2 that Tony saves from the robot is canonically young Peter Parker. That one wasn’t planned but the timeline worked out so Marvel added it.

Trike wrote: "...Related trivia: the little kid wearing the Iron Man mask in Iron Man 2 that Tony saves from the robot is canonically young Peter Parker. That one wasn’t planned but the timeline worked out so Marvel added it."

https://www.tor.com/2017/06/26/peter-....

I love Mark Ruffalo, but Ed Norton really looked the part of bruce Banner.

Watched the Snyder cut. It’s okay. Better than the released version of the film, but that isn’t saying much. More coherent, too. A lot of slomo. I fell asleep twice. Cyborg is the real star of the show.

I didn't realize until this morning that it's 4 hours long. I may save it for the weekend so I can watch it mostly straight through.

Watch this!

BOOKSTORES: How to Read More Books in the Golden Age of Content

https://youtu.be/lIW5jBrrsS0

It’s not exactly what the title says; also, he interviews interesting people and visits a bunch of amazing bookstores.

I watched Devil’s Gate on Netflix which is Horror Science Fiction. It’s all right, nothing you haven’t seen on X-Files. Pedestrian directing and cinematography.

It stars Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from X-Men), Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes, This Is Us), and Amanda Schull (12 Monkeys), with a cameo by Jonathan Frakes (ST: TNG). Schull is one of those fortunate people who looks perpetually 22 despite being 39 when she filmed it.

They kill the dog but you literally never see it alive; it’s just sound effects and then a prop dead body.

Captain America last night. I didn't love it the first time. It was okay on rewatch. I found the beginning sequence overlong. I've never liked Chris Evans in the role since he was so uncomplimentary about playing Cap, like it was an imposition. Gee, sorry to hear you're getting paid millions of dollars to play an American icon.

Overall decent if not great take on the Captain America mythos to that time. Hugo Weaving killed it as the Red Skull, and his end tied in perfectly to the third Avengers movie ten years later.

I think I liked Dr. Erskine's character the most. He gave depth and character to the Super Soldier Serum that has been missing from the comics. Or at least the ones I read.

Nice arty touches overall. Washed out WWII type colors when in that era, more colorful in the modern day. Bucky first loomed over Steve, then seemed small next to him. The shield had marks on it from the getgo since it saw action regularly.

One annoyance with Disney's presentation: They cut out on the credits to a promo screen, suggesting other things to watch. That means we have to see the post-credits screen in a picture in picture window. Any way to get the full screen back? I futzed around yesterday but couldn't get it to change.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Captain America last night. I didn't love it the first time. It was okay on rewatch. I found the beginning sequence overlong. I've never liked Chris Evans in the role since he was so uncomplimentar..."

I never heard him say anything bad about the character. He was initially reluctant to play the role because he’d been the Human Torch in two Fantastic Four flicks and didn’t want to sign a 9-movie contract, but Feige won him over. (They negotiated the contract down to 5 or 6 films, I forget which.)


Trike wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Be...cause...it stunk up the joint? Wasn't really a part of the MCU, and they quietly replaced Hulk with a different actor for subsequent MCU appearances? FWIW this version of...

It’s totally part of the MCU. That’s where Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is introduced, and RDJ is in the stinger recruiting him."

The Cap post reminded me that Kenneth Choi played Jim Morita, one of the Howling Commandos, in First Avenger, and he also played Principal Morita in Spider-Man: Homecoming, grandson of Jim. (There’s a photo of his grandfather in his office, so Choi has a shot of himself. 😁)

BUT ALSO — that reminded me that Peter’s teacher in both Spidey films is the grad student that Bruce Banner bribed with pizza in The Incredible Hulk.

Marvel really plays the long game.

John (Taloni) wrote: "One annoyance with Disney's presentation: They cut out on the credits to a promo screen, suggesting other things to watch. That means we have to see the post-credits screen in a picture in picture window. Any way to get the full screen back? I futzed around yesterday but couldn't get it to change."

How are you watching it?

I watch Disney+ through my Xbox One and all I have to do is select the Credits box then press A and they go back to full size.

I am slowly going back through the Marvel movies and of course the Post-credit scenes must be watched.

Trike wrote: "Watch this!

BOOKSTORES: How to Read More Books in the Golden Age of Content

https://youtu.be/lIW5jBrrsS0"

Thanks for the pointer to that. It was a fun watch. I definitely got a part David Rees, part Dan Wilbur vibe from that guy.

Watching the anime Pacific Rim: The Black. This is not a kids show. Some of it is brutal. It’s not graphic but damn... it’s full on hardcore Mad Max style post-apocalypse.

That said, it’s quite good. Much better than I was expecting. Turns out one of the writers/producers is Craig Kyle, who created X-23 and was a co-writer of Thor: Ragnarok, among other things, which explains the quality.

John (Taloni) wrote: "One annoyance with Disney's presentation: They cut out on the credits to a promo screen, suggesting other things to watch. That means we have to see the post-credits screen in a picture in picture window. Any way to get the full screen back? I futzed around yesterday but couldn't get it to change."

I can't speak for Disney+, but I've seen the picture in picture window trend increasingly on network streaming sites. Some will even autoplay the next video before the current one ends if you don't click on it within a few seconds of it shrinking.

If you are watching on a computer, try clicking on the tiny video window. That brings it back on the players I've interacted with.

One of the things I've liked about Disney+ is they a skip button to get to the post credit part (the second one).

I don’t remember if Disney has the do not advance to next show setting, but most of the services do. It’s just usually buried very deep. I think Netflix, or maybe one of the others, you couldn’t even do it from the app, but had to sign in to the web interface and change it there. What finally made me search for and find the setting was an anime show with a super fun credits role, that I kept getting annoyed that I only had 5 seconds to find the remote and hit the right button to keep watching it.

Which anime?

Oh it is a bit embarrassing but it was Dragon Pilot. https://youtu.be/hG-ahxkDPCA

The plot of the show is out there a bit, but it was so fun, that it got me. And I thought the credits captured that well.

Nothing to be embarrassed about.

I'm indifferent to many opening and closing credits, but that one is pretty good. I'll have to check the series out (because there totally isn't enough anime to watch). Thanks.

My wife and I started watching 'Outlander' after finishing up WandaVision. The plot and acting is pretty good so far, but it's a bit strong on sex and violence for us, so don't know if it will last. My wife is squeamish on that, but she does like how the story is being told, so we will see. I generally watch stuff like the Walking Dead or Game of Thrones alone.

Cowboy Bebop fan film. Really good.

https://youtu.be/DQcykdQ6xks

I watched the first few episodes of The Irregulars on Netflix. Despite this being connected to Sherlock Holmes, it’s a straight up Fantasy show with demons and psychic powers. It also uses contemporary music and modern slang, a la A Knight’s Tale.

It feels like they went in with a pitch about a Scooby Gang with Psychic Velma and the studio said, “Sherlock is hot, can we tie the story to him?” So they just set it in 1895 but didn’t change anything else. Doesn’t really work for me.

Invincible is my kind of show! A perfect blend of the MCU and The boys with an anime finish. Too bad Amazon Prime didn't drop the full season.

Now onto Thor: The Dark World in our MCU run. TBH it's kinda forgettable. Lots of fan service in a silly plot. Your climactic scene involves banging some poles into the ground and messing with a beefed up Playstation controller? Oooo...kay. Nice series of misdirects by Loki, but then, you'd expect he would do that. Rene Russo's big scene feels rushed. Probably the best part of the movie is that they got the motion of Mjolnir right. It hangs in the air and makes loops rather than the up and back of the first movie.

I like The Dark World quite a lot. It’s mostly about Loki, but it has a lot of genuinely funny moments from everyone. Without this film we don’t get Ragnarok.

“Can I have my shoe back?”

“Mew-mew!”

“Is your brother coming?”
“He’s dead.”
“Oh thank god! ...I mean, I’m sorry for your loss.”
😂

I watched the first 3 eps of Invincible on Amazon. It’s good, very true to the comics. The story is a bit more compressed, but it works just fine. It’s *almost* as graphic as the comics, just enough to get an R rating instead of an X.

I liked that they managed to clear Reginald VelJohnson’s name for the high school, and they also hired him for some of the voices. Kirkman is clearly a Family Matters fan, given that the first collection is literally titled that: Invincible, Vol. 1: Family Matters. (Nearly all of the collections are sitcom titles.) Speaking of voice actors, it is really a star-studded cast. Very impressive.

One thing that I noticed is that the Science Dog, Volume 1 comics that Mark reads are replaced by “Seance Dog”. I’m assuming Kirkman also sold that property for adaptation. Seance Dog is a clever substitution.

I also watched Vast of Night, an indie sci-fi film set in 1950s Texas. It’s extremely good and I highly recommend it. It’s the kind of film that lives or dies on the performances of its leads as it’s mostly a two-hander, and they both do superb jobs. The ending is a bit vague, but overall it’s one of the best SF films I’ve seen in a while.

Also on Amazon.

Trike wrote: "I like The Dark World quite a lot. It’s mostly about Loki, but it has a lot of genuinely funny moments from everyone. Without this film we don’t get Ragnarok...."

I didn't like it much (although better than the first Thor film) but I agree it's a transition for the Thor character. The comic relief was much needed.

I wactcehd the movie Jui Jitsu on Netflix. It was like Predator meets Kung fu. I kinda liked it. I mean, I finished the movie and was worried about the charatcers even if I felt we could have only had 500 million fight scenes instead of a gazzilion fight scenes...
and Mr. Cage was fine.

Star Wars in the style of Space: 1999.

https://youtu.be/PRGf6GEAbVM

Trike wrote: "I also watched Vast of Night, an indie sci-fi film set in 1950s Texas. It’s extremely good and I highly recommend it. It’s the kind of film that lives or dies on the performances of its leads as it..."

Loved this movie - watched it when it came out.

I watched Kong vs. Godzilla on HBO MAX and enjoyed it. Did not think about it too much, just went with the flow. Disney+ Falcon and the Winter Soldier has started out fine.

Saw the last episode of Resident Alien season 1. Fair ending, good not great. This show really isn't about the plot, it's about the characters. I'm kinda peeved that (view spoiler)[ we never found out why the alien came to wipe out humanity, or why it's a mercy killing as implied. There's supposed to crocodile aliens that are, well, we got a whiff but nothing else. (hide spoiler)]

Anyhoo, I'll show up for season 2. It's fun if not stellar. I noticed a promo piece called it the "number one new scifi drama" or somesuch. A pretty narrow selfmade category, reminds me of the "number one in category" Amazon books.

Stephen wrote: "I watched Kong vs. Godzilla on HBO MAX and enjoyed it. Did not think about it too much, just went with the flow."

I also watched Godzilla vs. Kong and enjoyed it. It uses the exact same story as Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but that’s fine. It’s got some amusing twists and cool giant monster action, which is all a kaiju flick needs, really.

The fact that Kong now has his own version of Mjolnir is weird, but everything else about these movies is demented, so why not? He needed something to offset Godzilla’s laser breath, and a giant radioactive axe is as good a thing as any.

It’s entertaining enough that I’ll definitely watch it again before the 30-day window expires.

Trike wrote: "Star Wars in the style of Space: 1999.

https://youtu.be/PRGf6GEAbVM"

I've always thought the John Williams score was one of the main reasons Star Wars was such an enduring phenomenon. In the heart of the Disco Era it's not hard to imagine the soundtrack having been produced instead by Giorgio Moroder.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Trike wrote: "Star Wars in the style of Space: 1999.

https://youtu.be/PRGf6GEAbVM"

I've always thought the John Williams score was one of the main reasons Star Wars was such an enduring phenomeno..."

Do you remember the disco version of Star Wars by Meco? That song was *everywhere* back then. For those too young to remember, here it is:

https://youtu.be/uJ3kV3Icm28

This was played on the radio, all the time. It sold millions of copies. Everyone was on drugs in the 70s. That’s the only explanation.

Trivia: one of the performers on this record is guitarist Tony Bongiovi, whose cousin Jon goes by the stage name Jon Bon Jovi. He’s joined by an all-star lineup of horn players, including the guys from Blood, Sweat & Tears. It amazes me the astonishing quality of musicianship involved in wacky projects like this.

Trike wrote: "...This was played on the radio, all the time. It sold millions of copies. Everyone was on drugs in the 70s. That’s the only explanation."

Agree 1000%. I believe I had blotted this song from my memory.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I believe I had blotted this song from my memory..."

Sadly, I have not.

Joseph wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I believe I had blotted this song from my memory..."

Sadly, I have not."

Listening to it now, years later, I actually got a kick out of it. And the comments on the YouTube page are funny without most of the usual jaded sarcasm.

I am watching the questionable Mortal Combat : Annilahation. I am excited for the new Mortal Combat comng out. I honestly enjoyed the first one, it was fun. Don't judge.