First Impressions - AoS: "The Dirty Half Dozen"

This is by no means a deeply intense dissection of the episode.

That will happen over the summer after my purchase of the Blu-ray.

I've put my quick comments and notes after seeing the episode only once after the jump.

You've been warned...

First Impressions - Flash: "All Star Team Up"

This is by no means a deeply intense dissection of the episode.

It's just my quick comments and notes after seeing the episode only once (a la AoS).
Spoilers after the jump.

You've been warned...

First Impressions - AoS: "The Frenemy of My Enemy"

This is by no means a deeply intense dissection of the episode.

That will happen over the summer after my purchase of the Blu-ray.

I've put my quick comments and notes after seeing the episode only once after the jump.

You've been warned...

Avengers Assembled...Early? (Monday Movie Roundup...4/27/2015)

Break out the popcorn Pepe, it's going to be a loooong month!

 Can I just say how much it SUCKS that other palces get to see this before me?

US...us, I mean us. (Ahem)

A:AoA has made $201.2 million so far.

 

The country with the largest contribution (with $28.2 million)? South Korea. I guess it's because part of the movie takes place there...which I didn't know. I thought most of it took place in South Africa (where it opened April 24th), but that's what I get for keeping my head in the sand.

Other markets included the U.K. ($27.3 million), Russia ($16.2 million), Brazil and Australia (which brought in $13.1 million each), France ($12.4 million) and Germany ($9.3 million).

The film opens in Spain, Canada, Egypt, Brazil, here, and a bunch of other places throughout this week, but interestingly enough China gets it last - May 12th.

Since it hasn't been shown (outside of the premiere) in the States yet, I'm gonna ask the question: Where the hell are War Machine and Falcon in this thing? This has been bugging me for a while, but I thought it would be explained in a teaser/trailer. Rhodey's shown helping Tony try to lift the hammer...and then nothing? Is he off helping Sam track down Bucky or something? I sure hell hope it's explained in the film.

Take THAT Furious 7!

Yeah - I know A:AoA has a long ways to go, but that's what makes this job so fun. Have a good week all!

What's that? WHAT'S THAT? Daredevil? Season 2?

Now, I've only seen up to Episode 5...

 ...but that suit's gotta go.

Charlie Cox has been quoted as saying this second season may come out next April, which I'm okay with considering the quality of this show (that I've seen thus far). But he's also quoted saying that Elektra and Bullseye could show up. 

But before I blew a geek-gasket, I had to think about it.

The whole Elektra/Bullseye story, even if altered as needed for this ever-growing MCU, would easily be 13 episodes...ending with Elektra's "death". If that's what they plan on doing for Season 2, fantastic. 

HOWEVER...

if the powers-that-be have something else up their sleeves, and the Elektra/Bullseye thing gets pushed back to Season 3, I'll allow it. I'd rather wait another year and get that excellent story done right than have it shoehorned in with the rest of Season 2. 

 As for Season 4...

So...Bobby's gay now?

I clearly have no idea what Marvel is doing.

It sounds like Bobby Drake has come out of the closet...

Ramifications ensue.

Homosexuality in comics is an ongoing issue, and one that I hope continues to happen more and more. There's nowhere nearly enough LGBTQ representation in comics. Certainly not in Marvel and DC. 

 

Having long-term characters reveal their sexual orientation? Fine. 

But must Marvel use mutant characters? 

Stan Lee's creation of the X-Men allowed readers from all walks of life to relate to them. These were the "misfits" of society. These were the people treated unfairly by those in power. Every minority could relate to them: people of different ethnicities, religions...and sexual preferences. 

So why beat us all over the head by making another mutant character gay?

I remember Northstar.

His big revelation came when I was reading the series, and I thought it was about damn time. If you read the early John Byrne stuff it's obvious, and it bugged me that it took roughly 100 issues to bring him out.

Then there was Shatterstar...

...and Rictor.

This was after I stopped reading, but I remember the characters from when I was reading, and I thought "well, Marvel does need to bring more variety into their universe". 

This, unfortunately, feels like a grab for media attention.

It's not the fact that it's Bobby, a character going back to the Stan Lee era, that bothers me. It's because he's a mutant. I honestly don't know if there are any LGBTQ characters in the Marvel Universe that aren't mutants, and that's the problem. 

Revealing a non-mutant character would tell a better story - some established hero (or villain) who hasn't had to deal with being "different" their entire lives...learning to deal with being "different". Mutants are used to being hated, feared, distrusted, and alone. 

Why not have someone who's never gone through that, go through that?

Kingdom Comes early to the DC Movie Universe (WTF? Friday...4/24/2015)

I hate where this is going.

First of all, I noticed the DC logo is missing the symbol. You know...

 ...that little part of the logo that shows Green Arrow...

 ...or Constantine...

...or Gotham?

Yeah - that part. It's just gray in the trailer. That does not bode well. It tells me that they don't know how to categorize this film, since their whole reasoning behind changing their logo...

...was so they could distinguish different franchises within a unifying symbol.

This tells me two things:

There's panic,

and confusion within the DC offices.

As for the trailer itself, I'm scratching my head. The Superman statue has "False God" written on it. Well, who ever said that he was God? Certainly not Kal-El. He was welcomed in the comics, and since the people of Metropolis saw him as their rescuer in MoS rather than the instigator of the violence and destruction, he should be welcomed as a hero here. But I guess not.

In fact, it looks like this film is all about Batman fighting Superman.

The thing is - I don't want to see Batman fight Superman. At least not yet. Maybe I never understood their relationship. I know that in Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, they fight later in life, when their political views come to a head. It made sense, and was much more dramatic, because there was already so much of a friendship and history between these characters in the world they were in before they had to face off.

Not so much here.

And where's Wonder Woman in all this?

 Where's Aquaman? Are they uniting after the fight? Because of it?

The more I think about it, the more I feel like this isn't The Dark Knight Returns...

it's Kingdom Come.

This world doesn't want Superman in it. They've gone past the "isn't it cool that superheroes exist?" phase and moved deep into the "we don't want those stinkin' superheroes here!" phase. This upsets me. I would have gladly gone into Kingdom Come territory later...AFTER the first batch of lighthearted films.

In other words...

...this should have been DC's "Phase Two".

  

First Impressions - AoS: "Melinda"

This is by no means a deeply intense dissection of the episode.

That will happen over the summer after my purchase of the Blu-ray.

I've put my quick comments and notes after seeing the episode only once after the jump.

You've been warned...

First Impressions - Daredevil: "World on Fire"

This is by no means a deeply intense dissection of the episode.

It's just my quick comments and notes after seeing the episode only once (a la AoS).
Spoilers after the jump.

You've been warned...

TUESDAY Morning Roundup...4/21/2015

All I can say is I'm sorry I'm late.

Things got busy yesterday and I thought I'd get back in time. Obviously I didn't. Sorry.

 On with the show...

Furious 7 made another $29 million over the weekend, bringing the worldwide total to $1.15 billion with a b.

Okay Kevin...

...the gauntlet's been thrown.

There's a movie called Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal that came out in the States last weekend.

It must be from China, because it made $63.6 million there, and only $165,428 here. 

Needless to say, it's not a remake.

The non-She-Hulk-related She's Beautiful When She's Angry made an additional $2,275...putting the grand total at $335,808.

Then there's Mr. X...

...no, Mr. X, from India...

...right!

It's only made $30,097 so far, but judging from the premise, it's going in my Netflix queue ASAP.

I'm going back to bed now. Have a good (rest of the) week everyone!