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EH_STEVE

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So....

 

Andor coolkong;

 

Wrapped up She Hulk last night.... man, the finale...  brings more questions than answers ... and if I'm honest, took me down a notch on the series as a whole.  Although a lot of the teasers are big.

 

Started Agent Carter....  I'm digging this a lot... liked they kept more than just Haley Atwell.

 

Halloween Ends/theater

--Hmm....  as a horror movie solid, as a Halloween entry, fairly solid. 

Spoiler

However, in respect to some lore from past entries and some of that lore kind of presented in it, it begs more questions than answers.  Also, they were proposing some interesting ideas in the story arc but...

 

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Saw Halloween Ends earlier... I enjoyed it more than the previous film personally, but going on some supernatural angle with Michael at the end of the previous film was a mistake, especially when they didn't do a good job of explaining it in the final film here. Liked Corey's premise though, even if the granddaughter's attachment to him was forced.

 

If anything, this new soft rebooted timeline ought to have ended with the previous film, but it was a planned trilogy, so they had to give Michael a way out with Halloween Kills, even when he had a whole mob ambush and gang up on him.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tales of the Jedi is phenomenal. Live action and animated Star Wars storytelling is night and day, and Dave Filoni and his team should be very involved with more Star Wars content. If I see his name first in the credits, I'll trust what I'm getting...Credibility was already established, and Tales of the Jedi further hit hard. The ship, for now, has its hyperdrive back online after months of the ship meandering, drifting through space. Finally!

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That is good to hear. Despite the Andor show being apparently good, ratings/views appeared to be tanking for it. A sign of people getting tired of the Star Wars brand now as it is, at least with the live action stuff being put out which has been generic in presentation or writing compared to the animated pieces.

 

 

Saw Black Adam earlier in the week, and honestly, felt the film was just average; not really anything I hadn't seen before. Much as I like Dwayne Johnson and his charisma too, would've preferred a Black Adam with the hair and pointy ears the more I thought about it after, but I guess they didn't want to CG the Rock for that stuff. The 90's skateboard kid I was more so laughing at how he was carrying the plot along and how tropeish he was than I was annoyed with him, but can see how he was a painful distraction for others with how much he was criticized. I may have been expecting a bit much from Dr Fate as a longtime fan of Pierce Brosnan, but was kinda let down by him here. The Superman returning tease in the credits made up for a lot of misgivings the film had for me though.

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3 hours ago, purple_beard said:

Halloween Ends just didn't do it for me.

 

 

I think people have been too harsh on that film. Most that I've seen hate on it just only have an attachment to Michael and not the other recurring characters or the new character. Even with his vague supernatural ability though (drawing his strength from death/killing), his age was going to catch up to him at some point. People just got too used to seeing their favorite fictional serial killer always come back somehow, and so when a film finally put a definitive end to him, they didn't like it. This was meant to be Laurie's final outing too, so had to end it somehow.

 

 

While it was kinda weird to wait until the film film (well, final in this movie timeline) to send some kind of message about society with a new character like Corey, I liked the message it was trying to send. It could've been executed better, but it was still more interesting to me than the premise of the previous film where people just formed a mob and went after some escaped inmate while going on a witch hunt until they found Michael.

 

I knew while watching Ends that people would complain about Corey taking focus away from Michael, but the dynamic was interesting instead of going back and doing a backstory on Michael again or something. You have to fill the runtime somehow, and it worked well enough imo. I was able to empathize with Corey and see how he got to the point he got. He was seemingly pushed in that direction because Michael disappeared for awhile due to getting old and so Corey became the town's new object of denigration.

 

Michael taking a liking to Corey was interesting too, though I think the nature of their relationship was meant to be ambiguous apart from Michael seeing a bit of himself in Corey, evil recognizing evil. The main issue again is just the lack of explanation about Michael's supernatural ability, though I think it transferred to Corey when he pretty much became Michael, which leads me to believe Corey's not fully dead. Not sure if there'll be any kind of followup film with him, but just goes along with Laurie's message that evil always takes another shape or form... In reality there'll be another movie timeline for Halloween in some years because Myers is too popular to just stay dead forever, but I'm fine with this as a conclusion to him for now.

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@Ridley Prime

 

My issue with Ends is the first one in this series was GREAT!  The 2nd one took a downturn with the token characters and I kind of liked Michael Myers getting jumped as it were.  However, Ends really dropped the ball on several fronts.   Issues for me included not going over how Michael could have memory transfer powers with the new guy--basically botching an homage to 4 and 5 with that girl.  Dropped the ball on what could have been a real interesting story/plot point with Lorie's granddaughter being the killer and/or exploring the relationship with the "new killer".  The new guy killing for Michael to recharge himself.  The granddaughter's issues with being a family member related to the whole Michael Meyers saga.  The way they handled Cory being the focus and the set up to have him to take on Michael's killing spree....but he didn't have the same motivation they tried to set up in the 1st/original Halloween. 

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2 hours ago, purple_beard said:

@Ridley Prime

 

My issue with Ends is the first one in this series was GREAT!  The 2nd one took a downturn with the token characters and I kind of liked Michael Myers getting jumped as it were.  However, Ends really dropped the ball on several fronts.   Issues for me included not going over how Michael could have memory transfer powers with the new guy--basically botching an homage to 4 and 5 with that girl.  Dropped the ball on what could have been a real interesting story/plot point with Lorie's granddaughter being the killer and/or exploring the relationship with the "new killer".  The new guy killing for Michael to recharge himself.  The granddaughter's issues with being a family member related to the whole Michael Meyers saga.  The way they handled Cory being the focus and the set up to have him to take on Michael's killing spree....but he didn't have the same motivation they tried to set up in the 1st/original Halloween. 

 

Yeah, Halloween 2018 was great and planned real well where they went all out. It seems they burnt themselves out with that film though; made it to where they couldn't top themselves after, leaving them with not as much idea on where to go with the next two films. They were contracted to do a trilogy though, but mostly blew their quality on the first one, while making things up as they went along with the next two.

 

If there was as much forethought for the whole trilogy as there was for the first film out of it, Corey would've been introduced a film or two earlier instead of the final one, giving him a bit more development and time with coping or with the granddaughter before he would become the next Michael Myers or whatever. He wouldn't have to play as an important a part until the final film, but you would still see the setup we got from him as the accidental killer babysitter, and the town giving him shit for it while Michael's still out killing instead of just hanging around in a sewer tunnel. At least, that's how I would've done it.

 

Michael's niece they had the right idea with in the original sequel timeline which Corey was a homage to as pointed out, but Halloween 6 botched it for her which they then had to soft reboot to the H20 timeline, and so on... The actress who played the niece also played a different character in the Rob Zombie Halloween timeline though, interestingly enough.

 

 

I think Corey had "recharged" Michael when he brought that cop that was following him into Michael's sewer lair, and when Corey said "show me how you do it" as he was holding the guy down as Michael stabbed him to death, that was more or less when Corey became the next Myers. I think Michael wanted to see how Corey would do, so he stepped back a bit to see how Corey would do things. Corey failed Michael's test when it came to confronting Laurie however, and that was when Michael returned and took the mask back. I think either Michael let Corey borrow the mask to see how he would do with it, or Michael wasn't strong enough during the moment when Corey was wrestling him to take the mask from him, and Michael took that personal which was why he got violent with Corey when he went to Laurie's house. I don't know, but like I said, the nature of their relationship was sorta meant to be ambiguous it seems.

 

As far as Corey's motivation for killing, yeah, it didn't start out the same as with Michael's, though I figured he would start out with the people that had wronged him before like those zoomer band geeks. I saw some had ridiculed Corey for getting bullied by them, but I think Corey knew that assaulting minors in public as an adult would be a bad look for him after the reputation he had already garnered. Basically, the first encounter I would've given a pass, with that being their freebie, but the 2nd encounter after leaving the party I would've fought back in self-defense. I also wouldn't of flattened their tire even with Laurie offering the opportunity to do so since that would've only aggravated them to get back at me later.

 

Why band geeks of all people as the bullies though? I guess the football player bully trope had already run dry, but that seemed kinda weird. Also one of the girls that was with them was all "knock it off guys" each time they picked on Corey. If I was her I would've left them and not been in Corey's crosshair whenever he would snap, but that was just another one of the bad writing parts.

Edited by Ridley Prime
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I'm all caught up on Andor. It's solid, but I think I would struggle with this show once per week since it's a slow burn. Andor is better than Kenobi, unless the series abruptly nosedives, but I don't think it's up there with The Book of Boba Fett and certainly not either Mandalorian season. I feel confident in saying that Tales of the Jedi is the best Star Wars content of this year. That said, I wouldn't mind the team involved with Andor be given another live action project to work on...hopefully one with a more interesting foundation. Writing and storytelling have generally been great. I think there's only one big missed opportunity so far in episodes 1-8. 

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20 hours ago, Ithrak Utopia said:

I'm all caught up on Andor. It's solid, but I think I would struggle with this show once per week since it's a slow burn. Andor is better than Kenobi, unless the series abruptly nosedives, but I don't think it's up there with The Book of Boba Fett and certainly not either Mandalorian season. I feel confident in saying that Tales of the Jedi is the best Star Wars content of this year. That said, I wouldn't mind the team involved with Andor be given another live action project to work on...hopefully one with a more interesting foundation. Writing and storytelling have generally been great. I think there's only one big missed opportunity so far in episodes 1-8. 

Hmmm   I like Andor alot.

 

Right now, if I were to rank the live action tv shows I'd go Andor>Kenobi>Mandalorian> Bobba Fett.  Although, arguably, the first three I don't have a problem with rotating around.  Andor fits in with the less frivolous Rouge One, which I like a lot.  Kenobi was a very cool story amongst that character group.  I really like where Mandalorian is going and some of the subplots I've noticed.  Bobba Fett needs a season 2 bad, because season 1 felt like they hadn't gotten to what they really want to get to in terms of plot and him settling in in Mos Isley.

 

As far as the animated stuff, Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi are EPIC.

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On 10/27/2022 at 7:29 PM, Ridley Prime said:

 

Yeah, Halloween 2018 was great and planned real well where they went all out. It seems they burnt themselves out with that film though; made it to where they couldn't top themselves after, leaving them with not as much idea on where to go with the next two films. They were contracted to do a trilogy though, but mostly blew their quality on the first one, while making things up as they went along with the next two.

 

If there was as much forethought for the whole trilogy as there was for the first film out of it, Corey would've been introduced a film or two earlier instead of the final one, giving him a bit more development and time with coping or with the granddaughter before he would become the next Michael Myers or whatever. He wouldn't have to play as an important a part until the final film, but you would still see the setup we got from him as the accidental killer babysitter, and the town giving him shit for it while Michael's still out killing instead of just hanging around in a sewer tunnel. At least, that's how I would've done it.

 

Michael's niece they had the right idea with in the original sequel timeline which Corey was a homage to as pointed out, but Halloween 6 botched it for her which they then had to soft reboot to the H20 timeline, and so on... The actress who played the niece also played a different character in the Rob Zombie Halloween timeline though, interestingly enough.

 

 

I think Corey had "recharged" Michael when he brought that cop that was following him into Michael's sewer lair, and when Corey said "show me how you do it" as he was holding the guy down as Michael stabbed him to death, that was more or less when Corey became the next Myers. I think Michael wanted to see how Corey would do, so he stepped back a bit to see how Corey would do things. Corey failed Michael's test when it came to confronting Laurie however, and that was when Michael returned and took the mask back. I think either Michael let Corey borrow the mask to see how he would do with it, or Michael wasn't strong enough during the moment when Corey was wrestling him to take the mask from him, and Michael took that personal which was why he got violent with Corey when he went to Laurie's house. I don't know, but like I said, the nature of their relationship was sorta meant to be ambiguous it seems.

 

As far as Corey's motivation for killing, yeah, it didn't start out the same as with Michael's, though I figured he would start out with the people that had wronged him before like those zoomer band geeks. I saw some had ridiculed Corey for getting bullied by them, but I think Corey knew that assaulting minors in public as an adult would be a bad look for him after the reputation he had already garnered. Basically, the first encounter I would've given a pass, with that being their freebie, but the 2nd encounter after leaving the party I would've fought back in self-defense. I also wouldn't of flattened their tire even with Laurie offering the opportunity to do so since that would've only aggravated them to get back at me later.

 

Why band geeks of all people as the bullies though? I guess the football player bully trope had already run dry, but that seemed kinda weird. Also one of the girls that was with them was all "knock it off guys" each time they picked on Corey. If I was her I would've left them and not been in Corey's crosshair whenever he would snap, but that was just another one of the bad writing parts.

 

 

You brought up a lot of good thoughts on the issues I brought up and I think I had similar feelings on the same points in some cases.  IDK though, band geeks, when in a group, can do some nefarious sh* lol--just take a look at American Pie LOL.

 

I think that where they messed up is they introduced a cool dynamic about the Granddaughter mentally getting into a place to be a killer.  A bullied and arguably wrongly imprisoned kid taking up the mantle due to societal pressures of guilt he'd never get rid of or get out of but they skipped that for what they did do...almost making look like they were going to go with a tag team Bonnie & Clyde killing spree only to peter it out into a mish mash of almost fully realized ideas that could have made it better. 

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11 hours ago, purple_beard said:

 

 

You brought up a lot of good thoughts on the issues I brought up and I think I had similar feelings on the same points in some cases.  IDK though, band geeks, when in a group, can do some nefarious sh* lol--just take a look at American Pie LOL.

 

I think that where they messed up is they introduced a cool dynamic about the Granddaughter mentally getting into a place to be a killer.  A bullied and arguably wrongly imprisoned kid taking up the mantle due to societal pressures of guilt he'd never get rid of or get out of but they skipped that for what they did do...almost making look like they were going to go with a tag team Bonnie & Clyde killing spree only to peter it out into a mish mash of almost fully realized ideas that could have made it better. 

 

While it was still satisfying to see the bullies get their comeuppance, the whole junkyard scene was weirdly executed the more I think about it. i.e. One of the girls just running in a straight line toward the fence where there was no obstructions. She would've had better luck just jumping on one of the cars present than trying to climb that fence and outrun what was behind her. At least then the killer would've had to come up to where she was at instead of simply running her over. Corey's pops or stepdad dying the way he did was egregious too. I liked him, as he was the only one that was good to Corey throughout, and maybe they didn't want him to be killed by Corey himself, but that kid he handed the rifle to shooting his way right when the pops was getting up after checking one of the other kids was just... Wow.

 

The most creative kill in the film was on that DJ guy, but Corey merely got back at him dressed as Michael because... he talked mean to him before? Corey and the granddaughter were trespassing on his property before though, and despite her not wanting them to fight, they should've just ironed out any issues they had then and there. That, or the DJ guy should not have gone out there to check what was going on when he heard sounds to begin with, as you don't know whose out there doing what in the middle of the night.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Decided to watch LotR: Rings of Power via my free Prime Trial.

--They put some money behind this because the fx and production are top notch.  The story through episode 3 isn't too bad.  A lot more Middle Earth history and relationships than I had expected but I do like seeing some characters pop up from the older movies and how they are portrayed now.

 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/theater

--Spoiler free opinion, better and worse in some area than the original but overall a solid movie.  Lots of cool surprises.  I think a few parts felt underdeveloped in terms of storyline but I bet they wash out in movies moving forward.  Namor and his people came off pretty cool.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/22/2022 at 4:42 PM, Link, the Hero of Dreams said:

We might not see Chris Hemsworth as Thor for some time. He says he could be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. So he’s taking a break from acting to be with his friends and family. 

Chris Hemsworth Ready To Finish "Thor" - Dark Horizons

 

Not sure how far he's taking this genome test thing, but it didn't sound like to me he was retiring the character.  But then again, he hasn't really said he's experiencing Alzheimer's related issues in his daily life yet.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Okay, with Phase 4 MCU done with Wakanda forever, here's my ranking of the films from worst to best. SPOILERS to those who haven't seen all seven films. 

 

Spoiler

7. Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness

 

Visually, it's one of the best MCU films. Plot-wise... they sacrificed and turned Scarlet Witch heel. It doesn't help that supplemental material in Wanda-Vision, a Disney+ Show, is needed for Scarlet Witch's already horrible motive. (JUST ADOPT A CHILD, YOU SELFISH MORON!) Though, some of the surprise reveals were cool, but not to the extent of a film I'll mention later. Dr. Strange became a hypocrite at the end of his own film. Though, what will happen next thanks to the PCS is beyond me.

 

6. Black Widow 

 

Its placing is because it takes place around phase 2 & 3, acting more of a mid-quel. Still, the relationship with BW's family, and the fight sequences with Taskmaster are amazing. I love the 90s music selection too. Here's hoping the Thunderbirds or whatever is good.

 

5. The Eternals

 

 Sure, the movie has more world-building and less action than most of the MCU films, but it has some of the most diverse ensemble in the MCU films. I'm curious of the ending and PCS. Special props to the visual and scene department.  

 

4. Thor: Love And Thunder

 

Man, Godkiller or whoever just needed a hug. It doesn't help that Thor was the only likable god in the movie. Thor's relationship with Jane and Mjolnir is one of the most wholesome parts of this movie, even if Jane dies of cancer by the end. I thought the Guardians would do a little more, but they had their own Holiday special, and will get a Phase 5 film with Adam Warlock finally. By the way, if anything, what is with the MCU now and them building up villains? This is where I questioned who the true villain was until Kang was mentioned.    

 

3. Shang-Chi and The Seven Rings   

 

One of the best action films in recent years, and that's because it has a focus on martial arts. Excluding the Avengers, this might have some of the best fight choreography to date, and it makes me wish the AAs had an award for best fight choreography, akin to musicals and songs. I think it beats out all Spider-Men, Guardians, and Black Panther films in terms of that. Plus, like The Eternals, its strength is the diversity. The antagonist is one of the rare few that was never bested by combat or raw power.    

 

2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 

 

Obviously, it's a Chadwick Bosenam tribute above all else. Namor is one the best antagonists of the MCU, and his mutant tribe is just as deadly as any alien, assassin, and mysterious entity. Even if it's a little more world-building than action like The Eternals, this movie has some real gut-punches. The part with other nations trying to become dirty against Wakanda thanks to Vibranium was a little bit muddy by the end, but it now makes me wonder about the relationship of Wakanda, Atlantis(?) , and the rest of the nations by the end, and if Shuri's Black Panther will become what Captain America was during Civil War, or sadly like Scarlet Witch. Chadwick might be gone, but the people of Wakanda will grow stronger more than ever.        

 

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home 

 

It goes without saying the cast, fight scenes, emotional rollercoaster moments, and the ending is what makes this film stand out. It deals with how Peter Parker handles with everyone knowing his true identity, and how he tries to save a group of miscast villains taken from their own worlds. The Loki series and Dr. Strange might have delved into the multiverse with a bigger stake in the upcoming multiverse saga, but No Way Home truly brings in nostalgia using the other Spider-Man films as a base and uses it well. Plus, this film tops all other because of the fanservice, and even the music. It also helps that Sam Raini of the first Spider-Men trilogy directed this movie.     

 

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