All posts by World War Joe

Movies and Shows

Loki the Skeptic Loki the Believer

Leave a comment

Remember that sad emotional scene where Loki watches his future and becomes a better person from it? He sees himself and Thor becoming friends, getting along, seeing that he is the reason his mother was killed in Thor 2, ultimately sees himself die at the hands of Thanos and realizes this is his fate if he doesn’t change. Yet when He Who Remains shows Loki the script of what’s about to happen, he says “It’s a parlor trick”.

Ummm what?

Loki watched a montage of his future, took it as gospel, became a better person from it and now, all of a sudden, after he’s gone on this massive journey, now you’re a skeptic.

It reminds me of one of my favorite and most hated movies The Polar Express, where a child who doesn’t believe in Santa goes on a magical train ride, meets elves, sees Santa’s workshop yet when he finally sees Santa in person he doesn’t know if he believes.

That’s what happens when you try to shoe horn 3 movies of character development into one montage and then all of a sudden make the lead character go through actual moments of doubt.

Wrestling

Gresham Wants Out

Leave a comment

If I was Gresham I would want to leave too. There is 0 direction with ROH. No tv deal, no weekly schedule, just random PPVs with very little story or interest. Why wouldn’t he want to leave? Obviously, his main destination would be the WWE.

I would give Gresham a royal treatment, a title shot against the NXT champion after a few months and have him hold the title for about a year and move him to the main roster. There’s a lot of great opponents for Gresham. Dolph Ziggler, Tommaso Ciampa, Finn Balor, there’s a lot for Gresham to do in the main roster.

The WWE should jump at the chance to grab a unique veteran like Gresham who is looking for a spotlight and not to be featured once every other month. I hope the release happens soon and we can get those dream matches.

Movies and Shows

Mortal Kombat: How To Make Cole Work?

Leave a comment

The Mortal Kombat creators have given us some of the coolest fighters in gaming history. You have ninjas, sorcerers, demons, zombies, special forces, and literal Gods…..so why did the base the future movies around a brand new character?

When I put it on for the first time, I completely missed Cole’s name and was thinking “Oh cool this is a new take on Liu Kang’s story” and then when Liu Kang showed up I thought, “Oh I guess this is Kung Lao,” and then Kung Lao showed up in the next scene so I didn’t know who Cole was anymore.

Now Cole is leading the franchise going forward. I wasn’t a big fan of Cole, but since he’s here to stay I’m gonna give me 2 cents to make him better.

The first issue I had with Cole was he had such a positive family life. Usually, characters in these situations are “lone wolves” who don’t really have a solid family dynamic. The family wasn’t really seen struggling to survive. Sure, Cole was losing cage fights, but it wasn’t like Cinderella Man where the family was filling jugs of milk with water to make it last more. For the sequel, someone has to die.

Cole has to experience some sort of lose to change his world view. Maybe even corrupt one of them to become a popular Mortal Kombat character. It might be a stretch, but making Allison into Frost and fighting along Subzero might be an interesting idea. Cole would then have to kill Allison, giving his character more depth and maybe making him resent his position in protecting Earth Realm.

Another thing I didn’t like was Cole’s powers. The magical armor and weapons he conjured seemed lazy and didn’t look appealing onscreen. I guess the hidden meaning was that he was a protector and giving him armor was some kind of symbolic way of showing that.

The opening scene of the sequel should have Cole practicing his powers, maybe have the armor do more things than take endless blows. The armor could have similar properties to the T-1000 or Venom orIron Man in Infinity War, where they are a living weapon able to manipulate their bodies to help them in certain situations, creating new and exciting ways to solve problems and defeat their enemies.

Might be alittle overpowered, but if they do a good job establishing the parameters of the powers early, they can derail any fan complaints. All that can easily be done in a few short lines telling his daughter what he learned or even having Raiden say something like “You’ve been practicing”.

Overall, I thought the new Mortal Kombat was a fun movie. It wasn’t perfect and a lot of scenes could’ve been redone, but ultimately it was a good first movie of the series. It didn’t do an info dump of the world and a lot of the questions I had early on were answered organically. Out of all the big named series out now, I feel the most confident about Mortal Kombat.

Let me know what you guys think about the changes I had for Cole and the franchise moving forwards.

Wrestling

The Marriage of Kevin Owens and the WWE

Leave a comment

Image this. You come home from work and tell your wife, “I’m leaving you. You don’t clean this place, your food is terrible, the sex is boring, you don’t put any effort into yourself and we don’t do anything fun anymore”.

Then the next day you come home. The house is cleaned, there’s a roast in the oven, your wife is wearing nice clothes, makeup is perfect and the sex that night is amazing. Do you really think you’re gonna leave now? That’s the situation the WWE is in with Kevin Owens.

Owens has been complaining on social media about his situation in the WWE. Some posts have a countdown until his free agency. The WWE has 2 options. Give into Owens demands or let him walk.

If you want to keep him then you have to pay him an enormous amount to keep him. It has to be a number so high that he won’t be upset with wasting his peak years against the same collection of wrestlers. You have to give him the title and he has to keep it for a record amount of time. You have to make Owens “The Man” for the rest of his career, because you know at any time, he has a job offer from AEW just waiting for him.

Now let’s imagine the same beginning scenario, but look at it from the opposing view. Who the hell is he to demand I change? Does he clean? Does he cook? So, you bring in a paycheck and that’s all you have to contribute? Maybe the sex is bad because you don’t put in any effort. Maybe you should leave.

Owens had a very impressive run in NXT and the WWE. He helped the title for a long time, had great feuds against Chris Jericho, , every member of the Shield, Braun Strowman and others. So, maybe there’s nothing left for Owens to do in WWE. If you make Owens “The Man” then what will happen to all the other upcoming NXT talent.

And then the next questions is what’s gonna happen when he goes to AEW? Are talents like Darby Allen, MJF, Sammy Guevara, Jungle Boy and others going to get pushed down a peg in favor of Owens. Would Owens get rewarded with a title shot like Lance Archer, Brian Cage, Brody Lee, Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson?

There really is no completely happy ending for Owens in either company. I would love to see him in AEW just because there’s really no one left in the WWE for him to fight.

What do you guys think about Owens and where do you see him in the future.

Wrestling

Joe Gacy: I Hate/Love You

Leave a comment

I can’t remember the last time I hated a wrestler as much as Joe Gacy. Some matches I want him to be beaten so badly he would have to retire which means NXT Creative is clearly doing something right if they get a reaction like that out of me.

Gacy is essentially a watered-down version of Bray Wyatt. The Acceptance Society gimmick is one of those ideas so crazy that it works. I do see he will transition to a more ruthless version in a few months when he really builds the faction. Remember Wyatt wore a Hawaiian t-shirt and was a feared character and eventually transitioned into the Fiend? I predict Gacy will transition into a similar progression as well.

Gacy can wrestle and teaming him with Gunnar Harland looks like the start of a very nice faction. It’s just a matter of time before Gacy starts assembling a bigger team. Hopefully they don’t fall apart too quickly like other big factions.

What do you think of Joe Gacy and who would you put on his faction?

Movies and Shows

Reva the Scapegoat

Leave a comment

What the best way to stop criticism? Clam that all the negativity is because of racist homophobes who are review bombing the product for biased reasons. Which leads to my conspiracy theory, that Disney only casted Moses Ingram as Reva in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show as an excuse for the criticism of bad writing. Think I’m crazy? Let’s take a look at Reva’s character and you tell me if this makes sense.

Reva was a youngling Jedi who survived the Order 66 attack. She was stabbed through the chest by Darth Vader and left for dead. Reva went on a vengeful quest to join The Inquisitors, who are an extension of the Sith, move her way up the ranks through terrorism, hunt down Jedi, kill innocents, all so she can be next to Darth Vader to try to kill him. You can argue that she did those things to complete her mission for revenge, but let’s take a look at a movie that did a similar thing.

Traitor, was a movie about a US specials forces agent who infiltrated a terrorist organization to stop it from the inside. The agent, Samir, helped the group plan multiple attacks. In one scene, Samir had to blow up a construction site. Samir waited until the site was empty and placed the bomb in a certain part of the building away from everyone else. Sadly, someone was killed in the bombing and Samir was racked with guilt.

Reva, felt nothing the entire show. Even if her ultimate plan was to kill Vader, she seemed to enjoy the deeds she did. There was no scene of her crying in a corner after doing something. No scene of her masquerading some evil deed and being found out by her fellow Inquisitors. Just an evil woman doing evil things.

Reva was a horrible written character, with bad motivations and executed poorly. The Obi-Wan show was a horribly written and executed poorly, yet now they can use Ingram to stop any sort of criticism. I’ve even read reports that Ingram was talked to about race related comments that she will be receiving when the show aired and Ewen McGregor even spared 50 seconds of his life, while driving, to address that people have sent her racist messages. I don’t doubt that Ingram hasn’t gotten any race related negative comments, but it feels like Disney and McGregor are committed to believe that ALL negative reviews of this show are based in racial biasness and not on the merits of bad writing. Disney is reported to want to use Reva in future Star Wars adaptations, but there are no details on that yet.

Was Moses Ingram casted in a role solely to ward off criticism?

Movies and Shows

The Last of Us Season 2: Big Brain Move

Leave a comment

HBO has done it again. First, they hired Bella Ramsey to ward off negative criticism and now the second season won’t be the whole second game. Somehow the company that gave us Velma, apparently can read their audience all of a sudden and know people are tuning in for Pedro Pascal and when his character dies, the numbers with Ramsey in the lead will start to drop. Also, the Last of Us Part 2 was F-ing terrible!

There’s a reason why a third game wasn’t made. Ellie wasn’t fun without Joel. The ending was dumb. Ellie went on a rampage of revenge on Abby because of Joel’s death and didn’t kill Abby in the end? She let her go. Ellie killed tons of Abby’s coworkers just to leave her in the end before she can land the killing blow.

I imagine season 2 will take a lot more creative liberties and spend most of the time on Abby’s story. She was interesting. I do love stories where I get to see the villain’s point of view and maybe try to understand their reasons for their actions. Realistically, HBO needs to put a time table on this and not go the Game of Thrones path of too many seasons.

World War Joe

Movies and Shows

Big Mouth:Creepy Demographic

Leave a comment

There is push in America to expose children to more sexual topics in schools and in entertainment. Balenciaga landed in hot water with some sexual pictures of children holding up bondage gear, we’re seeing a massive number of books being taken off a Elementary School Library shelves with sexual content in them and now grown men are fighting for thr right to dance provocatively in front of children

Remember the movie Cuties on Netflix? The one where “reportedly” dozens of little girls were auditioned and they all had to twerk before the casting director “allegedly”? Yea, that happened. Now, lets talk about a show on Netflix called Big Mouth.

Big Mouth is an “adult animation” show about children growing up and becoming more sexually active. The main characters have Hormone Monsters who show them how to masturbate and they discuss their sexual urges in great detail. There’s a lot a lot of cartoon nudity…of children. Who is this show for?

Is it possible that Big Mouth is a show hiding behind the category of “adult animation” and made for an audience of people who want to see sexualized children and child pornography? 

World War Joe

Wrestling

John Cena vs. Austin Theory for the United States Championship

Leave a comment

There have been many rumors that John Cena will win this match and on Monday Night Raw and bring back his Open Challenge to reveal either Bron Breakker or rumored Jay White’s appearance on the Main Roster. I hate that idea and don’t think Austin Theory should lose this match.

Austin Theory in an anomaly of success on the Main roster. His first match on NXT was a loss against Tomasa Ciampa, then was stuck as Johnny Gargano’s lackey, mostly a mocked character on the Main Roster because he was seen as “Vince’s Boy”, lost his Money in the Bank briefcase cashing in on a mid-card title.

This match needs to be a clean win for Theory. Cena doesn’t need to be in the WWE anymore. He takes away too much of the spotlight from full time wrestlers. I would’ve rather seen Montez Ford vs Theory for the United States Championship than Cena.

Winner: Austin Theory

Videogames

Marvel Strike Force: Spider-Man (Miles)

Leave a comment

I need some help from the great Mike Singeltary for this one

“Can not play with him. Can not win with him. Can not coach him. Can’t do it”

I have exhausted all my options with Miles Morales. I have upgraded him; I have surrounded him with a great group and every time he disappoints me. Clearly, I am doing something wrong with him and I don’t know what.

Miles checks off most of my boxes. He gains Stealth, has an unlockable attack all enemies move, great team ups, there is nothing wrong with his game, its just he doesn’t fit in the teams that I assemble. For that reason, I wouldn’t recommend him, but maybe you might have some ideas of what I’m doing wrong.