Movies and Shows

The Flash Review: An Expensive First Draft

Leave a comment

Kinda Spoiler Free

This movie needed another draft. It was very clear from the opening scene that the writers were looking for cool vs. logical. In the movie’s first few minutes, Batman is pursuing an armored truck. He starts in the Bat-Plane and then jumps out on a motorcycle. The chase results in property damage, bullets fly, and everything looks cool, but why use the motorcycle? Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop the truck from the air? Then we find out the truck is carrying a virus that can wipe out many of the city in a few minutes. Soooooooo, why shoot bullets at the truck? Why not deploy the Bat-Net from the plane and pick the truck up? This sets the tone for the movie that prioritizes big action scenes instead of a logical way of solving problems.

This may not have been the right time for a Flash movie regarding Barry Allen’s progression. Yes, the Flash is goofy, especially in the Justice League TV show, but there was a sense of seriousness to the animated Flash. Episodes centered around the Flash were not just seeing how many jokes he could tell in the blink of an eye. The same thing can be said about the CW Flash. The phrase “Writing for Children vs. Childish Writing” sums up many of Barry’s lines.

This movie would have made more sense after Justice League 2. Obviously, that will not happen but have Barry have some more superhero battles under his belt, realize the seriousness of his choices and then have this movie where he meets the more immature Barry to have that mentor relationship. Yes, there were moments of that, but it felt forced, especially when the original Barry dealt with the bulk of the physical comedy and cringy jokes.

SPOILERS

There are no big stakes because Barry does have the “reverse time” card that he can use at any time. Obviously, that becomes a problem, and the slight spoiler is that New Barry wants to keep changing the timeline to where he gets a happy ending, and everyone lives, but Original Barry understands now that he cannot change the past without consequences, but a lot of that is not portrayed in the movie. In Flashpoint Paradox, that message was revealed in the world being destroyed by the timeline Barry created, but all these issues looked like they could have been reversed.

Overall, the movie was ok. It was fun at times. The nostalgia with Michael Keaton was fun. Supergirl was a lot better than expected. Seeing Zod again was cool, but it felt almost lifeless. What DC is looking to accomplish needs to be clarified. DC movies have to be looked at as a whole series vs. a self-contained movie. For now, all we can do is watch this movie bomb at the box office and see how DC tries to recover after the dust settles.

World War Joe

Movies and Shows

Smile Review : Where Hope Dies

Leave a comment

Smile had the potential to be genuinely great, but in the end, it took the safe route and became just another forgettable horror movie.

Movies and Shows

A Cry for Help: John Mulaney Baby J

Leave a comment

When AI technology copies the voice of John Mulaney, he will be out of work for good, because I can’t imagine a single studio taking a chance on him after seeing his new comedy special, Baby J. Let’s me give a little backstory first before I get into it.

Mulaney is a standup comedian who went to rehab in 2021. He is reportedly “clean” now and decided to do a Netflix Special explaining his time in rehab and what he did after. Imagine watching a man, publicly tell a group of people all the ways he’s a complete screw up, but he does it in a silly voice?

Mulaney explained the night of his intervention. First buying drugs and then trying to get a haircut at the Saturday Night Live studio at 7pm, because he desperately needed a haircut while high on drugs. Afterwards, walking into an apartment with 12 people trying to get him to change his life around. In rehab, Mulaney joked about not being recognized by his fellow junkies and told stories of his “doctors” who gave him whatever drugs he wanted. All the while, speaking in a funny voice.

After rehab, of course, Mulaney still wanted drugs and told a story of how he bought a 12 thousand dollar watch to pawn it off and ended up getting 6 thousand dollars for it, because he wasn’t able to access his bank accounts without a doctor notified. After that embarrassing story Mulaney said, “if you think that’s bad, imagine all the stories I didn’t tell you,” And the audience laughed because again, he said it in a funny voice.

There was one takeaway that really made me point to the screen and say, “well that explains it,” It was when Mulaney explained that he’s been drinking since he was 6 because his father let him do it. This was the confession of a man masking his demons with comedy.

The oddest part of me watching this, was when Mulaney mentioned he has a son and after a quick Google search, I found out that he had a kid with Olivia Munn. Mulaney’s marriage ended in 2021, and then he started dating Munn and went to rehab. Munn dated and had a kid with Mulaney at his absolute lowest point in life…. what the F#@$ was going on with her life at that time? Munn dated Aaron Rogers during his peak years and also Chris Pine, but somehow let John “snorting coke off the child’s changing station at a gas station” Mulaney put it in her?

I was a fan of Mulaney’s earlier specials and I liked Big Mouth, before I realized that it’s a show written for people who want to see kids in sexual situations. Thankfully, that show in its final season. I do wonder what’s next for Mulaney going forward. I imagine Netflix will throw a boat load of money for a single “soon to be canceled” tv show on their network.

It was amazing to me that I put this special on in support of him, but came away disgusted of the man. I do think men like Mulaney will never truly defeat their demons, mainly because he is constantly surrounded by deviants, but I hope the best for him and look forward to the day he can make me laugh again from actual jokes and not just a funny voice.

Movies and Shows

Star Wars: Remaking The Sequel Trilogy?

Leave a comment

I was watching the Snyder Cut of Justice League and was wondering if this would be something Hollywood do in the future. The idea of remaking a recent movie because it didn’t meet expectations or downright was terrible. And it made me think about the Star Wars sequel trilogy. It’s very hard to find someone that says that the Star Wars sequel trilogy was actually good.

Then one day I stumbled on this post on Facebook. It seems as though there “might” be a chance Disney is remaking the trilogy. I use the word might because there is a lot of misinformation on the subject. But the same thing happened with the Snyder Cut. At first, they told the fans it didn’t exist, then it would be too expensive to film and then one random day it was announced to stream on HBO Max.

Hollywood has been doing things like forever. I remember when the series finale of Seinfeld was filming, cast members were only given their specific lines in the script and that was it. Not many knew the actual ending. And Tom Holland isn’t even given the actual script sometimes because the company fears him shouting out leaks.

So all we can do now is speciate until a mysterious trailer drops one day in the future. The idea of remaking the trilogy is good for Disney and the fans. I would imagine they would get Jon Favreau to write and direct the entire thing. Favreau made the Star Wars franchise cool again with the success of The Mandalorian.

One of the biggest missteps in the sequels were the competing directions of directors and writers. Very strange that they didn’t have a full plan for all three when production started and they were mostly scrambling to put something out. You’d expect more from one of the most well know companies in cinema.

This would also be a massive win for Disney as well because the last series was terrible and still managed to make over 4 billion dollars worldwide. So they would still be making a massive profit, be able to sell a ton of toys and merchandise and get to pat themselves on the backs why saying “we wanted to do right by the fans”.

However, I don’t see Disney making another billion-dollar movie in the future, Disney + put an end to that. Why would I go rushing to the theaters when I can simply wait a few months to watch it for no premium markup? But it would still make a profit in the long run.

Either way, the idea of remaking the failed sequels is a win for Disney and the fans. So now all we can do is speculate, keep the idea alive online and hope that Disney actually gives the fans what they want.

Movies and Shows

Dr Death

Leave a comment

Let me tell you about a brilliant neurosurgeon, Christopher Duntsch. A man who wants to heal people. MD. PhD, about a decade of experience, 5 star reviews, recommendations from top accredited professionals, was trying to patent his stem cell research to cure spinal injuries. Confident, cool, and always had a plan to fix his patients.

And then in the years of 2011 to 2013, it was reported that Duntsch operated on 37 patients, killing 2 and leaving 35 with permanent and serious injuries. Even his best friend wasn’t safe.

He wasn’t even slick about it. Duntsch was blatantly doing the wrong thing in front of everyone. Neurosurgeon Robert Henderson and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby were the doctors who instantly knew something was up with Duntsch. Either Duntsch was the most incompetent doctor they ever saw, or he was a sociopath.

In one scene a patient’s procedure was compared to an IKEA box. Parts scattered around and not connected. Another scene had a massive sponge left in a patient causing a life-threatening infection.

Duntsch was able to move around to 4 different hospitals during these incidents without any pushback. Even as an investigation was being done, Duntsch wasn’t suspended, he was free to keep practicing, operating and hurting patients.

As Duntsch was on trial, I was almost surprised he was found guilty. Yes, obviously Duntsch willingly hurt his patients, but I’ve seen how its tough to prove intent in a trial. I remember watching every minute of the Casey Anthony trail, and before the verdict was read, I knew she wasn’t going to be convicted of murder.

The defense was citing Duntsch’s training as to why he made so many mistakes. Most neurosurgical residents do about 1,000 surgeries in their residency. Duntsch performed less than 100. Which in dealing with precise medical procedures you would want all the on-the-job training you can get.

Thankfully, this went in the other direction and Duntsch is now facing life in prison. Which is good because Duntsch always had a plan. Even with his medical license was revoked, Duntsch’s plan was just to go to another state to practice medicine. One of my favorite lines of the show was “There are 49 other states I can practice in. Hell, there’s a whole world,” he was never going to stop.

Peacock put of ton of effort into one of their first big original shows. Joshua Jackson plays the role of Duntsch perfectly and I’m surprised he doesn’t have more upcoming projects on his IMDB page, but after this show he should be flooded with work. I imagine there should be a nomination from this show somewhere.

Alec Baldwin and Christian Slatter have a perfect Ying and Yang styles of acting that work perfectly. Baldwin is more precise and professional while Slatter is more comically entertaining, but not overplayed.

The only flaw, if there is one, is that there isn’t an impactful ending to the series. Dr Death doesn’t end like a typical big budget Hollywood show. This show closely reminds me of one of my favorite and Oscar snubbed movie Wind River, where there was no big mystery to solve. It was pretty obvious what happened at the start and when that movie ended, I was waiting for another act to surprise me.

There was no big reveal to why Duntsch was doing this. The only thing I can think of he has a massive ego and when he is questioned at all that sets him off and takes it out on patients and his staff. Girlfriend breaks up with him and he give her glances as he paralyzes a patient. If a husband has some concerns about his wife’s surgery, then Duntsch hurts her. If his coach questions his ability, then he tackles the quarterback hard. So, we never got a satisfying “You can’t handle the truth moment” in court.

Dr Death isnt a show for the faint of heart. At some moments in the show I had to turn it off for an hour, take a walk, get some water and restart it. I hope you enjoy it.

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?