ThaOGDreamWeaver

Black Gryph0n & Baasik - Insane

Sky - Toccata

So, Last Of Us is among us, and... it's apparently very good indeed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64261582 Admittedly the writers had a lot more to work with than (and live up to) than most game adaptations. But well done. Well done indeed. Now if we could just pitch a City Of Heroes adap to the same writers...

Ah, more Pedro content. Excellent. If I had a comment, it's that this trailer is rich in pretty... and pretty vacant in content (unless you're as wise in the Mandalore and/or as much of a nerd as m'learned coll' above. But that's a good thing. They may have learned from Andor that not dropping every surprise in the damn trailer is better. Grogu made his choice to stay with Dad - whether or not that's wise, or whether other Mandos accept the little green guy... is more of a question. (And remember that Grogu is intensely Force-sensitive, so he will know.) Sackhoff hasn't done anything cancellable (to my knowledge), so theory of reuniting the remnants under Mandalore The Reforger (or Mandalore The Penitent?) and Bo-Katan not being on board with that stands. Guessing intertwined subplot of crime syndicate bid to "capture" the fledgling, unstable New Republic. Little on the nose for modern times but hey, metaphors gonna metaphor.

I can't find much on her outside the movie. So I guess with both her and Conrad, they've taken a relatively minor existing character and sketched in something new around them. Gives the writers and actors more room to play with, and you can throw the audience curveballs. Assuming you don't telegraph the whole thing in advance in press releases. (cf Arthur Harrow in Moon Knight, but Ethan Hawke still delivered. Also, Sharon Stone was in the running for this role, which is interesting but also telegraphs the plot - Sarandon would be pulling a face-heel turn at some point rather than being outright badass from the first reel.)

Madness - It Must Be Love (HBD🎂 @ Suggs)

Not sure Ted's actually in it much. He's not on the declared cast as yet - and I believe this takes place after his death, when Jaime acquires the Beetle. Then again, George can swing in with a few dad jokes of his own if you're missing out. BTW, Matt Reeves is meeting with Gunn & Safran to work out rules and boundaries for the bright, shiny DC-verse, versus the GRIMDARKPAINANDSUFFERING Bat-verse. Given Reeves' take had a lot of critical acclaim - and incidentally, pulled off a $770m take vs $180m budget during the pandemic downturn - it makes a lot of sense to carry on with that as its own side thing. And it's not like there haven't been multiple strands, styles and writers of the Bat at any one time in the comics.

It is known: Blue Beetle is likely the final release from the pre-Gunn era. Currently finishing up in post. Gunn himself has confirmed it's going ahead mid-2023, following the death of Batgirl. It was slated as another HBO MAX exclusive, but is getting a theatrical. How wide, I dunno. It's the Jaime Reyes version, played by relative newcomer Xolo Mariduena... ...and there's a whole extended family of Reyes to back him up, including veteran comic George Lopez as Uncle Ben Rudy. Obvious Bad Guy looks like your standard evil-version-of-the-good-guy fight, played by fine journeyman evildoer Raul Trajillo. Character is even called Conrad Carapax, which... seriously? C'mon. Do better. But with all these movies, the most expensive actor is usually the Boss Bad. And we have Susan Sarandon turning up as Victoria Kord - Ted's sister. Doesn't sound like my cup of alien space tea, but with a decent script and a Shazam-esque attitude, it could play pretty well.

That seems like depriving yourself of... a lot... of movies. Though I don't think I'm ever going to work through his collection of the last couple of years - he's been working like a man possessed. Some of it's fun (Mandy, Colour Out Of Space, and silly but entertaining FNAF-ripoff Willy's Wonderland), some of it... ...well, if anyone can tell me how in the name of rum'n'raisin fudge this thing got greenlighted, it would be relevant to my interests.

NGL, would watch.

It felt very Shaun Of The Dead to me - comedy, sure, but also horror, played by horror rules. And I have no idea if Nic can pull it off either, but it'll be a gloriously Nic performance either way. If anything's bothering me, they're going a little heavy on the comic book tones of the lighting, but it'll definitely have its own tone and style.

...and it even comes out on my birthday weekend. See you there, my darkling darlings.🖤

I did mean the DC Comics villain Gentleman Ghost: either the 40s trickster gentleman thief, or the one who obtains a terrifying artifact and becomes a ghost. Nice be careful what you wish for story in there, and it's always fun to have villains in the lead. And for Doc Savage, having him go from the 30s to the now would be fun for Dwayne and/or whoever took it on. (That's the origin story of one of my characters - the very Rocketeer/Rocket Ranger-inspired pulp hero Captain Thunder, who pursued Nemesis through a time portal and got stuck in the modern era. But being an electronics genius, quickly updated his tech, if not his sense of style...) Still waiting also on what the Blue Beetle movie is going to come out like.

Supes is going to be interesting to write for, because despite having very few physical vulnerabilities, he's... not all that much different to the rest of us personality-wise, and is mentally fallible to many of the same things. Despair. Rage. Depression. Isolation. Manipulation. Just putting him up against another lunk of equal power (hi Dwayne!) will blow your CG budget just fine, but there are more and better stories that can be told. And yes, I love the old-school heroes too. I still love the Baldwin take on The Shadow. I'm one of the few people who will unironically defend Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow to the death. The Rocketeer is still close to my heart and captures the tone and spirit of pulp beautifully. And beyond that, some of the actual 30s/40s pulp movies like The Lone Wolf. (Hey, come to think of it... if Gunn is lurking here - Gentleman Ghost movie please.) I'm not gonna give away the plot of the last Bond, but... yes, the Craig years end satisfactorily. Though, like every other damn franchise right now, they still have a villain problem. WRITE YOUR DAMN VILLAINS PROPERLY. There is a new series of books with no less than three double-O's - sounds interesting. As the reviews suggest, the idea of using 007's toybox with new toys lets you decouple a lot of the legacy issues while still using all that worldbuilding. Also, the world of spying in the UK has changed, since we now have at least a couple of hundred 00s, and I'd like to see SRR featured. (MIL / Bond fan nerd note: 007 does not work directly for River House. Actual spies are not allowed to carry weapons, except for self-defence where legal in that country, or do wetwork. However, there are people for that who can be brought over on secondment... like Commander Bond, RN, or assorted grunty Special Forces types in the USA.)

Twitter may be a dying world where the hellgates have been opened by the mad overlord, but Lynda is one of the heroes keeping the resistance's spirits up. Give her a follow.

Merry Christmas Everyone - Punk Rock Factory

Sure. And you wouldn't be alone, I'd be watching from the circle. (Though you might have to recast Ilya). I'd quite like Henry to be the next Bond as well, though either as a retro Bond, or with an actual backstory about becoming the new Bond, and making the idea of multiple Bonds part of the continuity. I've even had a speech knocking around in my head for years... "I'm sure you know what a legend is, in our world? Of course you do. Your identity. Your cover. Your new self. But we do have the other kind. Heroes. Monsters. Ghost stories. The kind that keep little crime lords awake in their bed at night, in case a Big Bad Wolf comes for them." And, of course, he's put his marker down for a Warhammer movie/series with Amazon, the big nerd, though I suspect Vin Diesel might be clamouring to play Blood Angels. Back to DC. Gunn has released more mini-statements via Twitter/Insta about what he's up to. TL;DR: They were fully aware Loud People On The Internet would not like these changes. While the Supes script will be for a younger Clark (hence the recasting), it is absolutely not an origin story, including meeting major players: links will already be established. Batman will show up as a major part of their plans. No clarity on whether the Matt Reeves Bat-verse gets to carry on in its own bubble, will be merged, or discarded. He claimed comments about recasting the entire DCEU were untrue, except the Suicide Squad... ...which might be because there were only three of them alive, plus Weasel and Peacemaker. Clue's in the name. Ray Fisher popped up, and was... dealt with. Not unkindly, but factually. There are not going to be any Weasel origin movies, or a Slither sequel. (Sorry). Supplemental: DJ & JG confirm that Black Adam 2 is not moving forward.

The Specials - Enjoy Yourself RIP Terry Hall (The Specials, Fun Boy Three, endless collaborations...)( Go-Gos - Our Lips Are Sealed

Mike Oldfield - In Dulci Jubilo

Brad Paisley - Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy

It's been a rough week for Henry Cavill, so for once, some good news for everyone's favourite nerdlunk. Games Workshop have confirmed to the market that they've signed a development deal for WH and/or WH40k properties. This does not mean that there will be flicks/series, but Amazon now have the rights to seek scripts and present treatments subject to a final contract being signed. Cavill, being not just a famous fan but a genuine bankable star, is unofficially attached, as is his friend and fellow nerd Rahul Kohli. Financial wonk side note: it might seem odd this is in the Financial Times. But GW is one of their absolute favourite stocks, not just because it's slightly oddball. I'm on a management course right now branded for the FT, and GW is a case study of how to manage a business properly. They produce consistently high returns, do all of the process correctly, and wilfully tell activist shareholders, critics, naysayers - and Nazis - to GTFO. To their faces. Or virtually, since they refuse to hold shareholder meetings in London - you wanna be there, you come up to Nottingham. ...how is that relevant? Well: it's GW's property, they've been caring for and nurturing it for years and even Bezos' money isn't going to tempt them to just sign everything over and let Amazon create, say, Snotling High School, cast Adam Sandler as the Emperor Of Mankind, or put Tenacious D in a Blood Bowl movie. (Though I'd watch the hell out of that last one.) Or make something like the Warcraft movie, about which... the less said the better. There will be grimdark.

Rumour mill's gone bonkers today, but huge if true: Hayden Christensen and another actress playing Young Ahsoka are filming Clone Wars era fight scenes, which Rosario will interact with through the WBW. (What are the rules on not meeting/interacting with your earlier self if you're a Jedi? Do you go nuts? Explode? Vanish from history? Damn short series if so...)

I hear ya. The “be careful what you wish for” plot’s a classic trope and Pedro Pascal was instantly memeable, but Kristin Wiig - great comedian, great actress… mutant… cat. Hrm. There are a number of rumours about what the WW3 treatment was, but mostly ludicrous and I don’t believe the one about Steve Trevor going in the Lazarus Pit and turning evil, mainly because Pine is already booked for the foreseeable future and turning his hand to indie directing. Further Gunn news: Cavill has posted that he will not be returning to the cape following an equally cordial meeting with DC Movies. Gunn’s opening take will deal with an earlier chapter in Clark’s life, but not an origin flick. Which sucks for Henry himself, Supes and Witcher fans, though I’d quite like to see Union Jack or Captain Britain if Marvel are in the mood. Presumably, this also knocks Black Adam 2 on the (shaved, randomly scowling) head.

Patty J responds: