ThaOGDreamWeaver

Toots & The Maytals - (Take Me Home) Country Roads

Kinda excited to see it. It looks beautiful, and not just talking about the cast here. However, I'm still not going to be tempted out to the flicks just yet (UK isn't very safe plague-wise right now and won't be for some time.) Villeneuve is not happy about the HBO Max simul-release: while it guarantees some returns, it's a fraction of what it'd make even in COVID-era cinemas, and probably not enough to fund the second episode under normal circumstances. WB might greenlight it anyway though - in the hopes that things will have settled down by the time Part 2 is released, and then you can do a back-to-back release with Part 1 in a smaller number of screens.

The Cult - Fire Woman #besthatsinrock

FLC - Come Find Yourself

Visit Venus - Harlem Overdrive (hint: headphones on for full effect)

Thievery Corporation - True Sons Of Zion

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Without being a Marvel insider, I can't tell you the reason why (and would have Feige sending the killer robots after me if I was/did.) Maybe they just thought the markets would support this one better than Black Widow as more things were open: maybe it was an experiment: maybe they thought there'd be more piracy given they launched this one heavily in China. (Having worked briefly in the Chinese VoD sector, a 30-second video saying that Xi Jinping resembles Winnie the Pooh will get taken down almost instantly and probably earn you a trip to Qincheng, whereas a full length rip of a Hollywood movie... the censor teams can happily watch through - for cultural inspection reasons, of course - and then leave alone.)

Don't we all, dear boy. Sadly, the money from butts on seats is what primarily pays for them. (Well, and the kind of arcane dark accountancy that would terrify the Circle Of Thorns. The "rolling break-even" is particularly evil...) You have to wonder if epic summer tentpole movies on the Marvel/Bond/DC level will have to get shelved in favour of smaller, cheaper, more streaming-friendly versions for a while. Given what Favreau managed to achieve on a (relatively) micro-budget for The Mandalorian, using new filming techniques, it's certainly possible to get epic movie feels without breaking the bank. It would also allow for a wider range of storytelling. https://www.ft.com/content/a44b5c22-0b44-4c34-8f67-5540db152182

Bit of industry news: almost all of Marvel's upcoming slate after Eternals has been put back - basically leapfrogging down one slot. Spidey:NWH - currently still slated for December 17th but might move, especially if COVID strikes back in key markets. (UK is already in trouble with sub-variant AY4.2, aka Delta 2: Electric Boogaloo - so unfortunately another Christmas lockdown is likely.) Strange's MoM - now May 5th 2022 Love & Thunder - July 8th 2022 Wakanda Forever - Nov 11th 2022 The Marvels - Feb 17th 2023 GOTG 3 - May 5th 2023 (original date) Quantumania - July 28th 2023 Reasoning is that while Shang-Chi was a hit in pandemic-era terms, it still underperformed compared to other Marvel movies. Giving the industry more time to adjust seems wise.

You can see why they hired in Gunn for The Suicide Squad as soon as Marvel's back was turned. It's very much a James Gunn movie that happens to use DC characters rather than following on from the Snyder movies. An actor's director, pulls off the epic shots, borrows from all across canon but still invents for the screen, can balance fun and characterisation with some imaginative touches...

BTW, I actually like the teaser for Shazam II more: I mean, Mirren is a goddess anyway, of course, so feels a bit like typecasting. But she looks like she's having a whole bunch of fun...

Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful

Very pretty. Very short. Not much to go on. Dwayne's brand is wisecracking badass, and this movie is very much built around him, so evil wisecracking badass... yes, Terminator, or Idris's underrated turn in Hobbs & Shaw. Brosnan clearly on Alec Guinness duties - lend Serious Actor cred to a silly popcorn movie. I guess Bill Nighy was busy. Dr. Fate's an interesting choice as an antagonist though. Lots of power, free will issues... Pierce seems to like the sets. BIG physical sets, and BIG money spent. BIG risk if they're still depending on butts on seats rather than streaming. The reveal sequence feels quite The Mummy, which is also on-brand for The Rock. (DW's top archeology tip: you don't have to read weird ancient inscriptions OUT LOUD, y'know. They never learn.) TBH, looks like a very pretty movie that I will happily munch popcorn through and may even remember. But world-changing? Or Marvel-baiting? Mmm. Remains to be seen.

Not to "actually" you or (Bat-ctually?) but the Court of Owls showed up in Gotham season 3 and were effectively creepy, led by veteran character actor Ray Barry... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/GothamCourtOfOwls Side note... not sure why there's bad Bat-titude about Gotham generally. It took the key characters and quite a few deep cut ones too, and used the whole thing as a sandbox to tell new and different stories. Plus loved Shaun Pertwee as ass-kicking Alfred, Mazouz and Bicondova held their roles well and should have a great future... ...and when I think of the Penguin these days, it's not DeVito, Paul Williams or even the great Burgess Meredith. Robin Lord Taylor's Oswald Cobblepot was a fully-fledged character with depth, bathos, sympathy, multiple great arcs, and even a degree of charm. I think they're going for a very slow-burn reveal of the Riddler. Slightly spoilery stuff ahoy:

Chollo Rivera - Latin Soul Drive Is Here

Linda Jones: Not On The Outside

Also, right at the end of the trailer... is that...

Nice. BTW: this may be the reason you mention it, but Funk #49 is on the GOTG Animated Series soundtrack (aka "Cosmic Mix vol 1"), along with a whole album of other bangers and one or two oddities (Queen, Joe Walsh, Peaches & Herb, Gloria Gaynor... way to educate the kids.) Speaking of which...

Calendar Man is (briefly) in James Gunn's Suicide Squad, and a key part of the Long Halloween animated movie. It'd need a really good script, but if they're going for the full horror vibe: a Raimi-inspired (or Raimi-directed) Dollmaker would scare all hell outa me. And as a lesser-known villain, they'd have more room to play with it.

I'm a little late to this particular party, but this is very much my complete music aesthetic: Show tunes ✅ Disney✅ 90s-era skatepunk🤘 Ridiculous 80s metal solos🎸

So, thoughts? Dark. Liking the colour scheme and the look of Gotham. DARK. Bats knows he's scary as all hell and uses it. Also: Invuln/SS Tanker. DARRRRK... Riddler feels very Jigsaw, and is only shown obliquely in this trailer. DAYUM: I will be very hacked off if they fridge Zoe Kravitz, because yes. We like. We like very much. DUDE? Farrell has had a massive transformation into the Penguin? (Makeup needs slightly better lighting though...)

Am going to skip Eternals, for reasons outlined above. Looking way too serious and up itself to be a good popcorn-munchy cape flick. Next thing I'm excited for is Hawkeye, aka Die Hard With Avengers. Not least because Rogers:The Musical looks like a whole lot of fun - and if Marvel ever decided to put it on for real, I would absolutely be in the ticket queue. Because I mean, what could go wrong with a superhero mus...er...yeah.

Question for cat owners. Sparks (the large, lovable tabby moron) has moved in successfully and is purring and dribbling all over us, though doesn't come as close as we're used to. Certainly not within arm range. Molly is a lot more nervous. Trying to fit her collar today, she meowed piteously - even though it was set very loose and carefully - and bolted when I took it off to adjust it, before starting coughing as if she'd had a massive hairball. Nothing came of it, but I'm wondering if cats can have panic attacks like humans? Also, both cringe away if you try to pat them directly or from above - you have to get down and approach sideways. I'm worried as to what that might mean, but beyond overfeeding them (they're both already chonky/"oh lawd" size - nearly 6kg each) or bribing them with drugs (silvervine infused scratch box going down very well...) what means of gaining trust are there?