Another year of waking up, realizing it's 9/11, and knowing that it's the Last Night of the World all over again. I'd stop and think of something more to say, but I don't have time... because an all new Disney D23 Expo Edition of Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• D23! Every year Disney holds its D23 Fan Club Expo where they talk about all the new things that will be coming up. Ever since they bought Star Wars and Marvel Studios, it's been a much more important event to me than it was prior...
• Thunderbolts! It's a Marvel Studios reunion! Florence Pugh returning as Yelena Belova? Sebastian Stan returning as Winter Soldier? David Harbour returning as Red Guardian? Hannah John Kamen returning as Ghost? Wyatt Russell returning as US Agent? Olga Kurylenko returning as Taskmaster? SIGN ME UP! In the comic books, Thunderbolts are a team of villains pretending to be a new team of heroes in the MCU. You don't find out who they actually are until the last page. This looks to be the same type of thing, except it's going to have a very different dynamic since the element of surprise is completely missing. If people are familiar with the MCU, they already know who these actors are playing. It would seem that this movie is going to have a Russian plot since most of these characters (except US Agent and Ghost) having ties to there. Well, whatever the case, this cast is very exciting, and I'm really looking forward to this one.
• Invasive! I didn't know exactly where they were going to go with Secret Invasion since the comic book series relied on a huge amount of backstory that simply doesn't exist in the MCU. Or does it? I mean, there is a number of interesting people in the MCU who could have been swapped out by the shape-changing Skrulls... and first on my list would be Sharon Carter, Agent 13, whom we lost saw as a bad guy (bad gal?) "Power Broker" in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I hope that there's some major names that got replaced and not just some background characters (how cool if Tony Stark was replaced and it was a Skrull?)...
Olivia Colman?!? What's she doing there? It looks like Rhodey might be a Skrull in the trailer, so anybody could be. Which is the entire premise, I suppose.
• ARMORRRR! And speaking of Rhodey, Marvel Studios says that Secret Invasion will lead directly into his own series, which would be Armor Wars. Other than Ironheart, we don't know whether the concept from the comic books will make it to the series, but it should prove interesting if the Stark armor gets out and the series is putting the genie back in the bottle. No trailer and no idea of an air date.
• WHAT??! Surprise! I had no idea that we were getting a Werewolf by Night Halloween Special on Disney+...
Gael García Bernal?!? That's quite a get for the character. Not exactly sure how this ties into the bigger picture... but something I'm excited to see given the grind house aesthetic that's going on. Interesting to note that Man-Thing is going to be in this as well.
• Andor! I'm one of those Star Wars fans who didn't like everything that came after The Empire Strikes Back except for Rougue One and Solo. Fortunately, The Mandalorian came along to revive good Star Wars for me. Then we got Book of Boba Fest, which was good. Then we got Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was also good. And next up? Andor, which is coming out of Rogue One...
This looks so good. And I couldn't be happier, because his character is fantastic. Fingers crossed it lives up to my high expectations.
• Mando! And speaking of The Mandalorian, heeeeeere comes Season 03...
Awww... baby Grogu is still adorable. He never gets old.
• Oh Percy! Is it too much to hope that Percy Jackson and The Olympians doesn't suck?
While the movies were far from terrible, they weren't what I was hoping for either because they didn't follow the books (WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?).
• Treasures! I am a big fan of the first Nicholas Cage National Treasure movie... and thought that the sequel was okay too. Now they're releasing a new television series based on the movies (with Harvey Keitel and Justin Bartha providing a link between the two)...
Catherine Zeta-Jones is a good choice for a villain, but I find it weird that they have made the show to be some kind of teen adventure version?
There was other stuff that got discussed (Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and Indiana Jones 5 to name a few), but that info hasn't been released to the general public yet. Probably eventually though.
Lately I've been watching movies from the 80's to see how well they hold up all these decades later. The answer? It's a mixed bag. Some of them hold up just fine, even when you don't mentally place them into the time that they were released. But others? Yikes.
It all started when I watched the original Top Gun before watching Top Gun: Maverick again (I bought it, but original saw it in the theater). My verdict? Well... the action is just as good as it ever was. And while the whole You've Lost That Loving Feeling scenario is still kinda funny, it's also incredibly cringe. Sure it's funny that Charlie (Kelly McGillis being awesome) shot him down harder than any fighter jet crash, but it's the skeezy way that it was approached in the first place that has the scene hitting a lot different today...
Although... eh... it's not terrible. I mean, it's no The Princess Bride which is as wonderful as it ever was... but it's also not nightmarish bad.
What actually is nightmarish bad? Revenge of the Nerds. Holy crap! It's all predatory, rapey, exploitative, misogynistic, and outright horrifying behavior from beginning to end. I have no idea how it was made back then!
It's kinda weird how I've remembered so many movies completely different than they actually are. I'd like to think that it's because I was clueless back in the day... but I'm open to the possibility that my memory is just faulty. The other day I forgot where I set down a glass of water just five minutes after pouring it.
A time to be born, a time to die. A time to blog, a time to bullet... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Confess! I love the Fletch books. I love the Chevy Chase Fletch movies... even though they are a different take on the material than I would have gone with. And now we're getting a new Fletch played by... Jon Hamm?!?
Couldn't be happier. Hamm has proven over and over that he has some serious comedy chops, and I think he's a perfect fit for Fletch. Hopefully it will be priced reasonably given that it's day-and-date with the theatrical release. I guess we find out on September 16th.
• Murders! I finally got caught up enough that I could spare enough time to watch the final episode of Inly Murders in the Building...
I didn't guess the killer, but I did enjoy how they wrapped it up. And that final star cameo? Brilliant!
• Alternative Facts! Do you know what makes for alternative eggs? POTATOES!
I don't know how accurate this is... but I do like me the potatoes.
• The Death of Streaming! As the whole Warner Bros. Discovery fiasco continues to implode... I find myself starting to not give a shit. At first I was outraged because shows like Infinity Train were being buried and movies like Batgirl were getting killed off during production. It just seems so incredibly disrespectful towards the people who work hard on these projects to have their efforts be shit on. And all to save a few bucks on taxes and residual payments. But now I am to the point where I'm just saying "good." That's two less streaming services I have to pay for. About the only thing left on Discovery I give a shit about is Bargain Block, and if HBO is going to waste away to a few shows I watch, then what's the point? I'll discontinue my annual memberships and just pay for a month or two each month when there's something I want to watch. So thanks for saving me a bunch of money, LOL! Although... I can only hope that this will actually improve the state of the DC Comics Cinematic Universe, which has been a festering pile of shit since the put all their eggs in a Snyderverse basket.
• Fake? As a long-time fan of Johnny Harris and his videos, I've had more than a few problems with his videos over the past year which tend to simplify things to the point of them sliding more towards fiction than fact. Now I'm a lot more selective about which of his videos I watch and how much credence I give to his thoughts (which is why I haven't been featuring his content on this blog as of late). And then I ran across this, which perfectly encapsulates where I'm at...
Like this guy, I don't want Johnny "canceled"... I just want him to do better. He's still a compelling video maker.
• EXCUSE ME! There's a lot of people who can do a President Trump impersonation. Jamie Foxx has a really good one...
Fun times. Fun times.
And now I must bid you (and my bullets) adieu.
Last night I was in a movie chat room where the topic of discussion was Spielberg films. Not something I'm incredibly passionate about, even though he's made a dozen films I've really enjoyed.
Eventually talk turned to which of his films were our favorites, at which point I was mentally ranking them in my head. But them I decided to rank them in my computer when I couldn't think of more than a dozen.
Luckily I have a blog where I can dump things like this...
Don't let my busted ass blog ruin your day... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now (even if it will have to be posted later)...
• Borked! Not only is my blog completely fucked today for unknown reasons, I see that now my heavy purple X's at the beginning of each entry are now regular-old black crosses?
Absolutely no clue what that is about. But it seems to happen on every browser I try and the code for them to be heavy and purple is still there... so one more thing to worry about, I guess.
• Found! One of my top-five favorite television shows of all time, The Finder, is streaming on Disney+...
The show has some things that did not age well (there is a Romani character which is referred to as "The G-Word" among other things) but the stories, characters, and concept are all fantastic. If you have Disney+, I urge you to give it a shot. If, for no other reason, to see the incomparable Michael Clarke Duncan in one of his final roles. HELPFUL HINT: The series was originally broadcast (and is still streaming) out of order. To watch it in an order where the plot threads all make sense, do so like this... Episode 01, 09, 03, 04, 02, 10, 05, 08, 06, 07, 12, 11, 13.
• Prequel Hunt! And speaking of streaming... I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but the Predator prequel, Prey (streaming on Hulu), is fantastic. It not only stays faithful to the original concept in a way that other "Predator" movies haven't, in some ways it's actually superior to the original. This time the action takes place on the Great Plains in the 1700's sometime. This time it's a Comanche girl who takes on an earlier concept Predator who hasn't gotten the same advanced weaponry we see in the other films...
Now, there's been some serious shit-talk online about the fact that a Comanche girl was able to battle a Predator without being immediately slaughtered, but if you actually pay attention to the film, it is well explained exactly how she could do this. Multiple times! I dearly loved this movie, and hope we not only see more Predators throughout history (somebody mentioned Predators in feudal Japan, and I got goosebumps)... but I hope we see a lot more of the movie's star... Amber Midthunder. So incredibly captivating and talented.
• Puppers! After you watch Prey on Hulu... treat yourself to this story about the other star of the movie!
• Sad! I don't get too excited for non-Marvel Studios movies lately... but this? This looks really interesting!
If nothing else, it looks like something that will be new and unique, so there's that!
• NEWS! This just in from the "No Shit, Sherlock" department... The More Money You Earn The Happier You Are, Large Study Finds.
• Denmark! This dipshit actually thought she did a thing...
All she actually did was show how utterly brainwashed Americans are by politicians and the wealthy corporations that own them.
No idea when I will have a chance to figure out what is wrong with my blog this time. I'm traveling this coming week, so maybe never! So see you next week... maybe.
I was deeply saddened to learn that Olivia Newton-John passed away today.
I fell in love with her... and fell in love with her hard... while coming of age in the 70's and 80's. I wasn't allowed to go see Grease in the theater (I was 12 years old)... but it was one of the first VHS tapes I rented in the early 80's! That was back when VCRs were so expensive that you couldn't afford to buy one unless you were wealthy. Instead my family reserved the VCR at the local video store to rent over the weekend... then rented a stack of movies to go with it so we could get our money's worth out of the pricey machine rental.
And, yeah, I watched Grease multiple times on multiple weekends. I was never a fan of musicals but... well... Olivia Newton-John. Because, damn...
And I listened to that soundtrack many, many, many, many times.
And then there was Xanadu.
Because of my love of Olivia-Newton John, I begged my parents to let me go see it in the theater when it was released in 1980. I was 14 years old. It was a PG film. My parents relented, and let me go see it with my friends. The movie wasn't great... but I did like it because it played to a trifecta of my loves... Olivia Newton-John, Don Bluth Animation, and Greek mythology. Olivia Newton-John was positively radiant in every frame...
Kira never got to say which muse she was... but she started to say it. Her name started with a "T" which means she was Terpsichore, muse of dance. And while the movie wasn't all that great... the soundtrack was incredible. I played it to death.
In 2020 Olivia made a quick video on the 40th anniversary of the movie... looking as radiant and lovely as ever...
ONJ appeared numerous places over the years. More recently she was a guest-judge on RuPaul's Drag Race and even appeared in one of the Sharknado movies!
As sad as it is that she's gone, she leaves behind music that will carry on for a very long time. And that ain't nothin'. Rest In Peace, Olivia Newton-John, you will be so very missed.
World War III is back on the table thanks to politician idiocy, but don't let that harsh your mellow... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Wedding! To my fellow Hallmark movie nerds... Wedding Season on Netflix. The concept has been done to death, but this one is way too cute to miss...
I love how Netflix gives a good budget to their movies like this. It makes all the difference in diferentiating them from Hallmark.
• Star Wars Summer! The LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation Special has a gem of a Weird Al song attached to it, and the video is right here...
Whether you're a Star Wars fan or a LEGO Star Wars fan or both... the special is worth a look! Find it on Disney+.
• Eternally Again! Patton Oswalt leaked that they are working on another Eternals movie. Good. Now leave powerless, annoying Sprite the fuck out of it (or kill her to start off the film). Leave Ajak dead. Leave Ikarus dead. And as much as I loved Gilgamesh, leave him dead. Then kill off Druig (or turn him into the full-on villain he is). Focus on Sersi, Thena, Kingo, Phastos, and Starfox. FIVE characters instead of however the fuck too many were in the first film. Marvel needs to get over themselves that Eternals was an epic masterpiece and come to terms with the fact that they created a bloated, scattered, mess of a film. Avengers Endgame had DOZENS of characters and felt more focused. Don't get me wrong... I enjoyed Eternals and didn't think it was as awful as many people did... but it could have been SO much better. I do hope that Chloé Zhao comes back to direct because her work is so beautiful... but don't force her to cram so much shit in her film that it gets so very sloppy.
• Vacation! This is so accurate as to sting a bit (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...
@shane.duffy Just make sure you reply to your emails 👍
♬ original sound - Shane Duffy 😮💨
I haven't had a vacation in three years. Sure I have the hours... but I'm always too busy to actually use them.
• Trash! I will keep saying it... Nancy Pelosi is garbage. Everything wrong with government is right here (And here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...
@progressivetradesman #greenscreen #insidertrading #corrupt #parforthecourse #dividendsaretheft ♬ original sound - user4501857206945
Like most of our politicians, she doesn't give a FUCK how many people she hurts so long as she keeps grabbing that money and power! And she doesn't care if she starts World War III or tanks our stock market to get it.
• PAID! I'd like to leave this Bullet Sunday on a good note... I paid off my blue iMac, Lemon, this week!
And in two months my MacBook Pro will also be paid off. Which will be very nice. The money not used for making payment can go towards groceries, gas, and everything else that's insanely expensive now-a-days.
TTFN, Bullet fans...
September 21st.
Cannot possibly enunciate how badly I want to see this series. I haven’t loved many of the Star Wars movies after The Empire Strikes Back... but Rogue One is definitely a huge exception, and Cassian Andor is a big part of the reason why...
No K-2SO in the poster. I'm guessing that he comes along shortly. Or at the end of Season 01...
Apparently there are three planned seasons... ever-escalating quicker until the series matches up to Rogue One.
As I have said many, many times in this blog, I am a massively huge fan of Black Panther. He, along with Doctor Strange, are my favorite Marvel comic book characters by a wide margin. Needless to say I was crushed when Chadwick Boseman died... not just because he was a talented actor who I had enjoyed in many films... but because he is Black Panther. And not getting to see him in Ryan Coogler's follow-up to the amazing Black Panther film fills me with a sadness that's hard to describe. His performance as The Black Panther filled me with joy after waiting years for the character to finally appear in the MCU, and now he's gone. Taken from us far too soon.
And you might guess, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a series of mixed emotions for me. On one hand, I am so happy that we will get to see all the great characters and incredible world of Wakanda again. On the other hand... Black Panther is gone.
I posted the trailer from Comic Con yesterday. I have watched it dozens of times trying to see every detail of what awaits us on November 11...
So here we go. Please avert your eyes if you don't want to see my spoiler-filled comments...
The trailer starts with Nakia on a beach... likely mourning the death of her boyfriend. Could she be pregnant with the heir to Wakanda? We don't know. What's very interesting about this scene is that you can see Aztec/Mayan architecture behind her. This related to Namor, which we'll get to in a bit...
Later we see T'Challa's mother, Ramonda, also on a beach which is kind of strange, because I thought that Wakanda is a landlocked country. They have a lake and rivers, of course, but no oceanfront real estate. Not sure what this could be about...
And heeeeere's the birth of Namor. Which you can tell because of his winged feet (in the comics this allows him to fly). This makes Namor the first mutant in Marvel's history...
In the Marvel Comics, Namor (AKA The Sub-Mariner) debuted in 1939, years before Aquaman debuted in DC Comics (that was in 1941). Even though Namor came first in reality, DC brought Aquaman to the movies first. To avoid people who don't know the history thinking that they have ripped off Aquaman, Marvel Studios has decided to root Namor in Aztec/Mayan culture, giving him and his people a far different look for Atlantis than DC gave to the Aquaman movies. I absolutely love this. Not only because it adds diversity and representation to the the MCU, but because it's just an amazing idea from the get-go...
I'm guessing this is Wakanda's throne room? All flooded and burning. I don't know if this is supposed to show a turning point where Shuri accepts that she must become the new Black Panther or not, but it's an interesting scene...
And... here's two of the smartest people in the MCU. That's Shuri shaking the hand of Riri Williams who becomes the successor to Iron Man, Iron Heart. I am positive that Riri is going to be tied to Wakanda and the first movie due to the ending of Black Panther where T'Challa established the Wakanda Outreach Program. How cool is that?!
Awwww... it's little Prince Namor! The reason he is not blue like other Atlanteans in the Marvel Universe is because his father is a surface-dweller, and his mother is princess of Atlantis. He inherited his father's skin color, but his mother's royal status...
And here's adult Namor...
M'Baku is probably my favorite character from the first movie. I am thrilled that he's come back for the sequel (just as I am sad that W'Kabi isn't able to return because Daniel Kaluuya had other commitments). Of all the characters in the MCU, M'Baku is the one I most want to see get his own Disney+ series. Okoye is apparently getting hers, maybe M'Baku will be a big part of the World of Wakanda series?
This movie is going to be a punch in the gut from start to finish... especially when seeing Chadwick Boseman pop up...
I am more than a little excited that Ryan Coogler & Co. don't hire somebody with the massive talent of Angela Bassett and have her sit on the sidelines. She actually looks like she's going to be given stuff to do...
Everett K. Ross! I love how this character is part of the MCU. And thank heavens that Ryan Cooler didn't have him fall into that tired old "white savior" trope that so often gets assigned to white characters in movies. Wakanda is the most technically-advanced nation in the MCU and their people are among the most powerful on the planet. They don't need a white man to step in and save them. From anything.
I am surprised that RiRi is going to become Iron Heart in this film. I thought she would be introduced here, then become Iron Heart in her own series! Kinda cool that her first suit is going to harken back to the bruit-force armor that Tony Stark created in the first Iron Man movie!
Wakanda and Atlantis have a long and complicated history in the comics. They have been at war for much of that history, though they have put it aside when a common threat faces them. I am guessing that the movie will have them at war from the start, and it will be interesting to see the reason behind it. Likely Vibranium-related. Note that Atlanteans need masks to breath when out of the water, whereas Namor does not. He got that from his dad.
And here's M'Baku... about to make a serious error. Namor can survive the crushing pressure of the deep ocean, so this battle club won't be much trouble for him to shrug off...
And who might this be? Could it be Aneka? We've already seen Ayo in the MCU (Aneka's lover in the comics) and this could be setting them up for a very interesting turn if they follow the story from the comics.
Okoye is so wonderfully bad-ass. I truly hope that Coogler is involved in her Disney+ series, because I will be sorely disappointed if she doesn't maintain character...
Just give Namor his own movie already. Can you just imagine?
Dora Milaje warriors vs. Atlantean warriors. That will be a heck of a fight!
And who is the new Black Panther? In the comics, Shuri has taken on the job on more than one occasion. Not sure if that's the way they are going to go in the movies. Maybe. Or perhaps M'Baku? Though I would really rather he keep his character, because he's just so fantastic. And now, for the hundredth time, WHERE IS MY M'BAKU SERIES?!? Just back up a dump truck full of cash to Winston Duke's house, pour out however much money it takes to get him to sign on to the project, then keep paying him absurd amounts of money so we get minimum ten seasons...
I am not even joking. I would watch the heck out of an M'Baku series.
And that's our first look at Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. November seriously cannot get here fast enough.
It's the most geektastic time of the year... because a Very Special Comic Con Edition of Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Wakanda Forever! This is the movie to beat, right? Though it will forever be tainted by the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther, we're getting most of the other amazing characters that came out of Black Panther plus the MCU debut of Namor, the Sub-Mariner. So, yeah, can't wait for November 11...
• Sandman! Based on one of the most beloved comic book series ever made (and one of my all-time favorites) the only question to be asked is Will it be any good? Well, if the trailer is any indication, the answer is yes. Looking very faithful to the books, and of course I am dying to see it. Fortunately we only have to wait until August 5th...
• She-Hulk! I've been waffling on this one. It sounded like a great idea when it came out... looked intriguing with the glimpses we got... and looks absolute fire now that we've got an actual trailer. Coming August 17th...
• John Wick 4! I love the John Wick franchise. And it just seems to get better with each new installment as they flesh out the organization built around The High Table. John Wick 3 was the best one yet, filled with a cool story and action that was more over the top than ever. And here we are at the fourth one, coming March 24, 2023...
• I Am Groot! It looks cute as hell, like we knew it would. I could speculate, but there's not much point when we'll see for reals on August 10th...
• Black Adam! The DC Comics movies have been mostly bad as of late, Wonder Woman and The Suicide Squad being the exceptions. Everything else that came after Nolan's Batman trilogy has been crap. This doesn't look half bad, but (especially where DC is concerned) looks can be deceiving. They have before. Guess we'll know on October 21...
• Rings of Power! I don't know if the Amazon Prime Lord of the Rings series is going to be any good... but it sure looks like they put a ton of money into it. ..
• Shazam! Fury of the Gods! The first Shazam was a horrendous pile of shit and I hated it. Hopefully this one won't be as stupid and uneven, because it certainly could be a good movie character. And Helen Mirren makes an intriguing villain to be sure. Good or bad, it's coming on December 21...
• More Marvel Studios! There was more from Kevin Feige in Hall H yesterday...
• And The Rest! And here's some other things that might prove interesting...
So... until next Comic Con, I guess. See you next year.
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