Pop culture updates #18.

• Parts 1-11.
• Part 12 (Bubba Ho-Tep)
• Part 13 (Lower Decks)
• Part 14 (Joe Bob)
• Part 15 (GB games)
• Part 16 (Cassian)
• Part 17 (Section 31)

Another thin trickle of Ghostbusters news, and it's....

GHOSTBUSTERS 3!!!!!!

....eeeeehhhhh maaaaaybbeeee.....

Dan Aykroyd was on Dan Rather's new show, and said....

“There is a possibility of a reunion with the three remaining Ghostbusters… It’s being written right now.”

And....

“I think Billy will come. The story’s so good. Even if he plays a ghost.”

Now, Dan's been singing this tune for 20 goddamned years now.
I'm not gonna hold my breath.

BUT...

Critics of Answer The Call pointed out that Bill Murray seemed kind of downcast and weird acting on the Jimmy Kimmel meetup of the two casts.

Bill later clarified, he loved the movie, he loved the girls, but "it should have been us".

Oh, NOW you regret not doing it, Bill!?!?
You were the reason 3 didn't get made!!

So, it does ring true to me that Dan could get Bill on board this time.

But, all this relies on Sony opening up the purse strings again for another one after losing money on ATC.

And on that score, Paul Feig revealed the budget on ATC was so ridiculously high, because the failed development on all those other Ghostbuster 3s  got folded into their budget, like all the other failed Superman 5s dragged down "Superman Returns".

So, thanks for that too, Bill.

You owe us a Ghostbsuters 3 as an apology now.
Muthafucka, you did Garfield 1 & 2, you're not too classy for NOTHIN!

OTOH, with all the drama, and Bill being a dick, I dunno how awkward it would be.
I'd like to see Dan, and Sigourney, and Ernie, and Annie, and maybe even Rick, all together again though. That'd be worth the ticket. Maybe throw grown up Oscar in there.

Much as I loved ATC, every time I see one of those cameo characters, I think "aw....I wanna follow THAT character's story, give THEM a whole movie!".


So....yeah, that's where all that stands now.

And again, still no word on the animated one.

We'll know more on the 35th anniversary.
Presumably.



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Big 2018 Movies Part 10.5.

• Parts 1-9:
• Big summer 2018 movies recap.
• Part 10 (GB: Crossing Over)
• Part 11 (Venom)
• Part 12 (Halloween)
• Part 13 (Death House)
• Part 14 (Lisbeth 4)

Ahhh, four months later, I can finally finish off...

Ghostbusters: Crossing over 
(Volume 2) (2018)

Previously with this franchise...

• My original Ghostbusters series review.
• Happy 2nd anniversary, Ghostbusters: Answer The Call!
• Ghostbusters 101: Everyone Answers The Call.
• Ghostbusters:Answer The Call: What Dreams May Come
• Ghostbusters: Crossing over (Volume 1)

Okay, last time, as far as I knew at the time, the graphic novels were going to be split up.
Now, all 8 issues are gonna be one big volume.
And the above is gonna be the cover.
But, I already did issues 1-4, so now I'm still on the hook to do 5-8, so here they are.

Plot summary-
(Heavy spoilers)

The scrambled teams of Ghostbusters in other dimensions defeat their respective ghosts, and manage to refill the containment unit.

Along the way, they meet back up with Rachel Unglighter, who gives them an orb shaped baseball sized trap that uses magic-tech, and Ron Alexander gets wounded by demonic ice cream cones.

Tiamat, sister of Gozer, interferes with their portal, and after they refill the containment unit, and head home, she pulls everyone to her dimension.

Even crossing 20+ proton streams doesn't touch her, so they use the magic-trap, and it drains her energy enough that they use a bunch of their regular traps (that have been upgraded to dimensionally teleport ghosts directly to the containment unit, but they set them to random dimensions for her) and rip all her flesh off her bones, and scatter her lifeforce across the multiverse.

Then, weakened down to practically nothing, they zap and trap her skeleton (with a non-dimensional regular trap), and just leave the trap there.
So Tiamat is dispersed for centuries, and will presumably never bother them again.
Unless the writer wants her back. :P

They all come home, but the containment unit is still unstable, so Ray's ghost girlfriend, Jenny, sacrifices herself, and goes into the containment unit, and makes it stable.

They play this for tear-jerks, but Holtzmann reminds Ray all of this started because they tried to build a viewer into the containment unit dimension (like in RGB), so they finish that, and now they can look in on Jenny, and she can beat up other ghosts, so she's fine.

Egon uses subliminal message code written on a piece of paper to erase Holtzmann's memories of dimensional portal tech, and says they're also going to use it on Ron Alexander, and everything's back to normal and safe again.

Rundown-

• A helluva ride, every Ghostbuster was in it, and everyone had a moment.
• It was the Infinity War of Ghostbusters. ...with a happier ending.
• Rachel Unglighter didn't fight Tiamat hand-to-hand, but she did beat her.
• Winston finally got his revenge on Tiamat (loooong backstory!).
• The Ghostbusters multiverse is finally all together now.
• Which sets up Ghostbusters World. 
• Next comic up the pike, a one shot issue featuring the Sanctum Of Slime Ghostbusters.

So, that's another Answer The Call sequel in the can, and the second Classic-GB/GB:ATC crossover.
January is the graphic novel.

And it looks like Dan Aykroyd still wants Ghostbusters 3 to be a thing.
But that's a whole other post.

Still nothing on the animated movie....

That's the GB franchise as of now.
See you next time.


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Stan Lee (1922-2018)

*Sad sigh*
Yep, we finally lost him.
He really hung in there.
He was 95.

I was first aware of him as a kid as the guy who created Hulk, but then, he was just a name written up in the credits panel.

Then, I first heard his voice as the narrator for "Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends".

I'm sure I saw his photo a bunch of times in the comics after that, but the first time I remember seeing him in motion in live-action was "The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk".

The best thing I ever saw summing up his life and career was/is still 2002's "Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels".
Buy that if you haven't already.
It was 6 years before the MCU become a thing, so it's a neat time capsule of "omigawd, he doesn't even KNOW!".

Speaking of MCU, here's my 10th anniversary time capsule of that.

And here's a youtube video of every Stan Lee cameo ever.
I'm sure he's gonna be in "Captain Marvel", "Avengers 4", and "Spider-Man: Far From Home".
Those are gonna be tear-jerkers.
As will the first one without him.
 :-(

And finally, here's every celebrity dedication to him on social media as of today.

Kevin Smith will probably dedicate an episode of his show to him, and Youtube it.
He's probably gonna bawl, and then I'm gonna bawl.

Goodbye, Stan.

And Excelsior!


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Big 2018 Movies Part 14.

• Parts 1-9:
• Big summer 2018 movies recap.
• Part 10 (GB: Crossing Over)
• Part 11 (Venom)
• Part 12 (Halloween)
• Part 13 (Death House)

No "Immigrant Song", this time, Thor stole it.


The Girl In The Spider's Web (2018)

Previously-

The Millennium Trilogy.


Short version, I dug it.

The rundown-

• I need to marathon them on disc to decide how it stacks up to the others, but it's a worthy continuation.
• I mean, it's not like "omigawd! This is the best one yet!!", but it lives up to the trilogy.
• Sadly, it's looking like the big kid's movies, and "Overlord", are gonna eat this one's lunch at the box-office. Frankly, I'm Nazi-ed out, and zombie-ed out. I'll catch "Overlord", on rental.
• Claire Foy does a great Lisbeth. Noomi Rapace is still my favorite though.
• Fede Álvarez does a good job. The tone of this one is somewhere between the other 4, and James Bond. 
• One could nitpick their choice in villain, but...the first trilogy kinda closed the door on a lot of their options. I could talk about that more but it's spoiler-y. 
• The trailers gave a lot away. But, you don't know how the pieces come together until you see the flick, so you're all right.
• Lisbeth dominates this one, you don't get nearly as much Blomkvist.
• If you liked the other three, or are one of those who only saw the American version of "Dragon Tattoo", I highly recommend it.
• Sign me up for "The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye".
• Traffic was a pain in the ass headed to the theater.
• Traffic was relatively easy coming home, but I got stuck behind a whole line of slow moving grannies for awhile. 

So, that's all of that.
Go see it.

Stan Lee died just as I was heading out.
I'll do a post about that.


Next time, "Creed 2", then "Into The Spider-Verse", and "Aquaman".


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Pop culture updates #17.

• Parts 1-11.
• Part 12 (Bubba Ho-Tep)
• Part 13 (Lower Decks)
• Part 14 (Joe Bob)
• Part 15 (GB games)
• Part 16 (Cassian)

And now another goddamned Star TREK show!

Star Trek: Section 31 (2019??)

Michelle Yeoh will play the lead.

Section 31 is Starfleet's evil dirty spy organization.
Michelle Yeoh's character (in ST:Discovery), Captain Georgiou, got eaten by Klingons, and replaced with her Mirror-Universe opposite, Empress Georgiou, who had to pretend to be Captain Georgiou to fool the Klingons, and then got enlisted by Section 31 at the end of the finale.
So, apparently, that's gonna spin off.

They floated the idea of a Section 31 show back when they created ST:Enterprise.
The three choices they ran past focus groups (translation- ya-fucking-hoos off the street) were a prequel (which is what they went with for Enterprise), Section 31, or a Borg show.
Despite whining by fans, they went with the right one.

There's certain ideas that float through Hollywood that they never let go of.
Sometimes they're good, oftentimes they're rotten, but executives fall in love with them, and they become unkillable cockroaches.
I hated the Section 31 idea back in the day, but if Michelle Yeoh is on board, sign me up.

So, that's Return Of Picard, Lower Decks, and now this.
That takes us up to series 9.
One more will get us to 10!
That's double the series count in 2 years!
Not too shabby!
Considering we had to wait 50 years for the first 5 to play out.

I'm betting on Starfleet Academy being 10.

Personally, I won't count the Wrath Of Khan prequel miniseries towards the numbering, because I fold Animated, Classic Movies, and JJ-Movies back into TOS as extra episodes, so if Khan-prequel goes between TOS and Classic Movies, that's still just more of TOS.

Anyhoo, see you next time for series 10!
Cuz you know it's coming!



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Pop culture updates #16.

• Parts 1-11.
• Part 12 (Bubba Ho-Tep)
• Part 13 (Lower Decks)
• Part 14 (Joe Bob)
• Part 15 (GB games)

Another goddamned Star Wars show!!

Yep, a prequel to "Rogue One", about the adventures of Cassian Andor.
Live-action.
Diego Luna will reprise his role.
One assumes K2SO will be back.
That's not the title, that's just a placeholder I picked.

So, that's Mandalorian, and this thing.
I'm expecting the SW shows to multiply like Tribbles as we go along.
Yeah, Tribbles are Trek, but nothing in Wars lore multiplies as fast.

And, here it is added to the text timeline.

1. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)
2. Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (2002)
_. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014, 2019-???)
3. Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
_. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
_. Star Wars: Rebels (2014-2018)
_. Star Wars: Cassian Andor (2019)
_. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
4. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
5. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
6. Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (1983)
_. Star Wars: The Mandalorian (2019??)
_. Star Wars: Resistance (2018-20??)
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
8. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
9. Star Wars: ???? (2019)

Yellow = Saga
Brown = Anthology
Orange = TV

That's it for now, see you next time.


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Big 2018 Movies Part 13.

• Parts 1-9:
• Big summer 2018 movies recap.
• Part 10 (GB: Crossing Over)
• Part 11 (Venom)
• Part 12 (Halloween)

At long fucking last, its.....


Death House (2018)

Previously-

• The initial announcement.
• The list of horror celebs involved.

So, was it worth the long-ass wait?
Ehhhhh.....

Was it as horrible as my worst fears?
Oh, Hell no, I've seen way worse.
In fact, I've seen way worse with Robert Englund in it (Moleman, Inkubus), which perplexes me all the more that he wasn't in this.

Would I recommend it?
Ehhhh.....

I have to break it down into pluses and minuses.

Pluses-

• The practical gore effects are actually pretty damned good.
• Every time you get a horror celeb, they do well with what they have to work with. You'll smile when they pop up. 
• I needed a printout of the IMDB list and the pause button to try to spot everyone, and I still didn't get everybody, so you'll need multiple watches to spot 'em all.
• Kane Hodder actually gives the best performance in this.
• If you're in this for the cameos, you'll be a happy camper.
• If you're in it for dumb gore-hound fun you'll be a happy camper.

Minuses-

• Everyone who isn't one of our beloved old-timers acts like a piece of wood. Especially the two young leads. Ugh!
• We really could have used Robert Englund to spice it up with some of his hammy jokes. Seriously, where was he? 
• I dunno if it was the cameras, the lighting, or what, but it looks like a goddamned Youtube fan-film. For the effort that went into the effects, it could have looked a lot better.
• Gratuitous un-sexy co-ed shower scene that didn't get me hard at all. Look, if you're going to be gratuitous, titillate me, or don't do the scene. If you're not going to titillate me, make it serve the story. You can't have that shit both ways. 
• Weakest element though, was the script. I love and miss you, Gunnar Hansen, but this thing needed a script doctor. If I were the producer, I'd've gotten someone really good to fix this mess, and still give Gunnar credit to be protective and kind. It has the ingredients to be incredible. The character's journey through this super-prison is supposed to parallel if not outright update Dante's Inferno. Well, Dante's Inferno is rich with gory shit, and social satire to pull from. If they'd used more Dante, it actually would have been better. There's a scene in Dante with guys dipped upside down in liquid shit with the heels of their feet lit on fire. Eat your heart out, Tom Six! Where was that? And for social commentary, they could have goofed on Gitmo, and Trump putting Mexican babies in detainment camps, etc, etc, et-fucking-cetera. They brush their fingertips against it, but don't really dig into it. Were they afraid of pissing off rednecks? I dunno. Dante is raw visceral satire, they really could have gone full South Park with this. 
• Camille's Keaton's cameo was a re-enactment of her "I Spit On Your Grave", rape scene right down her her screaming "bastard!". It's about 10 seconds. No other lines than that. I was bummed. I wanted more. I wanted her to be a full fledged character like Kane got to be.
• Felissa Rose gets more screen-time, but no real lines that I can remember.
• The bleak tone. If this thing exists to be a "Cannonball Run", of horror folks for fans, don't get pretentious. I think Bruce Campbell's "Bruce vs Frankenstein", would have delivered the goods better. A shame that never came together.
• This can be salvaged though. You can use the Bacon points. Someone could make another better crossover movie, and reference the existence of this prison, like "Hatchet 2", referencing Leslie Vernon, which referenced Freddy and Jason. The ultimate horror crossover can still be puzzle-pieced together. This movie just existing is a good thing. 

Overall, if you're chomping at the bit to see this as a Fango fan, go ahead and give it a whirl.
You knew it wasn't ever going to be "Silence Of The Lambs", it is what it is.

If indie exploitation horror isn't your cuppa to begin with, this review isn't gonna persuade you to see it, even if I had given it a fucking 10 out of 10.

I'd give it a wavey hand, but worth seeing.
Again, if you're a longtime hardcore fan.
If you're not in that community, probably give it a miss.

Will I buy this on physical media?
Ehhh...
We'll see.
I don't think so.
Could change my mind.
Depends on the bonus materials.


So, there's that one done.


Next time, "The Girl In The Spider's Web", then "Creed 2", then "Into The Spider-Verse", and "Aquaman".


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