Thursday, October 18, 2018

43rd birthday loot update part 4.



Well, not really, we're well into post-birthday but I didn't know how else to categorize it.
Anyhoo...


Unearthed & Untold:
The Path To Pet Sematary (2017)


See here, here, and here.

Boom, finally got it!!
Jeez, in that third link, I said it was coming real soon, and it took 3 more years for it to materialize, and 4 altogether for me to nab the goddamned thing.
6 years all together since it was announced!!

Anyway, this was/is great.
All these new horror/movie docs, at least the good ones, are using the skeleton of "Never Sleep Again", for their blueprint.

They go pretty in depth, and find everyone possible.
The only interviews they couldn't get were Stephen King, cuz even though he's open and laid back, he doesn't like interviews, and Fred Gwynne, cuz he's dead.
...and the cat, cuz they only live 15-20 years, and they can't talk anyway.
But everyone else is there.

And they touch on everything, how King got the inspiration, the Wendigo folklore that's in the novel a lot more, the casting, the set dressing, the locations, every little thing.

Hour and a half for the main doc, another hour or so of bonuses, and then two commentaries.
Haven't done those yet.

Worth the wait.
And they even say in the bonuses, it took so goddamned long because all the people were hard to track down, and then hard to persuade to open up.
Geez, talk about tenacity.

NOW!!
To do that big documentary recap!!
Here we go!!


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Saturday, October 13, 2018

43rd birthday loot update part 3.



Haha!! Nope, I wasn't done after all!!


30 Years Of Garbage:
The Garbage Pail Kids Story (2018)


It finally came!!!!!

From here.

This is on order, but I have no idea if or when its coming.
I'll update.

Well, I had to re-order the sumbitch.
They made a limited amount of DVDs in favor of streaming, and sold out all the copies, but they came back around via re-sellers, and I snagged the second to last one on Earth.

It's excellent! I fucking love it.
I knew I would.

Covers the biographies of the artists, the early history of Topps, the rise of the Cabbage Patch phenomenon, then the birth, and rise, and fall, and rebirth of the GPK cards.
Also, they touch on the GPK movie, but I think I have to get the blu-ray of the actual movie for the deep dive on that.
The movie blu-ray has documentaries and commentary tracks to flesh that out.
Ugh, never thought I'd want that, but...I do.
Terrible as the flick is, I'm curious about how in the Hell that got made.
That's gotta be a weird story.
I mean, I get that Hollywood wanted to make a quick buck off a fad, that part's not hard to figure out, but how THAT version of the movie got made, that's a real head scratcher.

My biggest overall take away, Xavier Roberts is human filth.
He didn't even invent Cabbage Patch, he stole it from Martha Nelson Thomas, so him suing GPK over something he didn't invent was just petty corporate bullying, and rank hypocrisy.

And it's chilling how fair use protections magically didn't protect them, because its been carved up over the years by lawyers into these specific little zones, and cards isn't one of them.
The first amendment should fucking apply to everything.
All the carved up exceptions are to protect robber barons from the little guy.
Really fucking dirty.
Bastards.

But, GPK gets the last laugh, my generation remembers GPK more fondly than those dopey dolls.

My second biggest take away, John Pound is as close a thing to my artistic deity as you can get.

Some nifty factoids, Art Spiegelman who wrote/illustrated "Maus", worked on them, the nephew of Andy Warhol worked on them, the dude who created and writes "The Goldbergs", was a fellow fanboy of the cards, and since the filming of the documentary, Topps made a Goldbergs GPK.

Documentary is roughly 2 hours, then there's another hour or so of bonus deleted scenes.
So, 3 hours of good stuff.

As mentioned above, I got one of the last physical disks of this thing, so if you wanna see it, you gotta rent/buy it streaming.

So, I'm happy as a pig in shit.
Next up, "Unearthed And Untold", about Pet Sematary, and then I'll do my big long delayed documentary compilation.
These crowd funded shows take a looooong time to make.
I started making my wish-list of these things...Christ, when the blog started.

Anyhoo, all for now.
See you next time.



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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Disney/Fox Part 7: Soon...soon...

Previously-


Yep, the bidding war is over, but there's still paperwork hurdles.
BUT, the president of Fox just said the deal will be completed January first, 2019!!

Details here.

Hopefully, we'll at long last start hearing some movie details after that.
Looks like Dark Phoenix and New Mutants will be the last of the Fox-verse X-Men.
They keep talking about goddamned Gambit, but if they want that to exist, they'd better start filming....right fucking NOW!!

See you for part 8 in...damn, 4 months!!
WHEEEEE!!!!


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Friday, October 5, 2018

Big 2018 Movies Part 11.


Finally, movie reviews are back!!!
That was quite a chasm!
So, you guessed it, it's...


Venom (2018)


Previously on Sony-Spidey...

And now, the rundown.
  • I dug it.
  • The critics have their chainsaws out, but it's not as bad as they're saying.
  • It's not the greatest thing ever either, but I was entertained.
  • It harkens back to pre-MCU Marvel movies of the 90's and 00's. Critics are saying this like it's a bad thing, but I like a lot of those movies, and this is the best of those. Better than Daredevil, better than Tim Story Fantastic Four, better than Ang Lee Hulk, better than Ghost-Rider easily.
  • Compared to other Spider-Man movies, definitely better than Spider-Man 3. Not as good as Spider-Man 2 or Homecoming. 
  • Tom Hardy is great. The flick doesn't work without him.
  • Venom is a goofy 90's character anyway, this was never going to be "The Dark Knight", or "Logan". It is what it is.
  • It works okay as PG-13, but I hope there's an R rated cut for DVD.
  • MCU is still the best of all cinematic universes so far, but that bar is out to the moon by now.
  • A mid-credits scene, and a post-credits. The credits are quintuple spaced, and reeeeallly fucking slow. Felt like 20 minutes. I'll sorta-spoil that second one, it's a scene from "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse". If you wanna see that one anyway, you can skip the scene and go pee. You're just gonna see it again anyway.
  • I won't spoil the mid-credits, but...suffice to say, it's sequel bait, and the plot to THIS one should've been that. 
  • Overall, I'm glad I saw this.
  • If you've got the spare cash and time, I think you'll have a good time with it.
  • If you're pinching pennies, and only want MCUs, I can understand, but check this out on rental at least.

So, overall not a must see like "Infinity War", or "Black Panther", but I'll stand against the people trashing it.

And, that's that one down!

Next time, Into The Spider-Verse, and Aquaman!
And mmmaaaaybe Halloween.


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Thursday, October 4, 2018

Pop culture updates #11.

Two big Star Wars updates....

First, Star Wars The Streaming Series (see here, here, and here) finally has a title.

The Mandalorian.

Jon Favreau posted the title and plot description as a Star Wars crawl on Instagram.
I cut the image out, and here it is...



Secondly, and this is kind of old news, Bob Iger, head of Disney, took the blame for Solo, and said they're not going to do the whole one SW movie a year thing anymore.

So....that means no movie immediately after Episode 9, SO that means no 2020 movie, SOOOO, the infographic is over!!!!!!!

Oh, wait, fuck, I gotta put the final Episode 9 poster in there...damn...

Well, anyway, here's the update without 2020.


Aaand, that's those.

Oh!! And here's the text timeline with The Mandalorian added, and Anthology Three removed.

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)
_. 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

And, that's that all updated for now.
See you next time.


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Thursday, September 27, 2018

Quickie fix to the last post.


*Forehead slap*
Forgot Krypton!
Just added it to the DC TV review list.
As number 2, bumping everything else down a notch.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Ranking the DC-TV-verse so far (2018)


Previously-

Same as with the Marvel-verse, DC either is getting, or has by now, their own streaming service, and their shows are about to multiply like bunnies, so now's as good a time as any....














1. Preacher

Second best comic book show in the universe behind "Legion", by this > < much.
Your mileage may vary, you might like "Preacher", better, but you'll certainly like one of these best in the world, and the other second.
Coin flip as to which order they'll go in for you
This leaves everything else on this list in the goddamned dust.
And that doesn't denigrate the others, but this is SO fucking good!

It's got everything.
All the essential vitamins.
Sex, gore, blasphemy, giving America the finger, and a junkie Scottish vampire.
How can you pass this up?
You can't, that's the answer.
Watch the goddamned show.
What are you watching that you think is better?
Fucking "This Is Us"?
Get your ass over to "Preacher".













2 . Krypton

It's live-action Aeon Flux in the DC universe.
A prequel about Superman's grandfather.
But, there's time travel shenanigans, and Adam Strange, Zod, and Brainiac show up.
Fucking awesome.
It's the best DC show no one seems to be watching.
Check it out.













3. Black Lightning

Y'know, I would have had this tied with "Luke Cage", for bold ballsy blackness....but after Luke season 2 kinda fell on its face..sss...yeah, Black Lightning wins.

All the racial issues that have been whipped back up by Trump?
They go there.
They go right fucking there.
Confederate statues, racist cops, profiling, brutality, gangs, the CIA putting drugs on the black streets, all of it.
It's "All In The Family", with superpowers.
I fucking love it.
I hope it's on a decade.











4. Flash

Now we get into what fans call "The Berlanti-verse",  or "The CW-verse".
"Black Lightning", is by Berlanti, and on CW, but they haven't integrated him in via the multiverse.
Yet.
I'm sure it will happen though.

This has consistently been the best of the 4 integrated shows for me.
And it's the most cheerily and proudly comic-book-iest superhero show I've ever seen.
Without being a parody of itself.
It's a silver-age comic book slapped up on the TV screen.
No apologies.
I love it.













5. Gotham

A lot of people are hard on this, and whine "there's no Batman, wahhh!".
Aw, shuddup.
You never had it so good, nerd-kind.

Needless to say, I really dig it.
Its got all the villains, its done well by them, especially The Riddler and The Penguin who were both a joke for awhile.
It's true to the world of Batman, even if you get no actual Batman.
Jim Gordon is Batman.
He's keeping the lighthouse lit until Bruce grows up.

Next year is the final season.
I'll miss it.
I'm sure they'll turn Bruce into proto-Batman at the very end.













6. Supergirl

My second favorite of "the Berlanti-verse".
Very true to the comics.
Just like Flash.
Studio suits that say this stuff "won't translate to the screen", well, you've got no argument now.
The characters, the bright costumes, the wacky powers, the wacky plots, the soap opera, it's all there, and it gets ratings.
Suck it, suits.
Give Berlanti control of the movies.













7. Legends Of Tomorrow

They struggled to find their way for awhile, but now they've realized they're the silliest one of the four, and have leaned into the silly.
Everything I said about Supergirl and Flash being shamelessly comic-booky?
Triple it for Legends.









8. Constantine

It was good, but it didn't last long at all.
BUT, he's been retroactively spliced into Berlanti-verse via an Arrow crossover, and next season, he's going to be a regular on Legends.
So, he's canon.
God, I wish he'd meet Swamp Thing.
He premiered in Swamp Thing comics.
They have to meet.
Have to.













9. Arrow

The one that started it all.
The "Iron Man", of the Berlanti-verse.

I....don't watch it.

I missed it when it started, and now I'm just too far behind.
I've been reliably informed by people I trust, that seasons 1-2 are great, season 3-4 are ass-crap.
Season 5 kinda turns it around, and season 6 kinda ruined it again.

Sooo...I haven't been missing a lot.
So I don't feel bad about putting it low on the list.
I do watch it sometimes.
Naturally, I watch it when it's a puzzle piece in a four-parter crossover.
And I watched the Constantine episode.
And The Vixen episode.
Y'know, ones like that.
But, I just haven't found the time or the will to catch up on it.
What I've seen of it I've liked, so I'll probably dig it.
There's just too goddamned many shows now.









10. I-Zombie

I liked what I saw of season 1.
I just couldn't keep up with it, and stay caught up with Berlanti-verse, AND Gotham, AND Agents Of Shield week to week.
The stupid networks traffic jammed 'em all together, and you had to make a Sophie's choice.
I-Zombie lost.
Sorry, I-Zombie.
I'll catch back up someday.













11. Powerless

Yep, this was a thing.
A sitcom about normal people who live in the DC universe.

The pilot was cringe-worthy, but I thought they were finding their groove at the end, and it could have gone somewhere.
Alas, it was cancelled.
It got really good when they added Green Inferno as a semi-regular.
Having a z-string superhero as their marketing mascot had potential.

But, alas, this failed, and that made Marvel gun-shy about their sitcom about Damage Control, and they pulled it from development.

Tch, dammit...
I hate how old-timey TV works.
No wonder everyone wants to go streaming.
Costs more than cable to get everything you want though.
It's gonna be a rough ride figuring this all this out as we go.


Aaanyhoo, that's all of those.
Well, not all.
I left out "Lucifer".
I just don't watch it.
Same problem as "I-Zombie".
So, I can't rate it on the list, but at least I'm acknowledging it.

But, minus "Lucifer", that's all the post-Arrow, post-superhero-renaissance DC shows.

Like I said up top, we're about to get way more though the DC streaming service.
Swamp Thing, Titans, Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn cartoon.
And that's just to start.

And Berlanti-verse is about to add Batwoman.
First, in a three part crossover (Legends gets left out for some reason), and then with her own spin-off.
I'm excited!
Bring it on!

Anyway, that's those.
I think I'm done for awhile.
But, I'll probably think of something eventually.
Stay tuned.


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