Spider Man and his Amazing Friends

When we last left Spider Man, he was swinging off to reboot his life, with a new home made costume and return to a more classic, Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man.

This opens up the opportunity for something fans have wanted for quite a while, but it's only now, with the merger of companies that it's finally possible.

The post credit scene I wanted for this Spider Man was meeting two fellow young people, Bobby Drake & Angelica Jones with her little friend Miss Lion, just into the world, but also with special abilities, and a team up seems like just what they'd all need for their next journey in life, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends.

Spidey is looking for a new beginning, about to start college and looking for some new friends, it only seems appropriate as many other parts of the MCU reset after the events of Endgame and the world has forgotten Peter Parker, it's a great new start all around for him.

This  is also a perfect way to introduce mutants into the MCU, explaining that they've been around for a long time.  No need for some dramatic and possibly ridiculous storyline to force them suddenly into this universe.  Let it just be that they have been a closely guarded secret.  This can also help explain he line Nick Fury had in the Avengers, "the world is filling up with people who just can't be matched." and part of that, could be the X-Men and other mutants.  At some point, when they meet, Professor Xavier should thank Peter for his "great sacrifice", without going into any explanation for the statement.

It would seem that several of the Spider Man villains of old won't be part of this Spideyverse, Doctor Octopus probably won't pop up, and Norman Osbourne said, "someone's living in my house and there is on OsCorp", seems doubtful that Sandman will be here again either.  That still leaves a great host of awesome villains like Hobgoblin and Kraven can come along.  We've already seen Vulture, King Pin and Shocker (who was a great villain in the comics) plus we don't necessarily know that Mysterio is dead, he could always come back.

To me, the characters Morbius and Venom are too dark for this version of the Spiderverse, they would be much better suited to the Andrew Garfield universe, even though they are trying to set them up for this universe, it just doesn't fit.

Spider Man & His Amazing Friends is a much smarter and lucrative way to go for Feige and the Disney/Sony version of the Spider Man storyline.

I know this is absolutely insane, three Spider-verses going on at once, but it could be a success storm for Marvel, Disney and Sony if they can pull it off, and I believe they can.  We've seen other film franchises ruined by taking a brighter world and forcing it into dark places, and vice-versa, so why not let them each have their own?  There are multiple publishings of Spider Man in comic form, why not in films?

THIS is the next daring step that Kevin Feige needs to take for Spider Man.

Spider Friends.... GO FOR IT!!!

 

Andrew and the arrival of Madame Web

Seeing the two former Spider Men in the new film was a truly great moment, but it also allowed us to see deeper into each of them and see their differences.

What we saw from Andrew Garfield's version, is that he's the tragic Spidey, the lonely one, the lost one.  He lost his parents, lost his Gwen and has yet to find his Mary Jane.

Garfield did a great job, as he had done in his films, but seeing him with these other two made you wonder what happened to him, in his universe after he was returned.

In this version of Spider Man I see the opportunity to introduce one of the characters from the Spider-verse that crosses over them all, something that this Spider Man could really use in his journey, a guide, Madame Web.

McGuire's version seems a bit old for this to be introduced on him now, Holland's version is looking for a whole new way in the world but Garfield's version is the one who needs Madame Web the most.

She not only could help guide him on his journey as Spider Man but also on his personal journey to find out the mystery of his parents.

Garfield's personality and look seem to be good for a more mystical Spider Man and a bit darker New York.

After a couple of very rough nights, both in which he wasn't in time to save everyone from tragedies, Parker is wondering if it's all worth it, even with what he learned from the other Spidey's, he's really not sure of himself.

As he swings into a dark alley to retrieve his clothes and head home, the dark alley turns into a very deep hole in space, as he finally lands and dark bluish/purple light comes up and there sits Madame Web. 

Web tells Peter that Spider-Man is a very crucial thread throughout the multiverse, a part that even Stephen Strange doesn't yet understand, and that's why there are so many of them, his core is special to the web of existence.   The mantra of Spider Man, "With great power comes great responsibility" is part of Peter's core being in each universe.   She explains that Peter Parker is one of the few beings in the multiverse who doesn't have a "dark side" in some other realm, that he is a beacon of Good.

As far as his love interest, this would be the perfect universe to introduce, The Black Cat, Felecia Hardy and her style and history seems to fit here.  Hardy comes from a very rich family, Peter would be a fish out of water in that aristocratic world, could make for the humorous parts of the films.  The Tobey-verse has, in my opinion, the bast Mary Jane Watson, and the Holland-verse is rebooting, open for many possibilities, but The Cat just seems to fit here,

It's this that sets up his confrontation with Morbius.  Yes, I know there are scenes that set him up for the Holland-verse but I think this is the one that the Venom and Morbius characters need to be centered in, it just seems to feel like a more perfect fit than the Tom Holland universe.  I'm very excited for the Morbius film but it just all seems far too dark for the MCU of today, but would work in the Andrew-verse perfectly.

In one of the post film scenes of, No Way Home, we see Eddie Brock (why he was brought to that universe is unknown, he had no idea who Peter Parker or Spider Man even were at all), this should set up them coming to NYC.

Like Morbius, the Venom storyline is pretty dark, and a lot more violent than the Holland films have seen so far, why mess up that formula when it works better here?

This, to me, would fix that mistake of Brock in the Holland-verse, and yes I think it was a major mistake.  Let Holland's version find Venom the way the character did in the original story, during Secret Wars.

With the introduction of Madame Web we could also see the different Spider Men come together again in some kind of convergence like we saw in the 90's animated series, allowing some characters to jump from one universe to another.

 

Spider Man : Rebooting the Tobey-verse

Going into Spider Man No Way Home, I had some specific ideas on what I would like to see in the upcoming life of Spider Man (Tom Holland), but came out with some completely different ones.

The film was VERY GOOD, bordering on great, but left out some things that should have been in, and was a bit disappointing in other ways, I'll get into details later when more have had a chance to see it.

But, it did also make me completely relook at the McGuire and Garfield versions of the character and see that there are some genuine possibilities for more films on both of those parts of the Spidey-verse.

Given that McGuire and Dunst have more dramatic acting experience, I thought that this could be the more dramatic version of the character.  Plenty of web-action but with much deeper and emotional tones to the stories.

In my opinion there should be two constants in the multiple Spider Man universes, JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and, the yet to be introduced, Madame Web, hopefully they find the right actress who can portray the part across them all.

Speaking of J Jonah Jamison there was one line he had in the second Spider-Man movie where he was trying to name "Dr. Octopus" for a headline and came up with a name "Doctor Strange" but acknowledged that the name was already taken, who was he talking about?  Does this mean the sorcerer supreme already existed in this existence of Spider-Man?  If he does exist in that thread of the multiverse, who else might be there?

Back to the subject at hand, Mark Of The Man Wolf, would be a pretty deep and dramatic way to go for McGuire's version of the character.

This is one of the most memorable and well known of the classic Spider Man stories, thanks a lot to it's radio-style dramatization to a record-storybook set from the 1970's.

I had the original comic and story record as a kid and went years before I even tried to listen to it with the lights out 😆, looking back I'm amazed they made that story into a record for little kids.  Given the popularity for werewolf stories is still high, this could draw in new Spider Man fans.

This is a really intense story and changed J Jonah Jameson, until they changed him back, but I'd suggest this JJJ gets taken down a notch or two with this story, it could even be a two part film set.

Another reason to save, and extend, the Tobey-verse is that they have, Alfred Molina as Doctor Otto Octavious, aka, Doc Ock.  At the end of, No Way Home, he was still in possession of his extra arms and had the chip putting him back in control not only repaired, but highly upgraded.  One can really hope that he survived when he returned to his world and was able to help save the city.  This would make for a unique version of the Spidey-verse where Otto is not only still alive and attached but also a possible ally for the future.  This actor/character pairing is just too good and too popular to let go.

Bottom line is, there are still viable possibilities for the Tobey McGuire version of the Spider-verse, if he and Dunst are willing to make a go of it.


 

The Missing Spider Man, Nicholas Hammond

It's not really a spoiler if I tell you about something that's NOT in the new Spider Man, is it?  Oh well, if you saw the title of this, you know already, might as well read on... 

It's probably out now that all three of the cinematic Spider Men make an appearance in, No Way Home, but should there have been a fourth?  I say yes, there should have, in the person of, Nicholas Hammond who played Spider Man on television from September 14th 1977 to July 6th 1979.  Despite the fact that Marvel monarch Stan Lee didn't like the show, a whole lot of us kids back then LOVED it.  It's that connection through the ages that should have put Hammond in the new film, if only briefly.

To me, the best way to have done it was during the scene with all of them at Ned's home, while they are standing around and talking...

A knock at the front door, the Peters convince Ned to open it because, "super villains don't knock", but the three Spider Men get ready for anything as Ned approaches the door.  When he opens it, an older gentlemen is standing there with a kind, somewhat grandfatherly look on his face, "Hi, I'm Peter Parker, I have a feeling I belong here, right now." he says calmly.  Ned, stuttering and even more lost than ever opens the door and invites the older man in.

As he walks into the living/dining room, he looks over the three young men, smiling almost with pride, his eyes misting up a bit.  "It's nice to see the legacy carried on from so many different places." the older man says.  The three just look confused.  The old man reintroduces himself, "I'm Peter Parker, and I became Spider Man in my world back in 1977."  The three are now starry eyed but still confused, the older man looks as if a lightbulb just went off in his head, "oh, none of you have met her yet, makes sense now."  Even more confusion with the three.  "Don't worry about what you have to do, Spider Man has a purpose, no matter which world you come from, it won't be easy, far from it, but seeing you gathered here, I doubt there isn't anything you three can't do if you work together."  "Are you hear to help us?" says Holland, "No, my web-swinging days are over, I just wanted to let you know that more than one world is counting on you, someday, you'll all understand more."  With that, the older man simply leaves.

It's an ultimate teaser for, Madame Web and many will understand the implication of how the universes are connected, and is another teaser for how these worlds could come together again.

The television show was a great thing when we were kids and this would not just help connect the generations in the film but in fans as well, not to mention some bonus action figures of the classic TV Spider Man 😉 $$$ and a great way to celebrate the release of the original series on DVD/Blu-Ray, with Hammond doing some PR for it all.

 

Iron Man 3 - One for the Junk Pile

Arguably the worst of the MCU films, Iron Man 3 (although I find it more watchable than, Spider Man Far From Home) left a lot to be desired, and as we got the "twist" in the film, it wasn't a thrill, it was a direct shot to the unarmored iron balls.

When it was announced that Ben Kingsley had been cast and it appeared that he was playing the Mandarin, I was thrilled, this is one of the greatest actors of the last century.  Then I saw the movie and felt like chucking my large Sprite at the screen.

For the longest time, the Mandarin has been one of Stark's greatest enemies, now it seemed that they were dialing it up to 11 by making him a terrorist leader as well as everything else he's supposed to be, but just another angry CEO... didn't we do that with Obie and Hammer?  This was the opportunity of a real hardcore Ironman villain, and Marvel failed big time.

The one good thing I'll say about the film is that it was still a lot of the nuts & bolts Ironman and not that nanotech nonsense they would later use to screw up the character more.

It started off great, the video threats from the supposed Mandarin, matching up with a lot of the way terrorists like to operate, it was a change for him, but it was okay, kinda matched up with reality a bit more, I could live with that.  Using human bombs that could go off and walk away, VERY COOL, could leave those investigating it fooled for who knows how long, no evidence.  

Stark meets this really cool kid in Tennessee, a kid with some of the same talents as Stark, nice appeal to younger audiences but not to over-cutsie as Disney products tend to overdue it, it was working so far.

This could have let up to an even better Shang-Chi if the real 10 Rings had been in play, like the Mandarin used in the comic.  At Mandarins defeat the rings could have gone to Shang-Chi's father, and we could have seen that unfold in their film.

But the moment we learned that the Kingsley character not only wasn't the Mandarin but just an actor, the film died, right then, it was over and not worth another kernal of popcorn, and it was such a bad choice it took credibility from the entire MCU.  If they were willing to make a decision this bad on an Iron Man movie, what else might they severely screw up?!?

I'm not a fan of Guy Pearce anyway, I'm not impressed with his acting and can't understand how anyone is, he comes off as slimey from the first second, even when he's not trying to.

Let's hope that Shane Black just goes away and doesn't return to the MCU anytime ... at all, the writing was terrible and the direction was abysmal.  Let him go make B-level action flicks with Z-list actors where he belongs.

In the end, this was just a really bad addition to the MCU and probably shouldn't have been done if they weren't going to do it right.

Overall this film gets half a star, but for a single film, it gets none, it was just a mistake, plain and simple.

This film will forever be in the ranks of Indiana Jones 4 and the Star Wars sequels of, WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING!?!

 

MRM: The band is finally together, The Avengers

The buildup of the MCU Phase 1 came to a head in this groundbreaking film, that brought these heroes together to fight against the invading army of ... Loki, well sort of.

In the very first scene we learn that the villain isn't really the main villain, just someone doing his bidding.

Nick Fury shows up at SHIELD HQ to find the teseract has been "misbehaving" as we're reintroduced to Dr Selvig (from Thor) and Hawkeye  who points out that the teseract is a door and that doors open from both directions, which it quickly does, and Loki starts blowing things up, as well as taking Selvig and Hawkeye as his "personal flying monkeys"... no worries, Cap gets the reference.... or does later... 

One of the more important scenes that a lot of people might overlook is when Nick is speaking to the "shodowy committee" and we see that they are just bureaucrats and don't really get what should/needs to be done, but still people in a position of power that can cause problems.

The recruitment scenes are good, get the job done, but (other than Nat & Banner) really don't have a lot of emotion.  Bringing Cap & Banner onto the Carrier is good stuff, seeing Cap have to pay off his $10 bet with Fury is great bit between "old soldiers".

Thor is drawn in just in his search for Loki, but they make up for that in an really well written scene between Thor and Coulson on the Helicarrier.  Helmsworth should have been on an episode or two of, Agents of SHIELD, maybe a two parter with he and Coulson working, just the two of them, good matchup of characters.

Arguably the best scene in the film is the confrontation scene in the Helicarriers lab, when Loki's influence is affecting all of them, and stirring the pot.

"The world is filling up with people who can't be matched." is one of the phrases that Nick uses to justify more movies about hero's that are already there before The Avengers.  Who else is Nick talking about?  This is probably the biggest hole that they never really address.

This is also when we get that great scene between Cap & Stark when Cap challenges, "Big man in a suit of armor, take that off, what are you?"  But also in that scene, Stark shows his latent hate for Cap by calling him "you're a laboratory experiment Rogers, everything special about you came out of a bottle." which anyone knows, that's really the least of Cap, but they put it in to pump up the Star character and tone down Cap.  The scene didn't achieve what it should but did some of what they wanted, even if it was bad for the story.

The scene is interrupted by Hawkeye's attack on the Helicarrier.  Banner and Romanov fall to a lower level where Banner does his "party trick" and the Hulk is loose on the carrier, just as Loki wanted.  The ensuing battle on board splits the team up with Hulk and Thor knocked off but Hawkeye is brought back with a little smack to the coconut.

This also leads to the tragic loss of Agent Phil Coulson (yeah, I know 😉) as Loki stabs him in the back.  Fury uses the incident to motivate the team, and while in deep thought over what happened, Stark gets a revelation... "son of a b*tch", and he knows where Loki is heading.

Another great scene is the dialogue between Loki & Stark, sorry Tony, the threatening... it's a scene where we see Stark playing with Loki's emotions about Thor and then a final line about Coulson.  But in here we also get to see the real Iron Man, the nuts & bolts Iron Man instead of that nanotech nonsense.

The battle in New York is outrageous and a great climax for this phase of the MCU, but we see another issue when Cap lands on a police car and tells some police what he needs, the officer looks at him and says, "why should I take orders from you?".... IT'S CAPTAIN FREAKIN' AMERICA... so we have to see him smash some aliens for one minor laugh in the script, not a cool thing.

During the battle, here comes the shadowy committee again, bureaucrats making fool decisions for a fight they aren't part of and don't get, and Nick trying to tell them how foolish they are.  We see them again at the end of the film, where Nick pretty much brushes them off, too bad he couldn't do that earlier.  We get hints at this committee but overall in the MCU, they really never make a difference either way from here out.  One has to wonder, how many were on our side and how many were Hydra.  Looking back now, that committee seems like it was pretty useless in the MCU.

An end credit scene finally shows us Thanos, which was pretty cool but it was a bit obvious to begin with, studios let too much slip out before films are released, or many put the whole story into their trailers, not great filmmaking. 

In the end, Nick's plan worked, but was it by design or did he get lucky with the Avengers?  Did they get along because they could or because they had to?  We see some of that answer in a great, and simple, post credit scene of the crew having schwarma (I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it).

The film gets 🌟🌟🌟 and a half stars out of five, it was great to see the team together, the fight is good, but overall the film doesn't hit as hard as it could have.

 

FFF & Happy Birthday to the incredible, Dorothy Lamour

 

One of the most legendary names in film and in sex symbols, Dorothy Lamour had the entire world in love with her, some of us still are...

Born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 10, 1914.

She turned heads as a teenager with her beauty and long dark hair, she went on to win Miss New Orleans in 1931.

She moved to Chicago, dreaming of being a famous singer, she found work as an elevator operator at a department store before becoming a vocalist for the Herbie Kay band, and then married Kay in 1935 but their marriage would only last four years.

In 1933 she began her Hollywood career as a chorus girl in, Footlight Parade (1933) but wouldn't be in another film until 1936 with, College Holiday, then later in the same year, she was cast in, The Jungle Princess (in her would-be famous sarong) and the film was a smash hit, and co-starred Ray Milland.  She would go on to star in many other similar films as a child of nature/female Tarzan type role.

Lamour would co-star in five of the famous "Road To" films with Hollywood legends Bob Hope and Bing Crosby; Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar, Road to Morocco and Road to Utopia.  A comeback, Road To the Fountain of Youth was in the works in 1977 but was cancelled due to the sudden death of Bing Crosby.

Lamour would star with many other Hollywood legends and was one of the "it girls" who really saw success with a great number of them.

My personal favorite, with Jungle Princess in close 2nd, is her role opposite John Wayne and Lee Marvin in 1963's South Pacific film, Donovan's Reef.

Lamour would only make 10 films from 1951 to 1987, as her popularity trailed off.  She would pass away in Los Angeles on September 22nd 1996.

Lamour was beloved for her beauty and body but also for her great range from comedy to dramatic, often quoted about her "Road To" films sayin, "I was the happiest and highest paid straight woman in the business.", referring to the constant comedic quips of Hope & Crosby, along with many others.

Today, we say Happy Birthday to, Dorothy Lamour 💘

The Laughing Fish

Back to a classic DC villain for this weeks, Weirdo Wednesday ... or is it Wacked-out Wednesday?  Oh who cares... 😆

This week I wanted to talk about the best Joker episode of, Batman The Animated Series, The Laughing Fish.

Most fans have this episode in their Top 3 or 5 at the worst, it's truly a Joker story at it's core because the whole plot of it is around the fact that his crimes usually only make sense to the Joker himself.

The episode is directly inspired from, Detective Comics #475 and was just part of a much larger story arc for the clown prince of crime and proof that the animated series producers should have gotten more inspiration from classic issues of comics rather than todays Hollywood writers.

Too often on they misused the Joker as little more than a painted up gangster with a nasty sense of humor and that's about it, but this episode got to the core of the character the way he should be portrayed.

This story should have probably should have been a two-part episode, but they stuffed it into one and it felt rushed, but that's not the first time they did that and certainly not the last.

The animated episodes always had the Jokers victims merely drugged instead of dead, so he never really carried the terror that the character should have held.  Heck in the Power Records stories of The Batman they would let the Joker kill people with his toxin, but couldn't let it happen in the Animated Series...

In the story, The Joker poured a special mix of his laughing toxin into Gotham bay and then tried to claim that all the fish with his ghoulish grin were his property, but since fish are a natural resource, they couldn't be patented, but that made no sense to him, it looked like him, he should get all the money from fish products and he was willing to take out any government official that he saw as being in his way.

Harley Quinn was basically comic relief only in this one, since she had a small problem with fish 😫 and gets sick around the thought of eating  them.

The "television commercial" part of the show feels like the writers ripped it directly off the 1989 Batman motion picture of "Joker Products." and makes it just seem like filler for the episode.  This would have been fine for a two-part episode but not just one.

Batman is lured to the Gotham Aquarium to the Joker's trap, as is the stumbling detective Bullock, who Joker ends up using as bait for "his" shark, who he claims to share a grin with.  

The episode has some great Joker moments but also shows that the writers really didn't know what to do with Joker, even when handed the story on a silver platter from the classic comic book issue.  Batman The Animated Series is still the best rendition of the Batman that DC/Warner Bros has put out and still stands the test of time, too bad they didn't do more Joker episodes like this one.



 

MRM : The Incredible Hulk - The MCU’s split personality

Next up is the one part of Phase 1 that really kinda feels out of place, in more ways than one.

First of all, it's not the Bruce we know now, it's a different guy, Edward Norton is playing Banner in this one and the Hulk is full CGI with none of Norton in the characters face.

One of the things that follows and haunts this film are all the stories of how difficult Norton was to work with on set, it's stuck to this film and that's not good press for the MCU.

The one thing I will give them is all the Hulk history they toss in, Ferigno (who also voices The Hulk in this film) and Bixby appear in the film and we even get some bars of, The Lonely Man song from the original series, all of that is awesome and appreciated.  Although, as Bruce left the computer lab, I'd have had Ferigno say, "hope you found what you're looking for, Dr Banner."  And Bruce just smile at him with a nod of thanks.  The film had really good 2nd string and even 3rd string characters, they should have done just a bit more with it.  Stanley and his pizza place was awesome.

Doctor Bruce Banner is still on the run from General Thunderbolt Ross (and his yet unnamed, Hulkbuster squad), and currently hiding out in South America working at a soda pop factory.  Ross sends in his stealth-like troops (like bulls in a china shop) and the Hulk erupts once more.  After recovering, Banner somehow makes it from Central America to Virginia in less than 30 days with no money and no transportation, that seems a bit of a stretch, I'd have made it 60 days, roughly.

One of the parts of this that is out of place is the conversation between Ross and Blonski, when they talk about the bio-enhancement division of WWII, the Super Soldier program and Ross tries to really downplay and makes sure not to mention Steve Rogers or Cap, that was off.

Ross decides to ramp Bronski up with what's left of some form of the super soldier serum, they never explain what it is and where it came from.  If they had this, what where they working on?  Seriously.

Bruce's reunion with Betty Ross is good, the chemistry between the two is good, they play up the tension well, scientists afraid to let "the thing" loose.  But Betty's new beau calls the government over Banner, they never said why or played into the reasons around it, was he a plant?  Designed to get near Betty?  Lots of holes around this part.  The character is credited as Doc Samson but I can't see this guy becoming the Marvel hero of the same name at all, Ty Burrell is a good actor, but poor job in this, but I'd like to see Doc Samson in a future film or part of the upcoming She-Hulk series.

The campus battle is a good one, excellent action, as well as college reporter "Jack McGhee" and his friend "Jim Wilson" getting footage of parts on his cellphone, another nice nod to the original show, but could have been better.  Wilson is a character from Hulk's past in the comics and was one of his good friends/allies in the animated series of the 80's.

Watching this film today, really makes one wonder how General Ross made it to Secretary of Defense, or might be an intentional mockery of how the incompetent rise to the top through lies and political favor.

Banner finally hooks up with "Mr Blue" aka Dr Samuel Sterns (The Leader) and he tries to use an infusion process to clear Banners gamma poisoning, and appears to work.  Bronski wants the reverse, he wants the raw power of the Hulk in him, Sterns goes through with it, creating the Abomination.  In the fury, parts of the gamma serum drip down onto Sterns head and we see him begin his own transformation but never have seen the result so far.

The battle between Hulk and the Abomination is the fight that Roffalo's Banner references to in The Avengers when he says, "I broke Harlem", showing that he still blames himself for something he was actually trying to clean up.

The end credit scene between Ross and Stark felt very forced, like it wasn't part of the original plan.  Especially given the end of, Iron Man 2, where Stark was told that he was rejected from the group, so why did he approach Ross instead of Fury... for the joke about the "nice suits"?  

Bottom line, this was just made as an Incredible Hulk film, not sure it was seriously ever thought that it would be a master part of the MCU and not sure why they decided to keep it, almost none of this films plots ran through to later films and we never have seen Betty Ross again.  Although we do finally see the Abomination pop up in Shang-Chi, hmm… I wonder how he escaped captivity...

Overall, the film gets 🌟🌟 and a half out of five, and a HUGE part of that is in the respect they show for the original television show, although I'd cast Liv Tyler as Betty Ross again.  As far as an MCU film it gets only half a star because so much of what they started in this film has yet to make it into the current MCU.

There is a lot that I'd have done different and I'll get more into it in my blog on, My MCU Universe that I'll release on New Years Day 2022.

 

FFF & Happy Birthday to Flash Gordon's girl... Dale

Happy Birthday to this weeks Femme Fatale, Melody Anderson, and it seems appropriate as this weekend also marks the 41st anniversary of her most famous role as Dale in the rock opera, cult classic, Flash Gordon.

Anderson was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, she earned a masters degree in social work and retired from acting in the 1990s to become a substance abuse counselor in NYC.

Anderson started out in modeling and was the Rigid Tools poster girl, appeared in 1977 Victoria's Secret catalog before becoming an actress.

Anderson's first credited role was on the television sit-com, Welcome Back Kotter.  She also appeared on the television shows Logan's Run (sorry Melody), BJ & The Bear and Battlestar Galactica before landing her female lead in, Flash Gordon in 1980.

After that, she co-starred on several television series like St. Elsewhere, Jake & the Fat Man, and the cult favorite, Manimal.

Anderson would get pretty steady work appearing as a guest star on many other television shows like, Archie Bunker's Place, Dallas, The Fall Guy, CHiPs, Murder She Wrote, The Hitcher and Philip Marlow, Private Eye.

Cast in several television movies, many roles asking her to appear in some pretty, skimpy for television, outfits but thankfully she was never shy about her body. 💖

One of the last projects she worked on was the television movie, Marilyn & Bobby : Her Final Affair, where she played the legendary sex symbol and pinup bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, the film got mixed reviews but her performance did get some good praise.

Even though she left acting, Anderson has appeared at many science fiction conventions to honor her most famous role from Flash Gordon, and fans still like to rave about her beauty!

Happy Birthday, Melody 🌹

 

The Riddler, misunderstood & misused genius

 

For a crazy edition of, WOW, Wacked Out Wednesday, I want to talk about one of the most iconic members of, The Rogue’s Gallery, the man of 1,000 riddles, Edward Nigma, The Riddler.

The Batman, I believe, has the best list of villains and rivals of all heroes, the wild array of criminals, lunatics and monsters is astounding. (With Spider-Man in 2nd)

For years, if not decades fans have been describing Riddler as just a Joker wanna-be and/or ripoff, and I think a lot of times, they have been correct but not all.

This character has always had far more potential than he’s been given.  His latest rendition, Hush, is really terrible.  I think this is more what the character would become to jump off the comic book pages and come after all the hacks who have overlooked and misused him for all this time.

The Jokers obsession/core was always to get a laugh out of Batman, make him the punchline or to just set a crazy enough trap to kill him, he never seemed to give a crap who was under the mask.  Maybe Joker thought, that if he unmasked Batman to be just a regular guy, that would ruin the punchline, and not make it as fun.  So, how to make Riddler differ, how to set him apart?

We’ve seen some incredible renditions of the character, from John Aston (Gomez Addams) to the incomparable Frank Gorshin in the Adam West series of the 1960s.  If you’ve ever seen Gorshin play a heavy from the mob, you know that when he wanted to, he could play a character that could chill you to the bone and scare the hell out of you.  But the goal of that version was camp and comedy, and he also pulled that off brilliantly.   I would LOVE to have seen Gorshin as a real Riddler to challenge Batman, he’d have really freaked out the audiences in theaters.

In the 1990’s we got re-introduced to the character in, Batman the Animated Series, and this was a huge step for the character, he was far more cerebral and obsessed with puzzles of all kinds, which gave him his connection to riddles, and outwitting Batman, but there were a lot of characters trying to outwit Batman.  

This one was far less manic than other renditions, and it was a very popular version, because he was more of a thinking villain, rather than the ravenous type that he would usually go against.

It was actually in the 1995 disastrous film, Batman Forever, that they kinda touched on a part of Riddler that we should have seen long ago.  Jim Carrey was cast (Burton originally wanted Robin Williams, for his adaptation) and did an amazing job, but really was a bit too Jim Carrey for a villain that should have been more controlled.  In this film, it becomes a bit of an obsession for Nigma to find out the true identity of the Batman, and that is what the core of the character should have become far before 1995.

I believe that it is THIS obsession that could have defined the character and given the Batman more of a Chess opponent in Nigma than we saw with all the cackling and unhinged types, a master gamesman who really could have been an intellectual equal to Batman.

One of the main problems with this, is finding writers who could have had the intellect to work with such a character, it was always easier to just make him like the others, or a watered down Joker, than for someone to step up and really give us  a battle of wits between these two.

Even if they have done this in the comics, its either not stood out enough for people to make a big deal about it or maybe it’s that I haven’t had time to read the comics in so long.  And, as I inferred earlier, I’m not a fan of “Hush” at all, it’s a really lazy and predictable way to take the character that deserves better.

Personally, I’m a big Riddler fan, he certainly made green & purple a great color combo, I like the characters looks and the bits and pieces that someone should have put together (see what I did there 😉) decades ago.  A chess match that could still be going on today, between, The Detective and The Gamesman…

MRM : Thor, the best of Phase 1 MCU

 

The coming-of-age story of a petulant boy who is headstrong, proud, vain, arrogant, petty, foolish, greedy and likes to start fights so that people will sing the songs of his victories… that old chestnut…

Did I mention this coming-of-age story is really about a man from another world?  Did I mention this world is seen as Asgard, the fabled dream world of the gods of the Norse? 

Did I mention that the boy isn’t really a boy, he’s a man, nearly 1,500 years old, with god like strength and a hammer that could take down a skyscraper?  Did I forget to mention it’s the legendary God of Thunder, Thor?  But still, a coming-of-age film about a young man who needs to be what it’s like to sacrifice for others.

It’s got a great supporting cast, from two worlds, to help Thor become the man he’s supposed to be.

Odin is just plain fed-up with Thor’s pompous behavior, if he’s not bragging about his “victories in war”, even if it was just a fight that he picked, or he’s whining about how he knows better and should be making more decisions for Asgard and more.  So, before he goes into the Odin-sleep, he banishes Thor and takes his hammer so that it must be earned, wielded by a man worthy of it’s “power”, the power of Thor, and sends them both to Midgard (Earth), separately.

During a battle with the frost giants, Loki notices something strange about when he is touched by them, when he gets back to Asgard he questions Odin to his origins and learns the truth that he's not Odin's blood son.  During their argument, Odin slips into slumber.

As Thor is on earth, having to deal with life here, without his hammer and powers, Odin sleeps and Thor’s brother Loki, assumes part of the thrown, his dark heart wanting to take over Asgard for himself.  He acts like a complete pain in the @$$ for quite a while.

SHIELD comes in and takes "collects" all of the work of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and her associates, Darcy (Kat Dennings) & Professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) who becomes a major part of the Avengers saga.

I especially like the seen as Agent Phil Coulson watches Thor try to retrieve Mjolnir and fails, it's one of the most powerful scenes of the early MCU.

Selvig rescues Thor from SHIELD by claiming he's a physicist with mental problems, calling him Dr. Donald Blake (a reference to Thor's alter-ego in the comics).

In the meantime, Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the Warriors Three travel to Midgard (Earth) in search of their missing friend.  Loki visits Thor and tells him that Odin has died and that his mother has also banished him from his home.  Watching this scene it's hard to believe that he eventually turns to the good guys side.

Loki sends Odin's mighty Destroyer to finally finish off Thor and his friends so he can take complete control.

Eventually Thor is put to the ultimate test to save his new friends on earth, including his love, Jane Foster and has to sacrifice himself to save them, but in that, earning his place as God Of Thunder and the return of his hammer, Mjolnir.  It's an emotional scene and it moves you, it makes you believe. 

We find out later that this battle in a small town has a huge impact on others in the Marvel Universe, namely Nick Fury and SHIELD, it's what they use as an excuse to make weapons from the tesseract.

The post credit scene of Erik Selvig and Nick Fury is good and really leaves a good tease for Loki's return, but is still pretty small compared to many of the other post credits.

This film is easily the best telling and example of Thor, with Kenneth Branagh directing, it went the way it should, unlike later when they go for the small minded comedy.  This is how Thor should be depicted.

Overall the film gets 🌟🌟🌟🌟 and a half out of five.  Because it took you to the realm of the comic book, like Aquaman or Wonder Woman, it made it feel like a comic book hero come to life.  The balance of the scenes from Earth to Asgard is great, Branagh did an exceptional job.

FFF and Happy Birthday to TINA TURNER

 

Another birthday for Femme Fatale Friday as we celebrate one of the greatest entertainers of all time, and an epic icon of music, Tina Turner 💖

Anna Mae Bullock was born on November 26th 1939, she began her career in 1957 as part of, Turner's Kings of Rhythm, being called, Little Ann.

In 1960 she was introduced as, Tina Turner on a duet, with Ike Turner, and the team became one of the biggest musical forces with incredible hits like, Proud Mary, River Deep-Mountain High, and, Natbush City Limits.  And, she appeared in the film, Tommy, along with The Who, Ann-Margret and others, it remains one of the most iconic rock music motion pictures of all time.

Her infamous relationship with Ike ended in 1976 and the star continued to perform their original songs.  Her divorce was final in 1978 but their label released two more albums under their name.  After that she spent several years as more of a "nostalgic act" playing hotel ballrooms.

But in 1981, Rod Stewart asked Tina to perform "Hot Legs" with him on an episode of Saturday Night LIVE.  She then started opening for the Rolling Stones, appearing with Mick on stage for some duets.

In 1983 she was signed to Capitol Records and released the album, Private Dancer, which ended up going 5X Platinum and relaunching her career for a completely new era and generations.  To this day, it's considered one of the greatest comebacks in musical history.

In 1984 she achieved her one and only #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, with "What's Love Got to Do With It" but would go on to have numerous Top 10 singles like,  "Better Be Good To Me" and "Private Dancer".  In 1985 she would go on to co-star with Mel Gibson in, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and score another Top 10 with, "We Don't Need Another Hero".

Turner's star has only gotten brighter since then, cementing her as one of the greatest female legends of rock and roll, considered by many to be the, Queen of Rock N Roll.

She is one of the most powerful stage performers of all time, always including incredible dance numbers as part of her shows, she was a force on stage, and noted for one of the most impressive pair of legs of all time.  Proud Mary still is one of the most incredible songs of all time to me and always will be.

Happy Birthday, Tina Turner! 

Christopher Robin - A true Disney classic, all grown up.

In the middle of Disney putting out lackluster remakes, overflowing with enough CGI to scare George Lucas, it was refreshing to see them put out a truly beautiful, family film again.

Being that it stars, Obi Wan Kanobi (Ewan McGregor) I was, at first, expecting some big moment, something bold and dramatic.  The film was reminding me of, Secondhand Lions and I guess I was waiting for this films version of the fight scene between Hub and the teenagers, but it never came, but by the end of the film, it was okay.  It’s a relaxing and truly enjoyable, family film.  It left we with an uplifting and peaceful feeling, that childlike innocence of, everything’s going to be okay… 

Alongside McGregor is one of the new sensations of Hollywood, Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter from the MCU) who is not only one of the most talented actresses to come along in a while but also one of the most classic beauties in many decades.  Atwell plays McGregor’s wife, Evelyn who has stuck with Christopher through thick and thin, including many years of him being away for World War II.  

Then one day, as he is very stressed about life, Christopher Robin is hiding out in the park across from his home in London, when he hears an old and familiar voice… Pooh.  Robin turns around to Pooh Bear carrying on a conversation with him as if he’s only been gone a week.  Robin first thinks he’s gone mad, but Pooh had come looking for him to help him find his fellow citizens of the ‘Hundred Acre Woods, and the adventure begins.

The incredible Jim Cummings voices Pooh & Tigger, while Dr Who, Peter Cabaldi voices Rabbit and the amazing Brad Garrett voices Eeyore.  The voices and the old Winnie the Pooh music worked into the films beautiful score bring back a flood of memories.

Contrary to some very foolish sites and lists, this is NOT a remake or reboot at all, it’s a sequel.

It’s like a coming of age film but in reverse, sort of, it shows us the importance of holding on to things that are truly important in life, about priorities but at the same time, about the old Disney adage, don’t completely grow up, or you might lose a very important part of yourself. 

The writing is inspired as Pooh’s naive and childlike view of the world really helps to put a lot of adult things in a clearer perspective.  The film shows that just because we get smarter, doesn’t mean we know more, and certainly doesn’t automatically make us wiser.  In fact, it’s Pooh’s innocent wisdom that really helps Christopher Robin and his family see what is important in their lives.

This film gets 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of five, it really does remind you of the classic Disney family films we grew up on, and that Disney has been missing the mark on for a long time.  I can not recommend this film highly enough as a true, FAMILY Film!

 

Toon Tuesday : The New Scooby Doo movies

Almost definitely one of the top three incarnations of Scooby Doo, the New Scooby Doo movies were two part shows featuring guest appearances by a wide array of famous names.

From Batman & Robin, to the Harlem Globetrotters, to the Three Stooges, the show ran the gambit of fun but also did some with great celebrities like Don Knotts, Sandy Duncan and even country music star, Jerry Reed.

It was truly a fun show but even then a lot of fans asked why there wasn't more, why they didn't have more of the other Hanna-Barbera characters in the mix, like Captain Caveman and Space Ghost.  In more recent (and pretty lousy) incarnations of the shows, they did bring in more characters but it isn't even close to the magic of the originals, not at all.

There was a host of greats that could have been part of this series, although some might have taken a bit of a stretch for the, Scooby-verse, a character like H&B's version of Godzilla could have been a guest hero and it would have been more in the scope of the gangs adventures.

A character like Carl Kolchak (from Kolchak the Night Stalker) might have been a bit over the top but the character was wide open in that era for such a crossover, perhaps the character needed to crossover from Scooby Doo to a group that goes after real monsters, it could have been a great move.

The 80's was no shortage of insane possibilities for the show, the Ghostbusters is an easy one to toss out, or the gang of kids from, The Monster Squad, or even Gizmo & Billy from, Gremlins.

Today, the fools who horribly run Hanna-Barbera & The Cartoon Network do some decent films once in a while, Scooby Doo meet KISS, was a pretty good crossover, but so many others are just plain ridiculous and written for very dull intellects, no matter the age.

One of the great team ups from Hanna Barbera I always thought was an automatic winner was the Scooby gang meeting Blue Falcon & Dinomutt but they have already tried and screwed that up, bad.

Hopefully someone will come along and take the reigns at Hanna Barbera/Cartoon Network that will stop making programs/movies that just dumb down the audience and glorify stupidity rather than enlighten and entertain!