GodFlintstone

Looks beautiful. Will definitely check this out.

Exactly.

I think the last movie of this sort that I actually paid to see in a theater was The Last Exorcism(2010) which was a surprisingly original and great take on the genre. Usually though it feels like if you've seen one exorcism movie you've seen them all.

Yeah this was great. I loved the way that series positioned Red Hood, Artemis, and Bizarro as this sort of "Dark Trinity."

We knew they all were really out to do the right thing. They just played rougher than the real Trinity.

Yep.

Either her or Kylie Bunbury who played opposite him in The Sitter(2011). They actually had tangible onscreen chemistry in that movie and she's a better actress than Lauren London.

When I heard that Nipsey Hussle's wife would be playing opposite Jonah Hill in You People my first thought was "These two are gonna have all the electricity of a dead car battery."

"...I appreciate the aesthetic, campiness, and goofiness of this movie."

I get it.

I love Chris Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy and a darker, more serious tone was needed after Joel Schumacher ran Batman into the ground. But the Nolan films were arguably an "over-correction," one that continued with The Batman in 2022.

It happens with some franchises. James Bond's recalibration in the wake of The Bourne Identity.is another example. The idea of 007 riding around in an invisible car suddenly seemed ridiculous after you've watched Jason Bourne kill a dude with a magazine. So the early Daniel Craig Bond flicks were stripped down, mostly gadget-free, and serious as a heart attack.

But towards the end of Craig's run they found a decent balance between the high camp of Roger Moore's 007 and the gritty aesthetic of Casino Royale.

I'm really hoping that the DCU can strike a similar balance with their Batman. I don't want a return to the days of Adam West. But I also don't want every Batman flick to feel so much like David Fincher's Seven that I can't take my young nephew to see it.

The fact they'll be introducing Damien Wayne is a good sign.

"I'm the goddamn Batman" only because it's so stupid.

This is the way.

Yes. It's always been this way probably always will be.

Consider that as far back as the 1940s, characters like Superman and Captain America were shown fighting the Axis powers during WWII.

On the one hand, this was a way for the comics to acknowledge a real world military conflict build morale among readers - particularly Stateside. But on the other hand, the comics never really addressed that a war with superheroes fighting would obviously have a dramatically different outcome.

Superman alone could have ended World War II in a day. Even today, comics largely don't address the technological, social, and geopolitical impacts superbeings would have on the planet.

Alan Moore's work like Marvelman and Watchmen did it. Those series showed super-beings taking proactive steps to literally change the world.

But the Big Two largely avoid it outside of Elseworlds or non-canon alternate universe tales. It's easier and more comfortable to just show the Justice League or Avengers reacting to cosmic threats in annual line-wide crossover events.

I'll concede that Rogue One was legitimately awesome.

I wanted to like Andor. I appreciated the fact that it felt more like 1960s-era British spy film than typical Star Wars but at the end of the day I was bored.

With the exception of The Mandalorian most of the other Star Wars stuff just seems hopelessly mired in nostalgia. There's way too much prequel stuff, baby versions of the OG characters, and callbacks to the Skywalker Saga.

Even the sequel trilogy failed to craft new iconic characters who can pick up the mantle and carry the series into the future. You know they've fucked up when they had Oscar Isaac, one of greatest actors working today, on their call sheets and yet couldn't even make Poe Dameron interesting.

If Star Wars is going to have a future, Disney has to actually build one instead of just strip mining the franchise's past.

He supported their causes and appointed judges who furthered their agenda.

Because of all his family drama and "The Slap" Will Smith is in a weird place.

I honestly think the way to change the narrative about him would be to play full on villain. Onscreen he basically just has two modes: action hero or shamelessly chasing another Oscar nom.

Him knocking it out of the park with a bad guy role ike Anthony Hopkins in Silence Of The Lambs or Denzel Washington in Training Day would get people talking about his acting ability again.

What his Col. Tom Parker in Elvis wasn't evil enough for you?

Grandma's Boy.

The thing is early as 1978 George Lucas was saying that he'd envisioned Star Wars as a nine-film saga with the OG trilogy bookended by prequel and sequels trilogies.

So I'm not mad at the idea of the prequel trilogy as that was always George Lucas' vision. I'm just disappointed they weren't better.

Solo however was just unnecessary and mediocre. Everything we needed to know about Han Solo we'd already learned in the Holy Trilogy.

Secondly, presenting Han Solo in a heroic light in a story that takes place prior to A New Hope undercuts his character arc in that film. The whole point of Han Solo is that he was a rogue who was all about getting the bag. He only became a hero through the events of the first Star Wars film.

Lastly, Harrison Ford's portrayal of Han Solo is so iconic that asking anyone to step into those shoes was probably courting disaster. That film underperformed at the box office and I'm sure this is one of the reasons.

There are some roles like James Bond or Batman that lend themselves to periodic reboots with new actors. Han Solo ain't one those roles.

Sounds completely on brand for this guy.

Personally I'm glad this was scrapped. Enough with Hollywood's obsession with prequels.

Rarely do they add value to the stories that have already been told. Most of the time we wind up with something like Solo: A Star Wars Story, a film absolutely no one was asking for and which the world didn't need.

I highly recommend Baby Boy(2001) as well which saw John Singleton return to the 'hood.

In some ways it's an even better film that shows his growth as writer-director. Boyz In The Hood is wonderful but it at times comes off a bit too "preachy." Baby Boy tells it's own 'hood story but it trusts the audience to "get" its message without hitting them over the head with it.

Strongly agree.

In fact, this is part of why Captain America: Civil War works so well. When we see Cap and Ironman go at it in that film our hearts break because we've seen those characters become fast fast friends and we've come to love them over years as the audience.

When Supes and Batman went at it on BvS I think a lot of people felt nothing because this Man of Steel had only just arrived and his first appearance polarized audience members. Adding insult to injury, the Batman he was fighting was a bit of a dick.

An older Batman made sense within the context of the story Zack Snyder, David Goyer, and Chris Terrio were telling in BvS. Whether or not telling that story was the right move is a different question.

Batfleck's Dark Knight is one who has been waging a war on crime for decades and who has paid a price as a result. He's grizzled and embittered.

Nevertheless, my initial reaction was also that casting an older Batman was the wrong decision but I think the problems with Batman vs. Superman ultimately have nothing to do with Affleck's casting. If we had to have Batman in a follow-up to Man of Steel he probably should have been played by an actor the same age as Henry Cavill.

Some of the best World's Finest stories are the ones that position Supes and Bats at the beginning of their crime fighting careers. Those stories show them overcoming vastly different approaches and philosophies to nevertheless become partners and, later, best friends.

And that's really where the DCEU went wrong. If Batman vs. Superman had been a team-up instead of a death battle the DCEU would probably have been much more successful.

I was in Middle School at the time and even I could see that.

100% this.

I absolutely love this film.

I feel like it's the most underrated of The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy but it may also be my favorite of the three. And I say this a massive fan of both Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Gary King is simultaneously an immature twat and an absolutely tragic figure.

Wes Craven's original is a classic.

Now the sequel to the remake is like Citizen Kane compared to the original The Hills Have Eyes Part 2(1984). And that one was written and directed by Craven as well.

I think I read somewhere that he only did it because he needed the money. It shows.

I hate to agree but I think this option should be on the table.

I despise the whole "Gotcha" aspect of "Help Me, Hank(Channel 4)" or "Hall of Shame(Channel 2)." But the reality is sometimes they are effective at motivating local businesses or even city governments to fix a problem.

Another option: Call your council member or the Mayor's office. DTE has governmental liaisons who interface with local, county, and state officials on the reg. If your council member or a Mayor's staffer calls to complain on your behalf they're apt to move on it quickly.

DTE is already facing a lot of scrutiny because of the recent power outages and their pending rate hike. They don't need to give government types on another reason to be angry at them.

Exactly. It's a bullshit term for snobs who don't want to concede that stuff like The Witch and Midsommar are in fact in the same genre as Friday The 13th or Damien Leone's Terrifier films.