Spine-Tingling Spider-Man 2 Review

Spine-Tingling Spider-Man 2 Creators: Writer- Saladin Ahmed, Art- Juan Ferreyra, Letters- VCs Joe Caramagna

Story:

Glenn:

This story is giving me serious Silent Hill vibes as a powerless Peter continues to be in his own personal nightmare hellscape. There’s lots of more nightmarish, unsettling scenario’s that aren’t always original per say, but always work(the creepy child that shouldn’t be there). The whole thing is a horror thrill ride that goes from one unsettling scene to another but keeping the core of what’s going on at a distance.

I must admit, the scene of Jonah all chained up made me think of Stjephan Sejic’s brilliant Romance comic Sunstone which made me laugh. It also reminded me of the classic ‘Jonah in hell’ story from Webspinners 1-3. Anyway, creepy stuff is happening and its effective, but we still don’t know why but has the cover for issue 3 shown at the end of the issue given the game away? We’ll see.

I also really appreciate the ease of reading this, anyone who knows the bare bones of Spider-Man can pick this series up and enjoy it.

Steve:

What I love about issues like this is the focus on the person behind the hero. Here, Spider-Man is not present. It’s a powerless Peter front and center. When writers strip the character down, we find out why the heroes are special. Peter has no idea why no one knows him and why he has no powers, but he pushes forward on a haunted train to a super haunted house. He battles a sadistic train conductor before escaping the train and following carefully place clues that will lead him to those close to him being held captive. Peter rescues them only to have them become demons involved in whatever ruse this is. Again, powerless, Peter powers through to rescue those in need. This whole thing seems a bit too convenient. It will be interesting to see who is actually pulling the strings. So far, this story is truly spine-tingling.

Art:

Glenn:

Horror lives and dies on its imagery possibly more than any other genre and Ferreyra is delivering in that regards tenfold. I would put his skill at conveying horror through art and images at the same level as Junji Ito or Andrea Sorrentino. I just love the atmosphere he’s drawing here and it makes the whole thing deeply unsettling.

I’m not sure if it was just me or maybe even on purpose, but the house Peter eventually stumbles on gave me Phycho vibes. Again, this is not entirely new but it works, its effective, especially when drawn this well. The use of colouring in this comic paired with the imagery shown gives the overall atmosphere an extra layer of terror that’s hard to convey in words. I don’t want to pigeon hole Ferreyra as he’s immensely talented, but I hope to see a lot more horror from him in the future because he’s so bloody good at it.

Steve:

Juan Ferreyra continues excellent work here on a horrific Spider-Man. He creates an environment that is truly unsettling, especially the “meat locker” on the train and the house holding JJ, MJ and Aunt May. I also really like the color palette change from the train to the haunted house. The train has a very cool palette as Peter is on his own. The palette is warmer in the house when he reconnects to family. Very subtle and well done. When this is over, I would love to see Ferreyra on and old school Spider-Man story from the 1960s- a real character piece.

Overall

Glenn: 4 Webshooters It’s an excellent story so far. The only nitpick is the mystery of what is happening could go either way in terms of delivery and I can’t judge that yet because we don’t know. Overall this is excellent though.

Steve: 4 Webshooters A true combination of storytelling from writer and artist.

Check out our coverage of Amazing and Superior here.

Amazing Spider-Man Gang War First Strike #1 Review

Spider-Man Gang War Creators: Writers- Zeb Wells and Cody Ziglar, Artists- Joey Vazquez and Julian Shaw, Colorist- Bryan Valenza, Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna

Story:

Glenn:

Its time for the latest big Spidey event as we return to the streets, some more familiar Spider-Man foes and the continuation of Marvel’s recent trend of reusing old storyline names in the hopes that lightning can strike twice.

There’s a lot happening this issue as we knock over the dominos set up in Amazing to set this whole kit and kaboodle off. We get a lot of good character moments, especially with Janice Lincoln, the new Beetle, Tombstone’s daughter and former fiance of Randy Robertson. It’s mostly a talky talky which is fine because at least its mostly good talky talky that progresses the plot. The issue ends with things just about to go full blown action, Spidey musing about needing a team and the real mastermind of the event being revealed.

I think this was a lot better than the last few stories we’ve had. I do have some issues. Particularly the conversation between the two Spider-Men. Here we see Peter being dressed down heavily by Miles. I’m never a big fan of seeing Peter portrayed as the incompetent hero who needs to be told off by anyone, but especially not his protege. It makes Miles seem unreasonable and Peter seem like an idiot. I think this conversation was perhaps needed from Miles perspective but it didn’t need to be so ‘teacher telling off a bad student’ vibe.

I liked the scene of the gangsters gathering a lot, but I felt a bit lost in terms of who each of the characters where. Some of them aren’t referred to by name and could maybe have used a small caption box to state who they were. I’m also not 100% sure who people like the new Crime Master is. You can’t expect every reader to know everything and that’s me saying that who knows far too much about Spider-Man.

This issue reminded me of the great crime centric stuff Howard Mackie and John Romita JR did back in Spider-Man in the 90’s. Stories involving Hammerhead, Jimmy 6, Silvermane and others but…not quite as good.

Steve:

I agree with Glenn on much of the issue, but I had a different take on the interaction with Peter and Miles. While Miles is certainly bold in this conversation, I think Peter’s response speaks to his character. He is not above reproach. He can look at a situation, or a critique, and accept his responsibility in how he handled it. Exactly what happens here. It reminds me a bit of my time in high school administration. There are times when a student has a good idea, or a point of disagreement where I must accept that they are right and move on. I feel like that is exactly what happens here.

The scene with the crime lords meeting to discuss who owns what part of the city was good. However, not sure why Shang Chi was there, unless it is infiltration. I haven’t read his book lately so I’m not aware of his current status in the 616, but this seemed odd. The addition of Janice at the meeting added the necessary stakes for the issue. Would she kill her former fiance Robbie to take her place at the table. Of course we knew the answer to this, but it did provide the drama and heart for the rest of the issue.

By the end, New York has exploded. It will be interesting to see where this goes. I hope it doesn’t become a giant royal rumble that events typically do, losing the heart that makes Spider-Man great.

Art:

Glenn:

I’m not too familiar with the artists here who seem to be some of the batch of Marvel ‘everymen’ we’ve seen over the past few years. Very talented people who the company swap around to wherever they’re needed while never being pushed as particular ‘names’ or ‘stars’.

It flowed well, everything looked great and it had a close enough likeness to McGuiness to have some good visual continuity from the last arc. The emotions when needed where portrayed very well and every scene flowed well. Nothing massivingly mind blowing but all very strong and doing what was required of the story.

My biggest issue with the art is I think Marvel should be treating its artists better. My mind goes back to how they stated that a number of artists don’t ‘move the needle’. I feel they could do more to promote the talent they have so if the needle statement is accurate, that can change.

Steve:

There is no doubt that the artists on this issue did a servicable job. The pacing is good. The layouts are good. The “acting” by the characters is good. My only wish with this story would be to have a grittier artist. There are a few scenes, especially when we find out who is behind the whole mess, and her subsequent beat down of Hammerhead, that would be more effective with a more realistic, less cartoony, artist.

Overall

Glenn:

Some quibbles but a LOT better. This whole run still is of course weighted down by its own bad decisions. They would either need a completely fresh start or something mind blowing to shake that off and whole this was good, it wasn’t mind blowing.

Steve:

I really liked the issue as a whole. Wells and Ziglar have placed many threads to handle as they move forward. One bright spot is the ending. It seems that Spider-Man is putting a team together, hopefully placing him firmly in the Marvel Universe again.

Glenn: 3 Webshooters

Steve: 4 Webshooters

More Spider-Man content incoming at Wanderings and Woolgathering- Pop Culture tab.

Superior Spider-Man Review

Superior Spider-Man Creators: Writer Dan Slott, Pencils Mark Bagley, Inks John Dell, Artist Nathan Stockman, Colorist Edgar Delgado, Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover price: $5.99- otherwise known as too much for a 20 page Superior story. No one asked for the backup.

Story: “Mistaken Identity Crisis”- It all started with the return of Superior Spider-Man. Doc Ock in his current form, released a terribly powerful foe, Supernova, on the world. She is super powered and hell-bent on destroying Spider-Man, who is now Peter, not Doc Ock. After a short team-up with Spider-Boy, (man, Marvel is really pushing this character right now) Supernova attacks. The rest of the issue is a fight sequence with scenes with Doc and Anna Maria interspersed. To avoid the fight with Supernova, Peter removes the suit since she is trying to kill Spider-Man. Two interesting developments: one, Doc Ock discovers who Spider-Man is when he removes his mask. His memories are returning. Two, Anna Maria Marconi identifies who Supernova is. Hopefully, she will play a big role moving forward.

Glenn: Solid proper first issue for the next chapter of Slott’s Spider-Man. He always delivers and while I enjoyed the ‘Returns’ issue more as it had more meat on the bone, this is a great action packed issue that leaves you wanting more and has a very good backup.

Steve: Agreed. This issue was a fun ride. For my taste, it was a little too action heavy, but Slott’s a pro. He managed to add some plot points moving forward that should pay off in future issues. It will be interesting to see what Doc does with his new found knowledge and returned memories and how Anna Maria will join the story in a bigger way. I don’t mind the character, Spider-boy. His first issue was fun; however, I don’t need him interjected here. He gets time in the main story and an entire backup story. Let’s stay focused on Superior Spider-Man, shall we!

The art was on point again. Mark Bagley is a pro and no stranger to Spider-Man. He handles the fight sequences expertly and the smaller moments with affectation. Bagley and Slott are truly in sync and it shows. Can’t wait for the next issue.

Glenn: 4 Webshooters

Steve: 4 Webshooters

For more Spidey reviews check out the Pop Culture page at Wanderings and Woolgathering.

Amazing Spider-Man 37 Review- Please Stop

Creators: Zeb Wells- all others will remain anonymous as they clearly couldn’t have been on board for this story.

Story

“I wonder who’s calling me? No time for that! I have Amazing Spider-Man to review!”

Writer Stan Lee (and co-plotter/artist Steve Ditko) offer up another excellent thrill packed, action filled tale with a dash of corporate espionage this time. Super sus businessman Norman Osborn (Harry’s dad) has his past come back to haunt him. Former business partner, Mendel Stromm returns for revenge and sicks some robots on the man who screwed him over. We all knew Norman was a bad guy but…

“Damn that phone…anyway.”

We aslo get an indication that Osborn may be a murdiddlyurderer but I have to wonder…how’d he get the sniper rifle so high I wonder if perhaps he’s connected to the Green Gob…

“DAMN IT THE PHONE”

“Hi? Steve? No I’m pretending it’s Amazing Spider-Man 37, the original one so I don’t have to? What? Okay how about the JMS and JRJR Amazing 37 with a breather issue after the Morlun arc while we wait for the penny to drop on May know Peter is Spider-Man?”

“No? Okay, how about Amazing Spider-Man 37 Vol. 3?! I know Volume 3 only went to 18 issues but….yes and Vol. 4 went back to original numbers before we got to 37 and NO I’M NOT DOING THAT RUN, I’M still working through Amazing Spider-Man volume 5 with my therapist.”

“FINE I’LL DO THIS CURRENT VERSION OF AMAZING 37!!!!”

They’re trying to make Rek-rap a thing (he isn’t). There’s a cool scene with the Maggia, but I’d lost interest in this issue by then. Zeb Wells seems like he’s stopped caring so why should I?

Steve sidenote to Glenn’s rant- the scene with the Maggia was good, but so misplaced here. Tonally, it had no business within 100 miles of this book. Jarring and mis-placed. It’s like Wells knew there was another, more important story to tell so he don’t want us to forget. Wells waving his hand frantically, “Hey readers, better story over here.”

Also how could Oscorb only have like 280 employees? That can’t be right…

Art

Ed McGuiness? Are you okay? If you’re being held captive, blink twice. Again the art does a lot of heavy lifting this issue McGuiness seems to have fun drawing this Rek-Rap character which is probably why he’s back, but I just imagine he could be drawing more of Hammerhead, Count Nefaria and the like instead and it makes me sad.

Remembering how much I loved his art on Superman/Batman I would have jumped for joy in the past at McGuiness drawing this book in the past. Now he just seems trapped with subpar material. Again, at least he’s likely having fun and probably pulling quite the page rate…

Overall

Glenn– One webshooter- Horrid issue, One for the art and one decent scene I didn’t care about because everything around it sucked.

Steve– One webshooter- blah

Hopefully, we will be covering better Spidey issues soon. Check out the Pop Culture tab at Wanderings and Woolgathering. Isn’t Superior about due for another issue….

Wonder Woman 2 and Amazons Attack 1 Review

Wonder Woman 2:

Creators: Tom King, Daniel Sampere, Tomeu Morey, Clayton Cowles

Last week when I picked up my copy of Wonder Woman 2, I noticed that it had a backup story. I’m not a huge fan of back up stories because it typically means more expense for a story I didn’t ask for. Over time there have been good stories for sure, but more often than not, the stories lack punch. I would imagine that writing an 8 page story takes a skill that many have not developed. For this issue, the back up story was a lead in to the mini series, Amazons Attack which is springing out of Wonder Woman. Are these issues good? Yes and mostly.

Wonder Woman 2 is flat out excellent. Tom King is on form here delivering a very personal story on a large scale. In issue 1, we have an anonymous Amazon kill a bunch of men at a bar. In a very all too familiar fashion, society overreacts and turns on the Amazons, expelling them from the United States. King gives us a new baddie: The Sovereign who holds the Lasso of Lies. He sits on his throne as king of America.

What makes this issue so good is the layout/format. King gives us two parallel stories that exist together on the page. In the current story, Diana must face down the US military. Sgt. Steel has brought the big guns to take out Wonder Woman and break the Amazons. In the other story, it’s Diana in a showdown against another Amazon warrior for the right to enter the world of man. The art is wonderful and stories parallel each other showing Diana’s resolve and excellence in battle. While the issue is action heavy, it still feels personal. In both stories, she is challenged personally- both the US military and the Amazonian believe that she will see the futility in fighting against a seemingly insurmountable foe. False. She dismantles the military and is willing to take a sword to the stomach to obtain a two swords to one advantage over her adversary. The issue ends here with Diana victorious.

The backup story serves to remind us what happened previously in Wonder Woman. From there we have a woman gassing up her car who is cast under a spell. She then proceeds to blow up the gas station. We then jump to Akahim and Yara Flor. The Oracle in her village has a vision that someone is using the pool hall incident to eradicate the Amazons. Her vision: “All the Amazons will die!” As the Oracle collapses, she repeats a few prophecies. The story ends and leads to Amazons Attack #1.

Amazons Attack #1

Creators: Josie Campbell, Vasco Georgiev, Alex Guimaraes, Becca Carey

The best thing about Amazons Attack #1 is that it removes the insanity, and over abundance of characters, of most events from Wonder Woman’s book to this side story. We get more talking heads discussing the situation on mock news channels. This technique can be effective, but it’s overdone. I realize it’s an information dump to catch the reader up, but it was already done in Wonder Woman 1. If someone is reading this issue, it’s likely they have read Wonder Woman and thus would not need the dump. The rest of the issue revolves around Queen Nubia going to have a meeting with the president of the United States, or so she assumes.

The Amazons are blamed for the pool hall event and someone is making sure that they look guilty at every turn. The meeting with the president will prove to cast them in a negative light. Against Nubia’s will, Faruka and Yara show up bringing the three Amazon tribes together. The three are forced to fight for their lives against agents who are under the spell of our mysterious villain. Mary Marvel, with her Amazonian powers, (see Lazarus Planet) shows up to save them. The video screens on the street cast them as villains, and they will now be hunted.

Overall these two issues work pretty well together. I’m genuinely interested in this story. The set up is very plausible in how it represents our news cycle and society. King’s idea here shows how an isolated event can lead the masses to completely turn on a group of people. It doesn’t take much to turn hero to villain. It’s poignant and a nice backdrop for a story.

But what I’m really interested in is this new villain, The Sovereign. Tom King seems interested in dealing with the concept of lassos. Of course Diana has the Lasso of Truth and the Sovereign has the Lasso of Lies, and we will get a third lasso with the new character Trinity. I’m curious to see this lore and how King uses it. I’m in for the rest of this event.

Make sure to come back to the Pop Culture tab for more comics reviews.

Amazing Spider-Man 36 Review- Enough Already!

Creators Amazing Spider-Man 36: Zeb Wells, Ed McGuiness, Mark Farmer, Marcio Menyz, Joe Caramagna,

Story:

Glenn: We see the return of Rek-Rap here as we pick up some dangling threads from this Summer’s Dark Web thingamajigger. The events of the last few issues aren’t referenced as Spidey teams up with a demonic version of himself who is basically if Deadpool, Spider-Man and Venom had a baby and that baby was very, very VERY stupid.

Zeb Wells has written some great comedy in the past during his tenures on Peter Parker, Amazing (during Brand New Day), Avenging Spider-Man and more, but Rek-Rap isn’t quite up to that standard. It’s nothing offensive and it might get a little ‘ha’ from me now and then, but overall it just is odd story decisions that they are determined to make work. Some people are maybe enjoying Rek-Rap but the character just seems to be an odd distraction more than anything. This run overall just seems to be confusing more than anything. We’re not at Spencer or Mackie post first relaunch bad, but we’re kinda at O’Neil levels of awkward.

Steve: I agree with Glenn. While this story does add a little humor and some fun comic goofiness, it is a momentum killer. Wells landed the last arc as we knew he would. Peter is free of Norman’s sins and the Goblin has found purchase back with Norman. One would think that there would be some fall out from this story as well as a lead in to the huge event coming next month. Alas, no. There is no mention of Norman. No reference to the previous events and no real build up to what’s coming with Gang War. We get a brief scene here with Tombstone, but ultimately, it simply shows us what could have been.

Each time Wells builds us to an apex, he fails. Following the wedding shootout, the storyline is essentially dropped. Following the “sins” arc, the story is dropped. I understand dangling threads that will ultimately pay off, but killing your own momentum is bad storytelling. Time for completion. Time to make all of this payoff before we have to hear more about Rek-Rap and this silly Limbo non-sense. Ultimately, this issue feels more like an epilogue to Dark Web.

Art

Glenn: I’m a big fan of McGuinness and think he draws a great Spidey. Like most of the other artists of the last era, I wish he was here drawing better stuff. I’m sure he’s having fun drawing wacky crazy stuff which I do think comes across in the work. I think he’s definitely a better choice for this off the track story than Romita or Jr or Gleason because it’s more like McGuiness to be able pull off the particular/wacky things that are being presented here.

The art is very good, all the characters are drawn well, again. it’s the star of the issue. It’s the story of Amazing Spider-Man in general at the moment. Great art, puzzling story.

Steve: Man, am I getting tired of agreeing with Glenn, but the ART is the star! McGuiness is a fan favorite for good reason. He is a genius. He is soooo talented that he almost makes Rek-Rap interesting. I know, I’ll slow down…. The sad reality here is that McGuiness will finish this non-sense and then hand Gang War back over to JRJR…bleh. Seems it’s hard to win on Amazing these days. For me, the art and story are rarely in alignment. Good thing we have Superior and Spine-Tingling to read. Those books marry story and art beautifully. Well, I guess it’s not like Amazing is the flagship titl……oh wait. CRAP!

Overall:

Glenn: Two Webshooters, mostly for the art and the odd ‘ha’ the story got.

Steve: One Webshooter- for $5, we should get more.

Make sure to check back on our Pop Culture page for more Spidey goodness.

Spine Tingling Spider-Man #1 Review

Spider-Man Creators: Writer- Saladin Ahmed, Art- Juan Ferreyra, Letterer- VC’s Joe Caramagna

Story:

Steve: After an action packed opening that sees Spider-Man put Spidercide on ice, Peter falls asleep only to wake into a nightmare. No one knows him: his landlord, Aunt Mae, and MJ. The Avengers and FF won’t take his call, and worst of all, he has no powers. What is going on? Mishap after mishap leads him to a nightmarish train following an anonymous phone message. In this issue, things don’t improve. The last page ends with Peter on the run from a ghoulish train conductor brandishing a sledge hammer.

Like the #0 issue, this one was excellent. The story is very compelling and creepy. I love that the story is revealed little by little. Yes, we know that each time he calls someone they won’t know him, but the pain is real. And, the meeting with MJ and her friends who are going to take care of “the creep” who is bothering her leads to more reveal- the loss of powers. Every bit is expertly revealed. These bits could be part of any Spidey story, but the train- that is something special to this one. The insanity on the train is akin to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland….only creepier. Can’t wait to see how Peter escapes this one.

Glenn: After a fight with Spidercide (who I never thought I’d see again and then he pops up in last years excellent Ben Reilly Flashback mini and here, go figure), Peter wakes up to a world where no one knows who he is. He’s also without his powers as he remembers what it’s like to be a normal person again.

Getting a mysterious text promising answers and his life back, Peter investigates and is confronted by some deeply disturbing stuff. The overall mystery is very good and brings to mind the spell MCU Peter cast where no one will remember him. My first guess as to what’s going on here is something to do with Nightmare but that would be very similar to the previous Spine-Tingling story. It’s either a very impressive Mysterio trick or something supernatural. The only supernatural entity that is really on Peter’s radar is Mephisto and I doubt its him but we’ll see.

Opening with action is a smart move as it gets people engaged before you start what looks to be a slow burn, atmospheric story.

Very simple but effective, an interesting and gripping start. The cover says it’s the scariest Marvel book ever which it isn’t, but Marvel pays the bills on hyperbole and always has. Overall I liked it a great deal.

Art:

Steve: Juan Ferreyra is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists. He can do it all- the big moments, the fights, while not avoiding the quieter moments, the everyday acting that take a delicate hand. Pages two and three are a double page spread depicting the fight with SpiderCide. It is amazing, using the entire space to move the reader through the fight. He does an excellent job posing Spidey in a “Ramos-like” way- very fluid. (small complaint- at the top of page two, Spider-Man appears to have three legs- Correction, it would appear that I incorrectly identified and arm as a legFerreyra indeed rules!) From there, Juan expertly uses scale and layout. There is one panel in particular, page 11; it is 1/3 the width of the page and the full height. Peter looks incredulously at his apartment building after being evicted. He is looking up and looks so small in comparison to the building. The reader clearly feels his predicament. Ferreyra also uses close-ups effectively with a multitude of facial expressions from Peter as he starts to understand his predicament. Then, we get to the insanity of the train. It is very different in style, but fits perfectly for the insane conductor. It’s creepy and terrifying.

Glenn: Juan Ferreyra does a stellar job. He draws action, horror and gives tension that a story like this needs. He gives Spidey an extra leg in his fight with Spidercide which I didn’t notice until Steve pointed it out to me, so its not a big deal. There’s a lot of atmosphere in the pages and when Peter goes looking for answers, some of the imagery on display is legitimately disturbing and unsettling.

As I said for the previous story, Ferreyra’s Spidey puts me in mind of Ditko. The more quirky/slightly darker take on the character that was soon overshadowed by Romita’s pizazz, but has been brought back to great effect by many including here. The art almost has a storybook type aspect to it which adds to the creepiness of the whole affair a great deal.

Overall:

Steve: 4 Webshooters

Glenn: 4 Webshooters- An excellent start, looking forward to see what chills and twists this team has coming for us over the next few issues.

Continue following Wanderings and Woolgathering for more Spidey reactions.

Spider-Man Double Shot: Superior Spider-Man Returns and Amazing 35

Superior Spider-Man Creators: Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Mark Bagley, Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos, Giuseppe Camoncoli, John Dell, JP Mayer, Victor Alazaba, Edgar Delgado, VCs Joe Caramagna

Story

Glenn: Setting up a new story, this one shot by Superior Spiderman mastermind Dan Slott tells us an untold tale of the period where Otto was piloting Peter Parker’s body. Although this one shot was released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the original story, it read like no time had passed at all.

It was all here, the great story, Otto as a flawed hero, the comedic over the top nature of the whole affair, the minions and a Spider-Man thinking he is doing the job better than ever. It was brilliant, I loved it and I can’t wait to see where the consequences of present day Otto inadvertently freeing something he himself caused/contained comes back to bite Peter.

Every time I read someone say Slott ruined Spider-Man and then read something like this, it’s easy to remember when it comes top modern Spidey that no one does it better.

Steve: I loved, loved, loved this. (and not just because I read Amazing 35 and it made it look better) This is such a fun story that took place during Doc’s time as Spidey. The story itself is fun and compelling, and best of all, it sets up the rest of the series in a very clever, natural way. Slott, with Gage’s help here, writes an amazing Doc Ock: his relationships (and his misunderstanding of how they actually work), his drive to beat Spidey and his over the top brilliance. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

Art

Glenn: We had a lot of artists here. The original Superior Spider-Man artists Humberto Ramos, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Ryan Stegman all return along with Mark Bagley. These are all great artists so they all do a great job in their segments. The difference in segments and the varying art styles isn’t jarring and all clearly have a lot of fun coming back for one last Superior tale. As this one shot launches into a new ongoing, Bagley will be picking up the baton but of course, he’s hardly a stranger to the world of Spider-Man. These guys could have all done this blindfolded and did a great job.

Steve: I completely agree with Glenn here. The artists are all great and the meshing of styles in no way distracts from the story. All are up to par and the flow is in tact. For me, Humberto Ramos is my favorite Spider-man artist. He gets the fluid nature of Spider-Man in comics. Spider-Man should be gangly at times, arachnid-like, posed in ways that don’t quite meet skeletal soundness and frenetically paced on the page. Check, check, check and check. Ramos is that guy! I go through spurts with Spider-Man, unlike Glenn the Spider-guru. Books like this will keep me reading. The story is well told, engaging and has stakes that matter. Books like the current run on Amazing tempt me to jump ship. (see below)


Overall:

Glenn: 5 Webshooters! Reminder of an era that compared to the main title is just well…Superior.

Steve: 5 Webshooters! It’s one of the few books where a $6.99 price is justified.

Creators: Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Marcio Menyz, Erick Arciniega, VCs Joe Caramagna

Story


Glenn: Kraven, Norman and the Goblin Queen team up to take down super sin filled Peter. There’s some stuff with MJ’s new powers, Peter feels sad and there’s a hint that Norman is going to turn evil again (fetch my fainting catch). After a great start, the story ends in just a bunch of stuff happening. The almost meta dialogue is the only thing mildly interesting. The rest of it is just…bleh. I’ve read worse to be fair, but its just all so forgettable.

Steve: I hate to keep agreeing with Glenn, but he is right. This is a very forgettable story. It seems the entire story was meant to perhaps bring Norman back to his Goblin nature. We knew this was coming. It was telegraphed from the beginning, so when the laugh comes out, it’s a yawner. The only interesting bit here came from Kraven 2. While he serves as an excellent villain for Spidey, or at least the original Kraven did, he does have a code. Here it seems, that a Peter gone crazy with murderous lust makes him unworthy of the hunt. It gives great motivation for his role in returning Peter to his former, non-Goblin, self. With this out of the way, hopefully Wells can stick the landing with all of the gangster threads dangling.


Art


Glenn: Gleason continues to do a great job. I hope he gets to go do another title soon that is worthy of his talents. I did notice an odd panel in terms of how it was positioned with the Goblin Queen hitting Spidey, but my brain couldn’t quite figure out in my mind given the positioning of the panel how it would be possible.
Anyway, next up is Rekrap returning. Send help.

Steve: Yeah, I really like Gleason. He deserves better. I didn’t see a problem with the Queen/Spider battle. Looks like she bonks him on the back of the head with her staff and then gives him a back staff to lift him back up. Not much to say here, but let’s move on.

Overall:


Glenn: 1.5 or 2 Webshooters. I don’t care, I’m going to go read Superior again.

Steve: 1 Webshooters- would have been two but that cover is awful!

Webshooters return each week here.

D.G. Chichester Daredevil – Retrospective Pt 1

In November, D.G. Chichester returns to Daredevil with the a four issue mini-series called Daredevil: Black Armor. Yep, the armor is back. Debuting in issue 321, the armor is either loved or hated by Daredevil fans. So why bring it back when it’s so divisive? I guess only Marvel editorial knows. Of course the armor is secondary to story. If the writing is good and the art is compelling, no one will care about the armor.

Before jumping into the new series, a look back at Chichester’s run may give us some insight on where this series may go. Among fans, Chichester had some serious highlights and some excessive mis-steps. His most talked about stories are Last Rites and Fall from Grace. Again, those both receive mixed reviews. So, what did Chichester bring to Daredevil?

Chichester’s run began with an initial story arc that brought together a lot of pieces. In issues 292-296, the arc leading to Last Rites, Chichester gives us a glimpse of what’s to come. He knows that Daredevil is a character capable of small, personal stories, street level crime stories and mystical stories featuring The Hand, The Fist and The Chaste. He pulls out all the stops here.

In this arc, we get Tombstone, Taskmaster, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Kingpin, Typhoid Mary, Baron von Strucker, the Hand and the Chaste. That is a lot to juggle and feels more like the hero/villain count in a team book. Each piece of the story builds to another piece and ultimately leads to the final showdown with the Hand and Chaste. Following that, Matt vows to take down the Kingpin.

The Good

Chichester picks up threads from the past. Matt and Foggy work to get his law license reinstated. I know this is minor in a lot of Daredevil stories, but Matt’s relationship with Foggy is important. Foggy grounds him and adds a layer to Matt that makes him more relatable. Chichester also brings Karen back. Matt tries to rekindle the flame, but Karen is not quite ready, if she ever will be. Again, this relationship is important to his character. Typically, those around Matt get hurt or are used by others. This adds to his responsibility and guilt. Of course, both characters remind us of the amazing story Born Again. Kingpin does Kingpin things here. He works alongside Typhoid Mary as he attempts to steal money from a southern gentleman. Baron von Strucker works surreptitiously to steal money from Kingpin and has a tie to the Hand. The Chaste return and come to Matt’s aid. Matt works like a detective to figure out why Tombstone and Taskmaster are on a killing spree. The ending leads to Matt starting his mission to take down the Kingpin; this becomes Last Rites. The pieces are here for a long run. It’s a promising start.

Lee Weeks- one of my top five artists of all time. Looking at Weeks’ art now, you can see his progression from these issues. But even then, he excelled at the action. He expertly handles Daredevil’s acrobatics as well as his hand to hand and use of billy club. Of course, the smaller moments are important with Daredevil, and he equally directs/draws the emotional beats of the characters and moments. His Kingpin is huge and menacing. Love how this sets him up for the fall to come.

The Bad (it’s actually pretty minor)

It’s just too much. With all of the above going on, Chichester throws in the Punisher and Ghost Rider. The Punisher makes for an entertaining fight sequence and shows us why Matt is better than him. He is the perfect foil. Both want justice, but Matt takes a higher road, sometimes falling short, but striving to do right. That’s where it ends, though. There is really no reason for him to be here unless Chichester is planting seeds for a future arc. Still, not essential for this story.

Ghost Rider makes sense in the fact that he uses the penance stare to make villains reconcile with their sins. Daredevil has a history of dealing with faith, guilt, and redemption. But, that is where the reason for Ghost Rider’s appearance ends. He shows up following the trail of murders by Tombstone and Taskmaster. He fights alongside Daredevil and ultimately returns to his true self following an odd event with a ninja of the hand. Both Punisher and Ghost Rider are thrown in extraneously, possibly as a stunt to draw readers. Matt gets a glimpse of von Strucker through Ghost Rider, but it ends there. As I said, above, there are pieces in place, but with the sheer number of threads and characters, extra characters are not needed. 1990s comics are viewed as art over substance and largely dismissed as a poor era in comics. In fact, the glut led to bankruptcies. This story, no matter how full, is certainly not the glut of the 90s- Just maybe slightly over ambitious.

Next Arc

Last Rites is up next in issues 297-300. Chichester has done a nice job of creating some threads and story beats moving forward. Kingpin will have to deal with von Strucker who is trying to steal his fortune and Daredevil who is coming after him to exact retribution. Matt will continue to reinstate his law license with Foggy and try to rekindle his relationship with Karen. The Hand is lurking in background ready to return at a moments notice, and the Chaste have returned, always keeping Stick lurking around.

Overall, this is a great start to his run. Chichester uses many of the elements that make Daredevil great. The key here is if he can narrow down the number of players and focus the story. Come back next time for a look at Last Rites.

Spine Tingling Spider-Man #0 Review

Creators:

Writer- Saladin Ahmed

Artist- Juan Ferreyra

Letterer- VC’s Joe Caramagna and Joe Sabino

Spider-Man can’t get a childlike scary nursery rhyme out of his head. The song is at the center of a mystery revolving around catatonic citizens. He better solve the mystery before he falls asleep….. or it may be too late.

Story:

Glenn:

This oversized one shot is a collection of some Marvel Infinity stories with a horror theme. The story where Spider-Man battles some unsettling dreams is straight forward, but mostly strongly effective. One of the reasons Spider-Man is my favourite hero is that he’s very versatile in terms of the stories you can tell. His stories can be funny, sad, thrilling, charming and in this case, scary. The writer Saladin Ahmed is no stranger to the world of Spider-Man of course. He wrote an extensive run on Miles Morales: Spider-Man and was one of the writers in the Beyond era.

This story is suitably creepy. Most of it revolves around a creepy song that takes over people’s mind and eventually leads to their death. Creepy songs always work no more so than the creepy rhyme from Wes Craven’s Night On Elm Street and I think it works here. There’s plenty of twists in the tale and super disturbing images that work well with that. At times, the story does seem like a series of opening doors with just more doors beyond. What I mean by that is that there will be an apparent answer to what’s going on but then ‘Oh wait, it’s not that, it’s this which can work fine. If anything, it works perfectly here with the theme of dreams and nightmares. Waking up from a dream and/or nightmare and still being in but thinking you’re awake is a thing so it works for this story.

There are a few odd story choices I felt.  Spencer Smythe, an old time foe of Spidey who first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man 25 is teased as the villain here but has been dead for decades with his son Alistair Smythe taking over the building of various Spidey murder bots. So okay, it’s set in the past, that’s fine. The story seemingly kills off Spencer though and that left me puzzled. Is this out of continuity or not? Little things like this shouldn’t matter but it took me out of the book that up until then I was fully immersed in until then. At the end of the story it’s revealed that Spencer was just in a coma so therefore continuity is maintained but it was a weird thing to do a fake out of his death that shouldn’t have been here in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an editor hiccup here, but with Marvel these days it’s hard to tell.

The other oddity is that the villain here (Sleep-Stealer) presents himself with an alias of ‘Paul’. Perfectly normal name, but in the current pages of Amazing Spider-Man, Mary Jane’s current love interest is called Paul and he has becoming the epitome of all is wrong and evil in the universe to some fans. I’m sure this is coincidence, but it did make me laugh that the name of this nightmare villain is the name of the character causing such ire to some Spidey fans currently.

Overall a simple but effective creepy story with only a few minor things that took me out of the story.

Steve:

Glenn hit the main bits of the story so I won’t rehash all that happened. In all, I really liked the story. The concept fits perfectly with the original mandate from Stan Lee- to place normal problems on our heroes, after all, they are humans at heart. In this case, Peter must stay awake and perform his duties while being extremely tired……I mean extremely tired. Now of course the normal person doesn’t potentially die if they fall asleep, but performing at their best while being exhausted is a real thing.

Anyhoo, overall, the story was really strong. A few moments I really loved where quintessential Peter Parker moments. (these have been absent in recent runs by Nick Spencer and Zeb Wells) While waiting on food, (Peter was famished……and tired) his delivery driver is hit and broke his leg. He can’t miss the rest of his deliveries or his family won’t have enough money. Peter takes it upon himself to finish his deliveries at his own expense. This is truly the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Another cool scene, while rallying against Paul the Dream Guy, Peter inspires others. He leads by example and word here. He emboldens others stuck in this seemingly insurmountable situation. They, in his words, become warriors. I love this. Peter always puts others first and inspires. That’s how it should be and is frequently missed by writers. Ahmed did an amazing job here crafting a creepy, yet faithful, Spider-Man story. I really look forward to the rest of the series.

Art:

Glenn:

I’ve seen a lot of Juan Ferreyra’s name over the last few years. Lately he seems to be rightfully developing a reputation as an excellent horror artist. His art here is lovely and adds a lot to the horror atmosphere. Recently he drew Knight Terrors: Wonder Woman where he drew some genuinely unsettling images and he does the same here. Spencer Smythe has never looked this terrifying and the imagines of Peter using his willpower to overcome Sleep-Stealer are genuinely stunning. There are some interesting page design on display which I believe was to benefit the way you read it on Marvel Unlimited originally, but there is nothing lost in the print version I feel.

Ferryra’s Spider-Man is very much more of the Ditko vein, darker and more ‘quirky’ looking rather than ‘pizazz’ Romita SR influence and it really works here with the story being told.

There are some pages where the art looks more crayon/child inspired which I feel very much adds to the overall creepy nature of the whole story, especially when paired with the creepy song that is driving the narrative. So much of what makes a visual horror story is how it looks, the atmosphere and the visuals. I don’t imagine many other artists that could have made this look creepier.

Overall: This was a very effective, straight forward horror story. The minor story quibbles are just because I tend to overthink these things but this is a perfect comic for those looking for a darker Spider-Man story where you don’t have much prior knowledge. I was largely immersed and I’m greatly looking forward to the mini which will tell a new story by the same creative team.

Steve:

Holy Cow- Juan Ferryra put on a masterclass here. This book is beautiful in line work, colors and layout. As Glenn says, his creepy work is spot on. Spencer looks old and haunting. Paul, in his dream state, evokes Death wielding dreams rather than a scythe. The dream state is eerie. Just amazing world building here.

Additionally, page layout is really well done. Lots of variety and clever usage of space and panel. Slowly rotating panels to show movement. Long panels with mini-Spider-man figures falling, swing, rotating, are well done and painstaking. Vertical panels to show scale. Horizontal panels to show breadth of the dream world prison. His choices make this one fun to read and Ahmed’s writing makes it tense. Overall, a wonderful Spider-Man story. Can’t wait to see where the series goes.

Scores:

Glenn: 4 Webshooters

Steve: 4.5 Webshooters

Check back to the PopCulture tab for more comics fun.

Amazing Spider-Man 34- Peter Wreaks Havoc

Creators:

Zeb Wells- Writer

Patrick Gleason- Art

Marcio Menyz- Colors,V

Cs Joe Caramagna- Letters

Amazing Spider-Man 34 continues Peter’s path of destruction. Following an issue where he put Kraven 2 in a grave, alive, he increases the pain here. Peter pulls the plug on Tombstone in the hospital, threatens to throw MJs man off a bridge, ala Gwen Stacey, and he beats the snot out of Norman Osborn. The story culminates in an awkward meeting with Peter and the Goblin Queen and Norman rescuing Kraven 2 from his grave. This is the penultimate issues of the arc leading into Gang War, so next issue promises to have a big finale.

Story:

Steve: My fellow Webshooter and I have not been shy about our feelings about this run. Putting those feelings aside, this isn’t a bad issue for what it is. If, as readers, we truly want to find out what can happen to a person with Goblin blood coursing through his veins, look no further. Peter’s altruism is thrown out as he vengefully goes after those who have hurt him in the past. Knowing he will return to himself, this is a fun, albeit violent, journey for Peter. Watching this play out should be interesting, especially what could happen with Peter and the Goblin Queen dealing with Kraven on a revenge tour. The big question is what will happen to Norman as a result. This seems like a great opportunity to save Peter and reaccept his role as the Goblin. We shall see. Maybe we can get a more down to earth story where Peter actually acts like Peter and has to deal with normal problems while saving the world. Ahhhhh, doubt it.

Glenn:

Filled up with some serious bad Goblin juju, Peter seems to be settling old scores that have been troubling his subconscious. This issue, his twisted mind turns him towards Mary Jane and her new partner, the infamous Paul. Luckily all around good guy Nomran Osborn manages to compel MJ and Paul to scamper. He even gives Peter an alibi and advises the couple to take the tunnel, not the bridge which I thought was a nice touch. As stated before though, I will never accept good guy Norman or other people accepting of him. MJ in particular should have been constantly kicking him in the crotch, but this is where we are.

Black suited Spidey shows up and puts on a serious beatdown on Norman while MJ/Paul make their getaway. During this beating, Peter voices a LOT of criticism over good guy Norman and Paul to the point of parroting some of the discourse some of the recent Spidey story decisions have made. IT’s almost meta in a way, and to me, that’s an error. If this is on purpose, it means the writer and company KNOWS what people are unhappy about and are ignoring it/villainising it (some people it should be sent are rather demented about some of their criticims) OR they’re pointing out the stupidity of some of the things people don’t like so your reader might go ‘hey wait, he’s got a point.’

The comic is also split with Claven in his coffin battling thoughts of suicide. I think it’s bad form for Marvel to have someone who has a family history of suicide (so to speak) without a trigger warning or perhaps some pointing towards some help lines with those that have had similar thoughts. I may be overthinking it, but as someone who has dealt with heavy suicidal thoughts, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was well written but I feel it could be unsettling or distressing to survivors like myself or those that have been left behind. Given how strong Claven is, I doubted he’d be stuck for long, so being stuck in this terrifying situation where he battled his mind was the real conflict.

The issue ends with the Goblin Queen seemingly trying to reach Spidey as perhaps some of her Ashley Kafka personality has resurfaced even if her appearance hasn’t changed. Norman also digs Claven out of his grave using the magical sphere asking for his help. Next issue we get the cure of Peter who I hope didn’t hurt anyone in his attempt to take out MJ and Paul. I really don’t need more of super depressed ‘Ah’m a MONSTERRRR’ in the style of Bluster Bluth mode Peter.

Art:

Steve: As with the other issues, the art is fantastic. Patrick Gleason is an excellent Spidey artist. The real star on this issue is the colorist Marcio Menyz. This story is dark and he is up to the task. Deep colors with orange highlights for the coffin pages. Deep blues and shadows for the night scenes. Gorgeous pages. Honestly, I prefer a lighter, brighter palette for Spider-Man, but for this story, it’s perfect.

Glenn:

Gleason does a lot to service a story that requires a lot of. tense visuals. A lot of tight panels to either magnify the threat of our Spidey-Goblin or Kraven’s claustrophobia. His panel of Norman’s expression as Spider-Man’s MASSIVE frame looms behind him is especially effective. Is Spider-Man really this much of a unit? It doesn’t matter I guess cause it works in the moment. I also loved the design Gleason did on Spidey on the closing pages as he attacks the tunnel where MJ and Paul are trying to make their escape. Like I said before, Gleason is doing a fantastic job making everything look great. I can’t imagine many other people working today that would make anything here much better. He’s a gifted storyteller in how he’s communicating what the story is trying to get across which is really helping some of the things the reader needs to pick up on.

I always feel bad that I don’t say more but every time I experience Gleason’s work, I feel like I’m not taking much away. Yes, he’s great, yes he’s doing what is needed but nothing jumps out at me really in particular. Like I said last issue, despite drawing a LOT of Amazing Spider-Man by now, he’s not really had that much of a huge impact or impression.

I do love that MJ had a pair of Jeff the Landshark slippers. I want a pair Marvel, pronto.

Scores:

Steve: 4 out of 5 webshooters

Glenn: 3 out of 5 webshooters- Overall it was fine, with some good tension but again there’s such a magnicently sized cloud of stupid over everything.

Next issue is the finale of this story and should lead us to the beginnings of Gangwar. Come back to Wanderings for more Spidey updates.

Amazing Spider-Man 33- a Return to the Past

Writer: Zeb Wells, Artist: Patrick Gleason, Colors: Marcio Menyz, Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Recap: Spider-Man 33 picks up after Peter was stabbed and injected with Norman Osborne’s sins. Peter dons the black suit and chases Kraven 2 across the city, terrorizing him. After following the same path and meeting the same folk, the story ends in a graveyard. Remember? This throwback will take many fans back to an all-time Spider-Man classic. The issue ends with Spider-Man burying Kraven 2, after giving him a rifle to end it all.

Story

Glenn: In a deprivation chamber/isolation tank this is actually a really great issue. The dual narrative and nods to Kraven’s Last Hunt are done well without trying to out do that previous story, the creeping dread Claven feels as the roles between him and Spider-Man are reversed is executed well and for a ‘darker’ take on the character it works very well. As usual, good guy Norman is distracting, and I have a feeling he’s going to be our solution to this particular issue. Without the baggage attached to how I feel about good guy Norman, having a fight between him and Peter where they’re on the opposite sides of morality is appealing because it’s at least different.

On a larger scale, the whole set up for this issue is very, very stupid. Like I said last issue, the run is weighed down by an astonishing stench it may never shake. Is it unfair to judge what here is a strong issue on how we got here? I don’t think so. Comics are so serialised that it’s hard to look at one piece without the larger part of the hole in mind. This issue’s main problem story wise is the baggage brought by the last 10 issues or so.

Steve: I agree with Glenn here. The story was fun. It was a tight, quick read basically following the same story as Kraven’s Last Hunt. This time, though, Spider-Man is the bad guy. I will have to say that I was pleased to see Vermin- very cool nod to the past. The narration here was great. Wells was smart to keep it short and simple so it didn’t take away from the flow of the story. Too much dialogue or narration would have bogged this down and taken away the momentum and tension of the issue. On its own, this story was brilliant. In context, at least we are moving quickly to the ultimate showdown between Norman and Peter. Not that that is a good thing, but it does signal the end of this mess.

Art

Glenn: Gleason’s doing a great job; he always does. The creepy image of Spider-Man yelling in the black suit as he urges Kraven to run is an image that helps sell the whole theme of his story. It’s odd in a way that Gleason has been drawing Amazing now off an on for 4 years now. He’s drawn more issues than someone like Marcos Martin who I consider one of the best Spider-Man artists ever and has drawn around the same number of issues as Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko (if it’s less I may have miscounted but it’s not far off) but I wouldn’t say people go ‘Oh Gleason’s one of the best Spider-Man artists ever’. Maybe I’m wrong and he’s doing great work don’t get me wrong, elevating issues that are far worse than this but I wonder, in 5-10 years will his work here be that particularly memorable?

Steve: Another great issue from Gleason here. His black Spidey is menacing and looks very cool. (such an upgrade from JRJR) Gleason’s panel design and flow here are excellent. He effortlessly moves from close-up facial expressions to big action sequences. The issue is frenetic and Gleason is up to the task. Marcio Menyz also deserves some kudos here. His colors, especially shadow, are on point. The whole feel of this issue is menace, not the typical light and bright Spidey. They make a great team- hopefully this art team will get to work with a talented writer when this is done.

Rating:

Glenn: 3 Web Shooters – MUCH better but we need more to build up any trust and to shake off all the nonsense previous. Also, I think I was maybe in a generous mood as I read this immediately following the first issue of the new Birds Of Prey….

Steve: 3 Web Shooters – Really enjoyed this one. And, like Glenn, really liked Birds of Prey!

Next time, issue 34 and Spine Tingling Spider-Man.

Amazing Spider-Man 32 Review

Writer: Zeb Wells, Artist: Patrick Gleason, Colors: Marcio Menyz, Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna, Writer G.O.D.S page: Jonathan Hickman, Colors G.O.D.S. page: Erick Arciniega

Amazing Spider-Man 32

Story Recap

We enter a new story arc in what is undoubtedly the weirdest Spider-Man run in years. Weird not necessarily in terms of tone, but what’s being done in the book. This new story see’s Kraven (actually a clone of the original) team up with the Goblin Queen (Ashley Kafka) to take the badness out of her and put it back into Norman Osborn. The motivation for doing this is that clone Kraven (Claven? Krone?) wants to hunt Spider-Man’s deadliest foe given that his ‘dad’ only beat Vermin when he tried to prove himself better back during the immortal Kraven’s Last Hunt.

This hook, isn’t the worst thing in terms of Kraven hunting the Goblin. Even without the ‘logic’ Krone is using here, the characters have a long history. Way back in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 47 it was revealed that Spider-Man got on Kraven’s radar because the Green Goblin (Norman at the time) hired him to do so. The Goblin didn’t pony up the cash (as they would have said back in the day) and was thought to be dead so Kraven hunted an amnesiac Norman instead. This little subplot was resolved MANY years later in Amazing Spider-Man annual 96 in a flashback story, but still, the connection is there. Having Krone with the extra motivation of killing the man who started his ‘father’ on the road to his suicide might be an interesting plot to pull on. It’s not mentioned here and I’m not expecting them to but we’ll see.

The whole thing about the evil essence being transported from one person to another is stupid. I don’t care that this is comics, and I’m willing to buy men who crawl up walls, girls with wings and nb’s with magic swords, but I hated this plot device when they turned Sandman evil again during the Mackie/Byrne era and I hate it now. Using a ‘mystical spell’ (its magic, we don’t have to explain it), Kraven sucks the evil out of the Goblin Queen who stays as is. I love Ashley Kafka as a supporting character and I hate what they’ve done to her here for the Goblin Queen character. I feel a similar way to Janine Godby who they’ve turned into Hallows ‘Similar but legally distinct from hit sensations Punchline’ Eve. Both characters deserve better, but I digress. I’m not even sure why these characters are working together as they only showed up together last issue in a fight, got down and dirty before now, teaming up. I’m assuming Krone hunted to kill her in stealing her badness or whatever and decided to cure her as a plus to his whole plan.

Anyway, Peter is unaware of all this, goes on a date with the lawyer he met last issue (called it), calls his ex for advice and it goes very badly. He then goes to speak to Norman who he knows is working late. I’m a big believer that any story can be done well if you sell it enough, but good guy Norman Osborn is a HARD sell and it’s not working. It was a plot line introduced during the atrocious Nick Spencer run; it was dumb then and it’s dumb now. Peter talking to Norman like they’re about to hug while casually bringing up the death of Gwen like Osborn left his clothes in the drier too long, just kills me a little inside. The stench of good guy Norman is something that hangs heavy over this run.

Kraven attacks, Peter gets stabbed and he’s turning evil now. I won’t hold my breath for anything half as good as ‘Revenge Of The Green Goblin’ where Norman tried to make Peter his new apprentice. 

Story:

Glenn: Storywise, it’s a chore. It always is during this run. Is it bad? No but only because Nick Spencer’s run was bad and this isn’t as dire as that. It’s just bafflingly odd decisions that seem mainly designed to piss fans off. The fridging of Kamala Khan a few issues ago also weighs over this run more than good guy Norman and may be a decision that this run by Wells NEVER recovers from.

We’ll see how evil Peter does, I guess. Can’t wait for best hero ever, Norman Osborn, to lock up that evil Spider-Man or whatever.

Steve: This issue seems to be Wells doubling down on bad ideas. Rather than fresh storytelling, Wells continues to run with an ill conceived idea of good Norman. It works a little better if Peter simply works with him to watch him, sure he will break form at some point. But, as Glenn pointed out, they seem to have a sweet father/son moment. After 60 years of history, this should never happen. And now it seems we have the reversal with Norman good and Spidey bad. Peter is receiving some really poor treatment. To start the run everyone is mad at him. No one trusts him. As it was revealed what happened, Peter acted out of character to end up where he did. Now he will likely be evil. Not good Zeb Wells. The only high points here were the dinner with Tombstone’s lawyer. Of course, that is the ol’ Parker luck and very much in character. Felicia’s response to Peter’s date was also a cute page. Their interactions have been excellent throughout.

Art:

Glenn: Everything looks very nice because it’s Patrick Gleason and he always does a great job. Since coming to Marvel, Gleason has worked exclusively on Amazing apart from variants so he’s got it down in terms of drawing Spidey’s world. I just wish, like I did when Ryan Ottelly jumped from Image (he’s since run screaming back) that he was being given better stuff to draw. He’s doing a great job and will continue to do so I have no doubt. The art is a real saving grace here.

Steve: Love, Love, Love this!!! I have always loved Patrick Gleason. His run working with Damian at DC is one of my favorites artistically. He is refreshing after looking at JRJR’s awful character work throughout this run. Gleason’s faces and expression are so good. His action work is frenetic and realistically over the top. The page where Spider-Man is stabbed while covering Norman is fantastic. No detail spared- Norman cowering and covering below Spidey is brilliantly done and says a lot about Norman’s true character. The coloring is spot on her as well and brings his art to life- A+

Overall Rating: Based on 0-5 web cartridges

Glenn: 2 Web Cartridges

Steve: 2.5 Web Cartridges- only lifted by the art

Next Up: Amazing Spider-Man 33

Big Brother 25- Another Eviction-More of the Same

On Thursday’s episode of Big Brother, Hisam’s plan to evict Reilly came to fruition. By unanimous vote, Reilly was evicted from the Big Brother house. In typical fashion, the broadcast led the audience to believe that the houseguests were actually putting a plan together to save Reilly and then backdoor Hisam. Hisam’s teammates, the Professors, were all talking behind his back about potentially saving Reilly. Reilly’s team was feverishly working to gather votes from the other side to save her.

In the end, it was the same old Big Brother mis-direct. After all the hub-bub, the houseguest’s chose to follow the HOH’s lead and vote out his target. This technique is becoming tired and makes the eventuality all that much more obvious to the viewer. Big Brother may need to find more ways of inserting drama, because “this ain’t it!”

Having not watched the live feeds, this season comes off as a bit of a snooze-fest. There are really only two groups at work here, and those groups are not vehemently opposed to the other side. The house is divided straight down the middle, with only two interesting story lines at work: Evicting Hisam and the cross-house partnership between mother and son.

Hisam has already painted a huge target on his back in two ways in this short season. First, he continues to dominate competitions. Bringing that kind of attention early can be a bad thing when half of the house notices and has a 50/50 chance of being in power the following week. Secondly, his antics and control issues have soured him within his own alliance. He blatantly throws his power around and dictates how the group should move forward. During one meeting, he asked questions of the group and then answered his own questions, shutting them down as the attempted to speak. It is likely that, regardless of who is in power, he will be the target next week.

To this point, Jared and Cirie’s relationship seems to be working fine. However, as the two are working together on opposite sides of the house, that will come into conflict sooner rather than later. Cirie is smart and should be able to manage for a while, but protecting Jared may eventually be her undoing. He does appear to be a decent competitor in comps, so gaining power once in a while should help them along.

Power Rankings– Who’s Safe Who’s Not

(Steve: Based on watching televised broadcasts only)

In trouble:

Steve: Hisam is in real trouble. He not only angered the other side of the house targeting Reilly, but he has also alienated his own side. Not only was he condescending, but he also went behind their backs trying to build relationships with the other side. If they decide to backdoor and he isn’t picked for Veto, he will be gone.

Cory- potentially. America shared some info with him and he immediately ran to the other side of the house after she told him not to. Not sure how this will play out. Could be nothing.

Ray: Hisam – it’s hard to overstate just how bad his position is right now. Not only has he alienated the entire house with his bullying, domineering manner, but he’s a massive challenge threat and his own side knows he’s dangerous and could turn on them. It’s basically 13-1 against him right now, and they’ll do everything they can to make sure he goes.

Cameron – There’s always got to be a backup, and this weird, intense cowboy doesn’t seem to have any allies in the house save fellow misfit Red. Unlike Red, though, he doesn’t have a good social game. No one actually wants to see him gone this week as their #1 pick, but he could be an easy throwaway vote if Hisam manages to survive.

Safe:

Steve: Everyone else- seriously, this cast is boring to this point. They all seem to get along and no one is really ruffling feathers. I would imagine that the posturing that will take place over the next two weeks will shake up the house with new alliances being formed. Once Hisam is gone, it will be a new game.

Ray: With a backdoor in play, anything can happen, but one thing is for sure – Cirie, Jared, Bowie Jean, Red, and Mecole are 100% safe this week. The new HOH will not put any of them on the block either as a pawn or replacement when there are so many other choices.

Come back next week to find out if Felicia can shake up the house….C’mon Big Brother, times a ticking……

Big Brother Season 25 Initial Thoughts and Predictions

Big Brother 25 has kicked off and 100 Days of Competition is underway. Episode one is not without new twists- instead of crowning the first HOH, four losers in separate competitions are up for elimination and one more houseguest is added to bring the total to 17 houseguests.

In the Scrambleverse Newsroom- the contestants must refit a puzzle into a box: America is first, Bowie is second, Mecole is third. Jared is last and up for eviction.

Losersverse- Players must move a bar back and forth forcing a boot to kick their butts 100 times. First is Matt. Hisem is 2nd. Blue is 3rd, and Kirsten is up for eviction.

Comic-verse- Dr Goo game where contestants complete a circuit at be dumped with goo. Felicia is last place and nominated for eviction. Tag wins, Izzy is second, and cameron is third.

Scary-verse- Hold on Fright- players hold on while being pulled into the nether-region. 1st one dragged into the nether region and up for eviction is Cory.

Four nominees up for eviction are Cory, Felicia, Kirsten and Jared.

As the contestants return to the house, they find that Cirie Fields has joined the cast.

Steve:

America Lopez- Seems really sharp. It’s early, but I can see her building a strong alliance and going pretty far.

Blue Kim- Blue seems like a fun, extrovert who will endear herself to the others. If she plays a strong social game, she should float by for quite a while.

Bowie Jane- Bowie seems way too excited about herself. She is a barrister, a DJ, and good at tennis. She has a huge personality. She is quite capable, but I think her “confidence” will be her undoing.

Cameron Hardin- His hair is “thicker than barbeque sauce.” I really like this guy. He seems genuine….which will undoubtedly not be good for game. I hope there are layers we haven’t seen.

Cory Wurtenberger- Cory is arrogant and thinks too highly of himself. Confidence is one thing, but he likes himself way too much. Losing the first challenge could spell his end if his personality is on display this week.

Felicia Cannon- She is the oldest houseguest. She has an amazing attitude; hopefully she doesn’t overplay her age and view that she is somehow better than the others due to her “wisdom.” She will struggle in physical competitions and will need to align herself with strong players.

Hisam Goueli- He is a doctor by day, burlesque dancer by night. Too early to tell, but, like Cory, he will need to back off a bit.

Izzy Gleicher- She is a flautist. She seems bright, yet like a normal player. If she can stay chill, she should be fine.

Jag Bains- He is Sikh, but willing to break his morals for the game. Seems like he has a great personality. His social game could work to his advantage.

Kirsten Elwin- According to her, she is a baddie with brains and wants a female alliance. She better not put that initiative above smart game play. Could spell her doom early.

Jared Fields (Cirie’s son)- Feel like he is falling back on his mother’s greatness. He lost the first challenge and is already at risk.

Luke Valentine- He is a computer illustrator. He seems really smart and will likely be an excellent player in the physical challenges.

Matt Klotz- Matt is deaf and very athletic. It will be fun to see how he does reading lips. He will likely get some sympathy early, which will be the downfall of the others. He is more than good enough to get by without sympathy. He could be around for the long haul.

Mecole Hayes- Mecole seems like a cutthroat player. She better be careful since she lost the first challenge.

Red Utley- Looking at him, he sems easily dismissable. Don’t sleep on this guy. He seems like he will be very likable due to a fun nature, yet there is intelligence behind the wit. I think there is more to him than meets they eye….codename Optimus:)

Reilly Smedley- She is sharp and self-aware. Reilly seems to know how she will be viewed and could use it to her advantage. She should be around for quite a while.

Cirie Fields- She is a late entry into the game. She has a lot of baggage being so well-known. They will get rid of her early to avoid what she is very capable of doing, or they will keep her around which will be their undoing.

Ray:

America Lopez – Seems likable, athletic, and sharp. She should be able to go far and get into a good alliance. The only negative is if she plays too hard too fast, but I think she can avoid that.

Blue Kim – Party girl. Her best strategy will be befriending the guys and making herself a fun presence in the house. Lots of potential.

Bowie Jane – Larger than life, will stand out for good or bad. I could see her being very ambitious early and playing herself out of the house.

Cameron Hardin – Nice, earnest guy. Not a strategic bone in his body. He’ll probably hang on for a while and then get blindsided.

Cory Wurtenberger – In a LOT of danger the first two weeks. If he follows his brother in being a first boot, they need to go on TAR together!

Felicia Cannon – I honestly think this nomination may work in her favor! She’s not a threat and people will discount her, and this will give her the time to use her natural likability to win allies.

Hisam Goueli – Easily one of the most unique contestants in this cast. He seems rather intense, so if he wins HOH early I could see him trying for a power play and ruining his game a la Frenchie/Devin.

Izzy Gleicher – She’s off to a good start. Doesn’t seem threatening, but is secretly sharp. I doubt she’ll be targeted early.

Jag Bains – Fun and highly strategic – I could see him being the linchpin of a successful early alliance. He just needs to not let his intelligence come out too strongly.

Kirsten Elwin – Every season there’s a woman who talks a big game about a woman’s alliance, and she’s almost immediately out the door. Already being nominated and probably the biggest threat out of the four nominees, she could be in trouble.

Jared Fields – Hoo boy, if they figure things out about his mother, he could be in trouble. If not, he comes off as hapless and clueless so that might protect him.

Luke Valentine – A jock/nerd combo? Interesting. Unless he pisses off people early, he’ll probably be seen as a strong asset for any alliance and seems laid back enough to have an easy pre-jury go.

Matt Klotz – Similar to Luke, but a complete powerhouse. I also think the house will be hesitant to try to evict the first deaf contestant immediately, and he seems savvy and likable.

Mecole Hayes – Yeah, she’s impressive. Smart, athletic, and seems cutthroat. She’ll be smart enough to form an alliance before letting her enemies know she’s coming for them.

Red Utley – Red fits a pattern of guys who can go early, but I think that could work in his favor. He seems to be playing the “Funny guy” archetype early, and if it doesn’t wear thin and he can get past the first few weeks, he’ll be underestimated. More importantly, the guy is a muscle ball and may surprise everyone in challenges.

Reilly Smedley – Reilly should be this season’s “Guy’s girl”, but she seems sharper than a lot of them. She knows how to smooth-talk people and should be a good social player. If she gets into the right alliance, she should go far.

Cirie Fields: …Look, if she can keep herself in this game, it’ll be the most amazing feat in Big Brother history. She’s a legend, everyone knows it, and she’s not great in challenges. But I don’t think this group of superfans will want to kick her out right away either. If she can get to jury, start working her social game magic, anything can happen.

Initial Top Picks:

Ray: America Lopez, Red Utley

Steve: America Lopez, Luke Valentine

Come back next week for BB25 updates.

2023 Box Office Showdown

The box office came back in full during 2022, and I tried my best to predict the outcome – and largely completely muffed it! This was partially due to an unpredictable new market post-pandemic, which saw several surefire hits from Disney underperform massively. And really, did anyone see Top Gun: Maverick winning the domestic battle in what’s easily the biggest underdog victory since American Sniper?

But 2023 poses an even more challenging picture, with the glut of movies that held off during Covid finally hitting home with an overcrowded box office. After a quiet January that largely let Avatar: The Way of Water have the run of the box office, with only one original hit – the sci-fi horror movie M3gan – the race will kick off in full in February.

So how competitive is this year? In picking a top twenty, these are some of the movies that did NOT make the cut for me – superhero movies Blue Beetle and Kraven the Hunter, horror sequels The Nun 2 and Scream 6, and top franchise installments Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 and Trolls 3. Sadly, I can’t give a spot to the meme-worthy Cocaine Bear or Renfield either. All are likely to have solid audiences – well, maybe not Kraven – but they’re up against some of the heaviest hitters in Hollywood.

And of course, not everything will wind up sticking to its planned release date – last year saw several top movies, especially DC ones, drop out of 2022. But without further ado, let’s look at the top 25 – or 26 – movies of 2023, according to my predictions.

25. Oppenheimer/Barbie

Rarely have two dueling movies sparked this much interest, and they couldn’t be more different. In one corner, we’ve got Christopher Nolan’s intense historical drama about the birth of the atom bomb. In the other, we have Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s meta comedy about the iconic doll. One of them will outperform the other, I’m not sure which, but I don’t think either one will be a mainstream hit – even if they’re likely to have far longer legs than many other films. No, that’s not a Barbie joke.

24. John Wick: Chapter 4

This is a good example of a franchise that keeps on building, with the box office going from 43M to 92M to 171M. The four-year gap may have blunted the momentum a little, but Keanu Reeves is still one of the most beloved actors around, and this pulpy franchise should get many action fans back to the theater.

23. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

One of the biggest gaming franchises of all time, Dungeons and Dragons has a…spotty history in movies and TV. Maybe because it’s meant to be played, not watched. But this jokey, meta comedy starring Chris Pine has gotten good marks for its trailer, and it could very easily tap into a wide cross-generational audience that could help break the streak – even amid some controversy for its parent property’s new management.

22. Shazam: Fury of the Gods

One of three major DC sequels/franchises this year, this has a number of things working against it. It’s basically a vestigal tail now as the DCU is being revamped, its spin-off Black Adam disappointed at the box office, and its lead actor has decided this is the time to make some controversial political statements. However, it does have a trio of iconic actresses as its villainesses, and the trailers have overall gotten good reception. I’m expecting a modest hit but not much more as this version of the characters wraps up. No Mister Mind, alas.

21. 65

It’s hard out here for a non-franchise picture! I’ve only got a few on this list, and the first is this over-the-top Adam Driver thriller about a futuristic pilot stranded on Earth during the age of the dinosaurs. Much like last year’s Free Guy, it’s an engaging concept featuring a bankable star with great special effects. I think it’ll be an enjoyable antidote to the franchise glut and that will help it break out from the competition.

20. Creed III

This sports franchise has been a hit from the start, but it’s never been a massive breakout. I’m expecting this Michael B. Jordan directed edition – sans Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky – to maintain that pattern. Introducing Jonathan Majors – who will star in another film much further down the list – as the new villain, its trailer features a level of intensity not yet seen in the franchise, and these movies will likely continue to do well with their core audience.

19. Elemental

Pixar and Disney have had a rough streak at the box office since they returned to the theater, with Lightyear being the most notable bomb of 2022. This elemental-city romantic comedy will be their second theatrical release – and I don’t expect the down streak to end here. The environment looks visually inventive, but the fire-meets-water love story looks uninspired. It’s like what would happen if they created a Pixar movie in a lab, and I don’t think this will be the movie to get Disney animation back on top.

18. Dune: Part 2

The best-picture-nominated kickoff to the big-budget adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic was a modest hit at the box office at a time when they were few and far between, and I’m expecting the sequel to improve on the original. But as this franchise gets into more challenging territory, I’m not sure what it will look like at its peak – this was never the most mainstream of franchises, and director Denis Villeneuve has never aimed for mass audiences.

17. Migration

The biggest x-factor of the year, this is the only movie I’m putting on the list without a trailer or even image to go off. An animated comedy about a family of ducks trying to convince their overprotective father to take them on vacation, it’s going on this list for one reason – it’s Illumination. The studio behind Minions has very rarely had a misfire, and this is slated for the Christmas season – perfectly aimed for families. But it won’t be the top animated film of the year by a long shot.

16. The Flash

I know a lot of people are expecting this Ezra Miller-starring multiversal adventure to bomb or maybe even not be released – given its trainwreck of a star and its strange place in flux in DC’s lineup. But there’s just too much riding on this. Featuring the return of Michael Keaton as Batman, this is likely to be a last hurrah to the previous version of the DC cinematic universe – and that should get enough eyes in theaters for the curiosity factor. Of course, Miller could easily get arrested for something horrible and the movie gets shelved entirely.

15. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

The Transformers franchise was rarely critically acclaimed but always successful – although it ran into rough box office waters with the last two installments. This new volume brings in some of the most popular characters from recent animated incarnations, and seems to have a simpler concept than the last few – giant robots vs. giant animal robots! I think that should be enough to bring some momentum back to the franchise, along with hopefully a shorter run time than the Bay installments.

14. Wonka

Another major wild card this year, this musical prequel to the famous Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film features Timothee Chalamet in the title role and an all-star cast including Keegan Michael-Key, Olivia Colman, and Rowan Atkinson. The holiday season has proven to be rich territory for epic musicals, and this could be a promising way to update the franchise for the modern day. It could be a bizarre bomb, but the creative pedigree – including the director of Paddington – makes me think this will be an out-of-the-box hit.

13. Fast X

The penultimate installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, this series is always bankable for big box office. The last installment was one of the first blockbusters of the post-Covid era, but the franchise has lost some key pieces – including star Dwayne Johnson, who couldn’t get along with franchise lead Vin Diesel. The series has gotten increasingly absurd over the last few, but it’ll always have its audience. I think this one might open a bit lower, but the grand finale will be a megahit.

12. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

The final and most successful of this year’s DC franchises, it also has the element that this is probably the last one before this franchise gets rebooted. I don’t think this will reach the heights of the original or even close, given the heavier competition. However, the original was entertainingly nuts – featuring three different villains and at one point Julie Andrews as a tentacle monster. I think the sequel can benefit from that and send the DCEU out on a high note.

11. Haunted Mansion

Another big wild card with no trailer yet, this is the second attempt at a movie franchise for one of Disney’s most iconic rides. Featuring an all-star cast including Jared Leto, Owen Wilson, Jamie Lee Curtis, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, and Danny DeVito, and an acclaimed director in Justin Simien, it feels like Disney is putting everything they have into this. It could easily break into the top ten if everything goes right, but I feel like there are too many movies with guaranteed success ahead of it.

10. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The Hunger Games franchise was a massive hit – at least for its first three installments, but the finale ran into some surprisingly rough waters. Bringing it back for a prequel focusing on the origins of the villain is a risky move, but the book was a megahit and the franchise has been gone long enough that I think there will be a lot of curiosity. Of all the megabucks YA franchises of the early 2000s, this was the one that seems to have survived with its reputation mostly intact.

9. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

The previous installments in this looooooong-running franchise have all been hits, but never massive, and part ones tend to be the lowest-grossing of the franchise. So why am I predicting this so high? Simple – Top Gun: Maverick. It might not be the same audience, exactly, but I think a large audience will want to see Tom Cruise’s next gravity-defying stunts at almost sixty years old. If the second part is the finale, as seems likely, look for that to do even better.

8. Wish

An animated Disney musical about the origin of the Wishing Star, this Thanksgiving feature got some snickering when it was announced – but I think it’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. This is the first traditional Disney Princess fairy tale since Frozen 2 back in 2019, and it features the acting and singing voice of Oscar winner Ariana De Bose in the lead role. While other Disney and Pixar movies didn’t play to the franchise’s strengths, this is the one that I think will put the studio back on top in animation – at least, relatively, in one of the strongest years for animation ever.

7. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

The first two Ant-Man movies were modest hits, some of the lowest-grossing in the MCU – and that was fine for the small-scale adventures Scott Lang got up to. But I think the franchise is about to take a quantum leap – pun intended. Featuring the time-traveling villain Kang, this dimension-hopping adventure looks like the biggest movie in the franchise by a mile, and also feels like the official kick-off to the first big cosmic threat of the post-Endgame MCU. I could easily see this doubling the box office of the earlier installments, but there are some bigger movies out there – including two more MCU films.

6. The Little Mermaid

Disney’s live-action remakes have always gotten mixed receptions – but they’ve almost always been massive hits despite the grumbling. There was a huge social media controversy when the trailer for this one debuted, featuring Disney’s first Black Ariel – but online noise isn’t always reality. Halle Bailey is likely to deliver a bravura vocal performance in the lead role, the water effects look stunning, and the backlash is likely to make the Black audience even more likely to show up in support. I don’t think it’ll be as big a box office hit as Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King were, because those movies have held up even better over the years, but it should be a huge success.

5. The Marvels

Much like the movie above it, Captain Marvel got a huge backlash when it came out – and then was still a smash box office hit. I suspect the sequel will do the same, but it does have one wild card. This is a spin-off not just of that movie, but of two characters who first appeared in Disney Plus series, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan. Both have big fanbases, but this movie will also be a test of just how Marvel’s new strategy is working out. It might be the most inside-baseball MCU movie yet, and that may keep it from taking the top Marvel spot.

4. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One

The Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is widely considered one of the best superhero movies of all time, featuring some wildly popular characters and stunning animation. But despite that…at the box office, it was the lowest-grossing Spider-man movie, even lower than the reviled The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Maybe it was just the “animation ghetto” – but after the trailer for this sequel, that won’t be repeating itself. It’ll be one of the top movies of the year – the only question is how big it can get. I think it can easily double the box office of the original, but it probably needs to triple it to have a shot at the crown – and that might be a bridge too far.

3. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

This might be the biggest wild-card of the year. If everything goes right, this could be an iconic four-quadrant blockbuster a la Top Gun: Maverick. On the other hand, if Harrison Ford shows his age and the Crystal Skull legacy drags the franchise down, it could disappoint. I’m splitting the difference and assuming that the good reception for the climatic-looking trailer means that Harrison Ford will take Indy out on top. We only have a short teaser trailer so far, but this looks like a true event movie.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3

Speaking of finales, this loooooooong-awaited James Gunn conclusion has been a long time coming, with the director being fired and rehired after a cast revolt. That likely means this is the finale for the entire cast of characters, and I’m expecting anticipation to be high. A recent Disney Plus special put the cast back in the focus, and the trailers have gotten a wildly positive response. This is definitely going to be the year’s champion among MCU movies, and most people have it as the odds-on favorite to win the year. I think it has a good chance, but I also think it has a likely ceiling one movie doesn’t.

1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

If you want to talk about pent-up demand, look no further than this Illumination movie. Video game adaptations are only starting to get their moment in the sun, with two kid-friendly Sonic movies, an Uncharted adaptation that was a well-regarded pulp adventure, and an HBO adaptation for The Last of Us that treats the source material with deathly seriousness. But none of them have embraced the video game roots more than this all-ages adventure, which – some quibbles about Chris Pratt’s voice aside – has been met with overwhelming applause. I’m expecting it to hit equally hard with kids who love the colorful animation and humor, and their dads who grew up with Mario, Luigi, and Bowser. The box office will be massive, and I would be surprised if we didn’t a host of Nintendoverse announcements from Illumination immediately. The next big franchise is here, and I think it’ll start on top.

What do you think will dominate the year? Feel free to give your thoughts in the comments or on Facebook/Twitter.

Big Brother 24 – The Jury Phase

It’s been an interesting season of Big Brother to put it lightly, with many people ready to give up on the season after the first two weeks. They were, to put it lightly, a trainwreck. The first week was dominated by the irksome Paloma, an egomaniac who talked a big game and then walked right out of the house in a quit. The second week saw the straight-out-of-central casting Joe “Pooch” Poocharelli ask to be nominated as a pawn, and then be voted out unanimously.

But that wasn’t the dominant force of the first few weeks of Big Brother 24 – that was the cast’s bizarre obsession with pageant veteran Taylor Hale, who somehow became the most hated person in the house among 75% of the cast. The determined, likable Black woman seemed like she couldn’t do anything right – earning scorn and sniping from many of the women in the house, and intense hatred from a few like Daniel, Nicole, and Terrence.

The season seemed to be headed down a bad path, maybe as an overcorrection to last season’s dominant Cookout alliance. Then everything changed with the introduction of the horribly-named “Festie Besties” twist, forcing the contestants to play in pairs – being nominated together, competing for veto together, and winning safety if your partner won a challenge. This also saw the laid-back thrift-store owner Turner take power – and he managed to cobble together an oddball alliance of the house’s outsiders, called the Leftovers. Despite being out of the main alliance, most of the power players were in this group – and they successfully took out the other side’s three biggest threats, challenge threat Ameerah and the villainous Nicole and Daniel.

The “Besties” twist is over as we get to the jury twist, and the season is looking up – the popular Leftovers completely dominate now, not having given up power since then. Taylor won Head of Household in a tough endurance competition, to the applause of her many fans, but one more twist was revealed – after this eviction, the Big Brother house will be split in two, with two groups of five each playing an individual game of Big Brother for a week and each evicting someone. Depending on the way the groups are divided, this could either mean taking out some fodder – or sniping a major threat while they still can.

The game of Big Brother shifts fast and furious, but below Ray and Steve are going to look at who’s in pole position going into the jury phase – and who has one foot in the jury house.

Below, the jury phase power rankings for the jury phase of Big Brother 24, from least likely to win to most likely.

11. Terrence – Someone’s gotta be last, and “DJ Showtime” has done basically nothing to justify his slot in the game. He’s surly, picks the wrong alliance almost every time, and has offended contestants several times with his comments. As the one vote to keep Daniel, he’s out of the loop, and it’s just a question of when they decide to pick him off.

Terrence clearly overstates his prowess in the house and understanding of the game. Just when he thinks he has a nominee right where he wants them, his hopes are dashed and he’s right back at the bottom. He is on an island and likely to be out of the house tout suite.

10. Jasmine – After Paloma’s departure, this southern belle had a moment as the leader of the “Girl’s Girls” alliance despite her sprained ankle keeping her out of many challenges. Since then, it’s all been downhill. She’s mostly seen as a joke now, with everyone snarking about her behind her back and plotting when it’s time to pick her off – much like she did to Taylor.

Jasmine is likely to go shortly, but could last a little longer, possibly going after Indy and Alyssa, simply because she isn’t a threat at all. She is clearly not a physical threat and hasn’t shown to be mental challenge either. She could float due to this.

9. Indy – Does Indy even know what game she’s playing? There may be a bit of a language barrier, but she mostly seems to wait around to be pulled into alliances. While she’s better at challenges than the two people ahead of her, she may be even more out of the loop. Much like the rest of the non-Leftovers, it’s largely just a question of when she’s the target.

Exactly Ray. I almost feel sorry for her. The annoying thing about Indy is that she seems put out anytime she is mentioned as a pawn, even though she hasn’t earned anything in the game.

8. Alyssa – Unlike the rest of the outsiders, Alyssa has a close alliance – Kyle, who wants to protect her and may even choose her over the Leftovers. But despite her athleticism, she hasn’t proven to be a challenge threat and the two of them can’t even seem to figure out how serious they are. She could go deep if the Leftovers fragment, but I doubt she has the momentum to make a run at the crown.

Not only is she not a threat, Ray, but I’m not sure her showmance is much of a help. The rest of the leftovers are aware of the couple and not completely sold on Kyle’s allegiance to the over her. She will likely have to win something to make it much further.

7. Kyle – It can be challenging to wait things out until it’s time for an alliance to turn on itself like the Cookout did, but Kyle has taken paranoia and impatience to a new level. Between his transparent showmance with Alyssa and his suggestions of an all-white alliance to prevent another Cookout – which wasn’t happening – Kyle has lost most of his goodwill and could be an easy first boot for the Leftovers.

I most definitely think he will be the first targeted, if they don’t target him early given the chance. He is in a weird spot not knowing exactly what to do with Alyssa and making his alliance wonder about him. If he doesn’t make a sneaky deal, he is done.

6. Taylor – Taylor’s early-game struggles made her a popular underdog, and she has a lot of goodwill with most of her fellow contestants. That being said, they know she has the biggest underdog story in Big Brother history, and they’re likely to make sure she doesn’t get to plead her case. She has to go up against a trio of powerhouses to get to the end, and I see her underdog story ending before finale night. Her messy early HOH run hasn’t helped her case.

I have been a big fan of Taylor’s since her early struggles with the house. I think she has also endeared herself to America and could very well win America’s Choice. However, she has seemed clueless since winning HOH. It seems as if she doesn’t really understand how it works. Hopefully it’s just a hick-up.

5. Brittany – Has any contestant ever outperformed their bio more than Brittany? The psychic who boasted of wanting to eliminate all the smart and strong people has turned out to have a surprisingly savvy social game and an F2 deal with the game’s best challenge threat. That being said, her resume isn’t where it needs to be yet to win this game – her best hope is an extremely bitter jury.

The best thing Brittany has done in this game is align herself with Michael. His unbelievable prowess in competitions has kept her safe to this point. She has done well socially, but will need more than Michael once the Leftovers turn on each other.

4. Joseph – The young lawyer has played a key role in the forming of the Leftovers, but he’s overall maintained a more laid-back vibe than the other ringleaders. This could benefit him – if he gets there. But he hasn’t shown much challenge skill yet, and Big Brother becomes incredibly comps-based in the engame.

Yeah, Joseph has done well connecting with the house, but you are right, Ray, he will need to win something to make it far. At this point, he hasn’t battled very well and looks like he is riding coat tails.

3. Michael – Targeted right out of the gate for being a nerdy superfan, Michael answered the challenge – and is on his way to becoming one of the biggest challenge threats in Big Brother history. That also means his target gets bigger and bigger every week, and it’s likely his own side will try to snipe him at some point. That being said, could he win one challenge every week? It no longer looks that unrealistic – and if he gets to the end, no one could stop him.

If a player wants to make a big move and add to their resume, making a plan to backdoor Michael and get him out of the game would go a long way. Waiting too long could spell doom for the others.

2. Monte – There’s a type that does really well on Big Brother – Derrick, Cody, Xavier – and Monte fits that model to a T. Charming, physically dominant, good social game, and at the center of a key alliance. Monte is considered a threat and has been floated as a backdoor target multiple times, but as long as Michael is in the house he’ll never be the biggest target. And by the time they get to him, it might be too late.

Monte’s run could end early if Michael takes control again. He knows that Monte is a huge threat; making the move too early could have been a mistake. Not that jury has started a big move would make sense. If he can avoid Michael, he could find himself in final two.

#1. Turner – Speaking of outperforming the bio! This shaggy hipster looked like the season’s comic relief at first – and his deadpan reads of Jasmine and Kyle have been a season highlight. But he had the most defining Head of Household of the season – and no one seems to remember he’s a threat, despite him being a contender in almost every challenge. His short stature hides his strength, he’s a savvy student of the game, and he’s completely underestimated. As Michael, Monte, and Kyle go to war, he’s in the perfect position to emerge from the flaming wreckage of the Leftovers and win Big Brother 24.

You are right on, Ray. And might I add that he is one heckuva guy. He was the one to stand up for Taylor when she needed it most. Kudos to him! He is certainly clever and is liked by everyone. Even with a lesser resume, he could compete in the finals.

Big Brother 24 Week One Recap and Power Rankings

Ohhh boy. We look forward to a new season of Big Brother every year, and then almost every year we wind up disappointed by poor gameplay, problematic houseguests, and an overly long season that usually winds up being predictable. Last season’s domination by the Cookout was refreshing in some ways, but also fell into a pattern of predictable winners. Last week, we analyzed this season’s new cast and found it promising.

But a lot can change in a week in Big Brother.

To start with, the first episode of this season was a complete mess. Twists are a constant companion, but this live move-in episode may just be the worst episode of Big Brother in 24 seasons. Ninety minutes without more than three minutes of house interaction. The entire episode was a series of move-ins and videos, followed by a random draw to determine which of three carnival-themed preliminary challenges contestants would compete in for the chance to win Head of Household.

Oh, but that wasn’t all! One of the sixteen wouldn’t be chosen, and would instead become something called the “Backstage Boss”, the power of which would be teased all episode. Ultimately, Monte won a quiz-based competition set in a series of porta-potties, Daniel won an endurance challenge that involved hanging off a giant shirt, and Turner won a bizarre competition involving putting twenty pieces of clip-on jewelry on your face at the same time. Then, in a puzzle competition, Daniel beat out the others to become the first Head of Household.

As for “Pooch”, who won the Backstage Boss pass, he was revealed to be immune for the week but essentially out of the action – he wouldn’t play veto or vote. However, the twist then took a particularly dumb twist when he had to pick three other people to join him “Backstage”, which meant they would be out of the action as well – but somehow not safe from eviction. He even commented he had no clue who any of these people were, but chose three people who finished last in their competitions – Paloma, Brittany, and Alyssa.

The feeling that none of these people actually knew how to play Big Brother continued throughout the week. There seemed to be barely any discussion of strategy the first week, besides Brittany and Paloma forming a six-girl alliance that seemed to have little strength or strategy behind it. Daniel, ostensibly the man in charge, barely seemed to put any thought into his nominations, picking two misfit guys – gawky superfan Michael, and laid-back bus driver Terrence, with Michael as the target.

But really, this week wasn’t about any of them. It was about two women.

The first was former pageant girl Taylor, who came into the house with some of the most strategic direction of any of the girls. She seemed ambitious and passionate about the game – and the girls took a dislike to her almost immediately. I would say it seemed racially motivated, as happens so often in this game, but it’s hard to tell because some of the loudest haters were Jasmine, Ameerah, and Palmoa, none of whom are white. It soon escalated, with just about the entire house turning on her.

The veto competition was the highlight of the first week, a jousting-themed competition done in heats where contestants rode horses and tried to pick up rings with a surprisingly floppy foam lance. After several heats, it came down to Michael and Ameerah, with the superfan saving himself and throwing the whole game wide open. There wasn’t much suspense about who the replacement would be – Daniel had been talked into targeting Taylor by the rest of the house, with only Michael putting up any meek opposition, and it seemed the twist was going to be Taylor’s only hope.

Except that Big Brother is always unpredictable, and that unpredictability came in the form of Paloma. The chaotic young woman had spend the whole week “Backstage”, throwing Taylor under the bus, but as the week went on she started to come off as genuinely unstable. First she started ranting about how she had already won the game because she had “manifested it”, even making offers of what she would buy people with her prize money. Then she seemed to become increasingly moody and frantic. There were rumors that she had to go off her medication to come onto the show, but we don’t have proof. What we do know is that at some point, she either quit or was asked to leave by the producers.

And that left us on Thursday with an incredibly awkward episode where Julie Chen explained how the Backstage twist would have worked, only to announce that it had been called off and so had the eviction altogether, making the entire first week a waste of time. Making it worse, Daniel was not allowed to compete in the next HOH, meaning he had essentially gained power for no reason and was now a bigger target.

With half an hour to go, everyone competed in randomly drawn heats in an obstacle course challenge that was probably meant to be the competition between Taylor and whoever was selected for possible elimination out of the Backstage crew. It would then cut the field down by half before the actual HOH competition and went predictably – except for Jasmine hurting her ankle after winning her round – and possibly not even winning her round, as many eagle-eyed viewers saw her foot touch the ground without her being sent back to the start. So the show went to dark before we had a new HOH, or even knew if a second contestant was about to be evacuated.

But we found out via the feeds later in the night.

Spoilers for Sunday’s episode of Big Brother 24 below –

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Big Brother 24 Week Two Head of Household – JASMINE

Well, this couldn’t have possibly went any worse for Big Brother. Not only is Jasmine a leading member of the anti-Taylor brigades, but her entire reign will be under a cloud of doubt due to her potential fall on the field. But the show seems to be pretending the controversy isn’t happening, So it’s likely she’ll get to evict someone.

Below, the power rankings for week two of Big Brother 24.

  1. Ameerah – Jasmine’s closest ally the most strategic of the women, she’ll likely be pulling the strings this week to some degree.
  2. Terrence – The two of them seem to have formed a bond due to being married, and it’s unlikely Jasmine has any interest in targeting him.
  3. Indy – Completely under the radar right now and part of Jasmine’s alliance.
  4. Alyssa – Same as Indy, not on anyone’s radar.
  5. Michael – After a rough first week, he seems to have become everyone’s confidant.
  6. Joseph – Is he really doing much beyond working out and smiling at the girls? He seems safe for now.
  7. Kyle – Similar to Michael and Joseph, he’s carefully avoiding making waves.
  8. Nicole – She wasn’t included in the original girls’ alliance, but seems to have formed tighter bonds with Ameerah since.
  9. Daniel – While he’s a big threat, he completely avoided making any enemies his first week save Michael.
  10. Turner – Similar to Daniel, they all know he’s a threat – but he doesn’t seem to be the top threat right now.
  11. Monte – He’s playing aggressively and got into a lot of drama with Taylor last week. He’ll need to lay low to make sure he doesn’t wind up on anyone’s radar.
  12. Brittany – She was the first person to break from the “girls’ girls” alliance and is seen as untrustworthy now, but there may be bigger fish to fry.
  13. Pooch – His weird position last week didn’t let him really play the game, and if Ameerah convinces Jasmine to go for a strong guy he’s in the most danger.
  14. Taylor – Of course it’s Taylor. Even if she’s not the initial target, these mean girls will likely talk their way into it eventually. After all, she’s never apologized for her role in downing the Hindenburg or something.

Movie Review – Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and ThunderDirected by Taika Waititi. Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Jaimie Alexander, Russel Crowe, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgard, Kieron L. Dyer, and a few surprises

***1/2 out of ****

The Thor franchise was always a troubled one for Marvel, with all three installments having a radically different identity. The first installment brought gravitas from its cast and director, but had a weak plot and most of its characters felt like beta versions. The sequel let Tom Hiddleston cut loose as Loki, but was bogged down by a terrible villain. Then came Thor: Ragnarok, which unleashed the madness of indie director Taika Waititi on the franchise and gave us a technicolor fantasy that truly captured what the franchise could be – but was rather divisive due to its jokey nature. It’s one of my favorite Marvel movies, but many people were hoping he would rein it in for the sequel.

He did not. In fact, you might say he went Full Taika, because Thor: Love and Thunder is probably the most distinct vision a creator has ever gotten to put on a Marvel movie. Unlike Eternals, its big cosmic concepts don’t feel like they’re too big for the movie. However, this is one of the shortest Marvel movies at only two hours, and it doesn’t let that restrain its ambition at all. It takes on some of the weightiest stories the character of Thor has ever had, drawn from the epic run by Jason Aaron. While it does many of those stories justice, it’s also easy to see where things had to be cut.

We pick up with Thor after the events of the last Avengers movie, where he lost many of his friends to Thanos’ attack. He’s now essentially a cosmic version of a beach bum, getting back into shape by fighting monsters on alien planets and getting dating advice from Star-Lord of the Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a hilarious opening, but Waititi doesn’t shy away from the fact that Thor is seriously depressed. This isn’t played for laughs like it arguably was in Avengers: Endgame, and that helps to drive home that Waititi always respects his source material.

The same goes for the movie’s second lead, Natalie Portman as scientist and former Thor love interest Jane Foster. She went on with her life after she and Thor’s relationship ended, and she went on to be a world-renowned astrophysicist – but now she’s battling stage four cancer, with little hope of survival. After science doesn’t provide any answers, she seeks out another type of hope in the shattered remains of Mjolnir in the small settlement of New Asgard – and the hammer answers back. There is a pretty major twist on why the hammer answers to her now. It feels very in-character for everyone involved, but I can also see it ruffling some feathers. Portman never made much of an impression in her first two outings, but here she comes off as a full-fledged superhero in a way she hasn’t since her star turn in V for Vendetta.

And this movie will need two Thors, because it has maybe the most fearsome villain in the franchise in Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher. In a harrowing prequel, he’s introduced as a lonely pilgrim seeking water and refuge in a drought on an alien planet, desperately trying to protect his young daughter and ultimately burying her, and all the while maintaining faith in his God. And when he finally meets him, the God mocks him and rejects him. Through a series of comic book contrivances, he winds up in possession of the deadly, corrupting Necrosword, which allows him to launch a genocide against anything that could be considered a God. Bale pushes his performance right up to the point of absurdity, coming off as deeply unsettling without ever truly being comical. Gorr is a ghastly mass murderer with one of the biggest-scale plans so far in the MCU outside of Thanos, but he never stops feeling human.

The main plot kicks off when Gorr invades New Asgard with a horde of shadow demons straight out of The Mist. After losing an initial bout to Thor and Thor, he absconds with all of New Asgard’s children – including Heimdall’s son Axl, played by an engaging Kieron L. Dwyer. The two Thors head off for space along with Waititi’s hilarious rock-man Korg and Tessa Thompson’s always-entertaining Valkyrie to build an army of Gods – which doesn’t work particularly well. A set piece inside a massive planet of the Gods, overseen by a hilariously sloppy Russell Crowe as Zeus, is maybe the one scene that leans a little too much into parody, but never so much that it takes you out of the movie.

At the heart of this movie is the connection between Thor and Jane Foster, and in that Waititi has his work cut out for him. He positions them as the true loves of each others’ weird, spectacular lives, which is a hard sell because their original romance in. the first two Thor movies was so perfunctory and forgettable. It’s clear that Waititi brings out the best in both actors, because the scenes they share together are packed with emotion. The story of Jane’s cancer plays out very differently here, for the simple reason that it’s playing out over a two-hour movie rather than a two-year comic book storyline. Portman gives it her all, but I can’t say the same for the makeup artist – she looks rather haggard at times, but the film never quite sells that she’s a stage-four cancer patient on the verge of death.

With the MCU, a lot of things go on behind the scenes and determine the plot, and the ending makes pretty clear who in this film is our Thor going forward. It takes some wild left-turns plot-wise, sets up a bold new status quo for the survivors of Asgard, and introduces a major new player in the stinger. It’s too jokey in points for its deathly serious subject matter, but it comes together into the kind of boldly enjoyable stew Waititi is best at. That being said, I’m assuming he’s giving us a Thor 5 as well – because if not, he’s leaving a LOT to clean up.

Big Brother 24 Cast Preview and First Impressions

It’s time for another season of Big Brother. After a surprisingly long wait for this season’s cast of new houseguests, we finally have sixteen fresh faces. After last season’s history-making performance by the Cookout, the cast this season is no less diverse but seemed more balanced. We saw how well a diverse cast can turn out when everyone is here to play on this season of Survivor. Now we have a full summer of action ahead of us, and sixteen contestants looking to prove this new era of Big Brother will be a trade-up from the dark ages that ended with BB All-Stars.

Below, Steve and Ray break down the sixteen new contestants and make our preliminary winner picks!

Alyssa Snider, 24, Marketing Rep from Sarasota, Florida

Ray: Blonde, bubbly, and looking to meet people and make friends, she doesn’t seem like much of a player. She hates obnoxious players and says she’s likely to go with the house. That should get her far, but it’s not a winning strategy and she’s more likely to come out of this with a boyfriend than a check.

Steve: You hate to stereotype, but she practically begs for it. She won’t be a target early because she is nice and pretty. She will float for a while and then be picked off.

Ameerah Jones, 31, Content Designer from Westminster, Maryland

Ray: She talks about valuing loyalty and not wanting to work with floaters or two-timers, but she does seem to be keyed into the game and knows she’s playing an individual game. She describes herself as “authentic”, which could come across as a bit brash, but I get a good overall first impression off her.

Steve: I get good vibes from her early. I love that she, without hesitation, said she would take the easy win, not the loyalty. Of course, that could change as the game goes, but moving into the game, she has her mind in the right place.

Brittany Hoopes, 32, Hypnotherapist from Austin, Texas

Ray: Ohhhhhhhh boy. Her entire bio is talking about big plans for fooling everyone in the house, and then she says she wants to get out everyone who is strong and smart…and work with who, exactly? She plans to play the “Wacky quirky girl” early on, but I see her getting caught in lies quickly and ushered right out the door to watch the season from home.

Steve: Yeah, this plan is definitely concerning. Being silly and quirky is a great game plan early, but her ideas of getting out smart and strong will put her at odds with the best players in the game. I see an end to her game somewhere around weeks four or five.

Daniel Durston, 35, Vegas Performer from Las Vegas, Nevada

Ray: An eccentric theater actor with a big personality and muscles to match, Daniel might be a target right out of the gate. However, he actually seems to be a superfan – citing Big Brother Canada winners as his game idols. He seems to have a good sense of humor, but he might be too big a personality early on. If he can rein in his game early on, there’s a good chance people will think he’s just a goofball jock and pull him into their alliance – and he just may surprise them.

Steve: I think Daniel is smart. Most of the players have only seen recent game play, season 16 seems to be the starting point for most. Daniel cited Dan as one of his favorites and Dan is one of the GOATs. He has a great personality and seemingly good knowledge; he will go far.

Indy Santos, 31, Corporate Flight Attendant from Los Angeles, California

Ray: It’s rare to see immigrants on Big Brother, and this Brazilian-born flight attendant only gives short answers. She seems to be religious, dislikes lazy people, and wants to work with the house. It’s hard to gauge given how little she shared, but I’m not sure she understands the game very well. That might keep her in the game as a vote early on, but I don’t have high hopes for her strategic prowess.

Steve: If religion comes into the equation during conversations in the house, she could be in trouble. When it comes to social topics, religion is a dirty word- it could put her at odds with the other players. I agree with Ray, her strategic prowess will be lacking.

Jasmine Davis, 29, Entrepreneur from Atlanta, Georgia

Ray: Like Brittany, she talks about wanting to get out the strong and partner with the underdogs. Unlike her, though she seems to be a savvier player. Her answers are fairly short, but I can see her being better able to lay low and surprise everyone when she wins a mental HOH later in the game.

Steve: Partnering with underdogs usually leads to being a bunch of fish in a barrel as the strong players pick off the weak. Brittany will need to be careful not to draw a line too deep. She certainly doesn’t give me strong comp beast vibes.

Joe “Pooch” Pucciarelli, 24, Assistant Football Coach from Boca Raton, Florida (by way of Staten Island)

Ray: There’s really no middle ground here – “The Pooch” is either going to flame out early or be an absolute gift to Big Brother. His answers are surprisingly savvy, and it sounds like he intends to play up the “friendly Guido” character type to put people at ease. If he can avoid being targeted as a young jock the first few weeks, I could see him getting into a solid guys’ alliance and taking it all the way to the end.

Steve: The Pooch is “Meow Meow 2.0.” I do like his chances as a player the others will gravitate to. If his personality doesn’t become “too much,” he should do well. He’s an early favorite for me. I was a football coach as well, so I’m pulling for the Pooch.

Kyle Capener, 29, Unemployed from Bountiful, Utah

Ray: Kyle seems smooth – a little too smooth by half. He apparently has a bit of a controversial social media personality, and I could see him clashing with some of the more diverse and progressive houseguests. His best bet is to lay back, play the charming blond guy early, and wait for an opportunity – but I don’t know if his personality would let him. He claims to not like conflict, but it may find him.

Steve: Kyle is apparently a hard-core Trumper. Of course, ideological conflicts could arise during the game, but if he plays it cool, no one in the house will know. We will see how close he can keep those cards to his vest. If he can, his personality will win a lot of guests over and he will do well. However, we all know there will be a verbal altercation at some point and I can’t wait.

Joseph Abdin, 24, Attorney from Lake Worth, Florida

Ray: This dude was literally air-dropped in after Marvin was dropped from the cast due to contract issues with America’s Got Talent, so my first impression of him is…I know nothing about him! He seems athletic and should be a hit with the ladies, but does he have any game skills? We’ll see.

Steve: What Ray said.

Matt Turner, 23, Thrift Store Owner from New Bedford, Massachusetts

Ray: An offbeat small businessman who claims to be a challenge beast but seems to be going for more of an eccentric vibe, he sounds a lot like past wild-card players like Zach or even Dr. Will. Does that mean success? Not necessarily – it’s very easy to get caught in a lie and see your game spiral. But he’s one of the players who most seems to be coming into this with a strategy, and if he can avoid early pitfalls, he’ll be a contender.

Steve: Matt had me at mullet! Seriously, that things is sweet. He has a self-proclaimed comp game, an initial plan and a great personality. He should do well and make it past the half way point for sure.

Michael Bruner, 28, Attorney from Rochester, Minnesota
Ray: Michael has the bad luck of playing this game right after the all-timer performance from Kevin in the last season of Big Brother Canada – meaning any nerdy, unassuming guys will likely be target #1 right away. He seems plugged into the game and could easily be a key member of an alliance – if he gets the chance. He probably needs to win an HOH early, play it very well, and use the week to build an alliance to have a shot.

Steve: Yes, Ray, he needs to be the “anti Frenchie.” Play reserved and build alliances early. Don’t raise eyebrows running around the game trying to connect with everyone. If he can tone it down, he will be fine.

Monte Taylor, 27, Personal Trainer from Bear, Delaware

Ray: After seeing how thoroughly Kyland and Xavier dominated last season’s challenges, I think being an African-American male in good shape in this game will likely make you draft pick #1 in any alliances. Monte isn’t quite as big as Marvin, seems to have a charming and unassuming personality, and wants to stay positive and build an alliance. He seems to have the most well-rounded profile of everyone here in an alliance.

Steve: While I agree with Ray about his well-rounded game, I get some serious reservations about his ability to remain consistent. He waffled about who he would take to the finals if he were in that position. If a player is already wishy-washy before entering the game, that’s a bad sign.

Nicole Layog, 41, Private Chef from Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Ray: Being one of the older contestants in the game is always tricky, and the best way to avoid being a target early is to be a number. Nicole…is not the type to lay low. She boasts she’s a fierce competitor, wants to get out all the floaters, and doesn’t know anything people would dislike about her. I can see her getting into conflict early and being one of the first out the door.

Steve: Nicole seems to have a strong, personality and a lot of confidence. In real life, this is affirming, but in the house can be seen as a threat. I think she will rub folks the wrong way early. She isn’t going to tell anyone she was a police officer, but her actions may tell them all they need to know. I hope she can reign it in for her sake and embrace her inner Derrick.

Paloma Aguilar, 22, Interior Designer from San Marcos, California

Ray: As one of the youngest contestants this season, Paloma could easily fall into the “ditzy girl” stereotype, but she actually seems really self-aware of both her strengths and weaknesses. I think she’ll lay low early, flirt if she needs to, and get into alliances as needed before possibly turning it on later in the game. She could be a dark horse if the chips fall her way.

Steve: Paloma seems like female player who connects to the strong jocks early. It’s actually smart because those players usually go far and then have to make moves late. She seems really bright, so who knows.

Taylor Hale, 27, Personal Stylist from West Bloomfield, Michigan

Ray: As someone who comes from the pageant world, Taylor knows how to put on a show. She gives probably the most detailed and strategic answers of anyone in the game, and knows what kind of Big Brother player she wants to be. She reminds me a lot of Tiffany from last season – and I think she has the same pitfalls. She’s probably going to make it far if she builds her alliance well, but unless she can win out she might get sniped towards the end.

Steve: I really like her answers. She is very thoughtful and was very clear that she is taking “no risks.” She should be solid and consistent, making good choices for her game.

Terrence Higgins, 47, Bus Operator from Chicago, Illinois

Ray: Like I said, being 40-plus in this game paints a big target on your back. You need to play flawlessly those first few weeks to avoid being a marked man. Fortunately, Terrence seems like the type of guy who would be everyone’s friend while not being seen as a threat. He seems more Cliff Hogg than Steve Arienta, and if he makes it to jury, he’s likely to go deep.

Steve: As an old guy, I don’t like that the show typically puts one old guy in the show every year. Typically, they get picked off early. Evil Dick was just simply too cool:) I like Terence and think he could play the game well. However, he will likely struggle in the comps and always be at risk. Early to mid exit for Terrance.

Early Picks:

Ray – Monte Taylor, Paloma Aguilar

Steve- Daniel Durston, the Pooch

Survivor 42 Week 11 Recap and Finale Power Rankings

After a long, chaotic season of Survivor, we’re finally here. This season was definitely an overall improvement over Survivor 41, with a few little twists that made the game seem more organic. However, it was still a very flawed game compared to the Survivor of olden days, which let the game play out naturally. This version often felt like it was playing the castaways.

With six contestants left following Drea’s epic elimination, this felt from the start like it was going to be the deciding episode of the season. Omar had engineered several of the best blindsides of the season, and the unassuming veterinarian seemed like he was on cruise control to the finale. With three idols still in play, any tribal council was likely to be a high-wire game, and it made the stakes much higher for every challenge.

That began right away, with a reward challenge involving spinning out of a rope trap and assembling a puzzle while incredibly dizzy. Omar pulled off the upset and got to make a choice – take two people to join him for a meal of chicken and vegetables, or three for a rich dessert meal. He chose dessert and left Jonathan and Lindsay out in the cold – never a good sign when you’re already the two biggest threats in the game.

Mike was the initial target of the two alpha players, but that was thrown for a loop once Mike and Maryanne shared the information about Lindsay’s amulet idol. This started a rift between the two women left in the game, and set up a tense battle for immunity right before the finale.

As opposed to the last few balance challenges, this was a challenge worthy of survivor – a race to assemble a puzzle staircase, followed by steering two balls into targets on a table maze. While Jonathan led much of the way, in the end it was Lindsay who sank her balls first and claimed her latest victory as she quickly became the biggest challenge beast in the game.

And so, it once again was Jonathan as the chopping block. While he looks imposing, he hasn’t really backed it up in strong gameplay OR challenge wins, and he was once again vulnerable with no idol to protect him. But Mike remains tight with him, and he aimed to protect him by shifting the target onto Romeo – who had no real allies and no real strong points in the game. It looked likely to be an easy vote against one of the two.

And then Maryanne came out of nowhere in one of the most dramatic tribal councils to hit Survivor in years. She had lost her trust in Omar, had an extra vote in her pocket, and tried to convince Mike to get on board with the blindside. Mike was resistant, seeing it as well past time to take out Romeo, but Maryanne eventually won out, convincing them to do a split vote. It was one of the best moves in a long time, and the look on Omar’s face when the vote came out 3-2-2 against him was priceless. Even more amazing – all three idols stayed in their pocket, with Lindsay not playing her amulet on Omar despite it being the last time she could. That may have been a game-ending move for her.

And here we are – at the finale of Survivor 42. Five contestants are still in the game, and all five have taken unique paths to get here. Below, I’ll make my picks on who’s most likely to win Survivor 42 looking at their games overall and the paths they have to the endgame.

Below, the final power rankings for Survivor 42.

5. Romeo – Yeah…this one doesn’t take a rocket scientist. With virtually no allies or game moves to his record, he’s drawing dead in the jury from the start. The only question is whether he makes it to the end as a goat or gets picked off before the end.

4. Jonathan – Jonathan is what I like to call a “stealth goat”. On the surface, he seems like a powerhouse. But much like Xander, Albert, Mick, and several others over the course of the game, he’s completely fallen down on the job of convincing the jury why they should vote for him. He only has a few allies, most of whom are tired of him, and is likely to face a hostile jury if he makes it to the end due to his surly attitude.

3. Lindsay – If she makes it to the end, Lindsay has a very good chance at victory. She’s been the dominant challenge player of the game, she’s been involved in several key blindsides, and she’s well-liked. The problem is…everyone knows this. She lost her top ally due to a boneheaded move this week, and now she likely needs to win out to make it to the end.

2. Maryanne – Has any contestant ever seen their stock shoot up post-merge like Maryanne? From a cartoonish character who was next in line for the boot on her tribe to a savvy underdog player, she’s pulled off some of the game’s biggest moves while still not registering as a threat? If she gets taken to the end, I see the jury loving her grit and quirky attitude and wanting to reward her. The problem is…will anyone take her to the end? Does she have the fire-making skills needed to win her way there? (Because immunity probably isn’t happening). The only thing keeping her from the #1 spot is that she might have peaked at the exact wrong time to sneak to the end.

#1. Mike – Mike’s had a rough few weeks, having to betray some of his best allies and winding up on the outside of several big moves. But despite that, he’s still in the best position in the game. All that needs to happen is for Lindsay not to win out, and people to realize Maryanne is a jury threat. At which point, he’ll take his lumps from the jury, but I think he’s almost guaranteed to get a nod of respect from the jurors as they make him the oldest winner of Survivor over Romeo and Jonathan.

Survivor 42 Week 10 Recap and Power Rankings

It’s amazing just how much energy one twist can take out of a great show. Survivor 42 has been a fantastic season, and last week’s blindside of Hai Giang was one of the season’s best episodes. The problem is, ever since it returned from hiatus, Survivor has been dominated by overpowered twists – few more overpowered than this week’s.

As the game shifted to the final seven, it seemed like powerful alliances were ready to turn on each other. Omar had firmly taken control of the game, and had convinced Mike to flip on his close ally Hai. But now he was feeling like Mike might be a threat to his game. At the same time, many people were worried about Drea’s pile of advantages – and they didn’t even know how many she had. Meanwhile, both Jonathan and Romeo were getting on people’s nerves – Jonathan for his temper, Romeo for his laziness and food-hoarding.

The problem is, all of this might have been for nothing, because this week was the week of the infamous Do or Die twist. While not the worst twist in Survivor history, Do or Die takes the fate of the contestants out of their own hands and puts it in the hands of a random game of chance. The person who comes in last in the immunity challenge is essentially forced to play a game of chance for their life.

This week’s immunity challenge was a painful balancing challenge, and the contestants were briefed on the twist and given the chance to sit out. And when it was time to reveal their rocks – five chose to sit out and the only ones competing were Jonathan and Lindsay. After a tense and agonizing challenge where both struggled to hold on, Jonathan came out on top and Lindsay’s fate in the game would be in the hands of random chance.

Not even knowing if there would be a tribal council that night didn’t stop the contestants from playing Survivor as hard as we’ve seen all season. Omar quickly got Drea on board with the plan to blindside Mike, and Drea let him in on the existence of probably the most powerful advantage in Survivor history – the Knowledge is Power advantage. They planned to use this to steal Mike’s idol and vote him out – but Omar quickly started wondering if Drea was now the bigger threat and he should clue Mike in. That would allow them to pull off the same flashy idol-switch that Xander and Tiffany did last season.

As tribal council began, everything was in flux and it felt like everyone was chomping at the bit to get to voting. But first, Lindsay had to play Do or Die for her life. And another reason why this is one of the worst twists in Survivor history is because it’s incredibly easy to predict. As soon as Lindsay’s fate was revealed with ten minutes to go, it was clear she would survive. And for the second season in a row, this twist did not claim anyone. Good. And with that, it was time for the fireworks.

Sure enough, Drea used her advantage to demand to know if Mike had an idol – and the answer was no, as Mike had passed it on to Omar for the night. Drea had burned her advantage and was now incredibly vulnerable. She pulled her extra vote and voted for Mike, but she and the perpetually out-of-the-loop Romeo weren’t enough and she was sent home 5-3. Her dramatic exit where she gave her assessment of all the players in the game, exposed Omar, and asked to snuff her own torch was one for the Survivor ages.

And so we’re on to the final six, with only one episode to go before the finale. Below, the power rankings for week 11 of Survivor 42.

  1. Lindsay – With an idol in her pocket thanks to the amulet and not really being on anyone’s radar, she’s as safe as can be.
  2. Maryanne – Maryanne’s threat level has decreased massively, she seems to be getting better at the social game, and no one knows she has an idol. She’s almost a shoo-in for the finale.
  3. Mike – Assuming he gets his idol back from Omar, he seems to have a solid block in his corner.
  4. Omar – Now that everyone knows about his double-dealing, he could go from an underdog to a strategic powerhouse – which isn’t good for staying under the radar.
  5. Romeo – He’s obviously a goat at this point, which means he could either be dragged along to the end or become an easy pick-off.
  6. Jonathan – As it gets closer to the end, it’s probably win or go home for the season’s challenge beast.

Survivor 42 Week Nine Recap and Power Rankings

One of the best things about Survivor is that when you strip away all the twists and advantages, sometimes the best drama creates itself. The castaways are here for the game of a lifetime, and it’s always entertaining to see just how far they’ll go. In the aftermath of a chaotic double boot episode, things were up in the air. The blindside of Rocksroy and the complex elimination of Tori had left the tribe fractured and taken two idols out of the game.

So in the great Survivor tradition, an idol hunt began. Lindsay went looking first, but it was Maryanne who covertly sneaked off to the woods and pocketed her second idol of the game. And this time, she was not telling anyone. We were soon off to a reward challenge, where the contestants had to balance a sandbag on a pedestal and toss it onto a small platform. Lindsay edged out Jonathan, and got to take two contestants to a sanctuary for a meal. She chose Omar and Mike, mostly because neither had gotten big rewards before.

The overnight stay turned out to be more than it seemed, as it also doubled as a family visit – with the three contestants getting videos from their family and friends back home. It created a strong bond between the trio, especially with Jonathan getting on Lindsay’s nerves in the previous episode and possibly fracturing the Taku Four. But that bond would soon be exploited – in one of the dirtiest moves pulled in Survivor in a long time.

Omar has long been the game’s most aggressive player, being behind several key blindsides this season without anyone really knowing. It was all fair play – but his move to target Hai this episode may have crossed a line with at least one player. Hai has been Omar’s chief rival in terms of scheming, and the two seemed to be closely aligned. But Hai had ruffled some feathers when he engineered the Rocksroy boot and convinced Mike to break his word to him, and Omar exploited those fractures by convincing Mike that Hai had mocked him behind his back and was planning to blindside him.

Mike quickly got angry and was on board with blindsiding Hai – but the problem was, it was 100% a fiction. Mike has been an emotional player since the start of the game, both for good and bad, and Omar essentially weaponized that. Once Mike was on board, he was able to loop in Jonathan and Lindsay, with the former looking for any opportunity to take the heat off himself. From there, the wild cards like Maryanne and Drea were on board as well.

At the immunity challenge, a fast-paced balance challenge involving a balance beam and keeping a ball from rolling off a wooden bow, Lindsay edged out Jonathan after a tense face-off. And with that, the battle between the two biggest targets in Survivor 42 was on.

From there, the scramble was one of the best we’ve seen in a long time. As the targets settled on Hai and Jonathan, Hai pulled a Hail Mary and tried to convince Jonathan he had an idol – one he would play on Jonathan. Jonathan didn’t buy it, sending the information right back to Omar. And at tribal council, only Omar was left out of the loop as the entire tribe voted to send Hai to the jury. His response – essentially applauding the tribe for being able to blindside him – went down as one of the all-time best Survivor exits alongside Chicken.

And so the game shifts again, as Drea and Lindsay’s amulets transform into steal-a-votes and the game gets closer to the ending. Below, the power rankings for week ten of Survivor 42.

  1. Lindsay – After two strong episodes in a row, she’s quietly under the radar but steering many of the game’s key decisions.
  2. Omar – Definitely the guy pulling the strings the most at the moment, but he might be flying a bit too close to the sun.
  3. Mike – He’s in a great social position at the moment, but he’s letting his game be led far too easily. He needs to have some moves to call his own soon.
  4. Maryanne – Her early-game social struggles have mostly been forgotten, but it’s not clear if she’ll be able to make the moves she needs in the endgame yet.
  5. Drea – She doesn’t have any tight alliances, but she’s so loaded down with idols and advantages that she should be fine unless something crazy happens.
  6. Jonathan – He’s all alone as the top target in the game right now, and it’s not clear if his alliance will stick by him.
  7. Romeo – He’s so firmly out of the loop that the only question is if he’s irrelevant enough to squeak by for another round.

Movie Review – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – Directed by Sam Raimi. Written by Michael Waldron. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, Xochitl Gomez, Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Stuhlbarg, and an insane array of spoiler-filled cameos.

***/****

It’s been only four months since the last MCU movie gave us an wild-and-crazy adventure as multiple universes crashed into each other and threatened all reality. Now, the next installment…gives us a wild-and-crazy adventure as multiple universes crash into each other and threaten all reality. In some ways, this makes sense. After all, the Avengers faced off the biggest threat in the entire universe already in Avengers: Endgame. What’s the next step? The biggest threat in more than one universe.

The first installment in the Doctor Strange series isn’t considered one of Marvel’s best, although it’s far from the worst. It had a strong lead performance from Benedict Cumberbatch, a fun supporting cast, and some spectacular visuals. However, it suffered from a weak villain, a forgettable love interest in McAdams’ Christine Palmer (who, interestingly, Strange did not wind up with in the end), and some questionable casting for The Ancient One. Most MCU films far preferred Strange’s appearances as the deadpan guardian of the mystic arts in Avengers and Spider-man movies to his solo feature.

With Sam Raimi stepping in for Scott Derrickson on this installment, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness makes some smart course-corrections right out of the gate. Strange is much more human here than he was in his first movie, as he still deals with the fallout of being “Blipped” for five years. That’s a ridiculous plot thread that never quite works 100%, but the scenes where he attends Christine’s wedding and grapples with whether he’s truly happy are very compelling.

There are a lot of spoilers in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, some which should stay a secret, so I’ll stay coy about the plot. I will say that Cumberbatch here gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in a Marvel movie. As the title gives away, there are going to be multiversal counterparts here, and Cumberbatch winds up playing multiple versions of himself and even playing off himself at certain points. It’s a tour de force, and the use of Strange’s magic is also far better than it’s been before. One particular scene, involving a battle of musical notes, is one of the most visually stunning scenes I’ve ever seen in a Marvel movie.

Benedict Wong’s Wong, who became Sorcerer Supreme in Strange’s absence, continues to be the secret weapon of the franchise. His deadpan delivery and sarcastic banter with Strange reminds me of what would happen if Alfred actually got to be a superhero in his own right. Although the plot separates him from Strange for much of it, his segments are never anything but compelling. What happens with Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Karl Mordo, though, is a little trickier. This is one of the pitfalls of the MCU – with installments years apart, we often miss key story elements just because so much time has passed. A multiversal Mordo does appear in this film, but we’re left to find out the backstory there through dialogue.

The plot is kicked off by the arrival of America Chavez, a multiversal refugee played by Xochitl Gomez. After barely escaping death in another universe and pursued by a grotesque demon, she gets rescued from certain death by Strange and Wong. In possession of incredible multiverse-traveling powers but not able to fully control them, she’s a massive target for people who want her abilities. Her initial role as a macguffin and kid who needs rescuing led to some comparisons to the character called Cassandra Cain in the Birds of Prey film, but unlike that film, this movie does right by the character. America is really this film’s secondary lead, coming into her own as a superhero and dealing with long-simmering trauma. Her interaction with Strange is thorny, but gives both of them an amazing character arc. I’m very excited to see where they take this character next.

And then there’s Wanda Maximoff, whose involvement in this film is probably the most anticipated part of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Coming off WandaVision, a lot of people were wondering if this movie would be her return to heroic form – or her descent into madness. I can’t talk about this movie without getting into some mild spoilers, so be warned here.

Major Spoilers Below

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The Wanda we meet here is a very disturbed woman, and one who wants to use the Multiverse for her own ends. Corrupted by the Darkhold, she definitely takes on an antagonistic role for much of the film, but one of the strengths of the movie is that it keeps you guessing throughout. Her mission is a dangerous and twisted one, but one driven by a mother’s love taken too far. It’s impossible not to have hope for her, even as we’re horrified by the paths she goes down. Elizabeth Olsen also gives a great performance here, but it’s a less subtle one than she gave in the heartbreaking TV series. Many of her fans are not pleased with some of the choices made here, and I can understand that.

Also taking me by surprise is just how much of the legendary director there is in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. This is an MCU movie, to be sure, but it’s also a horror movie with some of the darkest and most disturbing visuals ever in a superhero movie. Some scenes are darkly funny, others provide some of the best jump scares I’ve seen in a while. The creatures here are genuinely like something out of Lovecraft, and the movie is never anything but thrilling and engaging.

And that’s even without getting into the massive parade of cameos, some of which basically leaked in the trailers and others which took even me by surprise. They shouldn’t be spoiled, but expect the biggest options and you’ll still be surprised. But for all the hype over them, most of them felt like they were just there to be cool easter eggs that didn’t have too much impact on the plot. One in particular will create a massive casting debate in the coming months. They almost felt apart from the movie in some ways.

And that plays into the biggest problem with Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. This is a movie that’s often at war with itself. It wants to be both a Doctor Strange movie, and the next continuity-spanning megablockbuster. It largely works – but only if you’re a die-hard MCU follower like me. Some MCU movies require some prerequisites to fully get, but in this one you’re going to be completely lost if you’ve not watched not just the last Doctor Strange movie but Wandavision – and Loki and What If hold some key context clues as well. It has some phenomenal moments, but tries to do so much that it often breezes past them.

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness basically lifts a mountain on its back – trying to undo some of the mistakes of the original (such as a surprisingly involved role for Christine), do justice by its main characters, and introduce new players. It largely succeeds, but in trying to live up to the massive legacy of previous MCU megablockbusters, it often struggles to maintain a consistent tone.

It’s the age of the megablockbuster and everyone else is just living in it – even the title character.

Survivor 42 Week Eight Recap and Power Rankings

I’m generally not a fan of Survivor’s over-reliance on twists in the new era. Not only does it often take the game out of the hands of the players, but it’s led to some of the worst twists in Survivor history. But after last week’s elimination of Chanelle in a tense tribal council, we got to one of the best twists in this new era of the game.

That would be the split tribal and double tribal council, which in both seasons resulted in some of the best gameplay of the whole Survivor season. It was a packed episode, so we only had time for a brief lead-in as Rocksroy attempted to push most of the guys in the cast into an alliance. While Mike and Jonathan were initially enthusiastic, Hai and Omar were less so due to their close alliances with women in the game. The alliance left Romeo out, and it quickly seemed like the snarky pageant coach was the odd man out.

But then the contestants arrived at the challenge set, and everything changed. They were divided into two tribes of five by random draw, and the tribes were bizarre. The five men of color – Mike, Rocksroy, Omar, Romeo, Hai – were one tribe. On the other, Jonathan was alone with Lindsay, Maryanne, Drea, and Tori. The two tribes were then set against each other in an endurance challenge involving balancing on buoys, with a winner on each challenge getting immunity. Additionally, the overall winner would win kebabs for their whole tribe.

Hai quickly won immunity in his side, and Jonathan and Lindsay faced off in an extended battle for the other tribe. Ultimately, Jonathan won both his tribe’s heat and the overall contest, and that meant his group would go to tribal council second. One of the things that this episode showed is how the butterfly effect can turn this entire game on its head, and that would be the defining theme of this episode.

The guys’ tribe seemed to have a simple vote – Romeo would be leaving unanimously. But Omar was quickly getting tired of Rocksroy, and didn’t have too hard a time looping Hai in. They had the votes, but Mike was dead-set on getting rid of Romeo and honoring his word to Rocksroy. It emphasized Mike’s commitment to his alliance, but also the older Jersey guy’s occasional inflexibility when it came to the game.

On the other tribe, it was also a question of one guy trying to lead the tribe down his chosen path. Three of Jonathan’s Taku alliance controlled the tribe and Tori seemed to be the obvious boot. But with Drea having multiple advantages and idols, Jonathan saw an opportunity to blindside her. He was convinced this was the best move, with Maryanne as the backup – and he would not be dissuaded by Lindsay’s or Maryanne’s doubts.

At the first tribal council, Mike decided he valued tribal unity more than his word and wrote down Rocksroy’s name along with the rest of the tribe, sending him to the jury – but it wasn’t clear if he told Rocksroy beforehand. That set into motion a chain of events that led to one of the most memorable Survivor Tribal councils in recent memory.

As soon as Drea walked in, her demeanor changed. She saw Chanelle and Rocksroy on the jury, and immediately knew she needed to play her idol. There can be a lot of conversation about whether there was any racial motivation in the two previous boots – given the heavy booting of white contestants early in the season and the fact that Rocksroy’s tribe was entirely POC, it’s hard to say so – but it didn’t matter. Her instincts told her to save herself, and they were right. Jonathan’s brittle response didn’t help, and that may have pushed Maryanne to decide she needed to play her idol as well.

With the two of them deciding to play their idols in a mutual display of solidarity that clearly impressed the jury, it created a unique situation. Only Tori and Lindsay were now eligible for the vote, and in a bizarre turn, the tribe decided to have a vote conversation out in the open instead of voting traditionally. Tori was quickly voted out unanimously, decided to play her Shot in the Dark, and came up empty, bringing a bizarre ending to an episode filled with some fantastic TV.

It’s easily the best episode so far of Survivor 42, and it largely resets the game going forward. Below, the power rankings for week nine of Survivor 42.

  1. Mike – He lost a close ally this week, but he still has connections with just about everyone in the game and the only idol at this point.
  2. Maryanne – This week’s impressive display likely made her a lot of new friends, and she’s not considered a major threat.
  3. Lindsay – Her threat level is low, she’s well-liked and has lots of allies, and has kept her cards close to her chest.
  4. Omar – After engineering the Rocksroy boot, more people may be on to his game. But he has two tight allies and more tricks up his sleeve.
  5. Jonathan – I think he burned a lot of bridges this episode, but his allies may be hesitant to get rid of him this early.
  6. Drea – She still has several more advantages to work with, but her threat level has risen massively.
  7. Hai – Based on the preview, he’s alienated Mike. That’s his closest alliance and puts him squarely in the danger zone.
  8. Romeo – Yeah, it’s not looking good. He has no allies, and the only question is if he can survive long enough to become a goat.

Survivor 42 Week Seven Recap and Power Rankings

After all the craziness of the infamous fake merge episode, it was time for Survivor 42 to get down to business. With eleven castaways left and the jury about to start, the three tribes officially became one and it didn’t take long for the scheming to start. However, unlike many past seasons, this season seemed to have several clear outcasts among the tribe.

The three tribes seemed more willing than the usual Survivor contestants to compare notes, and it didn’t take long for the outcasts to emerge. Chanelle was on the chopping block because of her general scheming and alliance with Daniel. Tori was an outcast because of her shadiness and general attitude problems. Maryanne’s loopiness and lack of filter made her the Taku outcast, but it didn’t seem like there was as much momentum to get rid of her as the others.

And then there was Romeo, who emerged as a major player the previous episode and didn’t look to be going away any time soon. While he wasn’t really in the loop, he also wasn’t really seen as a target – until he started worrying about who the target was, and started making himself more of a threat. It’s a pretty clear-cut example of how sometimes, the worst thing you can do in Survivor is get paranoid before you have to.

While most of the pre-merge Survivor 42 episodes didn’t have any, I was glad to see reward challenges make their return post-merge. Much like Survivor 41, this challenge had ten spots and one enforced sit-out where someone wouldn’t get to compete for the impressive reward of…PB&J. Maryanne drew the unlucky rock, but Drea immediately jumped up to volunteer since she doesn’t like the reward. It seemed suspicious, and sure enough she immediately started searching the sit-out bench and found the Knowledge is Power Advantage, which gives her the right to potentially steal an idol. Combined with her amulet, extra vote, and idol, this might just make Drea the most powerful player in Survivor history – if she knows when to use it.

Amid all this scheming and advantage-hunting, there were some chances for genuinely affecting moments, like Mike and Omar’s friendship as the older Jersey guy took advantage of the opportunity to learn about Islam. It’s a great example of how casting more diverse contestants can really create great TV. Of course, it helped that the entire tribe had pretty much agreed Tori had to go, so there was relatively little drama.

And then came immunity, a balancing competition involving balancing a buoy on two rods while on a balance beam. The tribe negotiated for rice with Jeff, resulting in four contestants – Drea, Lindsay, Maryanne, and Omar – sitting out. In the end, it came down to Tori and Jonathan with Tori winning for the second time and sending the entire tribe spiraling into chaos.

From there, it was a classic Survivor scheming frenzy. Romeo’s paranoia increased, as he reacted very strongly to Chanelle being told his name as a decoy. He was convinced this meant he was actually a target, demanding a split vote to protect him. The result was Omar starting to worry if he was too much of a wild card to keep around. While Omar pushed for switching the vote to Romeo, Mike was convinced Chanelle needed to go – mostly for personal reasons, as he was still nursing a grudge over her trying to blindside him during Daniel’s elimination. It was a messy buildup to the vote, but in the end there was one clear target – and while Romeo got votes from Maryanne, Omar, and Chanelle, and Romeo randomly voted for Hai, it was Chanelle who became the first member of the jury.

Chanelle’s boot was a good example of how trust is a fragile currency in this game. Her alliance with Daniel and her decision to risk her vote still loomed large in people’s minds, and they decided to get rid of her even over a larger threat and bigger wild card.

With ten left in the game, who’s on the chopping block next week? Based on the commercials, it’s going to be a double boot and possibly a split tribal, so who knows what the divisions will be? Below, the power rankings for week eight of Survivor 42 – as best as I can figure them out.

  1. Mike – With his biggest arch-enemy gone, Mike seems to have good relations with just about everyone in the cast. He should have no problem surviving a split tribal.
  2. Drea – Split tribals are chaotic – which means if she smells even the slightest whiff of danger, she’ll pull her idol.
  3. Hai – He’s been on the right side of both votes so far and seems to be part of the dominant alliance, so he should be able to talk his way out of any danger.
  4. Omar – Similar to Hai, he’s in a strategist position and has lot of allies. The odds are good he’ll have two people who want to protect him in any split tribal.
  5. Lindsay – Her connections aren’t quite as strong as Omar, but her threat level is moderate and she’s in a tight alliance.
  6. Jonathan – He’s a bigger target than his fellow alliance-mates, sure, but he’ll have a bigger chance to win immunity here and his alliance should have a majority at the vote.
  7. Maryanne – Of all the “outcasts”, she’s the most well-liked, but a split tribal means there could be relatively little place to hide.
  8. Rocksroy – I don’t know what to make of this guy’s game yet. He’s very isolated, and while he’s not a threat, he could easily wind up on the wrong side of the numbers.
  9. Romeo – His paranoia is bad enough in a group of ten – imagine it in a group of five.
  10. Tori – Third verse, same as the first. As soon as she loses immunity, she’s gone.

Survivor 42 Week Six Recap and Power Rankings

How do you analyze the gameplay in a week of Survivor where the game doesn’t really matter? That was the problem with Survivor 42’s pseudo-merge episode, coming on the week of the dramatic elimination of Daniel Strunk. Once again, the remaining twelve castaways would be gathered for an unusual challenge – one where the winners could wind up being the losers. That’s right, it’s time for a repeat of the worst twist in Survivor history – the fake merge.

Survivor has had a lot of twists over the years. Some were good and some were bad. Some were fair and some were unfair. However, none ever quite undermined the game so much as the merge twist last season, which apparently created a full revolt among the players. But none of these players knew about it or could prepare, because the two seasons were played back-to-back. So these twelve contestants lined up, were split into two teams, and had two people – Lindsay and Rocksroy – left out.

This season did improve the twist in a few minor ways, such as giving the team some warning that the person sent to Exile – which would ultimately be Rocksroy – would gain a mysterious power. They also gave the winning team the chance to switch someone from their own team out for the power. However, these were both minor patches to a gaping wound, and one factor made it even worse. That would be Jonathan, the modern Hercules who may be the best physical player in Survivor since Mike Holloway. Whichever team got him was essentially guaranteed victory – which meant failure.

Sure enough, Jonathan’s team of Hai, Maryanne, Lydia, and Tori won the challenge with ease, sending Mike Drea, Chanelle, Omar, and Romeo to tribal council – or so it seemed. However, at the exile summit, Rocksroy went into zen mode, shared a little about his past, and made comments about being glad his wife wasn’t there to nag him before inevitably smashing the hourglass and giving himself safety.

The combination of both these episodes into one double-length episode improved the quality quite a bit, instead of ending the episode on a cliffhanger where everyone knew the ending. However, it didn’t improve the fact that this is a wildly unfair excuse for a twist and turned the best physical player in the game into its biggest target through no fault of his own.

Sure enough, the target shifted to Jonathan quickly. The powerful athlete bonded with Mike, the other strong provider in the game, and the two shared a powerful moment at the beach. However, this led Romeo to go on an elaborate rant about how he’s tired of the big guys dominating the game, and soon it seemed like Vati and Ika might team up against the Taku ringleader. But the target was also on Tori, who was seen as untrustworthy along with Chanelle, and on Maryanne, who had her own tribe ready to sacrifice her.

At immunity, a tense stacking competition where one wrong move could send the entire pile of letters crashing down, Tori claimed immunity and it seemed Jonathan’s fate was likely sealed. However, his closest ally wasn’t willing to let him go down without a fight, and Omar quickly started rallying votes for another target – Lydia, who had mostly slipped under the radar before now. By this point, there was very little time left in the episode for scheming, so Tribal Council came as a bit of a surprise. The vote was split, with all of Jonathan, Maryanne, Lindsay getting votes – and Lydia getting seven to become the final pre-juror, including her close allies Hai and Mike.

Was this a better merge episode than Survivor 41’s? Yes. Was it still a complete disaster of a Survivor episode? Yes. This twist need to go away and never come back, end of story. But the game marches on.

Below, the power rankings for week seven of Survivor 41.

  1. Mike – With an idol in his pocket and a big shield in front of him in Jonathan, he’s likely in pole position right now.
  2. Omar – Clearly the best manipulator in the game at the moment, his social game likely makes him the safest Taku.
  3. Lindsay – Like Omar, she’s playing well but residing well under the radar at the moment.
  4. Hai – While he’s playing a good game at the moment, he did just jettison his closest ally without much explanation.
  5. Drea – She’s fairly well-known to be a manipulator, but her many advantages give her a good chance at surviving for now.
  6. Maryanne – While she was in danger this week and her personality can be challenging, her low threat level and idol will likely keep her safe for a few rounds.
  7. Jonathan – His alliance won out, but he needs to start winning challenges or some of them might see an opportunity to snipe him while they still can.
  8. Romeo – Putting himself in the middle of a major vote dispute and targeting the biggest player in the game is a great way to increase your own target size.
  9. Rocksroy – Completely out of the loop, as his Lindsay vote showed. That puts him behind the curve as they look for new targets.
  10. Chanelle – She’s burned most of her allies and has no real support system. The only thing keeping her from the bottom is that someone else has done worse.
  11. Tori – Yeah, she’s only in this until she loses a challenge, then it’s likely a unanimous vote right out the door.

Survivor 42 Week Five Recap And Power Rankings

All it takes is one week for your Survivor game to go down the tubes, as Swati Goel found out in week four of Survivor 42. In the aftermath of her chaotic elimination, all of the tribes had tricky dynamics as the merge grew closer.

On Ika, Rocksroy was clearly the odd man out – but his work ethic and challenge strength were hard to eliminate. On Taku, they had been consistently successful in challenges, but Omar had lost his vote and Jonathan and Maryanne were increasingly at each others’ throats. An extended segment where Jonathan went fishing to avoid Maryanne and Lindsay’s chatterbox later and later riled Maryanne up by chopping wood too close to where she was standing was mostly played for laughs.

And then there was Vati, where the fallout from the tense tribal council that saw Jenny Kim eliminated was still brewing. Both Daniel and Chanelle had lost the tribe’s trust, and Mike had formed a tight threesome with Hai and Lydia. But Mike – much like Maryanne – was still lacking his vote due to the Beware Advantage.

That all came to a head this week, as Drea found the Ika tribe idol and it was time to activate them. But with likely only one week left to the merge, Mike had a tricky choice. He wanted to keep his idol secret – and if he could play out the string a little longer, it would be activated anyway without him having to announce his phrase. In the end, at the immunity challenge gathering, he decided to say it and everyone got their idol and their votes. In light of what was to come next, it was likely for the best.

The main character of Survivor 42 this week was definitely Daniel, as his injured shoulder became a subject of concern – despite it allowing him to fish effectively, he kept sitting out challenges insisting he had nothing to offer physically. That repeated itself in this week’s reward-immunity challenge, which saw tribes racing over a net, untangling a braided rope attached to a slide puzzle, and then using a slingshot to shoot sandbags at targets. Ika surprisingly had a very smooth go of it, taking first place while Taku had a horrible time on the rope. But Omar managed to figure it out, handing the sandbags over to Jonathan – who delivered two perfect shots, ending the challenge and leaving Vati as the odd tribe out.

With a tight three-person bloc and two tribe members on the outs, this didn’t seem like the recipe for a dramatic Survivor tribal council. But never count out Daniel and Chanelle. As the two continued to scheme – mostly to throw the other one under the bus – paranoia about the shot in the dark increased. The three planned to split their vote to ensure their safety, but at tribal council there was a twist. It came out two votes Daniel, two votes Chanelle, one vote Mike – the second tie in only five episodes of Survivor 42. This was likely a gambit by Chanelle to ensure she was protected if Daniel played his shot in the dark, similar to the Survivor 35 move that eliminated Mike Zahalsky, but on the revote it gave the three a clear shot – and Daniel was voted out unanimously.

What is there to say about Daniel? It’s been a while since someone burned his game down so effectively, but it was hard not to root for the twitchy superfan. Like Jacob Derwin before him, it’s not always the best players who love the game the most. It’s so easy to get caught up in the game and play too hard.

Of course, sometimes the game plays you. Because coming up is the dreaded hourglass twist, maybe the worst twist in reality TV history. With two random tribes, a reversal of fortune, and an immunity challenge, it’s almost impossible to predict who’ll go next week. So for this week’s power rankings, I’m treating these twelve as one tribe and ranking them based on their threat level, the advantages they hold, and their overall connections in the game. Really, anyone could go because all four tribes have people who could easily flip on their former tribesmates.

Below, the power rankings for week six of Survivor 42 and its double-length episode.

  1. Mike
  2. Hai
  3. Maryanne
  4. Lindsay
  5. Drea
  6. Jonathan
  7. Omar
  8. Romeo
  9. Lydia
  10. Rocksroy
  11. Tori
  12. Chanelle

Survivor 42 Week 4 Recap and Power Rankings

One of the best things about Survivor 42 is just how in-flux all three tribes are. The third episode saw one of the all-time great Survivor tribal councils, as voting gave way to a heated debate that sent Jenny Kim out the door. In the aftermath, one tribe was split and the others weren’t all that much better. The opening segment on Vati let us know we were in for a good one, as it was clear emotions were still raw and Daniel Strunk had done permanent damage to his relationships with both Mike and Chanelle.

Into that vibe stepped the savvy Hai Giang, who had perfectly played the role of the cold-blooded heel at the last tribal council. Hai is a Survivor rarity, in that he can play incredibly ruthlessly when needed, but also seems to be a genuinely nice guy. He wasted no time bonding with the shell-shocked Mike, and the two formed a powerful new bloc with Lydia – one that pointedly left the feuding Daniel and Chanelle out in the cold.

Things weren’t much smoother over on Ika, where the tribe had been at odds since they first went to tribal council in the premiere of Survivor 42. This is an interesting tribe because it’s hard to see who we’re supposed to be rooting for. Drea is probably the best player on the tribe, but is mostly a snarky gamebot. Rocksroy works hard for the tribe, but can come off as standoffish and domineering. Romeo mostly sits in the back and waits for people to come to him with plans. And then there’s Tori, the officious “therapist” who likes to armchair-diagnose people and scheme relentlessly. The closest thing to a tribal “hero” was probably Swati, the young college student who was playing a smart and subtle game – until this episode, when she quickly formed a pact with Tori to blindside Drea, and discovered just how badly things could go when you make the wrong ally.

As for Taku, things were actually going well, and they dominated a reward challenge race where they untangled themselves from ropes, pulled a heavy sled, and tossed balls into a vertical cage. They made the challenge look easy, mostly through Jonathan’s brute strength – but he then put his foot in his mouth a bit by describing them as a tight four. That obviously made them look like even more of a target, but Maryanne losing her temper over it at camp later seemed like an overreaction. He didn’t tell the other tribes anything they didn’t know, and it seemed like Jonathan was still in firm control of the tribe – especially with him and Lindsay being the only ones with votes at the moment.

All three tribes had their fractures, and in true Survivor fashion, it would come down to the immunity challenge. This one seemed to favor strength, as it opened with contestants having to tow the other tribe members through the water on boats. No surprise that Jonathan led Taku to an early lead, and they kept it after they collected their puzzle pieces and assembled a hanging fish puzzle. Mike and Hai, with one being older and one not exactly being muscular, struggled for Vati but pulled it off – at which point their puzzle team managed to blaze past Ika and clinch the second victory, sending Ika to tribal council.

From there, Ika proceeded to completely self-destruct in a way we rarely see on Survivor – at least since last week. Tori was the immediate target, seen by Rocksroy as untrustworthy. As people talked, though, it became clear that Swati had ties with just about everyone in the game – and had even told them all they were her number one target. The rest of the episode basically turned into Swati and Tori throwing each other under the bus as harshly as possible, ending in a brutal argument at tribal council. To illustrate just how chaotic Survivor 42 is, Swati chose to play her Shot in the Dark – the third time in four episodes someone has done so. It came up snake eyes just like the other two, but this time the vote was 3-1 with Rocksroy sticking by Swati.

So how did Swati’s game go south so quickly? Simple – overplaying. She was definitely the smartest player on the tribe besides Drea, with the others only loosely seeming to understand the game she was playing. But she didn’t know how to minimize her threat level or hold her powder. She’s probably the only contestant who left so far this season who I can actually pinpoint what they did wrong.

With only one episode to go until the merge if last season is an indication, here are the power rankings for the final pre-merge week of Survivor 42.

Ika:

  1. Drea – I saw nothing this week to indicate she’s not still firmly in control of this tribe, with just about everyone dismissing the chance to snipe her.
  2. Tori – She seems set to be one of the season’s big villains, and Drea seems very loyal to her – likely as an easy person to beat.
  3. Romeo – He slipped neatly into this three-person alliance without making many waves.
  4. Rocksroy – He’s trying hard and is the tribe’s strongest player – but with the merge coming, that may not be enough.

Taku:

  1. Lindsay – She’s basically in the perfect position right now, trusted by everyone and not a big enough threat to snipe.
  2. Jonathan – The tribe needs him, but we’re just around the time when that becomes a liability. Still, having his vote means the worst that can happen to him is a tie.
  3. Omar – No vote means possible danger, but he’s still in a tight three and trusted by everyone.
  4. Maryanne – Nothing’s changed here – she’s still four out of four, and her anger at Jonathan didn’t help. But if her tribe survives the pre-merge, look for her to shoot up the list.

Vati:

  1. Mike – What a turnaround for Mike. After losing his #1 ally, he’s now in a tight three-person alliance and likely needed by both blocs.
  2. Hai – As Mike’s new closest ally and the de facto tribe leader, he’s just shy of completely safe.
  3. Lydia – She’s in a good position right now, but it’s possible Mike could flip if her challenge performance becomes an issue.
  4. Chanelle – She’s blown most of her goodwill, but likely has one shield in front of her right now.
  5. Daniel – Lol, yeah, nothing’s changed here. No allies, no real path out, and the injury certainly doesn’t help.

Movie Review – Morbius

Morbius – Directed by Daniel Espinosa. Written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Starring Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, Tyrese Gibson

*/****

It’s not a surprise Sony’s Spider-man franchise is feeling its oats right about now. Not only did they just have one of the top-grossing films of all time, but they just managed to make a deeply stupid franchise into an oddly beloved hit. They’ve long been talking about mining the archives for spin-offs, with movies in development for some odd names including Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web, and Silver Sable.

First out of the gate is Morbius, and on the surface it doesn’t look like the worst choice. The character of Michael Morbius, a scientist who accidentally transformed himself into a vampire-like creature, added some horror edge to classic Spider-man comics. The trailers made it look like a generic if entertaining superhero thriller, and the presence of acclaimed-but-controversial actor Jared Leto as the lead gave it a bit of gravitas. No one was expecting too much, but the evidence was that Morbius could at least be an entertaining throwback.

It’s not an entertaining throwback. In fact, Morbius is on a short list for the worst superhero movie of the modern era.

So how did this all go so very, very wrong? We’ve got to start with the lead. Leto is a talented actor, but he’s known for method acting in a way that mostly seems to torment his co-stars. I’m not sure what he did here, but he mostly seems to sleepwalk through the first part of the movie before going completely, utterly insane. As Michael Morbius, he’s a sickly genius born with a mysterious blood disorder. This is the kind of blood disorder that is slowly killing him, but at an indeterminate timeframe. It also forces him to hobble around on crutches, despite there being no mention of why what sounds like a clotting disorder would do this. It must be one of those diseases in the Hollywooditis subgenus. Not only is there no internal logic, but it’s another example of actors cosplaying disability.

One thing that surprised me is how empty this movie feels. Aside from Morbius himself, there are relatively few supporting characters. Jared Harris is around as Dr. Nicholas, a kindly doctor who treated Morbius’ condition and first recognized his genius. His role is mostly to stand around and seem concerned. Then there’s Adria Arjona as Dr. Martine Bancroft, Morbius’ coworker and love interest, whose role is mostly to…stand around and seem concerned. As things go sideways, Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal show up as a pair of FBI agents who don’t seem likely to have ever solved a case in their life. They add a few amusing lines, but it’s mostly about just how bad they are at their jobs.

And then there’s by far the biggest problem in Morbius – Matt Smith’s Lucien. Or is it Milo? Michael’s best friend from childhood when they both lived in some sort of sanitarium for boys with Mysterious Diseases, he was left behind when Michael was discovered to be a genius and was sent abroad to school. Twenty-five years later, he’s an arrogant tech-bro who feels his own clock ticking down, and he and Michael still obsessively work towards a cure. Which of course, leads to the main plot of the movie.

This is the type of movie where one character says “The experiment will have to take place in international waters”, and then the next scene has a caption reading “International waters”. It’s not subtle, and it’s also not smart. Michael wants to splice his DNA together with a vampire bat’s to gain their unique coagulating abilities, which at one point involves standing in the middle of a Central American cave filled with bats and later involves injecting himself with a serum while on a ship guarded by shady mercenaries in the middle of the ocean.

Naturally, it works, and Michael becomes Morbius the living vampire. The problem is, this movie doesn’t really know what a vampire is. Yes, Morbius likes blood, but it does an incredibly poor job of explaining exactly what he can do. One minute he’ll be talking about how he has advanced strength and senses, and then the next he’ll be teleporting across the city and tearing down brick walls with his bare hands. He feels more like some sort of combination of Hulk, Flash, and a werewolf than an actual vampire. Add in a bizarre subplot about artificial blood created by Michael that he tries – and fails – to subsist on, and every time this movie tries to explain itself it becomes a snore.

But the big problem comes back to Lucien, who is just an unlikable character no matter how much the movie tries to make us care about his childhood trauma. As soon as he asks Morbius to share the cure with him and Morbius refuses because “I’m a monsterrrrrrr”, it becomes clear how this is going to go. Lucien becomes a vampire too, bodies start showing up, and Michael is blamed. This isn’t a spoiler because I could predict every single turn of this movie from a mile away. Smith’s mugging for the camera as a villain is out of control, and the vampire transformations in particular look like they’re taken right out of a 1990s sub-par Buffy rip-off.

Without spoiling the post-credit sequence, I can safely say it’s the worst one I’ve ever seen. It brings in a popular character from another movie, in a way that has no logical consistency, and then proceeds to have the character make choices that are completely at odds with how they acted in their last appearance. I’ve never seen a movie more clearly go “Okay, we have to get the characters to this potential franchise – just half-ass it”.

But then, that’s what Morbius is all about – half-assing it. They had some hits and assumed that fans would just eat up anything they were dishing out. Is it the worst superhero movie of all time? Probably not. But it’s insultingly bad and I’m hopeful the fans won’t take the bait – because the last thing we need is studios cranking out low-budget superhero cash grabs again.

Survivor 42 Week Three Recap and Power Rankings

After a chaotic premiere episode, week two of Survivor 42 was almost laid back. Fewer powers-related twists, not all that much tribe conflict (aside from Mike finding and losing an idol), and an almost laid-back tribal council where Taku sorrowfully voted off tribe mom Marya. Was this a kinder, gentler Survivor?

Not a chance, because week three of Survivor 42 was one of the craziest episodes the show has seen in many years.

From the start, it was clear this episode was going to be all about Vati. Last week, Mike had found an idol and proceeded to share it with Daniel. Of course, he spent several minutes looking for where he hid it, which sent Daniel’s paranoia into overdrive. He shared all Mike had told him with his ally Chanelle, and the two quickly started scheming to neutralize Mike and his idol. This week, one one of the most bizarrely funny Survivor segments since Tony’s spy shack, things got crazier.

Daniel became increasingly paranoid about the bylaws of the idol (remember when idols didn’t need an instruction manual?) and demanded to read the parchment for himself. He then somehow managed to lose part of the idol, stuff another part in his pants, and thoroughly confuse and anger Mike only minutes into the episode. With Vati firmly divided between three pairs, it was clear anything that happened on this tribe was going to be chaotic.

Taku, meanwhile, seemed to be unified by last week’s tribal council. They all get along, and even their idol hunt was sort of a collective effort. Maryanne was the one who ultimately found it and got to happily freak out – followed by an unhappy freak-out as soon as she realized she wouldn’t be able to vote until all three were activated. But overall, there seemed to be very few rifts in this tribe.

As for Ika…well, it’s hard to say. They got virtually no screentime this episode, in a Survivor rarity. They were almost completely ignored, which largely gave away the game that they would not be going to tribal council.

It was clear something was up when the immunity challenge began just over ten minutes into the episode – and we were not disappointed. It was a tough water challenge followed by a sandbag-tossing game, but once the challenge began it was obvious the biggest challenge would be the elements. Powerful riptides kept sweeping teams away as they tried to climb on a ladder to retrieve bags. Taku, thanks to Jonathan’s long legs and massive reach, breezed through the challenge and secured the win for them while the other two were still floundering in the water. And then, in a Survivor first, Jeff Probst called off the water challenge and sent both tribes to shore. With both incapable of completing the challenge, they would face off in the sandbag leg for second place. And ultimately, by a hair, it was Ika that pulled it off, sending Vati to their first tribal council.

And from there, all hell broke loose. The tribe was split between Mike/Jenny, Daniel/Chanelle, and Hai/Lydia. But after the challenge, Chanelle and Omar wound up being sent to a summit where they had to choose whether to risk or protect their vote. After much talk about playing it safe, Chanelle risked her vote – and so did Omar, meaning they both lost their votes. Vati’s voting pool was down to four.

What followed was one of the best Survivor tribal councils in history, as the vote came out two-two between Jenny and Lydia, leading a very confused Hai to wonder where the hell the votes were. A revote narrowed it down to one-one, with only Hai and Daniel voting. The only chance to avoid going to rocks was a negotiation, and with Mike and Chanelle unable to vote in the tiebreaker, it turned into a battle of wills between Hai and Daniel – one that ended decisively. Daniel made clear early he was not willing to go to rocks, putting all the leverage in Hai’s hands. While Hai turned into a master, ruthless negotiator (even if the context of his deep loyalty to Lydia is mostly unexplained), Daniel proceeded to fumble around, throw Chanelle under the bus, anger Mike further, and burn all his bridges on the way to voting out Jenny and making her the next person voted out.

What’s odd is that out of Zach, Marya, and Jenny, it’s hard to pinpoint anything any of them did wrong. They were either on the wrong tribe, blamed for things they didn’t do, or used as pawns in a larger scheme. Sometimes, that’s just how Survivor goes.

But the game marches on, as we approach the merge. Below, the power rankings for week four of Survivor 42.

Taku:

  1. Jonathan – This is his tribe now. He’s the best challenge powerhouse in years and is in no danger until the merge.
  2. Lindsday – She’s quietly playing well, and as the only other player with a vote, she’s in a power position.
  3. Omar – He loses a spot just due to losing his vote this week – that makes him more vulnerable.
  4. Maryanne – Bless her, but that three-person alliance isn’t breaking and she’s vote-less for now.

Ika:

  1. Drea – She’s still basically in the middle of every alliance and has too many advantages to get blindsided easily right now.
  2. Tori – For some reason, Drea seems to like and trust her, which gives her a major leg up.
  3. Swati – She’s right in the middle at the moment, but seems to be a strong challenge performer and hasn’t made any waves.
  4. Romeo – Has he made any real connections since Zach left? I’m not sure.
  5. Rocksroy – Yes, he is the tribe’s main challenge performer, but he seems to have few allies and this trainwreck gang may just decide they don’t care.

Vati:

  1. Hai – This tribe was rather rudderless at the start, but Hai’s savvy gameplay puts him in the catbird seat. He’s in no danger.
  2. Mike – With his idol largely public knowledge and the tribe needing his strength, I think he’s likely to survive the next vote.
  3. Chanelle – Her stock has dropped a lot, but she has her vote back and is a major swing vote for Mike.
  4. Lydia – She survived this week due to twist craziness, but she’s outnumbered if she becomes a challenge liability.
  5. Daniel – Lol. At this point I’m not sure the tribe doesn’t throw the challenge this week to get rid of him.

Survivor 42 Week Two Recap and Power Rankings

Survivor 42 seems to be getting a better reception from the fans than the offbeat 41 did, at least so far. The jam-packed first episode saw the evacuation of Jackson Fox and the odd unanimous ouster of Zach Wurtenberger, so what’s to come? Overall, the second episode was a calmer affair while still regularly reminding us that we’re in a new era and chaos is usually around every corner.

Over at Ika, which had just attended tribal council, the fractures were most obvious. While the tribe was united, Romeo now felt isolated and Tori was paranoid. This led Tori and Swati to propose an all-women alliance with Drea, leaving Romeo and Rocksroy out in the cold. The problem is, this lasted about five minutes as Drea’s previous alliance with the older guys gave her pause and the two younger women immediately started talking about whether Drea should go. With Drea having two advantages already and seeming to be the most active gamer in Survivor 42 at this point, she seems poised to be a main character of the season.

And speaking of main characters, Vati didn’t really disappoint for drama either. First, Vietnamese immigrant and vegan Hai faced a critical test of faith – with no rice for the tribe, he had to decide whether to eat crab or potentially sacrifice his game. It was a more nuanced take on the vegan castaway than we’ve previously seen, with clownshows like Kimmi or Wendy having breakdowns over the tribe winning meat-based rewards.

And then there was retired firefighter Mike, who seemed to have the best edit last week. This week, maybe not so much. He found a Beware idol – with the same rules as last season – opened it, and proceeded to tell Daniel about it to try to cement their trust. The problem was, he briefly misplaced it and had to scrounge around for it while a confused Daniel followed him. He did eventually locate it, but Daniel wasted no time telling Chanelle about it and scheming for how to keep Mike without a vote and a sitting duck. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to think badly of Mike, Daniel, or both, but this messiness isn’t unusual for potential winners on Survivor – just look at Tony.

If any tribe seemed to be calm this week, it was Taku. After Jackson’s historic Survivor medivac on day two, the five remaining castaways had bonded. Omar opened up to his tribe about his Muslim faith, which led to a genuine – and hilarious – conversation about religion with Christian Jonathan and Jewish Lindsay. While these three seemed to be a firm trio, the two outsiders seemed to be well liked by the tribe. However, Marya was struggling to feel like she was contributing enough to tribe and Maryanne’s hyperactive nature was wearing a bit thin on people.

The challenge was an old favorite, as one tribe member blindfolded the rest of the tribe to collect puzzle bags and avoid obstacles, followed by solving a puzzle. Vati struggled during the whole first part – and then proceeded to tear through the puzzle challenge, winning a fishing kit and immunity while the other two battled to survive. In the end, it was Ika who eked out a win by a hair, sending Taku to tribal council.

With no idols in play and a firm three-person alliance in control, this episode of Survivor 42 became a battle between two contestants to survive. Maryanne’s frantic gameplay ramped up as she clumsily searched for an idol, while Marya opened up about losing her nurse brother to Covid-19 in 2020. It was clear we were being given a reason to invest in her emotionally – and it also pretty clearly set her up to go, now that we knew her motivation after a UTR first episode.

And sure enough, after another failed Shot in the Dark play, she became the second contestant to leave the game on a 5-0 vote. She deserved better, but Jackson’s evacuation really limited the options for players on Taku once the three more athletic players got together.

So looking ahead, the tribe dynamics are more complicated than ever. Who’s on top heading into week three of Survivor 42?

Taku:

  1. Jonathan – It’s hard to differentiate the top three right now, but he’s definitely taking on the leader role.
  2. Omar – His bond with Jonathan seems closer than anyone else’s, so he’s likely to be the safer of the three.
  3. Lindsay – I don’t see any reason she should be in danger right now, unless something wild happens with idols.
  4. Maryanne – Look, everyone loves her, but unless she pulls a miracle she’s a goner if her tribe loses again.

Ika:

  1. Drea – Between the advantages in her pocket and her alliance with everyone in the tribe, I doubt she’s going anywhere right now.
  2. Rocksroy – He may have alienated people a little week one, but it does feel like his strength is needed right now.
  3. Tori – I kind of think she’s too non-threatening to go right now? She’s a useful informant for anyone aligned with her.
  4. Swati – If Drea turns on the girls’ alliance, she could easily just get caught in the crossfire.
  5. Romeo – With no clear allies besides Rocksroy, he could easily become a consensus boot.

Vati:

  1. Hai – This young, athletic contestant has an advantage in his pocket and seems to be well-liked by everyone. I see him as being key to whatever the ultimate decision at tribal council is.
  2. Chanelle – Daniel’s closest ally, she’s in on all his schemes – and that gives her a key opportunity to hit eject if he overplays.
  3. Mike – He’s fallen a bit from last week by giving away too much information, but he seems to be well-liked and I think the tribe needs his strength and leadership.
  4. Lydia – She seems to be likable, but doesn’t bring too much to the tribe in challenges or survival skills. If schemes fall through and they need a default boot, she could fit the bill.
  5. Jenny – She’s been quiet so far, but she’s shown some real puzzle skills. But as Mike’s closest ally, she could easily be collateral damage in Daniel’s schemes.
  6. Daniel – The most likely collateral damage, though, is likely to be Daniel himself. The superfan has been overeager and overplaying, and he could find himself joining Zach soon enough.

Survivor 42 Week One Recap and Power Rankings

Survivor returned after an 18-month hiatus with a new season last fall – and no small amount of controversy. The new Survivor had a lot more twists, a strong focus on diversity, and an odd new editing style that largely hid the show’s first female winner in four years. It was frustrating, but also fascinating. In some ways it was the best of Survivor – giving us new stars like Shantel, Ricard, and Tiffany. In others, it felt like a completely different show and one where the game played the contestants – with two twists, the ridiculous hourglass twist and the do-or-die roulette, being among the game’s lowest moments in twenty years.

Now, coming on the heels of a controversial Celebrity Big Brother season, we’re doing it again. Survivor 42 was filmed back-to-back with 41, so there have been a few adjustments on production’s side but the contestants don’t know any more than last season’s. The cast seems a little more balanced than 41’s while still having the same sense of diversity, and the game as a whole feels fresh. I didn’t do a cast preview this year because a little too much was out in the spoilerverse, but I’ll give my first impressions on this season’s cast in the power rankings after recapping the premiere.

And speaking of which, it was a packed one. After the requisite intros, we got down to the marooning challenge as the three new tribes competed to win supplies and flint. But there was a twist – the first of many in this game – as the contestants chosen for the second leg had the chance to win an advantage. Drea, Hai, and Lindsey got the lucky draw, and if they delayed long enough to complete a task together, they would win amulets that each gave them power. The twist was, the amulets gained power when there were fewer in the game – three amulets gave everyone an extra vote, two changed it to a steal-a-vote, and one transformed it into an idol. That put these three in a prisoner’s dilemma, as they now knew a secret about the others – but were incentivized to vote each other out.

Ultimately, Ika won the challenge and left the other tribes to try to win the flint in a secondary challenge back at camp – and the news got worse for Vati, as nerdy cancer survivor Daniel managed to dislocate his shoulder in a fall. It was popped back in by the on-site medic and he stayed in the game, but it cast a pall over the first challenge. It would not be the only time an uncomfortable realness settled over the game, either, but more on that later in this article.

This was a two-hour Survivor premiere, which meant we got a lot of tribe dynamics – at least on most of the tribes. Vati had an interesting start, as they had to figure out whether to do the physical challenge or the puzzle challenge to earn flint. This time it would only be one person filling out the jug of water, and retired firefighter Mike – the oldest contestant in the cast – quickly realized he’d be singled out for it and miss valuable bonding time. He successfully convinced the tribe to do the puzzle challenge, which they solved with the help of his ally Jenny, and the tribe seemed to be off to a strong start.

The same went for Taku, which was led by strongman and reality TV professional Jonathan. While he didn’t have as strong a hand in leading his tribe, they made the right decision – and while they bumbled a little in the process, they also came to the right conclusion. Overall, this tribe was sort of out of focus, with the exception of hilariously over-the-top divinity student Maryanne – who may be the most excited contestant in Survivor history – and Jackson. The 48-year-old southern man is the first out trans contestant to ever play Survivor, and he explained his past in a heartbreaking spotlight segment that was one of the most raw and honest moments still on the show.

Which made it hurt all the more the next day when Probst rolled up on Taku beach. The show tried to be transparent, but it still felt a bit sketchy – apparently there had been an issue with Jackson’s medication that either he hadn’t fully disclosed or the show didn’t account for. Withdrawal from it was causing him to dehydrate rapidly, and the medical team didn’t think it was safe to have him on the show. So he was pulled after a tear-jerking farewell and became the first person to leave Survivor 42. A lot of people have questioned how the show handled it, and I for one am hoping he gets a second shot if it’s safe down the line.

Then there was Ika, who looked like they had it together in the first challenge – and proceeded to completely fall apart immediately after. The amount of scheming they did in this first episode was hilarious, with the tribe first splitting down age lines – with nerdy Zach, flighty Tori, and young veteran Swati bonding, while no-nonsense Rocksroy, pageant coach Romeo, and scheming Drea all seemed to bond over the “kids” not being willing to work around camp. However, it wasn’t long before Rocksroy’s leadership tactics got him in trouble, and Tori was seen as suspicious for looking for an idol.

The first summit of the game gave three contestants the chance to win an extra vote, and the tribes sent Drea, Maryanne, and Jenny. While Jenny and Maryanne played it safe, Drea claimed her second advantage in the same episode and quickly proved herself a force to be reckoned with.

But given how badly her tribe was doing at cohesion, it wasn’t a surprise when the first challenge – with the contestants participating in an obstacle course to get puzzle pieces, and then assembling a circular puzzle – didn’t go well for them. Vati and Taku dominated for much of the challenge, and by the time Zach and Swati got to the puzzle, they were way behind and unable to catch up. They were heading to tribal council, and Tori wasted zero time trying to blame Zach for costing them the challenge.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a tribal council get this chaotic in week one of a Survivor season. There were no less than three targets, with Drea wanting to flip and get Rocksroy out for being too bossy, while Tori and Zach targeted each other. Romeo and Zach seemed to be aligned, but the vote kept flipping and that made everyone involved deeply paranoid. It all culminated in a nasty face-off at tribal council as Tori and Zach accused each other of lying, Zach played his Shot in the Dark – and made history as he became the first person voted off unanimously, since he couldn’t vote. Zach was likely partially a victim of the success of fellow Survivor nerds Cochran and Adam, but his awkwardness likely led him to become a scapegoat early.

And so we’re off! With sixteen contestants left, I’ll try to break down their places in the tribe and their overall chances to win the game below.

Taku:

  1. Jonathan – The strongman was quiet in week one, but he basically carried the tribe on his back in both challenges. While that doesn’t always make you safe in this game, he’s this tribe’s only powerhouse at the moment and can likely coast to the merge.
  2. Lindsay – With an advantage in her pocket and easily the tribe’s strongest woman, she’d need to screw up in a big way to become the tribe’s first target.
  3. Omar – This eccentric veteriniarian came off as savvy in the first episode and didn’t seem like a a liability, but he’ll need to find the right alliance. He comes off as a gamer, and that could make him a target – but the preview shows him bonding with Jonathan.
  4. Maryanne – This is a very high four, because the tribe seems to absolutely like her. But she’s exciteable and very emotional, and she’ll have to get some more chill if she wants to contend in this game long-term.
  5. Marya – I don’t think anyone’s made themselves a target on this tribe yet, but she’s the oldest woman in the game and showed some weakness in the first challenge. She seems insecure, and that could lead the tribe to make her a consensus boot if they smell weakness.

Ika:

  1. Drea – This tribe is a mess, but whatever they do next, she’s likely to be at the center of it. She’s a hardcore player with two idols in her pocket, and she’s very likely to be able to guide the tribe in her direction.
  2. Swati – She doesn’t really have any weaknesses or firm alliances yet, and I think she could easily find herself a solid alliance.
  3. Rocksroy – While he seems to rub people the wrong way, he is the tribe’s biggest bruiser, and I think they’ll need some strength for a while.
  4. Romeo – As Zach’s closest ally, he’s sort of floundering right now and will need to find himself a new ally quickly. His best bet is to try to work with Drea and Swati.
  5. Tori – She survived this week despite coming off as a suspicious trainwreck. The only way she’ll do it again is if she’s very useful to Drea’s plans.

Vati:

  1. Mike – The trailer is trying to make us think this 57-year-old ex-firefighter from Jersey is in trouble. I don’t buy it. This episode showed him firmly in control of the tribe and leading them to a win. Plus, he’s one of the strongest people in the game and showed great survival skills. If there’s a clear long-gamer in this show, it’s him.
  2. Hai – The charming Vietnamese immigrant got off to a good start with winning an amulet, and he seems to be fitting in well on the tribe. We didn’t see as much of him, so it’s hard to talk about his long-term prospects yet, but there’s no reason to think he won’t succeed.
  3. Jenny – As the oldest woman on the tribe, she might be a target – but she’s already shown to have bonded with Mike, and her puzzle skills are strong. I don’t think she’s in immediate danger.
  4. Chanelle – Sort of out of focus during the first episode, we don’t know much about her yet. She seems like she’ll have a decent social game, but she could be one challenge misstep away from trouble.
  5. Lydia – This eccentric young artist sticks out like a sore thumb on the game-minded Vati. I could easily see a scenario where she annoys the practical Mike and becomes a consensus boot, but she’s been playing decently so far.
  6. Daniel – Oy. Everyone loves the guy, sure, but that doesn’t make his game any stronger. He’s injured, high-strung, and the preview shows him taking offense to something Mike does and immediately barging around the tribe demanding people vote him off. Maybe he and Zach can bond in Ponderosa.

Movie Review – The Batman

The Batman – Directed by Matt Reeves. Written by Matt Reeves and Peter Craig. Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Peter Sarsgaard

**1/2 out of ****

I don’t know if any hero gets rebooted more often than Batman. Sure, there have been four different Spider-man movie franchises, but even more Batman actors have played the role in the same time – and he’s had two different animated movies! The most recent Ben Affleck version was met with mixed responses – even from the actor himself – so DC is moving on again. Michael Keaton will be returning in a supporting role, but we’re also getting a new stand-alone Batman played by indie favorite Robert Pattinson (he also appeared in some other movies, I hear).

The Batman is directed and co-written by Matt Reeves, the man who took the infamously silly Planet of the Apes franchise and turned it into one of the most compelling sci-fi trilogies in a generation. When he takes something over, he’ll bring a more serious touch to it – something he definitely does here. The problem is, Batman is already a pretty serious property and The Batman dials it up to eleven. While the Christopher Nolan movies had a distinct noir edge, they still had a pulpy vibe that seemed to take their energy from the craziest action movies of the 90s. This outing is a crime movie, through and through – much more LA Confidential than Heat.

That could presage a brilliant movie, but what works well on paper doesn’t always deliver in practice. The Batman clocks in at just under three hours, and unfortunately it feels it. This is a deliberately slow movie, often lingering on single shots and letting characters talk at length uninterrupted. It wants to immerse us in every sight and sound of its Gotham City – and its Gotham City is a deeply unpleasant place. So corrupt that it’s basically a way of life, it’s a world where suffering is a given, where the most powerful people are pawns of the actual masters, and where one man tries to make a difference – and really doesn’t do a great job of it.

The best thing The Batman has going for it is a great cast. Robert Pattinson got quite a bit of controversy when he was first cast, and some of his performance does feel overly similar to Christian Bale in Batman Begins. But that’s just a surface-level comparison. Pattinson gives us the first Batman who feels genuinely young and half-formed. He’s clumsily stumbling through a mission that he’s only half-thought out, and his pain and isolation come off him in waves. You can see the genesis of a Batman who will save Gotham, but he’s not there yet.

That makes his allies all the more important. Jeffrey Wright’s Commissioner Gordon is essentially a strong second lead, as Gotham’s one honest cop who is repeatedly blindsided by how corrupt his city actually is. He’s a more active participant in the story than Gary Oldman or JK Simmons was, and I think it’s a good sign that the character’s been racebent and the movie calls absolutely no attention to it. Andy Serkis as Alfred is a bit more of a mixed bag due to his limited screen-time. He’s maybe a bit too hulking to fit physically in the role, but there are scenes where some genuine warmth comes through.

Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman is a revelation, and probably the best thing The Batman has going for it. Pfeifer was too eccentric and given a bizarre supernatural origin, Hathaway never really had any sense of danger to her, and the less said about Berry the better. Kravitz perfectly captures the character’s chaotic energy, but also gives her a strong motivation – searching for a young woman (who may or may not be her girlfriend) who disappeared after getting a little too close to some of Gotham’s secrets. This is the first version of Catwoman who seems set up as a fellow Gotham hero, and it’s about time – the character’s mostly been on the side of the angels for thirty years now.

And speaking of devils, we come to The Batman‘s biggest problem – its villains. Gotham is known for its circus of freaks, and most of these movies are judged by how colorful and memorable their rogues are. Who could forget Nicholson or Ledger’s Jokers, De Vito’s Penguin, Murphy’s Scarecrow, or Hardy’s Bane? Unfortunately, this movie plays things way closer to Earth, splitting its villains into two groups. The first is the collection of rogues populating the Iceberg Lounge, Gotham’s mob hangout. John Turturro gives a strong performance as Carmine Falcone, probably the best of the villains. However, his story veers a little too far into soap opera territory at times.

Colin Farrel is completely unrecognizable as Oswald Cobblepot, here Falcone’s heavy and second-in-command. He’s wearing a fat suit and some scar makeup, but otherwise he seems to have more in common with the mooks from any Scorcese mob thriller than he does with the famous bat-villain. Don’t expect to see any birds or trick umbrellas here, and Farrel plays the role so broadly that it often feels like he came in from another movie. There’s some chaotic energy to these scenes, but they feel like a record-scratch.

And then there’s the movie’s biggest problem – an utterly bizarre take on The Riddler, played by Paul Dano. The story kicks off with the murder of Gotham’s Mayor, and soon afterwards other prominent citizens are killed in increasingly elaborate death traps. Soon, the city starts getting messages from a leather-clad maniac who seems to have a grudge against Gotham’s powerful. Unfortunately, this character falls into a common problem – starting a villain with some reasonable grievances, but making them more and more extreme as the film goes on until they become a monster. While it works with some characters, like Killmonger, here it just made Riddler increasingly annoying. He came across like an 8Chan-addicted version of Jigsaw in a gimp mask.

The pacing of The Batman also leaves a good deal to be desired. It’s so leisurely with how it parcels out the bits and pieces of its mystery that the last forty-five minutes are almost whiplash-inducing. Reveals are made, characters die, and then the movie takes an insane detour into a high-octane action/disaster movie after spending the previous two hours being a leisurely-paced noir with occasional car chases. The status quo changes it makes by the final reel are so extreme that I honestly struggle to figure out what they’re going to do next.

In all, The Batman is a fascinating experiment that maybe wants to be too many things for too many people. It’s the first Batman film that feels like it was designed to be an indie noir – something that some fans have been clamoring for. Response has been mixed, and while I find it to be a very flawed movie, it’s still one that’s worth seeing for yourself.

Celebrity Big Brother Round Seven Recap and Finale Preview

Well, here we are – the final three of Celebrity Big Brother. I would say it’s been fun getting here, but has it really? All three seasons of this spinoff have been plagued by ugly fights and overly spiteful gameplay, but I don’t think any has had a sheer oppressive presence like this season’s duo of the dominant Meisha Tate and the irksome Todrick Hall. After they finally managed to evict Carson Kressley with the help of Todd Bridges, it was back to business as Todrick finally claimed the Head of Household crown in a complex art-forgery-themed competition.

Sure enough, they stuck to form and immediately turned on their strongest ally, seeking to put Todd up and out as soon as they had power back. After an incredibly obnoxious nomination ceremony involving Todrick’s alter ego, Todd and Lamar were on the block. This seemed to light a fire under Todd’s butt – but it did the opposite for Lamar, seeming to only enhance his laid-back attitude. Todd knew it was do or die, and in a strange luge-themed competition that involved timing your slide, he managed to beat both Todrick and Meisha.

Cynthia was placed on the block, and there was about as much suspense as there usually is in this season of Celebrity Big Brother. Todrick and Meisha controlled the vote, and Todd had the power to force a tie. He did, and Todrick once again proved himself the most classless person in Celebrity Big Brother history by giving a bizarre fake-out speech before evicting Lamar. But there was one more surprise in store for the houseguests – it was double eviction night, and the whole cycle would begin again.

This entire season of Celebrity Big Brother has largely been like Lucy pulling away the football, and that continued with the Head of Household competition. A fun game based around identifying fake movie posters from clues started with Todd up 2-0-0 over Meisha and Cynthia, and ended with Meisha winning 3-2-2. Todd and Cynthia wound up on the block, and Meisha then won another competition – a veto based around rolling a ball and landing it in the right spot based on questions about days. This completed her insanely dominant streak, and allowed Toddrick to evict Todd and put an end to his impressive underdog run.

So here we are. One challenge left to go, three celebrities left, and $250,000 on the line. Below, I’ll break down who’s in pole position to win Celebrity Big Brother season three.

  1. Meisha Tate – This really doesn’t need much explanation. She’s won almost as many competitions as the other ten contestants behind. She’s had a role in steering almost every single eviction. She’s made a lot of enemies, but if she makes it to the end – and she’s only one competition away – I doubt it’ll matter.
  2. Cynthia Bailey – As much as she’s completely undeserving of winning this game, she still has a decent chance of it. She’s made very few enemies, and the people who might take her will make all the enemies. Whether she could beat Meisha depends on how bitter the jury is, but I doubt they’ll be up against each other.
  3. Todrick Hall – Let me be clear – in the entire history of Big Brother and Survivor, I don’t know if anyone has ever made themselves a bigger goat than Todrick. He’s played aggressively, but there’s a difference between that and playing well. Virtually every contestant who has come out of the house has immediately started talking about how they can’t wait to vote against Todrick. The question isn’t if he loses to Meisha or Cynthia, it’s if he’s able to get a single vote.

Celebrity Big Brother Round Five Recap and Power Rankings

At its worst, Big Brother is pain. Celebrity Big Brother, at its worst, can achieve a level of pain the main show never can. That’s what happened this week, as the season looked to be entering a new period of hope – only to pull the rug out from under us in one of the worst cycles in the show’s history. After the eviction of Chris Kirkpatrick in a dramatic backdoor, a pivotal endurance competition would determine the balance of power. Hope came to the house when Carson Kressley finally dethroned Toddrick and Meisha’s alliance – but it wasn’t to be.

The trouble started early, when Carson made clear he intended to hold to the deal he made on the wall to keep Toddrick safe. Letting one half of the power alliance stay off the block is always a bad idea, because they can win veto and pull the other half off the block – making the entire week a waste. But Toddrick’s power over this season of Celebrity Big Brother went much deeper than that.

Carson soon nominated Todd and Meisha for eviction, but the nominations were largely a minor subplot to this week’s biggest drama – as Toddrick and Meisha set out to gaslight the opposition. They worked on Cynthia first, trying to convince her that Shanna Moakler had been double-dealing the whole time and scheming against them. This, despite the fact that Shanna had put her own alliance on the line to save Carson last week, actually seemed to work. Cynthia then went to work on Carson, giving him the hard sell that Shanna was untrustworthy. Soon, she was essentially the whole house’s target in yet another weird case of mobbing on Celebrity Big Brother.

I don’t know exactly what went on, but it was one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve seen on any reality show since Amanda essentially bullied the entire house into evicting Judd on Big Brother 15. At its best, Celebrity Big Brother is trashy fun. This was just unpleasant, watching Shanna begging for her game life and explaining the facts while Cynthia just repeated the lies she was told and Carson meekly nodded. It’s hard to blame Carson given that the entire house spent days gaslighting him, but it was a wildly depressing turn to his strong game.

It all came down to veto – as things went from bad to worse. Shanna was the only person not picked to play in veto, sitting on the sidelines as Toddrick won a live fast-paced puzzle competition. Surprisingly, he took Todd off the block and Shanna was put next to Meisha. Aside from a bizarre aside where Lamar – who spent most of this week whining about his ex-wife – became distracted in the voting booth and spent over a minute chewing his nails in front of a very confused Julie before voting, it was a done deal. Shanna was voted out 4-0 and couldn’t be out of the house fast enough, boasting that she would make sure the jury voted against Toddrick. The past two seasons of Celebrity Big Brother have been awkward, but there has never been one that got quite this ugly.

Many fans said they were done with the show, but the game marches on, and a new Head of Household was crowned later that night.

Spoilers Below for Wednesday’s Episode of Celebrity Big Brother:

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Round Six Celebrity Big Brother Head of Household – Todd Bridges

Okay, I’ll bite – how the heck did this happen? Todd winning HOH before Toddrick does amuse me, but we’ll see how it plays out on Wednesday. Below, the power rankings for this round of Celebrity Big Brother.

HOH: Todd

  1. Toddrick – At this point I’m pretty sure everyone is taking him to the F2.
  2. Meisha – She’s basically running the house, and there are very few scenarios where she even winds up on the block.
  3. Lamar – I don’t think there’s any chance he gets voted out – unless he asks to be, which isn’t impossible.
  4. Cynthia – She’s likely a pawn this week, but could easily be voted out if Carson wins veto.
  5. Carson – Yep. Back to where we started. Win or go home.

Celebrity Big Brother Round Four Recap and Power Rankings

The Celebrity Big Brother game moves faster than any other on TV, playing out in only three weeks. With this crew, it seems to go even faster, because the game can change on one bout of paranoia. When Meisha Tate won her second HOH of the game, it seemed like a done deal that Carson Kressley would be her target – and sure enough, she put him and his ally Cynthia on the block.

But many twists and turns awaited the Celebrity Big Brother houseguests this week, starting with the unexpected exit of eccentric fan-favorite Chris Kattan. The twitchy comedian had been struggling with physical and mental health issues the entire game, and simply chose to quit through the diary room one day. It’s probably for the best – he didn’t seem able to fully connect to the game and he seems to be doing better outside of it.

Toddrick Hall wanted to prove himself and be the one to personally end the game of his frenemy Carson, and he would get his chance in a tough veto competition. A popular challenge, the contestants had to rock a mechanical reindeer twenty times to reset the clock, then try to stack snowflakes. Several people surprisingly lost track of their clock and timed out, starting with Meisha, and that allowed Shanna to win her second veto in a row.

That’s where things went completely crazy, as the duo of Chris Kirkpatrick and Shanna decided they wanted to shake things up and keep Toddrick and Meisha from winning the game without opposition. They talked to Meisha and tried to get her to agree to put Todd up if they used the veto on Cynthia, hoping they could then rally the votes to take her out. But they surprised everyone by pulling Carson off instead, and Meisha surprised them right back by putting Chris on the block in his place.

From there, things got weird. The episode played out live and there was very little time for scheming, so there wasn’t much context to understand when Chris was voted out 5-0, with even his closest allies voting for him. Much like Mirai’s eviction, there were a lot of strange things around this vote. Chris had major conflicts with Mirai previously and Toddrick this week, with both getting into some very personal territory. I’m wondering if the guarded Kirkpatrick even particularly wanted to stay in the game. And so we’re down from two Chris Ks to zero in one episode.

But the game marches on, and a new Head of Household competition began. This was a Celebrity Big Brother twist on the classic wall endurance challenge, with the contestants being bombarded with items from their “Glam Squad” and both Carson and Toddrick fighting for their lives.

Spoilers for Sunday’s episode of Celebrity Big Brother Below

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Celebrity Big Brother Round Five Head of Household – Carson Kressley

So the game’s biggest underdog pulled off a miracle! This week’s decisions will likely determine the outcome of the game.

Below, the power rankings for the next cycle of Celebrity Big Brother.

  1. Cynthia – No matter what nonsense goes on, she’s Carson’s ride-or-die and is making it to the F6.
  2. Lamar – The only person in the game who seems to be at the center of no drama at all.
  3. Shanna – She’s caused a lot of chaos and is on everyone’s radar as a threat, but I’d be shocked if she actually went this week.
  4. Toddrick – As much trouble as he’s caused Carson, they are friends outside of the show. I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s not even nominated.
  5. Todd – He’s an easy nomination, and a clear possible target if someone wins veto – especially after his bizarre fight with Cynthia.
  6. Meisha – She’s made herself a huge target, and now she likely has to win or go home.

Celebrity Big Brother Round Three Recap and Power Rankings

Things move fast in the Celebrity Big Brother house, and after we saw Teddi Mellencamp become the first person evicted, it was time for the power to shift. Chris Kirkpatrick took control of the game in a potato-themed throwing competition, and quickly set his sights on one target.

Something went on behind the scenes in the first week of Celebrity Big Brother, and everyone involved has been rather tight-lipped about it. We know that Chris Kirkpatrick nearly left the game abruptly, and we know he has an intense dislike for skater Mirai Nagasu. When he took power, he was part of an alliance with Todrick Hall and previous HOH Meisha Tate, but it soon became clear they didn’t exactly align anymore. Todrick and Meisha were pushing – a little too hard – for him to target Carson Kressley and his alliance. But Chris only wanted one person out

It wasn’t a big surprise when Mirai wound up on the block. It was a bit of a surprise when eccentric cake-gobbler Chris Kattan wound up next to her, with Chris’ gambit being that he was both an unlikely person to be voted out but an easy vote should Mirai win veto. As the veto drew nearer, neither nominee seemed to have much fight in them, and the veto brought that most dreaded of Celebrity Big Brother tropes – product placement.

The veto competition was surprisingly a quiz game, but it was also a memory competition themed after the upcoming romantic comedy Marry Me. The contestants had to pick the right sign out of a crowd on screen, with Toddrick hoping to force Chris to make a change to the nominations. In the end, Toddrick and Shanna tied, Shanna won the tie-breaker, and decided not to make any changes to the nominations.

And that’s when things got even weirder. At the eviction ceremony, Mirai begged to stay in the game, the perpetually exhausted Kattan said he was ready to leave – and then the house voted 7-0 to evict Mirai. Her awkward speech where she called everyone in the house so much older than her didn’t help, but there are an odd edge to the house’s interaction with her that I can’t quite figure out. Hopefully Celebrity Big Brother can take on a lighter tone now that this odd subplot is over with.

But if the house was hoping for a power shift, they would have to keep waiting. The feeds have been off for most of the week, but this Wednesday’s episode saw a hilarious competition that had the contestants speed-stripping out of ski outfits while trying keep three buttons pressed. Several were completely incompetent at it, but Carson Kressley gave it a game effort. However, he was outstripped by the younger, athletic Toddrick and Meisha – the latter of whom won her second Head of Household.

And with that, the power rankings for the fourth round of Celebrity Big Brother.

  1. Todrick – It doesn’t take much to see that he’s essentially co-HOH this week and the two of them are in simpatico.
  2. Lamar – They seem to want to keep the athletes together, and while he isn’t as strong in challenges, it’s unlikely he’ll be a target.
  3. Shanna – The only person perfectly playing the middle of the house right now.
  4. Todd – He’s not really making an impact at the moment and should sail through for a few more weeks.
  5. Chris Kirkpatrick – He and Todrick clashed a lot, and he’s seen as a big threat. If things break the wrong way, he could be a target.
  6. Cynthia – While she’s Carson’s closest ally, I also don’t think she’s the seen as the biggest threat at the moment.
  7. Chris Kattan – While he’s chaotic fun, he also seems to want to quit. If Carson is safe, he might just become a consensus boot.
  8. Carson – It’s likely win – or have an ally win – or go home for the Queer Eye dynamo this week.

Celebrity Big Brother Round Two Recap and Power Rankings

If there’s one thing we learned from the first cycle of Celebrity Big Brother 3, it’s that these celebrities are here to play just as hard as the regular houseguests. Well, most of them. After a chaotic first episode that saw Meisha
Tate being crowned the first Head of Household, we knew things were going to get crazy – but we didn’t know how crazy.

The first week of Celebrity Big Brother was defined by shifting alliances and targets, in a way we haven’t seen since the madness of Big Brother 19. Teddi Mellencamp was the early target, having tried and failed to secure safety for herself before dropping out of the challenge. Two core alliances formed quickly – Formation, which was led by Carson, Cynthia, Toddrick, and Shanna and later expanded to include Teddi and Mirai. But at the same time, Meisha was forming her own alliance of more athletic contestants – including Toddrick and Mirai, who were quickly double-dealing.

And that was one of the key things that set things in motion this week – people gaming too hard, too fast. After Mirai was caught shuffling information back and forth between the two sides and got caught by Toddrick, Meisha shifted the target from Teddi to her – and needed a pawn. That was chosen to be Carson, who everyone thought was too likable to be voted out. Except that Toddrick knew that, and was quickly talking to people about whether it might be an opportunity to snipe him early.

But it wouldn’t be Celebrity Big Brother – or any Big Brother – without a twist throwing the game for a loop. It turned out to be the bizarre hat/purse that Todd “won” by sitting out the HOH competition, and it led to a safety-chain competition where one by one the contestants passed the hat to each other. The last person to receive the hat would win safety for the week – and it turned out to be Cynthia, who was in no danger anyway. But the houseguests were warned that there would be a second, darker twist to the hat later in the week.

The veto gave me good vibes for this season, as it was a challenging puzzle involving solving a text puzzle around scheduling and placing flags in the right order. While Lamar timed out and Toddrick and Mirai struggled, Carson ran away with the challenge, winning it in less than half Meisha’s time. He was safe for this week – but had become the biggest target in the house.

With things in flux, Meisha cut a deal with Mirai and shifted the target back to Teddi, who wound up on the block and campaigned hard to stay. But it was all going to be irrelevant shortly, as the contestants were told live that they had to play another safety chain game with the hat – this time, with the last person to receive the hat being put on the block automatically and having to remove one of the two nominees. This is a ridiculous twist and puts a lot of the game out of the hands of the HOH – but it certainly was entertaining to watch.

It was Todd who wound up on the block, capping a week where he voluntarily gave up the chance at power, and he barely seemed to be even campaigning to stay. But in the end, the alliance lines were set and Teddi was sent home in a 5-3 vote, seemingly firmly putting Meisha’s block in control of the game.

But it would all depend on who took control of the game next.

Spoilers for Sunday’s Episode of Celebrity Big Brother 3 Below

Celebrity Big Brother Round Two Head of Household – Chris Kirkpatrick

So the N’Sync veteran has taken control of the game, and Meisha’s group maintains control. Who’s in danger this week?

Below, the Celebrity Big Brother 3 round two power rankings.

  1. Meisha – Not only is she safe this week, but Chris will likely be heavily relying on her to help determine his moves.
  2. Lamar – He’s a messy player, but as one of the game’s athletes, there’s no reason for Chris to target her now.
  3. Shanna – She flipped towards the athletes in the vote, despite not really being in their alliance. I don’t think anyone sees her as a threat right now.
  4. Todd – After having the week from hell last time, I expect he’ll slip under the radar.
  5. Toddrick – Toddrick played harder than anyone else last week, and is still juggling two alliances. He should be safe – if he can keep it together.
  6. Cynthia – As a member of the alliance on the outs, she could easily be on the block – but I think there are bigger fish to fry.
  7. Carson – Hands down the biggest target in the game, but I don’t think Chris K wants him out as much as his alliance-mates do.
  8. Chris Kattan – He continues to play under the radar and doesn’t seem to have any alliances. He makes for an inviting pawn, and pawns can go home very easily.
  9. Mirai – I’m not sure exactly what happened here, but apparently she and Kirkpatrick had an ugly fight early in the game that nearly made him quit the show. While she briefly had an alliance with Meisha, I don’t think it’ll be enough to save her from being target #1 this week.

Celebrity Big Brother Week One Power Rankings

Celebrity Big Brother is here, with the entire crazy season playing out in less than a month. And with only a one-hour premiere tonight, we didn’t get too much information to prove if our first impressions were right or wrong. Much of the first hour was just introducing the eleven celebrities, mostly narrated by Queer Eye veteran and regular reality TV mainstay Carson Kressley, who was first in the house.

https://twitter.com/melbrown000/status/1486521438114926593?s=20&t=QlW4X94UQfRfiSBF1FAYBA

So what do we know? Each of these eleven contestants seems here to play – mostly. A surprising number seem to be Big Brother superfans who take the Celebrity Big Brother game seriously. We had some reality TV mainstays, some athletes, and some people whose stardom days are well behind them. But the episode was half over by the time everyone was in the house and had gotten their required introduction segment, which meant there wasn’t much gaming tonight.

So what was there? Carson and Toddrick wasted no time forming an alliance with former Real Housewife Cynthia Bailey and model/tabloid mainstay Shanna Moakler. The two strongest women in the house, MMA fighter Miesha Tate and figure skater Mirai Nagasu, seemed like immediate outsiders as the only two contestants to not be familiar to the reality TV Community. Todd Bridges, as the oldest contestant, just seemed to be there to have a good time, as did NBA superstar Lamar Odom. Both men have had near-death experiences, which might give them a different perspective. On the other hand, former SNL comedian Chris Kattan seemed to be struggling to find his social footing.

It seemed like a fun cast, but for most of the first episode it really just seemed more like Celebrity Family Reunion than Celebrity Big Brother, with some even commenting that everyone was getting along too well. So it was naturally time for a challenge and time to crown the first Head of Household – but first there was an odd twist. Someone had to sit out the endurance challenge, playing master of ceremonies while everyone else battled it out in a tough test of balance. Todd, having no chance at winning, chose to sit out, but it’s still a weird twist that kneecapped someone’s game immediately for no purpose. But a post-challenge twist may offer some redemption with a hidden power – it wouldn’t be Celebrity Big Brother or any other BB without some weird twists.

The challenge played out in less than half an hour, but still delivered some serious drama. As the ropes pulled the contestants in all directions, some fell quickly – Chris Kattan fell in less than two minutes. The challenge was mostly dominated by two women, Miesha and Mirai, but when Mirai unexpectedly fell in fourth place, Miesha was left to negotiate with Toddrick and Teddi. She quickly promised the viral superstar safety – but was a little more hesitant with Teddi, who nonetheless fell shortly and left the MMA fighter as the first Head of Household.

So what does this mean? We don’t know much about how Miesha will play Celebrity Big Brother yet. She seems to be highly competitive, be sizing her fellow women up as threats, and doesn’t have many alliances yet. With no feeds yet, the first power rankings will be a guessing game more than anything.

But that never stopped us before! Below, the power rankings for cycle one of Celebrity Big Brother Season Three.

Head of Household – Miesha Tate

  1. Toddrick – As the only clear ally Miesha has, he’ll not only be safe, he’ll likely have some impact in steering the week.
  2. Cynthia – A close ally of Toddrick’s, she’ll have his protection. Plus, I doubt Miesha will want to start her game by targeting the only Black woman.
  3. Shanna – Unless she gets into some serious drama early, I don’t think she’ll be seen as a big threat and is in Toddrick’s alliance.
  4. Carson – Probably the most vulnerable of Toddrick’s alliance simply because he’s playing hard, but I think he’s smart enough to pull focus away from himself.
  5. Todd – I don’t know if he’s got much game sense yet, but he earned some goodwill by sitting out the challenge. He’s not likely to be a target, but he could be a pawn.
  6. Lamar – As probably the biggest name in the house and a huge physical threat, I could see him being an inviting target, but Miesha may respect him as a fellow athlete.
  7. Chris Kirkpatrick – The better off of the house’s two Chris K’s, he’s laying low as a charming bro-type right now. But as one of the only strong-looking guys in the game, it could be inviting for Miesha to take a big shot immediately.
  8. Mirai – She went toe-to-toe with Miesha in the challenge and doesn’t have too many ties to the other celebrities. While she’s a big target, she’s also fairly likable and that may save her if she’s a target.
  9. Teddi – She has a bit of a bad reputation in Hollywood, and Miesha seemed to be cagey with targeting her right away. If she gets paranoid this week, she could become an easy consensus boot.
  10. Chris Kattan – He’s a funny guy, but his troubled past and physical issues make him a wild card. Of the whole group, he’s the one I’m not sure has it physically and emotionally in him to go the distance.

Steve: Ray is spot on here. I originally picked Meisha to win the whole thing, but I’m not sure dominating the first competition and alienating one of the cast members already was a good move to her long game. At this point, there is only one true alliance in the house. Meisha will likely not be their target early since she is saving Toddrick this week. However, she will need to form a good alliance moving forward or she will be an easy target as a strong competitor. The Thursday and Friday shows should help identify the power rankings going forward.

Celebrity Big Brother 3 Preview and Cast Analysis

After a several-year absence and a disastrous second season, Celebrity Big Brother is back for another go-around – and will likely bring us just as much drama as the main game. The celebrity game is different from the main Big Brother in some key ways. For one thing, it’s a lot shorter – playing out in only a month with a smaller cast and several evictions per week. For another, it’s usually run on a lower budget (Don’t look for Zingbot to be running around this Big Brother House), although that could change. And unlike the main game, every one of these contestants will be on the jury and return to vote for the winner.

But one thing never really changes about Celebrity Big Brother – they use the word “celebrity” pretty loosely.

This season’s cast of eleven celebrities is an odd one. The six guys are mostly has-beens and tabloid fodder, but most people should remember them from somewhere. The five women, on the other hand, are all mostly famous for being famous and have no real name recognition unless you watched some specific reality shows. It’s an odd mix and makes me wonder if the show is trying to break the streak of women dominating the past two seasons of Celebrity Big Brother.

But we’ve now got eleven new contestants vying for the 250K grand prize. In this article, your intrepid Big Brother superfans Steve and Ray will break down the cast and make our preliminary winner predictions.

Celebrity Big Brother 3 Cast:

Carson Kressley, 52, Reality TV Personality and Fashion Designer

Carson has been in the reality TV game for two decades, first becoming famous as one of the original hosts of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Openly gay, he’s a big personality and should be fun to have around – but is also one of the smartest people in the house and knows how to manipulate drama for his own benefit. The biggest danger is if he gets pegged as a big threat too often, but otherwise he’s one of the biggest threats in the game.

Chris Kattan, 51, Actor and Comedian

Ray: Wake up, guys, new Tom Green just dropped! Expectations for Chris to provide entertainment will be high, as the offbeat Saturday Night Live veteran is the only comedian in the cast. He’s got a big personality, but also a troubled personal life, and I could easily see him being one of the biggest candidates to melt down in the house. My guess is he’ll be seen as a weak player and slip fairly deep into the game in social game if he can hold it together.

Steve: He will be an early favorite for me. I will forever treasure the Saturday Night Live skit with Chris ferociously eating an apple with bits flying everywhere….as Mr. Peepers, a sort of monkey boy. I agree with Ray here; he will likely meltdown or offer some manic moments. Should be a great addition to the show.

Chris Kirkpatrick, 50, Singer

Ray: A founding member of N’Sync, Chris Kirkpatrick has made a fairly successful second career as a voice actor. He’s appeared on some game shows before, but has never played competitive reality TV before and doesn’t seem like a particularly cutthroat guy. My guess is he’ll try to play the game by being everyone’s buddy, only for them to realize this makes him a threat and send the closest thing the game has to an alpha bro packing.

Steve: Chris will be an excellent contestant. He is used to working with a team and is also used to being second banana, so his ego will be in check. He will have a strong social game and go far. Look for him to compete for the title on this one.

Cynthia Bailey, 54, Model and Reality TV Personality

As the oldest woman in the cast, the first of several “Real Housewives” on the show will have her work cut out for her. Older Black women have done fairly well on the show, as last season’s winner Tamar Braxton proved, but looking at the rest of the cast it seems like it might be hard for her to find an alliance. Her best chance is to avoid getting into drama early and work with some people who need an extra vote.

Lamar Odom, 42, Former NBA Player

Sports stars have a VERY mixed record in Celebrity Big Brother, with figures like Lolo Jones and Metta World Peace turning out to be complete trainwrecks. While Odom was an impressive player in his NBA career, since then he’s been a bit of a mess. His much-publicized marriage to Khloe Kardashian, his overdose and subsequent coma, and his frequent tabloid appearances make me think his stay will be short and messy.

Miesha Tate, 35, UFC Mixed Martial Artist

Ray: Miesha is one of the outliers in this season, being a fairly successful athlete with little to no reality TV history. She’s one of the most athletic contestants in the cast, but not too many challenges in Celebrity Big Brother are physical compared to the main game. That will put her at a disadvantage, making her seem like a threat without the ability to win her way out of targets. She’ll need a better social media game than Chuck Liddell or Natalie Eva Marie had.

Steve: I’m a big fan of “Cupcake” and hope she can do very well. She was certainly one of the pioneers of women in MMA and had an excellent dramatic beef with Ronda Rousey so she is no stranger to drama. She returned to MMA after a long lay off and has been fairly successful. She certainly has the will to keep it together and compete for this title. As for Ray’s comparisons, unlike them, she is very likable and will likely have a good social game.

Mirai Nagasu, 26, Figure Skater

Much like Miesha, Mirai is not a reality TV staple – only appearing as a contestant on an athletes’ season of Dancing With the Stars. She’s likely to be very fit, but as the youngest member of the cast, she’s likely to be underestimated. Neither of the past winners were powerhouses in the game, and likability and an unassuming nature can get you far. Mirai may be the unlikely candidate to do the best among the women.

Shanna Moakler, 46, Model, Actress, and TV Host

Moakler is one of the most typical contestants on this season of Celebrity Big Brother – a “star” known more for her colorful personality and her tabloid appearances than anything. Well known for her messy relationship with Blink-182 star Travis Barker and a pageant mainstay, she’s likely been cast for drama and I’m sure she’ll deliver it. While she could last a while by not being seen as a threat, I have a hard time seeing her make any big moves in the game.

Teddi Mellencamp, 40, TV Personality

Ray: The daughter of iconic folk singer John Mellencamp, Teddi has made a name for herself as a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, as well as a popular diet and lifestyle coach. While she’s run into some controversy about how she sells her products and methods on her podcast, that might work in her favor here. This is a woman who sells things for a living, and the unassuming-looking wife and mother could easily talk her way into a powerhouse alliance.

Steve: As a Hoosier, I’m a huge fan of John Mellencamp and remember his concert at Indiana University back in the day very fondly. Hoping his daughter has a little measure of Hoosier Hospitality that will endear her to her castmates.

Todd Bridges, 56, Actor

Ray: It wouldn’t be Celebrity Big Brother without at least one washed-up sitcom star, would it? Bridges is the oldest contestant in the cast, and while he’s cleaned up his life from his tabloid days and troubled past, he still has a bit of a reputation as a trainwreck. I think he’ll struggle to get people to take him seriously, but that could keep him in the game for a while as they go after bigger targets.

Steve: I was a huge fan of Mr. Bridges when I was a kid, and I will be pulling for him. He was a child actor who was dealt a bad hand and was truly driven to bad behavior. He was molested by an adult on the set, I believe the producer. If there ever was a tragic child actor case, it would be him. Sending some good vibes his way; he deserves it.

Toddrick Hall, 36, Singer, Danger, and TV Personality

A reality TV mainstay who was recently the runner-up on The Masked Singer, Toddrick has come a long way since he debuted on American Idol and was quickly eliminated. The charismatic gay icon will likely be looking to use this show to raise his profile further, but he’s one of the most well-rounded contestants in the game. If he can avoid being an immediate target due to his success, he’ll do very well. But as one of the only current stars on the show, he may not be as determined to go all-out as others.

Ray’s Picks: Carson Kressley and Mirai Nagasu

Steve’s Picks: Meisha Tate and Chris Kirkpatrick

2022 Box Office Showdown

After taking a year off due to obvious reasons, I’m back with a look at the 2022 box office! 2020 was mostly a wash, but the movies came roaring back in the latter half of 2021. Well, at least one studio did. Five Marvel movies, four by Disney delivered strong results. We even had a rare original IP blockbuster succeed. Of course, other movies struggled – especially those for grown-ups.

Which brings us to 2022. While Omicron is still wreaking havoc around the world, it does seem like the 2022 box office will bring back a full year’s release schedule with the return of many top franchises, massive Disney releases in several franchises, and a bunch of movies that have been delayed almost two years.

But things are still unpredictable, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these movies move their release date or even push back due to competition or other circumstances. So for this list, I’m going to pass on giving number predictions – they’re just too much of a crapshoot this year. In 2021, one movie will have made the same money as the next three combined. That’s a huge disparity. What I can do, though, is give predictions of placements with some confidence.

So without further ado, my predictions for the top twenty-five movies at the box office in 2022.

25. Puss in Boots – The Last Wish

Is there any heat left in the Shrek franchise? What was once the biggest animated franchise of all time has largely faded from the public eye – until this long-delayed sequel. The first installment was a hit, and I predict this one will do modest numbers as well, but just enough to sneak into this list.

24. Morbius

This odd-looking Jared Leto vampire superhero film is getting on the list for one reason and one reason only – spillover audience. Coming on the heels of a second hit Venom movie and what might wind up being the top-grossing solo superhero movie ever, the Sony Spider-universe production should get enough eyes in seats for the first week before flaming out quickly.

23. The Lost City

This seems to be the year romantic comedies try to make a comeback. I’m not sure whether the genre can recover – things like the Julia Roberts/George Clooney reunion dramedy Ticket to Paradise or the J.Lo/Owen Wilson instant-wedding farce Marry Me feel like they’ll be limited to one quadrant. The exception may be this Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum romantic comedy adventure, which seems to be trying to recapture the vibe of old pulp adventures with a romantic twist.

22. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

I know, I know, everyone thinks this will bomb due to JK Rowling’s…controversies. The thing is, I’m not sure that’ll matter. This series has suffered from massively diminishing returns after the first installment, and the combination of the firing of Johnny Depp, the poor reception for the second movie, and the absence of most of the elements people actually care about from the Harry Potter series makes me think this movie is primed to be the year’s most notable bomb. The fact is, with no Hogwarts and no original main characters, this is barely a franchise.

21. DC’s League of Super-Pets

I feel kind of silly complaining about accuracy in super-pets…but this really isn’t a super-pets movie. It’s a Krypto movie where a bunch of random other animals get superpowers. It’s The Secret Life of Pets with superheroes, and Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart doing voices. And you know what? That’ll probably be enough. The trailer makes this look like lowest-common-denominator kids entertainment, and there’ll always be a place for this. There will be much bigger animated movies this year, and much bigger superhero movies, but this will find its audience.

20. Violent Night

This one is a bit of a flyer, because we know relatively little about this December R-rated action thriller starring David Harbour. But the breakout star of Stranger Things and Black Widow is a big selling point, as is the fact that it has the John Wick team involved. Those guys know how to deliver ultraviolent popcorn entertainment that crosses over into the mainstream, and I could see this being successful counterprogramming amid a wave of family films.

19. Top Gun: Maverick

You know who likes to see movies? Dads! You know who hasn’t had a movie in a while? Dads! I was a little down on this loooooooooooong-awaited sequel when I first analyzed it in 2020’s preview, but I’ve since changed my tune. The trailers make this look like a retro, rah-rah action movie, and Tom Cruise surprisingly still has it. This won’t be his last appearance on this year’s box office countdown, but I think this one could surprise.

18. Strange World

Virtually nothing is known about the next Walt Disney Studios animated feature beyond it being a father-son adventure on an alien planet and one piece of concept art. Disney has been going in a very unusual direction with their animated features in the last few years, and this looks to continue. They struggled with sci-fi films in the early 2000s, but I think the company has built up enough goodwill that this will be a modest hit.

17. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

The first in this series was one of the last hits before the shutdown – and is considered by many to be the only good video game adaptation. It’s really more of a “funny talking animals” action movie, but the sequel looks like the same family adventure but with much more. Bringing in a more authentic Doctor Robotnik, along with Sonic’s loyal sidekick tails and frequent rival Knuckles, this should make an impact as the first big family film of the year.

16. Nope

We know less about this movie than any other on the list – literally nothing except a spooky poster implying that Jordan Peele’s third horror film will involve some sort of spooky circus. Does that matter? Not really. He’s built up such a great reputation as a horror director that the odds are he can dominate the box office no matter what he does. Much like M. Night Shyamalan in his early days, he’s a brand in himself and will easily claim the top horror movie of the year.

15. Black Adam

The first Shazam was a modest hit, but you know what it didn’t have? Dwayne Johnson launching a new franchise. While it’s a big risk as DC’s first villain-led franchise (not counting the bizarre, R-rated Joker), the first teases look spectacular and the action-packed high fantasy should be a hit. This feels like it could be DC’s first successful shared-universe launch in a while if it leads to an intersection with the conclusion of Billy’s trilogy.

14. Turning Red

Pixar’s been delving into some bizarre concepts lately – with great success – but this 2000-set coming-of-age comedy from “Bao” director Domee Shi may take the cake. The story of an awkward Chinese-Canadian teen who gets the ability to shapeshift into a giant red panda looks like the best Hulk movie ever made, and its diverse cast is more evidence of Disney broadening its horizons. Still, it may be a little too oddball and quirky to match the massive success of some Pixar movies.

13. Mission Impossible VII

James Bond may be taking a lengthy break, but Ethan Hunt is here to pick up the slack. Just like this year’s other top Tom Cruise Dad movie, this is a franchise that will skew older. It also has a very strong box office track record and will likely play as counterprogramming to the superhero movies around its release. Director Christopher McQuarrie has had a good reception on the franchise and will likely deliver another strong outing.

12. Minions: The Rise of Gru

This is one of the longest-delayed films since the pandemic, coming out a full two years after its initial scheduled release. I don’t think it’ll hurt the franchise, though – it’s basically pre-sold. You either love or hate the little yellow buggers, but this installment has a box office edge over the first – it features the return of Steve Carrel’s Gru, here a teenager looking to break into villainy. It’s going to be a powerhouse, but I think there are a few animated hits that will be even bigger.

11. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Jason Momoa’s completely insane deep-sea adventure (Julie Andrews as the voice of the Cloverfield Monster!) was a surprise 2018 smash, but I don’t know if the sequel will quite duplicate that. Novelty is often a big part of movies like this breaking out, and the superhero market has only gotten more crowded. Still, even amid a very competitive month, this is one of the DC films best suited to be a hit.

10. The Flash

Probably the year’s biggest question mark, this has gone from an Ezra Miller solo film in the Snyderverse to an insane, dimension-hopping adventure that will apparently involve both Michael Keaton’s Batman and a new Supergirl, among other possible surprises. Miller has a lot of clouds over his head regarding conduct and this movie has often seemed cursed by countless directors and false starts. Still, I think the curiosity factor should be enough to get it into the top ten.

9. Avatar 2

First up, this is one of two movies on this list that I will believe come out in 2022 when I actually see them on the screen in front of me. But I know what you’re thinking – how does the sequel to the biggest movie of all time at the time barely break the top ten? Simple – Avatar has had very little in the way of cultural impact. Sure, there’s a Disney theme park land in Animal Kingdom, but the film rode its then-groundbreaking technology and a near-empty schedule to record numbers and then faded from the public consciousness. How long has it been since the first? The only MCU film released before it was Iron Man. The first one. The sequel plot, involving the main characters’ kids on an adventure, sounds uninspiring. It will likely make a solid profit, but the movie box office has moved on without it.

8. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One)

It’s always great to see a movie truly become a word-of-mouth hit, and the Oscar-winning animated multiverse adventure is considered by many to be the best Spidey film. But despite that…its box office wasn’t that impressive, especially not compared to the live-action versions. In fact, it’s the lowest-grossing Spider-man movie. This one looks bigger, better, and wilder, introducing several new Spiders. I think that’ll translate to a major increase in the box office, easily doubling the original. But to get higher than this spot, it’ll likely have to triple – and that may be a bridge too far even for Spider-ham.

7. Mario

I know, I know. Chris Pratt as Mario? The internet is enraged! But here’s the thing…it’s not about us nerds. This is an Illumination movie, and just about everything they touch turns to gold at the box office. But they’ve never had a crack at a franchise quite as large and instantly recognizable as Mario before. With a voice cast that includes Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and Jack Black as Bowser, it looks like it could be the heir to past animated hits starring all-star voices like Shrek. Sure, there’s a chance it could be terrible and kids will hate it, but I would say parents should get ready to hear Pratt talk about plumbing a lot in the coming years.

6. The Batman

Batman is probably the most bank-able character in comic book movies besides Spider-Man, but this Robert Pattinson reboot has a few things going against it. First of all, it’s a stand-alone noir film at the same time as many people are clamoring for more Ben Affleck Batman. Second, the DC cinematic universe is in flux as a whole. Finally, and most significantly, the movie will be going on streaming a month after release – either related to Covid concerns, or a lack of faith in the film. The trailers have been met with overall good response, but not exactly wildly enthusiastic. It’s Batman and it’ll be a hit, but a lot of factors will keep it from the highest tier.

5. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

Coming on the heels of the megahit Spider-Man: No Way Home, this next chapter in the Marvel multiverse adventure should be huge. It’ll introduce new character America Chavez, bring in Scarlet Witch (with rumors of Loki), and play on a much bigger scale than the previous installment. But with all that, the first Doctor Strange was big but not huge, and this movie looks to be much more “inside baseball” than other Marvel franchises. It won’t do less than double the first installment’s numbers, but I don’t expect that to be enough to contend for the year’s crown.

4. Jurassic World: Dominion

It might not get the hype of the biggest franchises, but the Jurassic World franchise shocked the world by taking the opening weekend record with its first installment, and the second was no slouch. This is not only the conclusion of the trilogy, but brings back the core trio of the very first Jurassic Park movie – Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern – and pits humans against dinosaurs in the wild. Some people will want a blockbuster that they can enjoy without ten years of lore, and this will fill that niche with a whole lot of creative dinosaur kills.

3. Thor: Love and Thunder

The Thor franchise was kind of Marvel’s ugly stepsister for a while, with the first two movies getting middling reception. That all changed with Taika Waititi’s rollicking space action-comedy Thor: Ragnarok, which was the biggest hit of the franchise. Not only is he back, directing Hemsworth (maybe the last remaining member of the original Avengers to headline a film), but he’s bringing Natalie Portman back to wield the hammer – adapting one of the best-regarded runs on the character ever. Add in Christian Bale as the terrifying Gorr, and you’ve got a recipe for a massive hit.

2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

You remember how I said there were two movies on this list I wasn’t sure would actually come out? This is the other. The first Black Panther shocked the world and became the top-grossing superhero movie of all time for over a year – and then we all know what happened. The tragic death of Chadwick Boseman shocked the world and left director Ryan Coogler with the near-impossible task of picking up the franchise and paying tribute to his friend. Rumored new star Letitia Wright has been at the center of vaccine drama and the movie has been plagued by rewrites and delays. All that said, if it makes its release date, the throng of people lining up to watch a tribute to Boseman’s legacy and the future of Wakanda will be huge.

  1. Lightyear

I’m taking a flyer on this one, but the Toy Story franchise has not given any indication of being played out. The last two installments have both crossed 400M at the domestic box office, and this new spin-off features the wildly popular Chris Evans taking over the lead role as a young Buzz Lightyear in a real space adventure. While it lifting itself over the three MCU films this year will be a challenging task, the sci-fi/adventure trailer reminds me a lot of another film – The Incredibles 2, which did a staggering 600M+ at the box office. In a superhero glut, it’s entirely possible that a stand-alone family adventure tying into one of the most beloved franchises of all time will come out the victor.

What do you think will dominate the year? Feel free to give your thoughts in the comments or on Facebook/Twitter.

Movie Review – Encanto

EncantoDirected by Jared Bush and Byron Howard. Written by Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush. Starring the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitan, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Ravi-Cabot Conyers, Maluma, and Alan Tudyk

**1/2 out of ****

If I had a nickel for every time Disney released a wildly ambitious genre film with a sprawling cast and stunning visuals that ultimately collapsed under the weight of a mythology it didn’t fully explore in November 2021, I would have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s odd that it’s happened twice! Encanto, the latest release from Walt Disney Animation Studios, is now out on Disney Plus after a theatrical release, and a second viewing didn’t clear too much up for me. The movie has a lot going for it, including gorgeous animation and a strong musical soundtrack by the legendary Lin-Manuel Miranda. It’s also one of the most authentic depictions of the beautiful side of Colombian culture ever put to screen – something audiences don’t often get to see in mainstream films with the focus on the country’s troubles in shows like Narcos.

It’s also highly unusual for animated films in that it’s an epic adventure – that never leaves home. It helps that the home in question is Casita, a living house of magic that houses the enchanted Madrigal family. Given life by a miracle-blessed candle carried to their refuge fifty years ago amid civil war in Colombia, it not only responds to the family’s every need, but it gives the members of the core family a magical gift of their own – essentially a superpower. Well, most of those family members, at least.

The core of Encanto is Mirabel, a teenager who happens to be the one non-powered core member of the Madrigal family after the house mysteriously refused to give her a gift on her fifth birthday. Her mother Julieta blesses the food she makes with healing powers, while Mirabel’s older sisters Isabela and Luisa are a beautiful plant-generator and a hard-working bruiser with super-strength. Her climate-controlling Aunt Pepa is the mother of super-hearer Dolores, shape-shifter Camilo, and pint-sized animal empath Antonio (who gets his gift as the movie begins). Julieta and Pepa’s non-powered husbands just seem happy to be there, and overseeing it all is tough-as-nails matriarch Alma, who lost her husband in the civil war and raised her triplets alone.

That’s right – triplets. We can’t forget Uncle Bruno, a mysterious seer who made dark prophecies about the family’s future and one day disappeared. His absence looms large over the film and plays a key role in its central mystery – which kicks off when Mirabel and only Mirabel starts to see cracks in Casita’s foundation. Could the miracle house be losing its magic – and her family losing their powers? While some people believe her and help her investigate, other – most notably Abuela Alma – think she’s seeking attention and trying to overcompensate for her lack of powers.

What stands out to be about Encanto is how it tries to work on multiple levels. It’s at its best when it’s exploring the complex dynamic of a multigenerational family with a lot of trauma at its core. As Mirabel explores the sprawling house – where each blessed member of the family has a room filled with magic and secrets – she finds not hidden villains but people holding their own pain and anxiety inside. Segments involving her bonding with Luisa and Isabela particularly pack a lot of punch and are maybe the best depiction of complex sibling relationships I’ve seen in a while. And while there isn’t a villain in this film per se, there is a dark and pained energy at the core of this family, one that’s been allowed to persist for a long time, and it’s not until it’s addressed that the source of the trouble can be found.

Here’s the thing, though – Encanto isn’t a movie about family dynamics on its own. It’s a movie about a complex magical mythology that it seems oddly uninterested in exploring. Strange things happen, and they’re implied to be metaphors for the family’s internal conflict. But they’re not – they’re actual magical events that have been sustaining a small village enclave for fifty years! If the magic suddenly starts going off the rails, it seems like something that would have an answer. But as the credits roll, we’re left with just as many questions as we started the film with. It seems like it wants Mirabel’s lack of a gift to be a metaphor for children who struggle to keep up with exceptional siblings, or for how people with disabilities are left behind. But like many movie metaphors, it can’t quite decide whether it’s subtext or text. I’ve read a good number of fan theories that go more into depth than the movie does.

That aside, Encanto does have a lot to recommend. Its animation is lush and stunning, especially some segments inside the larger-on-the-inside secret rooms. John Leguizamo’s Bruno, whose story is the key to much of the film’s climax, delivers a great voice performance, and Miranda’s music is some of the most catchy tunes Disney has put in years (Particularly the opening number, a fast-paced recap of the family by Beatriz). But many of its sprawling cast feel very underexplored, and after nearly two hours, much of the Madrigal mansion is still a mystery to us. It’s rare to see a Disney animated feature undone by its ambition, but points to them for continuing to think outside of the box.

Movie Review – Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home – Directed by Jon Watts. Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tony Revolori, Benedict Wong, Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Foxx, Thomas Haden Church, Rhys Ifans, JK Simmons, Tom Hardy, and several surprises

**** out of ****

My first reaction after coming out of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third and most spectacular of the MCU Spider-man movies, was “How do we get to watch these movies?”. As a long-time comics fan, it’s still surreal to me that we’re not only getting multiple big-budget comic book movies a year but that they’ve grown in spectacle and story to the point where they equal the most ridiculous event comics of all time. In the wrong hands, they become bloated, overwrought collections of explosions (see the woeful Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice). But in the right hands, like director Jon Watts, they become spectacles that manage to stun with their sheer scope while never losing sight of their emotional core.

It’s impossible to talk much about this movie without spoiling some things, so I’ll give a warning before I get into this movie’s biggest surprises. But to start, this is good. Very good. It picks up right from the cliffhanger in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the last Marvel movie released before the pandemic hit, which saw Peter Parker’s secret identity exposed to the world by the sadistic Mysterio. J. Jonah Jameson, now a sinister talk radio host, has wasted no time painting Spider-man as a menace. All of Ned, MJ, Happy Hogan, and Aunt May quickly find themselves under suspicion of crimes by the authorities along with Peter, and Peter finds himself a combination of the world’s biggest celebrity and the world’s most wanted man.

He’s willing to take the heat even when it leads to him and May being chased out of their apartment, but when the controversy keeps Ned and MJ from getting into college, he realizes that this new status quo can’t be sustained. So, in classic Peter Parker style, he settles on a solution that might make things worse. He seeks out Doctor Strange, who like Peter is still sorting things out after being blipped for five years. Strange, demoted from Sorcerer Supreme and now answering to a vaguely annoyed Wong, agrees to help Peter erase his identity from the public’s mind. But as Peter asks for one exception after another for his friends and family, the spell goes awry. He’s kicked out by a very annoyed Strange – but the chaos is just beginning.

The biggest surprise in Spider-Man: No Way Home was revealed long ago in the trailers – villains from other Spidey-franchises are making their way to the MCU. The chaotic spell created a tear in the multiverse, and everyone who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man is being pulled in – most of them right before they died fighting him. That includes Alfred Molina’s brilliant Doctor Octopus, equal parts sympathetic and terrifying, along with Rhys Ifans’ hulking Lizard (still very much into the idea of turning people into reptiles), Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman (vaguely annoyed and confused by the whole thing), and Jamie Foxx’s Electro (After a massive, massive rewrite on the character likely spurred on by Foxx himself).

And of course, it includes Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn, a ghastly cackling specter who instantly dials up the intensity of the film the second he shows up. While some of these villains were antiheroes or tragic figures when they first showed up, the Goblin was one of the few villains who was unambiguously evil. At least the Goblin is – Norman Osborn is a very different story. And while Doctor Strange sends Peter out to collect the villains and send them back to their dimensions ASAP, Aunt May has very different ideas – after encountering Norman, she believes they deserve the chance to be cured of their conditions and get a second chance.

This is a great way to set up a moral dilemma for Peter, and I was glad to see Tomei get more to do in this film after being largely sidelined from Peter’s European adventure. I have to say, while Rosemarie Harris may have been an authentic portrayal of Lee and Ditko’s Aunt May, it’s Tomei who’s portrayal will really stick with me. All of the gags about her attractiveness aside, she’s a great grounding force for Peter’s Spider-man and she has probably her best role in this film – adding an important dose of humanity amid the madness of the multiverse.

One of the most impressive parts of Spider-Man: No Way Home is how it manages to switch tones brilliantly on a moment’s notice. This is a really funny movie – Ned and MJ get many of the best lines, even if they do feel slightly sidelined for much of the film. But when it needs to get serious, it gets deadly serious. There are times the movie feels like a slow-burn horror movie, and some where it feels like a Greek tragedy. It balances an almost absurd scale with quiet, intimate moments in the way few blockbusters do. Ambition ultimately worked against Eternals, but here it works brilliantly in the film’s favor.

And that’s even without talking about the movie’s biggest surprise.

Massive Spoiler Warning – Do Not Read On Until You See The Movie

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The fact that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield appear in this film is not the biggest surprise in the world. It was heavily rumored for the better part of a year. What was a surprise to me was just how significant a role they played. I expected them to be a last-act cameo, but they’re in more than an hour of the film – and in many ways are its emotional heart. For Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to see these two versions of what he could become adds so much critical context to the movie’s final act. Maguire’s older, battle-wizened Peter offers him hope for the future. Meanwhile, Garfield’s pained, haunted Peter is obviously still struggling and is determined not to let him make the same mistakes.

I stand by the belief that both of them are excellent Spider-man actors. Maguire’s series had its hiccups, but I loved him here and would be thrilled to see him come back for a Kraven’s Last Hunt film or as a supporting player in a Spider-girl series. Garfield, meanwhile, had his series end on a bitter downer note and this role lets both the actor and the character redeem themselves in dramatic fashion. It’s amazing how many little moments this movie has time for, especially scenes between the two older heroes and their former villains.

The ending is bold. Very bold. This shouldn’t be spoiled, but it upends the entire concept of the series in a way that’s massively risky – and also feels like it could have been written as either the end to Holland’s tenure as Spider-man, the end of the MCU tenure before Sony takes him back, or the launch of a new MCU era. It’s going to be controversial, especially since it calls back to a massively divisive storyline, but it also feels quintessentially Spider-man in the choice Peter makes.

Is Spider-Man: No Way Home a perfect movie? No. Is it closer to one than a movie of this scale has ever gotten? Probably. It’s the most thrilling moviegoing experience since the pandemic and probably the most spectacular event film of all time after Avengers: Endgame. It brought theaters back with a massive bang, and every single dollar of its ridiculous box office is wildly deserved.

Movie Review – Luca

Luca – Directed by Enrico Casarosa. Written by Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones. Starring the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Jim Gaffigan, Peter Sohn, Lorenzo Crisci, Marina Massironi, Sandy Martin, and Sacha Baron Cohen

**1/2 out of ****

Whenever Pixar gives us a new movie, it’s going to be worth paying attention to. Their movies tend to be more mature than the average animated fare, with the recent Soul being a surprisingly dark and poignant musing on mortality and finding purpose on life. And right before the pandemic hit and shut down theaters, those still willing to brave the theaters got to see a brilliant fantasy family saga play out on the big screen with Onward.

Luca is the second Pixar film to debut exclusively on Disney Plus, the streaming service that remains a little light on original content. While Disney movies like the excellent Raya and the Last Dragon made viewers pay $30 to watch them on streaming on release day if they didn’t want to go to the theaters, Pixar has released its last two exclusively to streaming – free of charge. That’s enough to put me in a good mood when watching Luca, and with Pixar you generally know you’re getting quality – with a few exceptions.

Ultimately, the studio’s reputation for quality is Luca‘s biggest enemy, as it doesn’t really live up to that quality while still being perfectly enjoyable. If this was a Dreamworks, Sony, or Illumination film, it would likely be received very warmly as a calm, funny slice of paradise. But with Pixar, we largely expect something profound or heartbreaking – and Luca seems more content to simply take us on vacation.

One of the film’s biggest issues is that its inspirations are on full display from the start. This is heavily inspired by Disney classic The Little Mermaid. Not to the extent of recent Netflix release Wish Dragon, which sometimes seemed like it was lifting whole scenes and character beats from the original Disney Aladdin, but the bones of the story are similar enough that it’s hard to ignore. It’s the story of a mythological sea creature who wants to live on land and has to elude their overprotective parent to make their dream come true.

This time, the teenage Ariel is replaced by Luca, a curious young boy voiced by Jacob Tremblay. Part of a family of sea monsters (reptillian scaly creatures who look totally un-fearsome). His explorations lead him to Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), a slightly older sea monster boy who has chosen to live full time on the surface – and from whom Luca learns that he can assume human form out of water, as long as he doesn’t get wet. But when Luca’s overprotective parents (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan) find out about his journeys, they plan to banish him to the deep sea with his eccentric uncle (Sacha Baron Cohen, making the most of two scenes) – and Luca makes the decision to run away.

From there, the two boys go on an adventure to the fictional Italian fishing village of Portorosso, where they try to blend into human society and meet a small but charming collection of characters. The movie has some fun visual gags about trying to fit in, but it moves quickly. But the boys have one passion above all – getting their hands on a Vespa scooter, which they think is the coolest thing they’ve ever seen.

That leads them to try to compete in an upcoming Italian triathalon – swimming, bicycling, and…eating pasta? But to get there, they’ll have to beat – or team up with – a young girl named Giulia, who is probably the most intense contestant as she tries to avenge an embarrassing loss. She winds up becoming a surrogate family for Luca and Alberto, along with her no-nonsense dad Massimo (a one-armed fisherman who is a great example of casual disability representation with zero angst or negative tropes present).

The foundations for a very good movie are all here, but the movie makes a couple of choices that knock it down quite a few rungs. First of all, sans credits (which you should watch for some charming epilogue cartoons), the movie is only about eighty minutes and it feels like it. That means it has to rush through quite a lot of story developments, and major character beats can feel perfunctory – especially in the rift that develops between the characters.

I get that this movie wants us to have sympathy for both Luca and Alberto, as they wind up wanting very different things out of their time in Portorosso, but I don’t think this part of the movie is handled very well. Luca seems like he wants friendship, family, and knowledge, while Alberto wants…I’m not sure. A reveal about his past brings the character into a clearer light, but the problem is by then he’s made to be pretty unlikable. And the fact that he’s implied to be older than Luca and Giulia doesn’t help.

The movie’s biggest problem, by far, is its villain Ercole. A local wealthy teenager who intends to repeat as race champ, he spends most of the movie as a generic 80s sports movie villain taunting the hero. But as the events of the movie unfold, about 90% of the way through the movie he takes a very dark turn that feels out of step with the gentle tone of the movie so far. He’s not particularly compelling as a lighter villain, just annoying, and he’s not any more interesting as an attempted murderer.

The short length also doesn’t help the storyarc of Luca’s parents as they seek out their wayward son, although I do think this film explains their change of heart a little better than Triton’s in The Little Mermaid. And there is a lot of good in this movie. The ending is genuinely tearjerking in the great Pixar style. It has some good visual gags, especially involving Massimo’s pet cat Machiavelli – who smells something edible in those boys and is determined to do something about it, even if he literally bites off more than he can chew.

Luca is perfectly fun summer entertainment, with brilliant animation and a charming story with few surprises. But we’re conditioned to expect brilliance out of Pixar while the creative team here is perfectly content to give us a breezy summer getaway. You’re not going to walk away from this movie unhappy, but don’t expect it to live up to Pixar’s last two. But at least the price is definitely right.

Movie Review – Black Widow

Black Widow – Directed by Cate Shortland. Written by Eric Pearson. Starring Scarlet Johnasson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, O-T Fagbenie, Ray Winstone, William Hurt, Olga Kurylenko, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw

***1/2 out of ****

Few movies have ever had as much resting on their shoulders as Black Widow. Not only is it the swan song for the popular Natasha Romanoff, who died in Avengers: Endgame, but it’s a long-demanded solo film for the MCU’s first solo heroine. Originally slated to come out in May 2020, it was the highest-profile film derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, as Disney was determined not to casually throw it on streaming like so many other films. And as the first A+ tier film to come out since the pandemic, it’s the biggest test yet of the box office – even bigger than franchise hits like A Quiet Place: Part 2 and F9.

And amid all of that, it still has to be a good movie. Well, the good news is, the MCU hasn’t put out a truly bad film yet in over twenty installments. It’s put out a few mediocre ones – but this certainly isn’t that. Coming on the heels of a series of movies that got increasingly cosmic and chaotic, it’s one of the most gritty and down-to-earth MCU films yet – and it’s anchored by a quartet of fantastic performances.

The film begins with one of the best prologues I can remember in an MCU film, as a preteen Natasha (Ever Anderson) lives a normal life in American suburbia with a loving mother (Rachel Weisz, barely deaged with CGI) – and a naive little sister. It’s a strangely pastoral scene, but when dad (David Harbour, completely unrecognizable with CGI) bursts through the door, it becomes clear what’s going on. They’re deep-cover spies, and the time has come to flee America. And while Red Room trainee Natasha understands what’s going on, tiny Yelena has no idea yet. This unconventional family unit may be fake, but they care for each other deeply – and that makes what comes next all the more heartbreaking.

The bulk of the movie takes place close to the present – but not in it. Instead, it takes place an eternity ago in MCU time, around the time of Captain America: Civil War. A fugitive after working against the government to help Captain America, Natasha is pursued by General Ross (William Hurt, snarling as always) and is forced to go off the grid with the help of her sarcastic fixer Mason (O-T Fagbenie, providing some early comic relief). But it’s not long before her past comes calling and she’s forced out of her hideaway and into a spy plot that feels much more James Bond than Marvel.

It’s not a surprise from the trailers that Yelena (Florence Pugh) is now a Black Widow in her own right – and part of a team of them. What is new is exactly how she was turned into a super-spy, and that unravels a plot that reveals some of the darkest material ever explored in the MCU. This is a movie about brainwashing, manipulation, torture, and the horrors that men get up to when they think women belong to them. Despite that, it never feels like it’s preaching at the audience – it lets us discover these horrors as Natasha does, and react to them in the natural way. It’s a movie about serious issues without ever being an issue movie.

Despite this, Black Widow manages to be a very funny movie without its humor being out of place. Much of its humor comes from one man – Alexei (Harbour, looking much more like himself in the present day). The former Red Guardian, he’s a boorish brawler who loves his “daughters” while seemingly being blind to many of the horrors of “mother Russia” – even after it betrayed him many times over. Self-aggrandizing, larger than life, and obsessed with a past that makes sense only to him, he’s one of the most entertaining new characters to hit the MCU in a long time. Melina (Rachel Weisz) has had a much calmer time of it since their family experiment ended, although what she’s done since leads to some brilliantly dark comic moments as well – especially an extended scene involving a pig.

What doesn’t quite work? Going back to a problem for the MCU for a long time, Black Widow has a pair of relatively weak villains. General Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the sadistic mastermind of the Red Room, is a good example of the banality of evil. A generic man in a suit, he manages to be one of the most evil villains in the MCU besides maybe Ego. But he doesn’t have much flair, instead coming off like a twisted bureaucrat. And then there’s Taskmaster, the skull-masked assassin who can mimic any fighter. One of the most popular villains in the Marvel Universe, this character is given a complete makeover in identity and origin to the point where they barely feel like the same character in any meaningful way. One might even say they got the Cassandra Cain treatment. They deliver the visual flair and action, but this character didn’t need to be Taskmaster and the movie didn’t do the legacy justice. There’s still time for the MCU to fix that given how the story ends here, though.

But this also ties into the movie’s biggest strength. Taskmaster’s fight scenes are stunning – and so is almost every single action scene in Black Widow. The fact that it’s a more down-to-earth movie doesn’t stop it from delivering some of the best action set pieces in MCU history, including a dazzling escape segment from a massive collapsing fortress in a very inhospitable environment right near the end of the movie. But amid that action is an intimate, angst-driven story that is ultimately about the bond between family – chosen, atypical, and those bonded by trauma. And of course, it’s all the more poignant because we already know how Natasha’s story ends. The epilogue sets up what could be the future of the franchise – as well as the next big project featuring one of the players. If it plays out, it’ll be the biggest test yet of the MCU’s split focus between movies and Disney Plus. But for now, let’s just enjoy the fact that Marvel movies are back – and they started with a winner.

Movie Review – Jungle Cruise

Jungle Cruise – Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Written by Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra, John Requa. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, Edgar Ramirez, Paul Giamatti, Veronica Falcon, Dani Rovira, Quim Guitierrez, Andy Nyman

**1/2 out of ****

Making movies out of theme park attractions has been a long business for Disney – and one with mixed results. Before Jungle Cruise, they hit pay dirt with the Pirates of the Caribbean series – which overshadowed the long list of failures based on Country Bear Jamboree, Mission to Mars, and Haunted Mansion. This new summer release – delayed like so many others for a year – seemed to have more in common with the former, having a big budget high-adventure plot and some huge stars. It was also based on a truly beloved Disney attraction – albeit one more known for its skippers’ cheesy jokes and its dated animatronics as opposed to the ride itself.

Jungle Cruise is easily the most successful Disney ride spin-off since the Pirates set sail – although that’s an extremely low bar – but it also owes every bit of its success to that movie in more ways than one. It’s oddly similar to that series and to another – the popular Brendan Fraser-led reboot of The MummyBoth share the same free-wheeling adventure retro tone, and have several similar character archetype. Beyond that, though, the plots start to seem very similar – so much that it’s less a comforting familiarity than a sense of deja vu.

Jungle Cruise finds its lead in Emily Blunt, playing the brash Dr. Lily Houghton. A brilliant young botanist unfairly excluded from the scientific community in 1916 Britain due to her gender, she’s left to rely on her camp-gay brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) to make speeches for her while she skulks around museums looking for clues to the location of a mysterious tree that can cure any ill. After a chaotic action scene set in a secret library in which Blunt uses a ladder as a weapon, she and MacGregor are off to the Amazon – to a deep part of the jungle that is only accessible by boat.

So naturally, they’ll need a boat. Enter Frank (Dwayne Johnson), a barely competent skipper who ekes out a living giving mostly staged tours on his ramshackle tug. He’s deep in debt to Nilo (Paul Giamatti), an arrogant harbormaster who owns just about every boat on the Amazon river besides Frank’s. Nilo really isn’t doing anything wrong and Frank does owe him money he has no intention of repaying, so it’s not clear why we’re supposed to root against him besides the fact that Frank is played by Dwayne Johnson. When Lily and MacGregor enter the harbor, Frank sees some deep pockets and a way out of debt – so he’s determined to get them to hire him, no matter what cons he has to pull.

Of course, they’re not the only people in search of the tree. This film has a lot of villains, to the point of almost being overloaded with them. Nilo is just a minor annoyance, but the same can’t be said for Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons), a mad German aristocrat (and real historical figure) who pursues Emily and MacGregor in a surprisingly maneuverable submarine that surfaces for ridiculous action scenes. Plemons is hilariously over-the-top and adds most of this movie’s best comedy, albeit mostly unintentional. The same can’t be said for the other main villain – Aguirre, an undead Spanish conquistador cursed for his pursuit of the tree (and some minor genocide, no big) along with the rest of his men. Freed from eternal imprisonment, they return as undead monster warriors who are fused with various substances of the jungle including snakes, mud, beehives, or vines. If that sounds exactly like a combination of the ghost pirates of the first Pirates movie and the deep-sea mutant pirates of the second…that’s because it is.

The plot of this movie is functional at best, but it gets most of its enjoyment out of its lead actors. Johnson may be a bit overexposed as an action star, but it’s good to see him play a lighter, more morally ambiguous character. Frank is a very large goofball trapped in an action movie, even though the movie lays his “Rogue with a heart of gold” character traits on a little thick. Blunt is playing the character she does best – flinty, competent woman surrounded by less competent men. She and Johnson have a very similar dynamic to classic films like The African Queen, but while I liked both characters individually, I thought their romantic dynamic may have been a bit rushed.

Whitehall’s character got a lot of attention for being the first openly gay main character in a Disney film (for the seventh time, if you ask some people). I did think he was one of the funniest parts of the movie, but while it’s good to see some gay representation in a major studio release, he’s also a bit of a stereotype straight out of 1997. The effete gay man who loves the finer things in life and loses his mind when out in the wilderness is a bit of a hoary old trope, but the movie did a good job of getting him slightly out of that box. If only slightly. Minor supporting characters like Veronica Falcon’s scheming native trader add some fun, and a jaguar that makes repeated appearances will likely be a fan favorite.

Ultimately, though, Jungle Cruise fails one major test – its central conflict isn’t nearly as compelling as it wants to be. Everyone is racing towards the supposed site of the tree, and the action-packed climax channels just about every supernatural adventure movie imaginable. It has some fantastic visuals, but it also very much feels like a CGI recreation of better films. There is a massive twist midway through the movie about one of the main characters, and it’s treading on some tricky ground. It handles it well, but once it happens there was virtually no doubt in my mind about how the main plot would pan out. And I was right.

The one thing I was wrong about? As soon as Aguirre and his henchmen appeared, I was actually starting to wonder if this would turn out to be a stealth spin-off from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. That’s how similar the curse was. Alas, no Orlando Bloom cameos. But hey, Disney proved that they can make a second watchable movie out of a theme park attraction, if not much more. Onward to the Tower of Terror, I guess.

Movie Review – The Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad – Directed by James Gunn. Written by James Gunn. Starring Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Jai Courtney, Peter Capadi, Michael Rooker, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson, Nathan Fillion, Flula Borg, Taika Waititi, Sean Gunn, and the voice of Sylvester Stallone

***1/2 out of ****

Ray: Five years ago, DC gave us Suicide Squad, the first adaptation of their gritty espionage comic about conscripted supervillains fighting evil for the government…and it was a complete disaster. While it was carried by a strong performance by Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, it was plagued by a weak remaining cast, a terrible and nonsensical villain, and one of the worst Joker performances in DC history by a mugging, cringe-worthy Jared Leto. It was almost enough to make you long for Society Joker. The franchise looked like it would be one and done – and then the Nazis got ahold of James Gunn’s old tweets. After the offbeat director got briefly fired by Disney, DC wasted no time and signed him up to reboot the franchise.

While all’s well that ends well at Disney, we are very lucky that the whole affair played out the way it did. The Suicide Squad couldn’t be more different than its misbegotten predecessor. Unlike the successful Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which are definitely Gunn-light, this is a movie written and drawn by the eccentric Troma creator, complete with an R-rating and the same twisted humor he brought to his earlier projects like Slither. It wastes no time showing us that, with a wild opening segment as Harley, team leader Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), and a motley crew of criminals are deployed to the Central American nation of Corto Maltese under the watchful eye of ruthless team commander Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Betrayals, carnage, and comedy ensue in a bloody battle – and the main narrative hasn’t even really started.

Will Smith’s Deadshot hasn’t returned for the sequel, so The Suicide Squad needs a new leading man, and they get it in Idris Elba’s Bloodsport. The two are actually pretty similar – a household-name black actor playing a master marksman who is humanized by his daughter – but Elba’s version is definitely the superior one. He has a grit to him, coming to the Squad off nearly assassinating Superman with a Kryptonite bullet, and has to be blackmailed into the team by Waller. The comic book original was one of the most underrated Superman villains for a while, so it was great to see him brought to life here.

As the new Suicide Squad is sent in to rescue a captured Rick Flagg, Bloodsport is paired with a suitably weird crew, including John Cena’s buff Peacemaker, a Captain America archetype gone wrong whose role in the team is always a little unclear. Fans of Falcon and the Winter Soldier will recognize some similarities with US Agent, but Cena’s take is enjoyably off-kilter. They’re joined by the young Ratcatcher II (Melchior), a quirky young woman who inherited her bond with rats from her late father; Polka-Dot Man (Dastmalchian), a neurotic nerd with bizarre powers and a sad backstory; and Nanaue (Sylvester Stallone) a hulking shark-man with the mind of a child. They don’t look like a great team – and they’re not. That’s what makes this movie work.

While there is a previous Suicide Squad movie, this film actually finds its inspiration in another franchise – Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, where a mostly-well-meaning antihero unleashes ultraviolent chaos that’s only occasionally aimed in the right direction. As the team is unleashed on Corto Maltese, it earns its R-rating in spades, with some clever ultraviolence and crude jokes in the great Gunn tradition. Despite this, though, the movie is surprisingly able to get us to invest emotionally in its heroes, particularly the odd bond that forms between Ratcatcher and Nanaue, and a brilliant flashback to the young Ratcatcher’s bond with her father (Taika Waititi, phenomenal as always). And if Ratcatcher’s intelligent pet rat Sebastian doesn’t become a breakout star, there is no God.

Robbie’s Harley Quinn, oddly, often seems to be in a different movie. She’s missing for a big chunk of it, then resurfaces in a strange soap-opera parody subplot before rejoining the team, and while I’m not sure the scripting around her is the best, she’s always brilliant. She’s appeared in three movies so far, the first two pretty bad, and always managed to outshine them. Here she’s at her chaotic best and having the time of her live in a movie that finally deserves her. Now give her the Gotham City Sirens movie she actually deserves!

The villains were a massive weak point of the first Suicide Squad movie, and that’s thankfully not the case here. Of course, with this team, everyone’s sort of a villain – there really are no morally pure characters here, with the probable exception of Sebastian (WE THINK), but Gunn doesn’t skip out on giving us some loathsome bad guys. The Corto Maltese conspiracy is led by a hammy Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, dripping British condescension. And of course, it’s been spoiled that the evil tyrant Starro makes an appearance in this movie, and his scenes may be the best American kaiju story ever told. It’s some of the most perfectly comic-book storytelling ever, and brought to life with the perfect veneer of Gunn’s insanity.

Overall, The Suicide Squad occasionally becomes too chaotic for its own good, but makes up for it with a likable group of antiheroes and a tone that perfectly captures the series’ violent espionage roots. It’s one of the best live-action DC films of the modern era.

Movie Review – Free Guy

Free Guy – Directed by Shawn Levy. Written by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Taika Waititi, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkkar

**** out of ****

How long has it been since the last truly original blockbuster? We’ve become so used to a world of franchises, remakes, reboots, and adaptations that it seems like a breath of fresh air. And along comes Free Guy, a whip-smart video game satire that delivers both some of the funniest scenes of the summer and a surprisingly deep takedown of the corruption within the gaming world and big tech. And at its core is Ryan Reynolds, in his best work since he last put on the Deadpool spandex.

Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is a guy who loves his life. He gets up every morning, drinks the same coffee, and goes to work as a security guard at the bank with his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery) – where they get robbed every single day. See, they live in Free City, a chaotic metropolis filled with explosions, car chases, and disasters caused by the mysterious “Sunglasses People”. These overpowered rogues seem to be able to do anything they want with no consequences, but Guy is unbothered. He has simple desires, like raising enough money to buy a fancy pair of sneakers (but his bank account is oddly the same every day). He also dreams of finding “the one” – who he thinks might be the mysterious Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer), a sunglasses-wearing visitor to Free City, who seems surprised when he interacts with her.

And when Guy puts on a pair of those distinctive sunglasses, everything changes. He sees the city as it really is – a never-ending series of opportunities for loot, weapons, and missions. That’s because Guy is an NPC in a video game, and he just got his first look at what the world looks like for the players running around Free City. And once he gets his first look, he never looks back and starts rewriting the rules of the game for himself. And first on his priority list? Finding Molotov Girl and teaming up with her again on a quest to find a secret locked within the archives of Free City.

But this is only half the story. The other half takes place in the real world, as indie game designer Millie Rusk (Comer, unrecognizable from her alter ego) fights a lonely battle against the powerful video game company Soonami. She designed an indie sandbox game in college, only to have it bought by the powerhouse, turned into a violent shooter, and was pushed off her own creation. Her partner, “Keys” (Joe Keery) reluctantly agreed to stay on and now works as a low-level coder on what was once his creation alongside his frenemy Mouser (a deadpan Utkarsh Ambudkar) as they take orders from the company’s mercurial CEO.

And that CEO is the secret weapon of Free Guy. Antwan, played by a completely unhinged Taika Waititi, is one of the funniest movie villains I can remember. Sometimes he’s an obstructive Michael Scott-esque bureaucrat. Sometimes he’s so eccentric and over the top that he almost feels like a Sasha Baron Cohen character who wandered in from another movie. And sometimes something else creeps in, something cruel and menacing that reveals he doesn’t care about anyone. Not the people he robbed, not the people who work for him, and not even the millions of players who made him rich as he plans to sunset the game and force them into buying a sequel.

One of the most impressive things about Free Guy is just how many genres it manages to cram into one relatively short movie. It works as a corporate espionage thriller with some genuinely surprising twists in the real world. Guy’s journey to move from NPC to hero is one of the best action-comedies I’ve seen in some time. The crossovers between the real world and the world of streamers and superfans is hilarious, especially when we see who’s under the avatars of some of Guy’s recurring enemies. It even works surprisingly well as a romance, as Comer’s cynical investigator finds herself falling for this unique NPC. And as the movie goes on, it takes on the tone of something close to an apocalyptic thriller. Because the sunset date is coming, and the entirety of Free City is at stake.

Free Guy shares a lot of common DNA with some of the best original movies in the modern era, especially in the way it satirizes the media and the fishbowl we all live in. In many ways, it’s the proper heir to The Truman Show and Pleasantville. It balances taking place in more than one world and timeline better than any movie since Inception. And its energetic, goofy superhero reminds me of such classic comedies like Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Even when it takes a turn into an over-the-top disaster movie, it never stops being engaging. All video games need a great “Boss level”, and Free Guy surprises us with a genuinely ridiculous one featuring one of the best uses of CGI in recent memory.

Does Free Guy have any flaws? Well, after a brilliant final showdown taking place on two different planes and featuring one of the best chase scenes in movie history, there’s about five minutes that work a little too hard to tie everything up neatly. Despite being an out-of-the-box hit, Free Guy seems to have zero ambition to be a franchise. And in some ways, isn’t that the most unique thing about it?

Movie Review – Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Ghostbusters: Afterlife – Directed by Jason Reitman. Written by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman. Starring Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfharm, McKenna Grace, Logan Kim, Celeste O’Connor, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, Bokeem Woodbine, Tracy Letts, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Wilde, and the voice of Josh Gad

**1/2 out of ****

One of the most frustrating things about this polarized world we live in is how Ghostbusters – an amusing satire of 1980s New York filled with chaotic special effects – somehow became a political flashpoint. The divisive 2016 reboot, which was ultimately a generic Paul Feig comedy that deserved neither the ridiculous hate it got nor the energetic defenses, came and went. While I wasn’t a big fan, I think its biggest problem was that it simply wasn’t what any Ghostbusters fan wanted. Not because of the female cast, but because after thirty years, it simply turned its back on the old universe and left the fans still hanging.

Into that void comes Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which takes the exact opposite approach. MCU films look at this movie and go “Dude, dial it back a little with the callbacks to past films”. It’s firmly grounded in Ghostbusters lore and can’t go five minutes without dropping a reference. The problem is, it gives people who don’t rewatch the old ones very little reason to care. Sequels to franchises that are long-gone are becoming the hottest thing. The Incredibles returned after more than a decade off. Bad Boys brought back the original cast and won the much-abridged 2020 box office race. Some returns are less welcome, but overall nostalgia sells right now. The difference is, most of the others feel like a fresh start while Ghostbusters: Afterlife feels like a resurrection – for good and bad.

This movie feels like it’s trying to be countless things for countless people, and that’s its biggest problem. From the trailers, it was clear that the big inspiration here wasn’t Ghostbusters, it was the wildly popular Netflix drama Stranger Things. Small town full of mysteries and horror? Check. Nerdy kids getting in adventures? Check. Finn Wolfhard? Check! After a brief wordless prologue where Egon Spengler (played by the late Harold Ramis and brought to life here via body doubles and CGI) meets his end at the hands of a supernatural menace, we meet the main cast of the film. Egon’s daughter, single mother Callie (Carrie Coon) gets evicted just as she learns she’s inherited a creepy old farmhouse from her estranged dad. She packs up her kids, sullen fifteen-year-old Trevor (Wolfhard, playing the Jonathan/Steve role here) and awkward twelve-year-old Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and moves them to Summerville, a tiny town in Oklahoma right out of Footloose. Only here, instead of cranky pastors, the main threat is supernatural phenomena and mysterious earthquakes.

Wolfhard and Grace are effortlessly likable and their scenes are easily the best in the film. Carrie Coon is good as well, although the film gives her some heavy material to deal with and the script isn’t really up to the task. Ghostbusters is a lighthearted franchise at its core, something the 2016 film got right (maybe a little too well). Afterlife swings dramatically in the other direction, and its themes of parental abandonment don’t exactly mesh with visual gags like mini-Stay-Pufts and a gluttonous tardigrade-ghost named Muncher who seems designed to be a plush toy. Other cast members add to the lighter tone. Paul Rudd’s Gary Grooberson, a summer school science teacher and Ghostbusters superfan, is a fun presence but mostly seems here to deliver exposition.

Of course, it’s no surprise that the original Ghostbusters make a return – Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stanz was heard in the trailer – and I was glad to see all three survivors return along with supporting cast members Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver. However, don’t expect them to take over the film – it’s mostly cameos and retcons until the big finale when they show up to play heroes. I think that’s for the best – Murray in particular looks like he just shambled in from a beach vacation. It’s definitely a better tribute to the original cast than having them show up in random cameos like the 2016 movie did, and it allows the new cast to shine.

The problem is, while the cast carries much of the movie, the plot is not up to snuff. As soon as the larger mystery at the core of Summerville starts being revealed, it’s pretty clear which notorious Ghostbuster bad guy is to blame. There are some clever callbacks to past mythology, but it relies too much on a sense of recognition rather than the plot standing on its own. Rudd and Coon have surprisingly little to do in the film beyond a slow-burn romance, with both being sidelined before the final act by a supernatural twist of fate. That allows the young cast to take over as the new Ghostbusters, with Phoebe, Trevor, and Podcast being joined by Trevor’s girlfriend Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) for chaotic plasma-blasting rides through town. It’s a lot of fun watching the kids discover the Ghostbusters legacy, but this portion of the film feels the most derivative of Stranger Things.

It’s impossible to talk about this film without discussing the legacy of Harold Ramis. The brilliant writer and director died in 2014, and in many ways this movie is a tribute to him – in some ways more explicit than others. His family approved of everything that was done here, so it’s hard to question it too much. However, his presence in the movie is unsettling at points, without getting too much into spoilers. It’s both a testament to the power of CGI and a warning sign that we might be getting a little too good at this. The final act does pack a serious emotional punch and puts a solid bow on the franchise.

And that’s what brings me to my final point about Ghostbusters: Afterlife – in many ways, it is the final chapter fans have been asking for. It continues the story rather than rebooting the franchise. But many fans still seem unsatisfied, feeling that the originals play second-fiddle. Well, of course they do – they’re all old now. And that’s the movie’s biggest problem – it’s trying to be everything to all people. For many old-time fans, it’s like returning to your favorite restaurant from when you were a kid and realizing nothing tastes the same. This is always the biggest pitfall of long-term revivals. Sometimes you just can’t win, and after two relaunches with mixed results, it might be time to let the Ghostbusters rest in peace.