Girl Meets World has already premiered on Disney WATCH, Disney’s online on-demand site. I’m tempted to go watch it, but they make you enter your cable provider credentials and a bunch of other info I don’t have at my disposal (my wife handles all that). So, I guess I’ll just wait until June 27th with the rest of y’all. I’m getting excited, though! In the meantime, here’s the theme song:
It’s sung by the show’s stars, so Disney’s still pumping out those actress/singers.
X-Men: Days of Future Past comes out today, and I just can’t bring myself to care. Mainly, I just don’t trust Bryan Singer. Sure, he was great on X2, but that was SO long ago, and the taint of Superman Returns is still somewhat fresh. So far, the reviews have been positive, but I still may wait for Redbox on this one.
The Man of Steel sequel’s title has been officially released: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As I said on Twitter:
That’s simply not the title of a box office hit, but I don’t get paid the big bucks so what do I know?
24 is back, and 2004 Will would be really excited. 2014 Will, however, just can’t get on that horse. There are no stakes, as Jack can’t die and even something as shocking as Valencia, CA getting nuked is just brushed aside like it’s nothing. I can’t do that dance anymore. I do, however, still follow along with what’s happening by listening to the Cold Slither Podcast’s: Anutha Twenny Fo Podcast. I may not care about Jack Bauer, but I still love hearing what other folks think about him, and Classick Materia does not disappoint! You can catch new episodes every week at ColdSlitherPodcast.com
Last week, I had the pleasure of guesting on the No Topic Required Podcast. As you can probably guess, there was no main topic, but we discussed net neutrality, network TV fall schedules and more. You can listen to it here.
Links I Loved
Knockoff Analysis: Lego Ninja Turtles – Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang
10 Ways ‘The Golden Girls’ Was Way Before Its Time – UnderScoopFire!
Where The New Black Comics Writers Are – The Nerds of Color
How Did the Newest Saturday Night Live Cast Members Do in Their First Season? – Vulture
Top 10 Sci-Fi Scenes Ruined by Bad Extras – The Robot’s Pajamas
In Case You Missed It This Week
Upfronts with Will – NBC Edition
Upfronts with Will – CBS Edition
It had no right to be any good. Michael Jackson died in 2009, and here’s a new album being released 5 year later, comprised of scraps and unreleased tracks. It was a recipe for disaster. Xscape came out last Tuesday and defied expectations. The debut single, “Love Never Felt So Good” is a disco masterpiece – both in it’s mixed form, as well as the remix with Justin Timberlake. That single, however, wasn’t the end. You see, we’d been introduced to modern-day hologram technology in 2012, when a hologram of Tupac Shakur “performed” at Coachella. Now, that same technology was about to be applied to the former King of Pop. Last Sunday, at the Billboard Music Awards, hologram MJ gave a dazzling performance set to the song “Slave to the Rhythm”. Not only was it an amazing spectacle, but it also led me to playing “Slave” on repeat for the rest of the week. So, for an amazing posthumous album, and an amazing posthumous performance, Michael Jackson has the honor of being awarded the first posthumous West Week Ever.
I just can’t bring myself to go see the new X-Men. As am X-Men die hard I have just been too disappointed in the past and the incredible DoFP story seems like a tough one to pull off.
I’m right there with you, but I think I’m caving. I’ve been reading some gushing praise over on facebook from the folks who saw it last night. They’re saying it’s the best of the franchise. I was even thinking of trying to sneak out of work to go see it for myself.
I’m going Sunday. Yeah that Supes/Bats title screams sequel to the Superman 64 game.
Look at that plug for the Cold Slither Podcast!
I plan on seeing DOFP early next week. I too was worried about Singer, with his lackluster credentials since X2, but love the fact that its 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
@ Lamar – It TOTALLY sounds like an N64 game!
@TimDogg – You know I gotta share the love for the CSP. Now, if only y’all would reunite for another season!
@Corey – 93%?! I’m trying to sneak out of work now, but I’m waiting for some dude from Craigslist to come by and buy some stuff off me. Looks like I’m gonna have to see it this weekend!
Blue Gangsta has been my jam for the past two weeks. That’s a nice track! I completely agree – it has no right to be good. It’s just … Michael. I hope people support this album, because quality R&B really is in short supply.
As for the new X-Men …. sigh. I feel cheated in a way. I know that large tentpole superhero movies almost can’t embrace quality, but if I don’t check this movie out, I’ve no alternative for date night. Damn Connecticut!
And I think fanboys everywhere have needlessly lost their shit over Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Yes – the title sounds like Worlds Finest on Lifetime, but so what? Every argument I’ve read that asserts fear about the final product based on this title has been ludicrous and ill-conceived. All this hoopla does is hold DC Comics to standards higher than any Marvel Studios is ever called on to reach.
Marvel’s The Avengers was a crappy movie. The Thor films were crappy movies. The Captain America films were crappy movies draped in the Stars and Stripes. The Iron Man films tailored bio-responsive armor around a beloved character actor, and then dropped him in crappy movies. Yet none of that is a problem, because it’s all so bloody simple. DC attempts something distinct, something a tad more cerebral, and they get harangued and nitpicked into submission for not. being. Marvel.
Who cares if it’s a crappy title? Thor: The Dark World is a crappy title. You hear that title, you think Thor’s gonna hang out in Baltimore downing rum ‘n cokes with Proposition Joe. Instead, Idris Elba’s Heimdall is as dark as Thor’s world gets. No truth in advertising. Bad title.
I don’t even know how to follow that up. You and Jenn are the only folks I know who hated Avengers, but you’re also on that DC teat. So you WANT BvS:DoJ to be good. I kinda don’t want it to be good. So, we’re gonna have to be Xavier and Magneto on this one
I want a comic book movie that doesn’t encourage fear about general intelligence in Western nations. X-Men:DoFP ignored logic, physics, and its own source material so often I wondered if the director and screenwriters were high through pre-production. Again, we get a crappy movie that offers spectacle without common sense, explosions without linear plot.
The problem is that the Nolanverse films flattered its audience with allusions to historical figures and conversations about the nature of modern heroism. After that, Marvel Studios handed us the Avengers, or “Let’s Just Shoot an Action Movie with Guys Wearing Gaudy Costumes Based on a Plot Written in Crayola Where Stuff Blows Up a Lot”. The global box office has room for both comic book movie styles, but the ungodly receipts generated by Marvel’s The Avengers encouraged conservative, risk-averse studio executives to copy the Avengers model, and deliver films too simple, too antagonistic to reason to be good at anything but exciting thirteen-year-olds.
Most likely, Warner Brothers and DC will copy much of Marvel’s style with Batman v. Superman; certainly, other movie studios have embraced Marvel’s new normal. I think that’s a real shame, because a thinking man’s action movie can provide more visual pleasure than two hours of explosions without plot. If this makes us Xavier and Mags, then I better get to work bending spoons. 🙂