The only thing I really watched this week was the Comedy Central stand-up special, Amy Schumer Presents Rachel Feinstein: Only Whores Wear Purple. The title just goes to show ya that it really is all about who you know. Feinstein’s had specials before, but I guess since she’s friends with Schumer, and Schumer’s name now carries some weight, they felt this was the best way to present the special. I actually think it kinda takes something away from Feinstein – like, she only got the special because of her friend, which isn’t true. Anyway, a finalist on season 7 of Last Comic Standing, I’ve followed Feinstein for the past few years because she’s a local, having grown up in Bethesda, MD. Plus, she’s easy on the eyes. I think she’s hilarious, but I didn’t find this special as funny as her album, Thug Tears. Still, it’s got some funny bits, especially when she talks about the night Jenna Jameson came to one of her shows. It’s one of the funnier stand-up specials I’ve seen recently, so I’d recommend it if you’re looking for one to watch.
In movie news, it was revealed that Nathan Fillion will be portraying Simon Williams AKA Wonder Man in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. As long as I’ve been reading comics, I don’t know much about Wonder Man. He always seemed to be part of things that weren’t that great to me. He was in the West Coast Avengers, which were the “Not So Good Avengers” or he was on the main Avengers roster back when they all wore flight jackets and they’d let anyone on the team. So, I can’t really say if this is good casting or not. If he plays it like he played Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, he’ll at least be hilarious. It’s interesting he’s being introduced as a part of Space Marvel, as I never really saw him in that realm, but I trust the architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
UPDATE: My pals over at The Robot’s Pajamas have more info on Fillion’s “cameo”. Needless to say, it’s not what I expected!
Meanwhile in the MCU, it’s been reported that Marvel didn’t want to make Doctor Strange‘s The Ancient One a Tibetan man for fear of upsetting the lucrative Chinese marketplace. So, they decided to make the character a Celtic woman. Huh? Yeah, that’s pretty much the collective reaction of everyone who read that story. According to actress Tilda Swinton, they’re treating the character as a mantle that is passed down and, in her case, it just happened to pass to a Celtic woman. OK. Next!
We got another trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse, because there were some parts of the movie they hadn’t shown us yet. The more I see of this movie, the more my erection subsides. It just looks so meh. And I’ve already explained my issues with Jennifer Lawrence and the X-Men movies since First Class, so I won’t rehash all that. I just kinda want this movie to come and go, so we can focus on the next installment.
Across the aisle, we got the trailer for the DC Animated Original adaptation of famous Batman story The Killing Joke. It’s not without controversy, though, as a lot of folks kinda want this story to be forgotten, as it depicts Barbara Gordon/Batgirl as a helpless victim. If you remember, this discussion picked up last year when DC wanted to print an homage cover to Batgirl #41 (which I wrote about here). If you want to know my feelings on the subject matter, go read that old post. Right now, I’m just gonna talk about the movie. First off, the animation looks kinda bad to me. It’s not Mystery of the Batwoman level bad, but it’s close. It’s not as slick as what we’ve come to expect from the DCAO output. Also, I’m not sure how I feel about Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy coming back to reprise their roles as Joker and Batman. As someone who grew up with Batman: The Animated Series, they are my Batman and Joker. That said, I kinda don’t like the idea of them involved in something NOT attached to the old DC Animated Universe that began with that show. I liked that they kept the vocal continuity from B:TAS through Justice League Unlimited. I didn’t really care too much when they came back for the Arkham games, because those were just video games and didn’t really “count”. Since I’ve associated them so much with the DCAU, I can’t help but mentally put this as part of that saga, which is kinda blowing my mind with the subject matter and the R-rating (a first for DC’s animated output). If I’ve learned anything from the other DCAO features, it’s that there are other people who can play Batman, and I think I’d have preferred that for this installment. I guess I just want to keep Conroy and Hamill “pure”, as odd as that sounds. So far, I don’t like the character designs or the choice of voice talent, but I’ll still check it out.
In Power Rangers movie news, we’ve gotten some on-set pictures of Rita Repulsa in 2 different costumes, and I’m still not feeling it. Last week, I said her suit was Scorpina meets Divatox, but she’s really just Power Rangers Lost Galaxy villain Trakeena.
In television news, our national nightmare is over, as Kelly Ripa returned to Live! with Kelly and Michael on Tuesday. It’s rumored that Disney apologized to her and assured her that she wouldn’t be blindsided by any changes made to the show in the future. That said, Michael Strahan’s originally scheduled September departure has been moved up to May 13th, thus eliminating some of the tension between the two. They said this was to get a jumpstart on Strahan’s Good Morning America onboarding, while also allowing Live to begin the process to find its new cohost. I was kinda hoping it would get dragged out a bit more, just to see how long it would take Ripa to finally come back to work, but that wasn’t in the cards.
In toy news, the DC Multiverse 6″ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice mystery figure has been revealed, and it’s the Bat Monster that Batfleck sees when he visits his parents’ mausoleum. What an odd choice for a figure! I hate this thing so much, but I’m DETERMINED to build the Collect & Connect Grapnel Gun. I guess I’ll order the piece on eBay or something. I just really don’t wanna own this thing. Why this, when they could’ve made a Parademon or a Superman Trooper or any other army builder figure? Just such a weird choice…
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- Ecto Cooler will be returning to shelves on May 30th. Maybe my adult palette will like it more than I did as a child…
- Saturday Night Live‘s Pete Davidson is dating Larry David’s daughter, Cazzie.
- Formerly of ESPN and Grantland, Bill Simmons’ Any Given Wednesday pop culture show will debut on HBO on June 22nd
- Fresh off the Aloha controversy, Emma Stone has been cast as Cruella de Vil in the 101 Dalmatians remake
- 4/26 was Alien Day apparently. I know nothing of that franchise, but apparently the planet the Aliens were from was LV-426? I dunno, seems like a stretch. Everything’s gotta have a day now! I’m gonna hide in a bunker when May the Fourth comes along.
- Netflix has ordered 8 episodes of Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. I didn’t love the movie, so I’ve yet to check out the prequel series. I’ll get around to it eventually.
- The trailer was released for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, and just like the show itself, I didn’t find it funny. It’s the one BritCom I could never get into. I’m sure someone’s excited for it, though.
- The sixth season of Game of Thrones premiered this week, so fans got their weekly dose of titties and swords. Man, if I were George RR Martin, that’s what I would’ve called the series: A Song of Titties & Swords.
- Alec Baldwin will host ABC’s revival of Match Game. That is, until he throws a fit or gets recorded calling an Uber driver some kind of slur. It’s only a matter of time, really.
- Comcast has purchased Dreamworks for its NBCUniversal arm for $3.8 billion. So, brace yourselves for a Minions/Madagascar crossover.
- Contrary to the Daisy Ridley rumors, Alicia Vikander of The Danish Girl has been cast as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider reboot.
Everyone was talking about Beyoncé after her “visual album” Lemonade was released Saturday night following an HBO special. Instead of releasing videos for the songs, she released a one-hour special to the premium cable channel. Most telling about the album is that is seemed to be a personal affair where she alluded to the possibility that her husband, Jay-Z, cheated on her with “Becky with the good hair”. This kicked off a firestorm of thinkpieces, with folks wondering “Did Jay-Z cheat?” and “Who’s this ‘Becky’ she’s talking about?” At first, it appeared that the “Becky” in question was actually Rachel Roy, the ex-wife of Jay-Z’s former business partner, Damon Dash. Over the course of the week, speculation then spread to singers Rita Ora and Mya. Unfortunately, even food personality Rachael Ray got caught up in the crossfire, as some folks online mistook her for Rachel Roy. And then the memes started:
Did Jay-Z actually cheat? Who knows at this point. Beyoncé kicked off her Formation tour the other night, and dedicated the song “Halo” to her husband. Was it all a carefully planned stunt? We’ll probably never know, but folks are raving over the album, which received the nigh-impossible 5-star rating from Rolling Stone. So, it’s safe to say the week belonged to Beyoncé, which is why she had the West Week Ever.
If you’re gonna cheat… do it with Lori Loughlin. As Uncle Jessie would say, “Have Mer-cy!”