FINALLY…THE WILL…HAS COME BACK…TO MARYLAND! If you follow me on socials, or read last week’s post, I just got back from Walt Disney World. I returned to craziness that…well, it’s not great. I might talk about that eventually, but for now, let’s just focus on the Disney. It was a great family vacation, and I have thoughts on the Most Magical Place on Earth. So, I’m thinking that’s gonna entail a 4-part EPIC EVENT. That’s right: Starting Monday, I will give you the lowdown on my 6 days and 7 nights at Disney. Hell, maybe we’ll even decide which of the four was the West Park Ever! I’m warning you now, though, that this might shift to an Image Comics schedule, depending on how things pan out over the next few hours, but my plan is for this whole thing to roll out next week. Cross your fingers!
Trailer Park
Lilo & Stitch (Theaters, May 23)
Lilo’s sister ain’t thicc enough! I demand a recast and an extensive reshoot schedule! I mean, I’m gonna ask the thing I always ask when Disney does this: Did we really need this? I know there are business interests involved, as these remakes help them reassert IP rights and whatnot, but the original animated one was just fine. Or, if you just have to do a “live action” Stitch film, maybe show us a different Stitch adventure. Retcon those direct-to-DVD movies, and show us what happened after the original. But why give a note-for-note remake, but think “It’s got real people!” is gonna be a selling point? From a merchandising perspective, Stitch has been getting the “Deadpool Treatment”, in that he’s overexposed. I have a good friend who’s a huge Stitch fan, and even he’s like “It’s too much. He’s everywhere.”
Screamboat (Theaters, April 2)
They never should have taught y’all about Public Domain. My only hope is that this film production was just a money laundering scheme for organized crime.
Bambi: The Reckoning (?, ?)
THEY NEVER SHOULD HAVE TAUGHT Y’ALL ABOUT PUBLIC DOMAIN!
Will Around The Web
Have you checked out my appearance on the After Dinner Lounge yet? Little did I realize at the time that it would be my last podcast recorded via Skype (RIP, Skype). If you loved what you heard, part 2 of the episode dropped this week. I don’t think I’m on that part, but you should still check it out!
Also, Adam and I are back, with a new episode of Remember That Show? This time around, we talk about the early 90s cartoon James Bond Jr. What, you didn’t know Bond had a kid? Well, he didn’t. It’s his nephew. Riiiiiiight….
Links I Loved
- I wouldn’t exactly say I love this, but it was informative that some Warner Bros DVDs, that were manufactured at a specific plant, are now exhibiting signs of “disc rot”. Intrepid physical media collectors have compiled a list of affected discs, as well as how to see if you can get yours replaced.
Run The Numbers
So, I skipped updating this last week, but I’ve been busy. The last time I posted an update, I’d only read 30 comics. So, you can see that’s not the case anymore! I read all of The Immortal Thor that was on Marvel Unlimited, which was through issue #17. I own the physical copies of the rest, but I’ve got to figure out where I put them. Like I said last time, I still don’t care about the god battles of the overarching plot, but I’m enjoying the character interactions. The story has been alluding to it, but Marvel already announced that this has all been building to Thor’s death this summer, so I’m not sure if I care to keep going, since we know how comic “deaths” play out.
Meanwhile, the big jump in the numbers is due to me finally starting the new iteration of the Ultimate Marvel Universe. I had read Ultimate Invasion last summer, and reviewed it in one of my final TikTok videos. Long story short: I hated that miniseries. As a HUGE fan of the original incarnation of Ultimate Marvel, I was hoping this would be a return to that world. No, instead, it’s about that world’s Reed Richards, now known as the villain The Maker, who steals a bunch of artifacts in order to leave the 616 Earth and go shape another Earth to his specifications. Since he knows the origins of all the heroes, he systematically prevents those people from ever becoming heroes on this new Earth, clearing the way for him to become the overall dictator. So, it’s Emperor Doom before Emperor Doom. Hated it. But I had a morbid curiosity about it all, so I followed the Marvel Unlimited Reading Order, which meant I read all the issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate X-Men, and Ultimates that were on Marvel Unlimited. And I have thoughts. But you’re not getting them here. They’re gonna get their own post soon…
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- On the Kelce Brothers’ New Heights podcast, season 4 of Ted Lasso was finally confirmed, with Jason Sudeikis reporting it will focus on a women’s soccer team.
- In other renewal news, CBS renewed The Neighborhood for an 8th, and final, season.
- Meanwhile, the Cruel Intentions series has been canceled on Prime Video after one season.
- Disney is quietly burying the Snow White film, canceling the red carpet premiere due to controversial online remarks by both Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler.
- One of my favorites, June Diane Raphael, has been cast as the mom of Elle Woods in the Prime Video Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle
- Screenwriter Steven Knight is planning to produce a tour film focused on the Oasis reunion. Seeing as how the Gallaghers are Rock & Roll Cain & Abel, that thing is either gonna be a glorious train wreck OR it’s never happening.
- Former En Vogue member Dawn Robinson announced on social media that she’s been living in her car for the past 3 years. It started out as a necessity, but after researching van life/car life/RV life, she fell in love with the lifestyle. Good for her!
This thing just came out of nowhere, as I’d seen a teaser commercial for it, and then the whole extended version went up on YouTube. What’s so odd about it is I still don’t know WHY. You see State Farm released a Batman ad, starring Jason Bateman (Who, I might add, wouldn’t make a terrible Bruce Wayne), complete with Gotham City, Batman Villains, and Jake. Basically, Bateman gets pulled into Gotham shenanigans because the city needed Batman, but ended up with Bate-Man. The gist of the commercial is that you shouldn’t go with pale imitations when you could have the Real Thing – especially when it comes to your insurance needs. Make sense, in a hokey way, right? But I don’t know why they went in this direction. This is the kind of thing you’d do when a movie was coming out. Ya know, they’d have their little sales pitch, and the commercial would end with a voiceover saying “And be sure to see Batman, in theaters now!” But there’s NO movie. There’s no new TV series. It’s not an anniversary year. Hell, even if State Farm had teamed up with Six Flags, it would have made sense, as maybe there was a new Batman: Gotham Adventure ride or something. To my knowledge, none of that is true.
The reason I’m talking about it, though, is that it’s pretty good. It’s not perfect. I’ve seen some folks online say “This is the best Gotham City we’ve gotten!” I don’t know about all that. I’m also not really in love with the Jeffrey Wright incarnation of Commissioner Gordon. But it’s clear some work went into this. They did more than they had to, and certainly more than most. There is a tinge of “This is a Six Flags commercial” to the performances from the villains, and I felt like The Riddler was portrayed by DJ Qualls (Who, by the way, would make an EXCELLENT Riddler). But it wasn’t a Six Flags commercial, nor was that DJ Qualls, of Road Trip and The New Guy fame. It was just a commercial for an insurance company. One of the best and worst examples of modern-day capitalism. Oh well. It was a slow news week, and I love me some Batman. So, the State Farm Batman commercial had the West Week Ever.
