I don’t love ScreenRant, but in an interview at WonderCon, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane was asked about his preference for who should play Batman in James Gunn’s DCU, and he answered that he thought Zachary Quinto would be great in the role. And, ya know? I don’t hate that. He’d bring the same intensity to Bruce Wayne that we last got from Val Kilmer. Yes, Val Kilmer. People love to crap on the Schumacher movies – for good reason – but I’ve always loved Kilmer’s Bruce Wayne. I liked that he was beautiful, yet aloof. You looked at him, and you were like “How could such a beautiful man be so sad all the time?” Nobody said that about Keaton, nor was he ever…sad. Clooney, not sad. Bale was pissed off, and brooding, but just nicked the edge of “sadness”. And I don’t feel we ever got enough from Affleck to fully assess. So many folks love to say Batfleck was the best, and I don’t see it. It’s not that he wasn’t, but moreso he never even got his own movie. It seems like all the interesting Snyderverse stuff had happened offscreen, like the dead Robin that was never fully addressed. No, looking over the history of the theatrical Batman franchise, Val Kilmer was my Bruce Wayne. Sure, he did other stuff. I didn’t watch that stuff. I knew he was in it, but I wasn’t watching Willow. The Saint had an awesome soundtrack, though!
Anyway, we lost Val this week and, dare I say, “too soon”? Sure, he’d been sick for quite some time, but movies felt his absence. He was missed, and will continue to be missed. There have been a lot of articles lately about how the industry killed the concept of “The Movie Star”, but I like the think he was one of the last. You wouldn’t have seen Kilmer doing an 8-episode HBO series. I know the model has changed, and money is money, but some folks simply had standards. And I think he was one of those guys. I’ll miss not only him, but the era he represented.
Lindsay and I watched a Netflix documentary called Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure, and that was a trip! After a cancer diagnosis, art dealer and author Forrest Fenn decided to hide treasure somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. And it became something of a quest to find out who was the Smartest of the Dumb People. Like, there were no “intellectuals” hunting for the treasure, but rather some of the poorest and most redneck people you’ve ever seen. While not the most money you could imagine, the treasure was still enough to change the life of whoever found it. And these folks threw their lives into searching for it, over the course of a decade. Some died. Some lost everything. Some are still looking for it. You see, it was a magnet for conspiracy theorists. When the treasure was finally discovered, many of the hunters didn’t actually believe it. Instead, they thought the announcement that it had been found was simply part of the hunt. An important lesson here: When it comes to conspiracy theorists, it’s not over until they say it’s over. Anyway, it’s only 3 episodes, and it’s worth watching if you’re caught up on your other shows.
We also watched the UK series Adolescence, and woo boy… First off, I should say that it’s not exactly a story, but rather a conversation starter. Going into it, you’re immediately reminded of the differences between American and UK film production. I mean, it’s always been this way. I like to remind folks that the classics Britcom Are You Being Served? was on for 11 years, yet only has 69 episodes (Nice!). Had it been an American show, cranking out 22-episode seasons, it would have ended just shy of 250 episodes. We’re married to a particular model here (which is changing, due to streaming), while the UK approaches a show like “We have a story to tell, and we’ll need roughly 5 hours to tell it.” Then, it gets picked up by one of the two networks they have over there, and might be broken into 3 parts. And that’s the series. Not the season, but the series. It has a beginning and an end. If it’s successful, it might come back in five years, with the same cast for another series. While Doctor Who might prove me wrong here, I personally hadn’t experienced a cliffhanger season finale in a UK show – a foregone conclusion in the US – until I watched Skins. Otherwise, they just do things differently over there, and that’s never been more apparent than in Adolescence.
The series starts with the SWAT team raiding a residence one morning, to arrest a teenage boy. You know it’s serious, because they’ve got their guns. See, they don’t have 2A loyalists over there, so, again, doing things differently. We find out that a female classmate of the boy was found murdered, and they believe him to be the killer. We’re told by his parents that Jamie’s a good boy, and wouldn’t do anything like this. But there are also all these red herrings, like Jamie’s dad. He immediately seems like there could be more to him. He tells the cops that he, himself, has never been arrested, when he looks like he came from central casting as “Soccer Hooligan”. This is a dude who looks like he’s been arrested more times than he can remember, because he was likely drunk a lot of those. So, due to camera angles and furtive glances, you begin to wonder if Dad knew anything. If Dad did anything… It seems to be trying to open a dialogue about toxic masculinity, but takes a hard swerve into cyberbullying. They get into coded emojis, and how young boys are learning about the “80/20 Rule” from the “Manosphere”. Oh, that’s the idea that 80% of women are only interested in 20% of men, so men have to “trick” women or do something to make themselves stand out from the rest of the pack. Andrew Tate gets namedropped, and we’re off to the races.
This is a 4-episode series, but it doesn’t follow a “typical” progression. The first episode almost takes places in real time. The cops raid the house at about 6:25, and by the end of the episode, only an hour has passed in their world. Then we jump ahead in time a bit. Jamie’s been moved to a psychiatric facility, and has gone through 5 social workers. Time jump, and Jamie’s about to be sentenced. There are seemingly important characters in the first episode that you never see again. They don’t pop back up later, to “close the circle”, so to speak. I told Lindsay that I was starting to get mad at either the lack of editing, or the choices of the Director of Photography, as there was a lot of footage that could have just been cut. There’s a lot of walking. And I’m not talking about Aaron Sorkin “Walk & Talk” scenes. No, there would be three minutes of a character just walking through the building. And it wasn’t artsy, nor a montage. It didn’t represent anything other than the monotony of wasted time. It does, however, become important in the final episode.
By American standards, the episode would be considered a “filler episode”, but it can’t be, solely because it’s the finale. Still, nothing really progresses the plot, and it’s more of an exploration of Jamie’s family, and how they’re coping. But, due to American sensibilities, the lingering camera work, and the single-shot scenes filled me with a sense of dread. A good portion of the episode is just Jamie’s parents reminiscing about their first date, while on a Sunday drive. In America, this scene would have been to lull us into a false sense of security just before their van gets t-boned by a semi, or they get gunned down by the dead girl’s father. Did that happen here? I’m not gonna tell you, but I will say I was on edge the entire episode because of this pacing and framing.
The hardest takeaway from the show is for parents. It’s a hard world in which to raise kids, as there are things available to them that we never imagined we’d have to deal with. You can think you have a “good kid”, who just stays in their room, but you don’t know what’s going on in that room. You can monitor their social media, thinking everything is fine, completely unaware of the coded language being used. If the heart emoji is blue, it ain’t as great as if it’s red. And how are parents supposed to stay on top of all this? And you can say “Do better”, but you can’t be with the kids at all times. All you can do is your best to teach them right from wrong and hope external factors aren’t more powerful than you. When there’s a school shooting or some other mass casualty event, folks love to blame the parents. And sometimes there are signs, and sometimes there aren’t. And sometimes there are signs that someone close to them might not see, because they’re too close. It’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. So, the show will leave you with a lot to think about. I’ve got a 10 year old and a 6 year old, and I fear social media for each of them, for different reasons. So, it’s definitely an eye-opening watch. I recommend it, but I also want you to know what you’re heading into.
Man, that was heavy. Did you know Joey Lawrence’s actual last name is “Mignola”? He was told to change it when he started acting, and his brothers followed suit. Apparently, they were complaining on their podcast about how inconvenient it is when they’re traveling or dealing with legal documents. Go figure!
Trailer Park
Superman, (Theaters, July 11)
I didn’t love that trailer we got because folks are too quick to be like “They finally got it right!” when it comes to Superman movies. I actually liked a lot of Superman Returns, but felt it lacked action. Still, it was the last time we saw glimpses of the “majesty” of Superman. The Fortress and the Superman Robots are just as important to me as Lois and Perry White. The only memorable action scene of Returns was the bullet shattering on his eyeball. Still, it was something a visual spectacle, for its time, wrapped around a bad story (Superman as a deadbeat dad?!). So, I liked this “sneak peek”, as it provided a bit more context to what we’d already seen. For example, we now know that the dying robot that Superman is comforting is one of the Superman Robots. Will it be 12 or will it be 4? They’ve established personalities for both, meaning it will hurt regardless of which one it turns out to be. I could do without all the other Spirit Halloween DCU cameos, but I’m cautiously optimistic for this cinematic rendition of Superman.
The Naked Gun (Theaters, August 1)
I don’t really have “sacred cows”, and the Naked Gun franchise used to get on my nerves, as I don’t love all of the Zucker brand of comedy. It’s constant shtick, and it just used to annoy me. I think I only ever saw the first one. So, when I heard they were remaking this, I didn’t care too much. Then, I heard they’d cast Neeson, and I was slightly curious. But to see Seth and Akiva’s name on this trailer? I am SOLD! Over the past 15 or so years, Neeson has cemented his status as a stoic action hero, but the one person who has really mined comedic gold out of him has been Seth McFarlane. Whether it’s his turn in A Million Ways To Die In the West, or just playing himself on Family Guy, he’s a guy with great timing, and he actually uses his “Poor Man’s Charles Bronson” gimmick to his advantage in these roles. I am really excited for this, and that last joke? *chef’s kiss*
Will Around The Web
Adam and I are back, with a new episode of Remember That Show? We’re talking about the short-lived Carl Lumbly-starring M.A.N.T.I.S., and what it meant to both black people and science fiction. This is probably my favorite conversation to date, so check it out!
Run The Numbers
So, I finally crossed the 100-issue mark this week, and I think I’m pacing pretty well, given I read nothing in January. I need to pick up the pace on the TPBs, and I should probably read a “book” book pretty soon. I’ve heard about some interesting-sounding stuff from John Scalzi, but I might just choose something lighter, like Scary Spice’s autobiography. Yes, I own that.
This week, the main thing I read was an almost 20-year old Marvel miniseries, called Captain America: The Chosen. Published in 2007 under the Marvel Knights imprint, this was a time when all of the MK ongoings were merged back into the 616 universe, and the label became the home of “prestige” miniseries. In this case, “prestige” means “forgotten”, as I’ve never heard anyone talk about this thing. The only reason I even knew about it was that I found the trade paperback at McKay’s Used Books a few weeks back, and was about to buy it when I remembered that I have the Marvel Unlimited app, so buying Marvel collections is kinda dumb right now – especially if it’s just something I’m only curious about. The art was really good, which wasn’t surprising from artist Mitch Breitweiser, but I’d never heard of the writer, David Morrell. So, imagine my surprise when I looked him up and discovered he wrote First Blood! YES, HE GAVE US JOHN RAMBO! How is this miniseries not a bigger deal?!
In the series, we see the war in Afghanistan through the eyes of Corporal James Newsom, who’s a familiar trope to anyone who’s seen a war movie. He signed up because he wanted to keep his country – no, his world – safe, but now that he’s in the theater of war, he’s constantly on edge because he never knows if he’s engaging the people he’s there to protect or the people he’s there to kill. At the end of the day, all he wants to do is get back home to his girl, and the baby son he’s never met. During a particularly harrowing ambush, Newsom thinks all is lost until Captain America shows up and helps him take out the insurgents, and save his platoon. When the dust clears, however, the other soldiers say that they didn’t see Cap, and that it was Newsom who had saved the day. This continues to happen, and Newsom starts to think he’s losing his mind. That’s when we discover that the real Cap is currently dying in a government facility, as the Super Soldier Serum has turned on him. The story introduces a power that I never knew Cap had, and I’m not sure it existed prior: Apparently, the serum not only increased his physical strength, but also his mind. So, given his background as a commercial artist, he could push his mind to visualize things, like the locations of terrorist cells, and the military could then act on the intel. So, as he lay dying, Cap has decided to continue the fight the only way he has has left, and he is projecting himself into Corporal Newsom’s mind.
Yeah, this was something. Being a Marvel Knights series, it means that it doesn’t necessarily follow any established continuity outside of what’s stated in the series. Cap mentions that his sacrificed everything for his country, which i why he never had a family or friends, as he didn’t want them in danger because of him. In this reality, it seems there may only be Cap, but not necessarily an Avengers team, or other heroes. They certainly don’t factor into the story. He’s dying, and no one says “Call Richards/Pym/Stark/Von Doom!” Also, a Marvel Knights series doesn’t have to adhere to ay status quo, nor leave the characters in the *expected* places at the end of the story. I’m not going to tell you any more of the story, as I think it’s worth reading. If anything, my biggest disappointment is that it ended where it did. It works as a standalone miniseries, but it also works as the first arc of an even bigger concept. It’s just strange that I don’t remember Wizard or anyone talking about this series. It’s possible that it was quickly overshadowed as Ed Brubaker was about to introduce The Winter Soldier over in the main Captain America title. In any case, it was a good read, and I recommend checking it out if you’ve got Marvel Unlimited.
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- In an unprecedented move for Netflix, they’ve ordered a pilot for an A Different World sequel series. I guess they finally figured out how to do it without having to pay Cosby.
- Marvel’s gotta be sweating bullets, as everything the Russos touch is turning to crap. Amazon has halted production on the Citadel franchise – season 2 AND spinoffs – which the Russos executive produce. The show was reportedly the second-most expensive series of all time, with an estimated budget of $300 million. I’ve never seen it, but I refuse to believe a studio sank all that money into Priyanka Chopra…
- Anybody remember Ozy Media? It was a digital media company that Rolling Stone called “a neoliberal nightmare”, and they used to make podcasts and hold festivals. Surprising no one, they were shut down for fraud, and founder Carlos Watson was headed to prison – until a certain president commuted his sentence, it was revealed this week. *Sigh*
- Speaking of the administration, the White House Correspondents Association has canceled Amber Ruffin’s planned hosting gig at this year’s dinner. It’s probably for the best, as that was gonna be a tough room this year, but it’s insane how they’re not even trying to make excuses for this stuff anymore. It’s just “Yeah, we don’t want her, and you know why.”
- Elsewhere in the world of bumblefuckery, Morgan Wallen was really weird on SNL last weekend, as he walked directly offstage, toward the audience (!) during the goodnights portion of the show, and later posted a pic of a plane on Instagram, with the caption “Get me to God’s Country”. They also say that he refused to take part in a pre-record, and the role was given to Joe Jonas. I know they’ve done some lipreading, but it looked to me like he was hitting on host Mikey Madison, and got rejected on national television.
- After a rather disappointing showing for The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie – apparently since they didn’t have money for marketing – Ketchup Entertainment has apparently “saved” the other Looney Tunes film, Coyote vs. ACME. If you Looney Tunes people don’t shut your mouths and go see this movie, I swear to all that is holy…
- When he was saying “Cut! It! Out!“, he must have been talking about the cancer, as Dave Coulier has announced he’s cancer free! I bet even Alanis Morissette is happy about that news!
- Licking their wounds from the controversy surrounding the live action Snow White, it’s being reported that Disney has paused its live action adaptation of Tangled.
- It was a big week for non-arm’s length transactions, as Elon Musk sold X to another company that he also owns, while NBCUniversal moved analyst Steve Kornacki from MSNBC to NBC News, as they prepare for the cable networks to break off into SpinCo.
- ABC renewed Shifting Gears for season 2, Will Trent for season 4, The Rookie for season 8, and Grey’s Anatomy for season 22 (!), leaving Doctor Odyssey as the only show on the schedule awaiting a decision.
- Speaking of renewals, not only is it official that American Dad is returning to Fox, but the network also renewed Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, and Family Guy for four more seasons. Given this will take The Simpsons to season 40 (!), it’s likely this might be its last renewal.
Had you heard of “CinemaCon” before this week? I mean, I had, but I didn’t really know it was supposed to be a big deal. I also didn’t realize it was the event formerly known as ShoWest. Ya see, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO – Yeah, I’ll bet that wasn’t confusing) rebranded as Cinema United this year, just prior to its annual convention where theater owners get previews of the year’s biggest upcoming films. Think of it like “Toy Fair”, but for movies. And, sure, I had heard of ShoWest in the past, but maybe one or two tidbits of news would trickle out. In recent years, however, there has been all this “The sky is falling!” talk about how the moviegoing experience is dead. I mean, I get it. First, there was Covid, and then there was the teenagers. Have you been to a movie lately? Teenagers are THE WORST! Anyway, folks are doing all they can to resuscitate the theater industry, and this year seemed out of the ordinary for how much big news came out of the trade show. Here’s just a few brief examples:
- The long-delayed Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was announced with a June 4th, 2027 release date
- Meanwhile, Sony Pictures also announced that the next live action Spider-Man film, called Spider-Man: Brand New Day, will hit theaters July 31st, 2026.
- Not only are they developing John Wick 5, but they’re also working on an animated prequel in the franchise.
- The conclusion to the Wicked saga will be called Wicked: For Good
- A live action How To Train Your Dragon 2 has been greenlit before the first live action How To Train Your Dragon has had a chance to fail
- There’s going to be a 4-film Beatles biopic “event”, all directed by Sam Mendes, and starring Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Harris Dickinson, and Joseph Quinn. Slated to be released April 2028, they’re gonna have to put a cliffhanger in the Ringo one, because nobody gives a shit about Ringo…
- Disney previewed clips from Zootopia 2, the live action Lilo & Stitch, and Avatar: Fire and Ash. They also showed a preview of Tron: Ares.
- Marvel Studios previewed clips from Thunderbolts*, as well as Fantastic Four, showing a pregnant Sue Storm and the Silver Surfer
- Tom Cruise showed off footage from Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
- Attendees were shown behind-the-scenes footage of the Masters of the Universe film, so I guess it’s either actually happening, or the Impractical Jokers are involved somehow. Well, not one of them…
- The next prequel to The Hunger Games, Sunrise on the Reaping, was announced with a November 20th, 2026 global release date.
- The Bride! written, directed and produced by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and costarring Christian Bale and Annette Bening, will be a new take on The Bride of Frankenstein, with a March 6th, 2026 release date
Is that enough? That’s enough, right? Needless to say, it was a big week for theater owners and cinephiles. There’s even more news out there, so be sure to check Deadline or Variety. In the meantime, I’m proclaiming that CinemaCon 2025 had the West Week Ever.
