Something Something Hot Trailers

So, two long awaited trailers dropped this week.

The first was for Thor: Ragnarok which looks incredible. This looks like the sort of epic scale the Thor movies should have always been aiming for. Thus far, the series has been, let’s face it, a series of well produced romcoms with fantasy elements not unlike the white thirst cinema that is Starz’ Outlander. Jane and Thor make doe eyes at each other, Kat Dennings looks hot and cracks jokes, Tom Hiddleston steals the show, Kat Dennings looks hot and…..you get the idea. Rinse and repeat. Thor is one of those properties where each and every adventure should have all of existence hanging in the balance. This franchise and the Hulk’s movies should always be about super destructive epic god battles. For context, Jason Aaron’s God of Thunder series features a future vision in which an older, war worn Thor who now rules Asgard gets into a fist fight with Galactus where he thrown into the moon so hard he comes flying out the other side. I shit you not. So, a slugfest with the Hulk is more than welcome.

Until now, the movies never had that sense of scale and urgency. The trailer alludes to that and it also manages to look fun which, at the end of the day, is really the most important element to maintaining the kind of audience these movies attract or should attract (are you listening, DC?). A movie about a thunder god should go for broke AT LEAST and Ragnarok looks like it does just that.

Then, there was The Last Jedi….

Though I could geek the fuck out about every detail, I’m going to try not to go on very long about about it because I have a feeling I’m going to be talking about Star Wars a lot in the near future. First of all, the Tron inspired poster look spectacular and really gives Rey that epic hero look she needed in the Force Awakens poster.

The trailer was epic, though. I mean, it was only a minute and a half and it threw out thrills and questions to be answered faster than Janet Hubert tweeting during a Fresh Prince marathon. The part I’m most interested in is the part at the end where Luke said, “It’s time for the Jedi to end.” That line alone opens up potential for some interesting directions for Luke’s character to go. Even though the Jedi are mostly about order and learning to center your emotions and letting go of earthly attachments and shit, Skywalkers tend to have a complicated relationship with the Force. With him being literally the LAST of the Jedi, there’s no telling what secrets he learned once he found the Jedi temple. He could have learned the truth of how his father was seduced by the dark side (and how his mother was dating Anakin when he was clearly still a minor) which would be enough to give anyone resentment issues. Who knows? I’ve even heard some theories that we might get introduced to the beginning of the “Grey Order”, something we’ve never seen in mainstream canon. Also, make sure you get a good look at Poe Dameron’s black X-Wing. The ball’s in your court to pump out some quality toys and model kits, Disney. I’ll be waiting.

My review of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure.

The Week In Geek 1/6/16

This Week In Star Wars (in case you're not sick of me talking about Star Wars yet)....I was scrolling through io9 and I saw yet another article listing all of the "minor" issues with The Force Awakens which, no offense to io9 in particular, has gotten goddamned annoying. The most annoying thing is that, since Force Awakens has been so well received and is well on its way to beating Avatar in worldwide sales (meaning there's nothing to justify an article on what sucks about it), every article you read has to preface it with, "Don't get me wrong...we like this movie, but..." in the same way racists start racist comments with, "Look, I don't want to sound racist, but..." Because outside of Star Wars, the week or so after New Year's is slow news in geekdom and the usual suspects need some shit to talk about.

In this very same week, JJ Abrams was on a podcast where he gave a very reasonable explanation for the naysayer who whine about the movie being a remake of A New Hope. First of all, he shouldn't have and, quite frankly, didn't have to do that if you ask me (I'm going to say that if you're reading my blog in the first place, that counts as you asking me). For one thing, there's the inevitability that if you keep feeling the need to justify your work, you'll say something stupid that will eventually end up as comedic fodder like when Max Landis said he wanted to make American Alien the opposite of AllStar Superman (I'm assuming by "the opposite", he meant "bad" because that's what's happened so far) or when Zack Snyderclaimed to have saved Watchmen from Terry Gilliam or whatever. Furthermore, we all know that, no matter what they say, directors and writers totally listen to the fans. Even the trolls. We know this, but it just looks bad when said creators actually respond because, ultimately, NEVER have these statements ever shut fanboys up no matter how thought out they are. Never. Zack Snyder has responded to Man of Steel criticisms for ages now and yet MoS is STILL the most divisive movie every in the genre. It doesn't even work in politics. Donald Trump could get on the stump tomorrow and claim that Jeb! Bush is a holocaust denier and Jeb! could say something logical and reasonable like, "I'm not responding to nonsensical, unfounded allegations. Let's talk about the issues." Despite this being a completely mature, rational way to respond to a Presidential candidate whose entire political strategy is based around lying and flinging gargoyle shit at the other candidates, odds are good that we would still ridicule him and call him "low energy" or whatever else Trump has convinced him he is. It's not that we want to believe something Donald Trump says. We don't. We know that, in all likelihood, it isn't true. But the fact that Bush is so visibly wounded, you can tell it affects him. Even when he's not directly addressing it, he's addressing it and, ultimately, dignifying the comments. Put simply, JJ Abrams, at this juncture, should just not be dignifying these things that are only being discussed just because the nerd blogosphere needs some shit to talk about. Also, I'm not a director/producer worth millions of dollars or anything, but if MY movie were holding solid at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, io9 and anyone else who has anything to say about it could go fuck themselves no matter how well intentioned their "think piece" is. But that's just me, so....

My comic review for the week on Invincible Iron Man is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Outside of that, I may get a little inconsistent with the blog reviews since I just moved a PS4 into my house and will be playing unhealthy amounts of Destiny for both self-care and research purposes. Yes, I heard what I just said. Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous. Yes, I still mean it. That is all.

The Week In Geek 12/30/15

This Week In Things Too Geeky To Discuss With Your Friends.....No matter how you feel about Star Wars: The Force Awakens (sorry, but I'd be happy if my movie had a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes), you have to admit it's nice to have the nerd community geeking out about Star Wars again in a less abstract, fan fictiony way. It's also nice that the introduction of John Boyega's rogue trooper character, Finn, has created a reinvigorated sense of community within the Star Wars blerd fandom. I was personally getting tired of debating over Samuel L. Jackson no matter how awesome it was that he repelled an entire enemy platoon singlehandedly. My favorite thing is that, since Star Wars is a very self sustaining marketing engine that responds to its fans, you end up getting cool shit like this action figure based on everyone's favorite electro baton wielding stormtrooper. 

He wasn't a huge part of the initial marketing campaign, but after the movie released and the internet lost their shit (though I still don't understand why...I mean, he lasted for half a lightsaber fight). Now, the movie is barely two weeks old, ready to surpass Titanic sales and now he has his own action figure. He doesn't even have a name but he has an action figure. Disney wastes no time.

And the amount of detail that goes into this universe is ridiculously geeky. Nerds....we have a cross section book. My relationship with bookstores over the years has left me privy to some wildly geeky shit, but after all this time, sci-fi cross section books still stand firm in my pantheon of the geekiest shit a human being can purchase in public in front of other people. I mean, it's basically an automotive manual for vehicles that don't actually exist. Neil Degrasse Tyson is basically America's wacky Science Uncle and even he isn't THAT geeky. Isn't it fucking awesome?  

This Week In Wonderfully Nerdy Women That Don't Know I Exist.... Readers, there is simply not a higher note to start the year on than talking about Ariell Johnson, the sister from Philly who is opening up her own comic shop. The idea behind Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse is to build a sense of community in the Kensington part of Philly around two things that a). get blerds through the day and b). are both not Meek Mill: comics and coffee. It feels like the next logical step, given that the past couple of years in the industry have really been focused on creating more conversations about diversity in comics as well as the way geekdom treats women. The fact that safe spaces are happening on a physical level as well as a conversational one is an exciting prospect and a wonderful omen for the possibilities of things to come in the blerd community.

The Week In Geek: Star Wars Edition

So, This Week In Star Wars....Star Wars happened this week. So, it's should be pretty obvious that this week, I am going to be discussing Star Wars. With that in mind, if you haven't watched The Force Awakens yet, now is the time to jump ship because there are going to be spoilers after the jump. Last chance so there's no excuses.

The Week In Geek 9/2/15

So, This Week In Black Girl Magic, Netflix casted Simone Missick to play (very likely) Misty Knight in Marvel's Luke Cage series. The fact that Misty Knight is going to be in this show at all makes this one a promising venture....though I'm not counting on it being as awesome as Season One of Daredevil. But I'm more than open to being proven wrong. Luke Cage is also a great character that's overdue for another upgrade in visibility, so the show deserves a win.

This Week In Geeky Non Stories That People Lose Their Fucking Shit Over....Force Friday is a thing that happened. Basically, it was the first big reveal of the new toy line for the upcoming Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Now, I won't talk about the fact that most toy retailers were so vastly understocked, fans almost started an uprising at their local Toys R Us. I won't talk about the fact that an 18 hour live stream of people taking toys out of the fucking box is easily one of the most psychotic thing I've ever heard of since the first Saw movie was in theaters. No, I'm going to talk about the questionable nature of some of these toys like this fucking thing, for instance....

Masque #CaptainPhasma #ForceFriday #StarWars pic.twitter.com/y6H1xdt25k

— David Popineau (@davidpopineau) September 3, 2015

Look, I'm really excited that Gwendoline Christie is involved enough in the plot to merit her own toy. I'm just as glad that they're bringing back the voice changer face masks like the Darth Vader ones they had when I was a kid. But I don't feel like kids want toys that say generic shit like "On my command, fire" or the ever iconic "Submit your blaster."

On the other hand, this is unbearably cool. It's highly promising when you go in expecting a few toys to get you hyped for what is already the most hyped movie of the year (short of Age of Ultron) and come out with a droid that could very well be the future of robotics to a certain degree. Voice commands, personality, intuitive app controls? Sign me up! Disney is pulling no punches for this ad campaign! And it's not even Fall yet.

My review for the week on Thors is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment and share as you see fit.