Bleeding Fool |
- Entertainment Critic Uses Captain America to Claim America was Never Great
- How Much Further Left Can The CW’s ‘Batwoman’ Go?
- God Help Us: She-Hulk Disney+ Begins Production (Updated)
- DCEU Films Ranked: #1 ‘Batman v Superman’ (Ultimate Cut)
- Watch: Behold this 30 Year Old Russian Adaptation of ‘Lord of the Rings’
- Mark Millar’s ‘Starlight’ Nabs Director & Writer Joe Cornish
- Review: ‘Geiger’ #1 by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank
| Entertainment Critic Uses Captain America to Claim America was Never Great Posted: 15 Apr 2021 08:00 AM PDT I don’t watch a lot of contemporary entertainment anymore frankly because I am beyond tired of being lectured to from just one side of the political aisle. A week ago I tuned in to catch the return of Elliot Stabler on “Law and Order: SVU” and his new show “Law and Order: Organized Crime,” and it was a big mistake. The former used most of its characters to tell us how bad the last four years were, culminating with the January 6 “insurrection”; the latter was just plain bad, and seemed to seek a politically correct mafia. Mafia!!
The Marvel Cinematic Universe films began descending into this sort of “wokeness” with their later offerings; the segue into Disney+ has continued that. The Hollywood Reporter’s Richard Newby seems to believe this is a good thing. Newby says the values of the MCU Captain America and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s comicbook Cap have been “rejected” by modern America. But … what values, exactly? Well, “goodness,” Newby says, because World War II was “when good and evil were so clearly defined.” Not to mention, as shown in Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers more than demonstrated his inherent goodness.
Newby continues:
Newby points out that Sam Wilson’s (Falcon) sister Sarah in “Falcon and The Winter Soldier” — “a widowed single mother, small-business owner” — says in that series’ latest installment "My world doesn't matter to America, so why should I care about its mascot?" But this is pure contemporary progressivism masquerading as intellectualism, something which Coates (among others) does so well.
If Newby finds little objection to the values of the Greatest Generation, consider they weren’t exactly great for many Americans of the era at home, especially black Americans. In fact, they were pretty horrendous compared to today.
Discrimination and racial segregation were still legal. The first Cap MCU film could easily have fooled the historically illiterate; perhaps in an effort to be “diverse” it showed black soldiers freely among white troops. The truth is black soldiers during WWII were still racially segregated, and often treated like garbage by their white peers. The armed forces weren’t integrated until 1948, three years after WWII ended. Granted, there have been Cap stories that deal with these issues, most notably Truth: Red, White and Black, and a mid-2000s Annual which showed flashbacks of Cap during WWII where black soldiers had to wait until a celebration closed down for a chance to meet the superhero.
Sarah Wilson’s misgivings would have been magnified to the Nth degree in the early 1940s compared to the present day. The plain fact of the matter is that truth, justice and freedom matter a lot more to Americans today than they did in, say, 1943. Coates’ and/or Newby’s revisionisms don’t change this fact.
Further eroding Newby’s point about “clearly defined” good and evil is comicdom’s reaction to Frank Miller’s desire to have a DC’s Batman go after and fight al Qaeda, arguably the Nazis of the modern age, during the early years of the so-called War on Terror. Originally conceived as Holy Terror, Batman, Miller ultimately decided to drop the Caped Crusader from the story in favor of a character called The Fixer, and got the story published by Legendary Comics as simply Holy Terror. But Miller and his story were blasted and called “Islamophobic” by creators and reviewers alike, including Grant Morrison. Wired’s Spencer Ackerman wrote that Holy Terror was “one of the most appalling, offensive and vindictive comics of all time… [it’s] a screed against Islam, completely uninterested in any nuance or empathy toward 1.2 billion people he conflates with a few murderous conspiracy theorists.”
One can imagine Ackerman back in 1944 writing about Captain America comics: “It’s a screed against the German people, completely uninterested in any nuance about the Treaty of Versailles and conflating the beliefs of a murderous political party with the entirety of the country.”
This, well, “glossing over” of the Greatest Generation’s domestic shortcomings merely serves Newby’s conditional and “perhaps”-style statements into which he shoehorn his politics. Steve Rogers, he says, stood more in opposition to the US government than with it — just never mind that HYDRA is a big reason for that, and that his view in Civil War arguably is much more autocratic than Tony Stark’s. Longtime Avengers readers also may recall the classic issue #181 in which US government liaison Henry Gyrich dictated the team’s membership so the team could keep its government security clearances. Here, it is Cap who backs the government; in fact, he has to restrain Iron Man from belting Gyrich:
Further, Newby has an issue with Battlestar’s (aka Lemar Hoskins) role as John Walker’s (the new Cap) sidekick: “Though the character hails from the comics, there is certainly something to be said about the Black best friend who serves as emotional support to a white man.” Again, note the use of the conditional “though,” for in those comics Battlestar’s role as a “sidekick” clearly was an homage to the young Bucky, but it was explicitly noted (in Captain America #341) that Battlestar was John Walker-Cap’s partner. In fact, writer Mark Gruenwald, on advice of (black) writer Dwayne McDuffie, used the name “Battlestar” in place of “Bucky” due to the latter’s racist connotations.
Newby then manages to squeeze some Black Lives Matter activism into his screed:
And to whom, exactly, would those “white voices” belong, Mr. Newby?
Ironically, Walker ends up killing those who murdered Lemar, throwing a monkey wrench into the “incorrigibly racist America” theme (a white man avenging a black man’s death? GASP!), but for Newby it “unleashes something else: a walking mascot for America, the real America, in all of its carelessness, cruelty and displaced sense of justice.” (In the comics, it was the death of Walker’s parents at the hands of, ironically again, a far-right militia group which caused Walker to go berserk.)
Speaking of Frank Miller, ultimately a panel of his creation (and that of artist David Mazzucchelli) represents the true spirit of Captain America:
Of course, that dream has yet to be fully realized, but we’re a lot closer to it now than we were during Cap’s earliest days … despite what Newby, Coates, or myriad other progressives tell you. The inherent weaknesses of their arguments lie in the fact that they say racism is now “unseen,” and/or manifested in things like “microaggressions.” For example, they’ll turn rare instances of police misconduct into “widespread crises” (thanks largely to social media), and for the most part the government and corporations are on their side. Compare how the government/law enforcement treated the Antifa/BLM protesters last summer to those at the January 6 Capitol demonstration. Look what Major League Baseball did with its All-Star Game in response to Georgia’s new voter law. Consider how the media and “intellectuals” blame “white supremacy” for any conceivable crime, even when it’s patently ridiculous to do so.
The “dream” mentioned by Cap above includes the aforementioned Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous dream. But modern progressives have already repudiated it. Far from being colorblind and treating everyone the same regardless of skin tone, progressives’ new mantra of “equity” means that race must be acknowledged (including granting that “white privilege” and “supremacy” are still rampant), and then figured into an ever-malleable formula to enact “justice.” In a multicultural nation, this is a recipe for disaster as every racial and ethnic group will constantly grapple for a share of the racial spoils.
In the years to come, Marvel may have to write another installment of “Civil War,” this time based on real contemporary events. The post Entertainment Critic Uses Captain America to Claim America was Never Great appeared first on Bleeding Fool.  |
| How Much Further Left Can The CW’s ‘Batwoman’ Go? Posted: 15 Apr 2021 06:15 AM PDT
Newsbusters took a look at the Batwoman TV series, which is riddled with quite a few ultra-leftist tactics like negative takes on private enterprise and gun owners, apparently drawing from BLM conspiracy theories:
So prisons, but not the general public concerned about crime, huh? Not to mention how questionable it is whether private facilities have the legal authority to authorize prisoners with temporary release if they’ve been sentenced by state courts. This is some pretty laughable scrap alright. I guess that could explain why so far, this TV show is still on the air: it wouldn’t be shocking if we’ve gotten to the point where propaganda is subsidized behind the scenes, possibly on taxpayers’ money. Or maybe one day, we’ll find out if that’s the case.
This is one of the reasons why I’ve been discouraged with watching TV shows based on comic material, and this one is based on one of far-leftist Greg Rucka’s developments of the late 2000s, a time when mainstream comics were in very bad shape, no thanks to disgraces like him. As though it weren’t bad enough the Supergirl TV show fell victim to this garbage already.
Originally published here. The post How Much Further Left Can The CW’s ‘Batwoman’ Go? appeared first on Bleeding Fool.  |
| God Help Us: She-Hulk Disney+ Begins Production (Updated) Posted: 15 Apr 2021 04:45 AM PDT
Against our better judgment, Marvel Studios is rapidly moving forward on the development of their upcoming slate of television shows for Disney+. She-Hulk, the Tatiana Maslany-starring courtroom comedy, has been in pre-production for months, and now, an official government website has updated the status of the production. She-Hulk centers around the quick-witted super-strong cousin of Bruce Banner. As certain tracking accounts have pointed out online, the official website for the State of Georgia has added She-Hulk to its list of projects currently in production in the Peach State. Kevin Feige previously said at the beginning of March that the Jessica Gao-led series would begin rolling cameras in a matter of weeks. The latest website updates fit perfectly in line with those comments from the Marvel Studios boss. Another previous report has revealed that five new She-Hulk roles are currently being cast for the series. These roles include Jennifer Walters’ parents, who will be in their 60’s and play supporting roles, as well as a role for a male co-worker in his late 20’s to 30’s, who is described as “sweet,” “earnest,” and “handsome in a John Krasinski sort of way…” The role is also said to be “leaning diverse but open to all ethnicities.”
According to The Direct, two more important characters listed include Jennifer Walters’ best friend in the show, who is reportedly codenamed as “Susie,” with the production looking for a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) actress in her 30’s, and specifically looking for someone with strong comedic abilities.
*GROAN* Wouldn’t be Marvel and Disney without emphasis on ‘identity politics,’ would it?
The final character is a female villain in her 30’s under the codename “Lucy.” This antagonist is reportedly described as “…a glamorous social media influencer, Kardashian-esque with a dark side,” and will play a fairly large role in the series, appearing in five to ten episodes.
*GROAN* “Kardashian-esque”? Really? It sounds like She-Hulk is gearing up for a series that will damage the fun legacy of my favorite green and charismatic superhero for at least one generation. I’ll still tune in for the premiere.
Here’s hoping they don’t screw it up.
The post God Help Us: She-Hulk Disney+ Begins Production (Updated) appeared first on Bleeding Fool.  |
| DCEU Films Ranked: #1 ‘Batman v Superman’ (Ultimate Cut) Posted: 14 Apr 2021 05:00 PM PDT
#1 in my ranking of the DCEU franchise.
The sequel to Man of Steel feels both of the previous film and decidedly apart. Where the first one had a rough visual aesthetic with a lot of hand held camera work, the sequel largely sidesteps that. Where the first explored character in a solid block before giving way to a relatively straightforward plot in the second half, the sequel is mired in an overcomplicated plot from the first scene. The ambition is still there, though, to tell a story of epic scope, and while I definitely don't think of this as a masterpiece, I do find so much to enjoy.
My favorite part of this whole this is probably Ben Affleck as Batman and Bruce Wayne. He could be the older version of Michael Keaton's Batman. He's grizzled and has been doing his dark knighting for a very long time. The destruction at the appearance of the Superman broke him, though. He watched a flying god fight another flying god and level Metropolis. He knew people who died because of it. As a man who's been fighting freaks in clown makeup for twenty years, he's suddenly faced with an existential threat in the form of a superman who, if he decided he wanted to for whatever reason, enslave and destroy the entire planet (something he dreams of at one point). His monomaniacal focus on fighting Superman is the best part of the movie, and Affleck plays that rage really well.
In order to get there, the movie has a very, very involved plot that goes from an African tribal warlord and terrorist, independent security contractors, mystery bullets, Congressional hearings, a Senator blocking an import license, a former Wayne Enterprises employee and his checks that never got to him from his injury, and a few other things along the way. Cutting through it all late in the movie, it all boils down to: Lex Luthor, billionaire, is manipulating Superman, Batman, and the media to drive a wedge between everyone in an effort to get Batman to kill Superman or to get Superman to kill Batman. The former rids the world of the threat of Superman. The latter shows the world that Superman is not worthy of praise or worship and turns the world against him.
A quick note in the middle: I've only ever seen the Ultimate Cut of this movie. I've never seen the Theatrical Cut. The Ultimate Cut's plot is a challenge to assemble, but it's ultimately doable. I've read that it's impossible in the Theatrical Cut. For that alone, I'd recommend the Ultimate Cut if you're interested in checking it out. I've owned the Theatrical Cut since I bought the Blu-ray, and I've never even bothered to start it.
Now, this plot is a lot. It's too much, and it really needed to be pared back a little bit at the least. Cutting the African warlord would have been a good first step, but it needed to be addressed at the script level, and not in editing. The African warlord does end up paying off, but it's about two hours after he'd disappeared from the film, leaving a lot of little things for the audience to keep track of that all end up being distractions.
Outside of that, though, I think this movie is really smart. It's an exploration of the messianic and apocalyptic implications of Superman revealing himself to the planet. He gets worshiped, and he gets feared, and the public are easily swayed in each direction. That manifests most in how Luthor is able to manipulate Bruce Wayne into homicidal rage against Superman. That Bruce Wayne starts from a point of anger makes the manipulation work dramatically. It should also be said that at no point does the audience feel ahead of the characters in unraveling the plot because the plot is so complicated, so there's never a point where, no matter what the audience's consideration of Batman's motives or actions, the audience will wonder how Wayne could be so stupid to fall for such a easy to figure out scheme because it's kind of impossible to figure out. So there's a positive for the pretty much incomprehensible plot as it plays out.
Superman is in a tough place as this all works. He just wants to do good, what's in his nature, but even his mother is saying that he doesn't need to put up with all this nonsense, that he owes the world nothing. There are pressures for him to simply stop trying to help, but he refuses. That refusal is key to Luthor's plan. He needs to be good so that Luthor can prove him to be bad, to put him in an impossible position and force him to choose wrong. Superman, in a fallen world, finds it impossible to stay as good as his ideals demand of him.
I find this approach to the two main characters really interesting and a great way to get through the adventure. Outside of it, the movie has a lot going for it as well. Expensively produced, the movie embraces a dark visual palate that fits the darker thematic approach to the comic book material. Within that, the brooding nature of Batman and Gotham City fit like a glove, and the more somber approach to Superman's place in the world fits as well. Whether you like that approach to a super hero more generally viewed as a bright and shining beacon seems to amount to personal taste and attachment to the source material, but I've never been that attached to Superman as an ideal, so I'm good with it.
As I said before, Ben Affleck is probably my favorite Batman, and Henry Cavil plays the conflicted nature of this Superman well. Amy Adams is a quality Lois Lane, and I kind of love the manic, twitchy performance of Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor.
Now, I want to address the Martha moment. Just for the record, my wife watched this with me on this most recent viewing, and she hadn't seen it before. She did not laugh hysterically like I thought she would at the Martha moment, so there's that. The Martha moment doesn't come out of nowhere, the clues are there that Superman knows his mother and Bruce's mother have the same name, that Bruce is still doing what he's doing out of a need to make up for his parents' death, and that reason hasn't gotten through to him. He needs to get Batman to think differently, and an emotional punch should do. I think the moment could be set up better to help, but it ultimately still doesn't completely work. What is it about Martha Kent having the same first name as Martha Wayne that gets Batman to stop trying to kill Superman? I'm unclear. What does Bruce Wayne suddenly see in him? It's, well, it's unclear. This is a first draft idea rushed into production. It needed to be better ironed out because I think the idea has merit in general, but in execution it leaves a good bit to be desired.
All in all, though, the Ultimate Cut of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is a ride through a complex plot with some interesting stuff on its mind at the same time. There's great spectacle along the way as well. It could have used more time as a script to hammer some stuff out and clear some stuff up, but as it is, I find it an entertaining three hours.
Rating: 3/4
Originally published here. The post DCEU Films Ranked: #1 'Batman v Superman' (Ultimate Cut) appeared first on Bleeding Fool.  |
| Watch: Behold this 30 Year Old Russian Adaptation of ‘Lord of the Rings’ Posted: 14 Apr 2021 02:55 PM PDT Between the upcoming Amazon Prime adaptation and it being the 20th anniversary of the first film from Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings has been on a lot of people's minds lately. Turns out there's even more goodness from a thirty year old made-for-television series from Russia. Titled Khraniteli, the once believed lost forever series has recently been discovered and loaded up to YouTube by Russia's Channel 5. The series debuted the same year that the Soviet Union officially dissolved, which makes it being misplaced make a lot of sense. The series was adapted by Vladimir Muravyov and Andrey Kistyakovsky and starred Viktor Kostetsky as Gandalf, Georgy Shtil as Bilbo and Valery Dyachenko as Frodo.
While the project was obviously on a low budget being made for television, they used a handful of tricks that Jackson would use ten years later like "forced perspective" to make the size differences work. And one thing the Russian series has that Tolkien fan's complain is missing from Jackson's work is the character of Tom Bombadil. You can watch the first part here
and the second part here.
 The post Watch: Behold this 30 Year Old Russian Adaptation of ‘Lord of the Rings’ appeared first on Bleeding Fool.  |
| Mark Millar’s ‘Starlight’ Nabs Director & Writer Joe Cornish Posted: 14 Apr 2021 01:00 PM PDT The 20th Century Studios adaptation of the Mark Millar comic Starlight has just gotten a jolt of excitement. Joe Cornish, best known for directing Attack the Block, has signed on to write and direct the comic by Millar, the creator of Wanted, the Kingsman films and Kick-Ass. Cornish is primarily an English comedian and filmmaker. With his long-time comedy partner, Adam Buxton, he forms the comedy duo Adam and Joe. In 2011, Cornish released his directorial debut with Attack the Block. He also co-wrote The Adventures of Tintin with Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright, and Ant-Man, with Wright, Adam McKay and Paul Rudd.
Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon are producing through Kinberg's Genre Films banner, and Nira Park has joined as producer. The comic centers on a space hero who saved the universe 35 years ago but when he came back to Earth, no one believed his fantastic stories. He married, had kids and settled into old age, but then his old rocket ship shows up, and he is called back for one fantastic adventure. Starlight embraced its Golden Age sci-fi roots and indulged in unapologetic camp, which gave the comic a patina of pure, mindless escapism.
This film has great potential.
via Deadline The post Mark Millar's ‘Starlight’ Nabs Director & Writer Joe Cornish appeared first on Bleeding Fool.  |
| Review: ‘Geiger’ #1 by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank Posted: 14 Apr 2021 11:00 AM PDT
Gary Frank has been working on the biggest heroes that DC and Marvel have. But now it’s time for a change, and he’s doing that with his long-time collaborator and friend, writer Geoff Johns in their latest collaborative effort for Image Comics, a new series called Geiger. OverviewTwenty years after the nukes fly and the world is thrust into an apocalyptic fallout a legend circulates; The legend of the one who walks outside without a suit. In this new world when the air is radioactive and people need suits to travel outside this man is impossible. As impossible as it is though he does exist and his name is Tariq Geiger.
ImpressionGeoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Brad Anderson have teamed up again on this original title. Whenever Gary and Brad get together it’s always amazing. These two creators complement each other so well. so, the art is on-point in this. It will leave you lingering on certain pages just to take it all in. It’s also a breath of fresh air to see them expanding outside of the superhero genre. After so many years of seeing them doing the capes and superheroic posing, it’s a treat to get to see them working outside of that.
The story is from both Geoff and Gary and this is where the issue starts to take a dip that the art can’t lift up. Despite this being a series set in a nuclear post-apocalypse, there are a few story elements that take the reader out of it. The first is the fact that Tariq, our man without a suit, looks and acts like a superhero complete with a hood and cape. The creators have set up a world of survival, environmental danger, and a new society that formed in the aftermath, and then it hits you as the last pages unfold that this feels like fallout. That isn’t a bad thing though. Fallout is awesome. It does leave confusion about what this series will be and what it’s about.
Normally a first issue tells you that, but this one leaves one wondering about that.
There is a concern with this title though. The last time this team worked together on Doomsday Clock they were plagued with constant delays that ultimately ruined its reception. Johns is still an incredibly busy man and this title could face the same kind of delays.
Final VerdictIn spite of everything this initial issue contains, it still hasn’t really set up Tariq as a character yet. But I’d be lying if I said the mystery of his being doesn’t intrigue me. The different elements do throw off the overall feel and could leave you confused as to what this world is exactly. This is coming with a hesitant recommendation. You can buy the comic for yourself here. The post Review: ‘Geiger’ #1 by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank appeared first on Bleeding Fool.  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Bleeding Fool. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment