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- Superman Films Ranked: #8 Joss Whedon’s ‘Justice League’ (2017)
- Indie Comics Showcase #183: Overmind, Rayne of Ages, & Rabbit’s Badass Song
- Will ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Strike Another Blow Against the Patriarchy?
- Pride Pandering: Mattel’s Transgender Barbie Made Where Gays are Beaten
- Art Spiegelman Blames Christianity on His ‘Maus’ Being Censored
- Netflix CEO Says Free Expression ‘Very Important to American Culture’
| Superman Films Ranked: #8 Joss Whedon’s ‘Justice League’ (2017) Posted: 01 Jun 2022 03:25 PM PDT
#8 in my ranking of the theatrically released Superman films. #5 in my ranking of the DCEU franchise.
The biggest mistake Warner Brothers seems to have made about their big team up picture isn't that they forced it too early, it's that they forced it to be two hours long. I have to imagine that part of the reason Zack Snyder left the project in the middle of post-production was that Warner Brothers was demanding a two-hour film and he knew he couldn't tell the story he had made well in less than three hours. After the loss of his daughter to suicide, he probably wasn't up for that kind of fight and simply tossed in the towel, allowing Warner Brothers to bring in Joss Whedon who ended up retooling the movie to such a degree that it feels like a lesser cousin to his own The Avengers rather than the next movie in the DCEU.
The movie has six main characters, only three of whom have any previous screentime more than a couple of minutes in the franchise up to that point. Superman had two movies. Batman and Wonder Woman each had one. But Cyborg, the Flash, and Aquaman had nothing other than brief cameos in Batman V Superman, so the movie needed to really focus on these three, giving them time to grow within the film itself to help them carry their weight. The problem with the two hour runtime is that so much needs to be dedicated to the bringing together of this new group, setting up the plot, setting, and overall conflict, that there's very little time left for character building. According to Zack Snyder, Cyborg was the emotional heart of the film, and that seems like the right place. He's the most "outside" of the group, dealing with his own problems of belonging because of his unnatural existence built from one of the Motherboxes hidden on Earth for thousands of years. Whedon seems to have moved the focus to the Flash, though, because Ezra Miller is quippy in a way that fits well with the way Whedon writes dialogue, but the Flash himself isn't that interesting as he is in the final cut.
So, Superman is dead and Batman has a bad feeling that bad stuff's coming. He needs a team of super people, so he tracks down the three other people listed in the hard drive he stole from Lex Luthor in Batman V Superman. The first fifty minutes or so of this movie feels like it could be arranged in almost any order as it's all made up of the kind of set up scenes that don't really need direct connection to the events immediately proceeding and succeeding it to make sense. It's fine to have for a time, but when almost the first half of the film is built this way, that ends up making a rather tiring first half to sit through. Anyway, Batman tracks down Aquaman, gets rejected, the Flash who quickly accepts because he needs friends, and Diana tracks down Cyborg who seems willing to help but not join.
The villain of the film, Steppenwolf, shows up in Themyscira and absolutely wrecks the greatest warriors on Earth, the Amazons (the second such beating they've gotten in this series) before stealing one of the three Motherboxes on Earth. The other two were hidden by the Atlantians under the ocean and by man, which man had rediscovered and used on Victor Stone to make him Cyborg after a near fatal car crash in a desperate move by his father who had access to it. Steppenwolf gets the second box from Atlantis just as Aquaman is swimming by which allows for a dull information dump about who Aquaman is and how he's important in the middle of a movie with an actual plot to get to. This somehow convinces him to get involved (really, this movie needed another hour at least of storytelling). Steppenwolf then follows a set of clues to Victor's father in his effort to find the third of the boxes, which leads to the first team up of the five living members of the nascent Justice League that leaves them with little to show for it.
In the face of such an imposing threat, they decide to use the last of the three Motherboxes on Superman's corpse to try and revive him, which obviously works, leading to the single best sequence in the film (and, it seems, the only Superman scene preserved from Snyder's original cut without major reshoots from Whedon). Superman doesn't know who he is, and he's angry, especially when he sees Batman, his burgeoning memories pointing to him as an enemy. The five against Superman is a good little action sequence where the highlight is the Flash realizing that Superman is as fast as he is. It's quality stuff.
And it's over too soon, but the movie suddenly does have a direction after Steppenwolf steals the last of the Motherboxes. He goes to an abandoned nuclear power plant in Russia where he will combine the three into one, a process that will ignite a terraforming process and turn Earth into a facsimile of Steppenwolf's planet. Sound familiar? So, the five go to Russia with an objective to stop Steppenwolf, get Cyborg to the Motherboxes so he can separate them (further evidence that he should have been the central character in this ensemble piece), and defeat Steppenwolf once and for all.
The big action scene is big and well done (considering the size and scale, it's probably also primarily Snyder's work) with a Russian family thrown in to give the heroes a moment where they save people, most likely in direct reaction to people's thoughts on the first two Superman movies in the DCEU where the little people were largely forgotten. It's big and destructive and look good, so there's that, but it's ultimately kind of unengaging because the character work is so incredibly thin, all because a story that should never have been squeezed into two hours got squeezed into two hours.
There are also tonal things with the movie. Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder are not similar directors. Snyder is kind of ponderous and self-importantly bombastic while Whedon is light and comic. Whedon as a choice to replace Snyder was an obvious attempt by Warner Brothers to distance the franchise from the stepping stones that Snyder had established. The break in tone would be less of an issue if Whedon had made Justice League from the beginning, but the material isn't really built to support non-stop quips from the characters. A lot of the fun dialogue (which I do find fun, by the way) seems to break from scenes to have a quip rather than be a rational extension of the scene in any way. It's a weird, Frankenstein's monster of a film that way.
I was prepared for Snyder's cut to be a superior film, mostly because I expected the expanded four hour runtime will be used to fill in the character holes created by whittling the film down so much. I don't really expect it to be a masterpiece, but for the new cut to be in line with Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, ie, big, earnest, ambitious, and flawed. Whedon's cynicism doesn't really seem to fit in this universe.
Still, the movie has its charms. Its second half works pretty basically after the flagging first half. It looks good, and there are winning performances all around. It's mildly entertaining, but nothing exactly special.
*see my review of Zack Snyder’s cut here.
Rating: 2/4
Originally published here The post Superman Films Ranked: #8 Joss Whedon’s 'Justice League' (2017) appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Indie Comics Showcase #183: Overmind, Rayne of Ages, & Rabbit’s Badass Song Posted: 01 Jun 2022 01:15 PM PDT
Welcome back to another installment of Indie Comics Showcase, the weekly blog where we signal boost a few truly independent comics that are currently crowdfunding their projects, crowdsourcing their funding in some way, or just completely self-publishing on their own. Every little bit of support for these creators matters, from a single dollar pledge to the twenty-five dollar bundle, and of course the higher tiers are usually fun too! Even if you can’t back a campaign or buy a book, you can share or tweet about these projects to your friends and followers.
On Indie Comics Showcase, we interview the creators, show off some art, and tell you how you can check out the product for yourself. Below we have some outstanding crowdfunding campaigns this week for you to learn about, enjoy, and hopefully support by backing one or more of them! Thanks for checking these out and for being the best part of Indie Comics Showcase. Let's jump in!
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| Will ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Strike Another Blow Against the Patriarchy? Posted: 01 Jun 2022 10:55 AM PDT
Warner Brothers recently released a trailer for the psychological thriller Don't Worry Darling. And as you watch it, you can't help asking yourself if this is going to be another movie that's striking a blow against the patriarchy. Soon after the trailer starts, it begins giving off a The Stepford Wives vibe: the mid-20th century art direction, the overly happy women giggling in their dresses, and the men demanding unquestioning compliance from them. You just get a feeling that this is going to be another woman-good-man-bad sermon.
In fact, I'd be surprised if the movie isn't misandristic. Apart from the mid-20th century art direction in general, the imagery throughout the trailer hints that's where it's going to go. For instance, there's the shot of two men in red grabbing star Florence Pugh, and the shot where Pugh's head is encased in plastic wrap as she reaches up with her finely manicured nails to tear it off. And then there's the shot of Pugh in the kitchen: she's wearing a dress and apron while she prepares food.
Would modern Hollywood produce a movie that positively portrays a woman dressing and acting in such a domestic way?
On top of all this, Olivia Wilde is directing the film. There's just something about this choice that adds to my belief that there could be a particular message with Don't Worry Darling . . . although I can't seem to place my finger on it . . . hmmm. Oh, yeah. I guess I might be thinking about stuff like this.
As a side note, I don't believe stories set in, or stylistically modeled after, the mid-20th century need to be negative. Indeed, I believe they should be positive. The mid-20th century was arguably the last good era in America. In fact, it would be fun to read or see a story that turns The Stepford Wives trope on its head. In other words, instead of a tale about how well-dressed and well-mannered women are "the victims of the patriarchy," how about a story that shows a brash feminist finally finding happiness when she repents and becomes a 1950s-like housewife, finely clothed in a dress, apron, and heels while she prances around the kitchen? That would be great.
For those who are interested in learning if Don't Worry Darling will strike a blow against the patriarchy, the movie is scheduled to open in theaters on Sep. 23. The post Will 'Don't Worry Darling' Strike Another Blow Against the Patriarchy? appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Pride Pandering: Mattel’s Transgender Barbie Made Where Gays are Beaten Posted: 01 Jun 2022 08:25 AM PDT
In celebration of transgender actor Laverne Cox and “Pride month,” Mattel has produced a new transgender Barbie doll. But a cursory look at the tiny print on the doll’s packaging shows that the transgender doll is created in Indonesia, where homosexual and transgender people continue to face pervasive prejudice and where same-sex marriage is outlawed. Does this mean the company is just blindly cashing-in on the transgender trend, or could it be just an unfortunate oversight?
The doll, released last Wednesday, is selling for $40 US.
As reported at Breitbart:
The "Laverne Cox Barbie Tribute Collection" doll, which is intended for ages six and up, features a posable likeness of the Orange Is the New Black star wearing a red ball gown with a translucent skirt that reveals Cox's legs. The collector's item retails for $40.
"Laverne Cox uses her voice to amplify the message of moving beyond societal expectations to live more authentically," Mattel said in praising the Hollywood celebrity
Reporter David Ng questions Cox’s ability to live “authentically” in Indonesia, where the doll is made, according to official product labeling.
While homosexuality isn't a crime in the overwhelmingly Muslim country, gays and transgenders still face criminal persecution in the country's Aceh province, where Sharia is the official law. Sharia forbids same-sex relations of any kind. Last year, authorities in Aceh publicly flogged two men 77 times each after they were allegedly caught having sex. […] Same-sex marriage is still illegal in Indonesia. In recent years, government authorities have cracked down on gays, using the country's anti-pornography laws to make arrests.
In response to questions from reporter David Ng, Mattel has declined to comment. The post Pride Pandering: Mattel’s Transgender Barbie Made Where Gays are Beaten appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Art Spiegelman Blames Christianity on His ‘Maus’ Being Censored Posted: 01 Jun 2022 06:15 AM PDT
The Australian youth magazine Happy spoke with cartoonist Art Spiegelman at a local convention, and he still seems oblivious to valid queries whether his own side of the political spectrum has anything to do with Maus getting banished from Tennessee school libraries:
Oh, good grief. So he believes Christianity – and only Christianity – is responsible for this unfortunate ban on his book at the Tennessee schools?
Let’s be clear. Nobody’s saying religion’s incapable of leading to embarrassments like this one, or that it never did. But if Spiegelman were serious, he’d recognize secular-minded liberals can perform censorship too, for very un-altruistic reasons, and does he think it’s okay if children grow up to be vulgar? That’s practically what led to the prevailing mentality during WW2 and the Holocaust. If there’s no education provided on why it pays to be polite and good natured, it is any wonder there’s bound to be a lack of respect for human life somewhere around the corner?
In addition, if Spiegelman believes children should be allowed to question authority, does he also believe they should be allowed to question the left-wing takes on authority? Same with left-leaning parents who could have questionable MOs. These queries go unanswered in these discussions with him. So how can we be certain Spiegelman’s a realist if he won’t question his own side of the political spectrum? If he thinks only Christianity’s the problem, then he’s missing some much bigger boats sailing around out there, including what happened with a few of Dr. Seuss’ classic tales last year. As a result, some could wonder if all Spiegelman really cares about is his own writings and art, and not anybody else’s.
Originally published here. The post Art Spiegelman Blames Christianity on His ‘Maus’ Being Censored appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Netflix CEO Says Free Expression ‘Very Important to American Culture’ Posted: 01 Jun 2022 04:45 AM PDT
In an interview published Sunday, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos reaffirmed his support for artistic freedom, defending comedians Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais against those who wish to muzzle their opposing viewpoints. He recently told the New York Times that comedians had a mission to push the bounds of societal acceptance.
Mr. Sarandos said that, while he was taken by surprise at the kerfuffle, he did not agonize over supporting Mr. Chappelle. He said that the only way comedians can figure out where the line is, is by "crossing the line every once in a while. I think it's very important to the American culture generally to have free expression." He continued: "We're programming for a lot of diverse people who have different opinions and different tastes and different styles, and yet we're not making everything for everybody. We want something for everybody but everything's not going to be for everybody." He said he believes this deeply, so his decision about Mr. Chappelle "wasn't hard in that way. And rarely do you get the opportunity to put your principles to the test," he said. "It was an opportunity to take somebody, like in Dave's case, who is, by all measure, the comedian of our generation, the most popular comedian on Netflix for sure. Nobody would say that what he does isn't thoughtful or smart. You just don't agree with him. "
While his Times interview focused mostly on Dave Chappelle, it also touched on Ricky Gervais’ new special, Supernature, which premiered last week and attracted similar criticism for allegedly utilizing “transphobic language”.
In May, at the “Netflix Is a Joke Festival” at the Hollywood Bowl, Mr. Chappelle was attacked onstage by a guy who said he was “triggered” by the comedian’s remarks about the LGBTQ community. Netflix quickly published a new corporate culture document a few days later, which received 10,000 responses after six months of discussion among company workers. The memo told the staff that “if you’d find it difficult to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the right location for you”.
The Netflix CEO also reaffirmed that his remarks on Chappelle’s liberties, saying that they were universal and obviously extended to Gervais as well.
The post Netflix CEO Says Free Expression 'Very Important to American Culture' appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
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