#snydercut spoilers

[weclassybouquetfun]

With the release of AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, the DCEU has officially ended.

You could never make me hate you.

AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM THOUGHTS. MORE SPOILERS THAN FISH IN THE SEA.

THE GOOD

-Loved the humour of it. The DCEU has been so serious and I find myself loving the lighter ones like WONDER WOMAN 2, the SHAZAM films and THE FLASH. Plus, Jason Momoa is better equipped for comedy/action, than drama. Meanwhile, Patrick Wilson excels at both! How great is he in this?!

Wilson was just so game. The cockroach scenes (scenes because there is a mid-credit call-back) would have been downright dumb if it was played by someone less committed than Wilson.

And the humour in their interactions weren't clunky because this is Arthur having the brother experience that he never had. It ties back to his father Tom (Temuera Morrison) saying Junior should have a sibling and how he wished Arthur had one. Now we see it played out, complete with the older sibling bullying (convincing Orm to eat a cockroach by saying it's the shrimp of the land. Which is priceless because people call shrimp the cockroaches of the seas).

-As soon as Kordax said his darkest night had ended, I knew what was going on.

Blackest Night!!!!!

Yes, the core story was vastly different but this was the their nod to it.

-People living under the sea should stoke the imagination so I'm happy they finally made the civilization under the sea so lively instead of us just watching Atlantean council meetings. Give us the nightlife!

THE BAD

-I don't think we got enough time with Black Manta.

It honestly felt like Randall Park's Stephen Shin had more screen-time.

Stephen who is obviously Jimmy Woo's identical twin cousin.

I think the film should have gone deeper into David Kane's slip into madness due to the trident with more of his "Gollum" scenes where we can see how Kordax is spurring him on.

But at least they gave Black Manta a great death. I was just waiting for Arthur to grab him and Black Manta still fall to his death. But it's so fitting that David wouldn't dare let the man who killed his father (a man who doesn't even feel bad about it) save him. True standing on business! Or falling... Falling on business.

-The water effects are horrible. I think it likely looks better in 3D but in standard - hazy, uncanny valley.

THE REST

-Pilou Asbaek plays Kordax and I find it fitting that my wretched sh!tty despot uncle of the Iron Islands plays a power hungry Atlantean.

-I was the only person to laugh at the Topo line spoken by Atlanna (Nicole Kidman).

Return of the King.

And Storm!

-Though in the SnyderCut we get Martian Manhunter, thus fulfilling the motto of Unite the Seven

in this film we get another united seven - the seven kingdoms of Atlantis which includes the titular lost kingdom.

-Felt like James Wan did a fair bit of nods. We get Orn living above ground at an outdoor restaurant a'la Bruce's retired life in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Arthur and Orn's team-up is like Thor and Loki's in THOR: RAGNAROK. Arthur even calls Orn Loki before making a Harry Potter reference.

There's a shot of Black Manta sat in the navigation chair in his Black Manta gear casting the same type of demeanor as T'Challa in BLACK PANTHER. The ending with Arthur deciding to tell the world about Atlantis is straight cribbed from BLACK PANTHER and IRON MAN. Is this the cinematic version of someone losing a match and shaking the hand of their opponent?

[thebossestunicycle]

Final Flash Update: an actual review

The DCEU has always been very hit or miss for me, but it has a special place in my heart. When Man of Steel came out, my dad was OBSESSED with it (still is), and it became the first superhero movie I ever watched. Despite the mediocre scores internet-wide (and how the terraforming scared the shit out of me as a kid), I cannot help but love that film to death. It really sparked my interest with superheroes and just ‘nerdier’ stuff in general.

While the DCEU opened me up to the whole world of superheroes, it also became part of what made me so weary of comic book movies. While there were good movies like Wonder Woman (2017) and (hot take) Black Adam, and great ones like the Snydercut, there were also huge disappointments that left me feeling pissed off when the theater lights turned back on. It’s not like all of these movies are downright horrible in every way (exception being 2016’s Suicide Squad), but each seemed to have its own form of kryptonite. The Justice League (2017)’s being its lack of character development; Wonder Woman 1984’s forgettable plot; and of course, Batman v. Superman’s Martha scene.

With the DCEU’s track record, the over saturation of superhero media, and with Ezra Miller being… Ezra Miller, my hopes for this movie were extremely low. But I actually left the theater feeling pretty.. decent?

Here are my main takeaways. Spoilers ahead:

Plot + Characters

As of now, I haven’t noticed any critical plot holes, which is pretty great, especially considering it’s a multiverse movie and all. Everything that blew up in Barry’s face was tied up nicely. But I am sorta curious to see how moving the tomato can caused Ben Affleck to become George Clooney.

The time mechanics were also pretty neat, like how a new future creates a new past.

I kinda like Barry a lot. He’s wicked awkward but it’s funny to watch.

Younger Barry too! He was such an airhead in the beginning that I was shocked to find out he was the guy that our Barry kept seeing when he time travelled.

I found Keaton’s Batman entertaining too. But the whole time Keaton didn’t really seem like he was trying to act. He just looked happy to be Batman again, which I can’t blame him for. On that note, I wish Bale’s Batman made a cameo somehow.

I was underwhelmed with the Zod plot. I was ready to watch him totally kick Flash’s ass. I didn’t mind Kara, but again she was a bit underwhelming too.

I got excited when Zod mentioned discovering Clark in his pod somewhere in space. I was like “Oh shit, did they take him in and train him to fight for them?” Seeing an evil Superman would’ve been crazy, but nah, they just killed him instead. Lame-os.

Effects / CGI

Oh man, I did not enjoy some of the choices made here.

First of all, the deep fake cameos. And also, deepfaking people like Adam West and all, who are dead, is a little odd. However Nicholas Cage showing up was very funny.

Then there was the CGI in the Speedverse (?? correct me if that’s the wrong name). It was video-game level. I felt like I was watching a skyrim-inspired acid trip.

Even outside of speedverse, the quality was really spotty.

Action

Oh my god, it’s so refreshing when there’s even the tiniest ounce of creativity in fight scenes (Looking at you, MCU).

Diving deeper into Barry’s powers was cool and seeing him fight with (and then against) himself was neat!

Then there was also pretty standard Batman stuff that I’m a sucker for

NEEDED a better Kara v. Zod fight. I wanted lasers. I wanted them to go to space. ANYTHING

Overall Emotional Reaction

Both Barrys hit hard a few times. The desperation to fix everything. Having to let go of their mom and accept their fate(s?). The scene when he said goodbye to her for the last time was pretty sad.

The themes were simple: accept your past; pain makes us who we are; etc etc. But there’s nothing really wrong with that.

The jokes landed! I laughed with, not at, most things

…Okay, I did laugh out loud at some things, like the deepfakes and when the Barrys phased for the first time.

But yeah, it was really enjoyable to watch. The runtime wasn’t an issue at all. Dull moments were rare (though I didn’t give a single shit about Barry’s dating life at all)

Final Score:

Characters: 7/10

Plot: 7/10

CGI: 4/10

Action: 7/10

6.3 / 10

If I had to rank: above Black Adam, below Wonder Woman

but seriously can they just recast flash already. I wish ezra miller all the best on rehabbing themselves, and they really do a great job with the character, but it’s like they’re trying to get a jail sentence with everything they’ve done

[zacksnydered]

Bruce “ I’m a rich bitch” Wayne Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) Dir. Zack Snyder

[uservaulty]

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

[mndvx]

ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE (2021)

[batfleckgifs]

“Flight is its nature.” “Yours too.”

[taraknowless]

Zack Snyder making “We live in a society” purely for shits and giggles and then not putting it in the actual movie really is *chef’s kiss*

[thelovewittch]

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

[punishcrimea]

me when diana and bruce touched hands accidentally

[positively--speculative]

I think one of my favorite parts of ZSJL is the amount of compassion Arthur had towards Victor after he lost his father. That was so touching to me.

I mean, I hate Joss Whedon, and my emotions towards The Avengers are mixed. I still like the first movie, but ughhh...I was never convinced they were ever really friends. I’ve mentioned before that I never felt like their issues with one another were ever resolved--it was more like, “Okay, guys...we still don’t like each other, but let’s suck it up and fight Loki before he takes over the world!”

ZSJL really gave me the impression that the Justice League liked each other by the end. They showed compassion for each other in all of the most difficult obstacles. If any conflict were to happen between any of them, I would be convinced that it was serious. I didn’t get that impression with Civil War. I never really was convinced that Tony and Steve were friends, so that conflict was underwhelming to me. Shit, the only Avengers that I’ve ever been convinced are friendly--Bruce and Thor--weren’t even there for the fight. So, yeah, if the Justice League that I saw in ZSJL started fighting with each other, I’d probably be a lot more invested.

One of the many things that ZSJL made completely clear is that Whedon is really not good at writing friendships. I understand why people have problems with Zack Snyder (in regards to his movies, not him as a person), but at the very least, he seems to have a better understanding of what developed friendships look like.

[youve-doomed-us-all-jerk]

clark, diana and arthur @ steppenwolf

[weclassybouquetfun]

S3 of THE BOYS is here and it is still as unhinged, unapologetically depraved and unyielding in its humor and depravity.

Joining the cast this season is Jensen Ackles, late of CW's SUPERNATURAL, which was created by THE BOYS' creator/showrunner Eric Kripke.

Sadly Ackles won't let the show die. He's a producer on the prequel series for THE CW focusing on the parents of Sam and Dean Winchester.

This season Tomer Capone is being credited with his actual surname Capone, whereas in previous years he's worked as either Tomer Kapon or Tomer Capon (S1 and S2 of THE BOYS).

He follows with other actors who have gone back to their roots like Thandie Newton who now goes by her real name Thandiwe, A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES Greg Chilling who now acts under his real surname Chillingrian and A MILLION LITTLE THING and PSYCHE's James Roday who added his real surname Rodriguez to his stage name.

I'm just waiting for THE VAMPIRE DIARIES Paul Wesley to see the light and return to acting as Paul Wasilewski.

The first three episodes have dropped and what nonsense did THE BOYS bring to the yard?

SPOILERS

-While we have to wait until episode six to get the fabled "Herogasm" episode, episode 1 was likely a teaser of the insanity that will unfold in that episode. The first episode finds Frenchie and Kimiko after an Atom/Ant-Man-esque Supe named Termite who, in uses his body as a sounding device to give pleasure to his hook-up. Nostrils smarting from the lines he was snorting he sneezes while inside his partner effectively exploding him.

The Ant-Man v. Thanos fans got their wish.

There were other things that were cribbed from fan culture like -

-The Bourke Cut with DAWN OF THE SEVEN director Adam Bourke having fans hashtagging his crap, which is a direct nod to JUSTICE LEAGUE's SnyderCut fan campaign. Which was so annoying, but I do doff my cap to the SynderCut zealots who rigged the Oscars' Favorite Moment campaign and got a Flash scene from JUSTICE LEAGUE to best SPIDERMAN: NO WAY HOME. Not all heroes wear capes. Literally. Barry doesn't wear a cape.

-The line from Allison telling Bourke that Tony Gilroy's reshoots saved his film is a nod to Tony Gilroy having to step in to save Star Wars' ROGUE ONE. It could be a nod to Joss Whedon having to step in to finish JL, but c'mon, he didn't save that film.

-Jensen Ackles being cast as the show's version of Captain America is, to me, a nod to how Ackles (and his fans) swears up and down that he was up for Captain America but couldn't do the film because of his SUPERNATURAL schedule.

-Sean Patrick Flanery playing Gunpower when Flanery played the titular character Powder in the 1995 film.

-Homelander with the suicidal girl is a popular panel from a Superman comic. Of course, it ends waaaaaay differently.

Other things I liked about the first three episodes:

- The brief return of Simon Pegg as Hughie's dad.

-The before and after of Hughie's life when he realized the truth about Victoria Neuman. One day he's making smoothies, fixing the perfect breakfast; the next smoothie's splattered in the sink, food's rubbish.

-Characters letting their freak flag fly. The Deep drawing an octopus (the ill-fated Timothy??) into his sex life. Confirmation from what fans gathered from S2 that Frenchie is not just for people sexually open but he is, as well. Vincent Cassel as a safe word is a sexy choice.

-I love when a Nazi decides to k-word themselves but it's funny that Stormfront put up with giving Homelander handy js because she still had hopes that he was on the same Aryan wave she was but when she realized that he's only focused on himself that's what pushed her over the edge.

-Just when I thought Homelander couldn't be any worse of a person he does something nastier and meaner and cruel beyond comprehension. Antony Starr is remarkable because Homelander is truly frightening and almost stomach turning but I can't look away because Starr is so incredible as this character.

-If Hughie and Starlight break up it will be for the best. I'm not 100% convinced that her ex Supersonic is truly there to have her back, but if they got back together that would make perfect sense. She and Hughie are on different paths and as much as she was down for vengeance last season she's easing off it because - while she knows the inherent risks of trying to tangle with Homelander - she's not willing to lose her soul for the cause. Hughie is, though.

-What I didn't like is that Nate Mitchell who plays Black Noir didn't play the young Black Noir. We will never see this poor man onscreen.

Nate next to Karl Urban.

[graysongraysoff]

I can't believe Zack almost made it four whole hours without mentioning a dead Robin but he couldn't do it he couldn't help himself

[zacksnydered]

Henry Cavill as Superman Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

[uservaulty]

You know, I paid millions of dollars for this building's security. You got your money's worth. Took me almost a minute to disable it.

[mndvx]

ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE (2021) ››› Diane Lane and Harry Lennix as J’onn J’onzz / The Martian Manhunter