DCU Blog - April 2023 Edition: Trailers for Blue Beetle and The Flash, Joker Sequel Wraps And More

Another month ends and the DC Universe continues to deliver on the news front. Let's just say that a lot happened this month.

CinemaCon had it's first screening of The Flash movie (June 16th) and everyone else got a second trailer for the movie.

Various cameos were confirmed for the movie itself while others were teased and some were debunked but it looks like DC could have a winner on their hands with this.

Saying that, Ezra Miller's fate in the DCU beyond this upcoming release has not been confirmed yet. Will they remain in the role? Hard to say for the time being.

As for the DCU, we can now confirm that James Mangold will be the director for the Swamp Thing movie, though he's also attached to a Star Wars project too.

With slightly less fanfare and earlier in the month, Blue Beetle premiered it's first trailer with the movie still slated for it's August 18th release.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom will now be released in cinemas from December 20th with a trailer released at CinemaCon, though it's yet to be revealed publicly. The film does sound like a mixed bag. 

The next DC animated movie will be Justice League: Warworld, which will be released during the summer.

Filming for Joker: Folie A Deux has officially wrapped. The movie will be released in theatres on October 4th 2024.

James Gunn still hasn't cast Superman for Superman: Legacy but pre-production has begun for the movie, due July 11th 2025.

Further casting for The Penguin series has included Theo Rossi, Scott Cohen, Carmen Ejogo, David H. Holmes, Craig Walker and Francois Chau. The eight episode series will premiere on (HBO) Max in 2024.

The official cast for Creature Commandos has been confirmed. Sean Gunn will play both Weasel and GI Robot, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr, Indira Varma as the Bride, David Harbour as Eric  Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Dr Phosphorous, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky and Maria as Princess Ilana Rostovic. Viola Davis and Steve Agee will also reprise their roles as Amanda Waller and John Economos for the series, which will be released in 2024 on (HBO) Max.

Amazon are not only going to be releasing Batman: Caped Crusader but also Merry Little Batman and Bat-Family. 

DCPride 2023 Special will be released on May 30th. 

The finales for both Superman And Lois and Gotham Knights will air on June 27th on the CW.

That concludes the movie for all the big DC news. Let's see what next month gives us.

My Review of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

 

Written And Directed by James Gunn

Ego: "Listen to me! You are a god. If you kill me, you'll be just like everybody else!"

Peter: "What's so wrong with that?"

Ah, the middle part in a trilogy. Where everyone has gotten to know one another and their respective flaws and yet, there's a deep love there. That's exactly where the Guardians are with each as a team. They have a reputation to uphold and have made a name for themselves. Saying that, there's still some teething problems.

Anyways our group consisting of  Star Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) open the movie by getting some batteries for a golden species named the Sovereign as led by Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki). A simple transaction that went pear shaped due to Rocket stealing back the batteries in question, incurring Ayesha's wrath in the process.

Stealing from the Sovereign turns out to be a galactic no no and pretty soon, Ayesha enlisted the Ravagers led by Yondu (Michael Rooker) but pretty soon the latter's softening resolve for Quill had right hand man Kraglin (Sean Gunn) accidentally leading to a revolt against Yondu. This led to the rather unfortunately named Taserface (Chris Sullivan) taking control and Roxket largely taking the piss out of his name. Taserface didn't make it out of the first half alive either.

As for the majority of the players themselves, there was the problem of a returning and initially captured Nebula (Karen Gillan), who was still determined to get the better of Gamora but the biggest obstacle was of course the arrival of Peter's father, a Celestial named Ego (Kurt Russell), who somewhat lived up to his name and then some. He's also a living planet.

On top of answering the mystery of Peter's daddy and Quill getting to know his father, there was also the motive of destroying the universe. It turned out that Ego lacked the paternal instinct and was more determined to use Peter to fulfill his agenda, forcing all of the team together along with Nebula and Yondu with the latter making something of a poignant sacrifice. Thus proving that for all of his flaws, Yondu really did see himself as a father to Peter after all.

Along with the Ego of a baddie, we were introduced to empath Mantis (Pom Klementieff), who largely sparked off with Drax, in spite of his insistence that he found her physically unattractive. Not to mention the growing attraction between both Peter and Gamora who definitely acted like a married couple throughout the movie. Of course, their love remained unspoken, in spite of Peter trying to speak it into reality quite a team.

As a team up movie, there was definitely growth among the characters. We saw both Gamora and Nebula reach an impasse in their sibling rivalry while Rocket might have spent the movie being a jerk but Yondu was quick to point out how much Rocket really cared about everyone, including Peter and that's not forgetting how much Rocket loved arguing with Peter. 

- Laura Haddock briefly appeared in flashbacks as part of Ego's backstory. Peter was understandably furious when he learned that Ego caused Meredith's tumour.

- We had appearances from both Sylvester Stallone and Michelle Yeoh as rival Ravagers, both of whom showed respect for Yondu, following the latter's sacrifice. Howard the Duck also popped upmas did Stan Lee.

- Peter was a fan of Knight Rider and idolised David Hasselhoff. Guess which form Ego took at one point in the movie to mess with Peter?

- The mid and post credits scenes had Kraglin testing Yondu's arrow fin, teenage Groot, Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone), Ayesha creating Adam and a group of Watchers ditching their informant.

- Standout music: Fleetwood Mac's The Chain, ELO's Mr Blue Sky and Cat Stevens Father And Son. 

- Chronology: Still 2014 funnily enough and mostly on Ego the Living Planet. Also 1980s flashbacks too. 

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 was a pretty wild second ride for this group and I largely enjoyed the hell out of it. Fantastic storyline, great character moments, strong action sequences , a killer soundtrack and a lovely commentary on family to boot. Great stuff.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Pocahontas (1995)

 

Written by Carl Binder And Susannah Grant And Phil LaZebnik

Directed by Mike Gabriel And Eric Goldberg

Pocahontas: "You can own the Earth and still all you'll own is Earth, until you can paint with the colours of the wind."

Disney in the 1990s was a wild time with some of the most interesting movies that came out in that decade. Yes, there was surefire hits like Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. Then there was Pocahontas where Disney took the story of a real life person and told their own version of that person's history. If you're looking for historical accuracy, this will not be the movie for you.

In Virginia in the early seventeenth century there was a young Native American girl named Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) who wasn't keen on the idea of her father, Chief Powhatan (Russell Means) marrying her off to brave warrior, Kocoum (James Apaumut Fall). Kocoum wasn't a bad man, but he also wasn't one that Pocahontas was in love with either.

Pocahontas wanted more than a marriage. She had dreams, which she shared with Grandmother Willow (Linda Hunt), a talking and all knowing tree. It's not long before Pocahontas soon gets a taste of her dreams by meeting up with explorer John Smith (Mel Gibson) who has his own history with native tribes and whose thoughts on them are challenged through his interactions with Pocahontas and her tribe.

Of course John Smith isn't alone as he's working under the corrupt influence of Governor Ratcliffe (David Ogden Stiers) and the latter certainly made himself known as the villain of the piece. With an avowed hatred towards Native Americans, Ratcliffe was determined to pillage the land for gold and had no problem in getting his men riled up into killing anyone who got in their way.

This also meant quickly turning on John Smith when it became apparent the latter was more sympathetic to Pocahontas and her tribe. Even the accidental death of Kocoum and near execution of Smith wasn't enough to get John to turn on the tribe although Ratcliffe did nearly escalate bloodshed between his own group and the natives of Jamestown before Pocahpntas stepped in to save the day.

By the end of the film, Radcliffe got his just desserts, John was wounded and had to return to England for his own well being but Pocahontas herself had her own personal liberation and better relationship with her father. The near romance (which wasn't historically correct) with John Smith to one side, the movie mostly worked in Pocahontas's favour.

- This movie was also one of Christian Bale's earliest role. His voiced a young lad named Thomas, who was something of an ally to John Smith. Billy Connelly also voiced dual roles of Ben and Joe Baker.

- A straight to video sequel titled Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World was released in 1998.

- Standout music: The obvious one being Colours Of The Wind as well as If I Never Knew You and both parts of Savages. 

- Chronology: 1607 Virginia and Jamestown. 

Pocahontas isn't my favourite of the 1990's Disney movies and it certainly does take a lot of creative liberties with the actual historical events it attempted to portray. Saying that, it's mostly a solid entry with some great moments in it.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Titans 4x10: "Game Over"

 

Written by Bryan Edward Hill

Directed by Jesse Warn

May (to Sebastian): "Without Trigon's power, you'll always be nothing."

Well, this took something of a turn for Sebastian, didn't it? Mommy Dearest really got into his head about his abilities and sense of self by belittling him that one time too often. Sebastian had enough and Mother Mayhem wound up being burned to a crisp. That should've been the end of the character but as the episode later revealed, she survived even if looking a bit worse for wear.

Sebastian had two people on his shoulder this week over summoning Trigon. With May being determined to reunite with her former lover, Conner was also working overtime to keep Sebastian from bringing his father back. First by befriending him, then by letting him launch Abraxus worldwide and all the while trying to destroy Trigon's horn. Needless, his effort were mostly in vain.

Conner's grey area way of dealing with Sebastian was a strong point of the episode. There's no doubt his Luthor side was influencing his behaviour this episode bit at the same time, at least he was trying to find non violent ways to disable Sebastian's power. He even stealthily helped the Titans when it came to take Abraxus off the table.

Abraxus got something of a deadly upgrade when Sebastian's game almost killed all of it's players, including Bernard. Yup, I thought we were going to get the "bury your gays" trope here bit it seems for now that Bernard is in a coma and will probably make it out of the series alive. What, I'm being optimistic here.

Going back to the Sebastian side of things, this episode we had both Dick and Rachel with a contact of Constantine's in order to sever the link between Rachel and Sebastian. We got some kind of zombie thing that Dick ended up killing and that was it, basically. Link severed and no more bond between half siblings. 

As for Gar and Kory, they were mostly trapped with half of the Doom Patrol for most of the episode. It was nice to see Cliff, Larry and Victor and some witty barbs between the pair, it was more about getting Gar and Kory to work through some of their own issues before finally getting out of the Red. 

- In case I didn't remember the Doom Patrol here were from a different continuity, Victor was still Cyborg in this one. Shame we didn't get to see Rita though. 

- This season has mentioned Constantine so many times that I keep expecting him to show up. Even Rachel wanted to meet him this week.

- Mercy was feeding Conner information throughout the episode to undermine Sebastian. I wonder if we'll see her in the last two episodes.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off. 

Game Over upped the ante with Sebastian's overall plans and Conner's grey area way of dealing with things. The other characters got their moments to shine, while also moving things along nicely. Looking forward to the remaining two episodes and hoping the series ends on a good note.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 3x06: "Of Sound Mind"

 

Written by George Kitson

Directed by Diana Valentine

Mannheim: "Peia, I am going to save you."

Could it be that Bruno Mannheim's great big scheme with experimenting on sick people with X-Kryptonite and Superman's blood be something more wholesome? Instead of making an army of super soldiers, maybe just maybe Bruno's motivation was love all along? If so, this just got a lot more complicated.

In the six episodes so far we've heard a lot about Bruno being poor, wanting to help places like Suicide Slums and Hob's Bay and he was pretty forthcoming to Lois about his mother's battle with cancer. Now Onomatopoeia revealed herself to be a woman named Peia and guess what, she's someone who has also interested rather meaningfully with both Clark and Lois these last two episodes.

It's clear that Bruno loves Peia and his motivation seems to be about saving her and he did in the past. Except now she's getting weaker and her powers are weakening too, meaning that Bruno has even more pressure to prevent her death. As twists go, it's a surprisingly affecting one here.

Peia alone has been an intimidating villain whenever she's clashed with Superman and this episode alone she almost took out both the Man of Steel and Jordan, who took his guide out for a test run and also learned that Kryptonite doesn't effect him the same way as his father to both their surprise. It was a nice way to reveal that particular advantage to Jordan this week.

Peia had some great scenes with Lois where she praised the efforts Mannheim was making with helping people, making the final reveal of their real relationship not jar while at the same time both Lois and Clark dealt with the hard issues over her cancer battle too. Clark spent most time in denial over it before the end of the episode forced him to confront his own fears on the matter.

As for the rest of the episode, the writers remembered that Sophie existed and had her run away because she felt like no one cared about her. Then Sarah and Jonathan found her, the latter gave a good pep talk and Lana wasn't best pleased about Kyle and Chrissy being a couple. However that didn't stop Kyle from wanting to make his relationship with Chrissy public as a result.

- Jordan didn't seem happy with the idea of Jonathan and Sarah hanging out and I have a horrible feeling where this will end up going. Jonathan did go from "Rusty" to "Lil' Kent" at the fire station. 

- I'm assuming Mannheim's secret research bunker has lead lining to stop Superman from seeing where it is, right?

- No John Henry or Natalie in this episode and Deadline died due to Mannheim refusing to help him. 

- Chronology: A month since the events of the previous episode.

Of Sound Mind does somewhat trundle along at first, not really doing much that we hadn't already seen before picking up pace in the second half. The Mannheim and Peia connection does add a nice complicated layer to things.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

 

Written by James Gunn And Nicole Perlman

Directed by James Gunn

Peter (to the team): "So here we are: a thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac. But we're not gonna stand by as evil wipes out the galaxy. I guess we're stuck together, partners."

At this point in the MCU, there had been enough hijinks on planet Earth (with the exception of the Thor movies), so it was definitely time to take things on a more cosmic level and this was certainly  great start to that.

Opening with a young Peter Quill (Wyatt Oleff) who witnessed the death of his mother but before he could process his loss, he's abducted by Yondu (Michael Rooker) and his life takes something of a different turn. A turn for the shadier to be perfectly honest.

Cut to twenty six years later and a much older and rather promiscuous Peter (Chris Pratt) was stealing a much sought after orb containing an Infinity Stone and getting himself into all kinds of trouble. Even Yondu was starting to get annoyed with him.

However Yondu was only the tip of his worries as the movie quickly had duo Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) along with trained assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) battling Peter to get that orb at the behest of dangerous Kree leader Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) and her adopted father, Thanos (Josh Brolin).

Except when all four characters met and clashed on Xandar, they immediately ended up in prison, managed to escape and even got an all in Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) who had his own mason against Ronan and initial dislike for Gamora to boot.

As a rag tag team, the movie depicted the five leads as people with their own demons who struggled to get along with each other at first before the event of Knowhere and Ronan's possession of the Infinity Stone forced them all to step up as a team. It also didn't hurt that Yondu could be easily reasoned with and that characters at Nova Corps such as Irani Rael (Glenn Close) and Rhomann Dey (John C. Reilly) were more receptive to outside help.

The third act of the movie does have some great battle scenes, including Gamora sparring with half sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan), Groot really showcasing his power set along with a heroic sacrifice but it's Peter's "dance off" with Ronan before the group effort to defeat him that proved to be a strong conclusion to the big problem. 

As a team, these guys might be A-holes but they certainly got the job done and made for a rather good team nonetheless. Well, they did manage to stop a planet from getting destroyed, which ain't bad for a first mission. 

- Peter learned that he's half human and it was his other half that made him able to withstand touching the stone. Yondu was also meant to deliver Peter to his father but didn't.

- Josh Brolin had replaced Damion Poitier as Thanos with this movie. Nebula resented his favouritism towards Gamora.

- Rocket was not a fan of Stan Lee with a younger woman and we had Djimon Hounsou as Korath in a supporting role.

- A post credit scene showed Howard the Duck (Seth Green) disgusted at Cosmo the Spacedog licking the Collector (Benicio Del Toro).

 - Standout music: The highlights were Come And Get Your Love, Cherry Bomb, Ain't No Mountain High Enough and Hooked On A Feeling. 

- Chronology: The movie opens in 1988 but is largely set in 2014, the year of its release.

Guardians Of The Galaxy marked an impressive debut for James Gunn in the world of comic book movies and definitely was one of the biggest high points of the early-ish days of the MCU. Pretty much everything in this movie comes together perfectly. One of my favourites in this franchise.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once And Always (2023)

 

Written by Becca Barnes And Alwyn Dale

Directed by Charlie Haskell

Zach: "Like I said, Minh. We always save the world."

Well, this was something of a nostalgia trip. Like a lot of kids in the early to mid 1990s, I was obsessed with Power Rangers but eventually grew out of it. It was the Mighty Morphin range that was for me and I haven't really paid too much attention to subsequent shows if I'm being honest.

A couple of years ago for the 25th anniversary some of the original cast appeared in the current show and some even had briefly appeared in the 2017 reboot movie, which despite being a fun entry didn't do enough to warrant a sequel. For this 30th anniversary special, the focus was on the first show with Billy Cranston/Blue Ranger (David Yost) effectively leading the team here.

Billy was leading the team against their most iconic enemy - Rita Repulsa (Barbara Goodson) in a new robotic body and her minions, Snizzard (Daniel Watterson) and Minotaur (Ryan Cooper) but it's an encounter that led to the death of Trini Kwan/Yellow Ranger (Thuy Trang). It also left both Billy and Zach Taylor/Black Ranger (Walter Emanuel Jones) in the position having to tell Trini's daughter, Minh (Charlie Kersh) about her mother's death.

A year then passed and Minh was determined to follow in her mother's footsteps by becoming the new Yellow Ranger. Except for the fact that both Billy and Zach were against the idea and the morpher wouldn't accept her either. Meanwhile Robo Rita kidnapped a few favourites and had her own plans for revenge against the group that consistently thwarted her past schemes.

With certain Rangers taken off the table, others were added into the mix. Not other Black and Yellow Rangers - Adam Park (Johnny Young Bosch) and Aisha Campbell (Karan Ashley) as they were stuck up in space but other Pink and Red Rangers - Kat Hillard (Catherine Sutherland) and Rocky DeSantos (Steve Cardenas). With the team reassembled and the assistance of Alpha 9 (Richard Horvitz), the Rangers decided to strike before Robo Rita could complete her plan.

Siphoning energy from the Rangers she kidnapped, Robo Rita was going to go back in time and contact her younger self (Machiko Sogo, archive footage) so the latter would be prepared to take out the Rangers before they even became Rangers to begin. It was a plan that nearly worked, until a heroic sacrifice from Minh was enough to get her to take on her mother's legacy, help Billy and company defeat Minotaur and Snizzard before taking Robo Rita out of the equation to boot.

A good portion of this special felt like pure build up with a bit of a rushed final battle between the ,ix of older and new Rangers but it mostly worked nonetheless. Trini's legacy was honoured through Minh and her scenes with Billy and Zach (who basically became surrogate dads to her) were the highlight and I was happy to see Rita, even if she was a robot for this one. I am surprised that she didn't try to take a younger human body for herself though. 

- The episode ended with an In Memory card for Thuy Trang and Jason David Frank (Green & White Ranger/Tommy Oliver). We also saw archive clips of them as well as Kimberley Hart/ Pink Ranger (Amy Jo Johnson) and Jason Lee Scott/Red Ranger (Austin St. John).

- Billy has his own tech company, was trying to find Zordon and went back to space as well as having an old fashioned flying car. Zach was in Congress and Cat had a son with Tommy named JJ.

- A little bit of gay representation here as Minh managed to save a gay couple from bring attacked by Putties.

- Chronology: Archive clips to 1993 but mainly set in 2023. Well, it is the 30th anniversary special.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once And Always was a satisfying nod to the past, present and future and honestly, it feels like the exact same show from my childhood. Cheesy as hell, silly puns, daft monsters but also amusing fight sequences and a great sense of family. This was definitely a diverting nostalgia trip.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Doctor Who - Series 14: 60's Galore, Jinkx Monsoon Joins Cast and Potential Fortnite Spoilers

 Yup, it's time for another Doctor Who blog and this one has some fun stuff to reveal.

First of all, it seems the fourth block, directed by Ben Chessell has started filming and it looks like we are taking a groovy trip into the 1960s with whatever episode is being filmed. Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson, aka the 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday are kitted out in the highest fashion in this episode. It should be noted that while there's still more filming to go, Ncuti Gatwa has definitely displayed a lot of great looks ahead of his ahead as the Doctor. This look in particular might be his best one yet.

Also announced, albeit a few weeks ago was the casting of Rupaul's Drag Race alumni Jinkx Monsoon. Wearing a piano themed dress, the character has been described as the Doctor's "most powerful enemy" in an episode where not everyone might make it out alive (according to showrunner Russell T. Davies on Instagram). Now I'm gonna assume right now that this powerful enemy will likely be a new character altogether who could be a recurring problem in this particular era or possibly a more obscure villain, though who I don't know. Either way, Monsoon's casting is interesting and I'm curious to see who else will be appearing in Series 14 as filming will continue for quite a while yet.

Last but not least, the Doctor Who Twitter page celebrated David Tennant's birthday by releasing a new image of his 14th Doctor from the upcoming 60th anniversary specials. It's nothing too spoilery but on that front, a leaked script from an upcoming event with Fortnite did refer to Tennant's Doctor as the Edge Doctor, hinting at the Guardians Of The Edge plot from The Power Of The Doctor making a possible return as well as a sneak peak at the new sonic screwdriver. I'll post an official image when it's released.

As for the Doom's Day multimedia saga with Sooz Kempner's assassin character named Doom, well expect her to encounter Missy (Michelle Gomez) in an upcoming comic. The two issue comic will be released from July 5th.

Doctor Who continues filming and will air on BBC 1 and stream on Disney+ from November.

My Review of Titans 4x09: "Dude, Where's My Gar?"

 

Written by Geoff Johns And Ryan Potter

Directed by Eric Dean Seaton

Gar: "I need to get to my family."

Stargirl: "I know how important family is."

Gar: "I get the sense that you do."

After two good but diverting episodes set in Caul's Folly, it was time to catch up with what was going on with Gar Logan and it seems that he had his own shit to deal with while his friends were up to their necks in Sebastian's ascension.

The first half of the season had been hinting about Gar's connection to the Red and here he learned that Freedom Beast (Nyambi Nyambi) had been looking for him for a long time. Gar's destined to be the Avatar of the Red, whether he likes it or not and Freedom Beast felt that Gar could only do this heavy task alone.

In a series of trips to the past we saw a younger and scared Gar coming into his connection to the Red and being susceptible to the pain and suffering of animals around him. This included one specific gorilla infected with anthrax being experimented on by Dr Myers and presenting Gar with a moral dilemma as freeing the gorilla would mean infecting the public.

However Freedom Beast found a way to deal with that particular dilemma while also pointing out to Gar that Niles Caulder was responsible for the death of his parents. After everything we saw with Niles on Doom Patrol, this particular reveal didn't exactly shock me. Speaking of the Doom Patrol, I've been missing them and this episode ended somewhere familiar.

With Gar being able to tap into the Red, this episode gave us a surprisingly fun little Multiverse adventure. Not only did Gar get to see himself in animation form but we also briefly saw the likes of The Flash (Grant Gustin), Shazam (Zachary Levi), Swamp Thing and Grant Morrison in a very fun cameo that should make any comic book fan smile.

On top of that, there was a lovely but brief interaction between Gar and Stargirl (Brec Bassinger) before the episode ended with Gar at the Doom Patrol manor and Cyborg (Joivan Wade) attending to him. It looks like Gar's reunion with the Titans will have to wait until next week and fingers crossed, we get some more Multiverse hijinks before then. 

- There was also some voiceovers of Kaley Cuoco's Harley Quinn and Cesar Romero's Joker from Batman 66. 

- The episode had a mid credit scene with Cyborg smiling and eating in front of the camera. Jinx hinted at a possible return for the finale and Rachel was the only other regular to physically appear in this episode.

- Nice tribute to Grant Morrison at the end, describing them as the true Master of the Multiverse.

- From where the events of the mid season finale left off from Gar's perspective.

Dude, Where My Gar? gave Ryan Potter the much needed and focus he deserved and he absolutely delivered here. Gar was at his best here, the flashbacks were great, the Multiverse nods were nicely done and I cannot wait to see what the next episode will bring.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Out In The Wilderness

Something of a shorter blog compared to others, here's a look at some of the things I've been watching over the last month.

Secrets Of The Chippendales Murders: With Disney+ having streamed Welcome To Chippendales back in January, it was the BBC's chance to air this for part documentary, giving some more details on what really transpired. Throughout the four episodes we got details from various people, including former Chippendales dancers themselves on the tense relationship between Steve Banerjee and Nick De Noia as well as the global impact of the brand itself. If you've seen Welcome To Chppendales you'll know nearly every revelation that comes from this documentary but it's a worthy watch nonetheless.

The Flash: After a promising start with the Red Death arc, these last three episodes have meandered into pointless filler, that if anything really does drive the fact home that this show needed to end. I didn't mind the adventure with Iris and Nia but the sixth and eighth episodes were just dire to watch with Barry and Iris literally going nowhere forward (in spite of the latter's pregnancy). Fortunately though, it does look like the next episode will actually be something worth watching.

Yellowjackets: Right now, Showtime/Paramount+ are halfway through the second season of this highly addictive show. As for me, it took a few days but I managed to blitz through the first season and it's one of the best shows I've ever seen. In 1996 a girls soccer team crashed into the wilderness in Canada and have been doing everything in their power to survive. In 2021, the remaining survivors are dealing with those messy lives, each other and a blackmailer far closer to home for one of them. As characters, watching the likes of Shauna, Misty, Taissa, Natalie, Jackie, Ben, Laura Lee, Lottie, Jeff, Travis and Van to name a few in both timelines made for riveting television. Easily the best show for me so far this year and I'll be catching up with the second season from next week onwards.

• Russell Tovey will appear in the second season of Feud, which has recently wrapped filming.
• Alanis Morissette has covered the theme for the second season of Yellowjackets.
• Harry Potter will now be a decade long series for Max (soon to be formerly HBO Max)
• Max are also developing a series for The Conjuring universe.
• Welcome To Derry's cast will include Chris Chalk, Madeleine Stowe, James Remar, Taylour Page, Jovan Adepo and Stephen Rider.
• Jodie Whittaker, Yael  Stone and Nicole da Silva will head up the upcoming Paramount+ series One Night. Whittaker will also lead the second series of BBC prison drama, Time with Bella Ramsay and Siobhan Finneran.
• David Tennant and Danny Dyer will star in upcoming Disney+ series, Rivals.
• You will end with it's fifth season, according to Netflix.
• Production has begun for the second season of House Of The Dragon. Mark Stobbart has been cast as Cheese.
• Amazon has in development potential series for the likes of Legally Blonde, Stargate, Fame and Robocop to name a few.
• An Anne Rice spin off series set in Talamasca is in development at AMC.
• Ben Daniels has joined the cast of Interview With The Vampire for it's second season.
• Paramount+ have a Galaxy Quest series in development.

My Review of Aladdin And The King Of Thieves (1996)

 

Written by Matt McCorkle And Robert Schooley

Directed by Tad Stones

Aladdin (re Cassim): "I was so stupid to think I could change him."

Genie: "Trying to show him a better life wasn't stupid, Al. Leaving him alone with the parrot, that was stupid."

Until the 2019 live action remake (or arguably Season 6 of Once Upon A Time), this third animated movie somewhat marked the end of the Aladdin side of things in the Disney Universe for a bit and what an ending of sorts.

The first movie introduced us to the loveable title character (Scott Weinger) and his romance with Princess Jasmine (Linda Larkin) while the second movie had Jafar trying to get even. This movie, it was time for Aladdin and Jasmine to finally get married. Oh and also time for Aladdin to get reunited with his father, Cassim (Jonathan Rhys-Davies) to boot.

Proving that the apple didn't fall too far from the tree, Cassim wasn't only just a thief life Aladdin, but he:s also the leader of the forty thieves and they're in need of a certain item at the palace. An item that could make them all a lot wealthier than they could ever dream of.

The item in question being the hand of Midas. The very thing that can turn everything it touches into gold and Cassim finds himself torn between wanting to be an actual father to Aladdin whie at the same time also getting his hands on the Hand of Midas.

Add to that a surprise bond with Iago (Gilbert Gottfried) and dissent in thieving ranks when Sa'Luk (Jerry Orbach) forms an alliance with Razoul and tries to get the gold for himself, it seems that Cassim has his own change of heart when family then wins over his need for gold.

As for the big wedding itself, given how much of a finale this sequel movie was set up to be, it made for a nice coda to the series. Aladdin and Jasmine finally got wedand Cassim left the palace with Iago as a new best friend. All's well that ends well here.

- Robin Williams reprised his role as the Genie for this movie and many other Disney movies (and some of Williams own) were referenced throughout.

- Apparently an idea for a fourth movie was pitched in 2005 but never came to happen.

- Standout music: There's A Party In Agrabah, Are You In Or Out? as well as a reprisal of Arabian Nights. 

- Chronology: Another year since the events of the previous movie.

Aladdin And The King Of Thieves marked a nice end to !y favourite side of the Disney Universe. Cassim was a good addition to the movie, and I liked seeing the Genie on top form again. Had a fourth movie happened, I definitely would've watched it but this was a good way to end the series.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Titans 4x08: "Dick & Carol & Ted & Kory"

 

Written by Tom Pabst

Directed by Greg Walker

Sebastian: "What are we toasting?"

Conner: "To the future."

And so endeth this two parter on quite an interesting note. With four episodes left to go in the series full stop, are we really going down a villainous path with Conner? Maybe we are, maybe weren't not. There's a part of me that's wondering if Conner's new found alliance with Sebastian might more down to him coming up with a ruthless way to stop the prophecy.

Speaking of Sebastian, the town of Caul's Folly took to him immediately, to the point where they were more than happy to see the Heretic (aka Rachel) killed in the process. Except for one glaring problem. Any harm that happens to Rachel also happens to Sebastian, even though May still was determined to take Rachel out of the equation.

Rachel did manage to get under Sebastian's skin during their scene together and needless to say that both her and Kory will likely be his eventual undoing. As for May, whatever hold she had on Sebastian has shown signs of waning with him being more openly challenging towards her and I wouldn't be surprised if she's killed off before the finale takes place.

As for Dick and Kory, most of this episode was them trapped still on Caul's Folly and being brainwashed into thinking they're married coupled named Ted and Carol. For the most part, Dick was resisting the conditioning by using painful memories to keep his identity while Kory found herself succumbing to the Carol persona that was being forced on her.

Eventually the pair did manage to rescue Rachel, find the source of the brainwashing and take it out but by that time, Dick also realised that Sebastian had the horn and was a step ahead of everyone again. Saying that, this episode certainly gave Dick and Kory fans plenty to go over with flashbacks to their past moments, traumas and ultimately bringing them a bit closer to one another.

Last but not least, Tim and Bernard had their own differences on feelings vs. facts or faith vs. science but between the two of them, they reunited William with Megan and their father and learned a little bit more about each other too. Also, it does appear that Bernard will be sticking around with the Titans as they're currently down two members.

- Gar sat this episode out again, albeit appeared in some archive footage. However the next episode should make up for his absence from the previous two.

- Jinx was confirmed to be dead in the previous episode, I should've mentioned it. Yet again, another reference to John Constantine. That's a lot for this character. Is it leading to something?

- Tim wasn't wrong about Dick looking good in pink. Minus Phil's blood of course.

- Chronology: Exactly where the previous episode left off.

Dick & Carol & Ted & Kory was a solid conclusion tom this two parter. Sebastian got a step ahead, formed an alliance and the Titans were reunited after spending most of the episode away from one another. Overall, it's a good start to this final batch of episodes.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Titans 4x07: "Caul's Folly"

 

Written by Melissa Brides

Directed by Greg Walker

Carter (to Dick): "Take it easy Old Teddy. Things are going to be more sunnier from now on."

It's been a four month break since the events of the fort had of the season and in that time, it became apparent that the show was on the way out. Kicking off the second half of this season, we had this rather diverting start of a two parter I assume.

Picking up from the cliff hanger of last year, it seems that Rachel had sent everyone to a death dimension when shit was going down with Sebastian's rebirth. Rachel brought everyone back except for Gar from sad dimension and that's when things got a little different for everyone.

Dick and Kory caught up with an eccentric contact of the former's named Roberta who told the pair about yet another prophecy involving a horn of Trigon and of course Kory really having to level up, power wise in order to stop. Needless to say that Dick wasn't keen on discussing the possibility of Kory dying, much to her annoyance.

On top of that, during their search for the much needed horn, Dick, Kory and Rachel all wound up in a strange little place called Caul's Folly where they realised that they couldn't quite leave for good measure. Rachel found herself getting taken by Megan and her father, both of whom were desperate to leave the place while Dick's encounter with Carter saw this episode end on a strange note.

It was obvious from the start that Carter was a Trigon follower and Dick underestimated him when he shouldn't have. Not bringing Kory with him during that meeting wasn't his wisest of movies and given that both Sebastian and May appeared at the end, it looks like they're one step closer in their overall goal. As for Dick, it looks like he might be getting a new identity given the title of the next episode.

As for the rest of the episode, we had Conner going off on his own with his own plan to take down Sebastian. The reappearance of Mercy Graves was a pleasant surprise, even if she was mostly there to sow more division among Conner and his relationship with the Titans. She didn't really need to do much on that front but her devotion to Lex was something else here.

Last but not least, the romance between Tim and Bernard had some good turns here too. At first there was some awkwardness over Tim's last of response during the previous episode, then thy decided to be friends while trying to find the others. Then there was a stay in a motel and suddenly, the friends part was taken off the table. As a pairing, they're actually better written here than in the comics. 

- Roberta not only was an expert on Tamaraneon but also Klingon as well. We saw her briefly interact with Rachel too.

- Mercy's comments on Lex being something of a feminist actually checked out with the character. I just wish we had actually seen their relationship on screen.

- Standout music: Nice use of Pina Colada with this episode.

- Chronology: From where the mid season finale had left off.

Caul's Folly marked a solid second half opening for this final season. It's nice to see things move fast enough and there were a good few character moments within the episode itself. With all this talk of Trigon, I assume we're going to see the character one last time before the show ends for good.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 3x05: "Head On"

 

Written by Andrew N. Wong

Directed by David Ramsey

Mannheim (re Inverse Superman): "This is our new priority."

Dr Hook: "Looks just like him, only dead."

Mannheim: "For now."

Can I just say yet again that Chad L. Coleman is absolutely knocking it out of the park as Bruno Mannheim? He's clearly the bad guy, he's clearly got an agenda but between both writing and performance, this season has done a hell of a job so far in making sure the character isn't one dimensional in the slightest.

On one hand, his latest soldier Deadline quickly broke into the DOD to access some files and fight off Superman. While that was happening, Intergang only went and accessed another facility to retrieve the body of Bizarro/Inverse Superman and needless to say that no good will end up coming from that acquisition later on in the season.

Then there was Mannheim's scene with Lois this week. Am I shocked that Lois would use her chemo time to do some investigating on Mannheim? I'd be more shocked if she hadn't but it did find it amusing how quickly Mannheim discovered her and the exchange that the pair had as well. I think Mannheim was absolutely sincere when he talked about his motives over the cancer research and his own family history with the disease, adding a nice layer to the character.

Speaking of layers and highlighting the maturity in the writing for this show, I thought Clark's scenes with two fellow chemo patients was beautifully well done. It gave him a lot to think about with Lois's current condition and it lead to some nice scenes with both Lois and Clark too as they sat out the Valentine's dance that made the B-Plot of sorts here.

The dance in question that saw Natalie shocked by Matteo's arrival and panicking when he wanted to kiss her. That also lead to a nice heart to heart with Sam while Sarah herself also had a lovely but heartfelt conversation with the former mayor's son. The same son who also held Lana responsible for his father's downfall and eventual demise.

Speaking of Lana, while she doesn't seem too much the wiser about Kyle and Chrissy for now, she was determined to reveal more about George Dean's corruption before having a change of heart in the matter. Then there was both a career opportunity for Jonathan and a break up with him and Candice as the latter decided to move in with her aunt. I was starting to like Candice a bit more this season, so her exit was a bit on the abrupt side of things. 

- Jordan set Sam up on Senior Swipe. I'm guessing the show wasn't allowed to reference Tinder or other known dating apps.

- I'm convinced that Matteo will end up being Bruno's son. It'd be shocking if he wasn't, wouldn't it?

- John Henry Irons was the only regular cast member not to feature in this episode.

- Chronology: Valentine's Day 2023 I guess.

Head On was another episode very light on action but with the character moments so good in this one, I genuinely didn't mind. In terms of highlights, I definitely think Lois and Bruno's scenes were by far the best thing about this one in particular.

Rating: 8 out of 10

American Horror Story - Season 12 Cast and Theme Details

It's only April but it seems that things have come a little earlier in relation to the upcoming season of American Horror Story.

With filming starting this month, Ryan Murphy took to Instagram to day to confirm that both Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian will be leading the season, going under the subtitle of Delicate. In a departure for the series (and there's more on that front), this season will be based partially on an upcoming thriller book called Delicate Condition by writer Danielle Valentine. 

The general concept will focus on a woman named Anna Alcott trying to get pregnant and sinister forces attempting to prevent said pregnancy. Emma Roberts will likely be playing the main protagonist here while Kim Kardashian's role is said to be "stylish" and "terrifying" with the role specifically written in mind for her.

While both Roberts and Kardashian were officially announced by Ryan Murphy, a few days ago it was also confirmed that Matt Czuchry (Gilmore Girls, The Resident) would be a part of the season, likely playing Anna's husband. So far, that makes for two new cast members and one returning figure. It'll be interesting to see who else gets announced over the next few weeks. The new season will be filming under the working titles of Hamptons and Thriller, so expect another New York setting of parts for this season.

In a format change, Ryan Murphy has stepped down as showrunner but will remain as executive producer. Halley Feiffer, who worked on the third season of American Crime Story will be showrunner of the new season and write every episode too. Max Winkler will also return to direct for the new season. It's going to be interesting to see how this new format works for the show.

American Horror Story: Delicate will premiere on FX and Disney+ later this year. 

My Review of Aladdin: The Return Of Jafar (1994)

Written by Kevin Campbell And Mirith J.S. Colao And Bill Motz And Steve Roberts And Dev Ross And Bob Roth And Jan Strand And Brian Swenlin

Directed by Tony Shelton And Tad Stones And Alan Zaslove

Jafar (to the Genie): "You're only second rate."

Not two years had passed following the massive success of the first movie and a straight to VHS (at the time) seque happened. A sequel I owned once upon a time as a kid and recently revisted on Disney+ over the weekend.

To this day, the 1992 Aladdin movie is my favourite Disney movie of all time and one of my all time favourite movies. As a kid, I was happy to get a little more of this side of the Disney universe. As an adult, The Return Of Jafar s a sequel that's the sum of it's parts. 

Not much time has passed and for Aladdin (Scott Weinger), he's rather loved up with Princess Jasmine (Linda Larkin), living at the palace and accepted by the Sultan (Val Bettin) as a potential future son in law. Things are for the most part great for the former street rat.

Of course there are some obstacles for Aladdin though, otherwise this sequel would be a nothing burger for him. For starters, there's Abis Mal (Jason Alexander), who Aladdin managed to get on his bad side as well as the somewhat unwelcomed return of Iago (Gilbert Gottfried).

Iago seems detemined to convinced everyone that he's turned over a new leaf and everyone else showed a natural scepticism towards him, with Aladdin being the exception to the rule. However, it's the return of Jafar (Jonathan Freeman) that posed the bigger problem for Aladdin and company.

Still bound as a genie, it didn't take long for Jafar to force Iago's feathers in betrayal, manipulate Abis Mal into doing his bidding, overpower the returning Genie (Dan Castellaneta), frame Aladdin for the Sultan's supposed death and nearly get his bigger obstacle executed by an overzealous Razoul (Jim Cummings). However for the second movie in a row, Jafar greatly underestimated Aladdin.

Yes, Jafar showed that his downtime in a genie' lamp taught him nothing as both Aladdin and Iago during a final battle became his ultmate downfall and unlike last time, ths movie made it very clear that Jafar wouldn't be returning yet again to cause any more trouble.

- This was the only movie where another actor voiced the Genie. Robin Williams would return for Aladdin And The King Of Thieves.

- This movie did manage to make about $30 million dollars in VHS sales at the time, making it a big hit.

- Standout music: Jafar's You're Only Second Rate.

- Chronology: A year since the events of the previous movie.

Aladdin: The Return Of Jafar definitely feels like a mixed bag for a sequel. The animation was a little wonky, the songs bar one are not quite as memorable but there's some good scenes, including a solid third act that makes it mostly entertaining to watch. Overall, it's a divertng enough second entry into this part of the Disney universe.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 3x04: "Too Close To Home"

Written by Juliana James 

Directed by Stewart Hendler

Mannheim (re Lois): "We need to find out what she wants."

Assistant: "Got anyone in mind for that?"

Mannheim: I do. Me."

It's been four episodes and the one thing that has stick out with Bruno Mannheim would be how much Lois Lane has gotten under his skin. She really does seem to be his worst nightmare come to life.

With Superman, there's a sense of irritation and envy and with John Henry Irons, there was an attempt to recruit him while using his doppelganger's sister Darlene as a hostage. When that didn't work, Bruno basically threatened to kill other members of John's extended family to keep him in line. 

But with Lois Lane, Bruno absolutely sees her as a threat and seems genuinely angered with her insistence that he took over Intergang. I do think that Bruno might be protesting a tad too much there. He's done nothing at all to disprove such an accusation, has he?

Anyways even without Bruno threatening John, the latter's scenes with Darlene had a decent emotional punch to them. It's obvious that Darlene and John will get to know each other as the season progresses. After all, Darlene has yet to meet her 'niece', doesn't she?

Other than that, this wasn't a particularly action packed episode. Clark went into overprotective mode trying to keep Lois from stressful situations, which didn't work. Especially when Jonathan got thumped by Candice's terrible father and the latter then threatened Lois. Clark didn't take that one lying down and rightfully scared the shit out of Candice's dad.

As for Sarah, Lana and Kyle, their storyline was the weaker part but at least Kyle managed to get both Lana and Sarah back to talking to one another. There was also a plot where Sam wanted Jordan to cut his hair to better protect his identity before an alternative solution was found. A solution we've seen plenty of times in the Arrow universe.

- Both Natalie and Chrissy were absent from thos episode. Clark also destroyed the read of the Superman blood from the DOD.

- A part of Jordan's new disguise included an item from Sam's father as well.

- Candice has now moved in with the Kents.  Looks like she's sticking around this season.

- Chronology:  Not long from where the previous episode left off.

Too Close To Home was another solid but not as gripping as earlier episodes were. There were plenty of great character moments but perhaps we need a little more action now?

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Swallowed (2022)

 

Written And Directed by Carter Smith

Benjamin (to Thee Suburbia): "I'm just grateful to everyone who believed in me and helped me to get to where I am today."

Well, I was craving a little more queer horror and while this one definitely isn't as mainstream as oh say, Knock At The Cabin, there's at least a similar setting for this movie, but everything else here was vastly different and a little a bit gnarly too.

Best friends Benjamin (Cooper Koch) and Dom (Jose Colon) are having one last night of fun before the latter headed to LA to make a name for himself in the gay porn industry. Dom's such a supportive friend (but supposedly straight) that he wanted to earn a little extra cash to help Benjamin fund his new life. It's a nice gesture. Unfortunately Dom's means of wanting to help his friend was fraught with disaster.

The means being something of the drug smuggling kind where Dom's contact Alice (Jena Malone) forced both Dom and Benjamin to swallow the bag of drugs and extract them at a rest stop, only for an encounter with a homophobic redneck to complicate an already messy situation. Needless to say, Alice wasn't best pleased with said complication.

The complication being that the drug in question are actually a larvae that has a venom with certain side effects. Those effect included both an unwanted erection and paralysis and sadly for Dom, not only does he suffer from both of them when the larvae actually breaks out of it's cocoon inside but there's also the problem of Alice's actual boss as well, who made his presence known towards the second half of the movie.

The boss being Rich (Mark Patton) - a rather trigger happy, easily slighted and paranoid gay man who also wasted little time in taking Alice out of the equation, showing false sympathy upon Dom dying while also getting a little too letchy with Benjamin for his own good. Of course Benjamin was also savvy enough to use Rich's fixation on him to his advantage. 

Let's just say, there's a great scene of cat and mouse between Benjamin and Rich and while the latter isn't remotely intimidating as a villain, there's a certain camp-ish to Rich nonetheless. Not to mention a rather satisfying ruthlessness to Benjamin as he managed to avenge his friend's death, give Rich his just desserts, offer some peace to Dom and fulfilled his goals during a post credit scene that kept cutting throughout the credits themselves.

- The credits saw Benjamin being interviewed by Thee Suburbia at the Squirty Awards for the movie Backwoods Boy Bangs.

- This is the second LGBT movie that Cooper Koch has been in with a similar wooded setting. The other one being They/Them, which I will get round to at some point.

- Queer horror fans will largely know Mark Patton from A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. 

- Chronology: I'm gonna assume 2022 as in the year of it's release.

Swallowed certainly had it's gross moments with it's premise and while some of the acting was a little hammy in parts, I found this movie to be a lot of fun. Overall, Cooper Koch has the potential to be a queer horror final boy and I hope there's more of him in this genre to come.

Rating: 7 out of 10