DCU Blog - August 2023 Edition: The Flash Hits Max, Blue Beetle in Theatres and Rumoured Casting News

With the actor and writers strikes continuimg with no sign of a resolution yet, there's still news going around concerning all things DC.

Blue Beetle finally hit theatres and so far has made $81 million overall. Again though it's been stated that Xolo Mariduena will be a part of the DCU. 

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom will keep it's December 20th release date.

The finale for My Adventures With Superman will be September 1st and September 14th for Harley Quinn.

The Flash hit Max last weekend and has been viewed by 1.1 million within its first few days. A physical release will be available for UK audiences from September 18th.

David Ayer has been talking about his intended version of Suicide Squad a lot recently. Will he get his wish?

Kevin Smith has reportedly seen a recent Schumacher cut of Batman Forever, which I'm more interested in seeing. 

There have been conflicting reports surrounding Gal Gadot's future as Wonder Woman. James Gunn has yet to confirm either way.

In relation to the Paradise Lost prequel series, the book Wonder Woman: Historia will influence the series.

Now that the Dark Knights Of Steel comic has completed its series, expect action figures, starting with Batman of course.

Raoul Bhaneja has been cast in an undisclosed role for Creature Commandos. He previously appeared in the second season of Titans back in 2019.

Giancarlo Esposito has confirmed recently that he's in talks with James Gunn about a future role in the DCU.

A report of an October release for the last six episodes of Doom Patrol was unfortunately debunked.

That's it for this month. A bit lighter than usual but enough to mull over regardless. 

My Review of Harley Quinn's 4x08: "II Buffone"

 

Written by Ava Tramer

Directed by Yuri Mochizuki

Ivy (re apocalypse): "Oh my God. Did Lex do all this to just fuck Superman?"

Harley: "Eh, I've done worse to fuck less, but still, that is some petty shit."

Well, the apocalypse came and all because Lex Luthor really wanted to stick it to Superman. Then again, Lex Luthor isn't above petty shit tbh.

Harley and Ivy came back from last week, but aside from scenes at the start and end of the episode, this was light on the pairing. Instead you had two other stories to lead into the apocalypse itself.

The first being Lex wanting to use Volcana to tamper with the ozone layer and Nora quickly realising he was up to no good and trying to stop Lex. She had help with both King Shark and Captain Cold (the latter she was also trying to have sex with). Despite their efforts, all of them including Volcana ended up doing the very thing that Lex wanted in the first place.

Then there was Bane. I had forgotten about his crush on Nora and this week he went all the way to Italy to get a replacement pasta maker. The brand was discontinued and Bane soon met Mama, who helped him make pasta.

Mama also them got a little crazy when Bane tried to go home after she helped him. Fortunately Bane's connections with Clayface managed to buy his freedom back. However learning a new skill did little to impress Nora.

Going back, the apocalypse has arrived, Superman has no powers and King Shark blew up the Time Sphere. With two episodes left, it'll be amusing to see how this one gets resolved.

- And we got a Snydervere joke at the start of the episode and it was funny.

- While Captain Cold was enamored with Nora, he also seemed very fond of King Shark too.

- Everything went black and white once the apocalypse went into full effect.

- Chronology: Exactly from where the last episode left off.

II Buffone brought about the apocalypse and the events leading to it. Both plots proved entertaining enough that I didn't miss Harley and Ivy at all. Hoping the last two end this great season on a high.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Dirty Dancing (1987)

 

Written by Eleanor Bernstein

Directed by Emile Ardolino

Johnny: "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."

Every now and then, I decide to review something for this blog that has nothing to do with superheroes, time travel or horror and when I do, I make sure to pick something I know I'm going to like. For example, a romantic dance movie from 1987. 

Not just any movie though, this one. A movie that many people my age would've seen in their childhoods and one that newer generations are also watching due to their parents loving this movie. Having watched it again recently, it's not hard to see why this movie has had an enduring legacy.

Set in the backdrop of the summer of 1963, a relatively well off family decide to vacation at Kellermans. The family in question being our protagonist, Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey), her somewhat superficial older sister, Lisa (Jane Bricker) and their parents, Jake (Jerry Orbach) and Marge (Kelly Bishop). For Baby, it's going to be quite the time.

Especially when Baby herself becomes enamoured with the dance crew and specifically its main instructor, Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). When Johnny's fellow dancer, Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) ended up not being able to dance in a competition, both Baby and Johnny found themselves getting closer to one another.

Throughout the movie, there's a rather spiky, almost antagonist dynamic between Johnny and Baby as issues of classes and age gaps come between the pair. Johnny being older, working class and having to fight for everything while Baby being younger and more privileged that Johnny. There's conflict but it also ended up drawing the two closer together.

Of course, there's opposition on every front. Baby's father doesn't approve of her relationship with Johnny while an obnoxious waiter named Robbie (Max Cantor) proved to be a thorn for both Johnny and Baby along with a disgruntled former conquest. However like all romance movies, you can tell how it ended. 

The ending being a dance off where both Johnny and Baby publicly declared their feelings for one another in one of the most iconic movie sequences ever. Also to paraphrase the song involved, I had the time of my life watching this movie yet again.

- The director of this movie would go to direct Sister Act, which was more of a musical drama.

- A prequel called Havana Nights came out in 2004, a TV movie version was done in 2017 while a legacy sequel with Jennifer Grey will be released during the summer of 2025. 

- Standout music: The entire soundtrack but the obvious highlights include Be My Baby, She's Like The Wind and of course, (I've Had) The Time Of My Life.

- Chronology: Summer 1963.

Dirty Dancing to this day remains an undisputed classic with brilliant performances from both Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze along with some brilliant dancing,a scintillating romance and one of the best soundtracks we've had from an eighties classic. Definitely worth watching.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of My Adventures With Superman 1x09: "Zero Day Part 2"

 

Written by Aman Adumer 

Directed by Kiki Manrique 

Lois (to everyone): "It's time for us to save Superman."

After last week's cliffhanger, the second d part of what I thought was going to be the finale managed to keep up the pace. Lois and Jimmy lost Superman and they're desperate to find him.

They're desperate enough that they accepted help from Flo and her fellow newsroom kids and funnily enough, it was Flo who actually found Superman. Granted, it was purely by accident after he just about escaped captivity halfway through the episode.

For the first part of the episode, a captive Superman had to deal with General Sam Lane's ire. Flashbacks revealed that Lane and Amanda Waller were survivors of an attack on their army base 22 years ago. Lane genuinely believed that Superman was a weapon until the latter's crestfallen reaction sowed some doubts in him.

Superman's captivity also seemed to create doubts between Sam Lane and Amanda Waller. The latter wasted no time in orchestrating an escape for the likes of Livewire, who in turn freed Parasite. The latter wanted revenge on Superman and very nearly got their way.

In fact had it not been for Jimmy using his Flamebird account and Lois giving a pretty heartfelt speech about Superman's impact on the world, Parasite would've wiped Metropolis off the map. Superman did manage to defeat Ivo without killing him too.

As for Sam, his ambivalence cost him the upper hand as Amanda managed to get Checkmate on side and Task Force X to herself with Slade as her right hand man. Oh and now Sam has to kill Superman as well in next week's finale.

- Jimmy discovered the doomsday orb showing the killer Superman. How will he deal with that next episode?

- They finally confirmed the General was Sam Lane in the most low-key way they could've done.

- The end credits still have the darker theme after last week first adding it.

- Chronology: From where the first part left off.

Zero Day Part 2 certainly continued the strong work the first part pulled off. The Parasite attack felt similar to what the Superman: Man Of Tomorrow animated movie did a few years ago. It was effective then and it was definitely effective here too. 

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Harley Quinn's 4x07: "Most Culturally Impactful Film Franchise"

 

Written by Alexis Quasarano

Directed by Brandon McKinney

Ivy (re Time Sphere): "We're six days in the future."

Harley: "They made it too fancy."

Welp, it's a future based episode and we know what usually happens in those ones. A post apocalyptic nightmare and one that Harley and Ivy might have caused, but mostly it's down to Lex Luthor.

Saying that, Harley and Ivy not being on the same page might have also added to the messy situation given that in the year 2048 they have a daughter named Neytiri, who's a bit of both of them. On the flip side, she's also a traitor to both parents as well.

Yes, all it took for Neytiri to betray her mothers to a control freak Robin was a bag of dirt. Dirt that then got used to scupper Damien's plans to freeze Harley and Ivy for his own personal collection while King Baby helped both Harley and Ivy to get back into the Time Sphere.

Speaking of the Time Sphere, Ivy's motives for stealing it were more down to having for decorative purposes while Harley fed up of no one taking her sleepwalking plot seriously hijacked Ivy's operation. That led to the events of this episode, the two of them working their problems and an apocalypse happening while they were gone.

As for the rest of the episode, the Nightwing murder took an interesting turn. After bragging about clipping the original Boy Wonder's wings, it turned out that Joker didn't actually do it after all. Something which Batgirl also exposed to Dr Psycho's audience a little too happily as well.

With three episodes left we've got three things to resolve. The apocalypse that's currently happening, Harley's sleepwalking story and of course who killed Nightwing. Let's hope for good results for these stories.

- Jim Gordon really does love babysitting the shark babies, even if he lets them play with his gun.

- Nora wearing an Ivy wig to counter the IRS while Superman and Wonder Womam stepped in to try and stop the Cobb Squad getting the Time Sphere.

- The episode's title is a reference to Avatar. Same with Harley and Ivy's daughter.

- Chronology: September 21st then 27th, 2023 as well as 2048.

Most Culturally Impactful Film Franchise had fun with it's central idea while also laying the groundwork for the final three episodes (assuming the apocalypse plot isn't quickly resolved next week).  This was another good one.

Rating; 8 out of 10

My Review of My Adventures With Superman 1x08: "Zero Day Part 1"

 

Written by Cynthia Furey

Directed by Diana Huh

Superman: "Why are you doing this?"

The General: "Because you're no hero. You're the end of the world."

After opening with a two part story, we're getting another one and surprisingly enough, it's not the finale. Which does feel a tad odd because it feels like a finale and it's not looking good for Superman. This week he cannot catch a break.

Nearly every episode this season has had Superman uncover something new about himself and this episode, it was super hearing. At first, Supermanhad fun with it, being more efficient in helping others. Then it went badly. 

Super hearing had Superman run ragged and it was a bit too easily for The General to get the drop on him after all. With the way Mist was randomly showing up and making Superman look like a liability, I figured he was in on the plan and he was.

All season The General has gathered people for Task Force X and watching Superman having to go against Livewire, Silver Banshee, Heat Wave, Rough House, Deathstroke and Parasite was the best fight sequence we have gotten in the show to date.  He was well and truly outnumbered this time.

Then the episode ended on the cliffhanger of Superman being captured with Lois and Jimmy unable to stop them. What exactly will The General do now that he has Superman in his grasp? I'm still convinced he's Sam Lane, given that they've avoided putting him in scenes with Lois so far.

Speaking of Lois and Jimmy, while the former was still worried about that prophecy Mxy showed her last week, she still knew that Superman was a good man. However the arrival of a more ruthless Vicki Vale certainly put Superman in a negative light with the citizens of Metropolis.

- Alex is clearly going to turn out to be Lex Luthor, isn't he? I feel like that's going to be a finale reveal.

- Vicki Vale took down the Falcones and exposed a scandal at Queen Industries as well as a rivalry with Perry White.

- Jimmy's Flamebird account rose to two million followers this episode.

- Chronology: A week since the previous episode.

Zero Day Part 1 definitely kicked things off on a big note with Task Force X coming out in force and Superman getting his ass handed to him. Will the Evil Superman prophecy happen or will the show subvert it? Can't wait to find out.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Blue Beetle (2023)

 

Written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer

Directed by Angel Manuel Soto

Rudy (to Jaime): "The world sent you a gift and you have to figure out what to do with it."

I have to be honest. Of the remaining DCEU movies that were coming out in 2023, this was the one that I had the least excitement for. I'm not as versed with the character compared to other DC characters, I've never watched Cobra Kai and the trailers didn't really sell the movie as well as it should.

I bring this up because this movie fell into the category of being far better than I actually thought it was going to be. It's so good that it's creeped into my DCEU Top 5 and I really hope regardless of its box office outcome that James Gunn remains faithful to his word surrounding the character's future.

Anyways the movie started off with villains of the piece Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) and her bodyguard Ignacio Carapax/OMAC (Raoul Max Trujillo) in a frozen tundra getting their hands on an alien scarab that will change everything for the world. Notably for a young man named Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena).

Jaime's graduated from college and upon learning that his family are about to lose their home managed to get a menial job at Kord Industries with his snarky sister, Milagro (Belissa Escobedo). It didn't take long for Jaime to attract the attention of Victoria's niece, Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) and nor did it take Jenny long to get Jaime to smuggle the alien scarab away from Victoria's grasp as well.

It also didn't take long for either Jaime to show his family the scarab or for the latter to bond itself to Jaime and transform him into the Blue Beetle. With Jaime forming a connection with the scarab also known as Khaji-Da (Becky G), Jenny and Jaime's uncle Rudy (George Lopez) learn more about the origins of the scarab and previous Blue Beetles while Victoria and Ignacio go to aggressive lengths to ensnare Jaime.

The lengths resulting in the death of Jaime's father, Alberto (Damian Alcazar) while Jaime's mother, Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo) and Nana (Adriana Barraza) basically led everyone else into rescuing Jaime from Victoria and Ignacio from completing the former's OMAC mission. All the while an unwilling Dr Sanchez (Harvey Guillen) was forced to extract from Jaime and the scarab to do it.

The third act definitely represented one of the strongest ones we've had in the DCEU. As villains, both Victoria and Ignacio started off a little rough but while the former was willing to murder her only remaining family member left, the latter after a brutal smackdown with Jaime decided on another course of action instead.

For an introduction into this side of the DC Universe, this was some strong stuff. The family angle has been explored in other movies but here, it felt a bit different. Even the romance with Jaime and Jenny felt organic enough with believable chemistry between the actors.

- Batman, Superman and The Flash were referenced along with first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. Ted Kord was the only Blue Beetle not bonded with Khaji-Da. 

- Originally this was intended to be a HBO Max release before it became a theatrical release. 

- The mid-credit scene had an uncredited voice actor for Ted Kord while the post credit scene was another look at that cartoon. 

- We got to see some other Blue Beetle costumes in the Beetle cave as well as the big ship. Milagro and Nana had way too much fun with using Ted's gadgets as did Rudy.

- Standout music: There's a good use of All Out Of Love as well as a Spanish version of Be My Baby.

- Chronology: 2023, Palmero City. Jaime also mentioned being 22 years old. 

It's always great when a movie actually exceeds your expectations. Blue Beetle certainly exceeded mine with a great lead performance from Xolo Mariduena, nice use of family dynamics and villains that got better as the movie progress. Some strong VFX, fight scenes, music choices, one liners, emotional bits and an ambiguous timeline all work in this movie's favour.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Harley Quinn's 4x06: "Metamorphosis"

 

Written by Conner Shin

Directed by Michael Moloney

Joker (to everyone): "I killed Nightwing."

Well that mystery got solved very fast. Boo to Nightwing being dead but yay to evil Joker again. First he told his new family about his return to villainy and than everyone else at the Legion of Doom.

In all fairness while Harley let Batgirl get into her head about Nightwing being killed by Ivy (who wasn't broken up about his death), she should've looked a bit closer to her ex instead. Does this mean Joker is the antagonist for the remainder of the season? Probably.

Right now, the Bat Family is toast. Nightwing's dead, Robin has gone to his mommy and Batgirl's a mess. Things are so bad that Harley's the rational one of the gang and even now she doesn't even have Ivy to lean on. It's quite the mess for her.

Ivy's attention this week was definitely on getting rid of the PR team from hell more than Harley. Her plan to somewhat destroy her reputation during a Little Poison Miss Ivy pageant was pretty clever and full of Easters Eggs to the characters looks in various media over the years.

It also helped that Ivy managed to make amends with Terra, Tefe and Volcana by getting them in on the plan as well as the inadvertent use of King Shark's babies for good measure. Eh, who needs a PR team anyways?

Also in an amusing subplot Security Guard Gordon turned out to be most useful in helping King Shark handle the stress of looking after eight babies. Too bad he wasn't as helpful in sorting out a spiralling Babs though.

- Nightwing's coffin had a tribute to his backside but the event was spoiled by Toyman being a dick. Nora was also flirting with Captain Cold.

- Aside from a little girl dressed as Poison Ivy from Batman & Robin, we also had Sugar and Spice from Batman Forever as well with Two-Face.

- We got to meet Lucius Fox briefly in the episode and Alfred is using his wine business to get into a nicer prison.

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

Metamorphosis loses a point for Nightwing's death but Joker's return to evil and the Ivy and King Shark plots were great along with Frank being involved in the sleepwalking story with Harley. Overall, another enjoyable episode.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

AHS: Delicate and AHStories Season 3 - Split Seasons/Release Dates Confirmed

With the current writer and actors strikes still not resolved, I am actually surprised by this development but it's happening nonetheless. 

First of there's American Horror Story: Delicate. Usually the spin off has gone first in terms of release since its debut in 2021 but for this year, the twelfth season of the main show will air on FX from September 20th. As far as I know at least five episodes were filmed before the actors strike came into effect.

The upcoming season, based on Danielle Valentine's book Delicate Condition, released earlier this month has Emma Roberts as Anna Alcott. The character's an indie actress going to desperate measures to get pregnant with her husband, Dexter Harding (Matt Czuchry). Posters released included Emma's character cradling a giant spider with similar ones for both Kim Kardashian and Cara Delevingne also released by FX. A concept trailer released during SDCC last month focused on the trio with the show taking on a more supernatural approach compared to last season.

Meanwhile, the third season of spin-off series, American Horror Stories will also be returning after the release of the first part of the main show's upcoming season.

Releasing in one whole batch, the first four episodes will be on Hulu from October 26th with the second half to resume filming, post strikes. In terms of casting, the only recent one confirmed for an episode was Cameron Cowperthwaite who guest starred in the penultimate episode of the previous season. Jon Robin Baitz will executive produce the new season.

Well, there it is for both shows. Personally I would've left both shows for next year but it is what it is. 

American Horror Story: Delicate - Part 1 will air on FX from September 20th and American Horror Stories - Season 3 Part 1 will be released on FX on Hulu from October 26th. The second parts of both shows will air in 2024.

My Review of A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)

 

Written by Wesley Strick And Eric Heisserer

Directed by Samuel Bayer

Freddy: "Little Nancy. Now that you caught me, what game do you wanna play next?"

Nancy: "Fuck you!"

Freddy: "Ooh, sounds like fun. It's a little fast for me. How about we hang first?

We got to this point and it only took 26 years. Eight original movies, a TV series that ran for two seasons (I'll review at a later date) and a face off with Jason Voorhees, where else could this franchise go? Oh, that's right, it was time for the inevitable remake and here it is.

The 2000s and 2010 was a time for doing that, before the requel thing would give Hollywood a better middle ground for long running horror franchises. After Rob Zombie's disastrous Halloween movies, could this franchise remake succeeds where they failed?

From a financial perspective, yes this was an undeniable success, which makes the fact that no follow up ever happened but from a creative perspective, it's more of a mixed bag. For the most while this remake s nowhere near as good as the original, it's surprisingly better than expected and somewhat has a more sinister quality to it as well.

While Wes Craven never went in with Freddy Krueger being a child abuser (as well as a child killer), this movie didnt shy away from that idea one bit. Here, Freddy abused several kids when he was a janitor at a school. The parents took their revenge. Now he's taking his out on the teenagers he blamed for his demise by killing them in their dreams.

In eight movies and a TV series, Robert Englund had made the role so iconic that any actor taking on Freddy Krueger was going to have a hard time getting audiences on board. To his credit, Jackie Earle Haley does a very good making this version of Freddy quite menacing while getting a few pithy and downright inappropriate quips as he took out various teenagers in Springwood.

The teenagers in question being the likes of Dean (Kellan Lutz), his girlfriend Kris (Katie Cassidy) and her former boyfriend, Jesse (Thomas Dekker). The ones who proved to be an obstacle of course were Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara) and her love interest, Quentin (Kyle Gallner).

Freddy's dynamic with Nancy was one of the most iconic dynamics in the franchise and it's replicated somewhat differently here with the two having more of a personal history together. It's not quite as strong but it certainly has its moments as the two bring their feud to a bloody climax. The ending alone clearly felt like bait for a sequel we'll never get.

- Both Connie Britton and Clancy Brown get semi competent/sympathetic parental roles but both are ineffectual against Freddy overall.

- Fun facts being that Rooney Mara hated being in the movie, Heather Langenkamp was offered a cameo that she declined and originally this was going to be a prequel.

- Standout music: There's an excellent use of All I Have To Do Is Dream by The Every Brothers.

- Chronology: I'm assuming 2010, the year of it's release.

I avoided watching A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) for many years because of its very bad reputation and having caved in a few years, I thought it was deserving of that reputation. However watching it more recently, it's actually okay on its own merits with some good performances from Jackie Earle Haley and Rooney Mara (in spite of the latter's hatred for it). It could've been a lot worse.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)

 

Written by Casey McQuiston And Matthew Lopez And Ted Malawer

Directed by Matthew Lopez 

Prince Henry: "Please be patient with me, and I promise I wil try and be brave for us. Because when they write the history of my life, I want it to include you and my love for you."

Alex: "History, huh? Bet we could make some."

I guess August 2023 really has been the month for the YA LGBT audience. First with the release of Season 2 of Heartstopper, and now with the adaptation of Casey McQuiston's of Red, White & Royal Blue. I have never read the book, so my review clearly won't be too influenced by it. Well, maybe a tiny bit.

Anyways the premise of this movie played on the classic trope of "enemies/rivals to lovers" and it's certainly a fun one to watch. On one hand you have the son of the US female President and on the other hand, you have the "spare" Prince of the Royal Family. Such a culture clash already.

Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar-Perez) started the movie with an immense dislike for Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) and it's pretty mutual. Following the wedding of the latter's brother and an incident with both Alex and Henry having a massive cake crash on them, it's up to a swift PR campaign to get the two of them to appear like best friends.

The fun part was the movie moving swiftly past their initial rivalry (something involving Alex mishearing a past conversation from Henry) to a full on texting friendship. Then there was a New Year's Eve party that had the two share their first kiss.

Now with this being in the YA genre, I think some were hoping the R-rating this movie got would mean that we were going to get more explicit sex scenes between Alex and Henry as their relationship blossomed but what we got was something on between. Slightly more racy than the average YA adaptation but not quite on a HBO level either. For me, it was just fine.

The chemistry with Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar-Perez was absolutely spot on and while there's an abundance of cheesy dialogue and some serious logic gaps with the overall politics and royalty bits, I absolutely bought the love story with Alex and Henry and their perspectives too in relation to coming out. 

Alex does have a somewhat easier time coming out as a bisexual man. He got the support system with his President mother, Ellen (Uma Thurman), his father, Oscar (Clifton Collins, Jr) and best friend, Nora (Rachel Hilson). Saying that though, there's a foil for him with a reporter ex-boyfriend, Miguel (Juan Castano) who had zero problem outing Alex and Henry's relationship. 

As for Henry, yes it's the oligation of being a Royal and not being allowed to love who he wants to. Something that's driven into by his married brother, Phillip (Thomas Flynn) and his somewhat homophobic grandfather, King James III (Stephen Fry). Still though Henry had a supportive sister in Beatrice (Ellie Bamber) and the movie certainly ended on a very happy note between Henry and Alex. All's well that ends well would be the order of the day.

- Shout out to to Sarah Shahi for her performances as Zahra, who got a lot of funny one liners here.

- Doctor Who connections aside from Stephen Fry included Jemma Redgrave as the narrator and Sharon D. Clarke as the UK Prime Minister.

- Casey McQuiston did have a cameo in the movie and there's a scene where Alex was reading her other book, One Last Stop. I assume Amazon intend to adapt that too.

- The post credit scene was a reaction to Alex and Henry having the cake fall on them.

- Standout music: Up The Hill Backwards by David Bowie (Henry's dog is named after him), Piano Sonata No. 11 in AK 331 by Alfred Brendel and Fruit by Oliver Sim.

- Chronology: 2023 and 2024, given the re-election of Ellen Claremont. 

Red, White & Royal Blue did basically everything I expected of it and my expectations were moderate to begin. It's a light, frothy but feel good movie aimed at a younger audience than me and I think it succeeded there. Great chemistry with Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar-Perez, some good intimate scenes with Alex and Henry and a cute ending. That's all it needed to do and it did it well. 

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of My Adventures With Superman 1x07: "Kiss, Kiss, Fall In Portal"

 

Written by Paul Chang And Cynthia Furey And Aman Adumer 

Directed by Jen Bennett 

Superman/Lois (in unison): "I'm sorry I ruined our date."

We're three episodes away from the finale and we get this event of an episode that threw things for a massive loop. Yes, the evil Superman trope made its way onto this show and it's all thanks to a certain someone.

The someone being Mister Mxyzptlk (David Errigo Jr) who decided to interrupt Superman's very planned and organised date with Lois by telling the former that the latter had been kidnapped. Except she wasn't quite as it turned out that Lois and Jimmy themselves had their own company to keep up.

The company being a Legion of Lois Lanes, including a male version named Lewis (Osiric Chau) along with a female version of Jimmy named Jelani who later proved to be an ally to our trio. The other Lois Lanes (and Lewis) had their own mission: stopping Mxy and taking out Superman as well.

Mxy's need for Superman was simple enough - he was useful in getting a clue to getting his magic hat back and Mxy wasted no time in trading in the Man of Steel for the fun Lois to get the very hat he desired. He succeeded, there was a cool fight scene and then he was hoisted by his petard and depowered. 

Of course that wasn't the last of Mxy. Soon as our Superman and Lois finally got to the "I love yous" part of their relationship, a spanner got thrown in the works. The spanner being Lois now aware of evil Supermen from different Earths.  Something which Mxy was only too happy to revel in her figuring out.

However Mxy did allude to knowing a lot more than just that. Will this Superman also succumb to evil? I don't see it happening myself but with three episodes left and still the Task Force X plot to be resolved, who's to say what will happen before the season ends.

- We saw various animated versions of both Superman and Lois while Jelani was also confirmed to be a Flamebird too.

- Jimmy was very excited by Superman's spaceship and the Lois Lanes one too. 

- This series is set in Earth 12. Superman also became aware of Krypton being his homework thanks to Mxy.

- Chronology: Not long from where the last episode left off. Lois in our world is also 23 years old, the youngest version we've had in animation I think.

Kiss, Kiss, Fall In Portal was another strong effort as we build towards the finale. We've had a lot of Multiverse stuff with DC this year and this was another delightful look into it. I'm really loving this show.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Talk To Me (2023)

 

Written by Daniel Philippou And Bill Hinzman 

Directed by Daniel Philippou And Michael Philippou

Stranger (to Mia): "I let you in."

And the sleeper hit of the summer goes to this movie. It wasn't on my radar for a bit and then the reviews came in and I needed to see what the fuss was about. Good job I did so then.

I've been meaning to watch more Australian movies, especially in the horror genre and while I have seen at least one Wolf Creek film, this was about something far scarier than just a random crazed killer bumping off backpackers. This played around with a pretty familiar trope.

The trope being talking to dead and the means of doing it was through an embalmed hand that once the person touched during candlelight and saying the words "talk to me," thongs played out in a very sinister manner. It's as if some people don't know better or stupidly put themselves in danger.

The characters in questions to do this was outcast Mia (Sophie Wilde) who found herself attending a party with her friend, Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and the latter's younger brother, Riley (Joe Bird). A party that had Mia's ex boyfriend, Daniel (Otis Dhanji) and was hosted by Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio), the ones responsible for the troublesome hand to begin with.

With the exception of Jade (who had enough sense not to go there), everyone of the group touched the hand and got visited by various spirits. With Hayley and Joss being the least effected and Daniel spooked a bit, it was primarily Mia and Riley who had to deal with the worst effects of touching that hand.

Riley's short encounter led to a violent altercation that resulted in him being hoapitalised to the anger of his mother, Sue (Miranda Otto). Sue, who blamed Mia for her son's condition but would then also leave him alone with an increasingly unstable Mia as the movie hurtled towards its conclusion. 

Mia's descent into madness, given her repeated experiences with the hand and encounter with her dead mother, Rhea (Alexandria Steffenson) certainly fuelled the tension. Mia tried her best to save Riley from eternal limbo torment, only to find herself in the reverse position she started, giving this movie a rather chilling ending.

- While the RackaRacka guys are responsible for this movie, the idea did come from Daley Pearson.

- Following the success of this movie, not only is a sequel in the works but a short prequel movie was also filmed before this movie's release.

- Standout music: Good use of Sia's Chandelier earlier on in the film.

- Chronology: Present day Australia. The film was made in 2022 but released last month.

Talk To Me definitely has merited the praise it's been given in the short time of it's release. Overall, this has been a strong year for the horror genre with this being a worthy debut for RackaRacka. A gripping central performance from Sophie Wilde certainly helped too.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Harley Quinn's 4x05: "Getting Ice Dick, Don't Wait Up"

 

Written by Jen Chuck

Directed by Joonki Park 

Harley (to Barbara): "Oh, Nightwing's here and he's wearing my friendship bracelet."

They did not just do that, did they? Here's hoping not or a lot of Nightwing fans are going to be upset. Nightwing cannot be dead, right? Then again, this is a show that has wasted The Penguin and Mr Freeze.

For the most part of this episode, Nightwing refused every attempt that Harley made to be closer to the Bat Family. He rejected her quips during fights, her attempts to help during fights, a friendship bracelet and even to help find a "missing" Batgirl. This version of Nightwing's a bit too tightly wound.

Anyways while Nightwing wasn't Team Harley, Barbara's roommate, Alysia Yeoh was a bit more receptive and even went to the snowy location that Barbara was actually at. Alysia even managed to get to the bottom of Harley's sleepwalking issues but Harley sidestepped that one for now.

However with Barbara being safe and just caught up in her parents messy reunion, there were some nice scenes between Babs, Harley and Alysia before the episode ended with a dead Nightwing. Really hoping that one doesn't stick.

As for Ivy this week, her co-workers were loving her antics on the Moon and Lex even assigned her his PR Team, who were mostly annoying. Ivy's newfound success also saw her isolating herself not only from Harley and Frank but also her mentees. 

The mentees being Volcana, Terra and Tefe Holland, none of whom were pleased with her dropping her attention from them. Yeah, Ivy's moving up in the world with her Socially Conscious Evil story but losing a bit of herself too.

- Commissioner Gordon got a security guard job at the Legion of Doom. Nora put little thought in hiring him.

- The Ice Park had Captain Cold, Blue Snowman and Icicle in the mix. Supergirl also performed LASIK surgery on Harley.

- Harley kept telling Alysia about the swim team but it seemed like the latter was aware of the Bat Family. Oh and we saw Bud and Lou.

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

I'm hoping that Getting Ice Dick, Don't Wait Up isn't the end of Nightwing on this show. Other than that mild concern, another very enjoyable episode this week. This season has been very good so far.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)

 

Written by Damien Shannon And Mark Swift

Directed by Ronny Yu

Freddy: "I've been away from my children for far too long."

Well, it was nine years since the events of the not canon but still utterly amazing Wes Craven's New Nightmare. For this specific franchise, that was some distance. However not content with the previous movie going all meta for a first, this eighth installment also had another first.

Crossing over with the Friday The 13th franchise, Freddy Krueger (Robert England) has found himself forgotten about by the kids of Springwood and he refuses to accept that fate whatsoever. In order to get them remembering and scared, he's decided to enlist some help.

Taking a trip to Crystal Lake, Freddy enlists the help of one Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger) by using the image of Pamela (Paula Shaw) in order to complete his goal but of course, it doesn't go to plan. Jason isn't content with being an errand boy for Freddy, he wanted his own slice of the action and this was where the movie mostly lived up to its title.

Anyways with Freddy and Jason both vying to come out on top in the killer stakes, this movie needed some teenagers to bump off and there's a fair chunk of them here. First of all though, let's meet our final girl, Lori Campbell (Monica Keena).

As a final girl, Lori seems to fall in the "in between" category as most of the ones do in this franchise. She's got a traumatic backstory involving her mother being a victim of Freddy's as well as a father more keen on drugging her to repress her memories than deal with them in a healthier manner. Not to mention a love interest named Will (Jason Ritter), who's had his own mental health issues.

Character wise, both are okay in a group mostly made of cannon fodder. Fodder that included Lori's mean spirited best friend, Kia (Kelly Rowland), chain smoking Gibb (Katharine Isabelle), nerdy Charlie (Chris Marquette) as well Will's fellow inmate Mark (Brendan Fletcher) and the one not entirely useless cop, Scott (Lochlyn Munro). Some of them work a bit better than others but they're largely just there to be killed off by both title baddies.

As the movie stumbled towards its final act and most of the cast were dead, only Lori and Will were enough to take on Freddy but do very little to stop Jason. Truthfully, it's the latter killer that emerged as the real victor of the movie although the former still was hinted to be alive by the end of it all.

- Like Freddy's Dead, there were clips and flashbacks to previous movies.

- This movie represented the end of both franchises, until they both got reboot movies a year apart from one another.

- Standout music: Without a doubt, it's the most heavy metal soundtrack of the franchise. Most of the songs just fade into each other.

- Chronology: I'm assuming 2003, given the year of it's release.

Freddy Vs. Jason has these two horror icons meeting in a movie that should've been a damn sight better than what we got here. While it doesn't quite hit the nadir that either franchise has had with their own later sequels, nor can it be said that it's a personal best for either.  With some largely characters, questionable dialogue choices and so on, the results are more of a mixed bag.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

 

Written And Directed by Wes Craven

Heather (reading Wes Craven's script): "Heather, thank you for having the strength to play Nancy one last time."

I've finally come to the part in my reviews for this franchise where the lowest grossing movie in it also turned out to be the best sequel of the bunch. 

You know when you say a movie is ahead of its time? It's damn well applicable to this one. Everything that audiences would later embrace with the Scream franchise can be traced to this movie. How meta can you get? Watch this one and you'll see just how meta a franchise can get.

Instead of being a legacy sequel to the original movie, which with the returns of Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon you'd almost think what was happening, instead you're given something far stranger. What if Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) was able to come into the real world after all? Granted, Freddy's Revenge road tested that idea with mixed results but here, it's handled somewhat better.

It's been a decade since Heather Langenkamp played the role of Nancy Thompson. In that time, she's had a TV career, married a nice guy named Chase Porter (David Newsom) and has a son named Dylan (Miko Hughes). Her life's pretty great and then she gets the call she wished she hadn't.

Like I said it's been ten years and New Line desperately want a sequel to their biggest horror franchise that the fans will love and will make a profit (oh, the irony). Heather's reluctant to sign up to another sequel but her co-star, Robert on the other hand isn't as shy to reprise his iconic villain one more time. 

Of course Freddy (or The Entity) factored into this movie when Wes Craven had to explain to Heather about having precognitive nightmares that an ancient got freed following the franchise ending with the previous movie. Killing Heather would give the entity a hold in the real world and it's determined to do that.

Throughout the movie then, Heather lost both her husband and her babysitter Julie (Tracy Middendorf) - the latter being a break out character, while having both her sanity and her parenting questioned at different points. Not to mention the Entity's fixation on Dylan in order to complete its goal.

The final fight between Heather and "Freddy" might be one of the best we've had in the franchise as the lines between fiction and reality well and truly got blurred. Overall, Heather emerged as the victor as she really did have the strength to play Nancy one last time.

- The movie had cameos from Lin Shaye, Nick Corri, Robert Shaye and Tuesday Knight who all appeared in previous movies as different characters.

- Robert Englund's favourite of the sequels from the franchise.

- Standout music: REM's Losing My Religion. 

- Chronology: 1994, California, making this first movie out of Springwood for good measure.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare as a concept should not have worked as well as it did. In fact, it could've sank the franchise into ridicule but in spite of its awful box office numbers, it breathed some new life into it. Without a doubt, it's the best movie in the franchise outside of the first one.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of My Adventures With Superman 1x06: "My Adventures With Mad Science"

 

Written by Aman Adumer And Angela Entzminger And Cynthia Furey 

Directed by Kiki Manrique

Jimmy: "Clark, I know you're Superman. This is not a big reveal."

After Lois not taking the news of Clark and Superman being the same person so well in the last episode, the reaction from Jimmy played out differently. Turns out, it's not shocking news for him.

As a big scene, it was a fun contrast and with the two closest people in his life - people that he's admitted to loving, Clark can now be his true self with his friends. Which ain't a bad thing, considering that he's got some mutual enemies also working together this week.

Yes, the General (it's got to be Sam Lane, hasn't it) and Dr Ivo/Parasite have formed their own team and they arrived at the events of the main episode played. Events that the General was also responsible for tbh. That General certainly does cause a lot of chaos, more than those he perceives to be a threat. 

Getting back to last week's cliffhanger ending,  Jimmy's kidnappers were revealed to be Monsieur Mallah and The Brain and guess what, they're they're a couple. An adorable one that bicker but clearly love each other, even though they had different viewpoints on humanity. The Brain being more sceptical of them while Mallah wanted to see the better of them.

By the end of the episode, the amusing couple along with Clark, Lois and Jimmy all worked together to take out the OMAC soldiers along with a handy black hole to boot. As someone who liked the depiction of Mallah and Brain in Doom Patrol, these versions were also highly enjoyable go watch.

- The first episode not to actually have Clark as Supermam apart from the first part of premiere story.

- Jimmy figured out Clark's secret during the first day they met. Lois also talked about her wilderness skills learned from her father.

- It was the red sun protecting Mallah and Brain's hideout that wrecked havoc with Clark's powers.

- Chronology: From where the previous one left off.

My Adventures With Mad Science was definitely the strongest episode yet. I loved the group dynamics with Clark, Lois and Jimmy and both Mallah and Brain were a true delight. Only three more to go.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Harley Quinn's 4x04: "The First Person To Come Back From A Business Conference Without Chlamydia"

 

Written by Jimmy Mosqueda

Directed by Vinton Hueck

Lex (to everyone): "That's enough. Everybody get off my moon."

Business trips can be a frought time, can't they? Lex Luthor just wanted a weekend where he could watch a random guy dressed as Superman have sex with a woman and Ivy to introduce him while everyone else was wowed by his innovations.

Sadly for Lex, his buzz for the Superman role play got ruined by Talia (not the only fun she torpedoed this episode) and his key speech got overtaken by everyone else's adoration by Ivy. Of course handed the latter situation with a certain grace.

Well, not really. He instead decided to make his moonbase uninhabitable for everyone else as the pressure of being on top basically wrecked his glutes. Could Ivy's time with the Legion of Doom have ended here? If so her newfound alliance with Steppenwolf (also Talia's doing) came at the right time for her.

While Ivy was making the right connections on the moon, meanwhile on terra firma, Harley and the Batfamily were forced to downsize, thanks to Talia taking the latter's gadgets. This plot definitely had a lot of fun with it as Harley taught the likes of Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin that anything could be a potential weapon.

This lesson came in handy when a bunch of European tourists had the Batfamily bound and gagged and Harley was having a hard time dealing with their super drugged up state. Of course, Harley and the gang did get the better of them and now we have Harley smashing things in a sleep walking state. 

As for Joker, the episode started with him nearly getting robbed by Two-Face and ended with him blowing up a gardener. I guess he's back to his evil ways, now that being mayor has lost it's appeal for him. Not to mention to Harley practically telegraphing his evilness to boot. I guess he had to go back to his natural state eventually. 

- Nightwing's ass really has become too much of a talking point for Harley and he's gotten irritated with it too.

- Steppenwolf has a boyfriend and their relationship is unsurprisingly kinky to boot. Ivy and Nora had fun making fun of that phallic shaped rocket. Alfred's also on the moon serving wine.

- Damien'sbirthday was five months ago but Talia still views him as a baby, given her choice of gift for him.

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

The First Person To Come Back From A Business Conference Without Chlamydia is a mouthful for a title but it's also an unbridled slice of pure chaos. Maybe the best episode so far and definitely setting up a good new villain arc for Joker and whatever will be going on with Harley to boot.

Rating: 8 out of 10

They've Been Here All Along

Yeah, it's been a while since I've done one of these. Same as usual, a look into things I've been catching up on.

And Just Like That: After an extremely divisive first season, this Sex And The City sequel series came back for a slightly less divisive second season. For the most part, second helpings does feel like an improvement. In the first seven episodes we've had a deconstruction and break up with Miranda and Che, Carrie recording an audio book for her novel, a temporary romance, losing her podcasting gig and reuniting with Aidan. As for Charlotte, she became a Momager, suffered the effects of a pot brownie and bagged an Italian poet for Anthony. Seema has had some fun one liners and more effort has been made to connect Lisa and Nya with the main group. There's more to be done but it's starting to find it's groove after such a rocky start.

Poker Face: The last four episodes of this first season certainly had their moments. We had race car drama, special effects murders, a creepy cabin adventure with Joseph Gordon Levitt on house arrest and then that finale. The one where Charlie managed to get herself out of one villain's grasp (hello, Ron Perlman) only to land in another's (also hello. Rhea Perlman) while getting a little family time with Charlie's sister and niece. Will I be tuning in for more of these haphazard hijinks? Absolutely.

Secret Invasion: It's disappointing to see the MCU's foray into Disney+ shows go from "must see TV" to "I've seen enough" in less than three years but between too many shows in too little time and some of the creatives choices being made for these shows, it's not surprising. I wanted to like this show but it was largely a mess, fumbled an event that should've been an Avengers movie and despite Samuel L Jackson's best efforts, this ultimately felt like a waste of time with the handling of the Skrulls plot. Not even the talents of Emilia Clarke and Olivia Colman could salvage this.

The Bear: With this show's second season recently released and all the Emmy buzz surrounding it, I finally got around to watching the first season. I can't believe I left it so long. This show is amazing. Jeremy Allen White is a revelation as Carmy and he's back by a fantastic cast playing some genuinely compelling characters. The dynamics between Carmy, Richie. Sydney, Tina, Sugar and Marcus to name a few is brilliant as the show's focus on a struggling restaurant makes for great television. The Review episode alone was some of the tensest twenty minutes I've seen commited to film and the finale was a beautiful way to end the season. I'll be catching up with the second season very quickly.

The Idol: Well, that ended on a weird as hell note. You really telling me that after all this time and everything we'd seen that it was Jocelyn manipulating Tedros? I'm all for a secret twist but that was so poorly done, it reeked of bullshit. I really don't see how this show can justify a second season and I'm hoping that HBO have the sense not to do so but who can tell what they'll do.

• The series finale of Riverdale will air on the CW from August 23rd.
• The third season of Only Murders In The Building premieres on Hulu/Disney+ from August 8th.
• Heartstopper Season 2 is now released on Netflix.
• House Of The Dragon's second season has been able to remain filming in spite of the current strikes. Expect some big book changes.
• American Horror Story: Delicate will likely be moved to 2024, given recent events.
• HBO have renewed The Righteous Gemstones for a fourth season.
• NBC have cancelled Magnum PI. The remaining ten episodes will air later in the year.
• CBS will air the UK version of Ghosts in double bills as part of their autumn line up.
• FX limited series A Murder At The End Of The World will now air from November instead of this month as originally planned.
• AppleTV have cancelled Suspicion after one season.

My Review of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

 

Written by Michael De Luca

Directed by Rachel Talalay

Maggie: "Happy Father's Day."

Freddy: "Oh .... Kids."

Had things been different and the title really had been true, this really could've been the last time that Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) had terrorised on the big screen. However we're talking about a successful horror franchise and they never truly die. They just rest for a bit.

In the previous five movies we've seen Freddy terrorise and kill various teenagers while slowly learning about his origins with mixed results. We've learned about him as a son. It only made sense to learn about him as a father and husband. Spoiler alert: he's awful in both roles.

Starting this movie with an amnesiac young man literally called John Doe (Shon Greenblatt), this movie starts off with it looking like that not only was the young man going to be the new and less screechy Jesse Walsh but also the son of Freddy. Halfway through the film that was well and truly kicked into touch.

Instead it's revealed that Dr Maggie Burroughs aka Katherine Krueger (Lisa Zane) is actually the daughter of Freddy Krueger and was responsible for him being sent to prison after he murdered her mother when she was younger. It took a while for Maggie to remember her murderous father but when she does, things do get more interesting.

The franchise had had its protagonists with Nancy and Alice being the most successful, Jesse the least and Kristen somewhere in between. I feel Maggie falls a bit in between tbh but I love that she's an older protagonist and her fight with Freddy has probably felt the most personal in the franchise since Nancy with Freddy realising that his daughter really is a chip of the old block.

Of course there are also teenage protagonists in this installment as well. Broken home children including stoner, Spencer (Breckin Meyer), deaf kid Carlos (Ricky Dean Logan) and tough girl Tracy (Lezlie Deane). Ou of the three, Tracy's the only survivor as well as the only one really developed as a character. 

- This movie had a few celebrity cameos including Johnny Depp, Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold and Alice Cooper. 

- Originally John Doe was meant to be a teenage version of Alice's son, Jacob but nothing confirmed it in the movie itself.

- Standout music: Has to be Freddy's Dead by Iggy Pop, played over the closing credits and featuring clips from previous movies.

- Chronology: Ten years in the future apparently. It's definitely a 90s setting though, given when it was released.

Freddy's Dead doesn't have the greatest reputation and while it's generally a bit messy, I kind of have a soft spot for it. I really like Rachel Talalay as a director and I thought she did the best she could with what she had to work with, script. It's not great but it's a damn sight than the previous two movies that came before it.

Rating: 6 out of 10