Hello kiddos, Happy New Year! It's been a good minute here at the Strangeverse and pretty much all is quiet here on the (literal) western front. Not much has changed for me, just getting a new vehicle, enjoying my gaming PC, and waiting quietly for entertainment media to get good again (which seems like it may not happen anytime soon). That isn't to say there are something worth taking a look at, all of which will be mentioned after the break;
Well for better or worse (hopefully better) here's more. The highlights will no doubt be any and all interactions between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, Charlie Cox, and Vincent D'Onofrio have a chemistry that most actors in romantic comedies can't match and whenever you have these characters on screen it is a must-watch. However, I'd be lying if I said I'm well versed in Daredevil's rogues gallery as the character of Muse will be making an appearance, and it looks like he'll be taking center stage as possibly the lead villain. Muse was a character introduced to the world in 2016, thus making the character 9 years old, which in comic book time is still an infant. Muse is listed as an Inhuman (a species of being in the Marvel universe created from a Kree experiment), I doubt very much that Muse will be Inhuman in this incarnation as "Daredevil" has kept itself fairly grounded, I say fairly grounded because The Hand does exist.
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| He's definitely gaming the system, Fisk can't help himself. |
And speaking of which The Hand is a prime opportunity for something "Daredevil: Born Again" can correct. The Hand essentially served as the big bad of the MCU TV series, culminating in "The Defenders" which for better or worse served as an epilogue to the Netflix era of The MCU. The Hand was woefully mishandled (all puns intended) because it didn't lean on what was previously established or showcased just how dangerous they were. The 2nd Season of "Daredevil" was a mess with The Punisher being one of the few highlights. A much more menacing and solid reintroduction to The Hand would be very much welcomed. It looks like we may get some supernatural goings-on in "Daredevil: Born Again" as we'll be introduced to White Tiger (Black Panther's brother from another mother, I jest), a character who gains his abilities from a mystical amulet, we'll see how he fits into things, unfortunately the actor who plays White Tiger passed of cancer so this will be his final performance and more the likely the last time we see the character (unless he's recast).
I'm very excited to see what becomes of Matt Murdock and whether or not the other Defenders make their way into the MCU. I liked Jessica Jones, despite her many flaws, I very much so enjoyed Luke Cage, and with the right direction and focus I'm willing to give Finn Jones as Iron Fist another shot...unless they cast Ryan Phillippe (and yes, I know he's freakin' 50...Mike Colter is 48, shut up!). "Daredevil: Born Again" could be the start of the MCU renaissance (never spelling that again) IF (and that's a big if) they actually treat this like a show and NOT CONTENT! Here's what I mean; "Daredevil" on Netflix wasn't treated as a part of a greater whole, it was treated as its own thing, hence why when it came out many assumed that "Daredevil" and the other MCU Netflix shows took place in a universe separate from the actual MCU, which was NOT the case. Because the Netflix shows weren't a part of the larger MCU story they were able to stand and fall on their own and fans were able to watch the show without feeling like they NEEDED to. Content, on the other hand, is shows like "WandaVision" and"Loki" and despite having enjoyed both of those they were a part of the larger MCU narrative and without watching those "Doctor Strange And Multiverse Of Madness" doesn't make much sense, without watching "Loki" the TVA doesn't make much sense. Likewise, these are story pieces, current MCU shows feel like trailers more than actual TV shows. "WanadaVision", "Loki" and "Falcon and The Winter Soldier" pretty much wrapped up Phase Three of The MCU. You get my point, hopefully. Either way SUPER excited to see "Daredevil: Born Again" when it drops.
Since we're talking about The MCU, let's have a chat about the upcoming slate of movies they got on the docket. Dropping as soon as next month (and Valentine's Day for some reason...) is "Captain America: Brave New World", featuring Sam Wilson as Captain America...formerly Falcon. Needless to say, I'm not exactly sold on this movie entirely, the plot features Red Hulk...without the actual Hulk and boasts the talents of Giancarlo Esposito (who'll be undeniably wasted here) and Rosa Salazar as Diamondback (who will probably have no relation to Luke Cage's Diamondback). I'm with everyone else on this one that despite Falcon becoming Captain America in the comics, Sam Wilson was fine as Falcon and the "mantle" of Captain America should have been hung up. Even in "The Falcon and Winter Soldier" Baron Zemo recognized the uniqueness of Steve Rogers and Falcon's rejection of the Super Serum really raises questions as to how he intends to hold his own against Red Hulk. I'm not really interested in checking this movie out at all as I have a feeling by the end of it we'll get lectured by Sam Wilson about how we need to "Do better." when it comes to whatever hot-button topic pops up.
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| This was easily the WORST scene in this entire show next to when Sam didn't have his ID... |
The same goes for "Thunderbolts*", this movie reads MCU series all over it and ultimately the film just looks like a full-length trailer for Sentry. This easily could have been a mini-series and might have served the MCU better that way, but they're hellbent on making movies so what else is there to do. While I'm excited about bipolar Superman a.k.a Sentry, I'm not really interested in the MCU's Suicide Squad. "Fantastic Four: First Steps" is coming up as well and with the reveal of a female Silver Surfer, Shalla-Bal it just makes me realize that the execs over at Disney genuinely hate money. However, Galactus being a part of this production does pique my interest a bit, as I've stated previously I probably won't be interested in anything The MCU does unless Galactus is introduced. Also, this will be the first MCU film to take place in an alternate universe. While other MCU films were retroactively grafted into the MCU, this is the first film to be set in an actual alternate universe so that gives the film a bit of an opportunity to breathe and be its own thing, how and when it'll get grafted into the MCU as a whole is anyone's guess. No doubt RDJ's Victor Von Doom will make an appearance and who knows how that'll turn out. The MCU is in absolute shambles right now all because they didn't simply recast Jonathan Majors, oh well we'll see what shakes down when trailers start dropping, until then I'll just stay tuned.
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| Not making the obvious joke here. |
Since we're talking about superheroes let's talk about THE superhero and that is, of course, Superman! Yes, the big blue boy scout returns in what was previously titled "Superman: Legacy" and is now just "Superman" (because that makes sense) and a trailer has dropped for the movie. This trailer looks bloated but a few things stand out; 1, David Corenswet kills it as Clark Kent, and as Superman, they actually look like 2 different people and he genuinely looks like a dork as Clark, intentional or not he looks amazing. 2, how are they going to juggle all the characters. When the film was announced James Gunn said The Authority (a new DC creation after combining the worlds of Wildstorm and DC together) was going to play a role in the film, and now we have the introduction of Guy Gardner as a Green Lantern prior to the HBOMax show "Lanterns" which is set to introduce Hal Jordan and John Stewart, what can't Guy Gardner handle that Superman absolutely must handle? The word around the campfire is that Brainiac is going to be the main villain in the film, which will be his first theatrical debut so we'll see. Nicolas Hault has my full support as Lex Luthor, dude is a great actor and will undeniably kill it. Since this new DCEU isn't going for a massive overarching bad guy like Marvel did it'll be interesting to see how this develops. I'm interested to see if they'll build to a Justice League movie (which they'll have to) and if the fate of the other DCEU holdouts (Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Jason Mamoa's Aquaman) is anyone's guess on whether or not they will return in any capacity.
I'm VERY cautious on this one because I love Superman but the previous DCEU under Zack Snyder and the Execs over at Warner Bros. was so mind-numbingly stupid that I completely gave up on DC. Seems like DC has to take what Marvel left on their plate by hiring James Gunn to effectively save them from themselves. As I've mentioned I'm not too thrilled about James Gunn's lineup, and now (literally just now) I saw that they added a "Clayface" film to the first Chapter (as they're calling them) of films. *sigh* Yes, because a "Clayface" movie is exactly what the masses want...I'll be over here waiting until something slaps me hard enough to warrant my attention, until then I'll probably check out Superman and that'll be about it, but rest assured I'll probably hyper critical because DC REALLY needs a freakin' win at this point.
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| Legit, doesn't look like the same person. |
I know I'm talking about movies a lot (I love movies) and wouldn't you know it, a movie has caught my attention because the trailer looks pretty damn good, but we all know what happens when the trailer looks good (looking directly at you "Longlegs"). "The Woman In The Yard" looks interesting, as someone pointed out in the comments, most horror movies take place at night with the monster shrouded in darkness but this movie puts the monster in broad daylight and I have to say it makes for a compelling image. Blumhouse, much like A24 is a mixed bag for me, sometimes they're good sometimes they're bad. I'm gonna say something and it's gonna sound awful and I'm saying it nonetheless because I think I'm the only one who can and will say it. Whenever a horror movie features a primarily Black cast (which this film does) there will undeniably be a racial component to the horror. I hate saying that but it's almost always true to the point where I'm just plain sick of it. Even "Us" snuck it in there (the film was ultimately about privilege...Peele's words not mine, and golly gee, just what demographic seems to be the most concerned with privilege these days...gee, I wonder who). "The Woman In The Yard" LOOKS good but I'm betting 10/1 that it's a streamer, so I'll catch this one on HBOMax or some other streaming service when it becomes available and save myself the money.
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| Real striking imagery here |
Moving on, I have somewhat become interested in what is described as "liminal horror", this mostly involves large spaces of single-colored rooms that are void of life or signs of life. I've often had dreams of liminal spaces and while some people find them terrifying I find them relaxing. This is vaguely related to my next topic as a series that boasts liminal spaces is an Apple TV+ series called "Severance". I just completed the first season thanks to Roku offering it for free and I must say I am quite happy with it despite a few things (namely that a gay romance always has to be thrown into the mix, looking directly at you "Goosebumps") but the show does offer some interesting ideas and is causing me to re-tool some ideas in a story of my own. All this to say if you like very down-to-earth sci-fi and mysteries involving evil corporations I'd check out "Severance". Irony of ironies, no sooner do I complete the first Season of "Severance" does the 2nd Season premier and Chris Stuckmann reviews it...weird world we live in, eh?
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| The work is important and mysterious and also why it took 3 years for a 2nd Season is likewise important and mysterious! |
With all that said as for me personally, all is quiet on the Western front. Not too much is going on with me to be completely honest, still working, just got a new vehicle, and enjoying PC gaming as much as I possibly can. Currently playing WWE2K23 (and kicking myself for NOT waiting until 2k24 came out...but thems the break, right?). Working on tightening up my screenplay so I can potentially sell it, I found a website that offers 89.99 dollars worth of coverage with a 3 day turn around and I'm a fast writer when I wanna be, so while I'm in between paychecks I'll be tightening the script to get it a better score. We'll see what becomes of that but I'm optimistic and it is only January, there's no real time limit on this and I have 2 scripts that (at least in my mind are complete) so once I get a passing score on this one I'll start getting coverage for the other while I shop this one around.
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| Thanks 2K...really appreciate you bastards adding The Fiend to a WWE game...since The Fiend has been around since 2021 and you morons just now decided to added him to a game...thanks a lot...assholes... |
As it stands now, there really isn't anything that has really blown me away. Maybe I'm becoming completely listless when it comes to entertainment or maybe I'm just growing up but I've been feeling completely disconnected from everything lately. Maybe because I haven't been doing anything creative lately and I mean genuinely creative, sure I've gotten to create a wrestler and draw some pictures but...I don't know...I feel dead inside like a spark is missing. I've been feeling that way for some time now and I'm sure how to fix that. Not to get bleak but telling stories is a big part of who I am and I've done that in any REAL capacity for a VERY LONG time. Maybe I'm just reeling from completely humiliating myself at Karaoke last night, I sang three songs and it was GOD AWFUL! I really do hate hearing myself over loudspeakers, it's disquieting. Either way, I'm in a sour mood and it's early in the morning...off to go to work...*sigh* Catch you guys later if there's anything worth writing about later...who the hell is reading these anyway...
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