Marvel Phase 3

So Marvel announced "Phase 3" of their film universe, whatever that means. It's just a bunch of sequels. Anyway, they announced a bunch of them so I figured I'd share my thoughts:

Captain America 3: Civil War
The picture says Serpent Society, but apparently that was all a ruse and it's actually subtitled Civil War. I wish they had stuck with Serpent Society because I felt the Civil War storyline was one of the worst moments in the history of comic books. Awful story, betrayal of the characters, etc. But, anyway, the first couple Cap movies were good so I imagine this one will be as well.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2:
Sure. Who wouldn't be excited for this one?

Black Panther
I'll be the one white person on the internet to say it: I don't care... not because it's about a black character, but because it's about a boring character. Not every Marvel character is worthy of a stand-alone film, and I've never much character for his solo comic stories. Chadwick Boseman is decent casting, but he doesn't really have the gravitas needed, in my opinion. Remember 15 years ago when Wesley Snipes was in talks to play the character? Now THAT would've had me excited.

Captain Marvel
Again, no interest. At first I got excited because I thought it was about Mar-Vell, the defected Kree warrior called Captain Marvel. But it's not. It's about this new character about whom I know nothing. I don't even know much about the original Captain Marvel. I'm sure it will be great and I'll see it, but at this point I have no interest.

The Avengers: Infinity War Parts I and II
I'm on board for this one. More Thanos? Basing two films on what is arguably the greatest epic in comic book history? My only fear is that they'll fuck it up, but judging from what we've seen so far, I remain hopeful. I'm very excited for these.

Dr. Strange
Again, I'm going to be the only person on the internet to admit two things: I don't care about Dr. Strange and I think Bennedict Cumberbatch is overrated. I like the character, and he's a fine actor, I just can't get excited about this movie. I'm sure I'll see it, but the casting of Cumberbatch just leads me to believe he's going to turn Dr. Strange into that same character he has played in every other movie he's been in. I mean, what is there to say about an actor who made Khan boring?

Inhumans
I swear to god I'm a comic fan -- Marvel in particular -- and I love these movies... but no interest in this one. Boring characters so it will either be a boring movie, or something incredibly unfaithful.

Thor 3
Yeah, ok. I loved the first one, tolerated the second one, but both were fun enough to have me interested in a third, at least as a rental.

Four Walls and a Roof Review

We review the Walking Dead season five episode "Four Walls and a Roof"

So Awkward: Crypticon MN 2014

Jester and Don visit Crypticon MN, an annual horror convention here in Minneapolis, MN. Don had the opportunity to sit down and interview Eric Roberts, and they both met TV's Frank Conniff, Zach Galligan, and Tom Atkins, and many more.

So Awkward: Fan Mail

Jester and Don open their first piece of fan mail... and it's amazing: A horror mystery mini and some Walking Dead Pops!

Thanks, Matt!!!

So Awkward: Fear Loot Crate

Jester and Don unbox the Fear Loot Crate for October, 2014:

So Awkward: Walking Dead "Strangers" Review

Jester and Don review "Strangers," the second episode of the fifth season of The Walking Dead:

The Top 100 Star Trek Episodes of All Time

No, not as chosen by me, but by the good people at io9.com, a very fine sci-fi website. All things considered, this is a pretty decent list and I don't have much to complain about. Not that I would anyway, since I understand that lists like these aren't meant to be definitive, so much as fun and joyous about Star Trek. I would have written a different list than this, but none of these are bad episodes by any means.

I am intrigued by their choice of Balance of Terror as the best Star Trek episode of all time. That's a great episode to be sure, but I probably would've have even put it in my top ten. I am glad that they didn't go with the stock choice for these lists, City on the Edge of Forever, another very fine episode, but one that I think is a bit overrated. When people ask me which is my favorite Star Trek episode, I usually say either The Inner Light or Far Beyond the Stars. However, if I ever did sit down to compile a list (and I'm not saying I'm gonna), I admit I'd probably want to give the top spot to an episode of the original series. Anything else just wouldn't feel right. Having said that, it would be hard to choose my favorite, but it would probably be Mirror Mirror, The Corbomite Maneuver, or Devil in the Dark. Anyway, those are my favorites. I also really like Conscience of the King... and all of them, to be perfectly honest, at least from the first couple seasons anyway.

Another interesting to note -- and something of which I approve -- is the absence of Voyager or Enterprise in the top 20. I'm sure they were tempted to represent all of the series in the top ten, but I'm happy they resisted. Frankly, as much as I enjoy all Star Trek (even the shitty episodes), Voyager and Enterprise are definitely Star Trek light. The highest ranking Voyager episode was The Equinox at 23. If I've ever seen that episode (and I'll admit I've never made it through all of Voyager past season 5 or so), I don't remember it. I'm sure it's great.

The highest ranking episode of Enterprise is Twilight at #33. That was a decent episode, but it probably wouldn't make my top 100 list. There are better episodes of Enterprise, although off hand I can't think of a single one. Oh wait... That one where Trip falls in love with some a-sexual chick who commits suicide. That was a good one. Let's see if that made their top 100... Nope. Poor Enterprise. Even the Animated Series got more love on this list, since the topped out at #30 with Yesteryear, which probably would have made my top twenty. That's a good episode.

Anyway, check out the list and let me know what you think.

Need For Speed

I've reached the point in my adult life where the highest praise I give to a movie is that I actually watched it all the way through. Well, that's the highest praise I can give to this movie, anyway. I'm sure I could think of something more thoughtful to say about Citizen Kane or the Godfather. Needless to say, Need For Speed isn't quite up there with Citizen Kane or the Godfather. I couldn't even say it's the Citizen Kane or the Godfather of racing movies. Hell, it might not even be the Citizen Kane or the Godfather of Need For Speed movies. But, hey, I watched it all the way through.

Need For Speed is a racing movie based on the Need For Speed series of videogames. I did not know that before I rented it. I'm not saying that would have changed my decision to watch it, I'm just sharing this information. I have played, and enjoyed, the game series, and this film actually really captures the look and feel of the games. Ever played a Need for Speed game? Then you'll know what I mean if you watch this movie. There were some shots during the racing where the view changed from the interior of the car to a view chasing behind it, and it was almost as though I had manually changed the view on a game controller. I guess that's neat.

Anyway, as racing movies go, this succeeds because the racing is awesome. However, as racing movies go, this is kind of a failure because it's way too long and the story is overly convoluted. The story is about how this guy's father just died so he has to enter a street race to save the garage he inherited, but then in an unrelated race his best friend is murdered and he gets framed, so after getting out of prison he enters another race to avenge his friend's death and prove his innocence. Or something. It's really fucking stupid and makes no sense but it thinks its it's poignant and moving.

But, anyway, the racing was awesome, partly because it was actual cars racing on actual streets. If any of the racing was CG, it was so well done I couldn't tell. For the most part, this was real, old school car chase scenes, which was a joy to see after all those Fast and Furious movies turned into CG cartoons.

It stars that guy from Breaking Bad, some british chick named Imogen Poots who is maybe the cutest girl I've ever seen, and Michael Keaton, who appears throughout the film in the same set, so I'm assuming he put in maybe two days of work at most. But I'm not complaining because it's Michael Keaton.

And that's all I have to say about Need For Speed. I don't even know if I'm recommending it or not. If it was an hour and a half, I'd recommend it whole heartedly, but at two hours and ten minutes, it's a bit of chore to get through. Whenever there weren't cars on screen, I felt the NEED for them to SPEED up the plot.

Anyway, that's my review.