Archive for May, 2016

Okay, I Saw It (No Spoilers)

Wednesday, May 18th, 2016

Okay, I saw it. Snapshot:

Not my Panther. An interesting take and nice performance by Boseman, but missing the fundamental element of the Black Panther (and upcoming PriestStroke): that he’s smarter than everybody else in the room. Black Panther’s super-power is his intellect, and this guy spent most of the movie pursuing an errant assumption.

T’Chaka was wasted. Could have gotten so very much more mileage out of that character.

Not my Ross. Martin Freeman is hilarious, this character was not. Ross was not brought on-stage properly and is ultimately forgettable. Also, I had no idea they’d have “Thunderbolt” Ross (whom I enjoyed) in the film, thus confusing the characters. I suppose it’d be fine if my Ross was somehow related, but the thought had never crossed my mind.

The overall plot was pretty thin– we’re going to fight because some of us signed some stupid pledge. Okay.

Spider-Man stole the movie. My goodness, well done. Thank you, Marvel for finally getting him right. A close second: Ant-Man. (more…)

I’m With Her

Wednesday, May 18th, 2016

I personally would rather have a flawed First Black U.S. President than no First Black U.S. President at all. I figure, even an imperfect First Black U.S. President at least destroys that barrier, this insidious and ignorant unkillable stupidity about race. That’s good for the country long-term, whether the First Black U.S. President is any good at his job or not (and our president gets mixed reviews from me).

I find it baffling that women, especially white women, seem to be so amazingly ignorant about this first real opportunity to destroy yet another barrier– this insidious and ignorant unkillable stupidity about gender. Were I a woman, I’d rather have a flawed First Female U.S. President than no First Female U.S. President at all. I figure, even an imperfect First Female U.S. President at least destroys that barrier.

Putting all the rah-rah noise aside just for a moment: stepping back, way back away from all the hoopla and rhetoric, it really is hard to argue that Hillary Clinton isn’t the most qualified candidate–of either party–running. Most any argument to the contrary is mostly overheated emotional rhetorical ideology: she’s got the resume, period.

I think Bernie Sanders is the stronger candidate but would make a less effective president. I think Hillary Clinton is a very weak candidate who has astoundingly failed to land a cohesive banner message, and her grating, patronizing “I’m With Her!” and “Get Your Woman Card” ads are a mistake, but I believe she’s be a more effective president because, let’s face it, she’s much more like a liberal Republican than a conservative Democrat. (more…)

Not Yet

Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

Haven’t seen the new Marvel movie. Not reading movie-related posts because I’d rather people not assume I’ve seen it and spoil it for me 🙂

Thank you, folks emailing and posting congrats. Much appreciated–but I had nothing whatsoever to do with this film 🙂

Swamped, will get around to seeing it sooner or later. Thanks!

Credit where credit is due: Civil War

Sunday, May 8th, 2016

Respawning here since it’s going on the Deathstroke discussion and doesn’t really follow that topic.

Among the “thank you” credits in Captain America: Civil War was a nod to Priest and Tex for general work on Panther and specifically the character of Everett K. Ross.  (Eventually someone will come up with a picture of the credits screen.)