Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is voicing a character in an animated TV show.
That is an amazing thing. It speaks to the MCU that there are so many of the actors who are willing to come back and provide lines for this project. Idris Elba was also back for just a few lines in this episode. It was really cool.
Of course, they did not get everybody back for their characters. Odin was in this episode and it was not Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Wenwu was not voiced by Tony Leung. Oh well.
Blending Hela and Wenwu (from the Shang Chi movies) was an interesting trick. Taking the whole Thor-banished-to-earth-until-worthy bit and making it work for Hela was a neat addition to the story. The set-up was strong and the execution was really solid too.
I found Hela’s character arc to be a very done one, reminding me of the Loki arc, and, of course, you give a strong character arc to one of the best actors working today, you get some great storytelling. Plus, Cate Blanchett has experience in the voice over world, which does have its benefits in performances.
It sounds like a skipping record, but I’ll say it again. The animation of this season of What If…? has been stellar. I love the parallels drawn between scenes from the MCU movies and what we see animated in What If..?. For example, the scene where Hela cannot budge the crown was very similar to the scene when Thor could not move Mjolnir in the first Thor movie. These echoes are throughout the series and show the cleverness of the writers and creative personnel working on What If…?.
There are only two more episodes to go on this daily release of season two. I have loved watching these episodes in this manner and I hope there will be other opportunities to follow this in future times.
Up to DateRunning Order:
E3 ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”
E1 “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
E5 ”What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper”
E6 ”What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?”
E7 ”What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?”
E2 “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
E4 ”What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Gamemaster?”
This week’s cover of the week is part of the Gang War, the most recent Spider-Man storyline.
The cover art is by David Aja.
I love the aesthetic of this cover. The red, orange and black colors on the cover stand out beautifully. The images of Shang Chi and Spider-Man are unique and attractive.
Famously, DC character Harley Quinn made her actual first appearance in the Batman: The Animated Series TV show. Marvel Studios has taken that path with their all-new character Kahhori, a member of the Mohawk Nation, in this What If…? episode.
The creators tied Kahhori’s origin to the Tesseract, which in this universe, arrived on earth after the destruction of Asgard by Surtur during Ragnarok.
The animation, which has been next level during this entire season of What If…?, is absolutely stunning in this episode and feels as if the animators took it even higher than they had up until this point. Everything here is just gorgeous to look at. The design of Kahhori and her people were outstanding. The fire in the background with the Spaniards was breath-taking. It truly was a beautifully constructed and drawn episode.
The story does feel rushed, but that is the format more than anything else. They have kept these What If…? episodes to a tight 30 minutes for the most part, but this is another one that could have done well with another 10 minutes or so.
The episode was practically all in a different language, which is quite the choice. Only the Watcher and Supreme Strange at the very end speak in English.
Speaking of, Supreme Strange does make an appearance at the very end of the episode, clearly there to set up for the finale. The Supreme Strange episode is listed as the 9th episode of the season, which followed the 1602 episode. Something is telling me that they may be a crossover between them much like last year’s Ultron was.
It will be interesting to see what role Kahhori will play in the MCU moving forward or if she is just a staple in the What If…? section. If she is successful, it can show that Marvel does not have to settle for the characters that are already made which would open up a whole new world of possibilities.
Up to DateRunning Order:
E3 ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”
E1 “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
E5 ”What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper”
E6 ”What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?”
E2 “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
E4 ”What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Gamemaster?”
I have always loved mythology, especially Green mythology so the new Percy Jackson series on Disney + has been right up my alley. We got one of my favorite Greek mythology monsters this week… Medusa.
It is a solid episode too as there are some growing pains with the friendship between Percy, Annabelle and Grover. The three of them do not trust each other and they are struggling to get along.
The Oracle told Percy that someone he called a friend would betray him and would cause his quest to fail. Percy did not know what that was to mean, but he selected Grover and Annabelle because of that. He said he did not think that Annabelle would ever be his friend, which was brutal.
Walker Scobell is a star in the making. He makes such a charismatic Percy Jackson. He is smooth and feels so real that you can’t help but like him. He has that Ryan Reynolds-like wit about him to as some of his under his breath remarks are very funny.
The trio came out with the truths that they had been keeping from each other and you can see how they changed from the beginning of the episode.
Plus, we get a slight glimpse at Mt. Olympus… sort of. And it looks really clever.
Percy Jackson has been solid so far and with luck it will keep it up.
There are so many TV shows! It is impossible to watch everything.
This is my list of 30 TV shows that I have watched this year from 30 to 1.
#30. Secret Invasion (Disney +). I wasn’t going to put this on the list, but there were enough moments in the show to be enough for this list. Much of the one on one scenes were decent. The rest of the story was lacking.
#29. Bonus Action Vol. 1 (YouTube). Jay and Adam play D&D with their friends and it was great. Surprisingly great characters with development. Watched on YouTube.
#28. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney +). I have only seen two episodes so far (waiting for #3 tonight). Good so far.
#27. Goosebumps (Disney +). RL Stein’s classics were reimagined for this Disney + series. Justin Long starred. This was okay, up and down.
#26. Whose Line is it Anyway (CW). I wish I could see this more, but it sneaks past me. Ihave to catch it on the app if I can. It is in its last season with the regular cast.
#25. American Horror Story: Delicate (FX). First half of the season aired near the end of 2023. Typically creepy horror show. Having to do with pregnancy.
#24. The Muppets Mayhem (Disney +). Muppet series featuring Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. This was fun and had some great music. Loved Janis’s version of True Colors.
#23. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV +). Godzilla has some cameos. Follows two groups of humans, one group in 2015 and one in 1954. The 1954 group is more interesting.
#22. Bodies (Netflix). Limited series on Netflix, based on a graphic novel. Four time periods, same body. Mystery on how this is possible.
#21. Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix). Amalgam of Edgar Allan Poe’s best stories in a new series that watches a group of men and women from the same family die and the patriarch confess.
#20. Invincible (Amazon Prime). One of the top animated shows on TV. It only had 4 episodes in 2023, with the rest of the season two in 2024. Violent and dramatic.
#19. Silo (Apple TV +). Futuristic, apocalyptic drama where humanity has taken up residence inside a giant silo to protect themselves from the environment. Or is there something else going on?
#18. Schmigadoon (Apple TV +). Musical. Season two used classic musicals such as Hair, Chicago, Sweeny Todd as inspiration. Darker. Very funny.
#17. The Mandalorian (Disney +). Season three was not as awesome as past seasons, but it still has Pedro Pascal and Grogu.
#16. Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix). Another series that I have recent started and have yet to finish. Amazing animation and a deep character. Love this.
#15. The Rookie (ABC). The ABC drama featuring Nathan Fillion continues to be entertaining after four seasons. Fillion shouldn’t be considered a rookie any more.
#14. The Bear (FX). Fantastic show that takes place inside a restaurant. At least, the rebuilding of a restaurant. Stars Jeremy Allen White.
#13. Shrinking (Apple TV +). Jason Segal and Harrison Ford star on this drama/comedy about psychiatrists and the troubles they face in life, specifically dealing with loss.
#12. Poker Face (Peacock). Natasha Lyonne stars as Charlie Cale who has a special power… she can tell if someone is lying. Case of the week style… from Rian Johnson.
#11. Fargo (FX). Season five of the series has been kicking some butt… particularly by Dorothy “Dot” Lyon, a housewife who is more than what she seems. Jon Hamm stars too.
#10. Monday Night RAW (USA). RAW has really improved this year. There was a time not too long ago that I was thinking about not watching RAW. It is now appointing viewing with CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes etc.
#9. Friday Night Smackdown (FOX). More WWE action with the show that rode the Bloodline storyline all year long. There were some moments in that storyline that could have been Emmy worthy. Acknowledge Smackdown.
#8. Ted Lasso (Apple TV +). The final (?) season of the show had its ups and downs, but usually was hilarious and it gave us a satisfying conclusion.
#7. What If…? (Disney +). The MCU telling stories about what might have happened. The What If.. Happy Hogan Saved Christmas? and What If…Nebula Joined the Nova Corps? are two of the best episodes of the whole series, let alone season 2.
#6. Gen V (Amazon Prime). The Boys spin-off, featuring as many shocks and gory moments as its parent show. There are some wonderful characters that are less corrupt as the Boys.
#5. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu). Third season brought both Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep to the show involving a mystery centered around Oliver’s Broadway show. Some great music coming from it too.
#4. Jury Duty (Freevee). One person on a jury is a real person and the rest are actors. The court case is not real. How will things go? This is exceptionally funny and engaging. James Marsden appears on the show.
#3. The Last of Us (Max). Maybe the best video game adaptation of all time. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey play Joel and Ellie, two people trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Emotionally devastating.
#2. One Piece (Netflix). Live action Manga with a group of characters that are the key to this show. The chemistry of this crew, led by Monkey D. Luffy, played by the charismatic Iñaki Godoy, is the most important part of the series. Creative, fun and thrilling.
#1. Loki (Disney +). The God of Mischief is back with more time traveling hijinks. Loki is desperately trying to save the TVA from being destroyed and, in the same way, save the multiverse. Tom Hiddleston has mastered this character after all these years of playing Loki and his chemistry with Owen Wilson’s Mobius is amazing. Their friendship takes this series to a different level. The end of episode four may be the most shocking cliffhanger ever.
Mulder and Scully are out of a mission for the first time since Scully returned from her kidnapping and near death experience.
This felt very much like the first season episode “Ice” just set in a different location.
That is not necessarily a bad thing since “Ice” is one of my favorite episodes from season one. Still, the repetition of the basic structure feels a little lazy.
However, there were some cool effects, including the bulging neck that are shown by those infected. It was really creepy.
“Firewalker” was watchable and it works as a monster-of-the-week episode that can bring Mulder and Scully back to the field.
Episode six of the new season of Fargo was missing something important.
Dorothy.
I do like a lot of these other characters, but the fact is that this whole season really revolves around Dorothy. With her hidden, other characters had to step up. We get some more rottenness from John Hamm’s Sheriff Roy Tillman. We see much more from Indira, including a pretty awesome interaction between her and Lorraine Lyon, as played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. An interaction that led Lorraine to offer Indira a job away from the police. I assume that she was impressed by the bad ass attitude that Indira arrived with.
Indira also dropped Dorothy’s file on Lorraine’s desk, a file we see later contained some horrible images of abuse that she suffered at the hands of Roy.
Lorraine came with a ton of vengeance when she discovered that Roy halted the bank sale she had been working on. She planned on “stealing an election” and she crushed Vivian Dugger’s life, leaving him penniless and even affecting his children.
As I said, things are ramping up for the next several episodes before the finale.
In honor of the upcoming Genre-ary DailyView starting on New Year’s Day 2024, I added a New Year in Review category: Movie Musicals.
I have always enjoyed a good musical, and there feels as if the genre has taken a turn back up over the last few years so this seems to be a good time to introduce this new award.
What is a musical? Well, I find this to be a little iffy of a definition that maybe everyone would not agree with, and that is okay. This is my site. To me, there is a difference between a movie that is a musical and a movie that features music. To me, a musical should have songs that just happen during scenes. This is Spinal Tap has a lot of music, but I do not consider that a musical. It is a movie with music.
Having said that, a film like This is Spinal Tap could conceivably get this award, but I would consider any of the ‘pure’ musicals first. It is possible that there may be some years where there are no great musicals and I have to acquiesce to a movie with music instead. There are some examples below…
As a celebration of the musical genre, I have retrofitted the last ten years with honorary award winners (much like I did for the Christopher Reeve Comic Book Movie Award). These retro musical award winners are here:
Movie Musicals
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Whiplash (2014), Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), La La Land (2016), The Greatest Showman (2017), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Rocketman (2019), Hamilton (2020), Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021), Matilda the Musical (2022)
To be fair, a few of these retro-winners would not necessarily fall into the “Movie Musical” category such as Whiplash, Inside Llewyn Davis and Pitch Perfect 2, but there were no standout musicals in those years that I could fine. Then, Mary Poppins Returns probably was selected because it was a more traditional musical over some much better Movies with music from that year.
Anyway, for 2023:
Runners-Up: I had intended on giving this award to Wonka, but it got dethroned. It was a lot of surprising fun. Disney has a couple of entries here with Wish and The Little Mermaid, both solid musicals. Trolls back Together falls into the category and Leo was one I just watched and was surprised how much I enjoyed the music in that.
And that brings us to the winner, a film I saw TODAY…
Winner: The Color Purple
I loved this movie. It was so well done, with amazing acting across the board and some vey engaging music that had me bobbing my head and tapping my foot throughout. It came up to the final moment of my movie viewing for 2023 and ran away with this new award.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about The Color Purple. I do like musicals, but I had never seen the original Color Purple (I intended to watch the 1985 film, but did not get around to it) so it was a crapshoot.
I loved this.
The performances of the actors in this movie was utterly amazing across the board. Fantasia Barrino is heartbreaking and powerful as Celie. Colman Domingo as Mister, the cruel husband of Celie, made me hate him. Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery, the singer who got away and returned.
But the standout of all was Danielle Brooks as Sofia. Every minute she was on screen, you could not take your eyes off of her. Her character saw every level of emotion and you could see the moments that weighed on her. Some of the things that happened to Sofia in this movie were devastating to me, as I gasped a few times. I see no way that Danielle Brooks does not receive an Academy Award nomination for this performance.
The music was very engaging and entertaining. Admittedly, I do not think there are many of the songs that are hits to listen to, but as a group of songs in a musical, they are outstanding. I was nodding my head and tapping my feet throughout the film. There may be a couple of times when the song felt like it was out of place from the emotional beat that was happening on the screen, but there were not enough of those moments to cause a problem for me.
I will admit that there were some times when I was not sure what was happening or who certain people were. For me, the transitions were not handled the best in this movie. I wondered about the passage of time because we got years listed on the screen, but the characters did not seem to have the years showing on their faces.
However, there were so many emotional beats to the story that it had me in tears a couple of times. I was engaged with the characters and what was happening to them and I was rooting so hard for them to get what they deserved after so much tumult.
Director Blitz Bazawule brought a great eye to the shots across the runtime of the movie. Between both the dramatic sections and the musical routines, everything flowed beautifully. There was one moment of editing that the film went from black and white into color so seamlessly that it was an epic edit.
I did enjoy this musical version of The Color Purple, and I am actually pleased that I did not watch the 1985 movie prior to this because I was unsure what was coming and it made the experience all the more thrilling.
Season four of Picket Fences has been a disappointment so far, but this episode, although it truly stretches the level of believability, is a much better one. It does harken back to an earlier season where shocking things would happen in a courtroom in Rome, Wisconsin.
Say, for example, the Pope would testify in a murder case.
This was definitely a wild episode with some solid work going on, There are plenty of problems with it though. The whole set up for the last minute visit of Pope John Paul II to Rome to visit small town America did not feel accurate. I can’t believe the Pope would do something this spontaneous.
Secondly, the whole Maxine lusting after the Pope because he was ‘unattainable’ was repulsive and the character did not deserve such a character trait. Maxine has not been treated very fairly in this season of shows.
Another character that has been terribly inconsistent is Douglas Wambaugh. It is as if the writers write him depending on the episode. Some weeks he is a good man with a heart of gold and other weeks he is a slimy lawyer who will do whatever is good for his case. Wambaugh has not been written well during season four either.
I did like the idea that the only witness to a murder was the Pope and that they needed his testimony for a conviction. Admittedly, I do not think that the Pope would ever be in a courtroom testifying, but I do like the premise. And if anyone could get him in the witness stand, it would be Judge Bone.
It was used to put forth the thoughts of the Catholic Church toward homosexuality. That was the topic of the week.
Overall, I liked this episode, but in reflection, it had its share of flaws that a better written episode from season 2 or 3 would not have.
“What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?”
This is a sequel to the Captain Carter episode and the finale of season one and I was thoroughly entertained by it.
This episode was a combination of the Winter Soldier and Black Widow movies. There was an awesome pairing of Captain Carter and Black Widow, the characters. Hayley Atwell and Lake Bell have some great chemistry.
We have the Peggy Carter-Steve Rogers love story at the heart of this episode as well, just told in a different perspective.
Since this is What If…?, I had some serious anxiety during the action scenes that one of these characters were going to die and I did not want that. It says something about the stakes of your episode when I was legitimately nervous that the characters were in danger.
The scenes in the Russian fake town were creepy as could be, and were filled with some of the best action sequences of the series so far. The choreography is exceptional. As it has all season so far, the animation is spectacular.
Rachel Weisz returned to voice Melina is a cool thing too.
The very ending of the episode messed with the mind as well as even the Watcher was surprised by what he saw. Peggy Carter fell through a portal and showed up in the Marvel 1602 universe with Scarlet Witch standing before her. That was a really exciting pre-credit tease.
Up to DateRunning Order:
E3 ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”
E1 “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
E5 ”What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper”
E2 “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
E4 ”What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Gamemaster?”
Boy, when Ringo said he was useful, he was damn sure not lying.
Ringo was the MVP of this episode for sure. He not only protected Mizu, treated her wounds, but also saved both Mizu and Taigen from an arrow attack from Heiji’s men.
This was a great episode. As Mizu and Taigen (sorta) working together, Mizu accepted an invitation for tea with Heiji Shindo. Taigen was sure it was a trap, and he wasn’t completely wrong.
The voice cast of this series is sensational. Maya Erskine does the voice of Mizu, but we also have Randall Park, George Takei, Kenneth Branagh, Brenda Song, Masi Oka, Darren Barnet, and Eric Bauza.
Akemi is also out and doing what she can to find Taigen. Seki has some ideas about what she should be doing, but she does not necessarily like the plan he has set up. She takes things into her own hands.
This has been amazing so far. The choreography of the animation in the fight sequences are excellent. I love the animation. And the characterization of these characters are wonderful. I am enjoying this series so much.
Maestro was one of the films that I have not had a chance to see in theaters, but I knew it was coming to Netflix. It has a lot of Oscar buzz about it.
I have to say that I found the two lead performances, Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre, electric and amazing. Both should be contenders for an Oscar, if not some of the leading choices.
However, I found the movie itself to be fairly boring.
The film looked great. I particularly enjoyed looking at the black and white section of the film when they were in the past. Bradley Cooper did a spectacular job directing this, but I just found the film lacking in a story that engaged me for most of the movie. Late in the film with Felicia dealing with cancer, the film started to pick up for me in the story department.
Unfortunately, even with the positives that were here, I just did not enjoy this movie much. I found it dull. There are two brilliant acting performance though and if that is enough for you, then you will enjoy Maestro. I wanted more.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 