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Director: Kogonada

Screenwriters: Kogonada

Starring: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Haley Lu Richardson

Sundance Synopsis: When Yang — a lifelike, artificially intelligent android that Jake and Kyra buy as a companion for their adopted daughter — abruptly stops functioning, Jake just wants him repaired quickly and cheaply. But having purchased Yang “certified refurbished” from a now-defunct store, he’s led first to a conspiracy theorist technician and then a technology museum curator, who discovers that Yang was actually recording memories. Jake’s quest eventually becomes one of existential introspection and contemplating his own life, as it passes him by.

Snapshot Review: 

Writer/Director Kogonada understands that the futuristic can serve as a perfect frame for the quietly despondent and emotionally vibrant. After Yang takes an engrossing short story and adapts it into a breathtakingly gorgeous sci-fi film aimed right at the parts of our psyche we don't pay nearly enough attention.

Here, the technology acts as a soft component of this vivid backdrop and a gateway through which the audience becomes immersed in the narrative. For all the story's sadness it's just as hopeful a journey into what holds a family together.  This is a family in transition and watching them come to terms with the consequences of their unwitting choices offers compelling insight into identity, family and grief.

Kogonada's sense of fun is readily apparent in what might be the best title sequence ever in a film. Yet, After Yang superbly translates the essence of loss, and deepens the allegory about our dependence and attachment to technology at the heart of Weinstein's story. This is an adaptation with heart and soul.

 

*this review is updated from The MTR Network's Sundance 2022 coverage. 

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The Batman feels like WB making the strategic and smart decision to go back to what has worked for their live action Batman movies. This means a more grounded Batman with less of the super hero elements but a solid story that will get both critic and audience praise. For better or worse, this film feels like the natural progression from Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Matt Reeves took a lot of the elements and themes from Nolan's trilogy and added them to a neo-noir detective story that overall works. If you remember that this is Year Two Batman and that this film is really meant as set up to flesh out Gotham and the world this Batman will operate in, then the shortcomings can be overlooked to form a good movie with a potential for a great franchise.

There are several things that work for The Batman. First, first is the story and focus on the detective aspect of Batman. The story is built around being a detective thriller and despite pacing and a way too long run time, it's a good entry point to this new Batman and Gotham. If you view this film as the setup for the rest of the franchise then what Reeves does is build out a Gotham that feels like it's a character itself, which is an important part of any Batman story. In many ways the themes of Gotham and corruption are lifted straight from what Nolan's trilogy focused on with slight changes. Some might not appreciate how similar they are but you can't really fault a film for going with what works. 

Pattinson can hold his own as Batman but finds himself outacted by Zoë Kravitz and Jeffery Wright. It's not really his fault as the direction he's given for the character. Again, with the focus being on this being a Batman only 2 years into his war on crime, the character itself isn't supposed to be well rounded. For what he's asked to do it works and even better, at no point does he feel like he shouldn't be there. 

There are a few things that hold this film back from being great. The runtime for The Batman is the biggest negative against it. This film is about 30-45 minutes too long. A better job editing could have made this story tighter with better pacing. The longer runtime could  be forgiven if the film went for a more well rounded character development for Batman and given us more of Patttinson as Bruce Wayne. Instead what we get is a film that ends and then continues to on and on and on. The lighting in the film is also really bad (in 2022, can we please light Black people better on film? please).  Just because a film is a neo-noir film doesn't mean it has to be shot in pitch black. There are scenes in this film that are lighted so poorly it's really hard to see what's happening on the screen. Which is unacceptable. Lastly, the fight scenes with Batman are uninspiring. For all the things Batman v Superman did wrong, the warehouse fight scene with Batman is the gold standard for how Batman should be fighting. There are times in this film where you can see how clunky the Batsuit is and it just doesn't work for any serious hand-to-hand fighting. But again, it's clearly not the focus.

Overall The Batman does what it needs to do. There are plenty of good things and the negatives are things that can be fixed moving forward. No, this isn't the Batman many have been waiting for. But at this point, it's pretty much settled that if you want the comic Batman you'd be better off picking up a comic or playing one of the Arkham games. The Batman is more in the tradition of Nolan's Batman and all things considered, that's not too bad. 

 

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Showtime's Yellowjackets, an early 2022 break out, (re)set the bar for a dynamic genre-blended series. Now, EPIX's hopes to pick up the baton with its new slow-burning horror series From. Just in time, because thanks to shows like The Boys, and The Expanse, people are rediscovering the joys of not binge watching. There's something about being able to let an show sit with you, mess with your head for an entire week. And From definitely intends to mess with your head.

From turns a rundown small town in the middle of nowhere into the living hellscape a hodgepodge ensemble find themselves trapped in. There are monsters, mayhem, small-town politics, and world-weary townspeople just trying to make it through the day...and night. 

Yes, it's a horror mystery box. But think more Salem's Lot and less Lost. 

From Airdate: 9 p.m. Sunday, on EPIX

Photo Credit: Chris Reardon/EPIX

Cast: Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, Hannah Cheramy, Simon Webster, Ricky He, Chloe Van Landschoot, Shaun Majumder, Corteon Moore, Pegah Ghafoori, David Alipay, Elizabeth Saunders, Elizabeth Moy, Avery Konrad

Long Day's Journey Into Night Synopsis: The Matthews’ family road trip takes a horrifying turn when they are detoured to a small pastoral town from which they cannot leave. When their family RV crashes, Sheriff Boyd Stevens and other residents rush to save them before the sun goes down.

The Way Things Are Now Synopsis: At Colony House, Tabitha and Julie grapple with their new nightmarish reality; out in the forest, Jim, Boyd and Kristi struggle to treat Ethan's injuries; tragedy strikes from an unexpected source as a new threat arises in the town.

Choosing Day Synopsis: The Matthews family must choose which of the two settlements they will join; Jade comes to terms with his situation; Boyd is faced with an impossible decision that strikes at the very heart of life in the town.

A Rock and a Farway Synopsis: Julie finds comfort in her new friends; Jim and Tabitha deal with their struggling marriage; Ethan ventures off into the forest with Victor; Father Khatri urges Boyd to embrace his role as leader; Sara receives another horrifying directive

** 

The show starts with a visibly tense and disheveled Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) hoofing it down main street sending out a clarion call with an old hand bell. You're not exactly sure what's the hurry but the sense of impending danger grows as he moves through town and the sun slips slow over the horizon. The blend of bleak lighting, seemingly broken down buildings, and eerie soundscape this isn't a happy, thriving small town. These people are scrambling to get inside, lock doors and checking windows like a wicked wind's about to blow through. 

The small details set the stage for what's to come, a man passed out drunk on the floor, a woman waiting anxiously on a porch across town before ushering a young girl inside and slamming the door on a curse. People in different homes all patting a talisman hanging by the entry before pull down shades and closing curtains. As the camera travels about town giving glimpses of harassed-looking townspeople sheltering in place.

That growing sense of doom comes to a head when a ghostly looking grandma convinces a child to open a window. Demonstrates that something monstrous stalks the town's inhabitants ever night. The consequences for falling prey to its scheming are, gruesome.

From builds it's mystery from the ground up

The point of view shifts to a family on a road trip. The Morrison family traveling a back road by RV destination unclear.  A fallen tree in the road pushes them off course, and into this no name town.

We're back for Part 7 of our Into the Hickmanverse series as we got through the world in Marvel that Hickman has built. After looking at what we have remaining, there will be 11 total parts. We'll get the way through Secret Wars with Part 10 and for Part 11 we'll talk about the new age of X-Men that Hickman has ushered in. Before that though, things are starting to heat up in Hickman's Avengers story with the Infinity Crossover. 

There are three main stories here and they’re all connected.

Thanos searching for his Inhuman son...so that he can kill him

The Avengers go to space to stop the Builders who are conquering and destroying worlds on their bee-line to Earth

The Illuminati stuck between #1 & #2: Helping stop the Thanos invasion (also helping Black Bolt) and Dealing with an incursion that leads to them having a chat with a Builder from another universe

This is where we start seeing more and more things come together for Hickman's vision. The theme of Life/Death is very heavy here in all the books. From Thane/Thanos to how the Avengers deal with the galactic threat versus the Illuminati. We also get some of the call backs to his Fantastic Four run, like with the Bridge being recalibrated to look at other worlds and how they dealt with incursions. Then there's the hints of how much worse things are going to get. 

Issues:

Infinity #1

New Avengers #8

Avengers #18

New Avengers #9

Infinity #2

New Avengers #10

Avengers #19

Infinity #3

Avengers #20

Infinity #4

Avengers #21

New Avengers #11

Infinity #5

Avengers #22 to #23

Infinity #6

New Avengers #12

Avengers #24 (also labeled #24.NOW)

New Avengers #13 – #15

New Avengers Annual #1

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So this is what happens when we don't check the release schedule for Legends of Tomorrow. Apparently while we thought we were going to be reviewing the last 2 episodes of the season, turns out those episodes haven't aired yet because the show has been on break for 2 weeks. Oops. 

But out mistake is your benefit as we decided to still hop on the mic and chat. This isn't really a Mailbag episode because we don't read any emails but we do talk about some of the latest news items that popped up the last couple of weeks. From the super terrible Comixology app update to Evangeline Lilly’s decent into bad takes to DAT DOC STRANGE TRAILER. We're here to discuss it all. We'll be back in March to wrap up Legends of Tomorrow and start the Flash so stay tuned for that. 

If you want to send in your own questions and thoughts, email us: [email protected]

 

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I don't know if Snowpiercer is a good show. I don't. There are things this show does that are annoying and feel like poor writing. However, after the last 2 years of living with COVID and seeing just how dumb people are in real life, the problem with Snowpiercer might be it's hitting too close to home. Either way, it's Season 3 and we're here for the mess. 

It seems like every season we start off saying the same thing: Andre Layton is stupid and should not be in charge. And the first 4 episodes of this season seem to back this up. Whether it's intentional or not, the Snowpiercer TV show really shows what happens when the wrong people assume leadership while ignoring far more capable people around them. Looking at some of the themes that are popping up this season, we have to believe it's intentional. Especially after episode 4. Alex realizing that she's an extremely capable and gifted engineer on her own who doesn't need Wilford. That plays great against the backdrop of Layton and the inner circle making the same mistakes again and lying to the train (Thereby taking a page out of Wilford's book) instead of just being honest. In what feels like something that's pulled straight out of what we've been dealing with in reality for the last 2 years, Snowpiercer shows what happens when a) the wrong people are in charge b) the people in charge think so little of the people that trust them, that they lie instead of trying to explain the truth. We know this is all going to come crashing down. There's so many reasons.

* Layton is out of his mind due to suffering from oxygen deprivation (Aye man. You can't promise people New Eden when you've only seen it in your head after you almost died from a lack of oxygen)

* Asha is also crazy (and maybe ate people)

* Ruth should be in charge but once again isn't really in the inner circle. Pike sees this and this of course is gonna cause problems

* Wilford is still alive. Why? We have no idea. Shoutout to Roche for trying to do what needed to be done

* Zarah still got Layton wrapped around her finger because he's an idiot

* and so many other things

This is going to go bad and we can't wait to see the chaos. Also, Osweiller? Your dick is not your friend. Clearly because you're now married to the serial killer that used to cut men's dicks off. Good luck man.

We'll be back around episode 7 to talk about the next three episodes. 

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The NFL season is in the books, and Frat Stafford has a ring - it is truly the year of the Dawg! Mike's with us this week, and we talk the BIG GAME, how nice it is to be in the target age group for a half time show, and pick out our favorite commercials. Plus, we talk about NBA All Star weekend, the Simmons/Harden trade and of course, a lil pro rasslin.

Guest: The Homie Mike

 

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I told you all that you would never know when I would drop another Insanity Check and well…here we are. I was able to convince DPalm to join me so you know that means it was a crazy ass week. It’s also very clear that I’m too old for this shit. We’ve come full circle. I lived through the DotCom bubble only to see idiots going down the Web3.0/Crypto/NFT grift. Fun times. Anyway, there’s plenty to chat about. So give it a listen and stay tuned cause you never know when the next episode will come. 

Topics

* NFL vs UFC...it's a good ole fashion terribleoff 

* Spotify was in trouble before Joe Rogan

* Instead of thinking smarter we need to think dumber when it comes too passing progressive laws

* Before anti-CRT and anti-Science there was the anti-evolution movement

* The NYPD is given way too much money

* The anti-black black middle class

* Great Moments in White Privilege

* The whitest white-on-white crime ever

* Do You Even Sci-Fi Bro?

* Using robots on the border because we've learned nothing

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Another solid Legends of Tomorrow episode directed by one of the cast. This is Jes Macallan second time directing a Legends episode and as usual we get a good mix of the silly, over-the-top Legends hijinks with some serious moments. We're also two episodes out from the finale and while Gidget is still around it makes us wonder what's really going to happen. We're still suspicious of Thawne and think he's not really dead and is up to something. Also the announcement that Donald Faison would be joining the show in finale to play a character that sounds a lot like Booster Gold. And if that's the case, we have some speculation of the direction the show could be going. 

Kriss and Dpalm record the Mailbag at the end of every month. If you want to send in your own questions and thoughts, email us: [email protected]

 

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So for the 100th episode of the Character Corner, Kriss & Dpalm are finally back on the DC side and we decided we didn't want to make it easy on ourselves and so we’re tackling the Legion of Super-Heroes. The the history of the Legion of Super-Heroes is one that rivals Wonder Woman, Donna Troy and Hawkman as having some oof the most convoluted and rebooted/retconned history on the DC side. There are several reasons for why the history of the Legion is so hard to pin down. Part of that is like with a lot of these characters, it was never the plan for them to be around as long as they were. That coupled with a few other things make the Legion really hard to follow a history on:

* They’re from the future. The 30th century (and 31st century) and time travel almost always makes things messy

* Their history is centered around Superboy

So the first isn’t too big of a deal. there’s a lot of characters in DC history that play around with time. But when it comes to tying the characters to  to Superboy…the follow up question has to be: Which One?

 

Now we’ve covered Superboy's history on another episode but there’s going to be some overlap here. Particularly in the early years of the Legion. 

Remember, there is a version of Superboy, particular the one we’re talking about with the Legion that is a version of Clark Kent that later grows up to become Superman. Some other notable Superboy versions:

* Superboy Prime - From earth prime. Earth destroyed during Crisis. Becomes a villain

* The Metropolis Kid/Connor Kent (the clone)

But for the Legion, we're talking Earth-1 Superboy (Later Pocket Universe Superboy which we will get into in episode 2). For this episode we keep it nice and simple and cover all the way up to the Great Darkness Saga which is still pre-crisis and before things get all weird. We focus mostly on how the concepts and early stories for the Legion of Super-Heroes really laid the groundwork for a lot of modern stories both in and out of comics. In episode 2 we'll really dive down into some of the specific characters as well as try to unwrap the craziness that happens post-crisis. 

 

Issues:

* Adventure Comics #247 - First Appearance

* First Appearance of Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad/Boy

* Adventure Comics #267 - Second Appearance

* Adventure Comics #304 - “Death” of Lightning Lad

* Adventure Comics #329 - Brainiac 5 Introduces the Legion’s Flight Ring

* Adventure Comics #346 - Jim Shooter’s first story. Creates Ferro Lad, Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, 

* Adventure Comics #352 - First Appearance of the Fatal Five

* Adventure Comics 353 - First real death of a Legionnaire 

* Earthwar

* Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #241 - 245

* Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas and Paul Levitz Run

* Legion of Super-Heroes #259 - 286

* The Great Darkness Saga

* Legion of Super-Heroes vol 2, #287, #290 - 294, Annual #1 & 3

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