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UDPOD IS BACK! PODCAST WEEK 2021 IS HERE! We're releasing a UDPod episode every day this week, and Wednesday brings you all things NFL where storylines abound and hope springs eternal - in some cities. Be sure to subscribe to the UDPod feed to ensure you get a full dose of audio greatness.

Guest: Nata - @NataTheScribe

 

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UDPOD IS BACK! PODCAST WEEK 2021 IS HERE! We're releasing a UDPod episode every day this week, and we brought in an expert to help me get back to college football and figure out the fortunes of my Dawgs. Be sure to subscribe to the UDPod feed to ensure you get a full dose of audio greatness.

Guest: Michael Felder - @InTheBleachers

 

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UDPOD IS BACK! PODCAST WEEK 2021 IS HERE! We're releasing a UDPod episode every day this week, and kicking things off with a look back at the NBA Free Agency that was and take our first look at what might be in the upcoming season. Be sure to subscribe to the UDPod feed to ensure you get a full dose of audio greatness.

Guest: The Homie Mike

 

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One thing you have to admire the Arrowverse shows for is how they give opportunities for their actors to get behind the camera and direct some episodes. And even better, those episodes are usually pretty good. The Final Frame is Jes Macallan's (Ava) first shot as a director and it's pretty well done. This is the first Legends episode back after a big break and the show picks up where it left off and gets us right back on board. Constantine's magic addiction is clearly going to be a big problem and unlike other addiction storylines in the Arrowverse, this one feels natural because it fits right in with the character we've seen. Also needs to be said that Nate is being written extremely well this season and we like seeing the maturity from him in his relationships. And we think the formula for not making Spooner terrible is to pair her up with someone else who is being just as stubborn and boneheaded as she is. First with Astra and this time with Mick. That's the winning formula they should stick with.

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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Wacky. Ridiculous. Over-the-Top. Wonderful. That's the way to sum of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Honestly, it’s nice to have some competency back for a DC film. From top to bottom this film is great and it really shouldn’t have been. Just from the announcement, it felt like a weird “Is it a reboot or a sequel” type deal since some of the characters from the first panned movie were popping up in this one. This film makes it clear that it’s a soft reboot and that they’re trying to start off fresh. 

The Suicide Squad is exactly what you would expect from the director that gave us two Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Take a bunch of relatively unknown characters, throw them together in an ensemble film and make you care about them (the ones that live along with the ones that die) throughout the whole movie. This feels like Gunn came in and said “Let’s take some of the story beats that were tried in the first film but do them right”. There are plenty of times where you can just see this film as taking one of Harley’s baseball bats to the dead corpse of the Ayers’ film and it’s glorious. 

What stands out about this film versus its predecessor is that you actually care about a lot of the characters because there’s something to care about. Idris Elba is great a Bloodsport and the cast really rallies around him and plays off of him. You may think that DC is leaning too heavily into Harley Quinn but Margot Robbie is one of those actors that fully embodies and invests into the character, it’s hard not to want to put her into everything. Quinn is handled 1000 times better in this film than in the first. This feels like the natural progression for this character after her appearance in Birds of Prey. Also, it’s time to admit that John Cena is a very good actor. He’s in a film with Elba and Robbie and not only doesn’t get blown off the screen but holds his own extremely well. 

Action-wise, this film is bloody and great. Building on something that was noticed with Birds of Prey, when you can make Harley Quinn’s fight better than Wonder Woman, you have to wonder what the hell DC was thinking with Wonder Woman 1984. Also the effects are damn good. King Shark looks fantastic and when Starro shows up, there’s no drop in quality. With this film only coming in at $175 million for a budget which is far less than the $200+ million WB has spent on worse looking films, you have to hope that maybe this is the start of a change at WB when it comes to their superhero films. But don’t bet on it.

The biggest problem with The Suicide Squad has nothing to do with the movie at all but rather with the current state/future of the DC film universe. Is this the start of a new direction for WB with DC films where they finally cut the cord from the Snyderverse? Or is this just a one-off great film and we’ll be back to the disappointing business-as-usual with the next film? Only time will tell. But for now, The Suicide Squad takes the lead as the best DC film.

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We're finally back with a new Pull List and there's a lot to talk about. We're really in the new Golden Age of comics. The biggest problem is there are just too many good books to read. The X-Men & X-Men related books alone are worth their weight in gold. Seriously guys...we're terraforming planets and claiming them for mutants now? Also Mystique is gonna burn everything down. Everything.

But the X-Men books aren't the only good thing out right now. DC is doing very well moving on with the next stage of DC Comics with some really exciting things coming forward. The Star Wars books are still great. And Coates' run on Captain America ends and it was glorious.

Here are some of the books we talk about on this Pull List (It is by no means an exhaustive list):

* Robin

* Nightwing

* Batman

* Wonder Woman

* Checkmate

* Power Rangers

* War of the Bounty Hunters (Star Wars Books: Star Wars, Darth Vader, Bounty Hunters, Doctor Aphra)

* Daredevil

* Eternals

* Captain America

* United States of Captain America

* King in Black

* The Hickman Mutantverse

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It's hard to imagine anyone coming into Disney's Jungle Cruise movie full of high expectations and excitement. First off, this is a movie based off a Disney theme park ride that needed a makeover for racist imagery. I mean who thought a theme park ride would make for a good movie?

Well it turns out that while this film might not too memorable, it's actually pretty entertaining. Again, the bar coming in was super low, but even still, Jungle Cruise has several things that make it work. First, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt have great chemistry together and that's the main thing that carries this film. The script finds a good use for Johnson's humor using his really bad puns and dad jokes as a running gag through the film. For her part, Blunt is perfect as always. She's playing the typical archetype for a female character that shuns the rules that tell her she needs to "know her place".

The other thing that works for this film is the PG-13 rating. It's actually a bit of a shock how violent this film is. It leans heavy into showing the violence of colonialism. Set in the 1920's, the main villains are undead conquistador's that were cursed after going full colonialist against an indigenous population. Where Jungle Cruise starts to sink is that it doesn't fully commit to this storyline. At times it feels like this film was really going to "go there" but then they realized it was a Disney film and was going to be released on Disney+ and the film they had was creeping up on a R rating so they had to pull back. The result is a film that exceeds expectations but also falls short of what it should be. This makes Jungle Cruise just not memorable. Which is a shame for a film that cost $200 million to make (You read that right...$200 million for Jungle Cruise). 

Overall Jungle Cruise is entertaining enough to check out. Johnson and Blunt work well together. Just don't expect it to stick with you long after you see it.

 

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This season of The Flash had to overcome a lot. The last season ended early due to Covid and that meant losing 3-4 episodes of this season to wrap that up. Then there was the fact that they shot this season in the middle of a pandemic which brings a ton of new set of restrictions and problems to overcome. We say all that to say that while this season definitely had it's issues, considering everything it had to overcome, they did a pretty good job of wrapping everything up. The end of the season really slimmed down to focus on the most important things (seems like some of the Forces just weren't that important). We also get the return of Jay (John Wesley Shipp is really a great Jay Garrick) and some really great moments with Bart & Nora. And of course we get the return of Thawne. All in all, we appreciated what they did with this season considering the circumstances. We look forward to season 8 and hopefully a full, uninterrupted season.

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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We're doubling up on the reviews since we missed a week. We're reviewing episodes 9 & 10 and both are filled with the mix of ridiculousness and serious character introspection we've come to expect from Legends of Tomorrow.

*  Nate is still the greatest. 100% on the Nate train

* Gus Gus might be discount Beebo but he's still adorable...until he grows into an angsty teen sasquatch

* We get some good character development on Behrad in episode 9 and also a return of OG Zari

* Episode 10 is Spooner's best episode and a pattern is emerging where she's best right now when paired with the other oddball members of the team

* We should have seen Mick being pregnant. Of course this show would do that

* John's once again gone down the dark side and it's going to be a problem for everyone

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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All good things must come to an end and so it is with our read through the Invincible series. Now it's well known that even the best series have a hard time sticking the landing. How did Invincible do? Well...it stuck the landing. Kirkman really gives this series the ending it deserved and it felt like it came full circle and was completely earned. 

Of course it also comes with a lot of brutality and shocking deaths but we would have it now other way because...well...this is Invincible. This was a really great series to read and gives you a taste of what a big superhero epic could be if there was a finite story and end in mind. 

Issues:

* Invincible Volume 21: Modern Family

* Invincible Volume 22: Reboot?

* Invincible Volume 23: Full House

* Invincible Volume 24: The End of All Time Part 1

* Invincible Volume 25: The End of All Time Part 2

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