Welcome To Your Doom Show

The Harbingers are back after a short hiatus and ready to talk about that game hunting traveler from another world, The Predator. Atul and Justin saw the film a couple weeks ago and generally enjoyed it. How much? Check out the episode to find out!

Shane Black and Fred Dekker team up again to bring us the latest entry in the series. Their last credited co-creation was 1987’s The Monster Squad, and Black was one of the costars of the original Predator film. Black also did script work on the original, despite what Atul thinks. Although, he wasn’t a co-writer, despite what Justin thinks.

The Predator stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Olivia Munn, Keegan-Michael Key, and Thomas Jane. Shane Black, along with his writing credit, also directs the film.

The post Episode 26 – The Predator appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

What’s up doomers! Justin here with a little side quest about the DC Universe service from DC and Warner Brothers. The first audio side quest of our hiatus, with hopefully a few more to come before our next scheduled episode on October 5th.

The DC Universe streaming service is set to release on September 15th 2018 (Batman Day) and is listed to have a lot of awesome content and features. But is it worth the monthly or annual subscription costs? And what content can subscribers expect to see?

Justin goes over the high level features and titles included in the service and discusses the content that has him most excited.

Atul and Justin discussed the trailer for the first exclusive series titans in Episode 24, so check that out for their thoughts on that.

JoBlo.com has an excellent video outlining the detailed features. Check out their demo as well if you want more info.

We hope you enjoy, and we’ll see you back on October 5th with a full episode!

Also, apologies for the crummy thumbnail. A newer, prettier one is coming soon. No Photoshop at the moment.

The post Sidequest 5: DC Universe Streaming Service appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

Justin and Atul are going on hiatus for a month. The boys will be back in October. Check out the audio for more details.

The post Harbinger Hiatus!!! appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

Atul, Justin, and special guest star Mike discuss the latest DC Animated Universe film The Death of Superman. The film is an adaptation of the comic arc from 1993 of the same name. The book introduced the character Doomsday, a bone ridden version of the hulk. Superman and Doomsday war throughout several cities, culminating the final (?) encounter in Metropolis. The books were one of DC’s most successful selling runs. But does the film do it justice?

Given the source materials short length, the film The Death of Superman is a tight adaptation at 81 minutes. The pacing of the film is great, and it’s a good addition to the DCAU. This film will be followed up with The Reign of the Supermen which catalogs Superman’s eventual return.

DC’s animated adventures are consistently at a high quality, and this film is no different. The animation and fight choreography are top notch in The Death of Superman, and many of their other films. If you have not been keeping track of their films,  you definitely should. They are always short films (80 to 90 minutes) and pack in enough action and character moments to keep the viewer entertained.

Note that some of the films are not necessarily for children. For instance, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay is absolutely NOT a movie to watch with little ones.

The post Episode 25 – The Death of Superman appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

The harbingers take on the DC Crossover miniseries Dark Nights: Metal. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo team up again to deliver a very confusing story. Dark Nights: Metal suffers from the need for the tie-in issues and doesn’t stand well on its own. The harbingers go into more detail in the episode.

Dark Nights: Metal catalogs the story of Batman investigating the mystery of strange metals on Earth. As a result, he uncovers a conspiracy and unwillingly allows the entity Barbatos to enter their world, along with his legion of nightmare Batmen. The heroes of Earth must work together to prevent this threat from destroying their world, and descending the multiverse into darkness.

Despite the Dark Nights: Metal arc not being cohesive, the one shot tie-in issues are fantastic. Each book details exactly what caused the batman of this elseworld to become evil counterparts of batman and another league member. They are small and self contained stories that are very interesting and, for the most part, well illustrated.

At the time of recording, SDCC had just started and DC had released the hyper-violent Titans trailer. The harbingers discuss this new take on the Teen Titans, and if we like the direction.

We incorrectly name one of the evil Batmen “The Death Machine”. The name is actually “The Murder Machine” which is better. But is it really better than Justin’s original screw up, “The Mean Machine”?

The post Episode 24 – Dark Nights: Metal appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

In Atul’s very first Sidequest, he discusses the novel N0S4A2 by Joe Hill. He is hoping this will be the first of many sub-ten minute reviews of material that is not a part of the main Welcome to Your Doom show episode series. These can be reviews of video games, movies, comics, novels… It will run the whole gamut. Atul consumes a lot of media and wants to get the word out on some of this stuff! You can check out some of the other written Sidequest entries here!

Hope you guys enjoy and let him know what you thought of the book in the comments below!

PS.

PPS.

The post Sidequest 4: N0S4A2 appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

Atul and Justin were ready to record what was supposed to be Episode 23 on Friday. They tried to look for SDCC news and were immediately greeted by the grim news that Writer/Director James Gunn was fired. Gunn was slated to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Before his films with Marvel/Disney, Gunn was involved with a variety of film genres. Most notable, and recent, before his Marvel works, was a film called Super. Super was released on 2010 and was a dark comedy starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page. Super features scenes of gratuitous violence, rape, and somehow attempts to inject comedy into the mix. Does it work? Sometimes. But this was his film, and he made it what it was. On his terms.

Then in 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy was released, and James Gunn became another cog in the Marvel machine. However, it was actually the House-of-Mouse machine at that point. Disney bought Marvel studios in August of 2009, and green lit the obscure Guardians film with an interesting directorial choice in Gunn, considering his previous works.

Atul makes an excellent point in that information on the internet can be on there forever. In this case, Disney released Gunn as a result of tweets written almost ten years ago according to their press release. In 2012, he had made a public apology for tweets similar to those that are being sited today as the tweets that broke the relationship. Read without context, the tweets can be pretty rough. However, the source of the tweets being Gunn who has a particular sense of humor that not everyone may share should come as no surprise.

Between 2006 and 2010 Gunn was a very different type of writer/director catering to different audiences, and was not at the forefront as he was with Disney/Marvel. He was working on projects such as Slither, James Gunn’s PG Porn, Super and a few web shorts. Hardly material that intersects with Disney’s typical demographic. However, given his past work and social media presence Disney STILL hired the man to make a movie about a relatively unknown band of heroes. Guardians of the Galaxy turned out to be one of their strongest franchises to date.

Unearthing historical tweets that “are indefensible and inconsistent with [Disney]’s values” and firing him seems off. Perhaps there is more than meets the eye to this story. Only time will tell. However, given what we know at this time, this seems like an unfair knee jerk reaction by Disney. Clearly, their HR team needs to do more homework in the future when they hire new directors.

Yes. No. Maybe?

Do you think they’re OK? That’s the real question.

The thing about comedy is it’s in the audience’s perception. If you’re telling jokes about Christianity in a church to a group of nuns, you are probably going to run into a tough room. As Atul says in the podcast “you need to know your audience.” Dark comedy is a tough sell on twitter without context of who the audience is, or how the joke should be told. We understand how a joke can get you into trouble.

However, what is to be gained by digging up old tweets that were comedic in nature and painting an evil picture? Is he actually that evil? Has he demonstrated those qualities lately? I think the reason many are having an issue dealing with this is that no answers to those questions have been provided. Disney may not owe the public more information than what they’ve provided, but it sure would help most accept it.

The post Episode 23 – Disney Fires James Gunn appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

The film Green Lantern Corps is set to release in July of 2020. It is assumed it will reboot the franchise established in 2011 with Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Martin Campbell. The film was a failure both critically and at the box office and reviled by most fans of the comic book franchise. The only information released about the Green Lantern Corps film is that it will be like Lethal Weapon in space, and revolves around Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

As Green Lantern fans, Atul and Justin, along with many disgruntled fanboys, felt that the 2011 film missed the mark. The film lacks focus on the Corps as an organization which is a part of what makes the book special. It is an extremely watered down version of what it could have been and is ultimately generic and forgettable. The CG costume, though an interesting concept, is distracting and did not work well on screen most of the time.

The film has its failures, but it ultimately managed to bring the Green Lantern to the silver screen, and that is a win. Franchises like Guardians of the Galaxy have proven to be extremely popular films. Space epics led by a strong ensemble cast with original characters can work.

This episode is ultimately Justin’s pitch for what he would like to see in a Green Lantern Corps film. The the film will exist within the DC Extended Universe but can and should stand on its own merit. The goal of the film should not be one man vs. evil. The film should portray the Corps as a strong band of brothers and sisters (and “whatevers”). It should show wondrous and imaginative worlds, environments, and creatures across the universe. The Green Lantern Corps could not only be the Guardians of the Galaxy of the DCEU, but the Star Wars.

The only thing that the Harbingers would take from Green Lantern (2011) would be Mark Strong’s Sinestro. The casting was spot on and Strong was a near perfect Sinestro. His look, voice, and holier-than-thou attitude nailed the character and he would be a welcome addition back to the DCEU and Green Lantern Corps. Unfortunately, he is currently playing the villain Doctor Sivana in the upcoming Shazam film, so it is doubtful he would reprise his role, but we can always dream.

Our hopes is that this pitch gets our listeners excited about the film and characters. And who knows, maybe if some big wig at the WB is listening to this, we might be able to get this film, or one like it, made!

Let us know if you dig our take on the film, or what you would like to see in the upcoming film.

The post Episode 22: Green Lantern Corps Movie Pitch appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

Is there a world where Deep Blue Sea is considered better than The Godfather 2? Doubtful, but Rotten Tomatoes provides potential audience members a method to quickly “evaluate” that statement.

Atul and Justin discuss the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes and its impact on movies. “Movies” means the movie industry, theaters, VOD, blu-ray, streaming, and even your own personal thoughts on films. If a person must decide on watching a film or series, Rotten Tomatoes is a factor.

People leverage Rotten Tomatoes to determine if they should see a film and marketing campaigns leverage it to promote their “fresh” film. People leverage it to recommend a film to their friends and some people use it to protest recommendations. However you use the website, it’s clear that it has become a staple in deterring or encouraging the viewing of a film or series.

Sure, a pretty extreme statement, but an important one. Rotten Tomatoes can deter people from watching a film they may have really enjoyed.

Lets face it, not every film is The Godfather 2 (…or Deep Blue Sea), but there is an audience for every movie. If a movie sounds interesting but has a low RT score that might not mean it doesn’t deserve your time. Let your own interests guide you!

Do you have films you consider guilty pleasures? Films you love but Rotten Tomatoes has deemed them rotten? Well don’t fret, we have those too. In fact, this is a list of films the harbingers quite enjoy, despite their low scores.

You can check out our list here: https://boxd.it/m9nI

Are any of those films in your list? Hit us up in the comments.

The post Episode 21: Rotten Tomatoes appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.

Solo: A Star Wars Story was released 2 weeks ago and Atul and Justin thoroughly enjoyed the film. The film tells the tale of a young Han Solo, played by Alden Ehrenreich, and his journey becoming the scruffy lookin’ nerf herder we all know and love. The film features a younger Chewbacca who has more to do in this film than any of the other Star Wars films. Donald Glover puts in an impressive performance portraying the character Lando made famous by the charismatic Billy D Williams. Solo: A Star Wars Story also features several new characters, planets, and affiliations.

The production of the film was marred by issues early on. Chris Miller and Phil Lord were originally chosen to direct the picture. After several months of photography, the directors were fired and the production brought in Ron Howard to finish the film. It’s hard to tell where Lord and Miller’s vision ends and where Howard’s begins as the film appears very well connected. With other films that had similar production issues, it’s easy to see the seams. However Solo: A Star Wars Tale does not suffer from that. Despite having multiple directors, the film does still feel like a singular vision.

Note: Justin refers to “Chris” Miller as “Tim” Miller on a few occasions. He will be punished for this. He also apologizes.

Solo: A Star Wars Tale is in its second week of release and has not grossed nearly what the studio was hoping for. Latest projections are that Disney can be looking at a $50 million loss on the film’s performance. This is a damn shame because this film takes risks, and does not feel like a Star Wars film. Instead it feels like a story told within the Star Wars universe that exists on its own terms.

This film’s unique look and feel is encouraging, but ultimately if the film is not successful, Disney will likely not take risks with their product. Star Wars is usually certified box office gold. Disney ultimately wants to get paid. And if going outside the standard Star Wars comfort zone does not yield the box office success they want, we might be getting less risky films, and more of the same. So go see this film!

At a point in the film, Qi’ra mentions that she practices an ancient form of combat in the Star Wars Universe known as Teras Kasi. It’s an obscure reference that would have been completely lost on Atul and Justin if it wasn’t for the Angry Video Game Nerd. In 2017 he released a video reviewing the PS1 video game Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi. Given that the guys discuss the video and laugh about it more than occasionally, we’ve included it below so you can check out for yourself.

Before Justin and Atul get rolling on Solo they discussed a couple of trailers that were released last week that got them excited in some way.

Justin’s favorite horror movie villain returns in a fresh reboot of the franchise. The trailer got both of the Harbingers super excited. Check it out below, but turn out the lights first.

The new film from Sony Animation, featuring a completely new Spider-Man and universe, looks unique, colorful, and fun. The only issue is that the variable frame rate is distracting! Check out the trailer and let us know if it bugs you too, or if we’re too damn critical.

The post Episode 20 – Solo: A Star Wars Story appeared first on Welcome To Your Doom Show.