All-purpose, running Geek thread (formerly Battlestar Galactica thread)

Nah. Paramount will slash the budget but make another Trek. No way it gives total control of the franchise to CBS.

 

This fan theory would be kind of fun. The idea is that Stan Lee hasn't just been making random cameo appearances in Marvel movies, but he is actually playing the same character in all of them --- The Watcher taking human form.

Stan Lee may just be 'The Watcher' after all

 

With "The Woods" revealed to be a Blair Witch sequel, can it have the impact that the first had?

I'm unfortunately a doubter. I love the director's other movies (The Guest, It Follows), but found footage in 2016 is eye roll city.

I recall the hype in 1999 for the original. I was 18, about to leave for college, and I had my first computer with access to the internet (a shitty Compaq laptop with CompuServe dial-up service, purchased at Circuit City). One early thing I discovered is that people had websites with lists to upcoming movies and links if a movie had a site.

Blair Witch was one, so I clicked it and the website hyped the film as if the events were real. Well, as they say in rasslin terms, I got worked. Totally bought into it. But with that element taken away, all that's left is jump scares and tone. Jump scares are cheap thrills, so what has to work is a constant, uncomfortable sense of dread the story should bring.

And that's where I hope the director excels, because I've seen him do it before. If you haven't seen "The Guest" then do so. It's a simple, short film, but there's a constant tension throughout, the worry of "what the hell is this guy up to?" that I loved. Plus all the homages to Carpenter and others with stuff you can spot with a sharp eye. Of course, it had a kick-ass '80s-sound synth soundtrack, featuring the guys who went on to do the theme for "Stranger Things."

 

Screen Junkies gives Captain America: Civil War the Honest Trailers treatment.

 

Luke Cage drops on Netflix Friday. I was in when the series was announced and loved what they did with the character in season one of Jessica Jones. Now that I've seen the trailers......Sweet Christmas.

 

Finally caught up on Daredevil and I'm loving it. Took me a bit to warm up to the Punisher, but by the finale I was all about this Frank Castle. Elektra, I though pretty damn good. Wasn't too keen on some of the story lines revolving around her, but they made it work.

 

The story was more grounded without her character and the plot points driven by her character, but I thought they did a decent job with the character.

The casting on the Netflix shows has been excellent. Berenthal is great as the Punisher. The same is true for D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk. I had never heard of Mike Colter before, but he really does capture Luke Cage's character very well.

 

After more than a decade of a depressed, depressing, doubt-ridden and emotionally stunted Superman on the big screen, who knew it would take a low budget teevee show on a second rate network to get the character right for a change:



Yeah the special effects were a little cheesy, although they did ok for second level teevee, and yeah the dialogue was kinda cliched, and no, Tyler Hoechlin does not loom across the screen as maybe Superman should, but the Superman he played was good natured, optimistic, confident, inspired and inspiring.

There's a huge danger Supergirl could get overshadowed on her own show if they made Superman a regular character, but CW and corporate parent WB would be nuts if they don't do everything they can to develop the new can-do Superman.

And somebody needs to sit Zack Snyder down for a forced viewing session. When space shuttles are crashing out of the sky and buildings are collapsing, nobody wants to see doubt-riddled Clark Kent burying his head in his hands wondering whether he should do anything or whether the "world is ready" to see such things.

 

I know I'm months late on this, but I finally saw X-Men: Apocolypse.

Hot garbage water.

 

New trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Now I'm quite biased in this area, but this does look good to me.

 

How does this fit - or does it ? -in the SW arc?

How many death stars did the Empire build?

 

You remember in Episode IV, when whats her face says something like "many spies died to get us the plans [for the Death Star]"?

Rogue One, as I understand it, is the story of the mission to capture the plans for the death star (which Leia later hides on R2-D2 before ejecting him on Luke's planet and which the Rebellion later uses to destroy the Death Star at Yavin).