My 2018 movie rundown

Even though I watch a couple of movies a week, I don’t watch enough of them. Lemme explain that. The movies I tend to watch are ones I’ve already seen and fall under the same umbrella; sci-fi, horror and action-adventure. So while I might stop and watch Suicide Squad on TNT if I’m flipping around the dial, that also means that I’m not watching other movies of different genres I haven’t seen yet. Other people might go out to the theater and expand their filmic horizons every week, but at best I might venture out to checkout The Predator or stay at home and watch Star Wars for the 900th time.

Regardless, here’s every new movie I saw in 2018.

The Cloverfield Paradox ⭐⭐

Cloverfiend Paradox
Cloverfiend Paradox

In an era when surprise in pop-culture is practically impossible because of the internet and social media, the release of The Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix was a pretty big surprise as the movie was first advertised on the Super Bowl last winter and premiered on the streaming service immediately afterwards.

Mute

Mute
Mute

Mute, by writer/director Duncan Jones, takes place in the same cinematic universe as his wonderful Moon film. But whereas I greatly enjoyed Moon, I thought Mute was a bit long and overly serious.

Black Panther ⭐⭐

Black Panther
Black Panther

I dug Black Panther if I didn’t see what all the hype was about. It seemed to me Black Panther was a well-constructed Marvel film that I enjoyed, but I didn’t think it was much different then what had come before. But I was in the minority as the film went onto become one of the most successful movies ever earning more than $1.5 billion at the box office.

Avengers: Infinity War ⭐⭐

Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War

I liked Avengers: Infinity War but found it hard to take seriously. I mean the movie (spoilers) features half of the universe being wiped out when evil villain Thanos get all the power in the universe, snaps his fingers and literally makes it so. But does anyone really believe that when the sequel is released next summer in theaters, that by the end of that movie all of this will be undone with order restored with the good-guys winning?

Deadpool 2 ⭐⭐⭐

Deadpool 2
Deadpool 2

The movie I had the most fun at last summer was Deadpool 2. While I didn’t think it was as good as the first one, I really dug this sequel that introduced a few of my favorite characters to the Deadpool universe, namely Cable and Domino.

Solo: A Star Wars Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Solo: A Star Wars Story
Solo: A Star Wars Story

My favorite movie of 2018 had to be Solo: A Star Wars Story. Derided before it was even released, this movie that follows a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) as he goes from street urchin to intergalactic smuggler is a lot fo fun. Solo is the one movie this year that I’ve actually seen more than once.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant Man and the Wasp
Ant Man and the Wasp

I really liked the first Ant Man movie, but I really disliked the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. There were so many plot-holes here that things started to get to MST3K territory. In fact, I got so sick of this one that towards the end I started fast forwarding just to get through it.

Annihilation

Annihilation
Annihilation

The movie I was most disappointed with this year was Annihilation. It was written and directed by Alex Garland who also wrote the brilliant 28 Days Later and both wrote and directed Ex Machina, as well as being based on a series of interesting novels by Jeff VanderMeer, I found Annihilation to be dull and confusing. So much so that I didn’t even bother fast forwarding through this one, I turned it off before making it to the end.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout ⭐⭐

Mission: Impossible: Fallout
Mission: Impossible: Fallout

Another fun movie was the sixth, and so far most successful, Mission: Impossible – Fallout. I’ll admit this one doesn’t have much going on in the story department, I saw it in the theater and four months later can’t remember the story, but the action scenes in Mission: Impossible – Fallout are worth the price of admission alone.

The Predator ⭐⭐

The Predator
The Predator

Here’s what I tell anyone thinking about seeing the latest movie in the Predator franchise — if you’re into sci-fi and movies that feature the Predator, you’re probably going to dig The Predator. If you’re not, then you might want to steer clear of this one.

Direct Beam Comms #136

Movies

Here’s everything I’ve seen this year that’s new, or that I missed seeing in 2017.

The kids of It
The kids of It

It: I liked this one a lot and was very happy to see a Stephen King movie that’s horror-related finally get some love. See this one if you love Stranger Things but want more scares with your side of 1980s nostalgia.

Justice League: I still don’t understand the online vitriol against this movie. I liked Justice League. I didn’t think it was the best movie ever but I certainly didn’t think it was bad. See this one if you dig superhero movies and have an open mind.

Movies I’ve seen so far in 2018.

The Cloverfield Paradox: This surprise movie that was announced during the Super Bowl and premiered right after on Netflix is a fun, well-crafted sci-fi yarn about astronauts stuck on a space station fighting the unknown. See this one if you don’t demand that every movie you see be groundbreaking.

Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War

Mute: Another Netflix sci-fi flick, Mute takes place in a near-future that’s depressingly a lot like out own. More importantly, it’s a kind’a sort’a sequel to the movie Moon. See this one if you’re ever jonesing for a sci-fi fix.

Black Panther: I liked Black Panther if I thought at times it was a little cluttered in the story department. See this one if… who am I kidding, based on the box office returns you’ve already seen this one.

Avengers: Infinity War: Infinity War is the Marvel team-up movie to top all Marvel team-up movies with all the heroes together to fight a big baddie. See this one if you don’t necessarily always need to know what’s happening on-screen, but like watching things go “boom.”

Deadpool 2
Deadpool 2

Deadpool 2: The hilarious sequel to Deadpool both manages to differentiate itself from the original while being just as funny as that first film. See this one if you like to have a good time while watching movies.

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Another movie that was ravaged by online reviews, I quite liked Solo and thought it was a very strong Star Wars movie. See this one because this might be your last chance to see the character of Han Solo on-screen for a while.

Annihilation: Finally a movie this year I didn’t like. I loved the novel this one’s based on and couldn’t wait to check it out but found Annihilation slow and dull. Honestly, I couldn’t make it through this one and shut it off with about 20 minutes left. See this one if you’re looking for an all-natural sleep aid.

Extinction movie trailer

Books & Comics

Go Team Venture! The Art and Making of the Venture Bros.

Go Team Venture! The Art and Making of the Venture Bros.
Go Team Venture! The Art and Making of the Venture Bros.

Out nearly a year after it was originally scheduled to be released — though series creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer have a habit of turning in things late — comes Go Team Venture! The Art and Making of the Venture Bros.

From Dark Horse:

Ken Plume sits down with series creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer to have a conversation about the creation of every single episode through season 6 and much more. From the earliest sketches of Hank and Dean scribbled in a notebook to pitching the series to Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, learning the ins and outs of animation, character designs for each season, storyboards, painted backgrounds, and behind-the-scenes recollections of how the show came together–it’s all here.

Frank Miller’s RONIN

Frank Miller's RONIN
Frank Miller’s RONIN

This week a brand new edition of the collected RONIN story by Frank Miller is set to be released. Though I’ve read the RONIN story before and own an issue or two of the original comic series, I don’t actually own the collected edition so I might pick this one up.

From DC:

Frank Miller’s six-issue miniseries RONIN returns in a new trade paperback! It’s the tale of a 13th century samurai who is reborn in a futuristic 21st century New York City with one last chance to regain his honor: he must defeat the reincarnation of his master’s killer, an ancient demon called Agat. This new edition includes promotional art, fold-out pages and more special features.

The Reading & Watch List

Cool Movie & TV Posters of the Week

Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. poster

Captain Deadpool? Nah, just Deadpool

To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of actor Ryan Reynolds. For whatever reason I’ve just never cared for him and tend to skip movies he stars in at the theater. Sometimes this pays off like with the dreadful Green Lantern but sometimes it almost “bites me in the butt” like with Deadpool. I very nearly didn’t go see this hilarious, raunchy superhero comedy that’s got a ton of heart when it came out in 2016 and only happened to go one night when I tagged-along with some friends. And while I hold that I still won’t go see any Ryan Reynolds movies in the theater, the one caveat to that rule is, “Unless he’s starring in a Deadpool film.”

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool

In Deadpool, Reynolds plays Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, an ex-military mercenary who meets the girl of his dreams Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and then soon after finds out he has inoperable cancer. But, since this is a superhero movie and not a romantic comedy, Wilson goes off to get an experimental treatment to try and cure his disease. This treatment works but has some side-effects like making him look a bit like Freddy Kruger in addition to giving him super-regenerative powers. Shoot him and he heals, cut off a hand and it’ll grows back.

Angry that he’s lost the girl of his dreams Wilson vows to hunt down those who gave him the treatment while at the same time trying to introduce his new Kruger face to Vanessa.

I think the reason that Deadpool works is that it’s highly quotable, the action is completely over-the-top and it sends up the last decade of superhero movies in a fun way. Whereas most superhero movies are at least outwardly family friendly, Deadpool is not. It’s R-rated, there’s gore, nudity and lots of swearing. While in most superhero movies the heroes are out to save the world from some menace, in Deadpool Wilson’s just trying to get his girl back.

Zazie Beetz as Domino
Zazie Beetz as Domino

Ironically, for being R-rated Deadpool is probably a teenagers ideal superhero. Wade’s fearless since no one can really hurt him and he always has the right thing to say. It also helps that his girlfriend is drop-dead gorgeous.

In many ways Deadpool is more villain than hero. He doesn’t have any problems with causing accidents on major highways or bringing down a gigantic construction site when he does battles with the bad guys. If in other films the superheroes take pains to establish that their fight is about to take place in an abandoned part of the city, then one of the major fights in Deadpool takes place on a busy freeway with cars crashing, body parts being severed and villains going “splat” on highway signs.

Because of the huge success of Deadpool, the movie reportedly cost less than $60 million to make yet earned back something like $780 million at the box office, comes Deadpool 2.

This time Deadpool’s out to save a kid (Julian Dennison) with superpowers whom superhero from the future Cable (Josh Brolin) is out to eliminate. But Deadpool’s got help from both Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebran) and Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic) from the first movie along with a new X-Force including Domnio (Zazie Beetz), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan) and fan-favorite from the trailer alone regular-guy Peter (Rob Delaney).

Josh Brolin as Cable
Josh Brolin as Cable

Ironically, when the character of Deadpool first appeared in the pages of New Mutants back in 1991 no one cared too much about him. He was just another 1990s style super-powered killing machine of which there were loads of. Back then, everyone was too concerned with picking up a copy of the comic with the first appearance of Cable than anything Deadpool was in since Cable was the most popular Marvel character of the early 1990s.

Now things have changed, so much so that, if the amount of t-shirts I see people wearing is any indication, Deadpool is one of the most popular superhero characters out there while poor Cable is lucky to land a guest-starring role in a movie of a character he first helped introduce some 27 years ago.

I guess there are worse fates, just ask Howard the Duck.

Direct Beam Comms #124

Movies

It seems like it was Christmas only yesterday, but the summer movie season starts this week. Traditionally, this movie season starts the first week of May, but because there’s so many movies out this summer Marvel decided to kick it off a week early with the release of Avengers: Infinity War on Friday.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool

For the longest time it seemed as if one summer would have a bunch of movies I wanted to see but the next would only have a few. And this would alternate year to year. But nowadays, for the last few years at least, each summer is filled with movies I want to see. Too many for me to see in theaters so I have to pick and choose. While there are some movies I’m dying to see and will certainly see in theaters, I’m looking at you Deadpool 2 and Solo, others like Ant Man might be ones I wait to come out on home media.

Even waiting for a home media release doesn’t mean waiting very long. A movie like Black Panther that was released at the beginning of February is set to be released on digital download just three months later at the start of May. For some movies I can wait 90 days to check them out.

I remember too when all the talk about the summer movie season used to be that it was filled with remakes and sequels. That really hasn’t been mentioned for some time now since it seems as if practically every big-budget summer movie the last few years is a sequel or based on some other pre-existing property.

Which brings me to a curiosity of movies as of late.

A Quiet Place
A Quiet Place

Over the last few years the most interesting movies being released are low-budget horror films like Get Out and, while I haven’t seen it yet, A Quiet Place. These movies cost a relative pittance to make, reportedly A Quiet Place cost $17 million and Get Out just $5 but have been earning huge returns at the box office. $255 million for Get Out and, as of this writing, more than $100 million for A Quiet Place. While these movies aren’t making anything near the amounts of cash a Marvel movie does, so far Black Panther has made more than $675 million alone, those little horror movies aren’t nearly as big a risk for the studios to take in developing them. The budget for Black Panther was a reported $200 million which means only a huge movie studio like Disney can afford to make them. When the budget for a movie is between $5 and $17 million like those horror movies the risk is a lot less and can be taken by a smaller studio.

And too, if a movie that cost between $5 and $17 million to make flops at the box office it probably doesn’t mark the death knell of the studio that made it, while the flop of a $200 million dollar movie might.

This has happened before. Back in the 1960s movie studios were producing a lot of big-budget movies then too. Movies like Doctor Doolittle and Paint Your Wagon were big-budget flops that decade which nearly bankrupted the movie studios then.

I’m not saying that any of the big-budget movies this summer in any way are going to bankrupt any movie studios — billions in box office returns the last few years testify to that — but it is something to thing about. That the movies that are crowd pleasers today might be the same type of movies that are the flops of tomorrow when tastes change as they always do.

Solo: A Star Wars Story TV spot

Deadpool 2

TV

GLOW season 2 video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwVOmTImfLA

The Reading & Watch List

Cool Movie & TV Posters of the Week

Posters of the week

Direct Beam Comms #120

TV

Krypton

Superman on TV is nothing new. The on of the first live-action superhero TV series based on a comic book was The Adventures of Superman in the 1950s, there was a popular series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the 1990s and a very successful teen-oriented show Smallville in the 2000s. And Supergirl on The CW on now is one of the more popular shows airing on that network too. So the new Krypton series on SyFy is really just the latest in a long line of shows based on the man of steel.

KryptonWell, kind’a sort’a as Krypton doesn’t actually feature the strange visitor from another planet, its focus is on Superman’s granddad Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) and doesn’t take place on Earth. It tales place on that “another planet” Krypton 200 years in the past.

In that time on Krypton the house of “El,” of which Superman, aka Kal-El will one day be a part of, is no more after Seg’s granddad Val (Ian McElhinney) was executed for insisting that there’s life on other planets which also meant the house of “El” was striped of their rank and name. Seg’s a bit of a wild-card, I think he got into more fistfights in the first episode of Krypton than is usual for a whole season of a similar regular series. When he’s not beating people up he’s running off to be with his girlfriend Lyta Zod (Georgina Campbell). But when mysterious Earthling Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) appears and tells Seg that the future of Earth, if not the universe is is at stake, Seg must get his life back tougher and finish Val’s work to stop to stop a massive interstellar threat so that his genes can continue on.

Krypton is interesting if it’s a bit all over the place. On the one hand some of the characters and characterizations are as over-the-top as those in the 1940s Superman movie serials, yet in other times Krypton tries to be a modern series with sex and violence and a season-long story. I don’t mind either over-the-top or modern, I just wish the producers of the show had settled on one.

The visuals of Krypton are right in line with the current ethos of the DC movie franchises — dark and dreary like in the Man of Steel movie. I’m not opposed to this, it’s just a different view of Krypton that we’ve thus-far seen on TV. Always before Krypton was this bright, shining beacon of hope, even if the scientists of Krypton couldn’t see that their own demise was coming. The Krypton of Krypton is a worn-down nub of a civilization where people hide from the weather under domes, corruption is rife and most of the populous is under the sway of a religious leader who’s taken over the government of the planet.

I’m kind’a sort’a interested in seeing where Krypton goes from here, but my guess is that after a few more episodes I’ll probably be done with Krypton for good.

Santa Clarita Diet

Santa Clarita DietAll episodes for the second season of the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet dropped last Friday. This series about a realtor/mom Shelia (Drew Barrymore) who one day unexpectedly becomes an undead flesh-eating ghoul, but not turning totally zombie as long as she eats enough human meat was funny enough last season. This new season starts right where the first one left off, with Shelia’s husband (Timothy Olyphant) and daughter (Liv Hewson) along with neighbor (Skyler Gisondo) trying to find a cure for Shelia’s undead-ness before she either totally zombies-out or rots and falls apart.

I liked the first season of Santa Clarita and was looking forward to the second, if I can’t quite all remember what went on in that the first? And I’m usually pretty good at remembering those things. I don’t think that Santa Clarita Diet is a bad series, it’s just there are so many shows on now and they’re all coming so fast and we consume them so quickly, that even if a show is good, if it doesn’t really stand out it can be as quickly forgotten as it is watched.

Nightflyers teaser

Movies

SICARIO, Day of the Soldado trailer

Deadpool 2 trailer

The Titan trailer

Cool TV Posters of the Week

Posters of the Week