Fantastic Four x Gargoyles #1 (One Shot) [2025] - Publisher: Marvel

The issue begins with a flashback to Valencia 1094, where Demona saves Angelika from De Ablo who is trying to obtain gargoyle blood to create an immortality elixir called "Elixir Vitae".  Demona frees her and they escape.

We return to the present labeled as "now" in Manhattan where Angela, Broadway and Lex are squaring up against the Fantastic Four.  Introductions happen and everyone stands down.  Lex mentions seeing their flare.  I had to refer to the comic “Demona #0” where the Gargoyles initially see the flare after dealing with Demona stealing.  In that comic, Sue says, "You weren't actually the three heroes I was summoning", so at this point we don't know who the FF were summoning, but no one else shows up to assist them.  The issue at hand - the FF need help with the "Grey Gargoyle" aka Paul Duval who is turning people to stone on the Brooklyn Bridge including two of our favorites Brendan and Margot.

Meanwhile, an unknown yellow gargoyle with purple armor is being tortured and escapes some sort of containment device, mentioning allowed that he has to warn someone.

Elsewhere, Tony Stark is giving David Xanatos a tour of his facility where we see a collection of Iron Man suits and a large containment tank filled with blue liquid. Xanatos leaves.

Back to the bridge, the Gargoyles and FF attempt to stop Duval.  He uses some kind of smoke grenade that turns everyone to stone in the blast radius including Angela, Mr. Fantastic, and other humans on the bridge.  Everyone else is okay as Sue traps Duval in a force field.

Back at Stark Industries, Xanatos in his Armored Gargoyle suit, comes and steals the large containment tank.  As Iron Man attempts to stop him, Xanatos summons his Steel Clan which allows him to escape.

We then go to Castle Wyvern where that yellow gargoyle with purple armor introduces himself to the rest of the clan as "The Gargoyle" aka Isaac Christians.  He warns them of an alchemist named Diablo is attempting to create Elixir Vitae.  Lex returns to the castle to inform them of the situation on the Brooklyn Bridge.  

Xanatos delivers the large containment unit to Diablo who has promised Xanatos some Elixir Vitae for his services.  Diablo monologues to the containment unit, letting the reader know that he was behind everything that has happened thus far:  he let Isaac Christians free, he set Duval on his mission, and he got what was in the containment tank.  He did this all with the intent of capturing a gargoyle to get its blood.  

Back at the bridge, the police arrive to protect those in stone.  Iron Man shows up to assist as well, and Goliath has Hudson and Coldfire to stay there to help if needed.  Everyone else departs away from the bridge to some other location in New York.  Suddenly, Diablo uses a portal to steal Angela.  Sue and Broadway follow while Sue uses her invisibility powers.  Everyone else battles "Dragon Man" who was the one trapped in the containment tank.  It turns out he's an AI and Lex easily shuts him down using the FF's electromagnetic pulse gun on their vehicle.

Meanwhile, Diablo uses a spell to turn everyone back normal who had been turned to stone, so he can take Angela's blood.  He also sense's Sue and Broadway's presence and captures them with some sort of green energy ropes.

Demona shows up and uses "Fulminous Venite" to defeat Diablo.  Broadway and Angela chain up Diablo as Demona disappears.

Later, Reed mentions being able to reprogram Dragon Man.  Reed gets a call from Tony Stark.  Xanatos tells Goliath and Brooklyn that he had no idea that Angela would be put in harm's way.  Xanatos then gets a call from Tony Stark.  Goliath and Brooklyn welcome Isaac to the Clan.

We have a nice little happy ending showing the FF clan all together at home as well as the Gargoyle Clan all together at their home (including Edwardo which means this takes place before the events of "Gargoyles Quest").

The final shot shows that the Baxter Building and the Eyrie Building are just a few skyscrapers away (leaving this open for a future adventure/team up).

The Life of a Showgirl [2025] album review

This is the first album of Taylor Swift's that I've listened to from beginning to end.  Most of my experience with her music is from the radio.  She's got some bangers and earworms for sure.  She's obviously very popular, which is very much an understatement.  

I've never sought out her music unless someone said, "Hey, you should check out this song".  My wife is NOT a fan of her music at all and will change the radio station every time her music comes on.  Years ago, there was one summer where we were driving to the beach and her popular hit at the time came on three different times during the three hour drive and we joked about how many more times we'd hear it.

With that said, I feel that most of her music in the past, and again with this album is made for high school girls.  I think one of the lyrics was "in second period" referencing high school.  I'm not the target audience and that's fine.

So you're not a fan, why did you listen to the album?  Curiosity, the hype, and my wife LOVES George Michael so I wanted to hear Taylor's take on "Father Figure".  That song and "Eldest Daughter" are the standouts for me, but I don't really seeing them getting radio play unless they take out or censor the expletives.  Speaking of which, 8 of the 12 tracks are marked as explicit.  Is that normal for her albums or are her lyrics getting more mature as she's maturing?

I'm not a music aficionado nor a Taylor stan.  I don't know which tracks are the diss tracks.  I don't hunt for Easter eggs, nor did I read the lyrics as I listened to the songs looking for hidden meaning.  I did notice she said "New Heights" in "Father Figure" which made me think of the Kelce's podcast.  Not sure if that was intentional or not and if it was or wasn't, it has no bearing.  I'm just a guy who listened to this album once and two of the songs twice.

Jurassic Park Rebirth [2025] review

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this film. Based off of the horrible experiences of "Fallen Kingdom" and "Dominion", I was not expecting much which is why I waited to rent it.

Was there bad campy dialogue? Yes.

Were there questionable plot choices and logic? Of course.

Did the movie make me care about the characters? Surprisingly yes, for the most part.

Firstly, I liked that the writers got through the simple premise fairly quickly and by the 25 minute mark, we were on the boat ready for the adventure on the way to the island. The movie took a beat to have a scene with Scarlett Johansson's character and Mahershala Ali's character which I think was important in making us care about the characters. I would have preferred more show than tell, but I think people want to see the dinosaurs ASAP so any potential flashbacks would have gotten in the way.

Then they shifted to this random family who were also at sea, and it was interesting how they were pulled into the plot and then once they got to the island, the writers gave us two different branching stories. I got some "Kong Skull Island" vibes from the one crew and I think the writers used the other crew to mirror Alan Grant's journey across the island from the first "Jurassic Park" film. Alan Grant does get a quick name drop by the scientist character played by Jonathan Bailey who I didn't know until my wife mentioned was the same actor in Wicked. I think he did a great job and I was impressed by his handling of those two very different roles.

I think this movie had a good mix of dread, action, and decent pacing. With the baby Triceratops, I was semi expecting for the mom to pop in at some point and save the day, but that didn't happen so good for the movie to keep the audience on their toes for a little bit.

Without spoiling, there was a character that did something that made me well up a bit, so good job to the writers for pulling that off. I was surprised that I would care about any of these new characters that much.

In the end, it's definitely worth a rent / watch. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

Karate Kid Legends [2025] spoiler review

The movie wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either.  In simplest terms, this movie felt forced and formulaic.  I can picture the writers sitting in a room and reverse engineering what they wanted to do to tell the story they wanted to tell.

Step 1:  We want to combine Karate Kid (1984) with Karate Kid (2010).  We got it!  Establish the connection of Miyagi's sensei / great grandfather and his connection to China so we can connect what we established in Karate Kid II to Jackie Chan's Han character.  Perfect!  Fits nice!  Now that we've done that we can bring together Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han!    

NOPE!  Not yet!  

Step 2:  Now that we established that, we need to focus on the new character- the titular Karate Kid:  Li Fong.  What's his story?

Well first, he wears headphones while training when no one else is?  Why?  Never explained.

His mom moves him from China to New York.  Why?  Because that's Karate Kid 101 - it's a fish out of water story - check.

Next, we need him to meet a girl that has been in a prior relationship and that prior relationship cause problems - check.

Step 3:  Now for the curve ball - the girl has a DAD and he's got problems.  So let's focus on him, and boxing, and bookies, and have Li save him from the bookies Miyagi style but with a little Jackie Chan flair.  Then let's focus on the boxing match and get some flashbacks regarding Li's dead brother.  Oh and Li needs a dorky best friend for no reason.

Step 4 - Time to address step 1 and complete the film:  Now that Li is at his lowest, it's time to bring in Jackie Chan.  How does he know he needs to visit?  Who is running his giant dojo while he's gone?  Unknown.

But wait, now that Jackie/Mr. Han is in New York, he needs to visit someone first.  He travels to California and we finally get Daniel LaRusso in the movie.

Mr. Han:  I need your help.

Daniel:  I can't.

Mr. Han:  K bye.

Back in New York - Mr. Han trains Li for the upcoming "All Valley" I mean "5 Boroughs Tournament".  How do we make it more exciting?  Add some Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat-eque type of animation before each fight.  Also, we won't explain it, but you can get more than 1 point per bout and to win you can knock out or get 8 points.  Is the tournament televised?  Who is choosing the random fighting places?  Where are these random fighting places?  Unknown.

Oh, also, Daniel shows up just as Mr. Han had predicted in the next scene.  He magically knows where to show up to help train Li.

Li is trained.  Li wins.  All conflicts are resolved.  Happy ending.  Don't forget William Zabka cameo and out.

With that said, I thought Ben Wang did a great job as Li Fong. I don't think any of the other side characters were needed. It would have been nice if we got more development of the Conor character. I'd give it a 4/10.

Matewan [1987] review

Years ago, I mentioned to my former boss that I grew up in Scranton, PA and that my grandfather was a coal miner so he highly recommended that I should watch this movie.  His other selling point was that James Earl Jones was in it.

After years of waiting for it to be available on streaming to no avail, I realized that I could borrow movies from my local library.  I got the Criterion DVD version which was released in 2019.

Plot wise - the movie is based on a true story of the events of Matewan, West Viriginia in the 1920s where the town was essentially owned and run by the coal company.  Due to the harsh conditions, the workers decided to strike and form a union.  The coal company hired foreigners and African Americans to work as scabs.  Joe Kenehan, played by Chris Cooper (his first film), enters to help support the workers and form their union along with the foreigners and African Americans.  He wants to do it without violence.  As you can surmise, this does not go well and there is a lot of in-fighting and turmoil.  On top of that, the coal company sends violent people to break up the union.   The big build up is this western style shootout on the main street of town.

Is this movie worth your time?  It's hard to say.  It's definitely dated and you can tell there was a very small budget.  The main story is a little slow, but there is an interesting mini arc in the middle of the movie regarding Joe and a local woman working with a spy for the coal company.  James Earl Jones has a few lines, but he kills it.  The best thing about this movie is the acting.  The child acting is a little much, but you have to give them props for holding their own.  There are a lot of familiar faces like the Warden from Shawshank (Bob Gunton), the woman from Dances with Wolves (Mary McDonnell), and the weird teacher from Happy Gilmore (Josh Mostel).  Also if you're a fan of Newsies, Kevin Tighe plays an antagonists in both this movie and that one.  He definitely has a face of a villain.  And last, but not least was a young David Strathairn who's been in a whole bunch of stuff like A League of Their Own.

Overall, there's a powerful story here, with a few gut punches, but this movie didn't knock it out of the park for me.  I can see why it critically acclaimed and part of the Criterion collection, but I felt it could have used a little bit more to keep me engaged in the middle to last act.  It's funny though as I find myself typing this review and rethinking on it, I wouldn't mind watching it again.  

The Conners [2025] - Postmortem

After 7 seasons, The Conners had its series finale on Wednesday, April 25, 2025.

Postmortem

The finale episode was titled The Truck Stops Here which is fitting since the first episode was called Keep on Truckin'.

Regarding the 7th and final season, there was only 6 episodes and I guess they had a general condensed idea of what they wanted to tackle storyline wise to wrap things up. Sadly, those ideas weren't very interesting nor rewarding for the viewer. For example, Darlene's husband Ben was essentially absent the entire season as he was spending his time starting a new magazine with the insurance money from when his hardware store burned down. Darlene was essentially having an emotional affair with Seth Greene's character, and then it was resolved with a simple "I'm sorry" from both of them.

Unfortunately the downfall of this show, as seen by this thread not really having any activity since 2019, is when the show was trying to push a specific message or be too preachy. That didn't bother me as much as it bothered others; I simply wanted to be entertained. The comedy (and entertainment) of the show came from the characters interactions and their comedic timing. The family dynamic of ribbing on each other is very relatable. Sure, you need some emotion moments but time to time, but sometimes they felt too manufactured. So while the plotlines were lackluster, I thought the comedic writing was pretty good for the most part.

In the end, I was never a huge fan of "Roseanne" when it was on because they always felt stuck in a rut which I guess was the point. It was "Gillian's Island" in Chicago. This lower middle class family was never meant for greatness. You appreciate what you have, you deal with the hard times, and you celebrate your small wins. "The Conners" was more of the same so while I found the show mostly entertaining each week with some clever writing, this isn't something that I would revisit in syndication.

The Jack Ryan - verse

In 2021, I started a re-watch of the entire Jack Ryan universe of films and in 2025 I finally finished.  In the meantime, from 2018 to 2023, I also enjoyed the Jack Ryan Amazon series.  Below are my reviews and synopses of that journey.

Starting on April 16th through April 18th, 2021, I watched the first three films.  

The Hunter for Red October [1990]

Jack Ryan:  Alec Baldwin
Greer:  James Earl Jones
Cathy (Muller) Ryan:  Gates McFadden
Sally Ryan:  Louise Borras

I remember watching this movie with my dad when I was 9 and too young to appreciate and understand it. 31 years later, I find that this movie is very well done. The special effects are outdated and you have to suspend your belief, but the story and acting is solid and compelling.  Highly recommended.

Patriot Games [1992]

Jack Ryan:  Harrison Ford
Greer:  James Earl Jones
Cathy (Muller) Ryan:  Anne Archer

Sally Ryan:  Thora Birch

There is a huge tonal shift from the first to second movie.  (1) The focus changes from Russia to Irish Republican Army (IRA), (2) the main target of retribution is Ryan and his family while the threat to the US, as a whole, is present but minor, and (3) since the tension is mainly focused on the main character (and family) it doesn't feel as epic as its predecessor.  The movie ends on a cliffhanger regarding the sex of Jack and Cathy's baby which leaves you wanting more, but at the same time leaves you unsatisfied.

Clear and Present Danger [1994]

Jack Ryan:  Harrison Ford
Greer:  James Earl Jones
Cathy (Muller) Ryan:  Anne Archer

Sally Ryan:  Thora Birch

To keep things fresh, the antagonist is now the Columbian drug cartel...or is it?  More on that later.  Thankfully, the focus shifts from Jack's family (who are essentially in one shot in this movie where you get to see that they had a son) and now the focus is back on the US government, specifically the President and two cabinet members.  The main plot focuses on the war on drugs and what the US government is willing to do to win that war.  While the "Jack Ryan / analyst" storyline is played for suspense, we are treated to action in the form of a secret US operation in Columbia.  As the movie unfolds, you can see what the script was trying to do to keep the audience interested as the plot deepens to reveal the US government has been in bed with the Columbians the whole time.  The slow burn of Jack uncovering the enemies on both sides results in the movie kind of dragging and only slightly gets more interesting in the third act.  Unfortunately, we get another unsatisfying ending with Jack in court bringing to light the corruption within the US government with no resolution on what happens after the fact.

I will say that all three of these 90s films do a good job of sprinkling in the facts about Jack Ryan.  He's a former marine, whose helicopter went down, and because of his injuries he could no longer serve so he somehow ends up working in the CIA as an analyst.  He's super smart and he's able to see patterns that others miss.  He also has an innate ability to determine how a person is going to act before they act.  I definitely got a lot of vibes that Homeland's Carrie Mathison is essentially a female Jack Ryan.

Fast forward to 8 years later and we get...

The Sum of All Fears [2002]

Jack Ryan:  Ben Affleck
Greer:  N/A
Cathy Muller:  Bridget Moynahan

In this reboot, before the word reboot was part of the lexicon, we are treated to a movie that tries to be more epic and intriguing as its predecessors.  It's a little disjointed and messy, but mostly does an okay job.  I liked that we got a younger Jack and that we got to see his budding relationship with Cathy.  It would have been nice to see a young Greer but instead we get Morgan Freeman playing the character of DCI William Cabot who ends up passing away for dramatic effect.  While the movie's plot pits the US against Russia, the real enemy is a secret Neo-Nazi group that are only able to enact their plan once they get their hands on a nuclear weapon that was lost years ago and has only been recently uncovered.  Similar to "Clear and Present Danger" Jack gets to see some action, but most of it falls in the hands of Liev Schreiber's character of John Clark (played by Willem Dafoe previously and will be played by Michael B. Jordan in 2021's "Without Remorse").  Jack's innate ability to predict what the Russian president will do saves the day and we get a satisfying conclusion where a peace treaty is signed and all the Neo-Nazi's are taken out.  It's a little unrealistic and confusing at parts, but thankfully the movie doesn't leave any part of the plot open ended.  Jack proposes to Cathy and the movie ends.

Fast forward to 12 years later...

Jack Ryan:  Shadow Recruit [2014]

This movie was not available on Amazon Prime Video to watch as I journeyed through the other films so I skipped it. 

[April 19, 2025]  This movie is currently available on Paramount+ so here's my synopsis and review:

Jack Ryan:  Chris Pine
Greer:  N/A
Cathy Muller:  Keira Knightley

The movie begins with a jarring scene of the events of 9/11 happening as a young Jack Ryan views them on a television while at school in London.  This leads him to join the military and not finish his degree.  While in an active war zone, his helicopter is fired upon, he breaks his back but saves the two members of his team.  As he heals and learns to walk again, he meets Cathy, his physical therapist.  They begin to date after he is healed.  While he is healing, Jack is recruited by the CIA run by Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner).  Harper tells Ryan to get his degree and then he gets a job on Wall Street while secretly working for the CIA.  Neither Cathy nor his company knows.

After 45 minutes of this movie giving the audience this setup, I'm intrigued, but ready for some action to move the plot forward.  We're finally treated to some action when Jack is sent to Russia to speak with the president of one of the companies that does business with his Wall Street company.  Jack is attacked in his hotel by his handler who he ends up drowning in the bath tub.  Jack is an analyst and out of his depth so he's visibly shaken, but still has a job to do.  He meets with the president of the Russian company Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh) who has already sold off any of his suspicious assets so there's really nothing more that Jack can do so he invites Viktor to have dinner that night to buy some time and figure out his next move.  In the meantime, Cathy makes a grand gesture to surprise Jack in Russia and inadvertently gets wrapped up into his CIA affairs and has to go to dinner with him and Viktor or else risk his cover being blown.

As Jack balances dinner, Cathy, and the CIA, he pretends to be drunk, goes for a walk and then he's able to get the information he needs on Viktor's secret deals, but then has to save Cathy from being kidnapped.  After he saves her, and the CIA decodes the information, they figure out that Viktor's monetary doings are tied to a terrorist plot that will happen before he sells off more Russian assets which will devalue the American dollar.  So not only will American lives be lost, but damage to the economy is also at risk.  On the flight back to Russia, Jack and his team are able to figure out that Viktor's son, who supposedly died was he was a child, was actually sent to the U.S. as a sleeper agent.  Jack and the CIA track him down Viktor's son, who is now an adult, and stop him from blowing up a truck that could have potentially destroyed 6 NYC buildings.  Viktor is later killed by his own government.

This movie was actually pretty enjoyable.  I liked all the characters and villains.  It may have been a little slow to start, but it made up for it with a fast paced third act.  While this appears to be another attempt at a reboot to the franchise, it unfortunately failed to revitalize it.  I searched online to read that this movie didn't make enough money at the time to justify a sequel so it appears to have been shelved yet again until...

Fast forward to 4 years later...

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan [2018]

Jack Ryan is back and now on Amazon Prime.

Jack Ryan:  John Krasinski
James Greer:  Wendell Pierce
Cathy Muller:  Abbie Cornish

April 20, 2021:

Regarding the first season on Prime -- I thought the first episode was just okay.  Most of the joy that I got out of it was making the connections to the movie characters and events.  I especially smiled at the intro of Cathy.  Thankfully each episode has improved on the one before it and I'm really beginning to care about all the characters, even the villains.

Again, I'm getting "Homeland" vibes, but Jack Ryan and Carrie Mathison are totally different characters.  I'm kind of expecting a twist with the villain, but at the same time, I'm not sure I want one.

April 26, 2021:

I'm just starting the 6th episode of Jack Ryan and the show has definitely improved with each episode. The third one was a little rough with the VERY weird introduction of the drone pilot and the whole casino bit but I liked where they took that story in the end and how he saved the woman from being raped.

I wasn't sure about Cathy at first but she is definitely starting to grow on me. It seems like her and Jack's worlds may collide very soon and I think that's a very clever way to bring it all together instead of her eventually just finding out what he does like how it was portrayed in Sum of All Fears.

July 18, 2023:

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan [2018-2023] Seasons 1 - 4

Season 1's antagonist Suleiman is a well written villain as there is also some good in him. He's easy to hate one minute but sympathize another. Since he hails from the Middle East, there are a lot of "Homeland" vibes for better or worse. This season ultimately shines due to the partnership / buddy cop relationship between Jack and Greer (the character of James Greer is played by James Earl Jones in the 90s movies).

Season 2 shifts from the Middle East to Venezuela with the questionable antagonist of President Reyes. It's a decent enough season. The highlight is the inclusion of a new character named Mike November (Michael Kelly) adding some "House of Cards" vibes, but only the good kind.

Season 3 takes us back to Russia and by "back to" I mean in association to the first film. This time, instead of a nuclear sub, there is a project that began in the early years of the Cold War called "Sokol" that has just been reactivated. The good guys get some help from some Russians wanting to do the right thing, again invoking the same ideas from "The Hunt for the Red October". I recall the ending being a little unclear and not super satisfying, but I think this season was a little bit better than season 2. Both dragged at times but kept my interest for the most part.

The 4th and final season focuses primarily on Myanmar (formally Burma) located in Asia. Many of the villains in this season are both foreign and domestic so it keeps you guessing in this tight compact 6 episode season (where the 3 previous were 8 episodes). Again, Jack, Greer, and Mike are fun to watch and they have a great dynamic. Michael Pena's character of Chavez is a new and welcome edition to this season. I don't want to say any spoilers, but I like how it ended and I feel these series can connect nicely to the early 90s films.

If you liked Homeland, this series is worth your time. John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, and Abbie Cornish are great. Also, like I said above, Michael Kelly was a great addition in season 2-4, and Betty Gabriel's character of Wright is a standout as well. Lastly, if you liked Derek Cecil from House of Cards, you'll love him in the final season.

[April 20, 2025]

Now with Shadow Recruit viewed and reviewed, is my journey complete?  There was an article back in 2022 that stated that Michael Pena's character from season 4 of the Prime series was eyed for spinoff, but I haven't heard anything.  I know "Without Remorse" was about a spinoff character but I guess maybe it didn't do well so maybe the other show didn't get green lit.  The latest news is a possible Jack Ryan movie staring Krasinski being in the works.  It will be something that I will definitely check out when it releases in the future.

A Complete Unknown [2024] review

I don't understand the point that "A Complete Unknown" is trying to make.  It feels like the movie wanted me to hate Bob Dylan.

For starters, I know nothing about Bob Dylan and the only things I really know are generic surface level stuff like (a) he wears sunglasses, (b) he's got a whiny twangy voice, and (c) his son was the lead singer of the "The Wallflowers" who didn't want people to know who his dad was.

So the movie kicks off introducing the audience to Bob as he visits a sick singer. The movie just gives us the sick singers name and shows us he's in hospice. I forget the singers name even though I just finished watching the movie yesterday.  I don't know this sick singer nor his music. Maybe the movie is expecting us to know which is a turn off and I'm already starting to get lost.

We're also introduced to Ed Norton's character Paul Seether or Seeker who is also a folk musician (had to google it - Pete Seeger). He seems like a nice guy, but again, we're not told much about him other than he has a family.  So far, the beginning of the movie is telling me two things - folk is super big right now in the 60s and this Bob kid writes all his own songs, has a good voice, and his talented in the eyes of his peers.

Bob dates Sylvie (Fanning) who is in the movie for 5 minutes. Bob is also seen with Joan Baez, another singer I know nothing about. The movie tells us that Bob has a meteoric rise in popularity after his first record.

Again, I don't know Bob and the movie isn't giving me much. I don't really know his songs. And at this point, even the character doesn't seem to care or show that he cares that he's popular. He seems annoyed. If he didn't want to be popular, why make records and tour? If he wanted to remain a complete unknown, then why not just do that? Why didn't Bob just write music for his friends Pete and Joan. The movie makes a point to show that these artists cover Bob's music which I guess just helps make Bob even more popular which, of course, is what the record execs want.

The big event of the film is some folk festival in Newport, RI. Bob causes a stir and then leaves. Then he gets on his motorcycle at the end of the film and leaves again.  That's it.

The movie ends by telling us how Joan Baez and Pete Seeger would continue their activist journey throughout their lives where Bob did not. Bob went on to write 55 albums and won a Noble Prize for literature and he didn't even attend the event. So again, I ask, what is the point of the movie? Here's Bob Dylan - he's an ass hole and he's why. Thanks and have a nice day?!

If the point of the movie was for me to dislike Bob Dylan as a person then I guess it succeeded.  It kind of feels weird if that's the case, but that was my takeaway.

In the end, the only thing I liked about the movie were the Johnny Cash scenes. I loved the movie "Walk the Line" which is example of a film which made me like, hate, then love Johnny Cash even though I'm not a fan of his voice nor music. To this day, I will still randomly listen to songs from that movie.  As I write this review I can hear Phoenix and Witherspoon singing "It Ain' Me Babe".  I didn't know this song was written by Bob Dylan until I googled it.

Star Wars Live-Action series review

Thoughts on each series thus far as of June 20, 2024.

 A) The Mandalorian, s1e3, when Mando gives Grogu to the Client and returns to his ship where he is about to take off and he looks at the ball of the shifter and we sit there for a moment in that moment -- we don't see Mando's face, I don't recall if any music plays, but we know exactly what he's feeling and he acts on that feeling, betraying the guild rules and putting his life in danger for someone he cares about. I was locked in at that point.

Are there some silly or not great episodes of the Mandalorian? Sure. Like "The Prisoner" or "Guns for Hire", but the through line is there from start to finish regarding Mando and Grogu. I will say that you can definitely debate the effectiveness or enjoyment of the side stories regarding The Marshal or Bo Katan or Pershing. Those can definitely either be hot or cold.

B) The Book of Boba Fett was a swing and a miss. The backstory stuff was decent but the present day stuff didn't make sense. The Mando episode was good but his inclusion in the show wasn't enough to save it.

C) The Obi-wan Kenobi show had an okay through line, but stumbled on the execution and the side stories making it only slightly better than BOBF in my opinion.

D) Andor was fantastic. Solid through line, acting, characters, side characters, etc.

E) Ahsoka had an intriguing story premise, continuing what fans have wondered since the end of Rebels, but the showrunners/writers assumed the audience had seen every episode of Rebels and/or The Clone Wars which did not do anyone any favors. Even if you were in "the know", wooden Ahsoka and sleepy Sabine Wren were not great to watch. Thrawn also left a lot to be desired. Also, if you didn't know space witches are a thing.

F) Lastly, there's The Acolyte, which I knew nothing about going in but I knew it was closely related to "The High Republic" novels and comics. I have read none of that material so I'm going in cold, learning as I go from what the show is offering. I thought the first two episodes were okay and three was not great but I'm still sort of interested. Then when episode four was 24 minutes of walking just to end on a cliffhanger was not very good storytelling. Overall, four episodes so far, I don't really care about any of the characters and I'm not seeing a great story here. Remember the space witches in Ahsoka (and Rebels and The Clone Wars and Tales of the Jedi), well, we have them too. And? So what? The only character I like is Yord as he's so sure of himself which represents the entire embodiment of the Jedi Order which will lead to the eventual fall.

History of the World, Part I [1981] review

• The Stone Age
• Quick 6 minute, rapid fire sequence with some funny bits
• Fire, Art Critic, and Marriage were the highlights for me
• The Old Testament
• Moses bit is classic and probably the most popular / recognizable sequence from this film, but sadly it's only the one bit
• The Roman Empire
• This goes on for 43 minutes and after the rapid fire and fast pace established by the first two sections, this one felt way too long
• The highlights were the Hugh Hefner cameo, the Eunuch test, the quick Senate bit, the Trojan Pharmacy joke, the Moses callback, and the Last Supper scene
• The Spanish Inquisition
• 10 minute musical number with a maybe a chuckle or two but it's just one joke stretched way too long; it's almost like when Family Guy puts a random musical sequence in their episode to fill time
• The French Revolution
• This sequence was the sole focus of the last 30 minutes of the movie
• Count de Monet joke was funny at first but then it started to lost its luster the more it was repeated
• "It's good to be the king" was maybe said one too many times
• Fun fact: The female lead in this sequence was Pamela Stephenson who was Lorelei in Superman 3. I don't know her from anything else
• We get a meta call back to the Roman Empire sequence and the movie ends; I did like the Mel Brooks and Gregory Hines kiss
• Coming Attractions
• All 3 were great; I didn't realize that Mel took the music from the Jews in Space sequence and used it for the Men in Tights song in the movie of the same name

I'd think I'd give the movie a 6/10 overall.  I'm really looking forward to the eights episodes of History of the World Part II coming to Hulu on March 6, 2023.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever [2022] review

God, I miss Chadwick Boseman. I obviously didn't know the man, but his work in the Marvel cinematic universe has been fantastic. He left a hole in everyone's heart when he passed and sadly he also left a hole in this movie that needed to be filled. So, the first step the movie takes is for the characters along with the audience to say goodbye. It's very emotional and powerful beginning that is very well done. As we dry our tears, the movie fast forwards to a year later.

Time doesn't heal all wounds and everyone is still grieving meanwhile the plot begins to unfold. The world wants Vibranium, yet in the wrong hands, it can be dangerous. We see the French government take a crack at stealing some and fail. The American government develops a machine to detect it and they find some in the ocean. Unbeknownst to everyone, the Americans and the Wakandans, the Vibranium is connected to another group, the Talokanil lead by Namor. The Talokanil take out the Americans so now the CIA gets involved. The CIA think it was the Wakandans and they don't know who it was until Namor reveals himself to Shuri and Ramonda. He tells them a scientist is responsible for creating the Vibranium detecting device and he's going to find and kill that person.

The scientist turns out to be a young female MIT student named Riri. The Wakandans find her first and try to bring her back to Wakanda to protect her, but the Talokanil capture Riri and Shuri. Because of her failure, Okoyo is stripped of her title and status. Ramonda turns to Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) for help. Nakia has been out of the game for years now as she's doing good work in Haiti. She agrees to help, finds and rescues Riri and Shuri, and brings them back to Wakanda. Namor and the Talokanil attack and Ramonda is killed. This scene mirrors the beginning of the movie and it was another gut punch where the tears were definitely flowing.

It's now war between Wakanda and Talokan. Wakanda is given one week to prepare by Namor. Shuri is able to recreate the flower that gives her the powers of the Black Panther and becomes the new Black Panther. Riri makes an Iron Man suit and becomes Ironheart (I don't think this name is said in the movie, but I read it afterwards).

Shuri is able to defeat Namor, she spares his life, and they come to an agreement.

There's a whole side plot with the CIA involving Ross (from the first Black Panther film) and his ex wife who is the director of the CIA: Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). That really doesn't go anywhere unfortunately.

The final emotional gut punch comes in the mid-credit scene. We find out that Nakia was with child during "the Blip" and she had a son with T'Challa. She wanted to raise him outside of Wakanda. His name is Toussaint but his Wakanada is T'Challa.

The movie was an emotional rollercoaster. It had to not only had the task of giving us an interesting story, but it also had to pass the baton from T'Challa to Shuri in a meaningful way. The latter was done fairly well, with a few minor missteps, but the former was a little bit of a miss. Assuming Namor and his people have been in hiding for countless centuries, you'd think they'd be a little more subtle in their approach when the Vibranium in the ocean was found. Also, you'd think that maybe they would have partnered with the Wakandas instead of almost immediately becoming their enemy. I didn't like the plot point that the scientist had to be killed. Killing the scientist was not going to suddenly stop the search for Vibranium and keep the Talokanil safe. And even though they hid in the ocean, the Talokanil seemed to be pretty smart and technologically evolved, especially to figure out a way to exist on land.

After learning that this movie was supposed to the a father/son adventure, it had to be shifted to a mother/daughter one. I wish we got more of that instead of the CIA things that really didn't go anywhere which were probably a setup for a future conflict.

Willow Series [2022] Review

The long-awaited sequel to the movie of the same name has finally completed airing.  I wouldn't consider the movie Willow a cult classic like Rocky Horror for example, but I feel the heart and the fun that existed in the movie touched a lot of people and it's remembered fondly.  I'm one of those people. 

I don't think I can talk about the series without first touching on the movie.  After a recent re-watch, and looking at it with adult eyes, its purpose was simple - to show that even though Willow was smaller than everyone else and a struggling farmer trying to support his family, he was brave and selfless, willing to protect a child simply because it was the right thing to do.  To that simple story, the writers added some fantasy elements like magic, prophecies, witches, fairies, and trolls, and the result is that the small world starts to get a little bit bigger, growing with potential for a rich backstory and world building.

With small beginnings, Willow comes upon Madmartigan, the unlikely ally, as well as two homeless gnome like creatures named Brownies.  All three add a lot of humor to the journey which makes it much more enjoyable.  The reaction shots of the baby are also quite humorous.  Mix in an awkward George Lucas trademark love story, and good overcoming evil, and we end up with a delightful fun story.  The finale even recalls a "magic" trick from the start of the movie, bringing everything full circle and ultimately a happy ending.

Last, but not least, the music in the movie is well done.  While it heavily relies on the Willow theme, Ron Howard and his team made good use of it, knowing when to use it to ramp up an already exciting action scene or slow it down during a more dramatic scene like one with Willow and his wife.

Now, does the series have that same heart and fun?  Sadly, I don't believe it does.

Storyline wise, what happened between the end of the movie and the start of the show?  Baby Elora is now a young adult, who Willow thinks needs to be trained to fulfil her prophecy of being a great sorcerer that will destroy evil.  Sorsha disagrees and decides to have Elora work in the kitchen, not tell her about her destiny, rename her, and hide her in plain sight by having her hair dyed to blond instead of red.

Madmartigan is absent.  We later learn that he went in search of a magical protective armor.  Sadly, due to Val Kilmer's health issues, I don't think he could physically be in the show, so his lack of appearance needed a story and unfortunately, it's not a very good one.  His friend Boorman's humor is a welcome addition as first, but his humor turns to lies which turns to mistrust which turns to a dislike of the character.

All the new characters have similar issues where they're poorly written.  They fight with each other.  They don't trust each other.  They barely bond.  The writers give us very little reasons to care about any of them or their quest.

Lastly, on the topic of music, the Willow theme is heard briefly, maybe twice in the entirety of all 8 episodes.  If I recall correctly, I think it's heard once in 107 and then once in 108.  While the movie might have overused it, I think the series drastically underuses it.  Also, the series chooses to use popular songs during the credits.  Why just the credits?  Why not use the music in the episode?  I think they did use the modern music in episode twice, but mostly it feels like it was saved for the end for no apparent reason.

Overall, I was optimistic when the series was announced.  While I give the movie a glowing review it is far from perfect, but it had the right idea.  I feel the show might have had some good ideas, but the execution of those ideas was very poor.  I kept hoping with each episode there would be a course correction, but I was just let down each week.  I don’t know if we’ll get another volume of stories; I just hope Lucasfilm can find someone to bring the heart and fun back to the story.

Elvis [2022] review

From the start, it felt like the writers were going for the Salieri/Mozart angle from Amadeus with Colonel Parker being the former and Elvis being the latter.  While Tom Hanks and Austin Butler kill it in their respective roles, it almost felt like Elvis was a side character in his own story, which maybe was the point?  But then don’t call the movie Elvis, call it Snowman for the Colonel.

I did appreciate that the movie did not shy away from Elvis’s musical origin and influence.  It almost felt like every time he started a song the movie had to show his musical sources to ensure that credit was given where credit was due, instead of focusing on Elvis as a person and his personal life.  It’s almost like the flashbacks were footnotes in a research paper.  Going into the movie, I understood Elvis’s life was a bit of a tragedy, but it’s almost like they didn’t want to show it or that he was suffering as it’s evident by the movie’s end that it was a battle he didn’t win. 

Overall, while I found the patented Baz Luhrmann flair mostly engaging, there wasn’t enough extreme emotion, sadness or happiness, in me as a viewer to recommend this as a must see. 

Skyward Sword HD review

Back in 2006, I recall that I enjoyed playing Twilight Princess.  It was a very dark and eerie game, but I felt it was a return to what the fans wanted post Ocarina of Time after many complained about the cel-shading style of Wind Waker.  I was not one of the complainers but I missed land and I missed having a horse so it was nice to have both those things back.  

Five years later, in 2011, we would get Skyward Sword for the first time.  If I remember correctly, it was supposed to come a lot sooner, but they changed the art style last minute to be different than Twilight Princess.  Regardless of the timing, the big thing then was the Wii Motion+ controls which was an improvement on the original Wii Motion controls.  Regarding motion controls, there seemed to be two major camps:  the lovers and the haters.  Personally I liked them, but I didn't love them.  I found that they best responded when I played standing up.  Then I realized that this was the first time I've played any Zelda game standing up and suddenly I was immersed.  I was swinging my sword, stabbing enemies and pod filled water droplets, and I was raising my arm in the sky to do a skyward strike.  I had become Link and I was fully invested in the story, I felt the emotions I saw on the other characters faces, and I was in awe of the design of Demise's final form.  I remember crying actual tears.  I fell in love with this game and in 2011, it was my favorite Zelda game of all time.

Ten years later, I just completed Skyward Sword HD after putting in a total of 34 hours and 40 minutes.  I first tried the motion controls using the Joy Con.  I hated it.   It kept drifting to the right.  I would reset it to the middle of the screen and after a few moments it started drifting to the right again.  I think I gave it a solid hour, I saved my game, and called it a night.  The next time I decided to use my Pro controller.  This was also a bit of a learning curve.  I didn't realize I had to hold L1 to look around with the same R stick that was used to swing the sword now that the motion controls were gone.  Also running and rolling was different.  It was not intuitive and slightly frustrating to play.  I was not having fun.  I was contemplating shutting off the game and maybe selling it on eBay.  I may have taken a day or two break, came back to it, and I found myself finally getting used to it.  Still, I swear if I moved the R stick from left to right I was swinging diagonally when I wanted to simply swing horizontally.  Also, the death blow move seemed to only work 50% of the time.  Either way, I'm glad they incorporated the non motion controls, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to play it with the drifting Joy Con.

So after finally getting used to the motion controls and frustrations aside, I'm glad to have revisited this game in its HD form 10 year later.  It's no longer my favorite Zelda game of all time, (that is "A Link to the Past") but I appreciate the developers giving this one the non motion control treatment.  It shows that Nintendo is listening to their fans sometimes.  I still enjoyed the story and I think it would make a good Netflix miniseries as long as they toned down Ghirahim.  Overall, I'd love to recommend it, but I wouldn't want a new player to be frustrated with the controls and quit.  So if you can get the game on sale and you know what you're getting into and have NOT experienced this story, then I would 100% recommend you give it a go.

Dunkirk [2017] review

Pros:

• definitely sucked me in
• felt like I was there
• cared what happened to characters with little to no backstory

Cons:

• needed more framing devices to actually understand what was going on in the first place -- give me more than just three sentences at the beginning
• I got the confusing time aspect but it was jarring and confusing for no reason
• didn't care about some characters because they had little to no backstory
• was waiting for an unexpected twist/surprise regarding "main" character

Nomadland [2020] review

Frankly, I didn't care for it. Frances McDormand was very compelling to watch, and I understand the feel the movie was going for, but I guess the lifestyle rubbed me the wrong way. It was portrayed as a freeing life, but a very hard life. I could never do it, nor would I want to, but McDormand's character of Fern made a conscience choice to live that way, almost like she had to, but I didn't get why she had to. The one lady's story about the desert being her boat made sense to me, so was the movie trying to sell me on the nomad life? Or was it trying to make me care about the people that live the nomad life? It felt a little preachy at one point and I definitely didn't like that.

It feels like most of these nomad people suffered a loss, then decided to live the nomad life, which seems to be a very solitaire lifestyle. Although, there were many scenes in the movie where it is shown that these nomads were kind of a tight-knit community. You don't say goodbye; you say see you down the road. At multiple times of the movie everyone knew Fern's name, heck even random cigarette kid remembered her.

My buddy who hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine told me that the big saying on the trail was "hike your own hike". That means go at your own pace because your job for the next 6+ months is to walk. That's it. You have beautiful nature, fresh air, time with your thoughts, and maybe you run into someone, you chat them up, you hike a little bit together, and then you never see them again. Along the way my friend met a group of people and kind of hung with them for a good chunk of the trail. So the trail life, the nomad life, it's not really my thing and neither was whatever this movie was trying to be.

Sadly, I couldn't get the idea out of my head that Frances McDormand's character lost all her money on the three billboards so that's why she was now living the nomad life.

Raya and the Last Dragon [2021] spoiler review

In a word - I thought it was okay. I felt like a good 80-90% of the acting and jokes was heavily geared towards kids so that wasn't really for me. Almost all of the jokes fell flat for me. I chuckled once or twice and smiled once. One of the characters says "butt-kickery", and the one kids behind me said, "he said butt" and was laughing so that may give you some indication of the level of humor. 

The animation was beautiful and the story was fairly straightforward. Thankfully you get a lot of title cards to remind you where you are in the story, but a little more map work might have helped. I got some Moana vibes and almost felt like an opening song was going to start as the plot was explained, but sadly there were no songs and very little music that I can recall. 

It definitely tugs at the heart strings, and I like a movie that moves me emotionally.  Upon leaving the theater, I think I personally connected more with the opening short "Us Again".

Netflix's The Queen's Gambit (Miniseries) spoiler review

Anya Taylor-Joy played the part fairly well.  You could track the evolution of her character from smart-naïve-innocent-yet-defiant young girl to intelligent-yet-still-defiant young woman.  She didn't let the era define her i.e. chess being a boys club and the idea that girls should join a social club, get pregnant, and start a family.  I also like that she didn't let anything stand in her way.  Of course, she got cocky and suffered for it, but she appeared to have learned her lesson and she was able to achieve her goal but more on that later.

As for Beth's relationship with her birth mother, I think it was fairly obvious what happened in the first episode when her mother's finals words were "Close your eyes."  When the reveal of the actual events happened in the final episode I wasn't surprised.  On the topic of mothers, I'm glad they expanded on Beth's relationship with her step mother and I like how their relationship grew with their openness and honesty with each other.  They were both lost souls that found and had each other.  I was genuinely sad when she died.

As for Beth's father figures, I really liked the janitor character and I would have liked more backstory about him.  I was hoping the series would revisit him but unfortunately it wasn't until after his death that the story went in that direction.  As for her birth father, they kept showing him, and I thought he may pop up or, at some point later, Beth would seek him out.  Her birth mother's suicide aside, I think the big reveal was that her father actually moved on and started a whole new family.  Sadly that event was the final nail in the coffin from her mother's POV.  So in retrospect, I'm glad neither sought out the other.

Plot-wise, the arc of season 1 felt fairly straightforward.  While it was mostly predictable, I still found it enjoyable.  

The only thing I didn't like is that the ending didn't feel earned.  Beth had spiraled down to the point where she was burning all her bridges with her friends, yet everyone came to her aid in the end to help her - why?  I would have liked to see Beth have a heart to heart with Beltik (Harry Melling) and apologize before going to Russia.  Then he could have been the one to get everyone together to help her.  It didn't make sense to me that Watts (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) did it without some outside catalyst to influence him.  It also didn't make sense that everyone traveled to New York when most of the people that helped were from/living in Kentucky.  Maybe Watts felt bad that he didn't go to Russia with Beth and this was his attempt to make it up to her.  I don't think he owed her anything, again, especially after the way she treated him.  

Regardless, I think the heart of the entire story can be found in her conversation with the young Russian boy.  After you achieve the rank of grandmaster, what happens next?  What do you do with the rest of your life?  I think if a season 2 is made it could explore that question and personally, I would be interested on how Beth would answer those questions.

Final Fantasy VII Remake [2020] spoiler review

FFVII Remake:  

• 4/14 - 5/20 First play through complete  
• Total time ~44 hours

Overall thoughts - major spoilers

With memories of the original in the back of my head, I definitely thought the highway part would be the end of the game.  Especially after this image in the link below hit the internet.  There was a part of me thinking that this would be the final shot of the game.  https://square-enix-games.com/en_GB/news/heroes-gather-new-final-fantasy-vii-remake-key-art  I was actually surprised to be wrong.  This shot isn't even in the game at all and it's a beautiful piece of art.

Concerning the Singularity, I can't say with a 100% certainty that everything made sense to me.  IMO, the purpose of the Whispers was they had a certain amount of control over fate and they had the power to change it, so if they are now destroyed in the final battle what does that mean moving forward?  Can future events be prevented or changed compared to what we know happens in the original?  Or now that they're gone, are we truly on our own?  Aerith mentions the future being a blank slate - is she correct?  Red XIII says something like these visions from the arbiters of fate are of the future if we fail.  Actually, the vision of him running through the canyon was after the group succeeded in saving Midgar and the planet, at least that's what I thought when we were shown the final shot of the original game that Midgar is covered in green plants and Shinra is no longer sucking up the life of the planet.

I watched IGN's explanation of the ending and I felt a little bit better as there is a lot of stuff left purposely vague for the sequel.  Specially the "7 seconds" tidbit is up for discussion/debate.  As the world opens up for this little branch of Avalanche in the sequel to this game, will they necessarily follow the same path as the original?  It doesn't feel like it and that's okay.  While I appreciate the backstory dump in Kalm post Midgar in the original, I think that could be done completely different in the next installment of the Remake and I hope it is.

As mentioned above, in the Remake, it felt like there was a lot more talk of Wutai, and a new element? of Avalanche HQ.  I don't remember HQ being mention in the original;  I definitely don't remember them being a presence in the original game for sure.  In the Remake, they are mentioned to be more extreme than Barret's group, but what's more extreme than blowing up a reactor?  Will we find out more about HQ?  Also, speaking of changes, Mayor Domino seems to play more of a role.  I wonder if he'll come back in the sequel.  Also, is Jesse the only person in the game that actually died?

The IGN video also mentioned a parallel universe where Zack is still alive.  I know a parallel timeline story arc was discussed when this game was first developed back in the 90s, but it was ultimately used in FF8 instead with Squall and his father IIRC.  Also, if there is a universe where Zack survives, how will that affect the main story, if at all?

At the end of the day, it was great being back in this universe.  It was fun to play and only slightly frustrating at times, but so was the original.  I died to Sephiroth twice when I was given Aerith and then Tifa in the final battle.  Out of frustration, I returned to the title screen, did all the arbiter stuff again, but then I got Tifa then Barret in the final battle and won.  So I don't know if there's an element of RNG or if I did something different that affected who I was given.  Either way, I look forward to revisiting some chapters now that I have that ability and maybe I'll dip into Hard mode over the long Memorial Day weekend.

The Unknown Journey Will Continue...hopefully in 2021 or 2022 at the latest [fingered crossed]!

Birds of Prey [2020] Spoiler Review

Things I appreciated

1)  For a good chunk of the movie, I felt it was trying to give us the narrative from the POV of being in Harley Quinn's head.  Here's the story, wait, let me go back 4 minutes, wait, now let me go back 1 week, wait, I'm getting slapped so now we're inside my head and I'm Marilyn Monroe.  While I could appreciate this approach, there are scenes in between that didn't match the tone, or we cut to a scene that was too serious, or one that didn't matter like Black Mask talking to Black Canary about his art collection.  Why did that matter?

2)  Most of the fight scenes had a good mix of choreography and feeling real world.  If there was any wire work, it wasn't obvious to my eye.  Compare these scenes to every-time Rey Palpatine leaves the ground in TROS -- it's blatantly obvious wire work, distracting, and pulls you out of the movie.  This was not the case in Birds.

3)  The title cards when a random character came out of nowhere who had a grievance with Harley was good, but again the contrasting tone with other scenes didn't match the overall tone making the "toned down" scenes boring or confusing.  Also Black Mask yelling at the random girl in his club to dance and strip.  What was that about?

As for the rest...

Why is this movie called Birds of Prey?  Black Canary is a bird, but what about Huntress and the cop?  Is birds in this case a use of the British slang for a woman?  

I feel this movie wanted to focus on Harley Quinn, because that's who people want to see, but unfortunately she had the least interesting storyline.

My only experience with Harley, other than Suicide Squad, was Batman The Animated Series.  If Joker kicked her out, I feel that she would do what she could to get back in his good graces.  Maybe capture Batman or Robin or Batgirl or something and present them as a present to Joker.  This would make the Joker happy and then they'd make up.  But this movie was committed to Harley going out on her own, so because of that she causes her own problems.

Then while she's dealing with her problems, we get mostly Black Canary who is pretty uninteresting.  Huntress randomly pops up here and there and she's also pretty uninteresting and one dimensional.  The pick pocket girl didn't add much either.  There was a lot of focus on the cop getting a raw deal but I didn't find myself caring about her either.

Back to the Animated Series, I appreciated Harley having a pet hyena.  I'm sure there were other Easter Eggs from the show that I missed.

Margot Robbie can definitely carry a movie, unfortunately her emancipation alone could not fill an almost 2 hour movie, so they need to add other "stuff".  The stuff they decided to add concerning the Birds didn't get me to the point of caring about the overall story and once they were finally together, they tried for some more comedy amid the chaos where some landed and some didn't.  I wish this "girl power" movie had had more power.

In summary, it felt like it was trying to and wanted to be "Deadpool" and I wish it was, but it never got there.  I was very bored at times and comparing this to Suicide Squad - I had more fun during Suicide Squad.  Most of my blame on why I didn't enjoy this movie would be on direction and tone, so I mostly blame Cathy Yan.