Tenshinhan

I'd say JJ dodged a bullet with that one.

Both a sequel and a reboot, more like the most recent Ghostbusters or Scream films.

They did the typical thing some shows do where they have the characters attend college for one season and then just move on. It was probably easier for them to write stories that way. Without college, the characters are free to do whatever they want whenever they want to. Unfortunately they had no choice but to finish out Kristin's contracted episodes from Season 7, so rebound or not, the Clark and Lana relationship had to be resolved.

Nancy did a good job today but she needed better scene partners because I thought that Molly and Kristina were over the top. I am hoping that Sam's death does not heal the rift between the sisters because I think they work much better as adversaries.

They have, at least one in Ava's art gallery some weeks back.

Dominic was awful today. So over the top. I think the writers might be more to blame though. There's only so much the actors can do with shit dialogue and storytelling. I did not realize that Laura was a Catholic. I like the Danny actor, and think he works well with Jason and Scout. I don't mind how smiley he was; people react to death in different ways.

Poor Wiley. His parents are complete shit-heads. I am hoping that this is the beginning of a "Who killed Drew?" storyline. I am really disliking Lucas. Not sure why they felt the need to bring the character back.

Based on Trina being a Black woman, and the criminal justice system's tendency to ignore the safety and protection of Black women.

The idea is that supposedly all of Heather's murders were connected to Trina, and that ultimately she would be the primary target. So naturally Portia might question the court's decision to release someone who was targeting a Black woman compared to if it had been a white woman. I think it makes total sense that Portia would raise the issue, especially considering that it's about her own daughter. I am glad that the show has at least been willing to continue the conversation of how Black women are undervalued and devalued in society to the benefit of white women, with relation to Trina's character and storylines. Unfortunately, it's a conversation that also extends beyond the story itself and into the real life of the actress and fandom.

Sonny has always looked out for Sam, especially when she was Jason's wife. I thought it made total sense that he was in those scenes.

Scott was out when Marsden was out. There wasn't anything the writers could do about that. I agree that Jean could have been used better, but I think that Xavier's role was done well and appropriate for the story they were trying to tell. I think that the writers definitely understood the original property. It's just that they were tasked with coming into a series that was already two movies in and had to figure out how to pick up the story after the previous writers had bailed. While also wrapping up the series with some kind of conclusion. They may have made some poor choices, but they had some challenging circumstances to overcome.

You can say this about just about any other character in DC or Marvel. It's not unique to Superman or to DC. None of what you mentioned is baked into the character. Batman being written to those extremes has only ever been a thing within the last thirty years. And even then, they are not the defining characteristics of the character, not by a long shot. They don't change that much. Again, the defining characteristics of all the characters have existed since their original incarnations. Batman in the 50s/60s wasn't any more or any less "complex" than in any other era or incarnation.

I don't think that the Last Stand is so bad. Its biggest problems were Bryan Singer departing the series and taking James Marsden with him. After that, the movie had to do the best it could with what was left. Things like Wolverine and Storm being the leads and the rest of the team being pushed to the background was already set in motion in the first two films. Last Stand couldn't help but carry that forward.

I don't really think so. Typically a writer cannot take a "simplistic archetype" and turn it into a "multifaceted complexity" or vice versa. Despite decades of stories and various writers/artists, the DC/Marvel characters have not evolved beyond their original incarnations in this sense. Attempting to do so has generally fallen flat, in my view.

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the DC characters "meaty and multifaceted". If anything, the exact opposite. It's DC's simplicity that is its greatest strength in my view. I definitely don't agree about Batman's supposed complexity. I think that he is far less complicated than Superman, WW, GL, Aquaman etc.

Since when are DC characters any more morally complex than Marvel characters? I don't really understand your point.

That was in Strange's own movie instead of in Wanda's series, which I think was Feige's point. It's at least *somewhat* of a better choice to make and still shows some awareness, despite how the story ultimately played out.

A fictionalized reality can never be entirely separated from reality, because it is born from reality. The extent to which a fictional world can be separated from the real world varies depending upon just how fictitious the particular story is. Applying real world standards to fiction does not always constrict or inhibit storytelling. Often times it may broaden and elevate the material into something greater, or send the story into a different direction that would not have been realized otherwise. Chose to act against having a white man come in and take the spotlight at the last moment and teach the woman a lesson. And the potential consequences of reinforcing this type of racist/sexist psychology within both the fictional world of the MCU and within the real world.

The MCU is a fictionalized version of the real world. The two cannot be separated. Many of the standards that apply in the real world will automatically apply to a fictionalized world. Aside from that, film and television are consumed by real world audiences, which means that the real world will naturally be impacted by the content of the story. So filmmakers and storytellers consequently have a responsibility for what they put out into the world, in my view. I can't say for sure whether or not Feige made the best possible decision in this case, but at least he had enough awareness to recognize the potential consequences of the situation and chose to act against it. I think that's a positive for filmmaking/storytelling.

To be fair, this time around the show did at least make some effort by stating that the region was "East Africa", and that Sidwell had been operating out of Somalia.

Good on Feige for a little bit of responsible decision-making.

I think that Robin would probably encourage Anna to go for it with Jason if that's what really makes her happy. I don't see Robin being anything but supportive of them.

If the audience is skipping entries at this point, then that's on them, not the movies. Hopefully the film will be strong enough to stand on its own as well.

I hope that Portia ends up in Pentonville, just as Heather is being released.

If LH ends up doing Sam's final scenes, it won't be a coincidence. It will probably be connected to KM's firing.