Cobalt Stargazer

Clearly not. In the book, the BG supply Irulan with contraceptives, which she puts in Chani's food without her knowing about it to prevent her from giving birth to Paul's heir. Given the culmination of that thread, I don't believe Villeneuve will do it if there's a third movie, but it's left hanging as to what will happen if Feyd's kid lives to adulthood. With him dead and unavailable to be "controlled", the BG are likely passing on his genetic tendency towards insanity and risking the life of the woman carrying the baby. Feyd killed his mother, as Mohaim tells Irulan, so she.....thinks it's a good idea to have one of her acolytes get pregnant by him?

Isn't Carol also 'technically' the same age she was when she got her powers? Because Monica was a kid in the first Captain Marvel movie, and now she's an adult while Carol looks more or less the same. Since Kamala seems to be taking an active role in recruiting the next team, they could always rope Carol in occasionally for the grumpy mentor spot, although I don't know how much Fury will be involved yet. As I said before, I'm sure RL scheduling has something to do with it, because on a separate but related note, someone on social media said that Zendaya is so busy now that she won't be able to do another season of Euphoria. Even that is something that happens when there's so much time between seasons, since the new one isn't supposed to start until 2025, and with that much downtime it would be strange if she wasn't pursuing other opportunities.

There's a piece in there where I think Jac Schaeffer wanted some consequences for what Wanda did in Westview. No, she doesn't go to jail or prison (although pfft to that anyway since FATWS has Bucky and Sam gallivanting around Europe with Helmut Zemo), but she lost Vision (for the third time) and her kids, leaving her with nothing. There was no reason outside of it being a cheat that the two Visions couldn't have been melded into one, so even if the boys did disappear he'd have still been with her in some capacity, but that's not what Schaeffer wanted to do. The big mistake was in trying to retread that story, only with less care. It was still Wanda looking for something she'd lost, only this was not the same woman who responded with a warning to the man who'd just fired on her with an armed drone. A better writer (if not Schaeffer herself, then not Michael Waldron, who should never have been allowed near that script) would have been aware that this was ground that had already been walked, would have tried something different. Anything different. Someone did the math, and Kate and Yelena had a little over thirteen minutes of screen time together; the scene at Kate's apartment, then the fight before Yelena's confrontation with Clint. Those thirteen minutes have spawned over 2000 fanfics, and the number is still growing, so it's crazy that it's taken them this long to bring Kate back into the action, and that's just in an end credits scene. I'm sure they have a schedule or whatever, in addition to any other demands on the actor's time, but one of the MCU"s strengths has always been those interpersonal relations. Maybe the OG Avengers were never the best of friends, and yet those interactions are what makes/made the characters so human, even outside of their world-saving. That's a piece of what's missing now, that even if the universe is connected, the characters really aren't, and its noticeable.

Does that mean Carly is Peg? 'Cause that'd be about right.

Bumping this post up to say that I love the moment where Jake snatches the envelope of money or a check he'd just given to Robbie out of his hand after he finds out the truth. Because Robbie thanks Jake for how he handled it, cleaning up the mess he made by taking care of Penny after the botched abortion. Such a Lennie Briscoe thing to do. It's especially great that we're reminded of Tod's relative immaturity before he gets to the deep stuff about it depending on who the father/man is, because he starts by asking Helen if they can talk straight to each other, and when she says yes he tells her, "Okay, a few months ago, Garry got his first boner." And there's this pause before he adds, "Do you know what that is?" You can see Helen kind of gathering herself before she answers, because Dianne Wiest's voice is just so dry and deadpan when she replies, "If memory serves." Great stuff.

It's been several years since I read the books, but my impression was that it was initially just Jessica trying to convince the Fremen that Paul was their Messiah, and then after the Water of Life it was Jessica and the yet to be born Alia, who speaks to her mother from the womb. There were shades of Rose The Hat in Jessica's soliloquy about converting the non-believers, that they should start with the weaker ones, who feared them because they were outsiders. I believe that Jessica went a bit crazy afterwards, because by the end of the film she's as much of a fanatic as Stilgar, she's just quieter about it. The water was enough to make Alia sentient, so imbibing must have affected her mother as well. I said this upthread, but though this is Paul's story he may or may not have agency within it. It starts out as him seeking safety from those who harmed him, then justice (or revenge, take your pick) for his murdered father and friends, and somewhere in the middle he finds love with Chani, though she continues to identify him as an outsider even before he slips away from her. I believe that if he had not discovered the truth about his heritage - "We're Harkonnens. So that's how we'll survive, by being Harkonnens." - he might never have spoken the words to kick off a war, that the combination of the prophecy and finding out that the rotten old fart who killed his father was related to him drove him over the edge. He knows terrible things are probably coming, that even if all of his visions don't come to pass the war will devastate part of the galaxy, but as he tells Gurney, it's not because he loses control, it's because he gains it.

Indeed, because it's important to remember that this is the franchise that stashes characters who will be very important later in remote areas, so the Sith going unnoticed for literally centuries while they worked in secret wouldn't be wholly new territory. Also? I thought I recognized Carrie Anne Moss, who I either didn't know or forgot was going to be in this. Trinity as a Jedi is gonna send me.

Perhaps, but I would say that the RL ugliness with Jonathan Majors affected things as well. Yes, they've fired him, but Ant-Man 3 was to be Kang's chance to take Thanos' place as the next big threat for this phase. Now they have to either write the character out entirely, recast, or just rework things so that there's another, bigger threat behind him. What they were thinking was that the actor they hired to be the Big Bad for the new phase was not a POS, which doesn't have anything to do with Paul Rudd. Because that would make us fickle, and we're not at all like that.

It wasn't me!

Half the time I'm not even sure Jason likes Carly, much less that he could love her. Yeah, he's at her beck and call just as much as he is Sonny's, but her obsessiveness over him is at direct odds with his borderline annoyance and/or indifference.

I would add that Lucky's addiction happened at least in part to make it okay for Liz to have sex with freaking Jason, which resulted in Jake's conception. Because there's a piece in there where Liz's taste in men has always been around the level of Harley Quinn's (Jason, Franco, Nikolas) and the Lucky thing was mostly to protect Jason, who can never be seen as in the wrong, not for Liz's benefit.

The policies where the women keep getting killed off or turned into villains while the guys skate? I don't believe 'woke' means what you think it means.

"Sonny? This is God. You have got to be kidding me."

In that sense, he's a really good choice to play Paul. Just got back from seeing it, and while Paul is the central figure, he's also kind of passive. It's not just his destiny we're seeing unfold, it's Jessica's and Stilgar's and even Gurney's, since his reveal of the nuclear arsenal Paul's father hid away is what helped turn the tide. Halfway through the movie, I had the random thought that Chani usually seemed suspicious of Paul or aggravated by something he was doing, and I've figured out that it's because he's going along with the pushing he keeps getting. She loves him and may well be in love with him, but she also sees that the route he's taking is going to lead to bad places, as backed up by Paul's visions. Of course, being passive means he'll be the perfect husband for Irulan, who seems to have her own plans beyond just keeping her father alive. I do wonder, if there is a third movie as there should be, if she and Jessica (and her psychic fetus) will be at odds, because Paul's mother is very clear about the role she'll play in her son's life, and the role he'll continue to play. Whether he really wants to or not. "I came to wish you the best of luck." "I'd wish you the same, but it seems you've won your battle." Indeed, Chani, indeed.

I do think there's a piece in there where it isn't just the writing, it's the way LW plays Carly. As terrible as the character is and always has been, both Sarah Brown and Tamara Braun played her with a bit more nuance as far as her insecurities go, such as being seen as inferior to 'good girls' like Liz and Robin. Wright either can't or won't lean into Original Recipe Carly's shakiness, for lack of a better word, and while I get that like Maurice she's been on the show for ages, her all gas and no brakes Carly is both enraging and exhausting. Better writing would be a good start, but this version of the character who doesn't remember what it's like to feel as if people are talking about her behind her back in a negative way is why people are so sick of her.

I agree with you as a whole, but the real world concern of COVID must have done quite a lot to affect things. I know people are sick of hearing about it, and I'm sick of talking about it, but we're in the fifth year of COVID being a thing, and it's one of the reasons Burton left in 2019, because he refused to be vaccinated. It's unclear if he was fired or quit, but that was why. But you're not wrong. I'm old enough to remember the first iteration of Steve and Kayla on Days of Our Lives in addition to popular couples on GH, and we just don't see that kind of heat these days. It's weird that TV, at least the remaining daytime shows, has regressed rather than keep up with the times.

"Who was I? Just the mother, crazed with grief." Notice the parallel with Survivor, even if it's not an exact match. Like Judith Sandler, Estelle was driven to the end of her wits by a situation she didn't create but had to watch unfold, and no one would listen to her. Jim must have been working up to adopting her granddaughter for a while, the final step in "taking over" the life her son should have had, and Robin was at best blind to the signs of anything being wrong or willfully ignoring them. I'm not saying she was right, I'm saying I understand.

He's not a bad actor at all, but he has a severe lack of presence, and it's obvious when he's acting opposite someone who is really intense in their scenes. Both Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh nearly made him invisible in Little Women, and it didn't help that Laurie was written to be kind of a jerk. I wonder if he'll fare any better in the Dune sequel, since I finally saw the first one and it was similar. Paul Atreides is supposed to be this great leader, but Chalamet doesn't do much to make it believable.

Well, most of Greek mythology starts with 'Zeus got horny.'

My guess would be for the same reason Britney's sons don't seem to want anything to do with her, even if it's under different circumstances. Wilson had addiction issues when Wendy and Carnie were children, and it obviously put a strain on his relationship with his daughters. They reunited in 1992 to collaborate on music, but they hadn't really seen each other in two decades before that, and Carnie even said that speaking to her father seemed impossible because they were "afraid of each other." Even if they mended things enough to work together and communicate as adults, there's probably some unresolved stuff that's keeping them from stepping in here, and Brian's other kids seem too young for the responsibility.

I read somewhere that Marvel no longer does long term contracts, and whether that's across the board or just for the top billed characters I'm not certain. I know that Anthony Mackie is very busy now, even outside of franchise work, since he's still doing Twisted Metal for the Peacock platform in addition to some other things. Someone on FB pointed out Pedro Pascal's age (48) as a possible negative, but if it isn't going to be a decade of playing Reed Richards, it might not be an imperative to cast someone younger. Is it that complicated, though? I know that there were issues with She-Hulk as a whole, but I would argue that if you didn't like it when Jennifer Walters broke the fourth wall to talk to the 'audience', then why should Wade Wilson doing it be any better? We can avoid the stuff about Jennifer having practice at controlling her anger because of having to deal with things like catcalling, because that could be complicated, but the other thing seems pretty straightforward.

But isn't it all supposed to be connected? For instance, much has been made of Tiamut from The Eternals sticking out of the ocean without mention of it in other movies, like where exactly should that fit in? Wakanda Forever, somewhere between a country grieving the loss of their king and Shuri beating the hell out of Namor? Love & Thunder, while Thor is dealing with Gorr? The Marvels[/b] might be the closest match, and yet that was focused on Carol's past actions regarding Hala and reconciling with Monica, not to mention Kamala coming to terms with what it means to be a hero. When are the hands coming out of the ice supposed to be casually mentioned? Re comedy: I wonder how many of the "No jokes!" crowd are thrilled about Deadpool, because.....Deadpool. I guess the MCU could always hire Zack Snyder to direct something boring and humorless, but that doesn't seem like a solution either, since in the end it could all be undone by something more ridiculous than even Waititi could come up with. "Gosh, my mom's name is Martha too! That's so weird!" I mean, The Wedding Singer is a comedy, but so is Airplane! We don't disqualify one from the category just because it's not to everyone's liking. Because it really keeps coming back to that. "No jokes!" *The MCU brings Deadpool into the mix, and everyone cheers* "Do smaller team up movies!" *Thunderbolts is announced and goes into pre-production* "But, but, but, these characters are way underpowered because most of them are 'just' supersoldiers!" I'm sure there's more examples, but I would posit that our expectations are at least half of the wrench in the gears, because then it becomes, "No, not like that" when Feige or Iger or whoever doesn't do things exactly the way we want.

"I...overreacted." You really have to appreciate Carradine and Thurman here, because there's this long pause, Beatrix waiting for more, but Bill's done, and he spells that out too. "You overreacted? That's your explanation?" "I didn't say I was going to explain. I said I was gonna tell you the truth."

Alternately, I maintain that The Marvels was hindered by the obvious lack of marketing/promotion. Yes, there were trailers, but the strike disallowed anything in the way of the main cast talking the film up. Now that it's on Disney Plus and the people who didn't see it in theaters are able to watch it, it's getting some very good word of mouth on social media, almost like it was a decent movie to begin with but the jerks who don't like Brie Larson wanted it to fail. There's also a piece in there where the writing is not always solid, even in the "good old days". I am convinced that whoever decided to cast Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes believed that was all it would take, since it's been 13 years since The First Avenger and he continues to have the personality of a doorstop. If he's going to take up space, they should at least make him interesting, but they haven't done it yet. Granted, that's an extreme case, and yet given how popular Barnes is,you'd think the writers could add some substance.

And there we have it: