Michael*

The good is that there are proper introductions to launch the three new heroes, a lot more of Cyborg and clearer motivations for Steppenwolf. Elements like Superman's resurrection make a lot more sense, and the third act is fun. The bad is the new Wonder Woman theme playing approximately twenty times in the first fifteen minutes, the "Knightmare" sequence which is completely tacked on and serves no purpose other than to set up a sequel that I dare say won't be happening, and the fact that it probably could have been an hour shorter if there hadn't been so much slo-mo. The indifferent is how surprising it feels that quite a lot of the plot is the same. It's a different experience and addresses a lot of the problems with the cinematic version, but it still has the same core issues, which is that the script isn't brilliant and the story (minus the cameos) is rather like Avengers Infinity War and Endgame with mother boxes, Darkseid and Cyborg subbed in for Infinity Stones, Thanos and Vision. Overall though, I think the four hours could easily have been fine-tuned into a perfectly decent two and a bit hour comic book flick. Whedon's amendments to the cinematic version completely missed the mark and this is a significant improvement.

The MCU basically taking 2020 off made Endgame feel more like an actual ending (with Spider-Man: Far From Home as a coda), which did make me wonder how many people might view it that way and kind of stop paying attention. In fairness though the Disney+ shows appear to be doing well, so it looks like the demand is still there. There's the Black Widow movie to come too, which I'm looking forward to more now than when it was first announced. I don't know if that's simply down to a general scarcity of content, but I do quite like that it seemingly represents a shift from MCU continuity into perhaps more self-contained stories.

Yeah, the earlier stuff undoubtedly takes a fairly "by the book" approach to the genre. Iron Man for example was a rather conventional film, albeit with a lot of energy and the charisma of Downey to help it power through some of its issues. The later MCU entries, which broadly speaking are my favourites, blur the lines between genres a little more (not that there's anything wrong with "something explodes and the hero says something funny," I've just seen it done to death). Still, I do find it interesting to note how disparate the rankings seem to be for different fans, I think that speaks to the way Marvel has managed to construct a universe that impacts so personally and so directly to such a big audience. The sad thing with DC is, I really think even a Justice League movie right out of the gate and without any buildup whatsoever could have been made to work. There'll always be a market for spectacle, as long as your characters look enough like their comic book counterparts and behave in ways that people expect, it's relatively easy to get right.

I still think there's an unfortunate tendency to put the cart before the horse when it comes to properties like this one. It leads people to believe that if a film flops then the filmmakers are to blame, when really no adaptation of Charlie's Angels that you could feasibly have done in 2019 would have performed any better.

I suppose you'd have to say it wasn't really until 2012 that successful MCU releases were taken for granted. Beforehand, I think it was mainly the performances of Downey that elevated the project and carried it towards a breakout moment with the arrival of the first big crossover showpiece. Consequently though, the later Marvel movies feel weightier and more emotional than they otherwise might have because of what's gone before, which in turn helps them to feel like better movies. Even when you watch one of the weaker entries, it's like a filler episode of a TV show you care about, which is a neat trick because the good stuff smooths out the parts that are undeniably a bit rougher. With DC, while I guess it's more a case of peaks and troughs, what worked best (Nolan's trilogy of course being the high point) always felt like the stuff that had little or nothing to do with the extended universe, so it was a pity when they became obsessed with trying to force their own Avengers. Rather than organically building up to it however, they starting giving us things like the inclusion of Wonder Woman when they hadn't spent enough time exploring the values of their established leads, and the resurrection of Superman when he'd only been dead for an hour's worth of screen time. Miring itself in the "New 52" influence, which the layman would probably struggle to recognise as Batman or Superman, didn't do much to help things either.

Warthogs, if you believe Babar. Which I do. What superpower would you not want?

Depends how dark it is. On an average day, how many pigeons do you think you could carry?

It would seem to have the hallmarks of a delete request but we keep track of all of the ones we receive and I'm not seeing Melisa on the list. Bear with me, I'll ask around to see if it's possible to confirm or deny.

Much obliged, Fred. I thought the game itself was a bit like watching the Premier League at half the speed, particularly with Grant Leadbitter moving around the midfield more slowly than the statue of Bob Stokoe outside our ground, but equally the assist from McGeady was worthy of winning anything. They do say though, that winning becomes a habit and I will admit to having more faith in the consistency of this side than in Jack Ross's. Admittedly that's putting a microscope on our last 10-15 games compared to a full season, but the hope is that we might have finally turned a corner.

Pizza Cups are obviously of secondary importance, but it's a lot nicer to win them than lose them and we know from experience that losing can never be a guarantee of getting heads cleared for a promotion push. Commiserations to Tranmere who I thought were perhaps the real winners as an overachieving side from League Two, we seem to have found a knack for not playing particularly well and getting results.

It might be safe here, away from the prying eyes of Viacom CBS.

Honestly, if I were some scheming Disney supervillain (and no one here can prove that I'm not), I might now do an American re-release of Endgame in July to test the public's appetite for going back into cinemas, while counting on MCU diehards to push it back into first place. Then, re-re-release Avatar in September to both advertise the sequel and take over again at the top. They could probably squeeze an extra £150m out of people over the next few years by simply going back and forth.

Thanks to audiences in China going out to see the film in droves this weekend, I'm given to understanding that Avatar has once again taken over as the most successful movie ever. It's like Scientology I suppose, only instead of Scientologists buying "Dianetics" to put it back on the best seller list, it's your aunt going to the cinema to push Avatar back to the top.

Not at all. I saw him play Kei Nishikori at the London ATP tour finals in 2015 (I've never been to Wimbledon which I guess is the ultimate). It wasn't Federer at his absolute peak and the match was one that he might easily have lost but honestly, some of the points were just dazzling to see at close quarters.

I've been lucky enough to witness a few high-level sporting events in person (football, tennis and cycling mostly), but honestly the only time I've been really and truly blown away was watching Federer play. He might well be at the stage where talking about another slam feels a bit fanciful, but I think he'll be competitive. Even if he comes back for a year and resembles his former self, I'll put that down as a big win.

HBO Max, March 8 - "Today’s release of Zack Snyder's Justice League was a mistake. We apologise for the trouble." HBO Max, March 18 - "Today's release of Zack Snyder's Justice League was a mistake. We apologise for the trouble."

It'll be fascinating to see how high a level he can reach, hopefully he'll be competing with Nadal and Djokovic again. The younger guys have struggled to consistently deliver at slam level, maybe just maybe Federer still can.

Death, taxes, #CW9.

No apology necessary. It's not a bother or anything, I just thought it might be best to hedge until we knew for sure.

Yeah, that's definitely a strange one. We were tempted to start selecting replacement thumbnails right away, but the thought occured that we might be able to get the old ones back, perhaps depending on whether it's possible for @maddog107 to work some of his magic.

While obviously, it's considerably less marketable than telling people that it would be magically fixed inside a couple of months, I can't help thinking that they managed to create another rod for their own backs by committing to specific dates for the patches. The best case scenario now is probably that there comes a point where it plays just well enough to be a decent experience. I'm just not certain that I'll be that fussed or have the time when they finally fix it.

Head on over to the Cyberpunk subreddit if you want to read some hilarious conspiracy theories surrounding the patch delay, my favorite being that CDPR purposely faked the recent cyber attack in order to cover for not having it ready in time. I must confess though, I'd feel a bit sorrier for the team if their marketing department hadn't just spent the last couple of years intentionally playing to the lowest common denominator.