Michael*

Honestly, aside from people justifiably pointing to the space casino stuff (which was a bit laborious) or the Super Leia scene (which was just a bit naff), the vast majority of complaints against Last Jedi basically amount to either 'it's not the Star Wars of old' or 'it's not how I would have done it'. I actually think if you compare the arc of Force Awakens and Last Jedi with that of New Hope and Empire, they're very similar. The sequel moves away from what's gone before and ends with the heroes in dire straits, and is also perhaps the least fun to watch in isolation. Indeed, when Empire first came out, a lot of fans weren't sure what to make of it and many hated it. It was too dark, didn't wrap things up, Luke is mutilated and Han is written off. We're literally seeing the same reactions now as the current generation's ROTJ is about to come out.

Indeed, from what I've heard, the movie is essentially a selection of Hellboy's 'greatest hits' interspersed with a lot of gore and schlocky action sequences. It was curious to hear, what with the vast majority of the comics featuring an older, more world weary version of Hellboy, that they went for another 'emotionally immature' take on the character here. That was an idea that seemingly came directly from Del Toro, and I would have thought, since this was supposed to be a new vision, that they would have tried something a little different with it.

I'll happily go on any ride that Taika Waititi wants to take me on.

There's enough ambiguity in the title, when coupled with the persistent rumours of Rey’s heritage being retconned by Abrams, to get me a little worried about how this might go down. The other popular theory of 'Skywalker' becoming a title is certainly something I could get on board with, though. I like the concept of Luke having such an impact that the word comes to mean something to the effect of 'Jedi leader'.

Oof. Some of the bite-sized reviews I've seen up to now read like Del Toro diehards upset that he didn't get to do a third film. Either way, I'll probably still go and see it, but if I said this wasn't a little deflating to the enthusiasm, I'd be lying.

Before I go, I should add that I'm okay with Gabriel Luna getting a shot in a big franchise film, presumably as a reward for banishing all memory of Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider in Agents of Shield.

Ironically, as much as people hold reboots in low regard, this is one instance where a fresh start would almost certainly be more beneficial to the franchise. The various attempts at clinging onto what's gone before has made such a terrible mess of the mythology, and it's only getting sadder. This perhaps has the best chance of doing the originals justice considering who's involved with it, but the fact they’re trying it after Rise, Salvation and Genysis, just comes off as desperation.

It's funny, I haven't thought about Jack Nicholson's version of the character for ages and would never have noticed the similarity on my own, but the Sander Cohen comparison took me back to a rather grim subplot from Batman '92, where the Joker attempts to make his own clown-faced henchwoman using methods very reminiscent of Cohen in Bioshock. I'd imagine that this version will resemble Cohen's character too, in that you don't like him but can’t help the intriguing factor he brings.

It's just not the Terminator franchise without Emilia Clarke.

Yeah, the potential of the 'young Bruce Wayne' angle certainly makes the timeline a bit harder to figure out, but it should be fun to see unfold. Just the tone of it hit me in the best way possible, Phoenix truly does make it feel like something horrific awakening. His physical transformation is remarkable too, he was a hulk of a man in You Were Never Really Here but looks to have gone semi-Machinist for this.

It looks like it could go a step further than Nolan's very grounded take on the material by removing the superhero subtext altogether. There's no Batman, the Joker isn't a 'super' villain and the real bad guys aren't crazy people but apathy, poverty and greed. It's going to be pitched outside the norms of what we've come to expect from the comic book realm, that's for sure. Ultimately, it might not work, but I do like what I've seen so far.

First official teaser trailer is here. If it was ready and waiting to be released into the wild, you'd think it would have dropped on April 1st, but whatevs.

I knew I wanted to see this from the moment I saw Bill Murray.

That's not a bad idea, honestly. I tend to err on the side of reducing the number of inactive threads wherever possible, although, since they were likely created before our most recent forum upgrade, I'm not sure what state the Avengers and Age of Ultron ones are in at this point. I'll take it under advisement for the time being, perhaps with a view to eventually combining them all into a large saga retrospective.

Official trailer.

What with Endgame being a direct continuation of Infinity War and having more or less the same cast, I feel as though it might be a touch redundant to have them as two seperate topics. May as well combine them into one hellfire Avengers one.

Much appreciated Fred. A strange game I thought, and unfortunate for Cattermole of course who otherwise turned in one of his better performances of the season. The first half was the best I've seen Sunderland look for a very long time, but for some reason we came out for the second with a mindset of protecting our lead rather than continuing our domination, and the intensity seemed to drain out of our game. Unless Grigg had an injury, I thought taking him off was an odd one, he'd been effective in pulling Portsmouth's backline around and creating space for McGeady and Morgan to show a bit of craft. Credit to Portsmouth though, they stuck at it despite initially looking outclassed, and if you believe in 'what goes around comes around' then their fans (apart from that bell ringing bloke, obviously) deserve to see their club on the up more than most. We need to recover quickly and secure promotion or this season will feel like a failure, hopefully there's something left in the tank for (unlikely sentence incoming) the big one against Accrington Stanley in midweek.

Somewhat disconcertingly, it's all too easy to envisage the Class of '92 still haunting us until well into the 2040s, or until the expiration date of Moyes' contract at Old Trafford. Whichever comes first.

I managed to pick this up over the weekend and I'm happy to report that the developers have really outdone themselves with the level design and layout. I can't help but admire a game that doesn't do maps or waypoints, but instead allows you to build a mental picture with just a few landmarks dotted around to make it memorable. One slight caveat, if running around is what you like most about the genre, those moments are fewer and further between than usual. I personally think that change of emphasis makes it feel quite refreshing, but it does seem like every other corner has some mini boss to get past and that doesn't leave a lot of time for free exploration.

While I'm here, I guess... General Talk or Detailed Silence?

Bump for my new favourite Bellazon post of all time.

I think going forward, we're going to be seeing an increase in tactical voting, pretty much across the board. People will be more engaged than ever before, but probably motivated more by trying to keep the opposition out of office than supporting someone they actually want. For example, Democrats who in 2016, didn't like the idea of holding their noses and voting Clinton, are unlikely to be as complacent in 2020. More or less everyone who won their respective last elections by positioning themselves as alternatives to a broken system, but have since shown themselves to be establishment insiders to the core, can expect backlash to some degree. It probably won't hit Trump as hard as, say, Macron, but it's another factor.

Looking at the newly-released publicity stills of Arthur, it would definitely appear that they're leaning into the aesthetic laid down by the Killing Joke's flashback sequences. I must confess, I'm quite partial to not knowing what the character's origins are, but with that said, I also don't mind the idea of his story changing repeatedly, making it even harder to know what his true background is.

I remember my 8,454th post. Good times, good times.

Yeah, I would absolutely anticipate Marvel recasting the entire X-Men universe, with the possible exception of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, who I could see perhaps appearing in the occasional dialled-back cameo. With Fox about to embark on a second adaptation of the Dark Phoenix saga ahead of the Disney merger and the plotlines becoming ever more tangled, it feels like the right time to draw a line under the series. That's not to say that I think they'll be in a rush to introduce Wolverine and company to the MCU though, far from it. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if a new Fantastic Four movie were higher on Feige's to-do list than X-Men.