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About the Monkeys Fighting Robots Podcast:
A Gen Xer and a Millennial debate the latest topics in pop culture. One guy is a filmmaker and the other is a journalist, but both are nerds. We make your slowest days at work better. Hosts, Matthew Sardo and EJ Moreno.
Never heard of Matt Sardo? For starters, he made the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs. Prior to that, he gave Doc Brown the idea for the flux capacitor and led the Resistance to victory over SkyNet – all while sipping a finely crafted IPA. As a radio host, he’s interviewed celebrities, athletes and everyone in between. He’s covered everything from the Super Bowl to Comic-Con.
Who is EJ Moreno? Is he a trained physician? No. Is he a former Miss Universe contestant? Possibly. But what we know for sure is he’s a writer, filmmaker, and pop culture enthusiast. Since film school, EJ has written & directed several short films. He’s used his passion of filmmaking to become a movie critic for MonkeysFightingRobots.com.
Aye-yi-yi! Bill Hader has officially joined 2017’s Power Rangers reboot as the voice of robot Alpha 5. The SNL alum is just the latest addition to a cast list that already boasts Bryan Cranston as Zordon and Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa.
Hader is no stranger to voice acting. He’s most recently had major roles in Inside Out, Sausage Party, and The Angry Birds Movie. He also famously acted alongside Ben Schwartz as a voice consultant for BB-8 in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Alpha 5 is a key player in the lives of the Mighty Morphin teenangers. The robot serves as both a friend and an assistant to the Rangers, and acts alongside Zordon to guide them in their quest against Rita Repulsa.
SABAN’S POWER RANGERS follows five ordinary high school kids who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove – and the world – is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, our heroes quickly discover that they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so they will have to overcome their real-life issues and band together as the Power Rangers before it is too late.
The film is scheduled for release on March 24, 2017.
The Exorcist pilot is deftly and lays some compelling groundwork for the first season. For the team behind this series to pull this off in the manner that they did, speaks to how much time and effort that went into launching this series. This show is already going to have it’s collection of hardcore horror fans who will be comparing the series to the 1973 film but engaging in this type of activity would be foolish, to say the least. The Exorcist is a smart slow-burning narrative whose interest isn’t in providing the audience an immediate payoff but reeling viewers in for the duration.
Geena Davis plays Angela Rance, a mother concerned that her house is possessed and believes that one of her daughters, Kat (Brianne Howley), might be as well. Rance is met with skepticism from her priest Thomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrea) because at this point he’s never seen one. After the meeting with Rance, he starts having dreams of another priest (played by Ben Daniels) and an exorcism in Mexico City, Mexico. Father Ortega starts investigating the priest and how he can help with what’s occurring in the Rance house.
While basing the foundation for the show on the original film is a smart move, one can’t help but wonder if it was the right movie. Show’s like Damien (on A&E) and Rosemary’s Baby (NBC) floundered in the ratings but this show could very well be the exception. Genna Davis brings a certain “star” power to the series to boost ratings, and she is tremendous in the pilot.
For the horror fans who are skeptical that Fox isn’t going to allow The Exorcist television series to reach its full potential, I can tell you right now that there are two scenes in the pilot that will cause your jaw to drop. One of them involves a crow and a church window that will be a source of controversy. The other scene takes place during the exorcism in Mexico City where we see a possessed eight-year boy contort in such a way that will leave you speechless.
The person to watch in this show is Brianne Howley. She was crafty with the possession; Howey gave little hints or clues as to her mental well being. At dinner, instead of showing compassion towards her father (played by Alan Ruck) who is ill, out of nowhere, she slightly (and I do mean slightly) changes her tone and openly mocks him in front her family. This approach continues throughout the pilot until the last three minutes. You know what’s about to occur yet are still frightened by what happens.
The Exorcist pilot is a good example of how to launch a series. Let’s just hope it finds it’s target audience.
Most people who watch anime, or follow any genre, know of that one underrated story that few know about. There are always the popular anime that everyone watches along with the ones that don’t get a lot of attention. One of the most underrated is the 2008 adventure/drama Allison & Lillia. It is a truly unique series, formatted for a broad audience, and it still hits the mark for an enjoyable series. Allison & Lillia deserves more attention, especially compared to some other more popular anime.
The basic plot follows young soldier Allison Whittington and her love interest Wilhelm Shultz in their adventures through war zones and political intrigue, in an incredibly memorable story. There are three main reasons that people should check out this underrated series.
One: Unique Setting
Allison & Lillia’s setting is an unnamed alternate universe, which is technologically and culturally modeled on Europe in the 1920s and early 1930s, the aftermath of World War 1. The story emphasis that the world is war torn and war weary. The setting is a rare world-type in fiction, this period is usually used more for a diesel-punk setting. It offers variety from more typical futuristic or fantasy settings, while still being different enough from the modern world to be interesting and new.
Two: Easy to Follow And Exciting Story With Optimistic Attitude
Allison & Lillia is broken into roughly six four-episode story arcs. Each story arc is a mostly self-contained adventure-thriller that deals with societal issues, such as national identity and war profiteering. Overlaid on the entire series is an optimistic, feel-good mood that manages not to come off as cheesy or forced. The four-episode format moves the story along quickly without sacrificing plot detail or action.
Three: A Focus on Aerial Combat
One of the main protagonists, the titular Allison, is a fighter pilot. Many of the early fight scenes are dogfights. An aerial combat based story is also a rarity on TV. The fact that the series uses bi-plane combat makes for an entirely unique viewer experience.
What anime do you feel are underrated? Comment below.
Margot Robbie, star of Suicide Squad and The Wolf of Wall Street, is set to host the season 42 premiere of Saturday Night Live.
SNL season 42 is going to include some changes that fans might want to know about. First off, Jon Rudnitsky, who was a season 41 freshman, will not be returning; Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah will also not be back.
The newcomers to the season include Melissa Villasenor and Alex Moffat, while writer Mikey Day is set to become a full-on cast member.
Season 42 of Saturday Night Live begins October 1, 11:30 on NBC.
Five years ago Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting‘s eight-part mini-series The Marvels Project: Birth Of The Super Heroes hit the shelves. It’s currently available in both hardcover and trade paperback format. And, if you want a well-told overview of the Golden Age of Marvel comics then look no further. This retcon gets The Timely Comics Watchamacallit‘s seal of approval.
Although the cover image for both the paperback and hardcover formats of this mini-series features a dynamic drawing of Captain America and Bucky, The Marvels Project is more concerned with creating a backdrop in front of which our favourite heroes save the day than it is with the star-spangled duo themselves. Of course, since Dr. Erskine’s super-soldier serum and its one-and-only recipient are both integral components of Timely Comics lore, we do see Steve Rogers’s sickly frame transform into the peak-human physique of Captain America. But, rather than taking over the whole story, Cap’s origin is one of many events featured in this genre-redefining tale.
The Marvels Project – Comparable Series
Brubaker and Epting’s The Marvels Project: Birth Of The Super Heroes has more in common with Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross‘s Marvels mini-series than just its name. Both retcon mini-series’ tell stories about the early days of superheroes, and both tell these stories from unique perspectives.
“I’d have called ’em ‘Timelies!'”
Phil Sheldon, news photographer, narrates the events of Marvels. Sheldon’s viewpoint represents that of an average guy going through the tumultuous origins of super-heroism.
The domino-masked Dr. Thomas Halloway AKA The Angel narrates The Marvels Project. And, though The Angel is a costumed hero, his viewpoint in The Marvels Project is that of a participant who’s witness to stunning scenes of superhuman strength by individuals more formidable than himself, i.e. Captain America, Namor, and the original Human Torch.
The Marvels Project – Super-Cameos
I won’t say any more about which superheroes appear in The Marvels Project. But, I will say that this mini-series represents a veritable Timely Comics who’s who. Brubaker and Epting make use of nearly every Timely Comics character available. And, although some heroes get shorter shrift than others, the variety of flamboyant costumes on display will amaze you.
The Marvels Project – But What’s It All About?!
“Darn, I just crushed the Rock of Gibraltar with my giant-size foot!”
I’m wary of filling this article with spoilers. Like the last mini-series I reviewed, The Marvels Project is less than ten years old. So, I worry that interested parties may not yet have read it. I will say that this mini-series is basically a retcon of Human Torch Comics #5b (read about Human Torch Comics #5b here). Beyond being a straight retcon of a single issue, though, The Marvels Project acts as a tie that binds original Timely Comics material to Roy Thomas‘s retcon run on Invaders (1975 – 1979). More on that series later …
This mini-series gets huge points for setting these brightly costumed heroes in a grisly and startlingly real world. Brubaker and Epting’s stark setting gives readers an idea of what being lucky enough to survive the ’40s may have been like.
Timely did deal with real-world problems, like fifth columnists and USA’s imminent involvement in WWII. But, the Timely treatment was decidedly more juvenile than Brubaker & Epting’s. True Believers will remember, in one Timely comic all it took to make Hitler weep publicly was a loud voice.
That’s all for now, mighty Marvelites, but I’m going to keep ’em flying by reviewing another rollicking retcon! Since I’ve mentioned Roy Thomas’s Invaders so many times already, I’m going to review that series’ first storyline next: “The Coming of the Invaders!” ‘Nuff said.
The Second Episode of ‘AHS: Roanoke’ Explains The Backstory But Still Poses More Questions
Another episode into ‘American Horror Story: Roanoke‘ and things are getting even wilder. How could the creators top raining teeth in the first episode? Well, I guess spit-roasting a man with a pig head on is a good start.
I breakdown the latest episode of ‘AHS: Roanoke‘.
Here is the 4 Ups and 2 Downs from “Chapter Two”.
Ups:
1. The Suspense Is Killing Me
-We are building and building to something major. You can feel the tension rise through the episode and leading up to the upcoming episodes. Now with a missing child and more aggressive hauntings, I can’t wait to see where this goes.
2. Amazing Exposition –Denis O’Hare’s character delivered a bit of a backstory for the house Shelby and Matt are living in. We find out his character used to live in the house and was driven mad. He also disclosed information about the twisted previous tenants.
3.The Documentary Style
-While the narration distracts from the tension at times, this new format Season 6 of ‘American Horror Story: Roanoke‘ has taken is so amazing. Paranormal reenactment shows are popular; glad to see the creators capitalize on it.
4. Lady Gaga & Kathy Bates
-Only appearing briefly but making a big impression, these two ladies stole the episode for me. After many complained Gaga played a version of herself last season in ‘AHS: Hotel‘, I loved seeing her new feral character.
“I am the queen of every hive, I am the fire on every hill, I am the shield over every head. Who am I but both the tree and the lightning that strikes it?”
Downs:
1. Not Enough Scares
-The premiere was a nail-bitter the entire time. “Chapter 2” decided to slow down with the scares and start the slow-burn. A few jump scares were there and first time we see the colony burn someone alive was creepy but there wasn’t much else.
2. Why Are Good People In Horror So Dumb?
-A major problem with the paranormal sub-genre of horror is relying on these characters being complete morons. I’m sorry but if I see two ghostly nurses murder someone in my dining room, I’m leaving ASAP.
Do you agree with my breakdown of “Chapter 2” in ‘American Horror Story: Roanoke‘?
Title: The Magnificent Seven Director: Antoine Fuqua Summary: Seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.
The Hollywood model of the re-make is one that seems like it is based on the idea that a known property is guaranteed to make money back. This model only seems to work about a third of the time as most of the remakes just redo the movie with modern techniques and don’t do anything new or interesting with them. It’s remakes that take an old movie and do something new with them that succeed. The intent behind this remake of a western classic is to take the old model, polish it, add what audiences like about modern movies and see if it works. It’s not a risk but it is better than just re-making the original shot for shot.
The Magnificent Seven takes a classic and modernizes it with a much more diverse and interesting cast with what we expect from action movies but can’t overcome the inherent flaws of its own genre.
PHOTO BY: Sam Emerson
The cast of The Magnificent Seven is probably the thing that I found the most interesting about this film. While the filmmakers have said that they did not cast with the intention of covering a large spectrum of nationalities it appears it may have been more intentional than they want us to believe. The movie doesn’t go out of its way to comment too much on the various races of the characters but it is nice to see a cast that looks like the real world. In reality there were various races of people in the old west and nods to characters like Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) and Billy (Byung-hun Lee) using the white man’s ignorance to their advantage isn’t commented on, aside from the occasional one line joke. The jokes, however, don’t feel mean spirited in a way that they easily could have.
While Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt could have played these two roles in their sleep, they are also the two that are given the most screentime. It’s not that either of them are bad or good it’s just not that interesting to see Washington being a stoic badass or Pratt crack jokes as a drunk Irish cowboy. It’s the supporting cast that proves to be the most interesting but their backstories aren’t really fully fleshed out. There are some interesting implications that could have been explored, such as the fact that Vincent D’Onofrio’s character hunting Native America’s at some point and having Martin Sensmeier’s character joining them but it’s never really commented on.
The action scenes are fun to watch but they are sparse and spread thin throughout the entire production. There is a large scale gunfight at the end that is fun to watch but the movie takes a long time to get there. It’s running time of two hours and twelve minutes isn’t as long as some westerns but the long lulls in action are common to the genre. While those familiar with the western will likely not find this a flaw, a more modern blockbuster audience might find the waits a little too long.
The Magnificent Seven has some great performances but it still feels as if it was lacking a few things that could have made it great. Perhaps if it played with the genre a bit more it could have been a classic, but instead it is a western modernized for the current blockbuster market. It will probably do well but it’s not going to be the instant classic that it clearly wants to be.
Title: Storks Director: Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland Summary: Storks have moved on from delivering babies to packages. But when an order for a baby appears, the best delivery stork must scramble to fix the error by delivering the baby.
There are two types of movies that are created for a younger audience; a kids movie that is looking to appeal to just the kids and a movie is looking to appeal to the entire family. A kids movie is going to keep a kid occupied for ninety minutes while the parents in the audience take a break. A family movie is going to be enjoyed by everyone. It doesn’t appear that Storks ever had the aspirations to be anything other than a kids movie but perhaps it could at least be a competently made one.
Storks is a mediocre kids movie in all the worst ways that no one is going to remember in a month.
The best kids movies accept that kids are not dumb but are simply smaller adults with their own unique way of looking at the world. However, a lot of adults don’t understand that and seem to think that enough slapstick humor and rollercoaster rides are going to be enough to keep a kid engaged. In this case Storks is very much one of those movies. A lot of the jokes rely on slapstick that just isn’t that funny to someone who isn’t five years old but even they can start to feel a little stale. There are a few good ones, the best involving a wolfpack that takes ‘working as a pack’ to a new level, but they are few and far between. It doesn’t assume that the kids in the audience are stupid but it doesn’t think them worthy of anything really interesting at all.
The moments where Storks tries to transcend being a bright ride are the moments where it stumbles the most. There is a family we very briefly follow where a young boy is neglected by his overworked parents. There are a lot of things here that kids could really relate to but the movie doesn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on it. It’s much more interested in the various cappers that our stork hero Junior (Andy Samberg) and our token human Tulip (Katie Crown) get into. Tulip’s story isn’t even that explored and the implications of her are weird when you think about them too much.
This isn’t a movie that wants its audience to think about the world too much because the plot holes become big enough to fly a stork through. A kid won’t notice but the adults, when and if they decide to pay attention, will be left scratching their heads as they wonder about this world where babies are both delivered and born naturally. The ‘villain’ of the movie has weird motivations that don’t really make sense at the end. This isn’t a movie for the adults in the audience, though, and Storks shoots enough bright colors that the kids are mostly going to keep engaged. It just isn’t anything they are going to remember or care about in the end.
Storks is a mid-tier animated comedy in a year that has too many better alternatives to do well. There are better ways to entertain your kids than to spend the money on this one when a copy of Finding Dory on DVD is much cheaper. The good parts just aren’t good enough to justify the price of tickets and snacks for a family night out.
Paramount Pictures released five teasers for the live-action version of ‘Ghost in the Shell’ during the season finale of ‘Mr. Robot.’ Since they are glitchy and look like the Dark Army, one could have thought they were part of ‘Mr. Robot’ until Scarlett Johansson shows up.
‘Ghost in the Shell’ is going to have an uphill climb to win over fans as the film has received heavy criticism because of casting and has become a symbol of Hollywood ‘whitewashing.’
The original manga from 1989 was written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. It told the story of the counter-cyberterrorist organization Public Security Section 9, led by protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi, in the mid 21st century of Japan. The first anime appeared in 1995.
The plot for the live-action film is vague; A cyborg policewoman attempts to bring down a nefarious computer hacker.
The film is directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) and stars Johansson, Pilou Asbaek, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, and Michael Pitt. ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is set for release on March 31, 2017.
