Movie trailers are a marketing tool aimed at making you want to see the movie. Some movie trailers do that using ambiguity to build intrigue (Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Others like Bad Moms just come right out and say what it is. In this case, Bad Moms is a big, raunchy comedy that’s targeting one really specific group: overworked supermoms.
Mila Kunis plays Amy Mitchell who’s attempting to be a supermom but is mostly failing and failing miserably. She seems to be struggling with everything: the kids, the dog, her workout routine and her job. Finally, at an emergency PTA meeting she snaps; tired of all the mom rules she’s supposed to follow and just plain tired. Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn feel the same and since misery loves company they form an all-female wolf pack.
Bad Moms is from the same writers as The Hangover and the trailer feels that way. The Hangover appealed to the male desire for bachelor party debauchery the same way this one is playing to the pent-up frustration of the do-everything mom who wishes she could just let loose. Between the grocery store gorging, the house-party whip-its and the brassiere bashing, letting loose might be an understatement for this trio.
While there’s nothing particularly original in this trailer, there doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t even have to be a good movie. It already has a built-in audience. Take a look at your Facebook feed, how many of your mom friends have already shared the trailer? Marketing 101: know your audience and know how to get its attention. Moms behaving badly are going to do just that.
I can easily see Bad Moms following in the footsteps of Bridesmaids in becoming the big, raunchy comedy hit of the summer and making stars (or at least bigger stars) out of its cast.
Ikoma is interrupted before he can bite Ayame. The camp is ambushed by Kabane and everyone has to make a break for it on the train. Some passengers get the key from Ayame and start taking control of the trains heading, going through a mountain. The train is again ambushed by kabane, one of which wields two swords. Kurusu goes sword to sword and loses. Ayame offers her blood to a tired Ikoma and he finishes the sword Kabane off. Everyone decides to trust the Kabaneri and help them by all giving them blood.
Review
So this episode had a few more glaring problems with its flow that I can only attribute to the scenario that was written for this episode. For me Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is at its best when everyone is immediately acting to whatever is happening. However, this week the formula is slightly different. Now we have our Kabaneri having to plan things out and approach the situation and it sort of felt off for me. Sure it was only brief but it was enough to take me out of the show for a good few minutes. This was the first time watching this show that I’ve started to think about why things were happening the way they were and started seeing how ridiculous things were. Once Mumei and Ikoma started moving towards the fight, I was back in. Partly because of Hiroyuki Sawano’s insert song that kicked things off. Damn I love that guy.
Now I’m not saying that this show is only enjoyable if you don’t pay attention to whats happening. I’m saying Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is a masterful at directing your attention to what it wants you to focus on to give you the best experience. And yeah, there were moments in this episode that felt lacking in that. For one I thought it was super awesome when Ayame shot an arrow out of her steam punk bow..and then ceased to fire another one after. Did you run out of arrows? Did you only bring one or did you drop the rest? I also didn’t understand why Ayame just gave the key away to some random guys to take control of the ship. She was like, “I’d like to see you do better, hmph.” Don’t really think she would give up power so easily especially if she knows she’s right. Maybe I misjudged her character or something.
Dumb things aside there was still plenty of pulse pounding action and movie style framing that makes this show so exciting. The dynamic between Mumie and Ikoma still is strong and we got a good dose of Ikoma getting better through Mumie’s training. Also that shot of Ayame offering her blood was awesome in its composition and build-up. That would have been such an easy shot to screw up and would have seemed cheesy as all hell, but they pulled it off. Which is what Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress consistently does, it pulls it off. It takes the things that should be utterly ridiculous and handles them in a way that makes you want to see more.
I know I’m making it seem like this episode had a lot of that, but it hasn’t really showed up before so I wanted to give my thoughts on it now instead of down the line in such detail. I’ll still bring it up when it happens in the future, but not to this extent. Unless it’s really bad. But I don’t think Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress will have too many slip ups. So far its been pretty on the mark. Even the best marksman don’t hit the bullseye every time. I just hope Kabaneri keeps its grouping close enough for me to enjoy myself all the way through.
One of the more interesting side effects of the Internet age is that it takes almost no time for things to get meta. There doesn’t seem to be a better way to get recognition from geek culture than to point out how insane geek culture can sometimes be. Enter Alan Tudyk (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Firefly, Frozen), Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog), author PJ Haarsma, and $3.2 million dollars funded by fans via Indiegogo. They created the web series Con Man about the post-show life of a man who starred in a cult classic TV show canceled before its times that runs in the convention circuit now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBEUfh09ExA
“Loosely based on Tudyk’s and Fillion’s experiences starring in Firefly, Con Man centers on the post-show life of Wray Nerely (Tudyk), the co-star of “Spectrum,” a sci-fi TV series canceled before its time that later became a cult classic beloved by fans. Wray’s best friend, Jack Moore (Fillion) starred as the series’ Captain and has gone on to become a major celebrity while Wray continues to struggle to find his big break. While Jack enjoys the life of an A-lister, Wray is the begrudging guest of sci-fi conventions, comic book store appearances, and different pop culture events. The series explores these events and all the crazy and real things that happen behind the scenes in the world of fandom.” said the press release provided by Comic Con HQ and Lionsgate.
It sounds like a way to print money, and now it will become the first major piece of call the new streaming service Comic Con HQ home. The streaming service is designed to extend the experience of San Diego Comic Con into a year-long event where you don’t have to sleep outside on concrete for twelve hours to see the content.
“Season one of Con Man will be exclusively available for streaming on Comic-Con HQ when the platform launches this summer. Comic-Con HQ will also produce a second season of the series which will debut on the service later this year.
“Comic-Con HQ is all about capturing the spirit of the fan community, and in its own way, so is Con Man. Alan uniquely understands all sides of the fan experience, and he’s captured it in such a farcical way that it’s as much parody as it is commentary on the power of fandom,” said Seth Laderman, EVP and General Manager, Comic-Con HQ.
“We are thrilled to be a part of the Comic-Con HQ family,” said Tudyk. “For a series that was born out of a passion for the genre and support from the fans, we couldn’t think of a better way to connect with our community.”
This is a walking example of the modern Internet, so we’ll have to see how this all turns out. Season 1 will be available via Comic-Con HQ next month, following the platform’s beta launch on May 7th, Free Comic Book Day. Fans who join Comic-Con HQ during the first two weeks of beta launch will be entered to win an all-expenses-paid trip to San Diego Comic-Con 2016. For more details and to sign up for free beta access, visit Comic-ConHQ.com.
Marvel Studios’ filmmakers are usually experts at keeping things under wraps, but the Russo Brothers may have just accidentally revealed a major spoiler for Avengers: Infinity War Part One.
During an event at the Smithsonian Institute, the Russo’s were speaking about the upcoming Infinity War, when they mentioned Captain Marvel by name. A fan quickly pounced, asking “did you just confirm Captain Marvel”. Russo replied “Um….Captain Barvel. Totally different character.”
The (poor) recovery seemingly infers that the Russos had no intention of making the reveal, and had no planned recourse.
Carol Danver’s solo flick isn’t scheduled until afterAvengers: Infinity War Part One, so it’s been a mystery whether or not she would show up in the film.
Neither Marvel nor the Russo Brothers have issued any sort of statement as of yet.
Fans are reacting to the news using the Twitter hashtag #MarvelAtSI — follow it here.
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Avengers: Infinity War Part One doesn’t hit theaters until 2018, but Captain America: Civil War is in theaters NOW. Read my review of the film here, and get the full Monkeys Fighting Robots perspective here!
‘Captain America: Civil War’ brought in $25 million Thursday night at the box office. Last year ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ made $27.6 million, and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ holds the record at $30.6 million.
In the international market, the Russo Bros. directed film has already grossed $261 million.
2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier did a great job of grounding the admittedly science fiction world that The Avengers took place in. Personally, I found the mix of Bond/Bourne spy thriller elements and sci-fi elements (like Dr. Zola being trapped in a really old computer) refreshing. Let’s face it, there are a lot of spy thrillers where the hero will do something ridiculous than would kill them in real life and it takes you out of the movie. Like Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond using a parachute to surf on an avalanche in Die Another Day. The gadgets are ridiculous in (earlier) Bond films, but at least Q explains the flame thrower shoe or poison dart cufflinks at the beginning of the movie. That is precisely the point. The sci-fi elements in Captain America, the fact that he got super powers in a lab, actually made the movie’s crazier action scenes more believable because you knew what you were watching. The stunts in Fast and Furious movies, on the other hand.
Well, there is more of that kind of spy thriller meets superhero stuff in Captain America: Civil War. It feels like a sequel to Winter Soldier, because it is. Not Avengers 2.5. By watching the trailers, you probably know that this movie centers around a conflict between Iron Man and Captain America. The government wants the Avengers to be under the control of the United States government, after an international incident that Scarlet Witch feels really bad about. Iron Man agrees. The ironically-named Captain America doesn’t think they should answer to America. He thinks they should act independently of any politicians with their own agendas, which nods back to his experiences with Hydra in the last film. This splits the team (again), but the focus of the story is really on Cap and Iron Man and their difference of opinion. The other Avengers are just supporting characters with various sized roles.
Cap wants to protect his old friend Bucky/Winter Soldier from a mysterious villain (Zemo, not yet a “Baron”) who has learned to control him the same way Hydra did in the last film. This technically makes him and the Avengers who side with him fugitives. Iron Man is on the side of the government and (General-turned) Secretary Ross, whose daughter used to date the Hulk. Both Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. are given a lot to do and give great performances. Same with Elizabeth Olsen who also stands out. Her scenes with the Vision, where they show their affection for each other, is one of the more interesting subtle touches in the film.
And any discrepancy in a superhero’s screen time is made up for in the airport fight scene that you saw in the trailer. Any characters with small roles in this movie are given something show-stopping to do to make up for it. And there is a lot in this scene that the trailers didn’t spoil and I liked that about this movie. Lots of surprises that were not spoiled by trailers.
The moment Hawkeye wondered what he was doing here.
This movie also gives the new movie version of Spider-Man and Black Panther a great introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Black Panther is a diplomat turned King of Wakanda who blames Winter Soldier for his father’s death. But he later does what Sinead O’Connor once suggested on Saturday Night Live and fights the real enemy. His fight scenes kick butt and his suit and accent are great.
Peter Parker/Spider-Man is recruited to the team by Tony Stark himself, who flirtatiously tells the uncharacteristically young-looking, sexy new version of Aunt May (Marissa Tomei) that Peter has won a grant from his company. This is the best version of Spider-Man that we have seen on the big screen yet (nostalgia leanings aside). The way he moves, his quips, the character itself. Very well-done.
The Russo Brothers, who also directed Winter Soldier, once again do a wonderful job of grounding sci-fi/superhero elements with drama and emotion. I am looking forward to seeing what they will do with the (about 60?) large number of characters in the next two Avengers films, which they also are directing. My only minor gripes with this movie are some of the scenes that go on too long. There are talky scenes that beat the same points to death and fight scenes that beat the same characters too much, creating minor pacing problems. They are few and far between and easy to overlook in a very entertaining addition to the MCU.
RATING: 8 shields out of 10.
Now, about the sexy Aunt May. Anybody remember the movie Friday, with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker? Remember the mature lady who was watering her lawn in short shorts and all the kids were checking her out? Her name was Miss Parker. Imagine if Ice Cube DOES end up playing J. Jonah Jameson and you see him checking out “Miss Parker” again.
After last night’s ‘Red Sky at Morning’, there are two episodes left in season three of The 100. You could even say just one episode as the final two will be split in half. I could even say that it couldn’t come fast enough.
‘Red Sky at Morning’ felt strange across the board and provided me a feeling I honestly haven’t felt with The 100 before: apathy. It’s been fairly clear that I haven’t been a fan of most of this season. There have been poor plot choices and terrible character beats in spades. Yet, when I think back, I can’t remember an episode in which I didn’t feel strongly about one way or another. ‘Red Sky at Morning’ is exactly this sort of entry. It’s not good but it’s not particularly awful. Yet, it’s still not ‘meh’. As essentially the penultimate, piece-setting story in the season, this episode should’ve knocked us off our feet in preparation for the culminating tale in the total arc. Instead, we’re treated with more expected and unearned pathos for characters we don’t know, big plotty moments that have no real weight other than to move things forward and an ending that clearly sets things back at least three weeks.
My first question in gauging the battle against A.L.I.E. is how many ways can we fight her from the inside? Murphy, Pike and Indra are fighting from her physical place of power, Polis, and are trying to destroy the power source which used to lay within the backpack Murphy almost destroyed a season earlier. That is what they’re doing, right?
Then we have Raven and Monty fighting A.L.I.E. from inside her actual self: her code. Since Raven has first-hand knowledge of the City of Light, she apparently also knows the way A.L.I.E.’s code works and can find the backdoor which will totally shut her down.
And why is The City of Light seemingly a haven for Yuppies in jackets and polos? Yes, your Grounder face-tats go great with that tweed blazer. Now go grab a drink at that Jamba Juice around the corner, you crazy Grounder, you!
Also there’s Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper trying to place The Flame within Luna so that she can attack A.L.I.E. from the same inside space. Except Luna won’t do it.
And for good goddamn reason.
Why in hell should Luna, clearly set in her faulty ways of handling Grounders who refuse to fight any longer, listen to strangers as they try to force her to take responsibility for a world which she has no connection? Clarke and co. don’t even have the smarts to try to appeal to her psyche, they just try to shove it down her throat without using their brains first. I like the idea of placing Clarke and Bellamy in a situation where they need to make a decision that is very difficult but they haven’t had to exhaust all their options yet.
When we find out that A.L.I.E. has infiltrated Luna’s station, we’re given more bits of action that require us to actually care about the characters we don’t know in the slightest as they’re threatened with death. I honestly don’t care what happens to Derrick and Luna, but I’d love to. When Jasper arbitrarily finds his love replacement in Shay, only to have her taken away almost immediately, I don’t feel a single thing for either of them (my biggest takeaway here is that Def Poetry has seemingly survived the end of the world. In that case, we’re all screwed.).
Back in Arkadia, Monty is seduced and propositioned by Harper who, for the first time, actually has a human moment in the show. She has apparently been enamored with Monty for a while and the two finally consummate the feeling. This is actual human behavior and a welcome relief to the robotics the season has purposefully portrayed. The big problem is this moment happens very early in the episode, with Harper disappearing immediately after the fact proving again that this character is here solely to move others along. If I were a betting man, she’ll meet a Sinclair-esque ending sooner rather than later.
So Luna ends up proving her physical strength and destroys anyone on her station having to do with A.L.I.E. only to send Clarke and co. back to the mainland with no real clue where to go next. As an audience, we totally get that they’ve learned something in their trip to Luna’s oil rigger. But have they? Essentially, we’re only left with the same question with which these characters entered: “Will Luna care?” Apparently she doesn’t.
I think it’s safe to assume she will very, very soon and it will likely be very, very plotty. I really like this show and its promise but even with casting complications out of the way, it can’t pull together an interesting penultimate story to get us through the season finale. I continue to look toward the future with hope and utmost trepidation.
“Now what?” – Bellamy
Check out my reviews of previous episodes of ‘The 100’ here:
Well, sort of… In UnPOP’s first field trip, the guys visit the L.A. Zoo and record their review of Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book. Hear this week’s edition of ‘What’s Cookin’ in The Rock’s Kitchen in the midst of real silverback gorillas! Learn the inter-zoo trade value of Komodo Dragon babies! Find out who falls into the snake pit! They also weigh in on the DCEU and the state of The Flash and Justice League.
Have a topic you’d like to hear UnPOPPED? Send any comments/love/vitriol to unpopentertainment@gmail.com
It looks like Lucasfilm has found their Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich will play Han Solo in Disney’s stand-alone Star Wars movie; the two parties are still working out the contract according to Deadline.
The 26-year-old actor’s most notable roles were in ‘Beautiful Creatures,’ ‘Blue Jasmine’ and ‘Hail, Cesar!’
The untitled Star Wars film is directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, written by Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan, and will be released May 25, 2018.
Well, never have I been so wrong in a prediction! Last night’s episode of Agents of SHIELD, “Failed Experiments,” barely touched on tomorrow’s release of Captain America: Civil War at all. In fact, the only nods to the new movie were a couple of throwaway lines, one from Hive about the Super Soldier and the billionaire not getting along and a line of Mac’s in which he described the unfolding events of the episode as a “civil war.” Aside from that, nothing! And, the episode itself was crappy too, especially considering that “Failed Experiments” was the second last episode before the big two-part season finale on May 17th. I sincerely hope that next week’s episode, “Emancipation,” will help pick up the pieces after the release of Captain America: Civil War but maybe not. Let’s have a brief recap …
“Failed Experiments” – The Recap
The episode begins with a flashback: an unknown man wearing a loincloth is being hunted by two blue dudes (these are the Kree we’ve been hearing so much about). The young man is cornered by the Kree and, as Brett Dalton‘s monotonous voice-over explains, we realize that this young man is Hive‘s original self, the first Inhuman. We see the original Hive personality injected with what appears to be Kree blood and the now-familiar process of terrigenesis occurs. Back in the present, Hive tells Daisy that his plan for the town Hive bought with Malick‘s money: recreate the original Kree experiments that birthed the Inhumans.
Meanwhile, the good guys are working on a cure to Hive’s brainwashing parasitic infection. Simmons believes that she may have an anti-toxin but needs an Inhuman test subject to try it out on. Lincoln volunteers but is shot down by Simmons. Eventually, though, he injects himself with the drug (right, he’s a doctor!) and nearly destroys what’s left of SHIELD HQ when his powers overload before he passes out.
In a mildly disorienting bit of time-lapse photography, Coulson sits very still for a very long time watching a monitor. We figure out eventually that Coulson is viewing satellite images trying to get a fix on where Daisy and Hive are. Daisy’s familiar image comes up and the team is able to locate Hive’s town. Mac and Coulson discuss what should be done. Mac thinks they should focus on rescuing Daisy but Coulson orders Mac to view this mission as a targeted kill: the only priority is killing Hive.
“No, I’m not Atlantean! Why do people keep asking me that?!”
Speaking of Hive, after a failed experiment at turning the remaining heads of HYDRA into Inhumans using his own DNA, Hive activates the Kree devices he amassed over the past few episodes. The activation of these devices recalls the Kree Reapers who have been napping in orbit for the past few hundred years. Hive hopes to lure them to his town to use their blood in further experiments. Their prolonged rest must have limited the Kree Reapers’ ass kicking abilities because both Daisy and Hive are able to, respectively, incapacitate and kill their would-be executioners. Unfortunately, both remaining Whitleys are killed in the process.
May is able to trick the loud-mouthed James into revealing the bulk of Hive’s plans to her (this guy is really stupid) and they learn of Hive’s plans to recreate the experiments to turn humans into Inhumans (Didn’t they figure that was the plan all along?). Back at SHIELD HQ, Simmons informs Lincoln that his immune system was compromised for naught: the anti-toxin had no effect.
Anyway, Radcliffe and Daisy start harvesting blood from the Kree Reaper she incapacitated but are interrupted by a crusading Mac, positive he can unbrainwash Daisy. But, it turns out he can’t. Mac uses a grenade to incinerate the Kree Reaper when he realizes Daisy can’t be reasoned with. That makes Daisy angry and she lashes out at her Mac, coming even closer to killing a former teammate than she did when she attacked Fitz.
Mac’s chest nearly collapsed, an evacuation pod is called after May shoots Daisy to stop her from killing him and the injured team beats a hasty retreat, but for some reason no one grabs Daisy even though she’s weak as a kitten after being shot by May. Back aboard Zephyr One, the team make renewed vows to not trust Daisy any more.
The final scene in “Failed Experiments” showed viewers one of the strangest endings to an episode of Agents of SHIELD yet. Daisy, suggesting to Hive that they use her blood for the experiment because she was previously injected with GH.325, sticks out her arms and says, “Drain me.” And then that was it, roll credits.
“Failed Experiments” – My Critique
What a waste of time! As a lead-in to Captain America: Civil War, it was a non-starter providing absolutely no hint that a game changing movie was about to be released concerning future relations between super-powered and unpowered individuals. As an episode, “Failed Experiments” was a failed experiment that didn’t move the show’s plot forward in any meaningful way, didn’t introduce new characters, and didn’t meaningfully flesh out existing ones.
For all intents and purposes, “Failed Experiments” was a place holder in between “The Singularity” and the season finale. It was good to see the Kree but they may as well have stayed home for all their effort. Why introduce the Kree artifacts and Reapers if they’re going to be soundly dealt with by two Inhumans in a single episode? And, if Daisy had the blood all along, why didn’t she pipe up and suggest that they drain her earlier rather than calling down the bloodthirsty Reapers?
Going back to the, “Drain me,” line. What is with the dialogue in this show? “Failed Experiments” was one of the worst offenders so far of using what I call “Jedwhedonisms.” These are bits of dialogue that deny the established personality of a character and foist Jed Whedon’s brand of Millennial sass into the mouths of the actors. On top of the less than stellar writing, which I’m used to at this point in the series, the quality of acting has deteriorated noticeably now that Brett Dalton, as the main villain, has been asked to carry the majority of each episode. Dalton is boring to watch. His emotional range seems to be limited to being creepy or vaguely British. I’m saying it right now, if Dalton returns for Season Four then I won’t.
