Manifold may be the new powered addition to Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD
A Recap of “The Inside Man”
This week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD, “The Inside Man,” introduced a couple of new elements to the show as it nears the end of its third season. One of these was the show’s re-introduction of a character who originally appeared in Marvel Comics, Carl Creel the Absorbing Man. Shrewd viewers may have also noticed the brief appearance of the name of another character who originally appeared in the comics, Eden Fesi also known as Manifold. And, we saw Zombie-Ward regain his full bodily strength by somehow absorbing the life force of five random folks. Interesting plot developments, let’s review how we got there.
Under the guise of an international meeting of minds over the Inhuman issue, Coulson and Talbot along with Agents May, Morse, and Hunter gather information on the delegates in order to determine if any of them are the “inside man” working with Gideon Malick, and by extension Hydra. Determining the double-crosser is especially important to Director Coulson who wants Malick to face charges for the assassination of Rosalind Price.
Unfortunately for Coulson, the inside man turns out to be General Talbot who sells Coulson out to protect his Inhuman son, trapped in a stasis pod that could have its life support system cut at any moment should Malick give the word.
While all this is going on, Simmons, Fitz, Daisy, and Lincoln determine that Creel’s blood can be used as a vaccine against terrigenesis, the process by which people become Inhumans. Anyone with even a passing interest in the X-Men is familiar with this kind of plot line: if there’s a cure, it’s going to be controversial. And it is! Lincoln and Daisy, who almost got coital in the workout room earlier in the episode, get in an overblown philosophical debate over the implications of a cure.
Back at the conference, Talbot’s double-cross isn’t going to plan. Malick has taken Coulson and Talbot captive and refuses to release Talbot’s son. Luckily for Talbot, May, Hunter, and Morse are able to rescue Talbot’s son. Malick escapes but as we find out later, Morse and Hunter are tailing him on a private jet to Russia. He shares the jet with Ivan Petrov, who previously in the episode suggested that an Inhuman sanctuary be built in Russia.
My Critique of “The Inside Man”
Namor and the original Human Torch were in the 1st-ever powered altercation between heroes
As far as Agents of SHIELD goes, this wasn’t a bad episode. I still can’t wrap my brain around why the show is taking so long to get going with its new incarnation of Grant Ward but at least the relatively boring period of his regaining strength is coming to an end. Although Malick is a good behind-the-scenes baddie, at the end of the day he’s an unpowered older dude. So, although Powers Boothe has great presence onscreen, there’s only so far his jowly bluster can go before one inevitably starts to wonder why Daisy doesn’t just vibrate him to death. Hopefully Zombie-Ward will fill the void and provide the audience with a powered villain now that Agents of SHIELD has started its superhuman arms race, both Hydra and SHIELD amassing Inhuman armies to fight for their interests. I’m hoping that having a few more powered characters around on the show will increase the likelihood of there being of powered altercations. And, although powered altercations increase the effects budget of a show, they also help to make a show like this more fun to watch.
John Cusack has, over his 30 plus year career, defined the lovable Rom-Com Good Guy. His soft features and just slightly geeky idiosyncrasies have made him the big screen spokesman for the “cool nerds” who find themselves pining after the girl and fighting their way out of the friend zone. But let’s not pigeonhole John Cusack, who has stepped away from his lovable pre-hipster persona over the years to tackle genre films, straight dark comedies, dramas, and one seriously captivating Charlie Kaufman film.
Whether he’s blasting Peter Gabriel, searching for the killer, skiing for the girl, or being dumped in a ditch on the New Jersey Turnpike, John Cusack has remained forever watchable, endlessly charming even in his more sinister turns. Here are his 15 greatest performances:
10. The Ice Harvest – One of a handful of John Cusack’s incredibly overlooked roles is this Harold Ramis whiz bang caper comedy. Cusack plays Charlie Arglist, a scummy lawyer who, with the help of his even scummier partner Vic (Billy Bob Thornton), have embezzled $2 million and are looking to skip town. Charlie wants his strip club owner girlfriend to take off with him, but an ice storm derails these best laid plans. The Ice Harvest is a somewhat standard, but charming, comedy of errors evolving into a high-energy escape film with a dozen plates in the air. And Cusack shows off one of his greatest strengths as an actor: his bottled-up frustration with the chaos surrounding him.
9. Identity – Cusack left all his Rom-com charm behind for Identity, a straightforward genre thriller with a narrative structure that is anything but straightforward. Don’t bother digging into the logic of the film, just enjoy the ride. Cusack is one member of an all-star cast of undercard stars, from Ray Liotta, to Amanda Peet, to Jake Busey, John Hawkes, John C. McGinley, Rebecca De Mornay, and Alfred Molina. A collection of travelers are stranded at a seedy motel in the middle of a serious storm, and before long they are picked off one-by-one. Something sinister is at play here, and again Cusack is playing the steady center of whirling madness.
8. Con Air – How can you leave a movie off John Cusack’s list where the guy had the balls to roll into a Jerry Bruckheimer film wearing sandals with socks? Sure, Con Air is Nicolas Cage’s movie, and John Malkovich’s movie, and on and on as we check off the impressive list of convicts aboard this doomed aircraft. But Cusack’s Vince Larkin is the Cusack persona from those 80s teen movies all grown up and given an honest gig. And without his snarky insight on the ground, nobody would have gotten anything done to help Cameron Poe land these prisoners. And he’s wearing sandals with socks!
7. Say Anything… – Cameron Crowe’s directorial debut is half a great film, half an okay film that gets lost in the weeds of a less interesting subplot. Cusack is Lloyd Dobler, and this is the role that cemented his status as the lovable “Other Guy.” Dobler is not the Most Popular, he isn’t The Most Likely to Succeed, he’s simply the guy everyone thinks is “kinda cool.” He has his beliefs, he marches to the beat of his own drum, and his uniqueness eventually makes its mark on Diane. His romance with Ione Skye’s Diane is honest, true, but eventually overloaded with saccharine charm in the film’s most iconic Peter-Gabriel’d boombox moment. If only Crowe hadn’t become so preoccupied with Diane’s father and his legal troubles…
6. The Grifters – Another criminally overlooked Cusack gem has him playing two sides of a con game, one involving his estranged mother (Angelica Huston), and the other his girlfriend, Myra (Annette Bening). Once again it is Cusack in the middle of a whirlwind, able to charm his way in and out of situations. Stephen Frears’ film is put together as efficiently as a Swiss Watch, and Cusack’s rapid-fire dialogue delivery is on full display. And, somehow, Cusack was left out of the Oscar nominations that year when both his female costars nabbed nominations.
5. Love & Mercy – Here was another time when John Cusack flirted on the edges of an Oscar nomination. Love & Mercy, the story of troubled Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson, was arguably more Paul Dano’s film than Cusack’s, and Dano was given the meatier portion of Wilson’s extended nervous breakdown. Cusack plays the singer in the 80s, already broken and under constant supervision of an unsavory Doctor. It is a heartbreaking dual turn from Dano and Cusack, and Cusack’s version of Wilson shows him falling in love in his darkest days.
4. Better Off Dead – Here is where John Cusack became John Cusack. He is Lane Myer, who is dumped early on because his girlfriend thinks it would be in her best interest to date someone more popular, maybe better looking. Maybe someone who drives a better car. Somebody like the captain of the ski team. It’s the defining plight of the “Cusackian” character, being tossed aside for the jock. This drives Lane into thinking up creative ways to off himself. Better Off Dead spins out of control in gleefully 80s ways, from a mom with terrible cooking, to a wacky neighbor, to an annoying paperboy, to an eventual ski race where Lane sees a chance to win his woman back.
3. High Fidelity – The Cusack Brand is given an introspective makeover in High Fidelity, as Cusack’s Rob Gordon, a record store owner, speaks directly to the audience about his past loves and the nutcase who run his record store. Rob Gordon was a hipster before hipsters were a thing, pining over lost loves and holding them up agains the music that was prevalent in his life at the time. This is one of the most balanced films in Cusack’s career, funny and poignant and full of energy.
2. Being John Malkovich – Craig Schwartz is an out of work puppeteer with a homely wife (Cameron Diaz) – who has a pet monkey. Sure, that might be odd, but consider the rest of the story: Craig gets a job with a man who’s apparently well over 100-years old at an office that’s a half floor in a building. A half floor. At this job he pines over a sexy coworker (Catherine Keener) and finds a portal that takes you into the mind and POV of John Malkovich. Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay, directed by Spike Jonze, is one of the most unusually inventive movies ever made, and Cusack plays Craig as a scumbag we still can’t help but root for in the end.
1. Grosse Point Blank – George Armitage’s comedy thriller hybrid stars Cusack as an assassin who must travel to his hometown to wipe out a target. It just so happens that it’s his 10-year reunion. Cusack is pitch perfect as Martin Blank, and this is his best teaming with Jeremy Piven back when Piven was an ace sidekick before he turned into Ari Gold. And Minnie Driver as the love interest is another spot on casting choice. Grosse Point Blank subverts the 80s high school comedies that made Cusack so popular by having him infiltrate this homogenized universe as a cold-blooded killer. And Cusack plays a killer like you would expect: “Hi. I’m, uh, I’m a pet psychiatrist. I sell couch insurance. Mm-hmm, and I – and I test-market positive thinking. I lead a weekend men’s group, we specialize in ritual killings. Yeah, you look great! God, yeah! Hi, how are you? Hi, how are you? Hi, I’m Martin Blank, you remember me? I’m not married, I don’t have any kids, but I’d blow your head off if someone paid me enough.”
Iron Man kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, and changed the world of superhero movies forever. The film’s success was due largely in part to Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark, a performance which has been universally praised. Many fans consider RDJ to be the real life Tony Stark, because he’s managed to capture the character so perfectly.
Marvel Studios has previously stated that they do not want to do reboots, but rather plan to replace their actors and seamlessly move forward, à la James Bond. Now, no one can do Downey’s Iron Man as good as Downey, but surely someone can put their own special twist on the role. So if Tony must be recast, probably in about 5 or 6 years, who can fill his fine Italian shoes?
Here are the Top 5 options, in no particular order…
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal’s career is on an upswing right now. His performance in Nightcrawler was award worthy, and it proved that this man has a tremendous ability to act. After playing a sociopath like Louis Bloom, an egomaniac like Tony Stark should be a walk in the park. Plus, he’s got that dark, rugged look, the one that a troubled hero needs.
Iron Man is a leader first and foremost, and Gyllenhaal looks like someone that can inspire people when the chips are down.
Colin Farrell
Take away the earrings from the photo above, and Colin Farrell is a dead ringer for Tony Stark. But being Tony is about more than just the looks. Farrell exudes the confident, bad boy vibe that the billionaire playboy needs. And like Gyllenhaal, he looks like someone who can rally the troops when needed.
He looks like he could charm the pants off a nun, but also looks dangerous enough to make you somewhat wary upon meeting him. If that doesn’t say “Stark,” I don’t know what does.
Matt Bomer
Bomer is probably the least recognizable actor on this list, but maybe that’s what the character needs. Downey used to be a big name, but he had faded into obscurity by the time Iron Man was announced. That’s what made his success so impactful. Bomer could deliver that same impact; many people wouldn’t be sure what to expect, so they’d be that much more likely to accept his portrayal.
He played a con artist on White Collar, which earns him two points of credibility: he can play a sly, devious man, and he wears a mean suit.
Ryan Gosling
How has Ryan Gosling not played a superhero yet? The dude looks tailor-made to play with the Avengers. He’s charming, he’s got both dramatic and comedic acting chops, and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Sure, the blonde hair may give the look of a Captain America, but Gosling’s got the spunk of an Iron Man, and matching Tony’s personality is way more important than matching his looks.
If you’re still skeptical, watch The Big Short and see how perfectly he can play a smug rich dude who couldn’t care less what people think about him.
Orlando Bloom
Bloom has certainly already established himself as a franchise player, and as someone who can simultaneously blend in and stand out as part of an ensemble cast. He has sailed the seven seas, and he has fought on the battlefields of Middle Earth. The MCU seems like the next logical step in his career. Plus, the man has the range necessary to capture the nuances of Tony Stark’s character.
Then he would just need to land a role in a Star Wars movie and he could finally be crowed The Franchise King.
Honorable Mention: Dominic Cooper
Why not? Cooper plays Tony’s father Howard Stark in the MCU, most notably in the Agent Carter TV series. He’s got the Stark persona down pat, and he has an uncanny resemblance to RDJ to boot. It would be a strange and risky move for sure, but fortune favors the bold.
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Who is YOUR pick to replace Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark? Let us know in the comments! Just remember to keep an open mind, and remember how skeptical people were about RDJ himself before Iron Man came out.
The second trailer for The Legend of Tarzan, the first full trailer, shows a massive-scale film loaded with CGI and rife with acting talent – the least of whom might be Tarzan himself, Alexander Skarsgård. It might end up being grew-screen overload in the end, but this trailer is oddly compelling, despite the fact I’ve seen all of this before.
From Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures comes the action adventure “The Legend of Tarzan,” starring Alexander Skarsgård (HBO’s “True Blood”) as the legendary character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The film also stars Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction,” the “Captain America” films), Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond,” “Gladiator”), Oscar nominee John Hurt (“The Elephant Man,” the “Harry Potter” films), with Oscar winner Jim Broadbent (“Iris”), and two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Django Unchained”).
It has been years since the man once known as Tarzan (Skarsgård) left the jungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane (Robbie) at his side.Now, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the Belgian, Captain Leon Rom (Waltz).But those behind the murderous plot have no idea what they are about to unleash.
The gorillas don’t quite look as good as the Planet of The Apes films, but there’s still time to refine any effects in The Legend of Tarzan. But this looks like a solid action adventure film, almost like a more adult companion piece to Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book adaptation.
Handsomely made but devoid of any resemblance of humanity, The Divergent Series: Allegiant is a wielded-out, hollow shell of a movie. Its only mission in life is to bore as many people as it possibly can.
Summit’s painfully pathetic, flat-out desperate attempt to gain the worldwide phenomenon popularity of spent YA teenage action-adventure sagas like Harry Potter, Twilight and, most recently, The Hunger Games, the Divergent franchise has remained a limp, uncreative slog of a film series since day one. There’s little-to-no emotional investment in these characters, the tropes were already worn-out well before part one came to the screen and every plot point feels predictable or played-out beyond repair at this point. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and effort; it’s the cinematic embodiment of a failing student furiously scribbling in answers to his final exam well after the dismissal bell has rung. Allegiant is a measly, pitiful excuse for a movie —one with a hundred-something million-dollar price tag, no less — that spends more time justifying its worth than developing anything worthy, entertaining or original. The Divergent Series truly reaches the pinnacle of its infuriating dullness (at least thus far) with this meandering excuse for a third film.
It’s a slippery slope of diminishing returns at this point, quite honestly. There’s nothing about Allegiant that hasn’t been seen before, or done better at this point. There’s no complexity to its themes, no depth or hard-hitting political commentary to its message. It comes across like fan-fiction written by a sixth grader. That it somehow got a Hollywood production is disgraceful, and its embarrassing to watch all these extremely talented actors — including Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer and Jeff Daniels — degrade themselves trying to make anything worthwhile out of a movie that’s solely a contractual obligation on everyone’s part. It’s hard to imagine what made Summit want to continue putting Veronica Roth’s best-selling book series onto the big screen, since nobody musters up any sense of pride or passion in their work. This movie is as stiff and flaccid as a blockbuster can possibly get these days — one where you never, for a second, forget you’re just watching a bunch of people walking around reacting to green screens where, eventually, VFX effects that are merely-acceptable-at-best will be slap-dashed on.
I imagine watching The Divergent Series: Allegiant is not dissimilar to how aliens would feel if they were watching a telecommunication of human behavior on their alien monitors in outer space. The flat, monotone presentation of the film, laced with little effort on anyone’s part to make these characters talk or sound like living-breathing people, provides a sobering, alienating comatose state. It draws your attention to the little things like how bad the background extra are, the shallowness of the sets or the alluring smell of donuts that mysterious wafts over you in the theater because nothing at the center of the frame is anything close to interesting or appealing.
Robert Schwentke, the man who also directed Allegiant’s insufferable predecessor Insurgent last year, returns to make yet another uninspired, disinterested, wholly bland installment. Any attempt to make something visually interesting or emotionally invested are completely drained out of this series’ system at this point. It’s as if they know nobody is the wee bit invested in our main characters or the struggles they face in their dystopian future, and they just decided to throw up their hands, make a shiny, thematically vacant dullard that’ll appeal to the studio and call it a day.
Normally I’d delve into a plot synopsis or something around now, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin at this point. Again, I can’t stress this enough, this is such a meandering, meticulously uninviting film. It never, ever lets you get invested in the action, the suspense, the mystery or the non-existent excitement of it all. If this soulless sequel refuses to care, so will I. As Allegiant prattles on in an endless tirade of sterile, consequence-free action, it practically dares you to try not to fall asleep. The guy sitting next to me, along with several other people in the theater, couldn’t pass the test. With four hours of rest in my system, and zero motivation to get involved with the threadbare mechanics of the plot, I wish I could say I joined them.
But I wanted to keep my integrity, just so I could write this review. I think I made a horrible, horrible mistake. What am I doing with my life? Seriously, what am I even doing at this point?
Maybe I’m just getting too old for YA adaptations. But I really, truly have nothing against them. I usually give them the benefit of the doubt, at least. Every once-in-a-while you’ll find a pretty good one, like Beautiful Creatures for instance. While I’m sick of everyone, their brother and their mother trying too hard to make whatever licensed property they own become the next big thing, usually they make an admirable effort to stand out against the tide, or make something that’s, you know, worth all the mythos and world-building they produce on-screen. But with seemingly little-to-no desire to respect Roth’s source material or any fans she has at this point, it’s bewildering why Summit would have the persistence — scratch that, the gull — to have The Divergent Series hobble and trench its way to the finish line. Where most unsuccessful wannabe-franchise igniters call it quits after they fall down the first time, the Divergent series — like its poorly defined characters — continues to rail against popular opinion and fight the good fight. It would be admirable if —much like the Atlas Shrugged’s pitiful attempt to build a trilogy — it didn’t mean we had to watch more and more of these godawful sequels.
I’m not going to pretend The Divergent Series: Allegiant doesn’t have its strengths. There are some impressive action scenes here, with some good choreography performed dutifully and surprisingly well by co-star Theo James. Though every image lacks any texture or weight, it looks nice-enough, and also the cast provide admirable attempts to make the material much better than it has any right to be. Daniels and Woodley are the standouts here, bringing a respectable gravitas that certainly wasn’t ever found in the adapted screenplay by Noah Oppenheim, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage. There’s also one visually-interesting scene involving Woodley’s character seeing the world through the eyes of her late mother, played by Ashley Judd, that’s fairly involving. Not to mention one or two action beats towards the end, particularly one in a hovercraft that’s almost, dare I say, rousing in its execution. But now I’m truly picking at straws.
When the only things that get you the least bit excited for your movie are Daniels’ abbreviated presence and the faint promise of artistic nudity, you know you’re in deep trouble. And quite frankly, there’s no reason why a cast this talented and a budget this steep should produce something this listless, commonplace and unimaginative. At this point, I really don’t know if there was any way to make this third Roth adaptation good. It’s dug into a hole too deep to climb out of, it seems, and there’s no way the next film can make anything worthwhile or engaging with what they’re given. To salvage any interest towards this entirely disposable franchise is just a losing battle at this point. If anyone swore allegiance to The Divergent Series before, they’ll seek refuge elsewhere long before it comes time for Allegiant to call it quits.
Here’s what you have all been waiting for, A brand new X-Men: Apocalypse trailer.
Director Bryan Singer returns with X-Men Apocalypse. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young heroes to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.
X-Men Apocalypse is in theaters in May.
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Josh Helman, Lana Condor, Ben Hardy
A reboot of The Crow franchise is coming to the big screen, the when part might be harder to pin down.
Relativity has made The Crow reboot its top production priority, according to The Wrap. As the company refocused on the project, they decided to part ways with director Corin Hardy. ‘The Hallow’ was Hardy’s first major feature film, and his use of practical effects would have been a refreshing change for a big budget film. Relativity has reportedly invested “in excess of $7 million” in the remake and appears to be starting over from scratch. The original plan was to start production on the film this month.
The Crow is more infamous than successful, as Brandon Lee was killed during the filming of the original 1994 version by Alex Proyas. In 1996, there was the direct to DVD sequel, The Crow: City of Angels (side note, this film has a young Thomas Jane). In 2005, Tara Reid and Edward Furlong destroy the franchise with The Crow: Wicked Prayer.
The Crow is based on the comic book by James O’Barr. The main character Eric Draven, who returns from the dead to track down his killers with the help of a mystical crow.
Allow me to reiterate: Dwayne Johnson is a national treasure.
“I’m biased,” you might say.
“Just look at this guy’s bio,” you might say*.
“He’s writing clickbait,” you might even say.
Well, yeah. Sort of.
Warner Bros. released the second full trailer for Central Intelligence and it looks like it doesn’t have a surprise up its sleeve. The trailer sells a film that looks like another over-lit, interchangeable, studio action/comedy. It also looks like it knows full-well what its greatest asset is: Dwayne Johnson.
In a setup that involves Kevin Hart (who is billed as the lead but whose screen time here is dwarfed by the “Big Johnson”) playing the only kid in high school who stuck up for Robbie Wierdick (I’m not sure about that spelling but it really doesn’t matter, does it?), aka The Rock, as he was publicly humiliated for being a confidently overweight En Vogue fan. Move forward 20 years and we meet Bob who is now the hulking mass of The Rock we are all familiar with and also a deadly CIA agent. Bob recruits Kevin Hart because of his “super sweet accounting skills” and the fact he’s still the only person he trusts because of this moment of high school mercy to retrieve some CIA spy encryption doohickeys. Hilarity ensues because of the chemistry of the stars and the irony of the situation. Check it out for yourself:
Back to my initial point: Rewatch that trailer and this time pay close attention to everything The Rock is doing. He’s acting. He’s playing a character and committing fully to every moment asked of him. I see genuine sadness and gratitude in his eyes in that gym. I see delirious glee as he executes his plan to escape a building through a high-rise window, putting Kevin Hart in vicious mortal danger. There is real joy and madness bubbling underneath the surface of this character and that is all thanks to Mr. Johnson. My affinity for the actor might be what caused me to actually laugh at moments here but I objectively believe what he’s doing is unadulterated entertainment.
Am I saying The Rock is our best actor? Nope. I’m saying that he’s far and away our most entertaining superstar and one with real chops behind the muscle. Go back and watch Pain & Gain or Snitch (he’s severely miscast but that’s not his fault) or even Fast Five and you’ll see a performer radiating screen presence. His matching here with Kevin Hart seems fine but we’ll have to see if he can hold a candle to The Rock’s energy. Hopefully the film can also deliver on its poignant “I don’t like bullies” approach.
I’m going to go and see Central Intelligence. Though if it weren’t for Mr. Johnson, I doubt I’d be interested.
*Go ahead, check it out below if you haven’t already.
The past couple years have seen a meteoric rise for NXT. Spearheaded by Triple H (in his real life position as Head Of Talent Development), WWE’s developmental territory has taken on a life of its own. Showcasing young talent and now a destination for independent and international talent to get a taste of the WWE.
In 2014, NXT took the next step into showcasing live events on the WWE Network. A huge success, the specials have become a quarterly event and have given a platform to some of the best matches fans have seen in some time. The next live special will take place on April 1, the Friday night before Wrestlemania on Sunday and the “developmental” arm of the WWE has put together a card that could steal the weekend.
Asuka vs. Bayley – NXT Women’s Championship
Asuka vs Bayley
The women’s division has defined a new standard in NXT and this match will be no different. Bayley has been champion since August, winning it from Sasha Banks and has been a fighting champion ever since. Asuka debuted in NXT last year, and has cut a swath through the roster, either knocking or choking her opponents out. This will be Bayley’s toughest challenge since her matches against The Boss last year.
American Alpha (Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) vs. The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) –
NXT Tag Team Championship
American Alpha going after the NXT Tag Titles photo: WWE
Current champs Dawson and Wilder are the epitome of the term “throwback”. Reminiscent of teams like the Brainbusters and the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, their motto is “no flips, just fists”. They show up, beat opponents in the face, and leave. Their upcoming opponents are a pair of finely tuned athletes hitting their stride at the right time. Despite having been together for only a short time, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable gelled instantly, have never had a bad match, and are a big hit with the crowd. Their match at the Takeover: London event sent a clear message that they want, and are ready, for a shot at the tag titles in a highly competitive division.
Austin Aries vs. Baron Corbin
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived photo: WWE
A multi-time chanpion in TNA and Ring Of Honor, the self proclaimed “Greatest Man That Ever Lived” will be making his NXT debut against NXT’s resident malcontent, Baron Corbin. Corbin is big, powerful, and ticked off. If you’ve watched Breaking Ground on the WWE Network, Corbin has been vocal about how he should be on the main roster and how he has beaten everyone in NXT, which he has, but no gold to show for it. Aries is one of the hottest free agents who have landed with the WWE, having had success in every other promotion he has competed in. This is going to be fast, hard hitting, and probably one of the most physical matches of the night.
Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Yet another free agent in the world of professional wrestling lands at NXT. Shinsuke Nakamura, the King Of Strong Style, easily in the top 3 of performers on the planet right now will have his first match against a former NXT Champion in Sami Zayn. Both men had massive success, Zayn in Ring Of Honor and Nakamura in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and now will show the world what they are capable of in a WWE ring. Zayn needs to keep an eye out for Nakamura’s finisher, the Bomaye Knee, which he can hit from ANYHWERE in the building.
Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor – NXT Championship
Samoa Joe takes on Balor for the NXT Championship
Claiming the title in July of 2015, Finn Balor has carried the banner in NXT ever since and faces a stiff opponent in the Samoan Submission Machine. Samoa Joe, having spent well over a decade in TNA before leaving the promotion early in 2015, would make his NXT debut later in the year and has led the current wave of independent and international superstars making their way. This match is also a rematch of the main event at the London Takeover event in which Balor came out victorious. Both men wrestle a highly physical style, Balor will fight for his title and Joe will not waste his second chance at gold.
NXT Takover: Dallas will air Friday, April 1 exclusively on the WWE Network
It was recently announced that July 2019 will bring us a new Indiana Jones movie, starring Harrison Ford and directed by Steven Spielberg. This will be the first Indy film to be produced by Disney and the fifth in the series.
It’s been awhile since 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the most poorly received of the films. Watching the ‘making of’ documentary on the DVD, you will hear Spielberg tell a story about how he didn’t want to do a fourth one (let alone a fifth), telling us that he purposely put a shot at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in which the characters ride off into the sunset. He talks about how George Lucas wanted to do an Indy film that was a throwback to the 1950’s sci-fi cult cinema films of the day, most of which were about Cold War paranoia, which would be age-appropriate for Harrison to play Indy. Spielberg resisted/dragged his feet about the idea of doing another alien film, something he believed he had done to death. He finally gave in when George Lucas came up with the idea of them being “inter-dimensional” instead of “extra-terrestrial”. Because that’s an enormous difference that was explained vividly in the film. It really wasn’t.
What resulted was a movie whose more interesting elements were about the Cold War paranoia, but that gave us over-the-top cartoonish villains who just happened to be Russian. And yes, the stupid “hide from a nuclear blast in the refrigerator” scene…and the Jar Jar gophers. We also got to see Shia LeBeouf play a Fonzie/Tarzan wannabe named Mutt Williams who ends up being Indy’s son with his flame from the first movie, Marion Ravenwood. Spielberg acknowledges in this DVD interview that he felt he had moved on to other areas of filmmaking, brilliant historical dramas like Lincoln, for instance, which is why he didn’t want to return to this series.
“Are those gophers supposed to be funny?”
So, next year, we are going to see The BFG, Spielberg’s first animated fantasy film since The Adventures of Tin Tin, and an adaptation of a great book that everyone remembers. Then in 2018, Spielberg’s first attempt at live-action, non-sequel sci-fi in thirteen years with Ready Player One. Then…the fifth movie in a series whose last installment was immensely disappointing and arguably Spielberg’s worst film.
Before you groan too loudly, what can they do to bring back the feel of the original series? Can Disney bring back the feel of the original series by distancing George Lucas the way they did with Star Wars? Or is that a lost cause because Lucas and Spielberg are friends? Well, however that plays out, here are some things that I would like to see in Indy 5.
DISTANCE MUTT.
As much as I hated Shia LaBeouf’s character in this film, I also hate it when they change actors between films. Yes, Maggie Gyllenhaal was an improvement over Katie Holmes between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but it still took some getting used to. I’m still not used to Don Cheadle as War Machine. They could recast Mutt’s role, but there are ways and reasons that they could write him out completely. Hollywood is very youth-oriented, so a movie about an older action hero/older couple would be refreshingly different and something Spielberg may welcome. Maybe Mutt has matured a lot since the last film and went off on his own. Maybe he joined the Army, that’s a good way to write characters out of things. That was how they wrote Richie Cunningham out of Happy Days when Ron Howard wanted to go be a director.
But, yeah, no Mutt. Don’t retcon him either. Acknowledge him like you did with Sean Connery in the last movie and move forward.
NO CARTOONY VILLIANS.
Nazis are probably some of the greatest villains in movie history. They are so notorious that you can just explain that so-and-so is a Nazi at the beginning of your film and the audience instantly hates him. From The Sound of Music to Captain America: The First Avenger, this formula works.
“I think this guy’s the villain.”
The original Indy films had incredibly scary villains because they were Nazis, including a very tense, face-to-face encounter between Indy and Hitler himself in The Last Crusade. But when they set the last film in 1957 and centered it around the Cold War, the villains became Russians. And the accents got louder and sillier, reducing otherwise great actors to cartoony stereotypes. So, yeah, focus on the villain being scary, like those freaky Aztec people in Temple of Doom, and less on the on-the-nose accents.
THIS ONE’S FOR THE FANS.
Seriously, no hate on social media about how old Harrison Ford is. Obviously, he is going to have a stunt man for the stunts. They can replace a stuntman’s head with an actor’s head in the computer these days (Christopher Lee as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels). And Ford’s a great actor. Should he be sidelined to “old people” movies like Super Exotic Marigold Hotel (or whatever)? No. Like I said, a movie about an older action hero is a nice change of pace for youth-oriented Hollywood, so…bring it. Just do it right. I’d also like to see a Spider-Man movie eventually where he is married and in his forties. Y’know, because they did it in the comics. But that’s an article for another time.
Are you excited for the next Indiana Jones film? What would you like to see/like to see improved in the new film? Comment below.
