Talkie

I found Thor 2 mediocre and liked it less with subsequent viewings. The second time I saw it in the theater I found myself wishing desperately for a remote so that I could fast-forward most of the earthbound stuff. It simply doesn't hold up. Had it been as good as Cap 2 it would have done better against the competition it faced. Like most Marvel films, the audience for TDW skewed male and thus it could have fared better against the female-centric THG sequel if it had been better received by fans. I'm beginning to think that Marvel should shift its release strategy and lay permanent claim to the first weekend of April since CATWS has done so well there. Easter won't always fall so late in the year, but the loss of the holiday weekend could be offset by the relative lack of competition. Of course that would change once other studios decide that the time frame could be lucrative for their films, as well. For now it's a good release date and Marvel's presence might possibly scare off direct competition.

I haven't seen this week's show yet because I have to wait for a download. From the promo for next week's show I'm guessing that Hill is going to be leaving SHIELD behind altogether. That would leave Coulson as the ranking SHIELD agent still loyal and operating, that we know of. It seems that the writers are setting in motion a scenario whereby Phil reforms SHIELD prior to The Age of Ultron and becomes its director. This would make sense for many reasons. First, it would allow the show to evolve into something much more expansive, as Coulson could reorganize SHIELD into an organization devoted to tracking and responding to superhuman threats rather than as an intelligence agency. He could start recruiting "gifted" people as agents instead of simply tracking and sometimes incarcerating them. Coulson is the logical person for that task since he is basically Captain America-lite, sharing the same ideals as his hero and thus being capable of creating a SHIELD that respects civil liberties and stays away from the shadier dealings that Fury was involved in. There would also be a role for Coulson in future films once SHIELD has been cleaned up and repurposed. Perhaps by the time AOU rolls around, at the end of the second season, Coulson will have things controlled enough to start dealing with the heroes again. Of course the Avengers' relationship with SHIELD would be different and perhaps almost nonexistent, but it would make sense for them to cross paths with Coulson and his people at some point.

So far Ward has shot at least half a dozen loyal SHIELD agents in the head for his HYDRA leader. When last seen he was plotting to either trick his little cupcake into giving him the hard drive password or to kidnap her back to the Fridge for torture. All of that makes him irredeemable. The writers can't just brush all that aside and bring him back onto the team, not if they want to maintain any credibility at all. "Action guys" are a dime a dozen. Tripplett can easily take Ward's place. In fact, he already has.

Why the hell would Ward save Coulson's rookie squad? The only one he seems to care about is Skye and that's only because she's "cute," as Garrett said. Even at that, he doesn't seem that fond of her as he agreed to either trick her into giving up the hard drive password or bring her to the Fridge where Garrett will pry it out of her. From the looks of next week's promo Ward is going to do something nasty to the little asshole, which I will be happy to see. The only down side is that Chloe Bennet's horrible faux crying will be painful to watch. Couldn't they have chosen an actress who could, you know, act? Ward instantly became far more interesting when he revealed himself as a HYDRA sleeper. The boring good guy suddenly morphed into a terrifyingly psychotic bad guy. Now I'm actually looking forward to watching Ward skulk about killing and plundering. Eventually either Coulson or May is going to have to put his ass down like a rabid dog, though I hope that won't be until the season finale at the earliest. (What I'd really like is for Skye to kill Ward, just because I'm cruel to fictional characters like that.) The whole "go on the Internet and erase our identities" thing was ludicrous. It just won't work. Everyone in the industrialized world has left traces in too many databases (healthcare, government, school, banking, credit, etc.) for all of those digital footprints to be erased by one person with a laptop. A person not only exists in their own digital "history" but in those of their parents, family, schools and other associations as well. I know it happened to Sandra Bullock in The Net but this isn't the Wild West days of the Internet. Sometimes it seems like the writers of AOS are still living in the 90s, when stuff like that seemed plausible. In the midst of the raid on the Fridge Ward made sure to grab the Asgardian Angst Staff from episode 9. He'll probably make use of it to fight May later on because without it she can take him. . The NCIS twins have fallen off in the demos, though. But good for AOS because that demo number is just what the network and advertisers want to see. Maybe the 9 PM slot is better for AOS than 8 PM. If ABC had any sense they would put comedies in the 8 & 8:30 slots to counter-program against NCIS and slide AOS up to 9 PM in the fall.

Why the hell would Ward save Coulson's rookie squad? The only one he seems to care about is Skye and that's only because she's "cute," as Garrett said. Even at that, he doesn't seem that fond of her as he agreed to either trick her into giving up the hard drive password or bring her to the Fridge where Garrett will pry it out of her. From the looks of next week's promo Ward is going to do something nasty to the little asshole, which I will be happy to see. The only down side is that Chloe Bennet's horrible faux crying will be painful to watch. Couldn't they have chosen an actress who could, you know, act? Ward instantly became far more interesting when he revealed himself as a HYDRA sleeper. The boring good guy suddenly morphed into a terrifyingly psychotic bad guy. Now I'm actually looking forward to watching Ward skulk about killing and plundering. Eventually either Coulson or May is going to have to put his ass down like a rabid dog, though I hope that won't be until the season finale at the earliest. (What I'd really like is for Skye to kill Ward, just because I'm cruel to fictional characters like that.) The whole "go on the Internet and erase our identities" thing was ludicrous. It just won't work. Everyone in the industrialized world has left traces in too many databases (healthcare, government, school, banking, credit, etc.) for all of those digital footprints to be erased by one person with a laptop. A person not only exists in their own digital "history" but in those of their parents, family, schools and other associations as well. It would be impossible to wipe someone from the records of everyone they're related to or have ever known. And for people old enough there are many paper records that couldn't be touched. I know it happened to Sandra Bullock in The Net but the Internet really isn't a magical place. Sometimes it seems like the writers of AOS are still living in the 90s, when stuff like that seemed plausible. In the midst of the raid on the Fridge Ward made sure to grab the Asgardian Angst Staff from episode 9. He'll probably make use of it to fight May later on because without it she can take him. When Ward told Raina, "I'm everyone's type," it seemed like he would have slept with the whole team from Coulson on down if he thought it would help him keep his cover. What an interesting sleazeball he turned out to be. The most recent three episodes have been great television and hopefully next week's episode can continue the trend. Tripplett and Koenig are good additions to the cast, especially Tripp since he's messing with the too-cozy FitzSimmons dynamic. The way that they're adding to the story of Coulson's resurrection is actually intriguing instead of frustrating for once. The evolving story also absolves Fury of some of the blame for the torture Coulson underwent, but at the same time the secrets are destroying Coulson's relationship with May. It's all good, though. At last this bland team of pseudo-Scoobies has become interesting. Too bad it too the producers so long to hit their stride.

Even so, it's pretty obvious that they're planning to redeem him somehow. That scene in the closet with Skye (those two have zero chemistry), his expressions of remorse ("I deserve to die for what I did"), his refusal to say "Hail Hydra!" and all those too-obvious meaningful glances telegraphed it. He'll have a change of heart, save the team from another HYDRA agent (probably Simmons) and be welcomed back on board the Bus. I would also bet on Triplett dying by season's end, if not next episode. Neither Ward nor Skye is going anywhere anytime soon. The writer are too enamored of them, as cardboard as they are.

Only if you choke the right one.

That's Mister Mediocrity Nolan to you.

The little, stumpy legs of the X-Franchise are one of the main reasons I was convinced my club was a go. DOFP could have a $100M OW and still just barely eke out $230M total. With Gojira opening the week before and Maleficent swooping in a week after crippled legs are probable.

Please be true! Please be true! Please be true! Right now my CATWS over DOFP club is looking mighty healthy. It's by no means a lock but it doesn't seem as crazy as it once did. Though I'm sure that if it succeeds a lot of naysayers will turn around and claim that it wasn't a ballsy club at all because of the Avengers Effect. But whatever! I'm pulling for my Captain to come through.

I loved the film and Jim Carrey gave one of my all-time favorite performances in it. However, I don't see much potential in a TV adaptation. Maybe it will shock me by being as great as the film but I doubt it.

If only you could. It isn't rational to waste time lamenting something that you could simply ignore. It's not like you're being strapped down and forced to watch any of these movies. You can concentrate on the genres you personally like and stop expending energy on then ones you don't.

But what was Bane's excuse?

I'm not getting tired of comic book films since I only watch the ones that interest me. It doesn't matter how many come out in a given year because I can pick and choose the ones that I personally feel would be worth my time. I can only assume that is the same for everyone else, which makes this poll completely inane. Nobody is forced to watch any film, regardless of genre, so if they're not interested they can simply ignore them. The "Oh, but I see the trailers/ads and studios spend lots of money on them" arguments are ridiculous. I happen to dislike romcoms, most YA films and gross-out comedies but none of those genres causes me any distress because I pay very little attention to them. The last romantic comedy I watched in a theater was Four Weddings And A Funeral and I've never paid money to watch a gross-out film. Even though I've seen trailers and ads for every awful Adam Sandler, Katherine Heigl and Twilight movie that has come down the pike, I just mentally check out while they're playing and then enjoy the film I'm there to see. This is how rational people behave when they dislike a film genre: They don't patronize it and they certainly don't whine about the fact that it even exists.

Cap is off to an incredible start. The only hand-wringing comes from people who crazily bumped their predicts after the first numbers came in. This is just what I've secretly hoped for: Captain America is now poised to overtake Thor in terms of solo popularity. I love Thor, don't get me wrong, but I really want to see Cap become more liked and respected by the GA. Hearing how "boring" he is got tired a long time ago.

I just got online after hours of no Internet and almost had a heart attack when i read that headline. That's my wildest dream right there. Seriously, though, I dreamed that CATWS made $103 million this morning. When I woke up I was convinced that was just wish fulfillment on my part. If it hits $103M I'm hanging up a red palm sign outside my apartment and changing my name to Nostradamus.

Coulson comes off like a truly clueless, inept leader on this show. Not just with Skye, mind you, but with Fitz & Simmons as well. The three of them should never be allowed into the field because they don't know what the hell they're doing. They act like idiots, don't have any idea how to do undercover work, can't protect themselves and almost always end up being liabilities to the agents who are competent. The train episode had the three of them at their worst, with predictable results. The fact that Coulson, May & Ward became terrified when they realized that the Three Stooges were alone on that train speaks to how ridiculous it was to take them along in the first place. Seriously, Coulson should leave them on that damn plane to act as support staff, but I guess there isn't enough ginned-up drama in that. I want to love the show, too. I'm the sort of person this show should have as a dedicated fan because I've loved SHIELD since I read the Lee/Kirby books and Steranko's run. The problem for me is that the SHIELD in the show isn't anything like that in the movies or even the old comic books. Even with their campy elements and dated mid-60s style, the comics portrayed a spy agency that was far more professional and skilled than Coulson's crew. The producers have said that the team was deliberately stacked with untrained rookies so that we could follow their progress. That was the wrong strategy, IMO, because I'm sure that a lot of the people who checked it out at the start of the season were turned off by the characters and the writing. Viewers expected the cool, efficient SHIELD of the film universe, not a high school version stocked with pretty, bland actors.

I completely and totally agree with you. Skye has stuck out like a sore thumb from the second she appeared in the pilot episode. She has no business being on that plane with the others because she is a rank amateur who actively refused training. Her "rad hacking skillz" amount to nothing that a teenager with a laptop and smartphone couldn't accomplish. SHIELD really is crappy if they don't have anyone who can match Skye's supposed expertise. The writers have dropped some of the stuff they were doing with Skye as the season progressed and my theory is that they've been trying to figure out how to make her popular. Her "hacktivist" organization has totally evaporated, likely so that we can all forget how she betrayed the team and got a man killed so she could have a booty call with her BF. She has cooled down on the anti-SHIELD rhetoric and suddenly considers the sinister spy organization she reviled as her pseudo-family. The writers know that Coulson is/was popular, which explains why Skye has been made into a surrogate daughter for him. They have to hope some of his popularity will rub off on her the more they're shown bonding. The problem with that strategy is that proximity with Skye is actually making Coulson less likable and believable as a competent SHIELD official. He brought an unqualified civilian on his team for no justifiable reason, failed to train her properly and has allowed her to blunder into danger repeatedly. Having her get shot was the one believable thing they have done with that character. And it's down to Coulson's ineptitude with her. Like you, I find that Skye sours me on the whole show. The other characters work well together but she drags the whole thing down. Once I realized that they had her get shot simply so they could make her even more central to the show I nearly gave up on it. The way they wasted Bill Paxton in the poorly-written return episode almost sealed it for me. The last episode was somewhat better, mainly because of Jaime Alexander. The focus is now going to shift to Skye again, not that it ever left, as the tail continue to wag that SHIELD dog.

People go on about Leo's 0 for 5 streak, but there are a lot of other actors who suffered a string of Oscar losses. Paul Newman, for instance, won after 6 losses over three decades. The year he finally took home the Oscar for Best Actor (The Color of Money) the Academy had decided that the poor man had suffered enough and voted to give him the Jean Hirscholt Humanitarian Award as a consolation prize. They anticipated sending Newman home empty-handed for a seventh time but he actually won. Oops!

Lupita Nyong'o gracing the Press Room at the Academy Awards.

Gorgeous and graceful. Lupita's selection of gowns for the entire awards season has been utterly flawless. Whoever styles her earned every penny of their salary.

I don't remember.

These movies are so fucking awful. They clean up on the brain-dead crowd, though.