RRA

There are still villains not used in the films yet (he's got a Rogues Gallery that's a good #2 behind Batman) and lets remember who else allegedly is joining the MCU that we've already seen before that comes handy for your street vigilantes to contend with. A shame Marvel seems to want to ignore Punisher because of his stupid psychotic fans, since I always enjoyed his relationship as the ultra-grit non-powered dude with the super powered wise cracking Spidey (at one point I remember as a kid one of those Punisher Annuals published his Enemies list and Spidey was on it simply because he was annoying and got in his way lol.) Wasn't it rumored at one point Marvel wanted Deadpool for Spidey 3 and Reynolds said eat me? I think ultimately if the arc of MCU Spidey is to grow up, he has to continue emerging from outside of Stark's shadow and perhaps even linked to the Avengers (save for the inevitable Secret Wars movie) since his one link to them is a corpse now. Hell what if to play into Spider-Man's traditional outsider-among-heroes persona in the comics, he hangs out with the X-Men when they inevitably pop up? I mean Peter in the comics did teach at Xavier's school at one point and some Mutants assumed he was like them.

I would think SG would happen because among other things (besides Sony going "oh we liked Spiderverse, lets do that again in live-action!") the Garfield movies already did the traditional Gwen stuff. Here's a thought: What if during all that multiversal turmoil in Phase 4, she's a refugee from one of those dimensions* and she's stuck in MCU world? You can (if they want) do the girlfriend thing, but (1) she doesn't need help getting saved and (2) the weirdness you could play into since in her reality (at least from comics) Peter was a friend of hers that tragically died, with obvious shades of sorts of reference to how Gwen's death affected 616 Parker. Heck even play into the *=I liked the idea that in her reality, Matt Murdock was a baddie and he was Kingpin's lawyer.

For whatever reason, that planned Silver & Black spin-off died which was a shame because a buddy girl spandex version of Midnight Run is something that potentially could work. (Then again after Birds of Prey's box office, that might've killed their enthusiasm for such a pitch.) Honestly at this point, don't be shocked if they do bring Gwen into the MCU, but it'll be Spider-Gwen.

Rumors have fired about corpses in NWH, and that's one way to effectively clear the deck for the next series of movies. Deal with Venom, Kraven, etc. Hell use this opportunity to get back to work on that aborted Black Cat spin-off. And while people moan about wider MCU universe cross-overs, haha they're going to keep doing that but hey with street heroes and especially younger heroes running around now....just saying. But don't worry, I'm sure such folks will nerd out when they throw in a fan service reference to that OS time Tom's Spidey had to deliver pizza or something.

This reminds me how Marvel successfully kept the wraps on the Mandarin twist in IM3 right up to the press screenings.

Binge Watch This @BingeWatchThis_ Press screenings for #SpiderManNoWayHome will reportedly begin next week. (Via: @BigScreenLeaks ) https://twitter.com/BingeWatchThis_/status/1464245543333511169

Honestly I would be surprised if she returns after NWH but who knows?

Not a diss at VA personally, but not the first person in film Twitter culture to overestimate their power. That and outside of Potter stans, who really cares about FB3? It’s not like an upcoming superhero movie or something highly anticipated online.

I think a major problem is the fact that whether Whedon or Russos tried to flesh Hawkeye out, instead it just added veneers of depth instead of actual depth. Oh he has a family? Well, OK but don't buy it BAM instantly like with Paul Rudd. Oh he went Punisher at some point? Umm, sure? I stand by my opinion that grumpy Renner is at least something to work with that I buy from that character (I know I know, but its a start) but its one of those things that would've been nice if his character was better established earlier. But yes, Kate Bishop FTW.

It's fine. Pilot was too much set-up for its own good, even if I enjoyed Hailee Steinfeld Nancy Drew-ing herself into a mystery of a mess, partially as an impulsive lark. I thought she was a #1 draft pick for that role and she nails it. But 2nd episode picks up with Jeremy Renner finally having an identity in the MCU besides just second banana or Archer Dude: He's basically Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2. He's already over the celebrity thing and his Christmas plans get compromised by some bad guy stuff which makes him grumpy with Renner channeling his inner Bruce Willis while paired up with the enthusiastic Steinfeld as his #1 fan/self-recruited sidekick in way over her head. Crazy that Kate Bishop and Lucky the Pizza Dog are now in the MCU. But I want more Tracksuit Mafia.

That and Sony dumped this basically. Remember the trailer didn't drop until last month.

Meh. I give Roberts points for ditching Anderson's horror-flavored action approach and trying to emulate those early games' mood/atmosphere and clearly as a John Carpenter fanboy he tried to take notes from Assault on Precinct 13, The Fog, Prince of Darkness etc. in terms of establishing a foreboding ambiance before dropping the hammer when things go to hell. But his attempts to establish mood lacks heat and that hammer's fall has the might of a pillow. That one scene set in a dark room was the one exception where I thought "OK that works." Doesn't help that the cast (a mix of character actors and TV regulars) is horribly directed and forced to work with some ghastly dialogue. Hey Shang-Chi, I owe you an apology for complaining about your expositional dumps. That's nothing compared to what we have here. Jesus. And what's with the anticlimatic finish? For an action setpiece meant to conclude your movie, it feels like a set-up for a bigger one except said bigger one got deleted. I give this 5/10. Best Resident Evil movie yet? Yes, but that's not a high bar to clear. Certainly stylishly more interesting to look at than Anderson's work, but still hollow. Also Mr. Roberts, I was a teenager in 1998. Even a dude in his 30s would've known what a chat room is. It was already a pretty ubiquitous term in pop culture by that point. (When Neal McDonough is your villain and you don't go full-tilt ham, what's the point? Funny how he also was the baddie in another not so good video game movie reboot in Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li and appeared in the recent Sonic film.)

This IP was never big OS and ‘16 partially reflected that.

Some people online dismissed Dune as basically the new Pacific Rim in terms of perceived actual popularity. Yeah that makes no sense to me either.

I expect crap but funny how it’s the one new release next week I’m looking forward to.

Your punishment will be to rewatch Pacific Rim 2

More and more, this feels like it'll be MCU's Force Awakens.

More like Marvel shared with Sony early on about doing the MV and Sony “oh hey, since you all are doing that…” I mean with that deal renewal, Marvel had to share at least broad strokes of what they’re doing with them so Sony could try to link their spin-offs to it and map this stuff out.

I had the impression Sony wanted to do the multiverse gimmick for SM3 because that's a way to have an easy mega hit ("live-action Into the Spider-Verse!" feels like the sort of idea an overpaid executive would conjure up) and King Kevin went along because (1) he likes counting money too, especially since Disney's renegotiated SM deal gave them a significant cut on this and (2) King Kevin wants to keep playing with Spidey and if that means pacifying Sony here and there, he'll do it. If they can make it all creatively satisfying after the fact that's cool, but this is all really why they did it.

Having seen it last night finally, its droppage is better than I would've guessed if I had seen the movie on OW. I guess that's the powerz of Marvel.

I'm serious when I make this suggestion: Do a Tobey movie, but it's really a Mayday Parker movie. #BookIt

A poster with lens flare? Did J.J. Abrams make this poster?

Yeah the CGI in SM1 hasn't aged well. I mean Jesus folks, don't let nostalgia make you be as silly as the worst Marvelites OK? (I thought CGI in SM2 has aged decently well though. Use that instead to rant about NWH.)

Ruh Roh!