slikmar

There were significant, season-defining consequences that came out of the Buffy musical episode:
Buffy reveals that she was yanked out of heaven by her friends, sending her best friend into a guilt-driven spiral of self-destruction. Buffy trades one big secret in for another as she takes the first steps in a torrid (horrid?) sex tryst with her arch-nemesis. Buffy's father-figure essentially abandons her in the belief that his presence is preventing her from fully maturing. Tara discovers she's been the victim of a mind manipulation spell cast by her lover, ultimately leading to tragedy. When she sings the song I'm Under Your Spell, the dramatic irony of its dual meaning is heartbreaking. Xander and Anya's engagement unravels from the FUD revealed/expressed during their I'll Never Tell number. Once More, With Feeling was not merely a fun little episode with a few songs thrown in, it was a major pivot point of the season's narrative, and a life-altering moment for nearly every main character. Every word of every song was a vital part of the engine that propelling those events forward. Joss Whedon was a huge fan of Sondheim and devoutly studied the form for many, many years. He may have been a first-time composer, but he was no amateur.

Chris Pratt:
 
 

By Grabthar's hammer, oh what a savings.

Well, in my view Joss's songs were head and shoulders above the Flash songs. They were more clever (lyrically), more stylistically varied, and far more deeply integrated into the ongoing storyline of the show. There were also a whole lot more of them; an entire CD's worth, in fact.
 
Of the Buffy cast, at least half of those asked to sing had genuine singing talent. Nevertheless, the use of the non-singers among them made the episode feel more authentic, especially given that the events were actually happening to the characters; it was not just some dream sequence.
 
Once More, With Feeling remains the gold standard for "musical episodes", IMO. In fact, I watched it again last night after watching the Flash episode, just to see if it held up after more than 15 years, and it still does. Superbly.

Daughters of the Dragon?
I suspect the Defenders will include Hellcat, Colleen, Misty, maybe Punisher. I think they have used little things to set it up already. Trish investigating the place where Jessica got her powers (not to mention coming and taking US Agent). The doctor in the Cage series that showed up at the end in the hospital where Copperhead was, who probably worked for said place. Not sure where the DD link will be, unless it had something to do with either Fisk or the Hand and the attempted resurrection in 2nd season. I also bet we will see some link to Rand Corporation and this mysterious company in Iron Fist (haven't seen yet, as a tax preparer, I record a lot for 4 months then catch up).

...except its mostly because Natalie Portman hates Marvel and that allowed them to go in another direction rather than use another actress at this point. 

Okay, I hope folks will forgive a brief thread derailment (and if we want to debate the issue more, I'll create a separate thread for that); but I've given some thought to this issue as relating to the two recent movies. First, the introductory montage for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes specifies that the "Simian 'Flu" was 90% lethal in humans. Over the four years of the pandemic, I could see that translating to a comparable reduction in human population, down to about 700 million globally. Then as Gary Oldman's character remarked in his speech, there was four years of war as the survivors fought among themselves for scarce resources. There's also a strong implication that the great majority of modern civilized humans have become dependent on technology for their survival. IMHO those factors could easily add up to another 90% or greater mortality of the survivors, reducing the human population to 70 million or less globally. Given that the survivors colony in San Francisco looked to total less than a thousand (and probably gathered from over a wider area), I don't think those numbers are unreasonable. And without infrastructure and manufacturing that number is likely to drop further in the near future.
 
As another character in DotPotA observed, the apes "don't need lights, heat, power, none of it. That's what makes them stronger." The main advantage of humans over apes -- intelligence -- is gone. The other advantage, guns, is no longer definitive, since the apes inherited the arsenal of the humans from San Francisco. As we saw in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the apes can often easily move and fight in three dimensions, unlike most humans. They know their home terrain better than the humans do. If an ape closes to hand-to-hand range with a human, the human is screwed. Finally, the apes are firmly under the leadership of a brilliant tactician. Just the bridge fight in RotPotA, where the apes were essentially unarmed against police and soldiers, demonstrated what a difference that can make.
 
I'm not saying an ape victory is a foregone conclusion, or that the fight won't be desperate. But IMO they have a fighting chance; and given their natural advantages, if they win I could believe them becoming the ascendant species on this planet as humans continue to decline.
 
(Given a pandemic, Grodd or Solovar could lead their people to dominance as well. Just to bring the thread back on topic.)

Rommel, you magnificent Bastard, I read your book!

I was hoping, after seeing the cocoon in the Collector's menagerie, that Adam Warlock would show up with it.

Nope, believe 3 total. one with an Italian red skull. Other 2 with Reb Brown as the Captain.

For many studio heads, "animated" equals, "for kids." Movies aimed at adults have to be more "serious."
 
I've said it before, I'll say it again: Marvel's movie success starts with producers who themselves know, understand, and respect the source material. Until Warner Bros. puts people with the same relationship to DC's characters firmly at the head of their comic-book film properties, those films will continue to struggle to find their footing.

Iron Fist!  March 17
 

I recently finished Working for Bigfoot by Jim Butcher. It's a collection of Dresden shorts. The tone in these tends to be on the lighter side, and the stories seem relegated to the sidelines of the Dresden universe, at least for the time being. The price is a bit high for the page count, so might be worth trying to borrow rather than buy unless you're a completionist.

Someone has seen Better Off Dead.

I don't get it?

When a noted cardiologist died, the hospital threw him a lavish funeral. Behind the casket at the funeral was a huge heart covered in roses. When the ceremony was over, the heart opened right down the middle. The casket rolled inside, and the heart closed, sealing the doctor inside.
 
When this happened, one of the mourners broke out in hysterical, uncontrolled laughter. He laughed out loud for several minutes while the other people at the funeral watched uncomfortably. After a while, he regained his composure enough to speak.
 
"I'm sorry," he explained, "but I was just thinking ahead to my own funeral. I'm a gynecologist."
 
That's when the proctologist fainted.

Binged Season 1 of The Magicians. The first few episodes were weak and consistently tried to juggle too many different plots. Once it got past its "Hogwarts for Sexy, Drunken 20-Somethings" premise and the plot got going, there were some nice stories. But then the season finale just completely dissolved into WTF. I think I'll wait for the reviews before watching Season 2.

I'm not going to launch the carriers. Captain's Orders!

Just a radical thought here: Could we judge the movie after it comes out? It probably will suck (it was made way too late for Warner's to accurately judge the backlash against BvS), but we won't know for sure until the movie's released. Right now it exists in a state of quantum uncertainty.
 
(Apologies to all the physicists on the board. High school physics bored the sh** out of me.)
 
Also, why are people picking on Gal Gadot because of her figure? Has anyone gone after Hugh Jackman for not being short or Christopher Reeve for not looking like a '60s Curt Swan drawing?

Terry: It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night"! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.
Charlie: Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.
Terry: You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.

"I told the truth, Lord. How can I learn any moral lessons when you keep confusing me this way?"

Don't torture yourself. That's my job.

[in the same vein]
Britt:
Nobody throws me my own guns and says run. Nobody.

[i always felt this was one of the best backhanded insults in any movie}
Ugarte: You despise me don't you? Rick Blaine: Well if I gave you any thought I probably would.