Dr. MID-Nite

You are familiar with the tolerance paradox....yes? The paradox of tolerance states that if a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant is eventually seized or destroyed by the intolerant. Karl Popper described it as the seemingly paradoxical idea that in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance.

I could name a half dozen or more kaiju films off the top of my head that are just fine in the areas you seem to think they're deficient in. And clunky dialogue comes mostly from dubbing. Most of the original Japanese dialogue is fine in the majority of these films. "shrugs" We obviously view films completely differently.

The New Mutants Movie review: The New Mutants (2020): Yet another comic book movie finally hits the books after being in development for a long while. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. In fairness, my expectations for this were pretty low and it did exceed what I expected to see. There are some excellent casting decisions (Illyana, Rahne, and Sam primarily) in this one and as a "popcorn flick" it basically delivers. That said...I have my issues. Those hoping this might tie into the MCU will be disappointed as it is clearly tied to the Fox X-Men films. There's also way too little exposition in the film. The end result is that this feels like episode one of a show we'll never see any other episodes of rather than a film. Illyana as a character has a ton of backstory before she makes any sense and the movie doesn't really provide any. There's also a great deal of liberty taken with the characters and some of them don't feel like the characters they're supposed to be representing. There's also a lot of plot holes. For example, Illyana can teleport at will, but they put her in solitary confinement like that would matter. Not terrible and it's a decent watch, but I doubt I'd go back to it again. I would like to see some of the characters as cast back and better defined in a future MCU project.

To each their own. I found several elements personally disappointing... 1) Unfunny one liners dished out by every character throughout the movie. 2) Rodan's scenes are almost all in the trailer. 3) Mothra is barely in the film at all (after the hype over the additional monsters being in the film). 4) They didn't use Ghidorah's classic roar (or even a variation of it). 5) Washington is destroyed and they don't show us ANY of it. For that matter, we see almost no actual destruction for such an apocalyptic event. That was unforgivable to me. Even 1968's Destroy All Monsters (made on a miniscule fraction of this film's budget) showed us actual landmarks being destroyed and a superb attack on Tokyo. And for the record, there's always more to the best kaiju films than just monsters fighting.

I'm keeping my expectations low for this one. I had high hopes for KOTM and was let down. In theory, this means it should be easier for Godzilla vs Kong to impress me.

Okay....as managing a Gamestop was my last job, this needs to be said. Streaming and the move to online gaming did not kill Gamestop. What killed them was a poor business model that focused on wringing every last dollar out of customers come hell or high water, poor service and adaptability in stores (every store was treated the exact same no matter where it was located or what the local market was like), and the usual service industry standard of treating employees like expendable mules. Gamestop had years to adapt, but they were slow to innovate their core business and spent their capital on risky side ventures that didn't pan out. Like a lot of companies, they failed to invest in their infrastructure and talent base (most of whom left for jobs that treated them better). While I don't particularly like Walmart, I am happy to see Gamestop laid to rest permanently. My only regret is the employees who still remain. They deserved better. We all did.

Can't have the 99% upsetting the status quo of the 1%. That simply will not do. The plebs need to be kept in their place.

Not a big fan of the axe...as I feel it's a lazy way to make the fight more even as opposed to actual fighting tactics. It is very obvious that there's another kaiju involved and the toys have spoiled most of this film's surprises.

Ultraman Taro- Probably the weakest of the older Ultra series (though wildly popular in Japan when it released), it is still a fun show full of monsters and other craziness. This is one of the longest of the Ultra series at 53 episodes. It actually plays more like fantasy than sci-fi and is heavily geared to a younger audience. That said...it does offer a fascinating glimpse of Japanese culture and mythology.

We have actual labor relations in America? News to me....

It's a mini series. Blowing everything in episode one is not only silly in that context...it's obviously not good for a mystery. I think we'll get some exposition in episode 4, but they've already said most of the big reveals come in episodes 7-9.

Wandavision is getting intriguing...with some elements of Avengers Disassembled being thrown in. Again, happy these characters are finally getting some actual screen time.

The original master of BS pardons....

The story I heard was that Hemsworth was unhappy with the serious Thor and asked to "lighten up" the character and the writers accommodated him...not the other way around....at least going into Ragnarok.

And then ruins it by becoming Beach Bum Thor. That's the whole point. And for whoever mentioned that this resembles Ultimate Thor...well...The Ultimates sucked.

Two things from the comics really cement my overall feeling on Thor. In Avengers Annual #9, a computer AI senses "power beyond computation" in the being called Thor. In Avengers #165, Count Nefaria, who has been turned into Superman and has beaten ALL of the other Avengers, shows genuine fear when Thor makes his appearance at the end of the issue. Thor is supposed to be larger than life. A true myth made reality. The characters shouldn't be changed to fit the actors. The actors need to adapt to fit the characters. That is their job afterall...you know....to act. I was extremely disappointed in Ragnarok and "Lebowski Thor". They were insulting interpretations of the character.

A bit late....but yes...5th Ed MC.

I enjoyed the first two episodes of Wandavision. It's a slow burn, but it teases just enough to have you wanting more. There's heavy hints at "devilish" involvement, but that could possibly be a red herring.

I only have the Godzilla and Ultraman related ones

I get that. However, conservative elements are in control of the country and have been for a long time with the obvious negative consequences.. And they don't tend towards centrist idealism. If anything, they tend to prod centrists towards more extreme conservatism by their rhetoric.

With respect, I don't think "we don't want minorities or gays in America" is a "legitimate concern"...as but one example. Treating them as such leads to "appeasement" and we all know how that turns out. The progressive elements in this country bend over backwards to try to come to an understanding with the conservative elements and they just take advantage of that kindness while being as inflexible as ever. They haven't thrown out even a single olive branch while the progressive side has offered up entire damn forests. As a progressive, I feel like I'm talking to people in a soundproof room. How can we talk about legitimate concerns when conservatives aren't even willing to sit down at the table? And the implication is that it is somehow progressives' fault for Trump because we're "not listening"? Nonsense. The conservative oligarchy that runs America created Trump. That same oligarchy that cares only about wealth and power and manipulates Americans into fighting against their own best interests. Americans ate up Trump's rhetoric because the nation is at heart still living in the 18th century.

It won't. The envelope has been pushed so far that the 1% now knows they're basically invulnerable to anything except a widespread revolution. They'll continue to abuse the system until it breaks...don't you worry.

If you say so. I don't fault the actor, but the character is part of an annoying Hollywood trend of having every bit of dialogue be some clever quip, or trendy one liner, or meta.....it's tiresome.

Anyone of the individuals from Godzilla King of the Monsters doing nothing but spouting one liners the entire movie. Oh wait....that would be the entire cast.

I didn't say that all those comedic roles were good....just that she's known for them (particularly Bridesmaids). Not really the point though. The point was that Wiig was one of the better things in this film because her performance was actually decent.