Unjustified

It was a mess. 

In so many ways, and for so many reasons. 

What's clear about Justice League is how hard DC and WB are trying to compensate for what's come before, not only in the tonal shift, but in the problematic story-telling and character development that has so plagued the DCEU.

BvS's Batman was an unhinged killer, so they make repeated reference to him being old, jaded and crazy.

And he makes jokes.

Superman has been conflicted, dour and boring, so now, having died and been resurrected, he's lightened up. 

And he makes jokes. 

They even shoe-horn in an excuse for why Wonder Woman dropped off the map for a century, in one of the film's many exposition dumps. 

And she makes jokes. 

By the way, SPOILER ALERT: Superman's not dead. 

...gasp. 

Well, he was (despite the end of BvS clearly showing he wasn't), but the other heroes come up with a convoluted way to bring him back (or wake him up) using the film's MacGuffin...just so the bad guy could come in and nick it to set up the third act. 

The bad guy, incidentally, is...just the bad guy. Never heard of him, and no idea what his back story is. He's basically a CGI-rendered Ronan the Accuser with less depth. 

As for the rest of the cast, given the amount they have to do with such limited screen time, they're actually rather good. 

In fact, Ezra Miller is great as Barry Allen/The Flash: genuinely funny and charming; and I will give the film credit that it manages to strike a good balance between making him a lot more powerful than The Avengers' Quicksilver, yet restricted enough by his own neuroses and inexperience to avoid being as OP as X-Men's Quicksilver. He's also afforded the most organic back-story and character development of the new-comers (though that's not saying much). 

Jason Momoa has acres of screen-presence as Aquaman, but his development is no more interesting than, "I'm a loner and don't work with others... Okay, now I work with others" and his back-story is nothing more than a brief conversation between him and some random Atlantian woman who's supposed to be Mera - his wife from the comics - but is here given no name and only two lines of dialogue (one of which weirdly suggests they may be brother and sister). 

Finally, Ray Fisher does a decent job with Cyborg's internal conflict, but his "arc" is as abrupt as Aquaman's, and as convincing as the CGI used to render him. I.e. not. 

Side note: remember early in the third act of the Avengers, when the

heroes all gather for the first time in one awesome hero-shot?

This thing tries to do the same, FIVE TIMES!

And not one of those times works.

The story is all over the place: The world is apparently sad, and has gone to shit because Superman's died, despite the world in BvS being deeply divided over whether or not his presence was a good thing. Everyone harps on about him being a symbol of hope, which doesn't remotely gel with the attitudes of his previous two outings. 

There are also weird time and location skips, suggesting WB were far more concerned with getting it under two hours than with story flow. 

For example, the climax of one battle has the heroes clinging to a thing while water rushes up, threatening to drown them. The scene then immediately cuts to them all standing on dry land talking about what they're going to do next, as if the editor just had a stroke. 

In the first act, every scene shifts without natural transition, as if they're all isolated shorts clipped together at random: now we're in Gotham; now we're in Themyscira; now London; now Iceland; now Russia...maybe...? 

Even the score is messy. Gone are the Hans Zimmer BHWAAAARMMMs, here replaced with uplifting strings that sound a little too close to The Avengers' soundtrack. The Wonder Woman theme makes a brief reappearance, as does a bar or two from Tim Burton's Batman films (not too surprising given they brought Danny Elfman on to do the score). 

The thing is, with all that said, it's actually not terrible. It's not good, but it is watchable, sporadically entertaining and a damn sight better than three of the four films that have preceded it. Afleck's still good as Batman (in fact, better here than he was in BvS (at least he now has a personality)), Gadot's still awesome as Diana, Jeremy Irons is still an interesting Alfred, and Cavil is still...well, he looks the part. 

The characters and set-pieces are mostly entertaining, the script's mostly snappy, and it mostly isn't boring. I realise that's hardly a ringing endorsement, but what's most clear about this film is that it's damage control. Man of Steel was underwhelming, Batman v Superman was crap, and Suicide Squad was only marginally better on account of taking itself slightly less seriously. Unlike The Avengers, which was Marvel's self-congratulatory fireworks display to cap-off phase one, Justice League is a desperate attempt to end on a positive note. They know they're not going to impress anyone, so they just want to round things off in a not-awful fashion, in the hope attitudes are a little more positive when (if) they finally start their phase two.

The Defenders

It's not bad.

The action's entertaining, the characters interact well, it's always good to see more of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, and overall the series is far more focused than most that have come before (which is surprising given there are now 4 'heroes' to deal with).

Unfortunately, there's little to it beyond that. The story, though focused, isn't particularly interesting, Sigourney Weaver's good as the new villain, but doesn't get a lot to do, and the hole 'The Hand' thing has never really worked anyway. And the coming together of these four iconic characters doesn't raise so much as a mild tingle as two are boring, frustrating dim-wits, Daredevil's a badass, but is otherwise flat beyond a few wry lines, and only Jessica Jones is genuinely compelling, and interesting to watch outside of the fight scenes.

I am, however, given hope for the future of the franchise because they do seem to be aware of the problems of the past. It was too late to fix Iron Fist's character for this series, but at least he's called out by the others (especially the always entertaining Stick) for being a childish, entitled dip-shit. At only 8 episodes long, there's little filler beyond the first episode (which does drag, so be prepared for that initial hurdle), and it's the first of these I've been able to watch in (almost) a single sitting. They even addressed the botch job they made of Elektra - and the child-of-destiny crap that is the hallmark of the lazy writer - with a twist late into the series that I did see coming, but not in the way they did it, or the direction they then took it in.

Overall, I'd rank it 4th in the MNU:

1. Daredevil & Jessica Jones 
[JJ is by far the best written, with the most interesting and intelligent story, and compelling protagonist, but DD was more entertaining and bore the burden of both getting this whole thing started, and making up for what had come before better than I could have hoped. Plus both had awesome villains that out-do anything in even the MCU, including Loki (come at me, brah!)]

3. Daredevil season 2
[If it was just the Punisher-focused stuff, this would be alongside Jessica Jones instead of season 1, but the whole thing was brought down by the Elektra/Hand crap]

4. The Defenders
[See above]

5. Luke Cage
[Great ensemble of villains, and supporting cast, but lazy writing, good ideas that went nowhere, boring action, and a frustrating protagonist]

6. Iron Fist
[If only I could rank it lower...]

Grr! Arg! Politicians!

Okay, this one is going to be a tad angry and sweary (and maybe rehashy), so I apologies in advance...

Theresa May praises public wage cap 'sacrifice'

How dare that stuck-up, backward, regressive, privileged, egregious self-serving cunt talk about 'sacrifice' when slashing pay for police, fire-fighters, doctors, nurses and paramedics*!

*A 1% cap on pay rises means their pay doesn't rise with inflation, and they have all

been increasingly worse off, year on year, since the cap was introduced

"The PM says she recognises the sacrifice nurses and others make but says the deficit had to be tackled."

For the billionth time, you slow-witted fuck-tard, no-one's arguing that the deficit didn't need tackling.  The problem is the way the Tories chose to tackle it: not by going after the bankers, investors and politicians who caused it, or borrowing more to invest in a stronger economy that could then deal with it, or laying the burden on those who could easily bear it, but by laying it on those who couldn't; those who were already the victims of it.

For "being fiscally responsible", read "ensuring the rich stay rich at the cost of everyone else".

And they wonder why they're abused by members of the public!  Blinkered ideology plays its part, but it's mostly because they're predominantly arseholes.  Their abusers are merely treating them with the same respect they've shown everyone who isn't within their social demographic.

"How dare they call us names?!  After all we've done for ourselves in their name!  The proles should be grateful we even acknowledge their existence!"

That's not to say all of the abuse was justified, but it's a lot easier to dehumanise - and so abuse - a group so fundamentally lacking in humanity.

But would they ever look inwards for answers?  Is there any acknowledgement that the abuse they receive may have something to do with how they treat people?

Of course not.

When looking to save on benefits, does it occur to them to means-test their own?  That, just perhaps, someone already worth millions and receiving a six-figure salary can cover their own travel expenses?

That's just crazy talk!

"Well I suppose we could save on some of our parliamentary excesses, but you know, a bill isn't a bill unless it's handwritten by professional calligraphers on the finest vellum.  Besides there are perfectly good food banks for those nurses who do insist on feeding their offspring."

Theresa May is scum. 

Her front-benchers are scum. 

The majority of her back-benchers are scum. 

And the other parties don't fair much better. 

With precious few exceptions, privileged, out-of-touch, self-serving, greedy, gormless, feckless, worthless scum.

B-A-B-Y

On the surface, Baby Driver is a simple film: kid is great at driving; helps a mobster pull off heists; things go awry; kid has to use his skills to stay alive.

There's even a love-interest and an enfeebled family member to round out the cliches.

But if there's one thing Baby Driver is not, it's cliched... Well, not outside of its plot, anyway.

It could be argued the film is style over substance, but when that style is of the great Edgar Wright, I'd equate it more to a moving work of art.  Wright isn't the only director meticulous in his scene-crafting, but it's rare to see every footstep, every twitch, every gunshot, every cough of a passer-by or rev of a passing car choreographed to the exquisite soundtrack.

The script also carries Wright's innate wit, and is delivered with perfect pitch by the leads, in particular Kevin Spacey as Doc.  He and Ansel Elgort's Baby (his character, not his spawn) share a laconic deadpan, but while Baby's aloof demeanour fades as the film progresses, Doc's hold's right up until a pivotal betrayal, and even then only takes a slight hit.  And it is always juxtaposed with a sharpness clarifying him as both a scumbag, and the most intelligent and interesting guy in the room.

Though one scene is completely stolen by Doc's nephew.

Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are hit-and-miss.  John Bernthal has the look and attitude of a typical heavy, but often plays such characters with unexpected layers.  Here, he just plays a typical heavy, and is gone in two minutes.

Flea and Lanny Joon add some fun comic relief, but last barely longer than Bernthal.

But the biggest let-down was Jamie Foxx's Bats.  He's rarely anything but annoyingly aggressive, and other than a couple of scenes specifically staged to demonstrate his intelligence, otherwise behaves like a short-tempered moron, constantly putting the entire enterprise at risk on a violent whim.  Foxx does a good enough job with the character, whenever called upon to demonstrate some nuance, but those moments don't feel earned.

I personally felt an 'insightful' speech in a diner came out of nowhere,

and might as well have been a different character entirely.

The character serves a roll in the story, but is ultimately little more than a caricature.  

Contrast that with John Hamm's Buddy, who feels like the polar opposite of Bats - a lovable rogue, and cool and calm, wise old-hat - but takes a drastic turn following a failed job.  The shift in character is jarring, but nevertheless fits with how he's portrayed and what happens to him.

Eiza González also gets a surprising amount to do as Darling: lustful around Buddy, playful with the crew, borderline maternal to Baby, but cold, stoic and direct when it's time to get professional.

Lily James' Debora also gets off a little better than most, showing wit and agency, and managing to not fall into the trap of damsel-in-distress, but like Bats, there's little to the character beyond the required beats she hits in the plot.

However, the real star of the show is the action, and it's here the film shines brightly.  As mentioned, much of the film is choreographed to the soundtrack, and nowhere is this better demonstrated than in a Heat-esque shootout.  And the opening car-chase is one of the best I've seen this side of The Blues Brothers.  It is a shame that those and another mid-film car-chase are the highlights of the film, as the finale feels a bit short-changed by comparison, but it is still one hell of a ride, and very much worth the price of submission.

It's also worth noting that no CGI was used in the making of this film!

Kind of like Free Fire before it, Baby Driver is a simple, but highly entertaining passion-piece, that moves at a blistering pace, yet is as cool as a chilled beer on an extremely balmy summer's evening.

(blimey it's warm!)

The End is Nigh

I have a substantial post sitting in my drafts that I was planning to put up today, but it's a tad rambly, and sporadically on topic, so here's something (hopefully) a little more concise.

GET THE TORIES OUT!

Don't be fooled; Brexit is an element of this election, without question, but it is neither the most pressing concern, nor the reason this all happened in the first place.  Theresa May wants unfettered control, saw an opportunity to get rid of Labour once and for all, and took it.

And in her arrogance, she's barely been coy about what will come as a result of a Tory win tomorrow: the NHS will continue to stagnate and crumble, until it can be sold off at a pittance; police cuts will continue to put all of our lives at risk - something she now plans to offset, not by putting more bobbies on the beat, but stripping away our human rights!

The burden of austerity will continue to be heaped upon those who can't bare it, while the best off in this country will continue to reap the rewards.

No, Theresa, there are not 'any number of reasons' why nurses use food-banks.  Nurses use food-banks because they can't afford food!

Nurses!

Where once, paid-for care in your old age would leave you with at least your final £23,000 of savings - not including your house - the cap will be raised to £100,000, including your house.  In other words, if your house is worth more than £100,000, you'll be left with nothing but a roof over your head by the time your care's paid for, and that roof then goes to the government once you croak.

Free, healthy lunches will be taken from infants, and replaced (in part) with 7p breakfasts.

If the Brexit negotiations don't go her way (and given the rag-tag team of Brexiteers she's put together to handle the negotiations, they won't), then she's promised to just 'walk away'.

"No deal is better than a bad deal."

Bullshit.  The only thing worse than a bad deal, is no deal.

'Strong and stable'?  She's a coward!  While Corbyn was facing down six of his opponents (well, five and a sub), she was in a factory with (pre-vetted) Joe Public, while a woman who'd lost her father that week got laughed at in her stead.

"I've debated him every week at PMQs."

No you haven't.  You've avoided every question he's ever asked, instead spouting soundbites and taking swipes at New Labour, who haven't been in power for almost a decade, and haven't existed (outside of a few misguided and failed rebellions) since Corbyn took over.

And regardless of what happens, she'll be bending us all over in front of Trump (assuming he's still there by the end of the week) in a desperate bid to secure at least one trade deal that isn't too much worse than the one we have already.

"But never mind all that: the Sun, Mail and Express are all running (long ago disproved) headlines about Corbyn being a terrorist sympathiser, and coming from them it must be true...!"

I'm not saying everyone should vote Labour tomorrow, but if they've got the best chance of beating the Tory in your constituancy, then do!  If it's the Lib Dems, vote Lib Dem.  SNP.  Greens.  Whoever it is who will take a seat from May!

Because that's what's important this election: putting an end to this regime, that started with Cameron, and has descended into deepening despair with May.  She claims this election was about a stronger footing at the negotiating table, and if the Tories are down just one seat when the count is done, she will, by her own measure, have weakened the country for the sake of her ego.

Just one seat, and the weak, wobbly, detrimental, arrogant, egotistical, homophobic, greedy, self-righteous...person (fought so hard against typing something else), will be out come the end of the Brexit negotiations, if not sooner.

...

That was considerably longer and ramblier than I intended... Sorry.

Isn't it a Wonder

Wonder Woman isn't crap!

*cheering*

Better still, while given DC's run so far, not being crap is an achievement in itself, this goes the extra mile and is actually good!

Not great (as several reviews have been rating it), but while not one of its compatriots is good enough to be ranked alongside even the worst of the MCU so far, Wonder Woman sits comfortably up there with Iron Man, Thor and Doctor Strange, and is certainly better than The Incredible Hulk and The Dark World.

The cast is bang-on.  I balked at the announcement of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, as I'd only seen her in the Fast and Furious franchise, in which she was about as Amazonian as a willow tree:

She is now literally twice the woman she was

Hopes were raised when a mid-training pic was released, and she'd already bulked significantly, and when BvS finally rolled around, she proved to be an island of awesome in a sea of regurgitated pigswill.

And Wonder Woman shows she doesn't just shine by comparison to a dreary mound of bilge, but can carry an entire, enjoyable film, portraying strength and naivety, humour and pain, and convincingly kicking a significant amount of arse.

Chris Pine, too, shines in his sidekick/romantic interest roll, that manages to be more than you might expect from those things.  Steve Trevor has passion, wit and agency, and while the romance is a little rushed, there is chemistry between the two leads.

The supporting cast - from the residents of Themyscira to Steve's eclectic entourage - are also strong, and the whole ensemble interacts well, though as a result, it's a shame we won't get to see any of these characters again.  The DCEU could do with some likable supporting characters outside of the super-humans to flesh things out.

Unfortunately, the film is not without its (sometimes significant) issues; most of which are now staples of the DCEU.  While Wonder Woman is a lot sunnier and more colourful than previous entries, there is still overuse of a high-contrast filter that makes everything look garish, and makes any special effects scenes - whether they be using CGI or blue-screen - look amateurish.

A particular scene early on, that shows Steve Trevor bombing a weapons factory, is cringe worthy.

Speaking of special effects, it's refreshing to see CGI used so sparingly.  But when it is used, it's terrible, most notably in the climactic battle that devolves into the same muddled, phony, crappy-video-game-cut-scene mess that we suffered through in the previous two films.

The pacing is also off.  The opening 20 minutes is one long, boring exposition dump (albeit broken up by a decent battle on a beach).  The whole thing could've been done with a two-minute voice-over, interspersed with footage of Diana's training, and hints that she's not like the rest of her people.  You then have the beach battle, quick catch-up on the War, and off she goes to save the world.

That, or you spend more time on Themyscira, properly developing the characters and back-story, and showing instead of telling, rather than rushing through it like a history lecture even the teacher doesn't want to sit through.

Fortunately, once they're off the island, things pick up.  The interaction between our leads is playful, and humorously awkward, Gadot's wide-eyed, fish-out-of-water - yet smartest person in the room - routine is perfectly pitched, and there's plenty of fun to be had with Steve's secretary, Etta, played by the always brilliant, but unrecognisable (until I just looked her up on IMDB to see who it was) Lucy Davis.

One of those Oh yeah, it's her from that thing... actresses

Then it's off to war, and it's here where the film really rises up.  In the comics, Wonder Woman's origin was set during World War II, and she spent much of her time - like many super-heroes of the era - punching Nazis in the name of freedom.

The film, however, is set during World War I, where the 'bad guys' could not be so clearly defined.  This means that, not only could they show Diana's innocence being torn to shreds by the horrors of war - and it very much is in a couple of particularly effecting scenes - but also her naivety about good vs. evil, and man's capacity for both, how ever noble or well-intentioned they may be.

Things do slow down again, after a tremendous battle that stretches from No-Mans Land to an occupied village, but not for long, and not without purpose.

Alas, this being a DC film, the great cast, enjoyable characters and depth of writing can't save it from the clumsy, childish hand of Warner Bros. execs.  Now, I don't know for certain that it was they who demanded yet another CGI shit-fest for the climax, but it reeks of the same studio intervening I smell at the end of both Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad.  And as all three films have had different writing and and directing teams, it's a safe bet that these ill-thought-out, unconvincingly explosive finales are corporately mandated.

While occasionally imaginative, it's slow, distractingly fake, often difficult to follow (thank Christ we didn't see this in 3D), and has a few slow-down moments meant to emphasise some kind of inner-turmoil, or big crescendo, but evoke only an eye-roll at dragging out the tedium.

It doesn't ruin the film, by any means, and the ending does have its brave, heartfelt and well-executed moments, but it does lessen what could have been a strong, poignant climax.

Wonder Woman shows that DC still has a lot bugs in its formula it needs to iron out, but it's a confident stride in the right direction.  Let's just hope things don't regress with Justice League (at least the trailer has jokes).

Coalition of Common Sense

One of the Tories' myriad stock phrases on the General Election campaign trail has been a warning against a 'coalition of chaos' arising should they not win a significant majority.

With the Greens' Caroline Lucas urging candidates not to stand against the best anti-Tory hopes, Vince Cable suggesting similar, and Labour activists backing a non-Labour rival to Jeremy C- um, Hunt, there certainly seems to be a lot of cross-party cooperation on the cards.

But is this a bad thing?

Tim Farron and Jeremy Corbyn certainly want us to think they're against it; with one seaming to believe they can take the mantel as the new opposition, and the other suggesting they can actually win this election.

The thing is, unless your name's Donald Trump, delusion does not win elections.  When it comes to a three party race (which is currently the best the Lib Dems can hope for (sorry Tim)), the Conservatives have this in the bag.  Their blinkered, bludgeoning, bungling approach to Brexit, demolition of the NHS, disenfranchisement of the poor and needy, and bending over forwards to please the world's rich and unbalanced is apparently nothing next to how un-Prime Ministerial Corbyn and Farron appear in the eyes of the electorate.

Partisanship is not going to unseat the Tories, or grant any one opposition party a significant voice.  In the current climate, it is vital to have all parties working together.

And not only in opposition to a Tory party fumbling in the dark since Cameron's unceremonious departure, but with the Tories when it comes to negotiating our way out of the EU.

Unfortunately, the Lib Dems can promise a second referendum all they want; it isn't going to happen.  But by the same merit, nor will a Tory majority grant Theresa May a 'strong and stable' hand in the negotiating process.  Brexit was and is a divisive issue, and the backing of one third of whatever percentage of the electorate bothers to vote does not mean you have the support of the nation.  The EU knows this, and will demolish a May-led negotiation if it relies on 'a Tory majority' as a sign of national unity and strength.

The EU cannot, and will not, allow abandoning the union to be a positive move.  And one party - regardless of its perceived mandate from whatever narrow portion of the nation supports them (as is the best any party can achieve under our current electoral system) - cannot stand up to 27 unified nations with a unified goal.

Only a coalition of all parties, representing all areas of the UK, will give us any kind of strength during negotiations.  The only way to force May to accept this is to reduce her majority, and our best hope for doing that is for all opposition parties to work together.