I finally went to the movies to watch Black Panther on Monday.  It's not a bad film but it's been so ridiculously hyped up that I was ultimately rather disappointed.  I rarely go to the movies, only when I expect something truly special.  I think last time I went was to see Fury Road.  Fury Road, this ain't.  The first half plays like it wants to be a James Bond movie and the second half somehow reminded me of The Dark Knight Rises.  Good film but not great.

Guillermo Del Toro is an incredible director.  I especially loved his old Mexican movies.  Cronos, Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth.  With the exception of the two Hellboy movies I haven't seen most of his superhero/summer blockbuster movies but will definitely be watching Shape of Water.

Cronos is a fun noirish horror film.  Devil's Backbone is must-see orphanage ghost story taking place at the start of the Spanish civil war.  On par with Pan's Labyrinth if not better.

Blade 2 was so disappointing after the original; one of the most stylish films of its era. I don't even remember Hellboy enough to know if I liked it or not; that's not a good sign. But I did like Pacific Rim, as it was utterly shameless fan fiction (unlike The Force Awakens, which is very repressed fan fiction).

I will watch Pan's Labyrinth soon.

Anyway, when I was 8 or 9 I wanted to see Saving Private Ryan in the cinema, but sadly R rated films were the only area where the liberality of my parents failed. Seeing it now, almost 20 years later, I wish I had seen it then as, other than being perfect for a giant screen, I think you'd have to be that young not to think it's an utter piece of shit.

Speaking of Spielberg, I was surprised by how good Schindler's List was. I was expecting something as lame as the Shawshank Redemption, but set in the holocaust. Only Spielberg, a man with seemingly no ideas on anything except how to make film (and even then, his ideas aren't very interesting), could make a film about the holocaust full of both sentiment and a surprising amount of accuracy. Also, I’ve seen people say he makes Schindler out to be nicer than he probably was in reality, but if anything, the opposite is true: the dude was a fucking badarse in reality; an important Nazi (I suppose that’s where the whitewashing comes in) working with partisans behind their back, openly supporting Jews and getting away with it due to his riches earned from slavery! A true hero.

That sounds like I'm shitting on Spielberg, but it's actually his very unique strength.

Loved Blade 1.

Before the Marvel era and it was awesome.

Will try to watch Annihilation tonight.  Must. Stay. Awake.

Watched Pan's Labyrinth. Turns out it really is a great fairy tale. From what I'd heard of it, I was expecting something more ambitious (ala Oz or Alice), but I'm glad it wasn't; no one has the balls to try and make a straight up fairy tale anymore, and just copy the two aforementioned works of genius, instead. And invariably fail.

Also, CGI still looked great. Art direction>>>pixels.

I can now call myself a Del Toro fan without reservations.

I watched Life of Brian recently. Easily my favourite Monty Python movie. Somehow I hadn't watched it in years and I got a few jokes this time that I didn't get or notice the previous times.

Steven Spielberg is entering the world of DC Comics with Blackhawk!

Steven Spielberg is ready to dive into the DC Universe proper with Blackhawk, a just-announced feature film from Spielberg, Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures based on the classic DC series about a squadron of WWII-era pilots. Blackhawk, which Spielberg is hoping to direct, will be his first featured centered around characters from the DC Universe.


The screenplay for Blackhawk is being written by frequent Spielberg collaborator David Koepp, who was the screenwriter on Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and War of the Worlds. Spielberg will produce the film together with Kristie Macosko Krieger, under the Amblin Entertainment banner, while Sue Kroll will executive produce, under her Kroll & Co. Entertainment shingle.

In the world of comics, Blackhawk is a wartime adventure series focusing on the titular Blackhawk, who commanded a squadron of ace pilots also known as the Blackhawks or the Blackhawk Squadron. The squadron would battle the Axis powers, as well as more fantastic super-villains and war machines, such as the memorable shark planes, which could operate in water as well as in the air. While the team debuted in 1941 in the heart of comics' Golden Age, they’ve also been adapted to the modern era as a part of The New 52 and have spawned a well-known DC heroine, Lady Blackhawk, who joined the series in the late 1950s.

There where rumors in the 80s and 90s about Steven Spielberg wanting to make a Blackhawks movie.

robio said:

Spielberg was also shiting on superhero movies not too long ago. He doesn't make bad movies, so I'm sure it will be fine, but it does concern me a little and makes me wonder what exactly he's going to do with this.

Though Blackhawks isn't really a superhero movie. It is a war movie set in the DC Universe.

He didn't really say anything bad about superhero movies just that it will be like Westerns in that they used to be really popular but faded away after two decades of popularity. Now westerns show up once in a while.

He also said that he loved Guardians of the Galaxy.