X-Men: Apocalypse Review

THE END IS HERE!  THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT IS AT HAND!!  PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR RAGNAROK!!!  Wait…that’s a different end of the world story.  Sorry.  PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THE APOCALYPSE!!!  Apocalypse has come to bring about the…Apocalypse.  Well, I suppose technically, his name is En Sabah Nur, but he is here to bring about the Apocalypse.  Or something that closely resembles it, at least.  Either way, we have reached the third, and probably final chapter of the “First Class” trilogy of movies.

And I don’t mean to imply that I think Fox is finished with X-Men movies by saying this may be the final chapter.  Just that it is an untidy wrap up to the origins of Charles Xavier and Magneto that began in X-Men: First Class.  And all of that history established in First Class and Days of Future Past is right on display in Apocalypse.  I would argue that you don’t need to know anything about X-Men before watching First Class or even Days of Future Past, but you really need a familiarity with those previous two movies before seeing Apocalypse.  The emotional payoffs for the First Class group are probably going to fall flat if you don’t have it.  There are also some emotional moments with the younger, recast X-Men from the original trilogy.  If you don’t know them, I don’t feel it’s as big of a deal.  What is an emotional moment for someone that is familiar with the characters should simply be just a cool moment for someone not familiar.

I also want to get one more thing out of the way quickly.  I encourage people that may have an extraordinary knowledge of the comics, and the history and abilities of each character, to not get caught up in the fine details.  Yes, Psylocke’s psychic blade is able to cut through things in the movie, in its blade form.  She also creates a whip, and latches onto people with it.  Please do not throw your keyboard in anger.  And also…ummmm…Cyclops’ eye blasts may have melted some steel beams to fuse them together.  Again, don’t throw keyboard or monitor. That last one is a little vague.  The steel could have been fused by the force of the blasts.  Or blasts creating friction or something.  Or…you know, wouldn’t it just be easier to accept that the eye blasts may have a heat element to them?  It works for Superman.  Just give it a chance.  Remember, this is an adaptation, not a canonical entry in the comics.  It can veer away from the comics, because things like psychic knifes take explanations, and “energy weapon” can just be there and look cool. 

Podicus Wrecks #4 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

In this week’s episode, we talk about my history with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Also, some quick thoughts on Preacher, Alice Through the Looking Glass, and X-Men Apocalypse.

The Darkseid War Act 1

With the release of Justice League #50, The Darkseid War has ended.  Having not read most of it, and hearing that it does lead into DC Universe Rebirth #1, I figured I might as well read it now, and recap it as I go.  With the occasional snarky comment.  This covers Justice League 40-45, the prologue and act one.  I should have Act 2 and Act 3 up by the end of the weekend.  Enjoy.

Metron is sitting in his Mobius chair, doing the whole narrator thing.  He talks about some things he’s observed in the past, because observing is his thing.  Those include the truce between Apokolips and New Genesis, where Highfather and Darkseid each trade a son of theirs to the other, Scott and Orion respectively.  Metron has also observed each of the time altering crises.  Because of the frequency of the crises, the universe is losing it’s cohesion.

After the latest crisis, Flashpoint, the universe has still not yet solidified.  Metron meets with the Anti-Monitor, who he names as Mobius, on the Crime Syndicate planet that he has destroyed (remember Forever Evil).  Metron pleads with Mobius to not continue this course of action, because reality can’t handle it.  Mobius says that he needs a war with Darkseid, because his death is the key to it all.  All being the death of the New Gods and beginning the age of the Anti-God. Metron is attacked from behind by Darkseid’s daughter. 

X-Men Animated Honest Trailer

Honest Trailers is a video series in which the group Screen Junkies do snarky reviews of movies, video games, TV shows.  They’re usually pretty funny, even when they’re praising the subject.  Came across the X-Men: The Animated Series one today, and thought I’d share.  I encourage you to check out more of them.

Not a fan of fan petitions

Generally speaking, I try not to do a lot of name calling on this site.  It’s not professional, and it’s not a good way to get your point across.  I know when I see someone resort to name calling, I usually disregard the rest of what they’re saying.  Name calling makes it seem like they’re not capable of actually putting together a compelling argument. So, I’m not going to resort to that, even though I really wanted to.  I had even typed it out and then changed by mind.  Just know that I don’t think highly of most fan petitions.  I say most, because there may be one out there somewhere that actually does make sense, but I haven’t seen it.

I’m not going to name names, but someone in a group I participate in shared a petition that they had posted on Change.org.  The goal of this petition was to bring in new writers for the show Arrow, because they were unhappy with the third and fourth seasons, and wanted it to return to the quality of season two.  Now, I don’t agree with the perceived drop in quality, but that’s not why I dislike these petitions.  Even if I did agree, I think these things are bad ideas.

First, this is not why Change.org was started.  It’s meant to serve as a means for people to have their voices heard with issue that require social or economical change.  Issues that negatively impact their lives, and are requesting governmental intervention because they need the help.  That does not include people being unhappy because a television show they watch isn’t doing what they want it to do.  The writing of the show does not impact your life.  If you don’t like what a show is doing, quit watching. 

Podicus Wrecks Episode #3 – History of Psylocke

This week’s episode of Podicus Wrecks is up.  With X-Men:  Apocalypse coming out this week, we thought it would be a good idea to go over the complicated history of Psylocke.  So, Jacob, the author of the popular Chuck Austen’s X-Men articles, is in to do just that.

Supergirl moves to CW

Starting this Fall, Supergirl will be on Mondays on the CW, rather than CBS.  This makes sense.  The CW already has 3 DC Comics shows in Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow.  It never really made sense that the same group was making Supergirl, but CBS was airing it.  Now, I suppose the only question is how do they incorporate it with the other shows.  In The Flash/Supergirl crossover, it was established that Supergirl takes place on a different Earth.  They’ve already promised a 4 part crossover between all of the shows.  Maybe they do some type of crisis event, and Supergirl gets stranded on “Earth-1.”  (Earth-1 according to The Flash.)

But whatever they do, I suppose I should get caught up on the show.  Watched the first episode and liked it, but I missed some episodes.

This highlight reel that CW put out may contain some mild spoilers for Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow.  I say mild, because I’m only about halfway through the seasons, and only appearances were spoiled.  No story stuff that I could understand.