Friday Funnies on Sunday: Idea for Cars 4

     You heard it here first:

     in a callback to Cars 2, Sir Miles Axelrod swears revenge on Mater and Lightning; The remnants of his shadowy organization, led by his brother Kilos, Target the two friends and send them on the run, away from their home in Radiator Springs.

    While hiding in LA, they meet a singer, named Freddy Cougar, Who introduces them to his Cousin, who he says can protect them.

     Enter Cade Carson, who seems and probably is insane. He talks to cars that aren't there, and insists they refer to him as

CARPOOL

The Merc with a mouth

With apologies and thanks to the original artist and Hot Wheels

Toysday: The Long Road

     It's all been leading up to this; Ten Years, Three Phases. Eighteen films

1 Phase One

1.1 Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man, Nick Fury

1.2 The Incredible Hulk (2008)

1.3 Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man, Black Widow

1.4 Thor (2011)

Loki, Thor, Hawkeye

1.5 Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

1.6 Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

2 Phase Two

2.1 Iron Man 3 (2013)

2.2 Thor: The Dark World (2013)

2.3 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

2.4 Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

2.5 Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

2.6 Ant-Man (2015)

3 Phase Three

3.1 Captain America: Civil War (2016)

3.2 Doctor Strange (2016)

3.3 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

3.4 Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

3.5 Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

3.6 Black Panther (2018)

     All leading up to 

 WAR

Monday Movie Musings: Marvel Phase 1

     Superhero TV Shows and movies have been with us for a while. I tend to think it was Tim Burton's Batman that began the modern age of Superhero movies. Far from the strong-jawed idealism of Superman the movie, and ages apart from the silly camp of the 1966 Batman {WHAM!} and [POW!!] this was dark, gritty and concluded with the gruesome death of the Joker after falling (assuming I counted the steps correctly to the top of the Gotham Cathedral) about 20.000 feet to the Gotham street. Since that time, most of our Superheros have been casual killers. No Christopher Reeve carting Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty off to jail sans due process...

The Joker- dead and getting the last laugh. 

The Penguin- Dead and surreal penguin funeral

Two-Face-Dead

The Green Goblin-Dead

Doctor Octopus-Dead but redeemed

Venom-Dead

Iron Monger- Dead

Whiplash- Dead

The Red Skull-Probably dead

     Oddly, it was The Nolan Batman trilogy that seemed to re-establish the Batman no-killing rule. 

     Now if you are one of the five people still trying to avoid spoilers on Spider-man Homecoming, read no further, for I shall speak that which you cannot hear. 

SPOILERS

     In Homecoming, Peter does not just spare, but actively runs into fire to save an enemy who knows his identity, and who has already threatened his life and family. I hope to see this as a trend that continues. 

      Superheroes don't kill, unless there is no other choice, and there is usually another choice. One of the big complaints about Man of Steel was that Superman killed someone. 

     Not what I planned to talk about, but here we are...you never really know where Mondays are going to lead me. 

Monday Movie Musings

     A new feature here at the hideaway, not necessarily full reviews, just thoughts on what I am watching.



     Spider-man Homecoming was excellent- wonderful cast, not a change I would make. Michael Keaton makes the Vulture a complex and human villain, sort of an Anti-Tony Stark- a family man, forced onto the wrong side of the law by circumstances, yet with an honor code of his own.

     Peter looks like...acts like...has the concerns of...a High school student- He has to worry about attending and passing his classes- and he is casually smart. He doesn't have to make a big deal out of having the answers, he just knows them.

     His friends, family, people he knows in the neighborhood... all form a very gentle tapestry of film, rather than the hard-edged Spider-man films we have had before. Tom Holland is engaging, and actually knows how to smile! I'm hard pressed to say whether this one or Wonder Woman was actually better, because it's super-close.


     Other Stuff- Discussions with the Amateur Skeptics on the podcast got me thinking about the movie A.I. by Spielberg. I wasn't a huge fan of the film when I saw it, and watching it again over the weekend, I still found it disquieting...The thoughts it left me with are:

• How much is one more good day with someone you love worth to you?
• You are responsible for what you tame. I was incredibly upset at the scene where Monica abandons David and Teddy in the woods-Sharp echoes of abandoning a no-longer-loved pet, even though she did it so he would not be destroyed. She was selfish to imprint him in the first place if she was unsure. 
• The Flesh Fair was humanity at it's worst, proving itself "superior" by barbarically killing what is copying it. The fact that they couldn't kill a child-shaped mecha does not forgive them. 

AI is not supposed to be a comfortable movie- it's not supposed to make you feel good. it's supposed to ask questions there are no answers to. All I know is it makes me want to go hold my birds and never let go. 

Captain America Civil War: Aftermath

     I wanted a place to collect all the weird product tie-ins I found for the movie, and there were a few...

this is clearly a "throw pillow"

Iron Man signed the PEZ Accords, but not Cap. 

This is for Back to School. for those sniffly days when you have to start a fight with your best friend

     And finally a ;little story about the product I did buy- the throw (appropriately named) bearing the image of Captain America's shield. Just a nice blanket, you might think, as did I, until it sames Sam from IMMINENT ATTACK. She was in the room with me, and Tango started at her, with Blood in his Eye. And he hit the shield blanket, and stopped...and flexed his claw on the fabric...and rolled on it. Tango loves soft fabrics, he loves to touch them, wrap himself up in them... you get the picture. So with his attack on Sam forgotten in the feel of the Velourbranium* blanket, Sam made her escape. I can't recommend this product highly enough if you find yourself in those circumstances

For more on Sam and Tango and their tortured relationship



*Velourbranium is a rare fabric woven in Wakanda which takes Hostility directed against it and turns it into warm, fuzzy, comfortable feelings. To quote Ultron: "The most versatile fabric on the planet and they used it to make a blanket. Actually, that was a pretty good idea."

Exiting Offscreen

     So one of my big personal peeves is when they replace a character or an actor from one movie to another. When an actor has personjal trouble, or they are "set poison" or the just downright don't wanna do it, it disturbs a space in my head, and knocks me off an even keel in an already chaotic world. One thing I value very highly is my mental well being, and I try to treat my mind pretty gently.

     Some examples:

• Mikaela Banes in the Transformers franchise- She clashed with the director and producers of the movies, prompting her removal between ROTF and DOTM with a weak "she broke up with Sam" story. For that matter, the entire Witwicky family vanished from the franchise after DOTM, as did Seymour Simmons. 
• The Rhodey Switch between Iron Man and Iron Man 2- Don't get me wrong- I preferred Don Cheadle's performance and characterization over Terrence Howard's, but a body-swap is a body swap in my head-space, and it ripples outward causing chaos in my head. Here is some info that may explain the switch, but I am sure there is more to it. 
• The Vanished Henley Reeves- The story in the film was that she got tired of waiting for The Eye and asked to be let out. The real deal is that the actress was pregnant and could not film. 
• The Lonely Death of Steven Hiller- This is an offscreen death with him dying as a test pilot for the earth defense program.  A plausible, but weak story. The real story is that Will Smith, is alive, well, and too pricey for the sequel. 
• You wouldn't like me when I'm Edward Norton- I prefer Mark Ruffalo, but he and Edward look nothing alike. 'Nuff said
• Dumbledore Polyjuices from Harris to Gambon- Again,  I like the second actor better. I wish they had cast him in the first two. Nothing against Richard Harris, but I like Michael Gambon's portrayal better

     So why am I bringing this up? these exits and changes are all part of life. People Die, People Break Up. Actresses get pregnant, or get sick. Actors die, or their stock goes up and they get expensive. 

     My problem with this, is that my head-space uses movies to make sense of the world, and make it manageable. when so much is uncontrollable, a movie or a book is a scripted world where things go as they should. When something goes out of control in a movie, it causes a little but significant disruption in my ability to focus on it, and distracts me. I have to satisfy myself beforehand that other aspects of the work are to my liking so I can settle in and enjoy it. It makes me almost not want to see things where this has happened, and did actually stop me from wanting to see Independence Day:Resurgence in theater. 

Anyway. just ranting a little rant for you. 

Civil War

      Civil War came out on DVD and Blu-ray which if you are my normal audiences, should come as no surprise. I watched it, also no surprise, as a follow-up to Age of Ultron. In the theater, the  movie was huge and overwhelming, and moved fast. On the small screen, it was a little more contained and free for reflection. 

     What struck me most this time was the complexity of the damage each of the characters is feeling and dealing with. This is no simple "we are angry and must fight!" This was all about family and the consequences of our actions, or our inactions. This was nigh Shakespearean.

     Steve Rogers, weighed down with the death of Peggy Carter, his perceived failure of Bucky Barnes, and the deaths of innocents in Lagos, has no bend in him, and no trust for the treaty that is being proposed. He is losing what is left of the world he came from, and that makes him all the more determined to save Bucky. He is clad in red, white and blue, but it's a dark blue, and a blood red.

 If we sign these accords, it takes away our right to choose.

     Diametrically opposed to him is Tony Stark, reeling from guilt over creating Ultron, his crumbling relationship with Pepper Potts, and never saying goodbye to his parents, favors the treaty as a balm, a way to shed the responsibility for all the blood he can never cleanse from his hands. In addition, Steve Rogers has been held up to him as an example for all his life, and he has been found wanting. His colors are red and gold. 

We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game

     Wanda Maximoff, in red and black, is mourning her twin, feeling the crush of her failure in Lagos, where her powers saved Cap, but her inexperience killed Wakandan citizens. She is also struggling with the question of whether she is still human, given her abilities.

... I used to think of myself one way. But after this...

     The Vision, in magenta, green and gold, is struggling to find his place in a world where he is filled with knowledge, but poor in experience. He is striving to do the right thing, based on the mathematical truth he sees.

Oversight... Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.

     T'Challa, in black and silver, is carrying the weight of his family legacy, as well as his recent ascension to the throne, holding his dying father in his arms. Oddly, his colors are well matched to the man he believes to be his father's killer.

Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them. I'm done letting it consume me. Justice will come soon enough.

     James Buchanan Barnes has a head full of confused memory and programming to kill. A victim, turned into a weapon, a man who has lost everything, his world, his self determination, even his self worth.

I don't know if I'm worth all this to you.

     These are the primary drivers of the tragedy. Three pairs of people who will shake and shatter earths mightiest heroes when they collide.

Six people who will affect each other in ways that they can't predict.

     Then we have the antagonists.

     Thaddeus Ross, a career military man with a bias toward chain of command. He loosed a monster on New York, and loosed another to stop the one he created from his hatred. He claims to have gained perspective, but still can't tell the good guys from the bad. He sets the stage indifferently, applying rules for the sake of rules.

You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. But while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word "vigilantes".

     Helmut Zemo is filled with hate because of the deaths of his family. His is the shadowy hand that aims the protagonists at one another, to destroy from within. To be avenged upon the Avengers.

An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumbles from within? That's dead... forever.

     And then we have the sidekicks.

     James Rhodes has been a friend to Tony Stark through the worst and best of what he has been. Always faithful, not always approving, he backs the treaty 100% for the sake of accountability. In his world, he's a soldier, and knows that someone has to be responsible for collateral damage.

117 countries wanna sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, "Nah, it's cool."

     Sam Wilson has become the right hand of Steve Rogers. He backs every play, even when he doesn't agree fully. This doesn't make him a lackey, it just shows he trusts Steve to lead him into danger, and back out again, 

I just wanna make sure we consider all our options. The people that shoot at you usually wind up shooting at me.

    Big cast so far. right? And we are not done. We have the damage control, Clint Barton on Cap's team, Natasha Romanova on Iron Man's, trying to hold everything together and keep it from getting too messed up. Trying to make sure there is still a team, a family at the end. In some ways they have been with the Avenger initiative longer than anyone else. They are not the most powerful, but they are perhaps the most experienced. 

'We're still friends, right?'
'Depends on how hard you hit me.'

     Then we have the Ingenues, Spider-Man and Ant-Man, not invested in the struggle, just big fans and happy to be included. Their inexperience and sense of fun brings comic relief to the chaos around them.

When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.

Jeez... Uh, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super-people so... thinks for thanking of me.

    Shake, destroy an airport, and let simmer. 

     What began for Tony Stark as being about redemption becomes retribution for his parents. What began for T'Challa as vengeance becomes justice, as he realizes he almost killed the wrong man. What began as turmoil for Bucky becomes peace as he is given a place to rest and heal. James Rhodes is grievously injured and Cap's team is imprisoned in supervillain-jail. 

     Cap begins and ends being about protection of his friends, including protecting them from other, misguided friends. He lays down the shield that Tony's father made but extends an olive branch to Tony at the end, a letter and a phone to contact him. And Marvel Universe phase three begins with the Avengers, disassembled

Pop Culture League Challenge:Aliens Among Us

  “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.”

     This is a topic that has always interested me. Mr Hawking is a brilliant man, and his quote has a lot of merit, but it's predicated on the assumption that the aliens think like we do. To think like us, they would have had to develop their intelligence overcoming similar challenges to what we faced, and to overcome them in similar ways, or so it seems to me. As an example, our system of Maths is Base 10, because we have ten fingers- How differently would a species think who had eight fingers?

     I have seen a lot of movies about aliens among us. From the guys just trying to get along in  M.I.B. to the horrible sadistic destroyers of Battleship, Independence Day and Mars Attacks, to the secret war of Alien shape-shifting robots among us of the Transformers series. and our imagination conceives of two main possibilities. Examples below.

     If the aliens are hostile, they will destroy us. 

• Independence Day
• Mars Attacks
• Pacific Rim
• Cowboys and Aliens
• Battleship
• Predator
• Super 8
• Signs

     If the aliens are peace loving, we will kill them or Abuse them in some way. 

• Starman
• E.T.
• Paul
• M.I.B.
• K-Pax
• Avatar

     Transformers fits both categories. So does the Jurassic park saga.

     Now here is where I depart...I live with an alien intelligence. He is my pet, or perhaps I am his pet. It all depends on whether you ask me, or ask Tango. Parrots as well as many other bird families, are at least as intelligent as a human child, have been taught the exchange of currency, have developed tool use, and can learn to understand and converse in some English. Parrots have been taught to count and identify shapes and colors. They have deep seated emotions, and empathy. They can understand human emotions well enough to manipulate us into adopting and keeping them.  And they do all that with teeny, tiny brains...

     Avian intelligence developed in a completely different way and in a different part of the brain than ours did. We say that they are about as smart as a human toddler, but we really can't measure them except in human terms, and with human tests. 

     If we have extra-terrestrial visitors, what's to say we would even comprehend their motivations, or even that we are the ones they came to see? They might be checking in with feathery friends who survived the cretaceous mass extinction, and who predate primate ascendancy

     So the aliens are among us. They are among us, and they have air support. Sleep with one eye open...

Others who Prepped for the invasion

• Green Plastic Squirt Gun Kept it sweet and to the point
• the Toy Box looked to the stars and found the Bundys
• Toy Break has pointed out earth's secret master, and will be disappearing soon. 
• GI Jigsaw knows the key to our survival is our action movies
• AEIOU and sometimes Why thinks our pop culture would assimilate the visitors
• Calvin's Canadian Cave of Cool  thinks(among other things) that we would show the aliens the Colonel's sevev herbs and spices
• Super Powered Fiction is fascinated by the aliens walking among us undetected

I aten't dead

Just a little mini-post- been busy, been sick, but getting back in the swing

oh, and here is a Meme that needed to be Memed

Fan Theory

     I've been watching Once Upon a Time since season 1, through all it's twists and turns and mythology-building. I have been a fan of the way it takes old and new Disney works, gives them a good dusting, and lights them in new and exciting ways. It shines new light on old villains and lets us see them...human. In season 5, we got the Sword in the Stone crossed with Brave.

     So season 6, it's time to go further, and bolder.

     Friends and readers, I submit my candidate for the season 6 opening.

     First, the foreshadowing setup from the end of season 5. As Emma is changing out the battery on her volkswagen, she comes across a picture she hasn't seen before. It's a family, father, mother, 2 daughters, on a beach. The father is playing a ukulele. From the bushes, a silhouette views her. We see an enlarged head, large, sensitive ears. Just before the scene goes black for the season we see... antennae...?

   For season 6, the opening logo is...

   OHANA is coming

 I'm not going to reveal any major plot points except to tease that after the mid-season break is the two night crossover:

remember that you heard it here first, true believer. EXCELSIOR!

KRONOS=ULTRON=DOOMSDAY

Good morning- I took a trip down the rabbit hole last night into Pixar Theories

I watches some interesting videos by SuperCarlinBrothers, all very worth a look, but this one got me thinking about Creations...the ones who destroy their creators

     If you remember The Incredibles, Mr Incredible rejects Buddy as a sidekick. Buddy then chooses to turn himself into Syndrome, to destroy his obsession and all other Supers, even down to the idea of Superior powered people. What connects for me here is the fact that he decides to do it by pulling a Hank Pym-more on that anon. Syndrome/Buddy builds the Omnibot- a nigh unstoppable automaton that gets more unstoppable with every iteration/upgrade. test against a super, improve, retest, until you test it against your ultimate nemesis-Mr Incredible. Here is the self defeating part of Syndomes plan. if you build a bot smart enough to overcome and adapt to anything...what makes you so sure YOU can stop it? Because he can't. It takes away his remote control, and his ability to shut it down, leaving the Incredibles to stop it.

     I promised you Hank Pym. not the movie Pym, but the Comics Pym, with all his brilliance and F-ed up mindset. He was the creator of Ultron, who rose to try to destroy his "father" through a series of upgrades. Pym also created a robot to battle the Avengers and make himself a hero by stopping it. This was after he got in trouble and was facing a court martial, so the robot was sort of his get out of jail free card. When I started this post I had the two events crossed up in my mind, but I got muh dern facts straight, pilgrim. Pym also suffered from a severe inferiority complex, leading to multiple personalities and impulsive behavior. If the Hulk, as Stan Lee suggested was the Hyde to Banners Jekyll, Pym might be our Frankenstein.

     So...Doomsday. Nietzsche said what doesn't kill you strengthens you. With Doomsday, whatever kills you makes you  immune to being killed that way when you come back. A scientist named Bertron set a cloned child loose in the harsh prehistoric Kryptonian environment, where he sank into the swamp. (sorry- monty python moment) The child was killed, but his remains were used to clone a stronger version. That one burned down,fell over, then sank into the swamp.(ditto). Lather, rinse,repeat, over and over, until you have a lifeform that can be killed, but never twice by the same thing. Evolved immunity, evolved invulnerability, and hates everything. He is best known for killing Superman in a knockdown, drag out fistfight.

     And this all made me think of the modern Prometheus, Frankenstein. He built a man intended to be a new Adam out of stolen corpses, and found that when he succeeded in instilling life, he couldn't stand the sight of his creation. He hated what he had wrought, and the monster turned against him as well. I connected Pym to him above, as I believe may have been intended by the Ultron storyline. 

     It's the oft-told tale of man's hubris, daring to steal fire from the gods. Daring to meddle in things science shouldn't touch. It's an old morality story.

     There is a quote bouncing around, I am unsure of the original attribution.

It goes something like this:

"Intelligence is knowing Frankenstein wasn't the monster; Wisdom is knowing he was."

Cardians of the Galaxy

     In a post earlier this year, I mentioned that I skipped the toys from Guardians of the Galaxy because they did not fit with my collection.

     Then I saw a Hot Wheels car, and HE WAS GROOT.

     These cars by Mattel are not supposed to be the cars the characters drive, they are cars inspired by, and symbolic of the characters. Or possibly their incarnations in the world of Cars...but probably not.

     Anyway, you know me, and I ended up with all five of these.

Starlord- the photo doesn't shnow this detail but the orb is on his back deck,
under the rear window

Gamora- there is some subtle pin-striping on the sides

Drax- his tattoos have texture, and he has knives in his truck-bed

Rocket- with raccoon ears and fur

And Groot is designed as a car hauler for him