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[Spider-Man: No Way Home]

Sprung for Spider-Man: No Way Home on Prime. Not the same as seeing it in the cinema, sadly, but that was great. Enormous fun, but with a surprising amount of emotional heft. This far out from the initial release, there was no way I could avoid spoilers, but [spoiler]Matt Murdock[/spoiler]'s cameo was still a little thrill (and, checking now, [spoiler]Kingpin's introduction in the Hawkeye TV series[/spoiler] happened two days after No Way Home premiered).

Yeah, I knew from spoilers that that character would turn up, but I thoroughly enjoyed that scene just the same. [spoiler]"How did you do that?" "I'm a really good lawyer." Hur hur![/spoiler]

I just saw it this week, and yeah, that was very enjoyable. [spoiler]One thing that struck me was how good each of them is in their own way. I think the current MCM Spider-man is closest in character to the comic book version, although I think The Amazing Spider-man actor is pretty close too as a bit older more damaged version, but I've always liked Tobey Maguire's more gentle less flamboyant version. He's just a nice guy (until he wasn't with that Venom spectacle). I wouldn't want to pick one. They're all great , and I like that this film kind of canonises (ptoo! If there's really such a thing!) them all.

I missed one or two of the Amazing Spider-man films. (I was a bit cynical about watching them, happening so soon after Raimi's films, although, I liked the actor's take on him, and did quite enjoy the first film. I think I watched part of the second, also,  in that The Lizard rings a bell but I can't remember much about it. The Electro guy, I remember being advertised as the next film's big bad, but I don't think I saw that film at all. This makes me want to catch them. [/spoiler]

The Lawless strip on my 2000ad app is all wrong!

Download it again— it's been fixed now.

Thanks, Jim. I just did on my iPad and it had the same issue. I downloaded it on my Android phone and that worked okay. It's not great on such a small device, but for the one strip I'll get by.

This is using the 2000ad App. I still can't log in on either device to download either version without the blank screen and "whoops..." message, but I've reported that to the team now so hopefully I'll get that sorted shortly.

The Lawless strip on my 2000ad app is all wrong! Not the writing, it's set up wrong. Lots of small unreadable panels. Some kind of upload or configuration issue, I guess.

It's only Lawless that's like this but it's a shame it's one of my favourite strips!

I used to download the PDF but for months, whenever I log in to the shop I get a blank page and  "Whoops, looks like something went wrong." So I used the app instead and... it has improved a lot from when I used to use it years ago. And now I get this issue and no other way to get the digital comic. Grr.

Oh well. First world problems and all that. Maybe a cookie purge will sort out the login issues.

I watched and enjoyed it. I'm.... not sure about that prequel series from the advertisement though.  Far too early to judge, of course; I'm just going by a short bit of footage, but it did feel a bit cheesy. Happy to give it a chance, though.

The battle scene, while generally rather good, did drag a bit for me. I guess I must be a bit odd in that it's the action stuff that usually doesn't drag for most people. Don't get me wrong I do like a good action scene, but if it is going to be long (and I think I prefer it if these scenes aren't long) it needs to move, and not be too repetitive.

Overall, I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed this series. It's not as good as The Mandalorian, and I wish that Boba Fett was shown to be as tough as he was depicted in that scene where he turns up in that show. I seem to remember he and Shand polishing off a whole bunch of Stormtroopers with a rifle and a stick, while Mando himself was having a kip. This was without armour, and in a less healed state. In this show , he's more healed, in armour with all his toys and... he seems to be beaten more easily. I'm not saying he should be indestructible or unbeatable,  just... tougher and consistent, if that makes sense. Cad Bane being a faster shot- I was fine with that for example. It's believable; he would be. (Actually that entire fight with Cad worked well.) Getting beaten by a group in an earlier episode felt wrong somehow. He went down a bit too easy there. (Yeah, they're a group but this guy can smash stormtroopers.)

I forgot about the rancor, so when Boba said he was going to get more backup, I wondered who he would return with. Seeing the rancor in action was a lot of fun, and a nice little King Kong homage there. I thought the effects held up well. (I think using Slave 1 would have been overkill as he doesn't want to destroy the city, but it might have overwhelmed those giant droids easier.)

Droid shields.... mmmm yeah.... they took ages to get through the shields on one droid, (the battledroid sequence was a part that dragged a bit for me, much as I liked it) and then the rancor pushes the second into a building and the bricks break that second droid's shields just like that.

They did explain that the shields protect from energy weapons and fast moving kinetic objects, so maybe falling debris moves slow enough to penetrate the shields and damage the shield emitters... but I'm not convinced of that. The rancor damaging a shield emmiter  with a swipe... that would actually be more believable.

How tough are wookies and rancors meant to be? Are they blaster proof? (I guess rancors are now.) Krrssantaan (possibly miss-spelt) seemed to get stabbed several times over several episodes, and while I can imagine that thick pelt would be pretty good defence against an ordinary blade, judging by his body language and bellowing, those weapons were hitting home... but he seemed to get over it pretty well, didn't he?

But as I said earlier, I enjoyed the show overall and I think reviewers (not so much in this thread) are being too hard on this series.

[halo jones]

i'm glad that halo jones ended so perfectly where it did.
(just like, in my universe, swamp thing finished forever with issue 64, return of the good gumbo, in 1987).

i love the out. but many of us wouldn't even be reading it and thinking about it in the ways we do if there hadn't been a halo jones.

Good point. While I'd have loved to (and still would like to) read further adventures of Halo Jones, I think the ending we got, even if it wasn't intended to be an ending at the time, worked very well.

At the moment, I'll vote The Ballad of Halo Jones. I like the Out a lot though. I don't think there really needs to be a favourite, as they're different enough.

I'm not sure I've ever actually seen Hawk the Slayer, although seeing the description and images ring a bell. That means I've probably watched it part the way through.

I will try to watch the film properly before I read the comic.

Not really needed, there's a catchup chapter at the start.

While will save you wasting 1 1/2 hours of your life!

Having now seen it, and read the comic, I do see what you guys mean. (Turned out I had seen much of the film before. I'd just forgotten a lot of it.) I didn't hate the film and there was good stuff in there (although it feels very derivative now, but that might be hindsight) but... well, it's not very good is it? It could have been good with a bit of work, and there is a certain charm to it but...

... I did enjoy the comic. Early days yet, but it's doing good stuff with the material.

Major Mando Spoilers! (I ain't tagging though!)





I didn't mind the Luke bit. Loved it in fact. I think if the characters had achieved little up to that point in the episode, it would have bothered me. For example, when Ahsoka turned up in an earlier episode, it really showcased how tough she was (a good thing in itself) but Mando did very little that episode.

Likewise when Fett and Shand turned up and were really tough hard-cases, Mando spent a good potion of that time unconscious!

Now I like those characters, and I enjoyed the episodes overall and I even enjoyed how tough they were. I get that they wanted to showcase those characters (spin-off central) but it  bugged me a bit how sidelined and ineffectual Mando seemed as a result.

In this last episode though, Mando single handedly takes out a dark trooper, by himself (a major feat considering how tough those things were shown to be) and then defeats Moff Gideon who is wielding a lightsaber... with a spear. It's a tough spear made out of near indestructible metal, but.... point is he'd achieved so much by the time Luke turned up to save the day. I guess it felt earned somehow, so Luke's bit didn't bother me.

That being said, if Windu had turned up instead, that would have been really cool, and I understand why oversaturation of Skywalker could be an issue. I don't think we're there yet in these series, though.

My apologies for my prolific use of spoiler bars earlier.. I do agree, and I mainly did it because others in this thread did before me (not passing the buck or blaming them. I get they were just being careful, and if anything I got even more carried away) and I didn't want to be that guy. But yes, sorry for any irritation caused.

I'm not half as well versed in Star Wars lore as most of you, but that blue Clint Eastwood alien was just brilliant.

Yeah, Cad Bane is a cool villain of the animated series. According to a wiki article I just looked at, Lee Van Cleef's  Angel Eyes was actually an inspiration, but I can see a bit of Eastwood in this live action version too. He didn't show the humour that he does in the animation, but it was a small scene. Maybe we'll see more of that later.

His hat brim was even wider there, but I think they maybe thought they should tone it down for live action. It's almost a character all of its own there. 🤠 Oh and check out his special boots later...

I'm hoping [spoiler]Grogu picks up the lightsaber, hacks off Luke's remaining good hand for being such a killjoy shithead, grabs the armour, steals a spaceship, and teams up again with Mando, ready for season 3[/spoiler].

Another really good episode, but I'm not all that keen on [spoiler]Luke's depiction. I'm not talking about the CGI. It is a bit uncanny valley, but I expect that, more certain characteristics. Luke is very prequel Jedi-ish in this series and comes across rather wooden.

Someone made a good point in discussion on another site I go to, stating that maybe he needs to be like this here so that he can see that it ultimately fails to reach the stage he is in Last Jedi. But I still think he is too much. I don't see him as cold, like others have mentioned, but he doesn't really feel like Luke to me. The delivery of his lines didn't help. I think Legends did him better, but I accept I might  just be bringing my preconceived fanboy notions to the character. (I was accepting of his portrayal in TLJ though, so I'm pursuadable.)

In reference to my comment about him being too prequel Jedi-ish, I guess it could be argued he is trying too hard to be what he thinks a Jedi should be based on his studies of the prequel Jedi, rather than just trusting his instincts and being. Kind of casts Yoda's line about "try not. Do" (something he quotes at Grogu in this episode) in a new light. Maybe he should be taking his own advice.[/spoiler]

I watched The Eternals as well I enjoyed it.

Ditto. I will admit that I came to it with low expectations, (I don't know the characters at all, and for some reason muddled them in my mind with the Inhumans. ) This wasn't quite as good as some other Marvel films, but it was fine, and did something a bit different.

Speaking of the trailers showing Angelina Jolie prominently, I was amused how prominent she is in the poster, on the Disney App, wearing that body sculpted armour, compared to Gemma Chan who actually does lead the film. I guess it's understandable since the other lady is relatively unknown and they probably wanted a big star to draw people in, but the actual lead is real good. I recognise Ms Chan [spoiler]playing another robot[/spoiler]* in that British TV series Humans. She was wonderful in that too. She brings a real sense of gentleness and quiet inner strength to her roles. (Oh my, do I have a crush?)

*[spoiler]Okay,the Eternals aren't really robots, seemingly as biological as us, but I'm sure you get what I mean.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]This latest episode was definitely more an episode of The Mandalorian than Boba Fett, but I enjoyed it. Okay, that's not saying much as I enjoy the Mandalorian....

I did wish we'd see more of Boba Fett at the end of the episode. I say 'more'... anything would have been nice.

I really like the new ship. I thought it looked more beefy than the Naboo star fighters of The Phantom Menace, but I now think that might have just been the angles in which it was shot, or... just my stupid brain. Maybe it's just after seeing entire squads of them together in tPM made them look smaller... cos they were farther away, like. (Seen that episode of Father Ted when they go caravanning? Yes I'm becoming Dougal.)

It crossed my mind too that it's not really a ship for bounty hunters... unless he gets a larger ship as well. It needn't be as high tech and equipped as his previous ship since he's got the flashy starfighter for the fighting stuff now, just a dependable thing with cargo space for frozen bounties.(Not the chocolatey kind.)[/spoiler]

Oh that reminds me... I'm talking about last week's episode and I forgot, it's new episode day today! I honestly had forgotten when I started this post. In my defence, I'm tired and I did a bit of shopping after work...

Heh. Wish I had dreams like that.

Mine are mostly like vague movies or just odd thoughts which I forget very soon after waking.

It's interesting seeing all the positive comments concerning Russell's return (not so much on this thread. Here it's pretty balanced either way. More talking about comments I've seen elsewhere on the 'net). I remember near the end of his tenure, how negative people seemed to be, and how they rejoiced in his departure and the coming of Moffat. But now the way people talk, you get the impression RTD's time was a golden age, and his return is applauded.

To be fair, he is the man who brought Who back, and it's not the whole of his run that the negative people dislike, more the later series. Generally seems to be seen as a good ideas man, even then, but concluding the story arcs with ... a wave of the sonic screwdriver,* as it were.

Personally I rather liked his Who, although I did agree concerning the way he would conclude stuff. The whole stuff with companions crushing on the Doctor got a bit silly too.  While I think I largely preferred Moffat as a writer I think his best stuff may have been actually under RTD and he didn't conclude his arcs that much better. If anything I found his stuff rather confusing, although I liked that he brought the time element into his stories more, rather than just using it as a vehicle to get them to a setting for a story.

I haven't particularly disliked any of the other stuff subsequently, even found the Time Child stuff interesting, (and I seem to be well in the minority there) but I have felt it could be much better. I really like Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, but the stories really should have done more with her companions.

I'm interested to see what RTD brings after his time away now that he has so much more experience.

David Tennant's return, if true, does smack a bit as a publicity stunt, but I am interested to see what they might do with him. It appears he will only be around for three specials or so, anyway, so his incarnation would be rather short.


*I don't mean that entirely literally. Although that tool was relied on a lot more than it seems to have been in the old 60s-80s days.

I attended Lawless a couple of years ago...*and booked ticket for the following year , which was cancelled for obvious reasons. Recently booked again, weekend tickets. Looking forward to it!

*I worked on a costume too.. then kind of chickened out of wearing it. In my defence the shoulder pads wouldn't bend around properly. Thinking of reworking it for this year... but we'll see.