The Beekeeper puts John Wick to Shame

Just saw the latest Jason Statham movie. The Beekeeper. My reaction? Move over John Wick. Adam Clay takes over. And move over Keanu Reeves. Jason Statham isn't just an actor like you. Jason Statham is the real deal. Look, I had already posted about how disappointed I was with the last two John Wick movies. Sure the first two had me buying in. But the last two, well, the last two plain sucked. John Wick became a pussy. Anyone could be a John Wick. But only Jason Statham can be an Adam Clay. The movie even had a female Beekeeper, hired to kill the original Beekeeper. And like in real life, the man prevailed, and it was no contest. And hey, I am not a sexist or a misogynist. I am a realist. Sure there are some women out there who can beat up some men out there. But when it comes to the BEST male fighters versus the BEST female fighters, it's not going to be a contest. And in this movie, that's the way it was. Adam Clay had no problem taking out the female Beekeeper. So, like in the John Wick movies, it's a world-building premise. In the John Wick movies, you had the fictional assassins in their fictional world with their codes of conduct and the markers and the Continental, et al. Beekeepers are a fictional society above the law, used when the law doesn't work. And that means these guys are the top of the top of the top in regards to fighting ability. And that's my cup of tea. Like my own character from Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. The top fighter in the world is Trent Smith. In The Beekeeper, the Beekeepers are the best. The one flaw in this movie was that the female Beekeeper seemed to be a loose cannon type of character. Firing a minigun at anything moving in her effort to kill the other Beekeeper (which included responding policemen) was over the top. Nevertheless, Adam Clay took her out, and in great fashion. Now I don't want to give the wrong impression. To avoid any misunderstands, I have said it over and over again, there is such a thing as STRONG female characters. But to prove you are a strong character doesn't mean you have to go around beating people up, or killing dozens of people, whether they deserve it or not. As a matter of indisputable fact, there is no woman in the world who can win a fight against Mike Tyson. All right? There is no woman in the world who can win a fight against Brock Lesnar, all right? All right. Bottom line? The Beekeeper is the best movie I've seen in a long time. Thank you Jason Statham.

John Wick Gets a Flat Tire and Runs Out of Gas

So I finally saw John Wick Chapter Four. I was very happy that Halle Berry had no part in it, but that didn't save it. Not for me. Because it was really just the same ol', same ol' all over again. And again. And again. And again. I mean how many fight scenes and over-the-top killings from start to finish can a person tolerate? I mean, talk about overkill. Literally AND figuratively. Killing, killing, and more killing. It was too much. And this is coming from a guy who wrote a book called Killer of Killers along with a sequel called Killer Eyes. (That would be me.)

So someone might ask, "Hey dude. Since you wrote a book called Killer of Killers, and it's about a dude who kills, how come you're criticizing a movie that features another dude who kills. Well, I might answer, "Because in my book, Killer of Killers, and in its sequel, Killer Eyes, there was a lot more than just non-stop scenes with non-stop killing going on. My books had plots, and a message, and morals, and love interests, which means romance, and strong friendships, and back-stories that tied everything together to forge a strong story-line, with several strong three dimensional characters.

Look. I really liked the first two John Wick movies. I was even a fan. But then, starting with Chapter 3, which they called John Wick Parabellum, and included the aforementioned Halle Berry, it was getting to be too much. Another word for it is gratuitous. Yes. Gratuitous violence, and gratuitous killing. It was just too much. It glutted the senses. It was as if it made killing to be ho hum and even boring. I already wrote that Halle Berry playing the part of a female John Wick reduced the significance of the John Wick character. He was no longer special. It was as if anyone, even a five foot two inch 110 pound, middle-aged woman could be a John Wick, which meant that ANYONE could be a John Wick. And that meant the John Wick Character was just another person that anyone could be.

In my books Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes, it was cleary demonstrated that the main character, Trent Smith, was the greatest martial artist in the world. And only one person can be the greatest something in the world. Plain and simple. And he only killed people who had already proven themselves to be murderers. In John Wick, the dude killed for "markers" and that meant he killed innocent people.

Nevertheless, I liked the first two movies. It should have ended with the third installment, without a Halle Berry role, and it should have been written in a way that satisfied the story, the premice and the characters. But they got a flat tire in the 3rd movie, and then in the 4th movie they plain ran out of gas. Oh well. It was fun, like I said, at first. But then, it wasn't anymore.

Hooray! Halle Berry is NOT in John Wick 4

So maybe I'm not done with the John Wick franchise after all. And maybe I'm late with this news, but I just found out that Halle Berry is NOT reprising her role in the 4th installment of the John Wick franchise. She should not have been in the 3rd installment. 

I have said I would have had no problem with Halle Berry performing the role of a strong female character in the franchise. Just not a female version of John Wick.

I should never believe news through the grapevine. As that was what I was going by when I thought she was going to be returning. So, okay. I guess I have a movie to look forward to after all. 

Hooray.

Done With John Wick - Thanks to Halle Berry

 I had posted after watching John Wick 3 that the inclusion of Halle Berry almost ruined the franchise for me. Nothing personal against Halle Berry. If they had found a good role for her, no problem. And I would agree with a strong female character for her, as stories and real history are filled with strong female characters and female heroes.

But no. At Berry's insistence, no doubt, they gave her the role of a "female" John Wick. Meaning there she goes beating up ten, twenty male fighters all at once. So, I cannot buy into that. And I am NOT a misogynist or a chauvinist. Quite the contrary.

Like I said, I believe in strong female characters. But my criticism is that a woman, or anyone for that matter, doesn't have to prove their strength by beating people up. Or by killing them by the dozens. I mean, aren't we seeing in real life enough psychos out there killing people? The headlines are filled with stories like that. Are we supposed to believe these mass murderers are strong characters?

I say it's bullshit. Look. The story had an ex-assassin return to avenge the wrong done to him in his own way. But the LEGEND of the John Wick character (the Boogey-Man) as was his nickname to the Russians, was that he was a one-of-a-kind type of assassin.

Which is why the inclusion of Halle Berry as the female John Wick ruined it for me. Now, John Wick is no longer a one-of-a-kind assassin. Now we have a 5' 3", 110 lbs. woman who is 50+ years old as his fighting style equal. That means there's nothing special about John Wick anymore. 

Now, it's like there's nothing to see here, folks. Now, you can just round up anyone, any age, any gender, any size, and you can have another John Wick.

I was willing to let it go, if the one scene Halle Berry was in was the ONLY scene she would be in. But I have learned that is not the case. I have learned that she will indeed be back in John Wick 4, and no doubt, the equal or dare I say, the superior to our beloved hero, John Wick.

So screw this John Wick franchise. I have gone on record as to insisting that beating people up and/or killing people by the dozens is not how you prove to be a strong character. Is this what we are teaching our kids? Is this what we are teaching our sons and now our daughters?

Being a public school teacher as I have been for thirty years, I have seen more fights between teenagers than anyone should ever have to witness. And yes, far more fights than I had seen than when I myself was a teenager. IT'S UGLY. Is anyone out there listening? 

And most of these fights I've seen are between GIRLS. Sure some guys will duke it out, but it's over in a minute or two. When girls fight, they are scratching and clawing with their nails, pulling out handfuls of hair, ripping at clothes, poking, gouging, anything and everything!

IT'S UGLY. It's not the choreographed dance-like moves, that the fighting sequences in the movies portray. NOTHING like that. I never want to see another girl fight the rest of my life.

Nor do I want to see a 56 year-old Halle Berry beat up and kill dozens of grown men twice her size, and then try to believe it can really happen. Because it can't. I will not see any more John Wick movies. Halle Berry's inclusion in the franchise didn't almost ruin it, it ruined it.

I'm No Reviewer

I may not be a reviewer, but that doesn't mean I don't have opinions of what I think is good writing and what isn't. And what I think is a good idea, and what isn't.

TV shows have been sinking in quality, imo, for the last several decades. I'm referring to the years since what I call the golden age of TV, which was the 60s. Back then, you had great TV shows. Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Wild, Wild West, Lost in Space, Star Trek, and even The Time Machine. Of course, the list goes on and on. I can't even count the number of great shows from the 60s.

The TV shows back then were great ideas for shows. The characters were great, and the casting for the characters was spot on. I mean James Arness as Matt Dillon was spot on. Lorne Green as Ben Cartwright was spot on. Robert Conrad as James West was spot on. Guy Williams as Professor John Robinson was spot on. And William Shatner as Captain Kirk was spot on. Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock was spot on. It seemed that the 60s was the golden age of TV.

I might concede that TV was okay in the 70s, but I was not sitting in front of a TV during that decade. Unless it was a football game. And that continued through the 80s too. Of course had there been a show worth watching, I would like to think that I would have. Alas, to me, at least, there weren't. Not even the return of Star Trek, (as in TNG) made me interested again. I'll admit I gave it a chance. At first I thought the older captain of a larger starship with a larger crew made sense. But at about half way through season one, I realized this new version of Star Trek sucked.

To be clear, I still had a deep affection for Star Trek TOS. And I had high hopes for TNG version. But those hopes were dashed by the portrayal of a starship captain who was always second-guessing himself, and who always needed the counseling of a much younger woman who actually had a position on the bridge as part of the command crew... It was like....what?

Can you imagine a captain of a battleship in our modern navy having to consult with a younger man or woman sitting next to him before he made command decisions? I don't think so... And so I stopped watching Star Trek, TNG before season one even concluded. I was glad I did. As for the subsequent editions of Star Trek shows, I'll admit I watched them on and off, with mixed opinions.

Which brought me into the 90s. Those shows were a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. There was the Babylon 5 show which I thought was pretty good. I never got into Cheers or Seinfeld, or any of those sitcoms. I wasn't much of a sitcom type of person. I didn't even appreciate All in the Family from the 70s. I thought it sucked actually. Which is my overall opinion of all sitcoms.

And now, in the 21st century, things aren't much better for me, as my most watched TV remains football games. The NFL in particular, and even that has suffered with the kneeling protests and the racially motivated lawsuits and such. It's a distraction and a detriment, imo.

Football was always a place, for me, at least, where race did not matter. First of all, skin color to me never mattered. Not when I was a kid growing up, not when I was a teenager and not now as an adult. A man was a man no matter what color was his skin, or what country was his origin. And a woman was a woman, regardless of any ethnic background.

But in the 21st century, race seems to be the issue that is on everyone's mind. Most people anyway, since it's always in the news and in TV shows and in the movies. Race and LGBTQ issues. It seems like TV and the movies are force-feeding these issues down our throats. And I don't appreciate that. I don't need Hollywood preaching to me. I don't need anyone preaching to me. Never did.

So I write what I like. Meaning I write my own books, I write my own music, I create my own art and my own stories. I don't expect anyone to appreciate what I write, nor do I need them to. If they have an opinion, even a bad one, that's their right. But life is too short to care about petty things like that. It's like I said many times, it doesn't matter to me. I have better things to do. 

Bad TV Shows

I was talking about bad TV shows the last time I blogged, but I was getting tired of writing about them after dissing my once favorite TV show, The Blacklist. Another one I was going to condemn is the reboot of Lost in Space, now airing on Netflix. And yeah, what a joke that is.

Original cast for the original show, (minus the robot.)
Set a precedent.

Lost in Space, when I was little, was one of my favorite TV shows. SciFi adventures were an intriguing concept and I was thrilled to watch anything on TV or the movies that dealt with futuristic stories, especially when they were about space travel and alien worlds. The 1960s Lost in Space series filled that bill.

It featured strong male characters such as the leader of the family, Professor John Robinson. He was a family man with a dominant personality, leading his family, as a father should. The image to the left describes actor Guy Williams as Professor Robinson to a tee: "...the ultimate father figure symbol, powerful enough to handle himself in perilous situations, yet sensible and compassionate in matters of the heart..."




In today's Hollywood, this kind of actor (or the role he played) is shunned. In fact, it's the opposite of what they want to portray. But in the Sixties, even secondary male characters held their own. As in the pilot of the spacecraft, Major Don West. He was another strong and competent male character. And there was the "boy wonder" Will Robinson, who was just an adolescent, and the family's only son, but he was a progeny of sorts, as he was a scientific genius even at that age.

But wait. There were strong female characters too. Maureen Robinson, the mother of the family, was a strong personality, herself. Meaning she was not a whimpering, frightened female that would draw the ire of women's libbers. Not at all.

There were the two older daughters as well. I might confess here that their roles were minimal, and that was a shame because the oldest daughter, a beautiful blonde woman named Judy was the love interest for Major Don West. There could have been many story arcs that featured these two, but again, sadly, the producers or writers missed that one. Then there was the middle child, the teenage daughter Penny. She had more interactions with her younger brother Will than any other cast member and her role was never elaborated as it should have been.

And there was the "bad guy" Dr. Smith. He was the traitor hired by the enemy faction of the world order at the time to sabotage the spacecraft upon launching. But he was stuck in the ship at take off and became a permanent crew member and cast member from then on. He was always the one trying to do whatever he could to get back to earth even at the expense of the safety of the others. I remember thinking back then that if I were the captain of that ship, I would have killed the dude from the get go. And there were several times he should have been offed, but I guess the writers figured the story needed his comedic element. (It didn't.)

Lastly there was the robot, which was an important element of the cast as well. It was one of the first shows to feature a robot as a main character, and the precursor to later "robot characters" like the android "Data" from the Star Trek Next Generation series.

So the show was great, until it wasn't. Meaning it devolved into a farcical tale of goofy antics fit for a slapstick comedy. The show phased out all the serious elements of an adult SciFi series and turned it into a weird (and stupid) tale of Will and Dr. Smith. They even turned the robot into a joke. That wasn't what I ordered. And it faded into obscurity. Which was a shame.

Cast of Lost in Space the movie.
(Minus Judy, Will, and the robot.)
No complaints here.

But it had a legacy from which a movie some years later was released. It featured pretty much the same cast of characters who were all pretty much true to the original series. There were some differences in the way the story evolved, but it was a one and done story so what the heck. It passed.

But the Netflix reboot is a sham. Because they are doing what the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises have done. Which is they turned the men into weak and incompetent characters. It's the women who lead and who are the heroes now. I quit watching when it was revealed that Maureen Robinson is the professor now, and she is the one with the brains and she is the leader of the crew. And John Robinson is just another idiot, much like we've been seeing in pretty much every show from Hollywood over the last twenty years.

The new leader and hero of the crew of
Lost in Space from Netflix. The professorship has been
transferred from the man to the woman.
I wouldn't have minded if both were professors.
But Hollywood doesn't work like that.
Not anymore.

So the Netflix version of Lost in Space is great if you're a women's libber and you love to see weak men dominated by strong and heroic women. But that's not me. I will say once again, that I believe women are strong. They can be just as strong and just as heroic as men. BUT....that doesn't mean that when they are strong, the men have to be weak and dominated by them. That's a very tiring element from Hollywood, and I'm wondering when they will figure it out. The answer is they won't as long as the money keeps rolling in. And such is life, full of goose-steppers willing to call a show good just for its title.

Good Movie, Bad TV Shows

I saw the new Midway movie with my sons and it was pretty good. I know there have been a lot of movies about Pearl Harbor and such, but this time, the focus was on Midway. Yeah, they had the Pearl Harbor attack in there, and they had the Doolittle raid in there, and they had the Japanese perspective in there, which was great.

But the new deal this time was the depiction of the Battle of Midway. I know there's already a movie called Midway, in which Henry Fonda and other great actors of the past had starred. But the modern special effects really put this one over the top.

Seeing the dive bombers closing in on the Japanese aircraft carriers from the perspective of the pilots was quite a spectacle. Seeing all those anti aircraft rounds flying by, knowing that any moment one could strike was a harrowing experience. And the success the Americans had made the viewer understand why this battle was so important.



On the other hand, my one time favorite TV show, Blacklist continues to disappoint. I watch it anyway because of James Spader, and of course I'm hoping it will give me the same enjoyment it used to give me from watching it during the first three seasons. But for the fourth year in a row, now, I'm shaking my head in disgust.

In Season Four, I had to watch a one-time loyal ally of Red's turn against him. And even though Red ended up on top at the end of that season, it was a premise that was complete bullshit. Season Five was a throw-away season that carried over the same "suitcase of bones" premise from Season Four. And it sucked. Season Six was even worse. Because here we go again with Red's allies turning against him. This time it was  Lizzy herself. Again.


As I have already pointed out, Red had already saved Lizzy's life on multiple occasions, and saved the lives of her closest friends and coworkers, as well as saving their careers, and still there she goes vowing to "bring him down" and "destroy him."

Sheesh, talk about bullshit, that topped the bullshit of the prior seasons. But then at the end of the season, Lizzy was over all of that, and back on board with Red. But no. Now in the current season, Season Seven, there she goes again plotting against him because her mother is in the picture now opposing Red for who knows what reason. The writing seems to be trying to create a reason, but it makes no sense at all. She wants to know who's coming after her. She already knows. She wants to know why. But she already knows why. She wants to know what Red knows. But why? And what the heck does Red know anyway?

Lizzy's mom. I doubt she could break Halle Berry's
neck, let alone a Russian agent in his fighting prime.

It's all complete bullshit writing. To make matters worse, we have to watch a frail, sixty-year-old woman break the neck of a man in his fighting prime, a Russian agent, with her bare hands in a hand to hand fight. Really? Come on, this is more bullshit. I've blogged at length with my problem with that scenario.

And even though this woman has two FBI agents murdered, Lizzy once again chooses to oppose Red and side with her to "find out the truth" about Red.



What truth? Well, we've learned at this point that he's not really the man Lizzy thought he was: a former lover of her mother's, and this seems to be a thing Lizzy just can't get over. She just has to know who he really is.

So, The Blacklist show is pure crap at this point, but I might say there's something that might save it for me. That would be if they finally reveal somehow that Red really is Red, the real father of Lizzy. They had shown burn scars on his back once, which might suggest that this is the case. And if it is, then and only then might I return to liking this show again. But until then, it's a show that features bullshit. And that's too bad. But we'll see...

As far as the other bad TV shows, of which there are many, that will have to wait until later. This post is already long enough.

Rambo V - Great Movie

I have not been so enthralled with the Rambo franchise over the years. For me they didn't rate up there with The Transporter franchise or John Wick, but they were fun enough.

Actually, for me the John Wick franchise took a fall with the third chapter as I've blogged about.

As for Rambo V, I suspect it's the last and final episode for the Rambo franchise and it was a great one. I mean, finally we have men acting like men and women acting like women. And that is not to be mistaken as men are strong and women are weak. No. Women are strong too. But in real life they're not going around beating up and/or killing everyone. Not like in a Halle Berry fantasy, anyway.


No. In Rambo V, women are strong and determined individuals who, as adults, have their shit together, but as teenagers, they don't. (Kind of like in real life.) And that is the basis of this story. In Rambo V, you have an adult woman and a teenaged girl (her niece,) who live with Rambo, and the niece makes a choice that is not the right choice. Imagine that...


They're both strong women, but neither one of them go around beating up twenty men all at the same time. I mean they don't beat anyone up. And that was a refreshing twist in the Hollywood universe these days. I have grown very weary of watching women beating up and killing men left and right, at every turn, and sometimes as many as fifty men all at the same time.

So no. This movie was realistic. Gritty, and quite brutal. Because in the Rambo character, we have an ex special ops military man. He's trained to kill, and trained to survive. He's a veteran of wars and, of course, a veteran of the four  previous Rambo experiences to his credit.



And as an older man, the Rambo character still exudes toughness. He looked strong. Probably because of Stallone's workout ethic and yes even the steroids he doesn't lie about taking, unlike other Hollywood musclemen, (i.e. The Rock,) But whatever...

Rambo V Last Blood worked, and it was great. It was refreshing and I'll take it any day. And at this point I'll take it even over John Wick. At least over John Wick Chapter 3. No wanna be tough chicks in the Rambo franchise. Thank god.

John Wick 3 - Almost Ruined - Almost

I took my time before I went to see John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Of course the big news was that Halle Berry was going to be in it. It was no big news to me. In fact when I heard she was going to be in it I was disgusted.

Why? Because the John Wick franchise had become one of my favorite movie franchises. Right up there with The Transporter franchise. I thought Chapters one and two were terrific. I was so glad that Hollywood was preserving at least ONE tough guy that was still a dude.

I've lamented recently here on the blog that Hollywood had been turning men into wimps in just about every medium. We've had to see women become the new "tough guys" and the men turned into pussies in every TV show and movie franchise from Star Wars to Star Trek to Flash, Arrow, Person of Interest, and the list just goes on and on.

When The Transporter franchise tanked, thanks to Jason Statham leaving the franchise, I was glad that the John Wick franchise was still going strong. I couldn't wait for Chapter 3. Then I heard Halle Berry was going to be in it. Worse still, she had petitioned to be in it. Here's the link. And here's another. So I suppose the producers figured she was an A-list actress with an academy award in her resume. How could they refuse? Well, if they found a good part for her, I'd have had no problem.

But my fear was they were going to do the same thing to John Wick that they did to the Jim Caviezel character in Person of Interest. Meaning they had two seasons as Jim Caveizel being the show's bad-ass, then in the third season they introduce another bad-ass character in a little chick. Yeah, and she was an even tougher bad-ass than Jim Caviezel. Sheesh.

So I saw the show, and sure enough. Halle Berry is in there beating up and killing fifty dudes all at once, a la John Wick. I mean she was using the same moves and the same type of styles that John Wick had been using in the two prior movies. Did she train with the same people? No. She was just a female version of John Wick. Yeah. All 5' 2" and 110 pounds of her.

Fifty-two-year-old Halle Berry as "tough guy" Sofia in John Wick 3.
Yeah. A real tough guy. She looks about as tough as a middle school girl.
She couldn't take on 50 middle school kids, let alone 50 trained
killers all at once. Her character was a complete piece of crap.

That scene almost ruined the movie. Thankfully, it was just that scene and then she was gone. But not until after spitting in an empty water bottle as Wick is about to undergo a romp in the Sahara desert. And like a pussy, Wick takes it. The scene with Berry was nothing more than gratuitous violence inserted for her egotistical benefit. It was like placating a spoiled child. The movie would have been better without her. And yet the goose-steppers are out there claiming how great she was, which, of course, is bullshit. The fact is she almost ruined the movie.

There were so many holes in that scene and when it was all said and done the scene made no sense at all. They killed her dog? Yeah, where had we seen that before? Except wait...they didn't kill her dog. Whatever. It didn't stop her from going all John Wick on them, and completely ruining the concept that she had laid out of not wanting them going after her daughter. It made no sense for her to go into a killing frenzy for no reason at all. Her dog wasn't dead.

So yeah. Halle Berry sucked in this movie. She did not fit at all. Her character was lousy, and her acting was the worst. What happened to that great acting ability that won a best actress academy award for her role in Monster's Ball? It wasn't displayed in John Wick 3, that's for sure. Her acting sucked. And because of these reasons, John Wick 3 was almost ruined. The best thing about Halle Berry is when we didn't have to see her anymore after that horrible scene was over.

I have to admit this was the worst of the three John Wick movies so far. Will John Wick 4 get back on track? We'll have to wait another two years to see. I won't hold my breath. As far as I'm concerned, the John Wick franchise sucks now. Thanks to Halle Berry.

Maybe it can be great again. As long as Halle Berry is no longer in it. Or maybe if her character is killed off that could fix the problem they created. But I don't expect that to happen. Berry's scene and her privileged demand which was unconditionally granted, proved she has a huge ego belying her diminutive and very NON-intimidating frame. And I wouldn't doubt it if she is one of those actors and actresses who has the kind of ego that refuses to let any of the characters she plays from ever getting killed in a movie she's in. And I'm probably right.

Bottom line is it's a damn shame the producers of the John Wick franchise bent to the will of this privileged and self-serving actress who can demand to be in a movie that had already established itself as a great success without her. She brought nothing to the franchise. And like I said. She almost ruined it. Please, no more Halle Berry. Or if she does return, please, kill her off.

Avengers Endgame -- Sucked

It sure seems like I'm hard to please. At least that's what one might think when reading my blog. But  whatever. I'm not going to say a movie is good when it's not. And even though Avengers Endgame made billions of dollars, it sucked. Big time.

So why did it make so much money? I've said it before...the goose-steppers. For those of you who don't know what that means, goose-steppers are the rabid fans who will like anything, or any movie, that has their favorite heroes in it.

Jack Kirby's rendition of the Scarlet Witch

Like Star Wars for instance. Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas for four billion dollars, a price he couldn't refuse, I suppose, even though I heard he donated the money. But whatever. In selling his franchise to Disney, he surrendered what little integrity the franchise had left after its atrocious prequel trilogy.

Disney studios proceeded to destroy the legend of Star Wars. First by doing nothing more than rehashing the original story line, albeit with a female "Luke Skywalker" this time. And then by delivering prequels and sequels that totally sucked with boring scripts, tired plots, and bad casting. But the Star Wars die hard fans had been waiting so long for anything Star Wars, they ate it up. These are the "goose-steppers" and Disney made billions off of them.


The same thing was true for most Star Trek fans. So hungry for anything Star Trek, even the stupid movies and TV shows couldn't fail. The goose-steppers soaked it all up and still are. I said "most" fans because once upon a time I was a Star Trek fan. I thought the original series was terrific as did millions of other people. But the second series "Next Generation" was a total load of crap, and so were the ensuing movies...nothing but crap. I didn't buy it. I quit watching The Next Generation soon after it aired, and even though I admit to seeing the movies, I couldn't stand any of them. Therefore I am removed from the "goose-stepper" status.

The Scarlet Witch as drawn by Jack Kirby

But one might argue that since I paid for seeing the movies, doesn't that make me one of the goose-steppers? No. Because a fan will go to see a movie hoping it will be good. The goose-stepper will come out of that theater raving about how great the movie was, even if it sucked. Why? Well, because it was a "Star Trek" movie. Not me. I loved the original Star Trek. But after seeing the movies, I realized I wasted my time and money. So no. I'm not a goose-stepper.

I had been a Marvel superheroes fan since I was a kid and I can call myself an expert on the characters and the Marvel universe, at least so far as the Silver Age is concerned. I still have quite the collection to this day.

Elizabeth Olsen is NOT the Scarlet Witch

I have been critical of the casting and the story lines of most of the movies. Yeah, Robert Downey, Jr. is good as Tony Stark. Yeah, Chris Hemsworth is good as Thor. Jeremy Renner was fine as Hawkeye, and I didn't mind Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange. Chris Evans is a better Captain America than he was the Human Torch. But just about every other actor was horribly miscast.

That means from the first movies like the X-Men to the last one...Spider-man Far From Home this summer. They all have been miscast. And they ruined the characters, too. I remember seeing the first Conan movie. I was a Conan fan and I was thrilled they were making a movie. I saw it, and even during the movie I remember thinking to myself..."That isn't Conan."

But of course the goose-steppers were thrilled just to see a dude dressed up as Conan with a broadsword riding a horse. Never mind the dude had nothing else in common with the character created by Robert E. Howard. Never mind the story completely sucked.

Mila Kunis is the perfect Scarlet Witch

So it's the same thing with Avengers Endgame. The characters are all there. There's Captain America, ending up as an old man, passing the torch to a new Captain America. There's Thor, but with a pot belly and wasting his days playing video games. Yeah, that's right. A pot-bellied Thor doing nothing but playing video games all day. Everyday. I mean, um, that's supposed to be the "god of thunder" but yeah. He's a pot-bellied couch potato now. What was worse was the completely ridiculous story. The bad guy kills half of life in the universe, because... Well, there really was no reason. Balance, he said. What does that mean? The story, plot, and script sucked big time.

One last example before I go. The Scarlet Witch, as pictured above (drawn by the original artist Jack Kirby.) She used to be my favorite female superhero. But casting Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch was a disaster. Especially when the PERFECT actress for the part was available and still in her prime.

Imagine that outfit in red-The Scarlet Witch!

Who could argue that MILA KUNIS isn't the PERFECT Scarlet Witch? No one that's who. It's because Mila Kunis is the perfect Jack Kirby drawing of the Scarlet Witch come to life. So why can't the movie people get something right when it's staring them in the face?

I can go on. My point is the actors and actresses are out there. They got Thor right and Iron Man right. But that's like two out of fifty or something. With a little more effort they could get them all right. And with a little more effort they could have great stories, too. I mean it really isn't that hard to figure out. If the movie people went with the stories written by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee during the Silver Age, all of these movies would have been a hundred times better.

Too bad the effort is lacking. But why bother? They're getting their billions. That's all that matters, right? To them, at least.

Game of Thrones - Totally Predictable

In all my posts in which I'm lamenting the reduced roles of male characters these past months, I haven't posted about Game of Thrones. Never mind that almost all the male characters have been reduced to wimps and cowards, like in just about every other show and movie franchise, they have also been reduced to subservient pawns at the beck and call of their female "superiors."

And following this, was it any wonder that the character who saves the GoT world from the horrid Night King was, of course, the little girl, Arya Stark, all of the 5' 1" and 90 lbs of her, played by the equally tiny Maisie Williams of England.

But my point is that it was totally predictable. My wife and I, both, had predicted the one who would finally kill the Night King would be Arya. Everyone I knew, with whom I talked about it, also knew it would be her.

While the 6' 6" 250 lbs "Hound" was cowering in the shadows, it was the littler girl Arya who was fighting off dozens of "white walkers" all at once. It was all too expected now that Hollywood has set the precedent that it's the women who are the smart ones, the heroes, the brave ones, and the saviors of the universe, while the men are wimps, cowards and degenerates.

Maisie Williams

So, here we go. The baddest character in the GoT universe is little Arya Stark. And, of course, the goose-stepping fans of the show are "all in" with this. As are all the other "goose-stepping" fans of shows like Star Trek, Star Wars, Disney, the Marvel universe, and every other TV and movie franchise, as they follow blindly the destruction and demasculinization of the male characters in Hollywood.

You know, I do have a suggestion of how that GoT episode could have been better. And it doesn't even diminish Arya's bravery. She had somehow leaped over a crowd of the Night King's followers, I'd say about 40 to 50 feet in distance and about ten to twenty feet in height. Never mind how she managed to do that. But after doing so, the Night King had caught her by the throat. As we saw then, Arya dropped her knife into her other hand and stabbed him, at which point he, and his army, exploded. That was the predictable part.



What would have been a hundred times better and more believable would be if the Night King snatched the blade from her and handed it to his "right hand" man, one of those other elite white walker dudes. But then, the dude turns around and HE stabs the Night King. And after they all explode, we see that he doesn't. Why? Because at that point, he removes his "white walker" face and Arya sees, (as does the TV audience) that he's actually that dude from the "assassins guild" who had been tutoring Arya in the ways of the faceless assassins. You know, those dudes who put on the faces of others to mask their true appearance. That would have been awesome.

But no. Clearly the writers of this show aren't as good as I am. Whatever. It goes to show they are all in with Hollywood's directive. It's the women who are the heroes. And the men who are wimps. The goose-steppers buy it. I don't.

Last Kingdom Comes Around

I was saying how Last Kingdom blew it. And I still think they did. But the storyline had come around full circle, and once again, Uhtred is back with the Saxons and in full graces of King Alfred, (if not publicly, then at least privately.) So much so, anyway, that he has made it clear to his royal priest to see to it that after he dies Uhtred remains the right hand man for his son Edward when he becomes king. So yeah, I would call that full circle.

Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred

I do like the story development of how Alfred's daughter has a strong attraction to Uhtred. And I wouldn't mind if they actually hooked up, but since she's already married to the king of Mercia, I don't know if that would ever happen. At any rate, it's back to being a show I like, and that's a relief, as I had expressed my disappointment at how the story took a turn for the worse, imo.

Say, the actor, Alexander Dreymon, who plays Uhtred, and the actress, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, who plays Skade the witch in season three, might actually be good actors for the male and female leads in my Killer of Killers book. Here's a couple publicity photos and I think they would be good choices for the roles of Trent Smith and Samantha Jones if KOK were to ever make the big screen. Judge for yourself.

Thea Sofie Loch Naess

Dustin Clare was my first choice for Trent Smith, but his star has fallen since his heyday as Gannicus in the STARZ show Spartacus. He must have the worst agent ever. You might have thought that after he stole the show in the Spartacus series, he would have landed some big time roles.

But the guy hasn't been heard from since! It's like he's totally dropped off the radar. It's not understandable to me. He was a great actor, with a great screen presence, and fans adored him.

By contrast, Amber Heard, who I had initially chosen for the role of Samantha Jones, has since had an uptake in success in the DC movie Aquaman. But her role was small and her screen presence negligible.

I posted about that recently, and have chosen to continue my search for the right actress for the role.
Interesting to me is that, with the exception of Amber Heard, none of these actors are American. Dustin Clare is Australian, Alexander is German, and Thea Sofie is Norwegian. What happened to all the American talent? I'm sure there are some who would be more than capable to fill the bill. But I've yet to find them. No matter. It's only a pipe dream. But The Last Kingdom is back to being good. And I'll be looking forward to season four.

The Last Kingdom blows it

I guess it was bound to happen. I mean right when I'm thinking I'm liking a show, it makes a turn for the worse. Here was the hero, Uhtred, being ordered by the king to be the prince's right hand man when the prince becomes king, and it's too much for Uhtred. So he throws everything in the garbage by putting a knife to the the king's throat and escaping back to the Danes.

Now, instead of being a Lord in the emerging England, he's a condemned enemy fighting for the Danes who are slowly but surely being pushed out of England. I mean, who would do that? Who would switch from the winners, (which you had a big hand in making them the winners) and switch to the losers, whose time is limited.

Perhaps I speak in hindsight. Twelve hundred years of hindsight, but it just didn't make any sense.
And it happens all the time to me. I'll start watching a show, and it's a great show, and I rave about it, and then three years into the series, or so, I'm not liking it anymore.

The list is a long one. In the modern era, it's The Blacklist, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and a slew of others that I can't even remember anymore. In the old days it was Lost in Space, The Man from Uncle, I Spy, and The Wild, Wild West.

I don't know what is wrong with TV writers. I guess it's just a simple thing. At first, they have a great concept and they have a lot of great ideas for stories to go with it. But then, after three years or so, the great ideas dry up. It happened with Star Trek too. I mean the original series, which was the only Star Trek that was worth watching.

For Star Trek, tos, they had the great concept, and they had great stories that lasted into its third season. But in that third season, you can tell they were on the down slide. And then when they brought the series back, called Star Trek, the Next Generation, the stories and characters were so bad, even the great concept couldn't make up for it.

And the same was true for every single Star Trek incarnation that followed. I mean every single new Star Trek series that followed sucked, and every single Star Trek movie that followed equally sucked. The concept of Star Trek was so great that they kept trying to rejuvenate it, but for some strange reason, no one could come up with a decent story to match the concept. Not since the original series, that is, and that is surely a shame.

We have probably the worst incarnation of Star Trek happening right now, which I couldn't even watch through the first full episode without turning it off in complete disgust. It was like the producers believed the great concept by itself was enough, (the same thing they always believed) and some actress from The Walking Dead had enough "star power" to make it a success, regardless of the lack of writing talent they put into the show.

It's a recipe for failure, and you would think they would learn their lesson by now. I figure if the current writers of whatever show run out of juice, then hire new writers who haven't been tapped out yet. They are out there. Give them a chance. Or is Hollywood stuck in the "same ol' same ol' system? You know -- the "good ol' boys" (or the "good ol' girls") system at work here. Probably is.

That's the worst shame of all. It means the same problem will just continue. As long as their bottom line is acceptable, nothing will change. And as long as you have the fan base blindly following a show for only its concept, being thrilled only by the sights and images, not caring if there's a quality story, the bottom line for Hollywood will continue to be acceptable. It is a shame.

Jack Reacher - Good Movies

Just finished watching Jack Reacher, Never Go Back, which was the Jack Reacher 2 movie, and it was good. As a tough guy character, the Jack Reacher character fits the bill. But with Tom Cruise playing the part, I might say it could have been better cast.

That's not to say Tom Cruise doesn't make a good tough guy. He made a good tough guy in the Mission Impossible movies. And he does an adequate job as Jack Reacher. But that is mainly because he's a good actor. Like Keanu Reeves in the John Wick franchise.

But from what I understand, the novels by Lee Child described Jack Reacher as a dude who was 6' 3" tall. Tom Cruise is 5' 7" and that's a long way off.

I do believe the part could have been better cast if only for height alone. For instance, Keanu Reeves is 6' 1" and Hugh Jackman is 6' 2". Both make good tough guys and there are many more.

There is artistic license, of course, and movie magic can make an actor appear taller or shorter in a movie. But I would not approve of an actor over six feet tall to play Trent Smith from my Killer books. Because the whole point of those books is that the main character is an average sized dude who just happens to be the most lethal martial artist in the world. Which proves you don't have to be a big dude to be tough.

The Wolverine character was supposed to be an exclamation point to that idea. In the comics, Wolverine's height is listed as 5' 4". And that is awfully short for a tough guy. And no one questions the toughness of Wolverine. So what's with the 6' 2" Hugh Jackman getting the part? Well aside from his height, he actually does look like Wolverine, so there you go.

Anyway, the Jack Reacher franchise is worth seeing. I don't rank it up there with John Wick or any Jason Statham movies, but it holds its own.

With that said, here's to the imminent release of John Wick - Chapter 3. Can't wait.

Aquaman Movie Not Bad

So I saw the Aquaman movie with my two sons, and it wasn't bad. It was pretty good, actually. As for Amber Heard? Not so impressive. Her acting I mean. And this is a disappointment to me because I had been waiting for some time for Amber to play a major role in a major movie. And now that it has finally happened, my fears have been realized. First of all, Amber makes a bad redhead. Some actresses can change their hair color without losing a step. Scarlet Johanssen is one of those. She can be a blonde, a brunette, or a redhead, and for her, it works. Not so with Amber Heard. She's a blonde, and as a blonde, she is very beautiful, as I've mentioned often on this blog.

But as a redhead, (see above,) Amber Heard does not make it. Maybe acting has everything to do with it. And as I've mentioned, Amber is not very talented in that regard. And I'm disappointed because I had envisioned her as the lead female role in my book Killer of Killers if it were to ever make the big screen. The lead female character in that book is a blonde. And as a blonde, there is no other actress I can think of who can top Amber in looks. But being an actress is dependent on more than just looks. You have to be able to act. And she doesn't have the acting skills to pull it off.

In Aquaman, for example, she delivers her lines with no passion, no sense of urgency, and no base skill. It makes you wonder if she ever took acting lessons. But whatever, she didn't ruin the movie Aquaman. And that could be because the lead female role was actually played by Nicole Kidman, who has never been questioned about her acting skills. She's a veteran actress with a long resume. And she delivers in Aquaman as the mother of Aquaman. She worked well. And yes, she is getting on in years, and it shows, but, hey, she's the mother of Aquaman, who's a fully grown man, and that means she's playing the part of a middle-aged woman, and she was right for the role.

But Amber Heard is not right for any role. And that is because she is not a good actress. That doesn't mean she can't become a good actress. Her role in Aquaman is her first major role in a movie as far as I know. I mean other than some B movies like I've mentioned before. So like anything, with time and practice, anyone can get better at whatever it is they aspire to do. The only problem is time. For women in the movie business, and for men too, btw, time is not an ally. It's an ally when you consider that with time you get better at something. But on the other side of the coin, time takes away the very essence of what being a movie star begins with. Looks. It's that way for everyone.

So the movie Aquaman works well enough to suit me. Even with Amber Heard. Heck, get her some more roles in some other major movies, and maybe she can end up being a good actress. Maybe even good enough to play Samantha Jones. But time will be the ultimate judge of that one.

Amber Heard is NOT Samantha Jones

If it were up to looks only, Amber would be perfect for the role of
Samantha Jones in Killer of Killers. Take this photo for example.
This is exactly how I envisioned Samantha Jones to look. Is there
a more beautiful woman in Hollywood? I don't think so.

I browsed some of my past entries here on the blog and found a post entitled Amber Heard is Samantha Jones. So, I thought I'd update that post with this one. Amber Heard is NOT Samantha Jones. And I base this new conclusion on her performance, however small, in that last Justice League movie. She plays the wife or significant other of Aquaman. And, well, short as her screen time was, it was not anything that would make me think she can act.

I think the movie people knew that, too, which is why her screen time was so painfully short. I mean talk about a bit part. It was nothing more than a cameo, really. And any opportunity for her to shine was not used to her advantage. In fact, her lines, few as they were, were delivered with no credibility, no convincing tone, and were nothing to write home about. And ditto from what I've seen in the new Aquaman trailer.

So, yeah, I was suspecting there was a problem with her acting for a while now. I began to suspect it when I saw her in that B movie Machete Kills. I was thinking, well, it's a B movie, and it was tongue in cheek, to boot, which is very hard to pull off, and mostly no one in that movie outside of Danny Trejo was able to pull it off.

At that point I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. But after her farcical marriage to Johnny Depp, and the debacle that turned out to be, and the unwillingness of casting directors to cast her in any decent movies, (Aquaman excepted) I have been changing my mind about her. The benefit of the doubt is no longer viable. Amber Heard is NOT Samantha Jones.

And that is really because, if Killer of Killers were to ever be made into a movie, the role of Samantha Jones has got to be given to a beautiful blonde woman who can ACT. Someone who has screen presence, which Amber does NOT have, and someone who can command an audience.

Jessica is not the looker Amber is, but she's a better actress.
She was actually my first choice for the part.
Sadly, the years are taking a toll on her. 

I used to think Jessica Alba could be that woman, but the years are not being kind to Jessica Alba. Her most recent movies reveal an aging woman, sadly, which is normal, of course, but not kind to actresses who made their mark on Hollywood as young and beautiful up-and-comers.

The years have put that part of Jessica in the past. She is now a middle-aged actress, and her appearance shows it. Not even the magic of the movie set cameras can hide it. It doesn't mean Jessica's career is over. But she's not the "hot babe" she used to be, and, again, that's just the way it goes. It happens to the best of them.

So back to who is Samantha Jones. I don't know. My first choices are now dismissed, so on to the new young and beautiful blonde up-and-comers, of which there seems to be no shortage. I'll keep my eyes open. They are many. Just need one who can act.

A Star is Born - Here We Go Again

Hollywood - here we go again. I've lamented that Hollywood has been promoting the concept that the woman is the competent one, the brave one, the strong one, and the winner. And I would have no problem with that if not for Hollywood's flip-side, which is the concept that the man is the incompetent one, the coward, the weakling, and the loser.

It's bad enough Hollywood has transformed great franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars into feminist versions of the prior shows. Especially bad is the brainwashing of our children by the constant portrayal of male characters in cartoons as stupid, cowardly, incompetent and degenerate, while the female characters are the opposite. But it's not just cartoons anymore. And it's not even a new thing, evidenced by the many times remade movie, A Star is Born.

So don't watch these shows, right? I don't. But it's still disappointing. For example, I used to like the Star Trek franchise. Well, the original series, anyway. The Next Generation version was the start of its downfall. When TOS had a captain who was brave, dashing, competent, and self-assured, Star Trek was great. But then TNG had a captain who was the opposite. He needed "counseling" for practically every command decision he made. (And, oh, yeah, counseling from a woman.) Which, imo, brought the franchise down. Way down. Way, way, way, down.

It was a slow downward spiral, but it bottomed out with the current Star Trek which now features only female heroes. A female captain. A female first officer... etc... etc... In Star Trek now, the males are relegated to secondary characters with no impact. I stopped watching after the first episode.

I also stopped watching Star Wars. In those movies, the male characters are cowardly and/or incompetent fools. It's only the female characters who are the heroes. I've made the point already, that a woman can be as heroic as a man. But when it's only female characters who are the heroes, like in every single Star Wars movie since Disney bought the franchise, it's like, what the hell?

So back to A Star is Born. Sure, with this twisted Hollywood mindset, what better movie to remake than the ultimate Hollywood story of a man who is incompetent, stupid, drug-addicted, and self-destructive next to a woman who is talented, competent, self-determined, brave, and virtuous? Of course it's A Star is Born. Its fourth rendition to boot.

Which underscores my point. It had already been done three times. But hey...like I said, it's the ultimate depiction of the male vs. female scenario Hollywood has been promoting for more than two decades. Which begs the question: why does Hollywood want male characters portrayed as stupid, incompetent, degenerate, weak, and cowardly? Hollywood is run by men. Isn't that right? I keep hearing that. The feminists keep lamenting that. I think it's a good question.

Apparently, the answer is they want to see men as weak, degenerate cowards and women as strong righteous heroes. Is Hollywood catering to women? Not if you listen to the "Me-too" movement. Women have been abused by these high positioned freaks in Hollywood like forever, there's no questioning that. But it's weird and plain disgusting to me when a 120 pound woman beats up twenty men all at the same time without breaking a sweat. I just can't buy into that.

Sure, Supergirl can and so can Wonder Woman. That works because it's comic book fantasy. But here's the kicker. Iron Fist is comic book fantasy, too. But with Iron Fist, instead of just a woman who's a hero, we have to see a man who's too cowardly and insecure to be the hero, and thus passes his power to...a woman, who's not too cowardly or insecure. I mean how many times do we have to put up with this same concept? And this "Black Sky" character? Please...no.

So through it all, the solution is simple. I'm sticking with Killer of Killers. And Killer Eyes. In those stories Trent Smith is a strong, self assured, and self determined male hero. And he stays that way. He is the righteous one, and he has no insecurities in his quest for justice. Apparently it's up to me to write about a male hero who's brave enough and competent enough to be a hero. And to stay a hero. Unless there's  more Jason Statham movies in the works. Or John Wick. Speaking of which, I can't wait for John Wick chapter 3. Thank goodness, someone in Hollywood hasn't wimped out.

TV's Male Heroes Nothing But Wimps

So, I've complained about Arrow...where the hero saves peoples' lives but after doing so, those same people hate him and put him in jail or want to kill him. And indeed the hero goes to jail for the crime of saving lives. And he goes willingly. For those same people who hated him.

We saw Flash go to jail for the frame job put on him by the villain The Thinker. And I had complained about the "hero" Red Reddington who saved Lizzy's life multiple times, (and the lives of most of her friends also, btw) only for her to then hate him and put in motion a plan to "destroy" him.

Now, I'm watching this new show Iron Fist, and guess what. He turns out to be a wimp. He had already said that possessing the "iron fist" was so important to him like it was part of him. But now he no longer wants it. Say what? Yeah, he says he doesn't have the strength of will to possess it without it "consuming" him. So who does he want to have the iron fist? Who is it that's strong enough to possess it? Well, his girlfriend, of course.

I mean what the heck. So why do I want to watch a show about a "hero" who doesn't want to wield the power to be a hero because he believes he isn't strong enough? He's a cowardly wimp. Why do I want to watch a cowardly wimp? I don't. It seems only the girl is strong enough and brave enough to wield the power.  Likewise, why do I want to watch a show about a chump who goes to jail? I don't. Why do I want to watch a show about a chump where everyone he saves hates him and wants to destroy him? I don't.

So yeah, in the show Iron Fist the woman is now the iron fist because the man is not strong enough or confident enough to hold the power. This is bullshit. What is going on with Hollywood? The men who are supposed to be the heroes are instead wimps and cowards. They are weak and they are chumps. They go to jail for saving lives and saving entire cities. Like the Green Arrow. And who was it that put him in jail? A woman, of course. Who is it that wants to destroy Red Reddington? A woman, of course. And who is it that's strong enough to hold the power of the iron fist when the man who had it wimps out? A woman, of course.

This is an extension of the cartoon shows. Most if not all the cartoon shows for the last twenty years feature male characters that are stupid beyond belief. In addition to that, they are cowards and degenerates. Whereas the female characters are the smart ones, the brave ones, and the ones who have all the answers. It's like Hollywood is trying to brainwash America's kids to believe that if you are a boy, you are stupid, weak, and a coward. On top of that you are also a degenerate and a detriment to society. If you are a girl, then you are smart, strong, and determined, even more so than men. And it's like that in most of these shows, like I said, for the last twenty years.

I don't get it because that's not the reality. Look, I know women can be as smart and as strong as men, generally speaking. But this Hollywood nonsense is just going too far. It's the same thing over and over again with every show, seemingly. It's nauseating. I don't buy it. It makes me very glad I created my own hero: Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist. He's featured in two of my books, Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. No one can match him in a fight, male OR female.

No Woman would last one second against Brock Lesnar

One point I want to make clear. As strong as women can be, there is no woman in the world who would be able to last more than five seconds in a ring against the best male fighters. Take Brock Lesnar as an example. No woman in the world would last one second in a ring against him. And I don't mean this to be an insult to women. I know they are strong and many women are trained to fight. But against a man with equal training? It wouldn't be a contest. Not even close.

So all this crap about how men are weak and cowardly and don't possess strength of will, like we've been seeing in Iron Fist, Arrow, and even the current Star Trek and Star Wars franchises is just that. Crap. It makes me want to go back and continue my Trent Smith series. I think I will.

Mission Impossible Fallout - Action Packed

Mission Impossible Fallout Poster

Talk about never a boring moment. The new Mission Impossible movie, Fallout, was action packed. And I enjoyed every minute of it. I like action movies, as I'm a writer of action novels, especially my two Killer books, and I'll say Fallout never failed to impress.

Tom Cruise is getting up there in years, but he still pulled off a series of stunts that would make a man in his prime proud. I heard during the course of production he had broken an ankle on one of those stunts and it reminded me of Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West fame. Conrad had insisted on doing his own stunts until the inevitable day came when he got hurt.

So I don't blame actors for using stunt men as fill-ins for the more dangerous scenes. I'm guessing Tom Cruise learned his lesson. But the scenes were seamless and the movie top notch. I have one critique, or one complaint--SPOILER--and it is this: Henry Cavill of Superman fame does not make a good bad guy. Meaning he's not convincing as a bad guy. Meaning, when you see Henry Cavill, you see Superman, the ultimate good guy.

Henry Cavill in MI: Fallout

I'm not suggesting Cavill is typecast as Superman, but I am suggesting Cavill is typecast as a good guy. And that's not a bad thing. After all, in every Tom Cruise movie, Cruise is a good guy. There are other actors like that. Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, and Ben Affleck are good guys in every movie they've been in. Same with Christopher Reeve, the other Superman actor. The list goes on and on. So making Cavill a bad guy in Fallout didn't work for me. But it didn't ruin the movie. The only thing that might have ruined the movie was Cavill's mustache. (Cavill with a mustache? Please, no.)

Another reason I hated seeing Cavill as a bad guy is the fact that if my book, John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu were ever to make it to the big screen, Cavill is my first choice to play the lead role of John Dunn, the white chief of Zululand. I had posted comparable photos of the real Dunn and Cavill, each with a beard, and they are strikingly similar in appearance. Apparently Cavill sports a full  beard much better than a lone mustache. Even if its accompanied with some stubble as shown to the left

But whatever. I don't know if Cruise as the years remaining to make more MI movies. This was, what, the sixth or seventh? That's a pretty successful run of a franchise right there. I suppose he might make one more. Maybe two. And I'm betting they'll both be good.

Antman and the Wasp movie - Too Goofy

I don't know why the latest trend with the Marvel movies is slapstick comedy. Or an attempt at slapstick comedy. It ruined the last Thor movie. I had posted that Thor's latest movie made him seem like another Inspector Clouseau type of character, instead of the god of thunder.

Well, this latest Antman movie did the same thing. The entire movie was slapstick comedy. It made me think I was watching the Three Stooges. The first Marvel movies, although not perfect, were at least not ridiculous efforts of comedy. They were serious dramas. Which they should be. It was a removal from the tongue-in-cheek movies that Hollywood used to think comic book movies should be. If you'll recall the fist Bat Man and Superman movies were tongue-in-cheek. And bad tongue-in-cheek at that. They were so cheesy that they didn't appeal to the serious comic book fan.

Now that doesn't mean all tongue-in-cheek movies are cheesy. Tongue-in-cheek is one of the hardest genres to make. If you can do it well, it can be a good movie. But the comic book tongue-in-cheek movies were not done well.

Then Hollywood got wise, (which is rare, but it happens,) and made some good comic book movies. The first Marvel movies were pretty good. Now they have regressed and are back to bad humor. If you can put a little humor into a serious drama, that's fine. Even better. But it has to work. This latest Antman movie, as a comedy, like the last Thor movie, didn't work. My sons didn't even like it.

My oldest son was shaking his head saying the movie sucked midway through the movie. I agreed. That's not to say there weren't some good moments in the movie. But overall it was a thumb's down rating. A disappointment. Too bad. Antman is a good character. So is the Wasp. But not in the Hollywood universe. They are cheesy, dumb, and stupid. Like the movie.