Month: June 2023

ADMR – FUBAR is a strong show (and the sequel we totally forgot we needed) – 4/5

Post author By todd.wade
Post date June 27, 2023

FUBAR is far from FUBAR

I tend to be fairly selective in the streaming shows I give my time to because I have so many things going on that TV time is at a premium. When I heard the basic premise for FUBAR was next door to that of True Lies (one of my favorite action movies all-time) I moved it to the top of the list. It was a good call.

FUBAR is the story of Luke Brunner (Schwarzenegger), a CIA agent who only works ops of the highest stakes. Not quite as clandestine as Omega Sector (the name of one of my Fantasy Football teams, if you doubted the authenticity of my favorites claim). He has been living the spylife behind the backs of his wife, Tally (now ex, for whom he still pines) and daughter Emma, played by a smoking hot Monica Barbaro (Phoenix of Top Gun: Maverick fame). Emma has a ton of daddy issues stemming from the fact that he was always away ‘with work’ , issues that manifest themselves by making her push herself to be perfect at everything. That drive for excellence eventually put her on a path to a successful career in…you guessed it…the CIA special ops division that just so happens to be the one Luke works for. Hilarious conflict ensues.

Teamwork makes the dreamwork

The mission that brings Emma and Luke together is fairly formulaic. Generic evildoer from Luke’s past must be stopped for reasons I have already forgotten. What are memorable is the amazing cast of characters on the side of the angels. The review of FUBAR would be super-long if I were to give them all the credit they so very much deserve. I could not in good conscience, however, complete my mission without mentioning two of them that added so much to the story as a whole. Alden and Roo, played by Travis Van Winkle and stand-up comedienne Fortune Feimster, are more brother and sister than co-workers. The chemistry between these two characters steals every scene effortlessly. I found myself rewinding to catch the plot narrative I missed while laughing. More than once.

All of this would have been enough for me to offer you FUBAR, should you choose to accept it. The deal clincher for this series are the impressively written Easter eggs that pop up along the way like little secret coded messages. I want so very much to tell all of them that I saw and would love to hear about any I missed. True to my promise I’m sworn to secrecy and shall reveal none of them, under pain of torture by a dagger-twirling Spencer Trilby.

And even though the story that put our heroes in harm’s way is nothing we haven’t seen before, the ending to this season is a nice twist and promises a second season that is not merely a repeat of the first. For that I am unabashedly optimistic. I am giving FUBAR 4/5 enthusiastically. And if you haven’t seen True Lies already, treat yourself to that beforehand. I live to serve. That’s it and that’s all.

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Movie Reviews

ADMR – The Flash is great but also awful – 2.5/5

Post author By todd.wade
Post date June 22, 2023

trouble right from the start

If you pay much attention to the behind the scenes Hollywood reports, you’ve heard about the shite-ton of issues with The Flash and specifically Ezra Miller. Tons of rewrites to the script and director changes have delayed it. The off-camera skulduggery and legal battles for Miller stemming from multiple assault charges and various lesser incidents cast a pall over the project. Add to the mix that James Gunn (who is awesome) is going pretty much scorched earth on the DCEU, to remake it in his own style, which effectively makes this movie a one-off. None of these are a recipe for a summer movie blockbuster.
Having said that, I found myself wanting to believe the smattering of Hollywood hype being scattered about that this movie was going to be fantastic, one of the best tights movies ever. Okay, no one believed that but the optimist in me wanted to believe it might be decent.

I was half-right.

The story begins with the continuation of the Barry Allen story started in Justice League. Barry is trying to help his dad beat a bad rap for the murder of him mom. Why/how his father was convicted of that crime and who the actual killer…all unanswered questions (and seemingly will be forever). The last appeal fails and in his grief journey, Barry runs home to the scene of the crime. From there he suddenly remembers that he has the ability to travel back in time, and formulates a plan to save his mom, negating the whole tragedy and restructuring his life the way he always wanted it to be. Some nearly-dormant part of his psyche realizes that it might be dangerous to do so, Barry enlists the advice of his brunch-pal Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). Wisely, Batman cautions Barry about the dangers of tampering with the timeline. But Barry’s mind is made up. Full speed ahead.

Fast-forward: The Flash saves his mom and gets to enjoy a whole again nuclear family for a quick minute. But, when a younger Barry Allen comes home from college, the moment is snatched away. Older Barry meets a younger Barry and OB gets a little taste of how annoying he must have been to the rest of the League and humanity in general.

Along the way, OG Barry discovers that his changes have somehow negated the rise of superheroes. No Cyborg. No Wonder Woman. No Aquaman. No Superman. Not having a Superman to lean on becomes a notable disadvantage when a Kryptonian world-engine appears above Metropolis and begins teraforming the earth.

With no Justice League to turn to, Barry tries to recreate the accident that gave him his powers on his younger self thinking two Flashes are better than one. However, older Barry only succeeds in transfering his speed to his younger self. Desperate, he runs back to Batman for help. Only it’s not the Batman he knows at all. It’s the OG Batman that we all have a nostalgic soft spot for…Michael Keaton.

The Flash tries to find its footing

It’s about here that The Flash falls off the rails for me. Up to this point, we’ve been jazzed up to 11 to see Keaton reprise a role that is akin to the book of Exodus in superhero movies (Genesis being Christopher Reeves’ Superman, of course). Sadly, after their initial meeting, Batman more or less becomes a bit player. A MacGuffin. His part in this movie does absolutely nothing to further his legacy and that is tragic. Keaton and Burton deserve so much better.

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed the first half, I had a bit of trouble following the second half of this movie. Batman, reborn Flash and his younger Flashself set out to save the altered universe from Zod and friends. From there, this movie was long on ‘splosions and short on…everything else. Flash continues to mess with the timeline and creates more alternate timelines until it just becomes a muddled mess. There are lots of gratuitous cameos (and more than a few that were conspicuously missing). We were treated to a criminally under-written Superwoman and a shoehorned resolution that was in no way satisfying. And can we all agree that there is a responsible way to handle ‘the multiverse’ as a plot device and then there is using it as the most lazy writing ever? Using it in the latter degrades the ability to use it in the former.

I’ve heard a lot of nattering about sub-standard CGI, and there’s definitely truth to that. In the opening action sequence they had what has been dubbed a ‘baby shower’ that was pretty bad by any standard. I didn’t have too much problem with the rest of the CGI, though there were a couple of deep fakes that lacked punch. And I am genuinely scratching my head over the choice of the ending and post-credit scenes. I would welcome anyone in the comments shedding some light on just wtf happened. Discuss.

Whether you expected a lot or not much from The Flash, I think everyone came away disappointed. So maybe it’s a good thing that its likely the end of the road for this version of the franchise. I am giving The Flash a 2.5/5. It’s not as if there was nothing to love about it. The first have was hilarious and I genuinely like Ezra Miller’s take on the character. His portrayal of interplay between old and young Barry Allen was excellent. I guess that half a movie is better than none.

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Movie Reviews

ADMR – Luther the Fallen Sun – Idris Elba is amazing in everything he does! 4/5!

Post author By todd.wade
Post date June 14, 2023

Luther the Fallen Sun

This week, the wife and I weren’t able to make it to our local moviehaus because we flew out to Dallas, TX to check another band off of our Band Bucket List (Duran Duran). Done. And I always want to give you the newest content I can, so I used our flight time to check out a movie on Netflix that I’ve had on my radar for some time: Luther the Fallen Sun.

I will tell you from the git-go that I have yet to see anything starring Idris Elba that I didn’t enjoy. (note- if you haven’t seen the movie Beast, it’s a hidden gem that the Average Dude recommends).

Currently the wife has had been obsessed with zombies. We have literally been watching Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead almost every night for months. With Walking Dead: Dead City coming soon – and I am psyched to see Negan again – and the Daryl Dixon spinnoff also in the wings, I am wondering just how long she can go here. I am working on a review of the Walking Deadworld shows and apparently need to hold onto it for now and see how these new shows factor in. And for crying out loud, can we find out what happened to Rick and Michone, please? Sorry. I digress…

My point is this: I knew that this was a movie spawned by the Luther series on Netflix, which I will definitely check out at some post-zombie point.

Idris Elba is top shelf on my star-list. Maybe because he has avoided the typecast pitfall. Whether he’s a driven, make the hard choice vigilante copper (Luther), the Black Superman (Hobbs and Shaw), the lone gunslinger (Dark Tower) or a dad facing the razor teeth and claws of nature gone insane (Beast) Elba has proven his versatility (RIP, Heimdall). He does it all and does it with excellence. Somehow, Elba takes the old trope of the grizzled, rogue cop who thumbs his nose at the red tape bureaucracy in order to get the job done and makes it feel fresh…or at least fresher than expected.

No, Mr Luther. I expect you to die!

Luther the Fallen Sun begins with our anti-hero being called in on a missing persons case that has befuddled London’s primo investigation squad. The villain of the show is known from the beginning so I’m giving you no spoilers here. Andy Serkis is David Robey, a brilliantly twisted mass-murder who turns his obsession into a very lucrative high-tech deathporn syndicate. Serkis turns in a fantastic performance as a Bond level villain – creepy, soul-less and full of evil intent. And man, when I say he was creepy, brother you best believe it. When a good story meets a great actor, it stays with you for a minute. Serkis’s villain did just that.

I wont go all Oscars and thank every above average supporting performance that went into making this move great. It’s enough to say that it only takes one performer phoning it in to bring down a movie. I found no such holes in Luther the Fallen Sun. Every piece, every bit part was delivered skillfully. Group hug everyone. Well done. I am giving Luther the Fallen Sun 4/5 stars. And don’t be afraid of this one if you haven’t seen any of the 5 seasons of the Luther series. I haven’t. It didn’t affect my enjoyment one bit. But that show has now jumped up the list of binge-ables for me. Looking forward to it, Luther.

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Movie Reviews

ADMR: Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse is AMAZING (and worth waiting 5 years for)

Post author By todd.wade
Post date June 8, 2023

Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse

The second installment of the insanely successful Miles Morales saga – Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse – finally arrived in my local showhaus. And it’s about time, too. I’m not sure what the record is for sequel waiting (my money is on Top Gun: Maverick) but it’s got to be up there. I mean, Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse was a fantastic success, some consider it to be the animated movie GOAT. I’m not ready to anoint it, but it was indeed awesome. The second installment was nearly as awesome. Nearly but not quite.

Ah, That Hits the Spot

Even though we in this universe had to wait five years for Spider-Man Across the Spiderverse, only a year or so has passed for Miles. Neat trick that I wish very much I could do. We pick up the story with Spider-Man doing his web-swinging, wall-crawling thing. He is suffering the same burdens that OG Spidey Peter Parker endured…missing classes, lying to family and friends, the occasional threat to life/earth/universe/multiverse. The usual superhero bailiwick. He is introduced to a new villain that seems very jokey: The Spot. Don’t judge this book by its holey cover.

Spidey and Gwen, Sitting in a Tree…

Apparently, all Spider-persons also have unrequited love issues, and Miles is no different. It becomes clear early on that he still pines for the otherverse Gwen Stacy. Why didn’t he just hit up the Gwen from his own universe? No clue. But, as luck would have it, Gwen has become part of an inter-universe operative force made up entirely of spider-folk, the staggering variety of which are one of this movie’s greatest joys. If you are a fan of the booklore, there were more versions than one viewing allows you to remember. But fear not…non-fanboys will enjoy it all the same.

One of the first movie’s greatest attributes was the animation, which blended some drastically different artistic styles (representing different realities) in an melange of color and shape…a literal feast for the eye and mind (chef’s kiss). I am unashamedly a connoisseur of the tangible, hold in your hand and mylar bagged treasures, so my brainbone loved every second of it. As is the tradition with sequels, Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse tried and succeeded in upping the ante on that quality to nearly seizure-inducing levels. That’s not hyperbole, so you have been advised. I was momentarily taken out of the flow of the movie a time or two, which I absolutely dislike.

The flow of Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse was a little hectic, it crammed a whole lot of story into its already 2 hr 16 min runtime, so maybe it felt a little overlong. But only a little. And that brings me to my last knock…what the heck is up with the whole cliffhanger ending thing going on? As with Fast X (which I also loved) this movie was a two-parter and I had no clue walking into the theater! Not that it would have made much of a difference but at least I wouldn’t be wondering how all this story was going to be wrapped up as we were around the 2 hr mark. At least Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning has forewarned us that it’s a multi-part affair. Kudos, Paramount! Well done.

I would love to talk about specific events and scenes in this movie that I loved, but that’s impossible to do without spoilers. After I had the death of Han Solo spoiled for me a few years back, I am adamant about not blowing a movie for anyone. Better to just say there are a metric shite-ton of so SO cool cameos and characters. Like the Easter Egg Bunny was also a Spider-freak like me. So let’s just get to it. I’m giving Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse an enthusiastic 4.75/5. Go see it before someone accidentally ruins any of the awesome surprises that await.

*And BTW, always spell Spider-Man with the hyphen. I know its tempting to omit it like so many others (Batman, Superman, Deadpool, Daredevil the list goes on). But it really, really annoys him. It’s his pet peeve. He can even tell if you are saying it without the hyphen. Is that a super-power? Don’t know. But he’s Spider-Man so respect.

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