A Week on the Jokerside — 20 March 2017
Monday means our regular round-up of the best, boldest and latest bits and bobs from pop-culture. What’s caught the blog with long-reads, cartoons and a smirk’s eye over the past week?
Well, this week:
Enter the Matrix, intangible Yoda, full size AT-ATs, Shifting Aquaman and a happier DC, a reduction in super-speedsters, a Matrix reborn, clash of the Calibans, fast incoming Gods and oh my, bye bye Chuck …
On the Jokerside
Party hats on! It was Jokerside’s four and a half birthday — we know right, so soon! As is customary we celebrated with another of our biannual Fictionside series. This time we chose four and a half of our favourite villains and four and a half of our famous heroes! Find out why it’s a hell of a dinner party!
JokerShorts:
A difficult pill to give up: The Matrix may actually be returning… But there were sage words (evoking the very best of a fake news warning that celluloid freaks have been tuned to for years) from the new screenwriter. He’s right about the Animatrix… I feel a re-read and re-watch coming on…
With the wise advice that if you’re going to cast Keanu Reeves you should cast Keanu Reeves, and all manner of contradictory speculation about the new Morpheus (already), some reassuring words for everyone but Dr Doom from Mads:
Hope of the Island #2: So more about that awesome Wonder Woman trailer — we were a little brief last week so it’s back… Because it’s truly stunning. Digging more into the origins of the Greek demigoddess, one of many tantalising question marks hang over the role of David Thewlis… Not long to wait. #Ares
Meanwhile in Gotham: Suddenly, although there are huge amounts of Bat-salt to be taken with any news of The Batman, the future of Deathstroke doesn’t look so vivid.
But things are much brighter in Metropolis: Just when we’re getting excited that Jack Kirby’s New Gods are going to finally rock the DC Extended Universe (although, see Rant below), news that… Warner Brothers want to make Superman fun again?
Long-forgotten suns: Matt Reeves for The Batman, maybe Mel Gibson for Suicide Squad 2, and… Matthew Vaughn for Man of Steel 2? (I think it’s very important to point out to Warner Bros RIGHT NOW that my first name begins with M — ed.). Could such a sign-up reawaken a long-dormant Superman project that Vaughn’s name once orbited, or even warm a path for the return of his frequent collaborator Mark Millar to the DC fold…
Also worth noting: If you thought Disney had a broad scope, Warner Bros are nudging 17 DC films along at the moment. Clear those DvD shelves…
Trailer of the week: Now Wonder Woman’s out the way, and neither Scarlet nor Charlize found time to show off any more of their impressive skillset, trailer of the week fell to the much-anticipated American Gods. The buzz is growing, and it feels great.
Aardman returns! And close behind, Nick’s back…
Pulling the strings: Talking of which, We could speculate about the ghost of the small green one popping up in Episode VIII, but WE’VE BEEN TOLD NOT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
Far, far away: However, we can very much register our interest in the idea that Disney’s Star Wars Land will have FULL SIZE walkers…And our complete disinterest in this Rogue One miscommunication. Rogue One WAS the opening scrawl, of course it should never have had one itself…
Big Trouble on Little Sakaar: And on another Disney franchise, fresh from the retro look Thor: Ragnarok was, er, rocking last week, they’re narrowed down the influence. Oh, yes. There we go… Now when are they lining John Carpenter up for a gig?
December 2018 congestion: The long-awaited Avatar sequel (well, it will be if the script’s upped its game) has vacated its December 2018 slot, and the vultures have swung in. Well, perhaps less vultures and more DC’s Aquaman, Sony’s intriguing animated Spiderman film, and just days later Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns. Yes there were vulture jokes to be had with all three of those, but we rose above it…
Web rumours: Quite how Sony are going to wring their Spiderman rights for all their worth remains to be seen, but that great and under-developed spider-foe Venom managed to inspire two great rumours this week. One, that there’s a film in the works (oh, and for a one and a half, it made the Guardian). And two, (with full warnings fro speculative spoilers), that current Sony sci-fi fest Life could be a Venom origin story…
Fast-tracking the Corps: Don’t be fooled, David Goyer is still hugely influential in the movie superhero stakes. Could his first directoral effort since 2009’s The Unborn be The Green Lantern Corps? Last time he helmed a superhero film it made a good stab at inventing Ryan Reynolds (and closing the Blade franchise). Not a chance on Oa that Reynolds will be returning to this…
The buzz about Flash Series 4: We hope you’re all up-to-date with The Flash, one of the best genre shows on the box. Amazingly, the show’s managed to up its villain every season. From a speedster in the first year to, a faster speedster in the second to, oh, a speed god in the third… Rest assured, they’re mixing it up next year…
Minimising the X-Men: Still on the small screen, it may be a working title, but nailing the name Gifted shows Fox have little cares about trawling the X-thesaurus. What’s interesting is… Bryan SInger’s directing the pilot? Hmm. Will be stepping up the Legion viewing over the next week…
Two Calibans are a charm: Meanwhile, if communication mistakes are good enough for Marvel (see last week — ed.), they’re good enough for Fox. Seriously, if there’s one comic franchise that’s freed itself of things as minor as continuity errors…
For Excalibur: Legendary director John Boorman’s chatted about 50 years in the business:
Repetitive knocking: And in other film news: Oh. Right. Maybe a good chance for tie-in aspirin…
Red noses for deep pockets: A live auction and lottery open for this year’s Red Nose Day in the UK. Top genre prizes include the staggering chance to share a full English breakfast with seven Doctors (oh alright, there may just be a breakfast each!) and a 3D-printed Red Dwarf Starbug. Uncoincidentally, it was 18 years since Comic Relief aired The Curse of Fatal Death this past week! GIVE. We’ve bought our red noses, and while the Frankenose is proving typically elusive, we’re rocking the Norse Nose.
Alert, condition furrowed: Of course, what with it being the golden anniversary year of Star Trek: The Original Series, it seems like every week’s an anniversary. Oh, actually it is! Qapla’ chaps ! Wwe just passed 50 years of Klingons! Here’s our 50th anniversary celebration of them and much more:
The quest continues: The Batman’s got nothing on any Gilliam project — but look, it’s happening.And what, Palin’s out!? Driver’s in!? Those windmills must be mighty effective.
Send in the clowns: This may not cheer Terry Gilliam up. The clown craze fell from grace amid the political debacles of the past 8 months. Pennywise is out to change that.
Troma truths: here’s an ever-temperate interview with Troma overlord Lloyd Kaufman. I walked passed him last year, in a fetching wooden bow-tie. Him, not me sadly. Film legend.
And the most ridiculous news of the week: Even Andrew Neil was surprised when apropos of nothing whatsoever, George Osborne was announced as Editor of the Evening Standard.
Yes. Stop. George Osborne was actually announced as the new editor of the Evening Standard.
And signalled no intent to stand down as an MP (the petition stands at over 100,000 signatures). Considering his other current jobs, this either reflects rather terribly on his constituents, his hopes for how long he’ll hold the role... Or perhaps both.
Rare-ish mention of politics here as then wonderful things like that there on the left happened.
Harry’s moment of triumph: And the final slot in the shorts falls to this glowing review from SXSW — Harry Dean Stanton, what a ledge.
Rant of the Week
An infrequent section I hope, but this is a call out to Marvel to get their act into gear when it comes to classic reissues and new edition trades. They’re not the only publisher dragging their heels on material that should be available to all but the most well-oiled Ebay bidder — but there are two major gaps we can’t ignore.
C’mon! The world needs available collected editions of Captain Britain Vol. 4 (Jasper’s Warp/Siege of Camelot) and most definitely in the year they take point in DC films and the great man himself would have turned 100 — the complete Jack Kirby’s New Gods.
RIP
We lost Chuck over the weekend. As Lennon said: “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’” Jokerside will be playing Chuck Berry even more than usual.
Been Listening
Apart from Chuck Berry… Caught Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian this week, part of getting back into the great man’s oeuvre after some time apart. Also started a brooding reading of Neil Gaiman’s The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains. Views TBC…
Caught all of Chris Morris and Peter Cooks superb Why Bother? Drugs etc has to be our favourite, although each is an improvisational classic. Two fine comic geniuses sparring and as Morris put it, double Knight’s move thinking from Cook. Worth recalling the Guardian’s review of the collected CD in 1999… “This flimsy collection of five short interviews […] leaves you wondering why you did bother”. Marvellous.
Been Reading
Deadpool comics. Sometimes, it’s tricky to find a stunning one and perhaps recent Marvel Now runs weren’t the way to go…
Been Watching
As one door closes, another opens. In a satisfingly odd five parts BBC’s SS-GB sauntered to a close. The final parts, with their machinations, plots and deadlines were an improvement, but despite the pick up in pace of the fifth episode, something definitely failed to spark. Perhaps that’s true of a few Deighton adaptations, but SS-GB didn’t have the cool or the rigid element of surprise or twist to break from a limp into a run. A bit of a shame, as it’s perceived to have failed more than it did. Chances of a second run, which we’d never even considered, look very bleak.
And just before some loose history ended, The Last Kingdom returned. There’s something ridiculously addictive about a show that’s fundamentally irritating. Didn’t manage to crack what it was in the first year (although the stellar cast certainly helps get around it), but if the BBC can dodge the rather unfair Game of Thrones comparisons that dogged it last time, maybe all will be revealed this time. Very well done to BBC Two for keeping their mittens on it.
That’s been our rolling week… Fill the gap until your next fix with just about 200 long-reads, cartoons and features running the gamut of Pop-Culture at Jokerside.com.
