Alita Angel battles Dragons

New show this week on MNN with new movie reviews, Oscar predictions and other news.

Mini-Reviews:
Battle Angel: 3, While the effects are great, to many actions scenes were in the dark. And they leave you hanging for the sequel. Like what is up with that ship in the sky? And that former Hulk cameo?
How to Train Yr Dragon. 4, Unbelievable animation, taking it to the next level. And hundreds of dragons to boot. But they spent way to much time on the meeting of the two main dragons. But hate to say it but Battle Angel doesn't have a chance against these dragons.
Cold Pursuit: 2, Liam is always great kicking ass but the dramedy and direction didn't work at all.

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2467069/alita-battle-angel-is-overperforming-but-how-much-does-it-need-to-break-even
Likw making money is such a bad thing. Hopefully we'll get a sequel. butthe one thing they don't you is that money is coming from inflated pricing thanks to the push of seeing it in 3D Max. If this was regular 2D it would have been a bomb.

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/2/17/18228584/samsung-stops-producing-blu-ray-players
Yep streaming is taking over. And I got to admit, it's better than buying expensive box sets,
you can binge when ever or on whatever you want. How many people you see watching thier favs on thier phones or tablets on the subway on the way to work? No more physical items. ust like the music cd's with Spotify taking over the world, lol. I lost must of my Br/DVD collection thanks to Hurricane Maria and now it just makes sense with streaming instead of spending more money on replacing that collection. But that's just me. Co-host Mark on the other hand is buying those discs like crazy. LOL.

https://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news/the-walking-dead-just-scored-its-lowest-ratings-ever
What did they expect? Once word got out that Danai Gurira (kick ass with the sword) was leaving that was putting the final nail in the coffin. And those 4 million still watching. That's Daryl doing and I hope he got a big paycheck to stay on a sinking ship.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/obi-wan-kenobi-series-rumored-for-disney/
For cying out loud give the role to Ewan already ! But how desperate the mouse is following CBS stream and bringing it to their Disney stream. Monkey see monkey do.

Oscars:
https://variety.com/2019/film/in-contention/oscars-2019-final-predictions-1203135983/#article-comments
This article basically mentions my favs as well so not much to talk about here. But......
Sticking to my guns with GREEN BOOK for Best Picture but Roma or The Favourite will take it.
But don't be surprise if Bohemina Rap takes it. It shouldn't have been nominated to begin with.
Everything else? I'll leave it to the article.

Bonus:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/hulu-announces-four-marvel-animated-series/
Beginning of the end for basic television. Considering Disney (the mouse again) owns 60 % of this.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/amazon-prime-video-greenlights-17-original-series-seven-countries-1203138384/
This and Netflix giving the green light to produce over 30 movies for the year. HBO who?

The Orville Special

New show now playing on You Tube.. We talk Orville, Trek, Walking Dead and more.
This was suppose to be posted before the show but had some tech problems with it.
Anyways Google is taking alot of things away from people's blogs. As far as this blog we will
see what happens in March and take it from there but it doesn't look good.

Mini-Review:
Lego Movie 2: 2, Doesn't have the charm as 1 and the songs are annoying as hell. Shame.

Quick News:
https://deadline.com/2019/02/alita-battle-angel-lego-movie-2-aquaman-bohemian-rhapsody-global-international-box-office-1202553846/
Looks like Batttle Angel will do good overseas.  At least they bumped from December and didn't have tocompete with Aquaman. But will that do any good by releasing now in the States?

https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/james-cameron-gives-his-two-cents-on-james-wans-aquaman
Something we mention a few months back as Cameron didn't think all that much with the SFX in Aquaman. But he did feel a little threaten that it made a Billion dollars. lol.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/hulu-announces-four-marvel-animated-series/
The key word here is ADULT animated series and on Hulu, which by the way Disney owns 60%.
Talk about having your cake and it too. How convenient aint it?

https://movieweb.com/black-panther-sag-awards-ensemble-win/
But will it make a difference at the Oscars? The Bafta's (British Oscars) gave all the best awards
to Roma and The Favorite and looks like that's the way the Oscars are also going.

Star Trek Discovery Preview

New Live show on MNN this Saturday 1/26/2019.  Oscars and Trek preview with Best and Worst of 2018. Welcome to a new year for our blog. This will be posted before every new show on MNN.

Mini-reviews:
Glass: 1, hated the first one, James performance was great in 2, and he saved this one. barely
ST Discovery: 3 Good Season 2 premiere considering it has nothing to do with the canon timeline lol.
Orville: Having previous Doctors on was great, Romance ep sappy and that Porn thing was awful.

https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/new-star-trek-series-will-find-jean-luc-picard-having-been-radically-altered
It wasn't bad enough to screw up Discovery with that mess os season one. Now thier screwing with this with an altered time line or whatever the hell their talking about. What is wrong with this studio?

https://screenrant.com/godzilla-3-villain-destoroyah-king-monsters-sequel/amp/
Destroyah is one of my favorite

https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/paramount-is-reportedly-developing-a-bumblebee-sequel-with-a-major-co-star
This was close to not getting a sequel. But I guess that extra cash coming in from Japan soon made the difference. And with no Bay in sight this will work with Prime being introduce.

Oscar Predictions.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-producers-plan-reunite-avengers-telecast-1174867
Anything to get some ratings. It will would be cool to see but who is going to put up to see less than  minutes of fun. And are they all going to be there?

https://www.thewrahttps://www.thewrap.com/oscar-nominations-2019-the-complete-list/p.com/oscar-nominations-2019-the-complete-list/
Green Book all the way. I'll make some predictions just before telecast since no one really cares, lol.
At least one film didnt get the nod: First Man. Worst picture of the year next to Crazy Rich Asians.
Both got snub. Good. And Black Panther has become the first Superhero movie to get a nod. cool.
But the most overrated is Roma, I Just dont get it. Shame about Bradley Cooper not getting the nod for Director. Good for Spike Lee. And the rest? Meh.

https://www.thewrap.com/holmes-watson-gotti-razzie-nominations/
Wow Gotti wasn't all that bad. Travolta was good even tho the movie was chopped up pretty bad.
Happytime Murders was hysterical. a bit creepy but cursing muppets go a long way.
Holmes Watson? Poor Reilly geting stuck with  a Farrell yawner, he deserve better.

Aquaman Crossing The $1B Mark

New Live Show this Saturday: Aquaman Top 5 for 2018, Golden Globes, Best and Worst 2018.
PS: Nailed it ! Green Book at the Golden Globes. Now for the Oscar as mention at the last blog.

Godzilla Plant Eater: 1, awful religous preaching crap. King G boring as 3 snakes. Really?
Old Man and the Gun: 3, Redford being smooth as ever, very low key but very good as always.
Deadpool 2 Xmas: 3, this actually works with Princess Bride angle considering how chopped up it is.

New Article:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-producers-plan-reunite-avengers-telecast-1174867
Will this help the ratings. Well it couldn't hurt. Besides it will be cool to see before the movie.

Previously:
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/aquaman-box-office-highest-grossing-dc-title-internationally-escape-room-1203100082/
Biggest DC title ever.  Holy Batshit! How did that happen. And it didn't even get nominated for anything. Nada. Zip Zero. But still gets the last laugh. Gotta love it.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/2019-golden-globes-winners-list-1172257
As mentioned in the previous blog, Green Book for Best Picture for the Oscar. But Aragon aka Viggo should have gotten it for Best Actor. Also the nominations were kind of mixed up to begin with. Bohemian Rap for Drama? Aint that a musical? And poor Poppins, total diss. I wonder how Disney feels after all that promo pull they did and wind up with nothing. Funny.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/venom-2-officially-works-at-sony-writer-kelly-marcel-1174343
About time they got this thing going. Good for Tom Hardy, he finally a franchise of his own.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/depp-less-pirates-saves-disney-90m/
Ouch ! And Depp is not getting any younger. At least he's got Fantastic Beasts franchise  and his Vampire band going. But once you get used to those big paychecks its hard to go back.

https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/alternate-endings-for-the-predator-may-have-seen-the-return-of-ripley-newt
I've been talking about this for the past 2 years! The return of Ripley and Co. and again they blew it!

https://variety.com/2019/music/news/greatest-showman-soundtrack-tops-2018-album-sales-chart-1203100203/
And they done this Twice!

Aquaman $500M Cross Over !

 New show this Saturday: Major reviews and Golden Globes and the Top 10 for the year.

One of my favorite shots from the movie above btw.

Update: Finally got to see Green Book and this deserves the Best Picture for the Oscar.  5 of 5.
As far as the Globes goes I'm still sticking with Poppins getting most of the awards but don't be surprise with Star is Born in the Drama section with Gaga and Malick for the Best Actor.

Mini-Reviews:
Mary Poppins: 4, If only the songs were a bit memorable but this deserves all the Globes nods.
The Mule: 3, If you liked Grand Tarino you will love this, other wise well, it's Eastwood !
BlackkKlansman: 4, Great cast but the ending was a cop out as a wrap up to some of the characters.

Update:
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/box-office-worldwide-record-2018-1203095807/#article-comments
Check out the comment section and this will give you a better picture on what this is all about.
Because of China which has beeen increasing it's theatre counts causing this record breaking numbers, theatre admissions are getting less. Only a few have broken the $1 Billion count.


Previously:
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/aquaman-china-extended-release-1203095812/
Thsi will help it tie with Venom for the top 5 of the year. What's so funny adding insult to injury is the theatre owners pulled Crazy Rich Asians from the cinemas when it DOA in one weekend and replaced it with Aquaman and extended its theatre counts. Now the extended the run. Ouch. Funny!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-aquaman-rules-christmas-eve-crosses-500m-globally-1171617
And the winner is Jason Momoa ! And is he's up there with our gal Gal Godat as DCU big winners.
The big surprise is that it was Poppins and Bumblebee fighting it out.

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/domestic-box-office-record-2018-1203095448/
Again as mentioned in the last blog, here is Hollywood bragging about an all time high when in reality everything is tanking.

https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2464127/doctor-who-teases-the-return-of-an-iconic-villain-in-new-years-special
When all else fails bring out Plan B. Since the fans are crying foul with a female Doctor, it's time to pull out a favorite villain to save the day. Works with Batman and the Joker, right? The main problem with the show now is that the writers are not Sci-Fi writers. Whaaaaaa? What the hell were the producers were thinking of. Who wonder there's no imagination to the show. Yikes.

Golden Globes Predictions: Mary Poppins
Simple: Since Aquaman wasn't nominated and Black Panther is the most overrated Marvel of the year, (what happened to Avengers:IW? ) Mary Poppins is going to clean up.
And the rest? Half I didnt even hear of them until they got nominated.
So basically I'm going to watch but with a "Who the fuck cares" attitude. So there. lol.

Aquaman vs Mary Poppins Showdown

We have one more Live show on Dec. 29. Last weeks show now playing on YouTube.
As per request the mention in the beginning of the show about Queen's video is posted below.

Update:
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/movie-ticket-prices-around-the-world-1203094187/
Great article. Here's your answer as to why the audiences are staying home binge watching while box office numbers are going through the roof. Thats how you make up the gap. I mean $50 a ticket in London. And I thought NY was bad. lol.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/votd-the-predator-holiday-special-short/
Funny as heck for a short clip. And I love that nod to Aliens. Rated R for Clay animation violence lol.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-preview-aquaman-mary-poppins-returns-lead-1170308
I said on the show that they would both be tied at the boxoffice but it looks like Aquaman will be the winner. While Aquaman hasn't been nominated, it's big win as it will break $500M Worldwide mark in less than 3 weeks thanks to China. And Poppins is going to walk away with all the awards. It's a win win for everyone. And even Bumblebee looks like it will do good.  It will be a long weekend thanks to the holidays.

Mini-reviews:
Roma: 2, What a depressing movie. Not a holiday movie when a family member dies. Sad.
Bumblebee: 3, Whats with RT? It wasn't all that. At least they got the Volkswagon right.
Aquaman: 4. Wan got this right. Bigtime! Besides a couple of glitches in the CGI area (undersea is difficult) and Pitbull's mess on Toto's Africa song, this is a great film from beginning to end.
Lots of action through out until they bring out the big guns at the end. Top 5 for the year.
SpiderVerse: 2. This was a mess and the animation drove me nuts. Even tho I liked Noir Spidey, Ij ust didnt get Anime girl and that stupid pig.
Mowgli: 4: Serkis did a great ob on this. Why the hate? Better than the last one, total crap.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/weekend-box-office-aquaman-crosses-260m-overseas-1169835
Wow, not even the studio saw this coming. It already out gross Wonder Woman in ticket sales in China and it just opened! This is doing huge business. They need to sign Wan for the sequels as the studio didn't have faith in him to begin with. Hope he clears a big paycheck he deserves it.

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/peter-jackson-mortal-engines-box-office-flop-1203090907/
You figure is Jackson's name attached, audiences would be at least curious. How soon they forget this is the man who did LOTR. Also it come behind Fantastic Beasts which is not doing all that at the B.O. And isn't steampunk passe already?

http://www.darkhorizons.com/the-biggest-flops-hits-of-2018s-box-office/
Was anyone asking for Robin Hood anyways? The i biggest shame was Happy Time Murders.
Muppets gone bad, funny as hell. Maybe a cult classic on Netflix. The rest deserve to be on the shitlist.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/daredevil-axing-wasnt-about-ratings/
Nope. It's all about Disney being a total control freak. They're doing a good job at it too, lol.

As mentioned from the show:

Ralph Wrecks The Box Office

Well I'm back and the last show is Playing on YouTube. New show this weekend Dec. 1. 

Mini-Reviews: 1 to 5 being a hit.

Wreck It Ralph 2: 5, This gets our childhood videogames right where Radio Playing One got wrong.

Creed 2: 3, Actually it's Rocky 4 coming around for a full closer. But all that training, what a bore.

Christmas Chronicles: 4, Snake Slipskin singing a Santa song in a jail. Russell having a blast.

Outlaw King: 4, Where Braveheart left off. Great battle sequence at the end.

Detective Chinatown 2: 2. This was Huge internationally and is in the top 10 for 2018. I didn't get it. Filmed in NYC they skip locations like crazy. foot chase sequence in Wall St. they go thru some doors and then all of a sudden their in Grand Central. WTF. How wonder it wasn't released here in the U.S,

Articles:
https://deadline.com/2018/11/venom-crosses-800-million-ralph-breaks-the-internet-fantastic-beasts-grindelwald-global-china-international-box-office-1202508421/
Venom is killing it in China, Ralph taking over in other markets and while Beasts is doing great overseas, in the U.S. its already drop down to No. 4 at the box office. But looks like we're getting another Beasts sequel. Ugghh.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/apple-netflix-reshaping-studio-hierarchy-paramount-a24-deals-1163992
Well at least some studios know the end is near.

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/the-lion-king-most-watched-trailer-in-24-hours-disney-1203035777/
Well looks like another hit here. But it does look rather cool. Hopefully it won't be like Jungle Book. Too damn dark compare to the original animation.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/robin-hood-is-2018s-biggest-blockbuster-bomb/
And who thought  this was a good idea to begin with. That's why studios are tanking.

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/walking-dead-season-9-midseason-finale-ratings-1203037010/
From 15M down to 5M in viewers. And they're going to release 3 films with Rick. Are they kidding?
I know who cares. But the studio should really read the comments in this article. Ouch !

https://deadline.com/2018/11/cowboy-bebop-live-action-series-netflix-remake-cult-anime-tv-series-1202510110/
Animation to Live Action aka Lion King, Battle Angel and Live Action to Animation aka Pacific Rim down to Spiderman animation coming out Xmas while we wait for Avengers 4. Why not? Milk the old cow, there might be some drips left. BTW Bebop was already done live action, it was called Firefly. Remember that?