Why 'Peacemaker' Is The Best DC TV Show To Date

DC movies have always been quite epic and dark and often lacking humor. Enter James Gunn and The Suicide Squad. James Gunn not only managed to keep the dark and gritty DC feel while injecting a bucket load of humor into the mix. The Suicide Squad was to DC what Guardians of the Galaxy was to Marvel. This writer was very excited when it was announced that James Gunn would be taking on a spin-off television show using the Peacemaker character. 

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https://www.cultureslate.com/news/28iupxu1ixqefwp8d6buz0sgn30255

Batwoman, busy day and NHL night

This morning was surprising. I got up, had breakfast and a cuppa and watched the first episode of Batwoman Season 2. Season 1 was awful and I hated Ruby Rose and despite loving Batwoman I couldn't get to grips with the show at all and her Kate Kane/Batwoman portrayal. Now that Rose has gone and Javicia Leslie is taking on the mantle of Ryan Wilder/Batwoman I wanted to give it a chance. First episode was not bad at all and was far more entertaining than the show had been before. Hopefully they can keep this going. It was broken so hopefully they can fix it!  

It's been a busy old day. Loads of meetings, loads of troubleshooting, loads of things getting sorted. Oh there was also loads of stress too but I am used to that!

It was a hockey evening tonight. We started off with the Vancouver Canucks v Montreal Canadiens. This was a high scoring back and forth game. At the end of the third the game was tied 5 - 5 and so it was into overtime. Overtime gave us no winner so it was on to penalty shots. Vancouver won the game 6 - 5 after 4 rounds of penalty shots. 

Next up was Minnesota Wild v Anaheim Ducks. Sam was less than impressed that we were routing for the Wild over the Ducks. Another back and forth game but not as high scoring, Minnesota won the game 3 - 2 so we were happy.

Talking of DC TV shows, the latest trailer has just been dropped for the upcoming Superman & Lois series. Not sure if I am looking forward to this one or not. Guess I'll give it a go and see what comes out.

Back trouble continues, Wonder Woman 1984, Joker, Soul and Ice Age

My back is still playing silly buggers which is most inconvenient. I had been hoping it would all pass quickly but sadly it seems it does not want to. I had a disturbed night although thankfully not full of pain and this morning I feel stiff and in slightly more discomfort than yesterday. Back on the rum today I think, it might not help but it does at least mask things!

Breakfast of kings today with toast and turkey dripping, perfect. We decided to be brave and check out the newly released Wonder Woman 1984. The last one was OK, one of the better DC movies so we were interested to see how this one would stack up.

The verdict is that DC should stop making movies! That was not good. I wasn't a big fan of the first Wonder Woman and this one is no better. Patty Jenkins can be forgiven for the first one as she did not write that but she wrote and directed this one so there is no excuse. I hope that Lucasfilm don't let her write the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie and she is just taking on the director role. That end credits scene though!

To wash away the bad taste we watched the only really good current DC movie, Joker, 

Now this film is one that was deserving of a sequel although suspect it won't happen sadly. It does have a natural end but could easily be expanded to take the story on further. Sadly it too gritty to really fit in with the rest of the current DC universe films unless they go down a multi-verse route. 

Following some good reports we had heard we decided to check out Pixar's new movie Soul on Disney+.

It was a heart warming film although I'll have to watch it again as I did snooze through some of it LOL.

Sticking with Disney+ it was time for some Ice Age.

DC trailers

As the entertainment industry tries to kick start itself once again we have had a nice little drop of trailers from DC for upcoming movies.

First up we have The Batman, which will be the first one to star Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman taking over from Ben Affleck. From Batfleck to Patman! This one should be interesting and I'd really like to have another decent Batman film.

Next up is Gil Gadot returning as Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman 1984.

Next we have the 'sequal' to Suicide Squad, called The Suicide Squad. This one should be interesting as it is helmed by James Gunn who did such great work with Marvel on the Guardians Of The Galaxy films. It's a soft reboot hence it not being referred to as Suicide Squad 2.

Last but not least is an extended recut version of the Justice League movie now known as Justice League: The Snyder Cut. There were many rumours of a Snyder Cut existing of this film but nothing ever seemed to come of it. Now it appears that it will be released on HBO Max in four hour long instalments with a full length four hour release coming at some point after that.

Justice League was a mess so I really hope that the Snyder Cut will give it a better place in the DC Extended Universe.

Shazam, Motherland: Fort Salem, Sex Education and a little hockey

We start our day with breakfast at Miggi's before returning home to chill out. In another better late than never moment we decided to watch Shazam as we missed it when it came out.

The DCEU movies have been a bit hit and miss so I wasn't keeping my hopes up for this one. I knew nothing of the comic book character so went into this one with a completely open mind. Overall it wasn't bad at all. Shazam seems to be set in an alternative universe to the other DCEU offerings which was a surprise.

It's a fun superhero movie and I think I would definitely go and see the sequel which is also tied in with standalone supervillain movie Black Adam.


We caught wind of a new TV series coming out that peeked our interest. Motherland: Fort Salem. Set in an alternate, present-day America where witches ended their persecution 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the burgeoning U.S. government to fight for their country, Motherland: Fort Salem follows three young women from basic training in combat magic into terrifying and thrilling early deployment. In this world, the traditional roles of gender and power are flipped, with women on the front lines fighting looming terrorist threats that are strikingly familiar to our world, but with supernatural tactics and weapons. Let's hope it turns out to be good.


The second season of Sex Education is now out so we watched the first two episodes on Netflix. It is as hilarious and silly as the first season. Avoid this one if you are easily offended or don't like the idea of frank discussion about bumping uglies.

Our evening finished watching Washington Capitals v New York Islanders and were very happy to see the Islanders lose 6 - 4.

Stupid stats, Crisis On Infinite Earths and Messiah

I had a half day today. The morning was spent working from home up to my eyeballs in stats going back to 2016 pulled for some pointless management review. I'm sure they'll find something meaningful in there.....

There was lunch and then I had the afternoon off.

The early part of the afternoon I accompanied Toni to the hospital to attend a review with her consultant following her procedure in December. The good news is that what they took out was nothing to worry about and the other good news is that they can now look at doing the actual procedure that she was supposed to have. We hope this will be in a couple of months.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the first three episodes of the DC crossover series Crisis On Infinite Earths.

This consisted of episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman and The Flash. Lots of wonderful guest cameos throughout these episodes and a who's who of all the DC TV series that are currently running. This is their best crossover event so far and I can't wait to see how it all pans out when Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow are broadcast next week.

We finished the evening off watching the first few episodes of Netflix's series called Messiah.


The series focuses on the modern world's reaction to a man, who first appears in the Middle East claiming to be the eschatological return of 'Isa (Jesus). His sudden appearance and apparent miracles spark a growing international following, casting doubts around who he really is, a case investigated by a CIA officer.

The first episodes were good and I hope the story unfolds in a way that it lives up to its promise,

Joker

Went to see Joker today after having lots of friends recommending it.

No spoilers here but that film was DARK! This is not your run of the mill comic book film by any measure.It was emotional to watch but boy did Joaquin Phoenix turn in one hell of a performance. I used to think nobody would ever be able to top Heath Ledger's fantastic portrayal of the classic Batman villain but Phoenix ran away with this one (knocked it out of the park as the Americans would say). It must have taken a lot of work to take on this role and sell it so convincingly. Phoenix most certainly deserves an Oscar for this performance. Joker is well written, has good pace, the visuals and soundtrack all fit so well together This one definitely puts DC back on the movie map where in the past they have always come up short.

Check out the trailer, check out the film!

Miggi's, Crown Jewel, Sabrina, Titans and Daredevil

As is usual for a Saturday, Toni, Sam and I went to Miggi's for breakfast. Turned out to be be more like lunch as Toni and I both had jacket potatoes with various things and Sam stuck to his big breakfast. We then hit Saisnbury's for some snacks before heading back home where we intend to stay for the rest of the weekend.

Despite the controversy of WWE Crown Jewel being held in Saudi Arabia I decided to check it out to see how good/bad it all turned out to be.

They managed to advertise the show and then run it without once mentioning that it was held in Saudi Arabia, clearly showing the decision to proceed was not necessarily the right one given recent events. Number one farce had to be the show opening with the return of Hulk Hogan who was appearing as the 'host'. This basically meant he had a segment at the start. I've never really been a fan of his and he is pretty much washed up now so I was surprised to see him opening the show especially after him being suspended from the Hall Of Fame for some racist comments. Being lauded for this show was a new trophy called the World Cup with card being made up mainly of matches heading to the final for that.

Rey Mysterio Jr defeated Randy Orton in no time at all. The Miz defeated Jeff Hardy. Seth Rollins defeated Bobby Lashley and Dolph Ziggler defeated Kurt Angle. All four winners headed into the semi-finals of the World Cup. The Bar defeated The New Day to retain their Tag Team titles. In Semi Final actionThe Miz defeated Rey Mysterio to advance to the final. Dolgh Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins to meet The Miz.

In a surprisingly average match AJ Style retained his WWE Championship against Samoa Joe. The vacant Universal Title was then won by Brock Lesnar after he made ridiculously short work of Braun Strowman. This was definitely the worst match of the night by far.

In what can only be described as a screw job Shane McMahon defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the World Cup after The Miz was declared unfit to wrestle. A vacant slot should have been offered to Rey Mysterio Jr who lost to The Miz rather than throw in someone who had not competed in any previous round of the tournament. Only in the WWE!

The final insult was DeGeneration X vs. Brothers of Destruction. Ten years ago this would have been an awesome match but watching four guys way past their prime (one of whom was even retired and vowed never to wrestle again) was just painful. It was a slow plodding match with a couple of cool moves for some old guys but it should not have been the marquee match.

Crown Jewel was an odd event that didn't really do much other than lead the stories on to other future events. My recommendation would be to give this one a miss!

On the MUST SEE front I have to recommend the new Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina on Netflix.

It took a while to grow on me (mainly because of their cheap story writing having all the witches serving Satan) but it improved quickly and became compelling viewing. It's a gritty reboot with a fair few passing nods to original Teenage Witch show but this one has much darker life of its own.


We got up to date with DCs excellent Titans show today. Their movies might suck but they can still turn out a good TV show.

The show builds slowly and each week we get little snippets of formative years of certain characters to provide some context to their current day situations. It's dark and gritty and fun to watch.

It's taken a while to get round to it but I started watching Season 3 of Daredevil today.

This was one of Marvel's better Netflix shows and definitely started strong into Season 3.

Trailers.....

everybody needs good trailers............. (sorry!)

A few good trailers have been appearing recently so I thought it was time for a quick catch up.

GLASS
M Night Shyamalan merges the stories from Unbreakable and Split to bring us a whole new encounter! I loved Unbreakable but need to watch Split before I see this!



AQUAMAN
DC are still trying to prove that they can match Marvel with their DCEU movie universe. They've struggled so far so is Aquaan the film to finally give them a break? The visuals look really impressive, I'll give it that!


SHAZAM
Another DC offering bringing another comic book character to life. This will be the next in the DCEU series of movies. Looks like they might be taking the Marvel route of injecting some hunout into this one.


TITANS
More DC content but this time it's a new TV series called Titans. We'll be seeing Robin, Starphire, Raven and Beast Bot come to life in this one.Titans is going to air on DC's own streaming service DC Universe. I like the look of this. Gotham was a great DC TV show so hopefully this will be just as good.


ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
As it's about to hit the cinemas and I love a bit of MCU I thought I'd drop in a trailer for this.


Enjoy.....................

Final Wonder Woman trailer

Well it is almost release time and we've just had the final Wonder Woman trailer appear and it is EPIC.

The trailers and TV spots have looked wonderful so I have very high hopes that this is one movie that DC won't screw up! It will provide a good foundation as we head to the release of Justice League.

Wonder Woman trailer

It's trailer time, courtesy of Warner Brothers and the DC Universe. Wonder Woman is due out next June and this glimpse fills me with great hope.

Gil Gadot returns in the Wonder Woman role that she played in Batman v Superman. This is next in the DC Universe series as we head towards the much anticipated Justice League (due next November).

I'm a big fan of Wonder Woman so this one I am looking forward to much more than I did Batman v Superman and it should give us some insight on what to expect going forwards in the DC Universe.

Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: The Killing Joke is one of my all time favourite stories and Batman graphic novels. I still remember the excitement of when I first bought it when I was 18. Now here we are many years later and now we have an animated movie of Batman: The Killing Joke.

The plot is a simple one: As Batman hunts for the escaped Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime attacks the Gordon family to prove a diabolical point mirroring his own fall into madness.

Batman: The Killing Joke was always seen as the best story featuring The Joker of all time. There was a slight deviation from the plot which drew a lot of criticism from people which I understand although the story does still work. I'm not 100% convinced that it made the transition well from printed media to animation but maybe that's just because the graphic novel has been with me for so long. It is good though.

Mark Hamill once again reprises his role as the voice of The Joker and does it VERY well.

Suicide Squad

Family outing today with Toni, Sam, Aaron, Zoe and I making a trip to the Cineworld in Bexleyheath to go and see Suicide Squad.

Critics and reviewers hadn't been particularly kind about Suicide Squad but lots of friends enjoyed so we went in with balanced expectations. Sometimes I wonder what film critics have actually been to see as I thought Suicide Squad was pretty good.

Will Smith made an excellent Deadshot and Margot Robbie was superb as Harley Quinn. Anyone worried about Jared Lato's portrayal of Joker need not worry either as he rose to the task well (and let's face it topping Heath Ledger's version would always take some doing). As usual I won't get into spoilers in this post so here's a quick synopsis of the plot:  Figuring they're all expendable, a U.S. intelligence officer decides to assemble a team of dangerous, incarcerated supervillains for a top-secret mission. Now armed with government weapons, Deadshot , Harley Quinn , Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc and other despicable inmates must learn to work together. Dubbed Task Force X, the criminals unite to battle a mysterious and powerful entity, while the diabolical Joker launches an evil agenda of his own.

Suicide Squad is well worth a watch if you like the DC Universe or have a passing interest in comic book/superhero movies. This is one where the critics have definitely got it wrong.

Trailers galore

Some more wonderful trailers have appeared that I thought were worth sharing for any of you that might be fans of films related to comic book heroes.

First up is an animated cartoon adaption of the utterly brilliant Batman novel The Killing Joke. Not only does this look really good but it also see Mark Hamill reprise his role as the voice of The Joker.


Next up is the final trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse which is due for release soon. I think this has to be my favourite trailer so far for this movie especially given the quick character reveal at the end

Last but not least comes a TV spot for Captain America: Civil War which includes more footage of Spider-Man. This has just hit the cinemas and I have high hopes for it. Toni and I will be indulging ourselves tomorrow night.

Trailer time

Yes folks it's trailer time again. These should have been blogged earlier in the week but there were other things going on so it's a bumper double issue today!

First up is the latest Suicide Squad trailer:

Suicide Squad looks like it's going to be a FUN superhero movie like Deadpool rather that some of the more 'serious' ones.

Now comes the dark horse when it comes to not knowing what to expect. I was all a but meh about Doctor Strange, even with Benedict Cumberbatch in the starring role. The first trailer has now been released and I'm suddenly really excited to see this film!

Osteopath, William Shakespeare's Star Wars, movie and TV updates and Germany storm to World Cup final!

I'm pleased to report that my back hasn't be hitting me with loads of pain of late.The osteopath sessions have definitely been helping. Had a session tonight and he manipulated me a lot harder than he had done in the past which left me feeling a little bit sore.

I've just taken delivery of the last part of a book trilogy that I have been collecting. I've been waiting for them all to be published before I started reading them so now I can. Here's a video of the final part:


There was sad news this week as Kevin Smith has revealed that Clerks 3 will be delayed as he doesn't have a backer for it. Clerks 2 cost $5M to make and took $24M at the box office so I would have thought that asking for $6M to make Clerks 3 with that sort of return would have been a no brainer. Sadly The Weinstein Company were happy to distribute the movie but weren't prepared to finance this one. I have no doubt that Kevin Smith will get the money from somewhere and then The Weinstein Company might end up kicking themselves for passing it up.

Guardians Of The Galaxy might not be for everyone but I can't wait until 1st August when it is release so I can go and see it. Marvel's films of late have set the bar pretty high and I suspect that Guardians isn't going to let us down.They released an extended look trailer this week which just has me getting excited.


October 7th see the release of CWs new TV series The Flash. I posted a teaser a while back but now we have a very exciting looking Behind The Scenes Pilot trailer.


We received more Star Wars Episode VII news and rumours this week. The latest cast announcements are that both Crystal Clarke and Pip Andersen are now on board for filming. Clarke is a relatively unknown actress and Andersen is a parkour expert. Next is the rumour that the Forest Of Dean may well be being used as a location for filming of Episode VII. The one thing that "could" lend this story some credence is that it was the BBC that came across a huge film crew that have set up camp at Puzzlewood. No confirmation has been received on this yet. Here's the BBC news report with a brief segment on Anderson plus a report from Puzzlewood.


"The Star Wars universe has always been about discovering and nurturing young talent and in casting Episode VII we wanted to remain absolutely faithful to this tradition. We are delighted that so many travelled to see us at the open casting calls and that we have been able to make Crystal and Pip a part of the film," said producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.


I had completely forgotten about the Brazil v Germany World Cup semi final until I got a text from mum. I turned on the TV with the game 24 minutes in and Germany leading 3 - 0 only for them to get another two and head into the second half leading 5 - 0. Totally unbelievable although I was delighted! Quiet start to the second half until Germany made it 6 - 0 at 69 minutes. A beautiful finish put Germany 7 - 0 up at 78 minutes. Some sloppy play at the end gave Brazil a consolation goal at 90 minutes. The game ended 7 - 1 with Germany storming into the World Cup final where they will face either Holland or Argentina.

True Blood, Marvel & DC stuff, Crossbones and Rangers choke to the Kings

True Blood is returning soon, on Sunday 22nd June to be precise. I have to admit that I am actually just a little bit excited about this. This is the fifth and final season so it will be interesting to see where they take things. Apparently the storyline between Pam and Eric is being kept closely under wraps!

To whet your appetite (who am I kidding, as a reminder for and to whet mine), here's the first two trailers:



In the Marvel world we have the impending release of superhero epic Guardians Of The Galaxy. Here are the two new trailers for the film which is due to drop in August.



In other Marvel news it has also been revealed that in the upcoming Agent Carter series (with Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter) we will be seeing Dominic Cooper return as Toni Stark's dad, Howard Stark.

Marvel have also offered some hints as to some other potential movies that are coming up as they have trademarked a number of titles. Some of these are already known about but there are some new things i the mix: Age of Ultron, Alpha Flight, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, New Warriors, Rocket Raccoon, Strikeforce: Morituri, Journey Into Mystery, Irredeemable Ant-Man.

Over in the DC world, along with Gotham that is currently in production, The Flash has been approved as a series on CW. Here's the extended trailer:



Tonight we watched the first episode of Crossbones. The tale takes place on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas. This unique place of piracy, theft and outlaws is reigned by the fearsome pirate captain Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard. But a scheme has been designed to throw Blackbeard from his throne. An assassin, Tom Lowe, is sent with the task to execute the pirate leader. However, as Lowe moves closer towards Blackbeard, he starts to admire his ideas and involvement in the rogue society. And of course, Lowe will not be Blackbeard's only enemy. John Malkovich plays an interesting Blackbeard and the first episode shows promise. It's certainly a vast improvement on the very disappointing Black Sails.



The day finished off with game three of the New York Rangers v L.A. Kings Stanley Cup Finals. The Rangers go into this game losing the series 0 - 2 so far. In the Stanley Cup Finals you just have to win four games out of seven. I would be happy to get a win tonight though to make the series 1 - 2 rather than having to climb the mountain of a 0 - 3 deficit. Sure the Rangers managed to recover from a 1 - 3 gap in previous games but it would be tough to repeat that against the Kings. Let's hope that a) the Rangers bring their A game, b) the Rangers don't give up any more two goal leads, c) the refs call the game evenly and c) the Rangers have the desire and heart to push this series and prove they are contenders for the Stanley Cup!

Apparently the NHL server was down so I'll do my best to make my updates accurate. It was end to end play in the first ten minutes. Shots on goal from both teams were low and it was quite a cagey start. Both teams had a couple of good chances but the goalies were on form. Rangers failed to convert on the power play and then Kings scored right on the buzzer (less than a second to go). At the end of the first period the Rangers were trailing 0 - 1. There were some shots on goal LOL

Second period started with Kings pressure and then the Rangers ended up on the penalty kill. As soon as that was over the Rangers were back on the penalty kill again once again for a high stick FFS! Next thing we know and it's a Kings power play goal and Rangers are down 0 - 2. I wonder if the Rangers have what it takes to fight back and level up a two goal deficit? Kings get called for elbowing and so the Rangers are back on the power play. Rangers had some good plays but Quick was ready for them every time. It wasn't long before the Rangers were back on the power play again. If you don't shoot you can't score! Straight after that the Kings were on the power play. Rangers killed that off. Sadly Kings were 0 - 3 up with 02:46 left in the period. Rangers went back on the power play for the last couple of minutes. Rangers were down 0 - 3 at the end of the second.

A miracle on ice was needed in the third period. Kreider was out of the blocks and had a shot in the first seven seconds. Another Rangers power play started well but quickly fell apart. Somehow the Rangers managed to keep things at 0 - 3 with ten minutes left in the third. Shots at that point were 29 - 15 in favour of the Rangers. With five minutes left it was still 0 - 3. Rangers pulled Lundqvist with 04:21 remaining. With 02:30 remaining Rangers were still unable to score with the extra man. One minute left and no change. Third period ended with the Rangers losing 0 - 3 and now trailing the period 0 - 3. Shut out on home ice is SO embarrassing.

Rangers now have to win FOUR straight games. Can they do it? No, I really don't think they can although I would love to be proved wrong. Rangers did well to get this far but it quite clear why L.A. Kings are in the finals!