TV – Page 24 – World’s Best Media

First Look: Robin from the upcoming live action Teen Titans series

Published on December 2, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Warner Bros is starting their own DC TV streaming service in 2018 (the way we watch TV is about to get real fucking weird. Stay tuned for more from me on that). Among the original content set to debut on this streaming is Season 3 of the incredible and beloved Young Justice Animated series. As well as a live action Teen Titans series. Now we have our first look at the Titan’s team leader and by far it’s most well known member, Dick Grayson AKA Robin:

Robin is being played by Brenton Thwaites best known for being the poor bastard who had to run around with Johnny Depp on most recent Pirates of The Caribbean movie. A few years back he starred in a great little sci-if film called The Signal, which is pretty cool and underrated. Definitely check it out if you can. I was happy with this casting because he’s more or less the right age, he certainly looks the part, and even when he’s been in some movies that are complete DOG SHIT he’s always likable and the quality of some of the horrible movies he’s been in have had nothing to do with his performance.

The mask is a little “wonky”, but otherwise I really dig the costume. It definitely seems to be inspired by the Batman Arkham video games, which is a good thing. It’ll be interesting to see how well some of the other Titans translate to another medium. The roster includes Starfire, Beast Boy, Hawk, Dove, and maybe Raven, but I’m not 100% certain about that last one.

Bottom line for me is obviously I’m very intrigued to see how theyll handle translating this to TV. Dick Grayson is one of my favorite DC characters so I’m really excited to see DC using him in live action. This is the only time we’ve seen him in live action besides Chis O’Donnel playing him in the good awful, franchise killing Batman Forver and Batman and Robin. Side Note: I mean, Chris O’Donnell is like 30 fucking year old in that first flick. So Bruce Wayne just decided to adobt an adult man. That’s a pretty fucking bizarre scenario. If you follow this site at all you know they’ve already got me hook, line, and sinker. Of course I’m going to watch this fucking show.

(Chris O’Donnell’s face in this pic looks like he just saw himself in a mirror)

I’ll be interested to see how this ties into the DC Universe. Will it be it own thing, with it’s own version of Batman, The Joker, etc.? Will it be in the DCEU? Or is it part of The CW’s Arrow-verse? Who know? But I’m looking forward to finding out.

Teen Titans will premiere on Warner Bros. DC TV streaming service sometime in 2018.

Thanks as always for reading!

-Paul

MUST WATCH: Crisis On Earth-X (Review)

Published on November 28, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Now this is more like it! This was geek heaven. As I knew it would be, it was the perfect way to cleanse the palette after the disappointment of Justice League. More so than any other crossover The CW has done, this just felt like one big 4 hour movie (well, a 3 hour movie with commercials by the time we see all 4 parts). Tonight’ part one was 2 hours of pure superhero fun. The individual shows don’t even get their typical openings, the title card was only Crisis on Earth-X, which made the whole thing feel a little more special. During last years crossover, there was definitely more of a focus on the characters and the story of each particular show throughout the crossover, like Arrow for example. That’s not the case here at all. This is clearly a movie spread out over 2 nights and the event is far better for it. Personally, I absolutely loved the first night of the annual CW DC Crossover Event. Warner Bros. executives take a look, THIS is how you do an Epic Superhero Team Up Crossover.

Especially if you’ve been watching all of these shows from the beginning like me, the fun little character beats and interactions makes this more than just wall to wall action. Just like the scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron where the team is having a party, just relaxing and they all take turns trying to lift Thor’s hammer. It’s fun just to watch all of these characters play off each other. Even with all of the characters involved, it never felt over crowded. It’s redundant at this point to keep saying this, but every scene with Mick was gold. I love how a man whose literally tried to kill the groom multiple times, was invited to this event (or he just tagged along for the food and free booze). I loved how chill Sarah was about her one night stand with Alex after the rehearsal dinner. Yet another reminder that Sarah is kind of the Han Solo of Legends. I want to keep this review relatively brief, so I wont go into too much more detail, but it was so much fun seeing these heroes work together and fight the bad guys. And who doesn’t enjoy seeing Nazis’ getting their assess kicked?

When it comes to the villains, a big highlight for me is that we got Tom Cavanagh playing Eobard Thawne again. This wasn’t an alternate Earth Thanwne, this is the same man Barry’ s been fighting for his entire life. I’m not sure how it’s possible (and frankly I don’t care) as good as Matt Letscher was as Reverse-Flash, Tom Cavanagh will always be the true Eobard Thawne to me.

I thought making Earth-X Oliver and Kara a couple was fun and unexpected. Even in an alternate Earth you would expect someone like Barry to be with Kara, so that relationship was a nice curveball (I’m not 100% sure, but I think they might actually be married).

Of course, I’m sure there were a million fans out there who loved seeing Tommy Merlyn return (even briefly) as Earth-X’s Prometheus. You could really see the pain in Oliver’s face seeing his long dead friend only to lose him all over again. Sure it wasn’t HIS Tommy, but that doesn’t really matter to Oliver in that moment. There were so many moments and Easter Eggs that any DC fan would love to see. Hell, we got to see Metallo show up, like full blown robot, no skin, Metallo. What a treat.

This wasn’t perfect of course. I have one or two nitpicks. Considering the level of the story they’re telling, with a lot of action set pieces and the use of fully CGI characters like King Shark and Metallo, the budget for this undertaking must have been pushed to the max. As a result, some, but not all, of the VFX looks a little rubbery. Also, considering how many doppelgängers were in play, it was sometimes hard to keep track of who’s who in some of the fight sequences.

I should have mentioned it before, but super villains crashing the wedding of a superhero is a staple of the superhero genre. I’m really interested to see who the “modern day Hitler/ leader” of Earth-X is. My guess is Vandal Savage, which is cool on paper, but he was never well liked as a villain on Legends. The comic book version of Vandal Savage is much more interesting . Ras Al Ghul is another possibility. In the comics at least, he wasn’t afraid to use the Nazi’s as a means to an end. But who know? I’m REALLY looking forward to tomorrow night because, so far this is shaping up to be the best Crossover Event they’ ever done with these shows.

Final Grade: A+

Thanks for reading!

Paul

CRISIS ON EARTH-X Trailer

Published on November 21, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Here’s a nice pallet cleanser if you were disappointed in the Justice League Movie, The CW’s Annual 2-Night Superhero Crossover Event. These are always a blast. I look forward to them every year. It’ll be airing across all 4 Shows, over 2 nights: Mon 11/27 – Tue 11/28 from 8PM to 10PM. So it’s like one big movie! Check out the trailer:

I know I can’t wait!

-Paul

Podcast: Paul Reviews “Stranger Things 2”

Published on October 30, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

In the second of our 2-part Halloween Podcast Special, I review Stranger Things Season 2! The first part of the Episode is SPOILER-FREE, but at the 10 min 58 sec mark I go into SPOILER territory. It’s a great season of TV, so either watch all of Stranger Things 2 or listen to the first part of the podcast and then come back after you finished Stranger Things 2. Thanks, everyone! Listen Here or Subscribe on ITunes:

-Paul

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13157894

TRAILER: Marvel’s Runaways (A Hulu Original Series)

Published on October 27, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Hulu dropped their most recent trailer for their attempt to thrown their hat into the Marvel Cinematic Universe ring, THE RUNAWAYS. Check out the trailer and make sure to read below to be eligible for our contest:

Runaways written by Brian K. Vaughn with art by Adrian Alphona was an excellent and wildly unique comic book series when it was first published by Marvel beginning in 2003. It followed a group a teenagers from wealthy L.A. families (who are only really friends with each other because their parents are friends) who find out their parents are actually super villains. We’re talikng mad scientists, sorcerers, kingpins of crime, evil aliens, etc.

(The cast of the show and the cast from the Comics)

One night at one of their semi -regular family get togethers, the kids accidentally witness their parents ritualistically sacrifice an innocent girl. They freak out and “Runaway” together. Their parent have the local police in their pocket. But while they’re figuring out what to do, each of them realizes that they have some kind of superpower or super weapon that their parents intended to eventually pass on to them. I wont spoil what they are because that’s part of the fun, but they’re unique and really cool.

(The Pride: The parents)

So with their new powers and super weapons in tow, they decide to go out on their own to make up for the evil their parents have done and take down their supervillain (current youth oriented colloquialism for ‘parents”), a group that calls themselves The Pride. It’s an incredible book. It’s one of Vaughn’s best creations and that’s saying something. I think the trailer looks cool. They’re definitely following pretty close to the source material. And with a few exceptions, Marvel can be counted on for some pretty solid TV. I’m definitely curious to see if Hulu can deliver a Marvel show at the same level of quality as the best of the Netflix shows. I know I’ll be watching. The show premieres on November 21st so that will be a fun binge over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

SPECIAL BONUS CONTEST!!! The first person who can tell me which of The Runaways’ evil parents has already been briefly seen in a MCU film AND which film specifically they appear in, will get a $15 AMAZON GIFT CARD (Immediately family members are not eligible and friend eligibility will be judged on case by case basis). Send me a message through the “CONTACT” link, which you can find by clicking the upper right corner of the Homepage. If you’re the winner, I’ll respond and get your info to send you the gift card. Contest ends on 11/1/17. NO CHEATING!!!!! Don’t just Google. Knowledge of the films and/or comics are the only way to win this contest. If you get the answer right, a simple follow up question will be asked to ensure that it was not simply googled before you’re eligible to claim your prize. Guesses are acceptable as long is the reason behind the guess is given. Some thought and rationale must be put in into the guess, not just a blind throw of the dart.

HINT: All of these were original characters when Vaughn created them in 2003 (So no Kingpin or Loki or Ultron), but we absolutely have seen one of the parents in a recent Marvel film. I will admit this is a tough one guys.

Podcast Bonus: A Tribute To Spike…

Published on October 25, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

When Tim and I recorded our Buffy The Vampire Slayer podcast, we had A LOT to cover. It’s a dense show, with a complex mythology and fascinating cast of characters. Then there are the spinoffs and comic book continuations. Basically, it was a lot to cover.

Arguably the 3 most important characters in the entire “Buffyverse” are Buffy, Angel, and Spike. We touched on Spike, but I felt like he deserved more. So knowing that Spike is one of his favorite fictional characters of all time, I asked Tim to record a mini bonus podcast all about Spike. If you haven’t seen the show, after listening to this, you’ll hopefully understand why we find him so compelling. Tim did a great job on this one, enjoy! Don’t forget, all of our podcast are also available on iTunes:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13115375

Podcast: Paul & Tim’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episode!

Published on October 24, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Our Halloween themed podcast series continues as Tim and I talk about one of our favorite TV series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I’ve always felt that the title keeps some people from giving Buffy a chance, but it is without a doubt one the best TV shows of all time. If you’ve ever been curious about this weird show with a hot blonde who kicks the ever loving shit out of monsters or if you’re a longtime Buffy fanatic, this is a great podcast episode to dive into. We cover Buffy, the excellent spinoff Angel, and even discuss some of the canonical comic book continuations. Below I have some cast, monster, and character photos if you’ve never seen the show. Give it a listen! Also available on iTunes!

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13101633

(Buffy cast from left to right: Xander, Cordelia, Giles, Buffy, Angel, Willow, Oz)

(Angel, who is 250 years old, creeping on 17 year old Buffy. He’s a creep!)

(Vampire bad ass and Tim’s favorite character, Spike)

(The Gentlemen: One of the most horrifying groups of monsters Buffy has faced. Christ, look at these guys. Creepy as fuck)

(The Hero, The Slayer… Buffy Summers)

Check out this cool Rick and Morty video!

Published on October 22, 2017November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

I’m pretty sure Justin Roiland (The voice Rick and Morty) was drunk when he recorded this. It sounds like they were just fucking around while recording audio and decided to animate and post this as a treat to the fans

MUST WATCH: Arrow Season 6 Premiere Review

Published on October 13, 2017November 16, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Tonight was the Season 6 premiere of Arrow, the flagship show of The CW’s DC Universe. Season 5 of Arrow was by far one of the shows strongest with a deadly and vicious villain in Prometheus. A man who always seemed one step ahead of Oliver right until the very end. After the mess that was Season 4, the show smartly went back to basics, telling grounded, gritty stories (I feel like there’s a contingent that felt Season 3 was weak as well, which I don’t get because I thought it was great).

Anyway, this new season is a milestone for the show because they wrapped up the five years of flashbacks that showed us bratty, playboy Oliver Queen turned into the borderline psychopathic vigilante we see rescued in the Pilot. The show has come full circle. I’ve heard that the flashback won’t be gone completely. We may get flash forwards or flashbacks for other characters on the show. If this first episode is any indication, we should be in for another strong season of vigilante action from Arrow.

One of the big questions going into the premiere was: Who, if anyone, died in the explosion on Lian Yu in the Season 5 finale? I won’t spoil the answer here, I’ll just say you won’t be shedding any tears for the bombing victims. I suppose you could criticize the show for not making a risky choice by killing off a popular character, but I don’t really give a shit because I really like the characters who survived (2 of the survivors were spoiled over the summer when it was announced that Wild Dog and Dinah “Black Canary” Drake were being made series regulars). This episode saw the team facing down a familiar enemy and dropped a few clues at a larger game in play and we’ll have to see how this plays out.

The episode opens with a terrific action sequence that sets the tone for the quality of the episode going forward. Like the excellent VFX we see of The Flash, Arrow consistently has some of the best stunt work and fight choreography on TV. The opening action sequence and the highway fight that closes out the first act were big highlights. This is even more impressive when you consider that they only have a week to lock down these sequences for each episode. A show like Daredevil is shot more like a film which gives them more time to get stunt work and hand to hand combat down pat. So kudos to the Arrow stunt team once again.

DC comics fans like me always enjoy the cool Easter Eggs, big and small, on all of the CW DC shows. One of my personal favorites that we get to see throughout the episode are Curtis’ “T-Spheres”, the circular high tech drones that “Mr. Teriffic” uses for offense and defense in fights, data scanning, and hacking into other electronics (and it looks like they’ve received an upgrade this season).

( T-SPHERES!!!!!!)

The elephant in the room is that Oliver is a father, his adolescent son William living with him now. (This should be another big clue about who didn’t make it off the Lian Yu alive) It was nice to see Rosa, Oliver’s Russian nanny growing up who he had a special bond with, return to the show. I think this is the first time we’ve seen her since Season 1. Having her looking after William, much like she did for Oliver was a nice touch. I imagine being a Superhero/Mayor doesn’t leave a ton of Father/Son time available.

Characters like William can easily drag down a show like Arrow. The writers will have to be very careful how they use him. He’s only in a few scenes, but the sullen pre-teen act doesn’t help his cause. I can see myself wishing William will meet a tragic end in a short amount of time unless they do something unpredictable with him. If they do the whole “Father trying to win over the son he never knew he had shtick”, this isn’t gonna work. As of right now, my stance on William is that I hope he’ll be taken hostage by some psycho and join the long list of loved ones Oliver just couldn’t save.

(FUCK YOU, William! I don’t need you fuckin’ up my stories with your moody bullshit)

One very welcome return was Manu Bennet as Slade Wilson. It was great having him fight on Oliver’s side in the season finale last year and it looks like he’ll be sticking around for the foreseeable future. He was always one of the shows best characters, so it’s a real pleasure to see this “Not Bat Shit Crazy” version of Slade part of the series again.

(“Sure you killed my Mom and everything, but it’s all good Slade. You were on some hardcore drugs at the time.” Arrow: a show about forgiveness)

The episode ends on a pretty major cliffhanger which will have huge ramifications for the team and Oliver in particular. I’ve heard there will be multiple major villains this season including the great Micheal Emerson (Ben Linus from Lost). All in all this was a great season premiere that wrapped up the loose ends from last season’s finale and set up some interesting storylines for the season going forward. Unless some of the show’s minor issues turn into big problems, we should be in for another solid season of Arrow.

EPISODE SCORE: (with William) 8 out of 10
(without William) 9 out of 10

Thanks for reading!

-Paul

(I don’t know why I put this here. What to you think of the outfit? Stupid? Cool? Let me know in the comments)

MUST WATCH: The Flash Season 4 Review

Published on October 11, 2017November 16, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Tonight was the much anticipated Season 4 premiere of The CW’s hit show The Flash. I love the “CW DC Universe”, The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, etc. and at certain points over the last 3 years, The Flash was my favorite out of all of these shows ( I’m not crazy about Supergirl, but I do watch it). The Season 4 premiere is a bigger deal than usual because after 2 amazing seasons, Season 3 of The Flash was a much weaker show than previous seasons. So a lot of the viewers, myself included, were tuning in to see if The Flash got his grove back. The answer is… too soon to tell. I think we need to see a few more episodes before we can determine if the show has improved significantly over Season 3 and so far all the pieces seem to be there for a return to form. Having said that, Episode 1 of this season “The Flash Reborn” had some big problems.

Last season ended with Barry trapped in The Speed Force, possibly forever. The Speed Force exists outside time and space, so for characters like Iris, Joe, Cisco, and Wally it’s only been 6 months, but to Barry, millennia could have gone by. Kid Flash and Vibe (Wally and Cisco respectively) with Iris running the team out of S.T.A.R. Labs, have been protecting the city in Barry’ absence. That is until Cisco finds away to get Barry out of his Speed Force prison, but there’s something wrong with Barry when he returns. His brain is scrambled from all that time in another reality. There’s a lot I’m leaving out, but that’s pretty much the set up of the episode.

I don’t necessarily have a problem with Barry being brought back so quickly. Barry made a lot of mistakes over the last few seasons and had a lot to answer for. So this was a good way to give Barry some redemption and give the show a clean slate going into this new season. I’ve heard this season will be lighter in tone, closer to Seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 was pretty dark and that’s more Arrow’s territory.

The main issue that hurt this episode was the writing. I understand that Barry is the star of the show and they need to find a way to bring him back, but this just feels like lazy writing. A new generic villain comes to town and demands “Bring me The Flash or I’ll destroy Central City!” Wally and Cisco should have this easily covered. In the comics, Barry sacrifices himself to the Speed Force in a famous DC story that the show has been hinting at since the Pilot, which was similar to last year’s finale. Following Barry’s absence in the comics, Wally was The Flash for decades of storytelling. Arguably becoming a better and more beloved Flash than Barry Allen. In those stories, he managed to protect the city all by himself. He didn’t have Cisco AKA Vibe, one of the most powerful meta-humans on the planet, backing him up. Not to mention what’s left of the S.T.A.R. Labs team and Joe and the CCPD. Wally and Cisco should wipe the floor with this D-list villain!

I love Barry and I’m happy too see Grant Gustin back playing the character, but it feels like the show put almost no effort into crafting a believable and compelling reason for the team to pull him out of the Speed Force.

By the end of the episode we’re introduced to what we’ve been told is the “Big Bad” for the season, The Thinker. I’m the biggest comic book geek you could find. I’m literally surrounded by comics as I’m writing this (many of them Flash comics) and even I had to look up who the fuck this guy was.

I was thrilled when the show runners announced the Big Bad for the season was not a speedster (one season too late in my opinion). Reverse-Flash: the first and the best, Zoom: damn near close to Thawne as the shows best villain, Savitar: started off very weak, but ended strong. The Flash has the best villains in the DC Universe besides Batman. We finally get a season without a speedster and the best they can do is The Thinker?

Here’s a scenario: In the comics, villains like Captain Cold and Weather Wizard are known as The Rogues. In the show and the comics, Captain Cold and Mirror Master are rivals for control of The Rogues. So far The Rogues that are still alive and in play on the show include Captain Cold (technically dead, but that hasn’t stopped him before), Heat Wave, Mirror Master, The Top, Weather Wizard, Golden Glider, The Trickster, Magenta, Tar Pit, Pied Piper, and Captan Boomerang, and much more. Have them each pick sides: Cold or Mirror Master and do a full on Rogue War! That would be amazing and definitely large enough of a threat to take up a whole season. It’s like a mob war with super powers. Hell, with Caitlin’s power set and her intimate knowledge of the team’s strengths and weaknesses she could be a Big Bad all on her own. Hopefully The Thinker will exceed my expectations and we’ll have a really cool new villain (they’re off to a bad start though with his cheesy faux-futuristic lair though).

Despite my issues with the season 4 premiere of The Flash, there were some great parts. First, I forgot how much I missed this show and how much fun it is watching all of these characters together again. Seeing Cisco, Joe, Iris, and Wally trying to take down meta-humans and protect the city brought a smile to my face. One of the shows biggest strengths has always been it’s excellent VFX and one scene in particular where Barry is chasing the Robot Samurai that has Iris hostage (what a ridiculous sentence) was exceptional even by this show’s high standards. Oh and before I forget to mention it, I really dig the new costume. I love how it evolves a little each season.

All criticisms aside, it’s great to have The Flash back, warts and all. It seems like they learned from some of last seasons mistakes and hopefully we’ll reach the heights of the first two seasons again. I know I’ll be watching. Because a weak episode of The Flash is still a whole hell of a lot of fun.

EPISODE SCORE: 7 out of 10

Thanks for reading !

-Paul