DISNEY PLUS The King of the Stream?

By Corey Floyd

In November Disney is starting a whole new streaming service called Disney Plus. It does not come out until November yet thousands of people have already fully paid for a three-year agreement. Naturally, this streaming service is one of many but this time Netflix might be in more trouble than they think. Here is the rundown on why you should probably pick up the streaming service come November.

Disney is a multimedia juggernaut that is watching the market place being bombarded with several different types of streaming services; ie, Netflix Hulu Amazon, etc. All of them have Disney properties in their libraries. As a business move, it would make perfect sense to take everything and consolidate it under one roof because Disney has a massive almost infinite library to chose from. The nostalgia factor alone gives it a big push. They just announced that the 90s X-men and Spider-Man series will be available! I can only imagine how much old school stuff they can put on there ( except the song of the south). This feature alone will tap into the older folks and the lil kids. 

You can’t just survive in the past! Disney plus has huge ideas for new original content. At the D23  expo it looks like they are taking no chances. They have huge big-budget productions in the works. For the Star Wars universe, a new idea called the Mandalorian. Imagine a western but I as a galaxy far far away. 

from what it looks like it takes place in between episodes 5 and 6 and one of the stars is Carl Weathers. The MCU is coming to Disney plus as well and I don’t just mean the movies will be available. I’m talking about new original shows, not spinoffs like Daredevil ( which I miss so much) I mean shows like Loki starring Tom Hiddleston, not some knockoff like what would normally happen. If you saw Endgame the show is supposed to start right where he left. There is also a Hulk & Shehulk show starring Mark Ruffallo. No announcement on who is playing She Hulk but I have high hopes. I am saddened that we won’t get another HULK film but if they can pull off a show with him and his cousin I’ll be patient. Hawkeye is also gonna be on Disney plus with his own show where his daughter will be in training to become the next Archer. It might play out like the comic series from the mid-2000s. 

Pretty much everyone except Thor will be on Disney Plus, even Falcon in the Winter Soldier has a series where they are working together. I’m not sure what the details are, but I do know that the government has an issue with Sam being the new Captain America since Steve Rogers left him the shield at the end of Endgame. One of the most curious entries for the MCU on Disney plus is WandaVison. Yeah, I saw a few screenshots of it and it seems like they're in the 1940s and Vision is alive!! How?!? Needless to say, I’m in. Then their last little trailer was for Marvel “What If”. I’m not sure if it was just for presentation's sake, or if it really will be animated but it looks like it’s going to run through a series of steps in the MCU but change a few things around. For example, they showed the origins of Captain America only this time it was Peggy Carter in the machine and we had Captain Britain. There is also one where Starlord is Black. Either way, I’m down, your down we’re all down for this content so stop fooling yourselves.

My last talking point is money!! Disney is playing the long game with this streaming service and has the bank to play it out. They are currently offering a package of Hulu, Disney +, ESPN and The National Geographic app for 12.99. The same thing you are paying right now just for Netflix. Also with the amount of star power and productions going on just for the streaming service, it appears they have dumped a few billion into this project. They are not only here for the long haul but they plan on being the last one standing. No one knows much about Netflix numbers but what is known is not great. In July of this year, their stock price dropped the equivalent of sixteen billion dollars that was mostly people unsubscribing from the service. No one really knows anything past that but that could be the catalyst the blood in the water for a new shark to take over the streaming game. Disney+  Is looking like it will be the APEX predator of streaming services.    

          

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Too many Smiths aka Gemini Man

By Corey Floyd

One of the earliest signs that the movie might be bad is being in production hell for 10 years, sometimes times you end up getting winners like Avatar or Mad Max Fury Road. This was not one of those times.

Gemini Man was another swing and a miss for Ang Lee in the field of Sci-fi action. Lee, who is a two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker, does great work in the field of drama. Brokeback Mountain was a great example of that. Most of his accolades come from his work in drama even Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon had a moving story as well as great fight scenes. But then in 2003, we had HULK starring Eric Bana. The story was off the comic book page formatting was … Interesting. The villain was trash. Hulk looked too Cartoony. Like he was missing a level of rendering. Sadly, the sales showed it as well, even though it made 245 million it cost 137 million to make. Five years later they tried to reboot the hulk for the MCU and it did almost the same numbers. I think Lees Hulk was still on everyone’s mind, so they said no thanks to Ed Norton’s Hulk. Anyway, after 2003s Hulk he stayed away from the genre for quite some time and after Gemini man maybe his third try will be the charm.

The film Stars Will Smith a Hollywood superstar who has made some odd choices in this film lately, Bright on Netflix for example. He Plays Henry Brogan an assassin that’s seen it all and killed it all and is now weary and old.

 Clay Varris, played by Clive Owen, is the organizer of Smith’s early retirement plan that is supposed to be action-packed. I wouldn’t say it was chockfull of action, but it does have some good action sequences. The visual effect work done to make Smith look like Fresh Prince of Bell Air season one is remarkable, and the fight with himself is really cool. Clive Owen does a great job in supporting role which I keep finding him at lately (wassup with that?). Mary Elizabeth Winstead aa Danny is good. The cast is solid.

The story is where everything goes wrong.

Sci-fi action can work very well with this premise as long as you don’t complicate it. Which they did. I do want you to go and see it for yourself, so I won’t give the plot away. I’ll just say that the writer's room is where this falls apart. The script should be good considering who they have wielding those pens… Billy Ray who was aa writer on the Nazi B movie OVERLORD, Darren Lemke who was a writer for Shazam and Jack the Giant Slayer so he’s pretty decent at comedy especially in fantasy, all seemingly good choices, but they did produce any movie magic. Then you have David Benioff of GOT. Remember when the showrunners of Games of Thrones were running themselves thin because they were already starting new projects?! Well, this was that project, and we got aa half-ass last season of Game of Thrones for a half-ass Will Smith film. 

Ang Lee is a great director but when it comes to his ventures in sci-fi it’s the writer’s room that drags his name down. Even in 2003 Hulk, he had a 1 novice who wrote Freedom Writers and the other guy wrote Goldeneye and Cliffhanger. Great action films but dumb stories. Lee hopefully the third time will be the charm and maybe you should write it.

Gemini Man Final Grade: C

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The Joker is great, but not original!

By Corey "Salty Truth" Floyd 

Todd Phillips, who I’ve known to pull off some of the funniest and raunchiest comedies of our time. ie: Hangover and Old School decided to flex his artistic chops by writing and directing a dramatic film. That’s okay. it’s not like it hasn’t been done before... look at Jordan Peele. Needless to say, I was truly looking forward to seeing if he could thrive in the dramasphere. Then things really got interesting when they announced that a story about the Joker was the movie that Phillips would sink his new drama chops into, and that Joaquin Phoenix will play him. I knew there would be an opinion storm brewing after the first trailer, so I completely blocked all that shit out to ensure that I saw the new movie with fresh eyes. 

By the end of the film, I wasn’t sure whether to love it or hate it. 

Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck a man whose life has been rough, to say the least. He has a crappy job as a sign spinning clown in the harshest version of Gotham City circa the 1980s. He suffers from mental disorders and takes care of his mother, all while holding on to the dream of becoming a stand-up comedian. He’s very shy and extremely lonely so he loses himself in a late-night show fantasy hosted by our national fucking treasure, Mr. Robert De Niro. When he’s not fantasizing about being on tv the world is kicking the crap out of him literally and figuratively. Teens beat him up, co-workers don’t respect him, but he has the love of his sick mom. Their moments together are touching, and she tries to fill him and herself with hope, but it all comes crashing down, or does it? I won’t go any further because I truly do want you guys to see it.

Phoenix is a great actor and he put everything into this role and I really appreciated his efforts. He deserves any and all accolades that come from this film. He earned it. Because of his stellar performance, I will not entertain the typical “who’s the better joker?” And, I don’t really believe that it would be fair to the other portrayals of the character. Phoenix is in 90% of the film. His screen time eclipse all the other jokers combined. The supporting cast does a great job as well. shout out to a Zazie Beetz as Sophie and Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck Arthur’s mom, outstanding work indeed. A Huge shout out to Brett Cullen who is the first actor to play Thomas Wayne longer than three minutes and not ignite my anger. Phoenix is an Oscar nominee for sure. 

Okay now that I’ve got the good stuff out of the way I wanna address a big issue and it’s with Todd Phillips. Although, I like this movie, I can’t give the director/writer a lot of credit. Why? Cause it seems like he copied a lot of key moments in this film from a movie called “The King of Comedy” from 1982 by Martin Scorsese. I don’t wanna give away what happens in “The King Of Comedy,” because it will surely spoil the Joker for you. ç I should not be able to make that statement! I understand that sometimes movies play homage to older works, but this wasn’t the case here, and that’s why I find it difficult to give Phillips a lot of credit for this project. I’m sure De Niro found it funny since he was in the older movie as well. I urge you all to search the internet for the movie after you’ve seen the “Joker” so give it a watch and maybe you will understand my qualms. That being said, the cinematography was absolutely amazing, shout out to Lawerence Sher, the visuals alone are more than worth the ticket price. If this were a retelling of the original I wouldn’t be upset at all but what I got was a movie posing as something new when it’s really something old.

I also want to address the walking out situation. I did want to walk out of this movie. Why didn’t I? I like to finish what I start. Though walking out did cross my mind several times. This film is very sad, dark and stomach-churning. It gave me memories of people I’ve known who have battled mental illnesses and the system wasn’t equipped to handle them. I felt horrible for Fleck and in the third act where people cheered for him my heart broke. This is not the comedy prince of crime! This isn’t the “do you wanna know how I got these scars? This was a person whose psyche has been shattered and put back together by a destructive society. Or is it? 

Final Grade A * (without Phoenix D-)

I hope you guys enjoyed the film please fill free to tell your thoughts in the comments section. This is Corey for Amerime Media see you next time for Gemini Man.

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