Now that it has officially been decided that "The Flash" is likely to lose close to 200M for Warner Bros., articles are out accusing the studio of standing behind its star when the public wouldn't show up for Ezra Miller.

I don't know why the audience didn't turn out for an expected blockbuster, but I didn't hear about any protests either. Maybe the movie just wasn't what people really wanted to see. Maybe the timing was bad, or the ground oversaturated with superheroes.

More to the point, the media wasn't saying anything about it either. Everyone was really content not to ask uncomfortable questions or write exposes. It's only now that "The Flash" flopped and they are laying blame, do they say Warner's should have known better and done something besides deflect and hide.

There is no unbiased reporting on anything anymore, not even on what was once only entertainment.

My take on 'The Flash' bombing is that people didn't rush to see it when it first opened due to the poor publicity beforehand. Even fewer people turned out the following week after word of mouth 'reviews' from regular film goers who had seen it let people know that it was quite simply a bad movie not worth the price of admission. I have to include myself amongst that group as I have already advised a friend of mine not to waste a couple of his free Vue cinema tickets on going to see it with his wife

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Originally posted by Raven:
There is no unbiased reporting on anything anymore, not even on what was once only entertainment.

That about sums it up. Ezra wasn't annoying in the film because he's a criminal that has yet to serve any real time like the rest of us would, he was just written that way.

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Originally posted by mykdude:

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Originally posted by Raven:
There is no unbiased reporting on anything anymore, not even on what was once only entertainment.

That about sums it up. Ezra wasn't annoying in the film because he's a criminal that has yet to serve any real time like the rest of us would, he was just written that way.

Can't quite get the Jessica Rabbit "drawn that way" nod there, but OK.

Here's the thing with Miller, if "The Flash" had made a mint, it's more than likely they would have been excused, forgiven and tolerated, whatever the past stories. It went in the opposite direction and not just because of Miller, as has been observed.

But now they have a big problem because unless they can make good money for the studios, nobody is going to risk using them, and they become more trouble than they are worth. Modern Hollywood pretends to care about many things, but it still all comes down to who makes the money and who is expendable.

Personally speaking, I don't go to see ANY DC movies because they had such a long run of dark and miserable films that that's what I associate with DC. Regardless of what they put out I don't even bother because I've been conditioned to feel crappy during their films and that's not where I choose to spend my money.

OK, just got back from seeing the last Harrison Ford Indiana Jones movie. One spoiler, don't sit through the closing credits in the hope of seeing a credit scene as there isn't one. I did sit through them all and was the last person left in the cinema as everyone else went pretty much as soon as the credits started to roll.

Although it had a fairly good start, I'm afraid I'm only going to give it a two star, maybe two and a half, rating. I'm not going to give away any details or spoilers but I should mention that I had not seen Phoebe Waller-Bridge before this film and I'm really puzzled as to why she is so popular after watching her performance in this film.

As I do now have a Disney+ subscription, I may give one of the earlier Indiana Jones films a watch tonight as all four are available to me

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Originally posted by Kevin F:
but I should mention that I had not seen Phoebe Waller-Bridge before this film and I'm really puzzled as to why she is so popular after watching her performance in this film.

In one word "Fleabag", which came out a few years ago, ran for a couple of years, and hooked into popular streaming themes. Waller-Bridge started off straight acting, but then started writing her own material. Now she falls somewhere in the murky category of a female actor/comedian/activist.

I'm sure you know what I mean if you have watched anything called comedy on Netflix lately. I like the standup shows and specials and watched stuff like the "Kings of Comedy" from way back. I am not averse to raunchy material, but I must say, if you haven't seen the ladies perform their acts lately, you will be shocked. They have caught up to the male standups and passed them by leaps and bounds, often to the point of uncomfortable personal comedy. Handler and Schumer are best known, but lesser names go even farther.

That's how Waller-Bridge became popular.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is also known for adapting the Villanelle books by Luke Jennings as Killing Eve for TV

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raj,

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Originally posted by Raj:
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is also know for adapting the Villanelle books by Luke Jennings as Killing Eve for TV

Yes, she is a screenwriter and was the showrunner for the first season of "Killing Eve", which I saw and really liked, and she got a lot of praise for it. It was the best year. For some reason that I never heard, she left the show after the first series and others took over. "Killing Eve" was one of those shows that started off great, got repetitive, and then was totally destroyed by the ending. That was not the fault of Waller-Bridge though.

I believe that she also contributed to the screenplay of the most recent James Bond film, as well.

Thanks everyone for the background info. I had heard of Fleabag but never watched it. I still don't think her performance in 'Dial of Destiny' was anything other than average at best.

On the other hand, I have just rewatched 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' for the first time....and really enjoyed it. While it did have its low points, it was a whole lot more fun and entertaining than 'Dial of Destiny' That assessment probably counts as a spoiler so I'd better leave it there

I thought "Flash" was great and would love to see everyone in it return to their characters at some point, not one weak link. It was one of my favorite DC movies, for sure up with the original Wonder Woman & Shazam movies and Suicide Squad 2 (with Reeve Superman 1 & Nolan trilogy, of course, being the gold standard).

Based on that and this thread, it sounds like I'm gonna just love this "Indy" movie when I see it Monday or Tuesday. And I should add I've never been a big fan of the franchise to begin with. OMG, this is going to be magical, isn't it?

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Originally posted by Kevin F:
Thanks everyone for the background info. I had heard of Fleabag but never watched it. I still don't think her performance in 'Dial of Destiny' was anything other than average at best.

A while back I sat through a couple of episodes of Fleabag, thinking I'd better see what everyone was salivating over. If you like to see women reduced to just swearing and doing and saying things because "girl power and we can, deal with it" fine. I thought it was a pile of foul-mouthed drivel and didn't watch any more of it. (And I can swear like a wagon driver with the best of them...I just don't look around to make sure people were watching me and gauging the laugh factor). Fleabag was not remotely funny IMO. I tend to find a lot of modern comedy unfunny these days.
The last thing I did enjoy a lot was "The Detectorists" series with Mackenzie Crook, that was always a good watch and a chuckle. They neatly wrote out Diana Rigg's part in the pretty good special at Christmas.

The Fleabag character is intended to go through an "arc" and come out a different, better person but you'd have to stick with it to see that happen, a couple of episodes won't do it. Fans are hoping she will return to the character at some point for a 3rd series based on this quote:

“I feel like it's done, but I do have a fantasy of bringing her back when I'm, like, 45 or 50. She went on the biggest journey over the past two seasons, and she started as someone who sort of hated herself and ended up as someone believing that she could love again and forgive herself. I have to respect that arc and let her go and live for a bit.”

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Originally posted by Hedgehog Witch:

The last thing I did enjoy a lot was "The Detectorists" series with Mackenzie Crook, that was always a good watch and a chuckle.

"The Detectorists" was the best show I've seen in ages. One of my all-time favorites. I wish other shows would do as well in treating audiences as if they weren't stupid.

Nikki Glaser is another comedian of that group. I think I saw her on a talk show a few 4-5 years ago and then i saw her on David Spade's talk show just before the pandemic. She was funny but then I saw part of one of her comedy specials. I thought she went out of her way to let us know she can swear. Well, okay, but you still have to be funny. I can hear women swearing at work so you can't shock/entertain me or anyone else just by using profanity as punctuation or talking bluntly about sex. Like Hedgehog Witch, I'm disappointed with what passes for "clever" or "bold" these days.

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Originally posted by Raven:

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Originally posted by Kevin F:
but I should mention that I had not seen Phoebe Waller-Bridge before this film and I'm really puzzled as to why she is so popular after watching her performance in this film.

I'm sure you know what I mean if you have watched anything called comedy on Netflix lately. I like the standup shows and specials and watched stuff like the "Kings of Comedy" from way back. I am not averse to raunchy material, but I must say, if you haven't seen the ladies perform their acts lately, you will be shocked. They have caught up to the male standups and passed them by leaps and bounds, often to the point of uncomfortable personal comedy. Handler and Schumer are best known, but lesser names go even farther.

The local paper's movie reviewer didn't hate "The Flash" but he didn't recommend it either. I still want to see Michael Keaton as Batman again so I'll see it at some point.

Isn't it amazing how well "Superman" with Christopher Reeve (and Sperman II) holds up after all this time and the sequels and reimaginings? It was well-cast and well-written with a great musical score too. Gene Hackman was perfect for Lex Luthor.

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Originally posted by chesspieceface:
I thought "Flash" was great and would love to see everyone in it return to their characters at some point, not one weak link. It was one of my favorite DC movies, for sure up with the original Wonder Woman & Shazam movies and Suicide Squad 2 (with Reeve Superman 1 & Nolan trilogy, of course, being the gold standard).

Based on that and this thread, it sounds like I'm gonna just love this "Indy" movie when I see it Monday or Tuesday. And I should add I've never been a big fan of the franchise to begin with. OMG, this is going to be magical, isn't it?

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Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Isn't it amazing how well "Superman" with Christopher Reeve (and Sperman II) holds up after all this time and the sequels and reimaginings? It was well-cast and well-written with a great musical score too. Gene Hackman was perfect for Lex Luthor.

Exactly right. I can still rewatch the first three Christopher Reeve Superman movies and enjoy them. Superman II is still the standard for watchable super villains

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Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Nikki Glaser is another comedian of that group. I think I saw her on a talk show a few 4-5 years ago and then i saw her on David Spade's talk show just before the pandemic. She was funny but then I saw part of one of her comedy specials. I thought she went out of her way to let us know she can swear.

[/QUOTE]

Oh yeah, and swearing is the least of it. Glaser has a show on Netflix now that isn't just raunchy, it's absolutely filthy. I doubt that a male comic could even get away with it and I can't see how anyone takes a casual date to that performance without walking out. More to the point, once you get the drift of her mainly one topic routine, it's not funny enough to fill up the whole set.

But to get back to 2023 movies, I just read that "Dial of Destiny" cost 295M to make, not counting all the rest to put out. Of course Indy movies have always had big budgets in their times, but with inflation and because of the added anti-aging digitizing effects (call it what you want), more money has been poured into this one than the others. It is the most expensive budget for any Indy movie and one of the most expensive movies ever made.

There had better be a good story though, because it will take a while for the box office to absorb that even if the seats sell out, which they may not.

So I haven't dialed into the whole Tom Cruise "Mission Impossible" franchise, since I've only seen the first one, so this is just impartial observation and fans should go enjoy the movies.

I didn't realize that the new one opening this month is called "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One". Now Part One means there has to be a Part Two, and sure enough this one opens on July 12th, 2023, and Part Two is already scheduled for June 28th, 2024.

I didn't like this practice when done for "Dune" or in "Harry Potter". I don't like it here, and I won't like it for any other movie, past or present or future either. We all understand that any franchise title begets many sequels, but that doesn't bother me as much as having "Part One" right in the title does. That's when the studio is first telling you that they are giving you only half a movie. Followed up by the specific notice that no matter how this film turns out, we know you are stupid enough to come back for more. At least act like the storyline is complete up to the point that we see credits. Yeah, Marvel and DC, I know, but those universes I've dropped out of completely, so enjoy.

My second observation is one that I'm not sure anybody else has really noticed because I don't see many comments about it. Why does Tom Cruise resemble Dustin Hoffman more than Tom Cruise in recent photos? Why has his face suddenly changed a whole lot? Am I the only one doing double takes when I see the caption? Food for thought.