Author: Ron Purtee

Ron likes stuff. He's been writing about stuff for over 20 years.

Geekscape Movie Reviews: ‘Reign of the Supermen’

by Ron Purtee

With the exception of perhaps “Into The Spider-verse” for my money, Marvel’s animated outings have been somewhat lacking. DC always seems to be the frontrunner when it comes to that venue. The release of “Death of Superman” and “Reign of the Supermen” continues that trend but, for some reason, something doesn’t feel quite right.

Most people know the story of the Death of Superman and the aftermath thereof. The first film did a good job of encapsulating that first part of the story while making a few changes that don’t throw things off too much.

“Reign of the Supermen” however seems to kind of go off the rails and incorporates an almost new story when it comes to the 4 individuals parading around calling themselves Superman.

The principles are all there. Superboy, Cyborg Superman, Eradicator, and Steel. Each with their own reasons for donning the giant S on their chest, but that’s kind of where things got a little weird. DC seems to have a difficulty adapting things from the comics. They did a decent job with things like “Under the Red Hood” and the like, but for main stories where a major part of the Justice League is involved, they tend to keep it tied down to a certain universe that they are building instead of letting be its own story. Sometimes including variables that weren’t in the original story can make it better, but in this case it just kind of makes you scratch your head and say “Huh?”

Now I’m not saying it’s a bad story. It’s not. There is quality writing, animation and voice acting. There are just little things, aside from the aforementioned variables, that seem to stand out like a sore thumb, especially to avid readers of the DC Universe of comics. For instance, The Flash. Here you have Barry Allen running around as the Flash, making quippy one-liners. They essentially have put the name Barry Allen onto Wally West’s character and hoped no one would notice. Same with Hal Jordan. Even Batman has a couple of one-liners that seem VERY out of character.

I won’t spoil because not everyone will make it to the theater to see the film and will have to wait until its release on Blu-Ray later this month. It’s not bad, and it’s not good. It’s just there.

That’s why I’m going to give “Reign of the Supermen” 2 1/2 out of 5 stars. If you are a fan of Superman, check it out.

https://youtu.be/JUM70fOy4Vk

Geekscape TV Reviews: Is Bandersnatch Just a Gimmick?

by Ron Purtee

It’s a common understanding when it comes to Black Mirror, you are going to get a little sad. The saying is “I’ve never been so excited, to get so depressed.”, and on any other given day, the new installment of the Charlie Brooker helmed program would do just that.

Bandersnatch is quite different.

Instead of ramping up any kind of depression that you may have, Bandersnatch goes right for the anxiety that’s lurking deep within. It doesn’t hit you right away though. It’s more of a growing anxiety.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is essentially a choose your own adventure film. Yes. An interactive movie. It takes place in 1984 and follows the life of Stefan Butler. A young programmer trying to get his game, Bandersnatch, off the ground; programming it on his own. Early on in the film, he has a meeting with a hot new developer promising to make his company the Motown of the video game world.

Promising to get the game done by the deadline proves to be a challenge for Stefan as he encounters all sorts of twists and turns in his life that YOU control. At certain points, you decide what Stefan does. From what music he listens to on the bus, to what will be the final outcome between him and other pivotal characters during the course of the film.

I’m trying to stay as spoiler free during this review because this is something that should be experienced, not decided upon based on a review. That being said, Brooker has outdone himself with Bandersnatch. We have all dealt with a choose your own adventure book in our lifetime but nothing like this. You are driven as mad as the character when it comes to the choices you have to make and are left kind of broken at the end of it because you realize that you are not only making decisions for the character but ultimately for yourself.

Like every other episode of Black Mirror, you are taken on a journey that you could see yourself taking in the real world. Like a, well, mirror up to your face, showing you what darkness can lie beneath.

Don’t think that you can just put your Fire Stick on and watch Netflix and enjoy Bandersnatch though. According to Netflix, Bandersnatch can be watched on newer devices including “smart TVs, streaming media players, game consoles, and iOS devices running the latest version of the Netflix app.” The episode does not currently work on Google Chromecast, Apple TV, the Windows App and browsers using Silverlight. We don’t know if that is going to change but the feeling is that Netflix didn’t have a chance to optimize things in time for the release of Bandersnatch. So keep your fingers crossed!

When it all boils down, Bandersnatch, well, Black Mirror as a whole, is a show that holds nothing back in showing the world its faults and the darkness that we all have lurking somewhere in there. There are no happy endings in the world of Black Mirror, but I think it wouldn’t be as good if there were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0xWpBYlNM