Pop Culture Power 2-23-2024

The speaker discusses the upcoming movie "Superman Legacy" and the new video game "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League." They express excitement for the Superman movie and hope that it will revitalize the character's popularity. The speaker also comments on the cast of the movie, including David Corsette as Superman and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. They discuss the controversy surrounding live-service video games like "Suicide Squad" and criticize the game for being online and requiring additional purchases. The speaker suggests that a single-player offline game would have been better received. They advocate for a Superman video game and express disappointment in the execution of "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League." The speaker also mentions that their co-host Eric is absent and teases a discussion on "Avatar: The Last Airbender" in the next segment. Are y'all doing good? Oh, here we go. Everything's back. Okay. Yeah, okay. Hold on. Let me turn on the mic. Sorry. Um, that's better. So, for our first segment of the day, we're going to be talking about the movie Superman Legacy, y'all. So, um, I'm sorry. I have to make some adjustments here. Yeah, there's a lot going on. There we go. That's about, that's normal-ish. I guess, I owe you an explanation for that. I've yammered on about it for so long. I'm trying to control the microphone and the way it sounds. And when I'm looking at the other computer here, it tells me, like, I guess the sound waves. Yeah, that's the proper term. That's the proper English. Sound waves. And they look kind of funky right now, and I'm wondering, like, how does that affect, like, the way the recording sounds. But we'll figure that out later. So, first segment, I want to talk about Superman Legacy and the video game, the new Suicide Squad game. So, first off, Superman Legacy. So, James Gunn recently posted a picture basically saying that Superman Legacy is, you know, about to start filming soon. And I'm just so excited because I think Superman Legacy, it's a really important movie, I think, for, I guess, DC as a whole right now. Just because they've, you know, they've had quite a few flops at this point. Black Adam didn't work out. Even the movie that a lot of people like, the Suicide Squad, the sequel, even that one did really well, but technically it bombed at the box office, you know. And so, not only is there a lot of pressure for this movie to be good, but for me, I think, literally, it's about the legacy of Superman as a character, I think. Because if you really think about it, we haven't had, like, a very good Superman solo movie in a long time, you know what I'm saying? I mean, people love Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, of course. They've had live-action iterations of the character that, you know, somebody my age can, you know, they can look at and say, yeah, that's what that character's like. They have an idea of what that character's like, right? Superman is one of those exceptions where, although he's had a lot of great cartoon adaptations, you know, let's be real, animation cartoons are amazing. It's really one of my favorite forms of entertainment, but sadly enough, you know, if you're not live-action, then your scene is not legit, which is sad, but it is what it is. Which is why I think a good live-action Superman movie is a really – I think it's going to help the character become more popular, and I think it's going to help the character seem more legit. Because I feel like a lot of people say they don't like Superman because he's too boring or he's too powerful. I haven't gotten a chance to really, you know, see much of the character, if that makes any sense, you know? What do we got here? Oh, yes, also David Corsette is going to be playing Superman. I don't think he's been in much I've seen. Oh, he's been in things I've heard of, but nothing I've seen, I don't think. Let's see, he was in House of Cards, he was in the movie Pearl, that is an A24 movie. What else do we got here? That seems to be really it as far as movies go. He hasn't done a whole lot yet, you know? Fairly new actor. And I think it's also good when you're casting – really, I think when you're casting a character that is really well-known and has a large legacy behind them, whether it be Superman, James Bond, Batman, whatever, I think honestly, you know, with how well-known these characters are, it's probably better to go on with a lesser-known actor. Like, for example, let's say we had, I don't know, let's say we had Brad Pitt play Superman. It's not a good casting choice, but let's say we had Brad Pitt play Superman. At that point, because of how famous Brad Pitt is, we're not watching Superman on screen, we're watching Brad Pitt on screen. So I think having a lesser-known actor, it emphasizes the character rather than the actor themselves. I think it's a good choice. Let's see as well, the other cast members. Again, the only other person I know in this cast is Guy Gardner. Oh, Guy Gardner and Nick Holt. I'm sorry. Nathan Filton is playing Guy Gardner, who is like one of the Green Lanterns, so that's going to be interesting how that's going to be implemented. And Nicholas Holt will be playing Lex Luthor, you know, the main villain. Again, another, I'm going to have to wait until he looks bald, you know, because Lex Luthor, honestly, when I picture Lex Luthor, I picture like, you know, like, I'm trying to think, I'm trying to use a real-life example here. I guess like an older version of Elon Musk, if that makes sense. No, that's not it either. Elon Musk is not a serious person. I just picture a really rich guy in his, like, 50s or 40s, and Nick Holt looks to be about, you know, late 20s, early 30s, you know. So, yeah, we'll see how that works out. Another major character that's been cast is Rachel, I'm going to butcher this, I'm sorry, Broshanan. I hope I said that right. Rachel Broshanan, she's also casted as Lois Lane, which, you know, nothing much, I mean, nothing much about the actress herself. She was in the show, The Marvelous Miss Mabel, so that's something that's cool. I don't know what else I'm going to say at the moment, I just, I'm really excited for this movie, and I hope it does it well, and I hope we get another great version of the character for people to talk about. So, the other DC thing I wanted to discuss with y'all today is the video game, Suicide Squad, Kill the Justice League. Now, before I get now, I'm going to just say it, I don't like this game. Before we get too deep into it, let me give you a definition here for video games. First definition, a live service game. Basically, a live service game, according to Bing, from what I'm getting here, a live service game is a video game for which a video game publisher plans to continue providing new content, which is sold to the player at high rates. The additional content is not necessary to enjoy the core experience, but basically, I think live service games are also, usually online play is emphasized. Actually, you know what, let's forget Bing for a minute. Here's the best way to put the definition. A live service game is really a kind of game that's emphasized for you to put more and more money into it, whether you're spending money on, I guess, little costumes or costumes, new abilities, new things like that. And it's kind of a controversial version. It's a controversial style of game, right? A lot of people, I think a lot of people, want the kind of game where you pay your $60, you get the fun experience, you get all the content that is on the disc. Live service games don't work like that. You have to put a lot more money in to have more fun, which is not enjoyable. Why do I bring this up? Because a live service is the kind of game that Suicide Squad, Kill the Justice League is. And I feel like that's one of the reasons why people aren't enjoying it, you know? It's not the only reason, but it's one of them, I think. And, like I said, the thing is, you know, greed. That's really the reason why this kind of a game exists, where, you know, you pay your $60, but it's asking you for more and more money each time. It's not a fun experience. The other part of the reason, I guess, or issues with the story, of course, and issues with, I guess some people think the gameplay is boring, but Kill the Justice League should have been a single-player offline game. That's all it should have been. I'm not saying it would have been guaranteed a smash success, but I guarantee you, there would have been a lot less criticism coming its way, and it wouldn't have flopped like Studio Rock said. Well, they didn't say the word flop, I'm sorry. I keep using that word. Rock said it's been a disappointment. It's not doing as well as they thought it would, you know? And here's the solution. Make a Superman game. Look, I know I'm a Superman fanboy, but yo, hear me out. A Superman video game, where you're exploring Metropolis, you're fighting, like, I don't know, robots or aliens or something that have invaded the city? That would be fire, bro. You know what I'm saying? If we can do, like, I know people say, oh, he's too strong to have a good video game character, to have an entertaining video game on. If we can do a fun Hulk, Incredible Hulk video game, we can do a fun Superman game, you know? The Incredible Hulk is, like, you know, over, basically overpowered. We can do the same thing with Superman, I think, you know? It makes me sad, too, because I think the Suicide Squad is a great team. For those who don't know, the Suicide Squad is basically a superhero team where they're supervillains who are hired by the government to do, like, you know, do the dirty work, so to speak. In this Kill the Justice League video game, all the members of the Justice League, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Arrow or Green Lantern, and I think that's it. They were, I guess, brainwashed by a supervillain, and the Suicide Squad has to take them all up, you know? They're a good team. They're, I think, a good, like, intellectual property IP, if you want to call it. But just because of the way, you know, the game mechanics work, it didn't work out, man. So, yeah. Oh, I probably should mention, too, Eric is also gone again this week. Again, he's busy doing that science work, you know? Actually, he's doing some research this time, so shout out to him, getting that work done. So, next segment, we'll be talking about Avatar the Last Airbender and why it's so great, as well as my current thoughts on the live-action edition of it. So, stick around. We'll be right back. How you doing, beautiful folks? How y'all doing? Yo. So, let's get back into it. Next thing I want to talk about is Avatar the Last Airbender. Now, the reason why I want to talk about it really just has to do with the fact that the new Netflix live-action edition came out. I don't have much strong thoughts about it so far. I really only saw, I think, like, the first, like, 20 minutes of it, you know? And, I mean, from what I've seen, it looks good so far. I mean, it seems to be fairly close to the original animated show. And I think the acting and everything, the action's much better than, like, the other live-action movie they tried to do, you know? So, it's okay. It's okay so far. No strong thoughts. I want to talk about the cartoon and why it's so, I guess, important to people and why it's such a big deal. Because I think for a lot of people out there, I don't have a source on that, I'll say, but the reason why it's so critically acclaimed, I'll put it that way, is because, I mean, as far as animation goes, especially for children, you know? Not only the quality of the animation, the quality of its storytelling, its acting, its pacing, I think, are all really good. I mean, this is a show that's able to, you know, talk about issues of, you know, national, like, complex things, like nationalism, racism, discrimination, you know, just politics. It's able to boil down these, like, really complex topics for kids and just tell it in a really nice package, you know? So, Avatar the Last Airbender, basically how it works is, the show takes place in a world where people can bend certain elements, you know? You got one group that's firebenders, another group that can bend earth, another group that can, you know, they can move water, and another, like, earth, water, fire, and another group that can move air. And in this world, basically, like, the equivalent of king or president is the Avatar, who's, like, I guess, you know, is, like, basically, it's a, like, random, it feels weird to say, it's a random person, like, every, I think, century or every century, something like that, you know? And then, they say, yo, you're the Avatar, you know, because you have the Avatar spirit. You have to master all the elements so that you can, you know, guide the world towards peace, you know? So, basically, Avatar the Last Airbender, the first show, it happens to be an airbender named Aang, and he has to, you know, he meets some friends with the water tribe named Katara and Sokka, and they have to travel the world to not only end the great war that's going on, but also help him master all the elements so he can bring the world to peace. So, why is it such a popular show? I think one of the reasons why it's, like, it's just maintaining that popularity and relevance also has to do with, it's really the way the story is told. Because Avatar came out, like, 2005 or so, and back then a lot of shows were more episodic, right, where, I mean, there is a continuing plot line, but each episode is a new adventure. I think Law and Order, House, which are the other shows that were popular in that, kind of, you know, in the 2000s, House, Friends, things like that, you know? And Avatar, I think it's more of, like, this kind of the screaming era of storytelling, where, you know, yeah, each episode kind of, like, discusses kind of a new, it has a new story, but the continuing storyline is, like, the focus, you know? And because of that, you know, a lot of people have really been able to, even younger people might have been able to enjoy it, you know? Now, I'm not one of those younger people for, you know, just so everybody knows, I'm an OG fan, okay? I watched the show on Nick, reruns on Nicktoons in, like, 2007. I got on this train early, just so we know. Like, I've been on the bandwagon, you know what I mean? But, man, I just, this franchise is so great. Just some of the great moments, you know, you see throughout the Avatar lore. First of all, that beginning, the way this show begins, right, is, you know, you got Katara and Sokka, two siblings bickering on the boat, you know, with Sokka being, or Katara being a waterbender, and Sokka, you know, he has no powers, he can't bend anything, except logic. And so, you know, Katara's having this whole big argument, you know, it's like, you're stupid, you're sexist, you're awful, you're miserable, like, why are you like this, why are you so stupid? And, you know, she's just throwing her hands around, she's so angry, and somehow her bending gets so strong that she accidentally discovers this iceberg with a kid in it, you know? And the way, like, this scene is done, it goes from, like, you know, I guess not quite drama, but almost, like, a little bit comedic, to, you know, almost this mystical, like, magical thing is happening. And just the way the music's done, the way the colors shine, yo, it begins on that note, right? And they're supposed to discover Aang, they discover who he is, he's supposed to be the Avatar, he's supposed to master all the elements, and they go on their adventure. And having, you know, Zuko as the main villain is another interesting choice of the series, you know? And, you know, Zuko, you see lots of music, I'm talking about, oh, my honor, I must capture the Avatar, my honor, you know? Great stuff. There's also, so far, Avatar, I say the Avatar franchise, because there are two of them, the second show in the Avatar franchise is The Legend of Korra, which has kind of a similar plot line, but it focuses on a new Avatar. And, you know, I don't know if that's the case, but I guess, yeah, the way this show talks about heart issues, it's storyline, I think that plays a good part in, like, why it sticks to people today. I don't know why it sticks to people, honestly, it's representation as well. Because Avatar, I mean, they don't straight up say it, but it also takes place in, like, it seems to be a kind of Asia, I think. I'm not quite clear on that, but two of the main characters are definitely coming from an indigenous-type culture that people can relate with. I don't know that, you know, I didn't really think about Native Americans or indigenous people or, I think, Eskimo culture, I think that's kind of what they're based on, but to me as a kid, I saw two black kids in this cool action comedy show, I was like, yeah, I'm loving it, you know what I'm saying? So, to me as a kid, they were, like, the coolest black characters I saw on television, even though I think technically they're not considered black. And then you got Aang, who comes, Aang was raised by monks, and so I'm not sure what country or culture that really comes from, but, you know, I think, you know, it's representation of different cultures around the world, I think is really what makes it unique for an American kid show, you know what I mean? I think, let's see, I've mentioned the different vendors, right, because each element has their own country. Like the Fire Nation, for example, very Japanese-influenced. The Earthbenders have the Earth Kingdom, which is very much Chinese-influenced. The Water Tribe is, I think the Water Tribe is supposed to be like, you know, like indigenous kind of cultures, or indigenous, what am I thinking of? It's like, it's not island-type cultures, I can't think of it. Polynesian, maybe? That's what I'm, that might be what I'm looking for. But, you know, I want to say that Earth Kingdom, or yeah, the Earth Nation, Earthbender Kingdom, is like, it draws influences from, I guess, Tibet, and stuff like that. And so, you know, it's like, you know, the different cultures, the way it represents, I guess, the clash of different cultures, and how, like, that, you know, those kind of conflicts start, as well as just like, it's a really good show about war, even though it's like, it can be very light at times, very comedic at times, this is a show about, you know, like, three kids trying to stop a war, trying to stop, you know, their war-torn, not just country, but world, which is great to see. If you actually want to watch Avatar, you can watch it in a ton of places, too. I think that's the other reason why it's still maintaining so much relevance, because you can watch it for free on Pluto, and I think Paramount, not Paramount, yeah, you can watch it on Paramount+, but also Netflix and Amazon Video, Amazon Prime Video. You know, that's another good thing about Avatar. My favorite character, everybody's favorite character, Iroh, which, he's the antagonist's grandfather, you know, which is kind of surprising, like, you know, somebody on the villain side is so likable, but Iroh is like, he's kind of like, you know, for those of y'all who know what the Karate Kid is, he's basically the show's Mr. Miyagi. He's that kind of wise sensei, wise master, whatever. He always knows, you know, like, what the right advice is, and I always like those kind of characters, man. Great stuff there. So, those are really my thoughts on Avatar. Next up, we're going to be talking about Spike Lee, because I've neglected to talk about Black History Month. I used to do that last year, talk about a black figure every show. I haven't been slacking on that, so let's fix that. Stick around. Welcome back, boys and girls. So, the next thing I wanted to talk about is Spike Lee, because, you know, this is, of course, we made the adjustment to talking more about, you know, more about just black history, you know, not black history. You know, we've just been talking a lot about people in movies and television, and Spike Lee, of course, very important guy to both of those things, you know. Spike Lee, legendary director from New York. If you've seen any of the Spike Lee movies, you've probably seen Do the Right Thing, which is one of my favorites. See, I'm trying to think. Do the Right – I'm trying to think. If I can name three Spike Lee movies, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, that third one, Crooklyn, I think it's called. That's underrated as well. But I think what Spike – I think what makes him such an important director, I guess, not only is he one of the most famous black directors alive, but the fact, too, he's able to talk about issues related to race in such, I think, a stylistic way. But, um, give me one second, everybody. But, yeah, so let me just talk about the movie Do the Right Thing, right, because, in my opinion, probably one of the greatest movies of all time, Do the Right Thing, basically, it takes place in a New York community. In a New York community. Honestly, I think it's Brooklyn. Not sure. I don't – it's either Brooklyn or Harlem. Could be Queens. Brooklyn. I'll say it's Brooklyn. But it's in a New York community where, basically, you're dealing with this community and what – it's doing this subtly. It's not obvious at first, but you're slowly realizing what the racial tensions are in that community between black, white, Hispanic and Asian. And it's weird. It does this, I guess, through – it kind of talks about these relationships subtly through comedy. Oh, and Italian is all – I guess that fits in the white, but – and the main character, of course, is actually Spike Lee himself playing the character Sal. We're in this pizza shop where he basically is connected to all the communities. Because he delivers pizza, he knows basically people from all sides of his neighborhood. The more I'm talking about it, the more I think about it, the fact that this neighborhood has all sorts of people. Not only is that a New York thing, I'm guessing this neighborhood kind of in a way is supposed to represent America as a whole. I think just about every major race in America is represented, I think. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian. Yeah, basically. But anyway, the point is, as they talk about all the different races, they go in a little bit about – it slowly starts to build towards – instead of talking about the existence, it's about they build up the tension. And of course, we get towards the end of it. Well, the tensions really spark up when Radio Raheem, of course, gets choked out by Sal, the pizza shop owner. We're kind of like – throughout the movie, we see a very – a nice version of him. You know what I'm saying? He seems to be pretty friendly with all the different races until Radio Raheem starts irritating him late at night with his little boombox, and that's when they get into a fight. And then the radio guy calls the cops. The cops choke the guy out, and that's when basically a riot breaks out. You know what I'm saying? So I think, again, I think that probably is supposed to be a metaphor towards the world as a whole. There's a lot of racial relations in different countries. It's kind of sad how relevant the movie is to this day. But of course, he's done more besides just do the right thing. And of course, Malcolm X, another good movie he's done about the course of the life of Malcolm X starring Denzel Washington. And I mean, that's because I think one of my parents' favorite movies – what makes Malcolm X so interesting to me is the fact that Denzel did such a good job with that movie to the point where this real person, this historical person, whenever Malcolm X is portrayed in other biopic movies or whatever, I have a hard time seeing anybody else as Malcolm X but Denzel Washington. It's very interesting that way. I think another thing, too, about Spike Lee as, I guess, the director, and this is one of his signature things, besides the fact that having the characters talk to the camera in certain points in the movie, he's like a roster of actors that he's always collaborating with. Denzel's one of them. Angela Bassett, I think, is in quite a few of his movies as well. Delroy Lindo, is that the actor? Let's see. Yes, that's the guy I'm thinking of, Delroy Lindo. That's an actor he works with a lot. Of course, a lot of black actors. What's another one? Oh, Samuel L. Jackson, I think, appears quite a bit, too. That was – I can't pronounce his name – Espinito. I can't pronounce his first name to save my life, but y'all know who I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't seen Spike Lee movies, the guy from Breaking Bad, the guy who went to the chicken shop in Breaking Bad, him. But yeah, another good Spike Lee movie recommendation I have personally besides Do the Right Thing, let's see here. The Five Bloods, that's a lesser known one that he dropped on Netflix in 2020. It's about the Vietnam War, that's pretty good. It's also very sad, too. A lot of his movies are super sad. There's comedy, but there's also drama a lot of times, but the drama overwhelms the comedy, if that makes sense. Yeah, that. This is a weird one. He also directed the Kings of Comedy comedy special. For those who don't know, the Kings of Comedy was basically this stand-up tour special starring Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley, and Steve Harvey. And I guess Spike Lee directed that. I kind of forgot he did. Oh, He Got Game. That's another one starring Denzel Washington, the basketball movie starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen as father and son. The movie's about Jake Shuttlesworth, the father of Jesus Shuttlesworth, the top-ranked basketball prospect in the country. He's about to go pro. He's about to go straight to the league like Kobe did. And so basically the thing – the dad is trying to convince his star basketball son to play for the governor so that the dad will get time off on his sentence for prison. And it's such an interesting drama. It doesn't go – this movie doesn't quite bend the way you think it'll bend. It's weird like that. But let's see. He Got Game is good. He directed quite a few documentaries. I didn't know about them. I'm finding out about now. He directed the documentary about Michael Jackson's Bad album in 2012. See, Crookland. Four Little Girls. That's another really sad one about the bombing of a church in the Civil Rights era. School Days is a movie about an HBCU that's pretty good. He has a legacy of great movies. I think probably – and it's like of course with all these movies you can kind of tell his style. But I think the movie that he's done that is like the most different of anything he's done, that feels the least Spike Lee if I can find it. I think there's also another Denzel one. Let's see here. Inside Man. Inside Man, rather than like a lot of the comedic dramas he's done, this one is basically the crime thriller. Kind of like I guess Taken, something like that. And according to Wikipedia here, it's centered – this is a direct quote from Wikipedia – it centers on an elaborate bank heist turned hostage situation in Wall Street. And the movie stars Denzel Washington as Detective Keith Frazier, the NYPD's hostage negotiator. I've been talking a while. Whenever I talk for a long time I just start mispronouncing words. It's weird. I do it with Eric too. But he's a hostage negotiator. And the villain of course is the mastermind who orchestrates the heist. So you got that going on. Very different from Spike Lee, like I said. He also dabbles a bit in romantic comedies as well. Like the movie, what is it called? Girl 6, that's not the one I'm thinking of. She's Gotta Have It, about a woman with multiple romantic partners. I'm trying to pick one. Lots of stuff going on there. So for Black History Month, shout out to Spike Lee, man. Just a legendary director doing legendary stuff. It's kind of funny too. I think I'll talk about this more when we get to the last segment. But one of the things I've noticed a lot of younger people were known from is the fact that he directed the NBA 2K17 story. We'll talk about that a little bit more after the break. Hey, what's up everybody? So in the last segment we were talking about Spike Lee and his legacy and all the influential work he's done. And actually I wanted to mention one thing. I think some younger people, either they know him for this or they've seen this thing and didn't know he was part of it. So for anybody who's familiar with the NBA 2K series, NBA 2K16 every year has a career mode. It puts the players in an interactive kind of story. And for 2016, Spike Lee actually directed the story. It was called that year Living Da Dream, A Spike Lee Joint, which I don't know how I forgot to mention last time that that's what he called those movies, Spike Lee Joints. They're not films. They're joints. But anyways, now I'm not a big 2K player myself, at least not with the story mode. I think a lot of people, not only do they really like it and say it's one of the best in NBA 2K's history, but it also apparently made a lot of people very emotional, made a lot of people very sad. So the story of course starts with you, your created player, starting in high school and then going into college and then the NBA. And so your character also as well. It's kind of interesting. Normally in story mode, because you, the player, have created this character, they don't give the character a name per se or a name in the story. But in this story, your character's name is Frequency Vibrations or Freak for short. And your character, no matter what race you pick, has an African American family. So your character's also from New York as well, which is good because no matter what race you pick, New York has a lot of every race. So it doesn't matter who you pick, it makes sense to the story. And that's all I'll say about it. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube if you want. It's actually really good. Really entertaining. But yeah, that's really what I wanted to talk about today. I guess this is our last Black History Month episode. I'll make an announcement on it later, but next week, because I have a spring break, starts March 3rd. I'm not sure if I'll be doing the show next week. I'll make a post about it to confirm. The weather, it's been getting, it's been feeling spring-like. You don't feel like winter no more, man. It feels good outside. I mean, me and Eric argue about this all the time, which is better, the heat or the cold. I say the cold because you can prepare for the cold. You can have nothing on and still be really hot. But everybody can agree, spring is cool. If the world had a thermostat, it should be set to just spring mode all the time. I'm down with that. What do you think? That's okay. You agree with me. I already know. But we'll see y'all next time. Bye-bye, y'all. This has been Pop Culture Power, baby.