Reb00t 1t - Zack Snyder's Justice League Part 2

And we’re back with another dose of the Snyder Cut and a likely rather scattershot set of viewpoints around the changes made here. Unlike with previous reboots discussed here, a lot of material was in the original, the original I have already reviewed and the plot in this film is pretty much the same. It’s hard to determine exactly how successful the Snyder Cut has actually been. It’s certainly created a lot of buzz, and the more positive reception certainly helped but because it’s been released on a streaming service the value it creates will be dependant on how many subscribers it brings on and retains. And 2021 has been a big year for HBO Max with all of its big cinematic releases being placed on the service for free for a few weeks at time of release. This was an attempt to reclaim something as Covid has drawn audiences away from traditional theatres.

Reb00t 1t - Zack Snyder's Justice League part 1

OK, we’re looking at a different kind of reboot here. After Batman v Superman planted seeds for a Justice League, Zack Snyder was hard at work on the project and had done most of the filming for it, sadly it was interrupted by the tragic death of his daughter and he left the project to grieve and I hold no ill will toward him for that.

Still, that takes time and they needed alignment in the actors’ filming schedules and various other issues to continue filming, there were already difficulties with the product we ended up with, hence Supes’ awful CG chin to remove the facial hair for Mission: Impossible. So I get why WB handed over the reins to Joss Whedon. The problems were many-fold, WB execs wanted the film out so they could get their bonuses, he was also under pressure to lighten the tone based on reception to Batman v Superman. And no, I’m not defending Whedon acting like a piece of crap on-set, Ray Fisher has come out with some rather disturbing on-set stories with both Whedon and Geoff Johns mentioned by name as perpetrators.

Still, I’m not a huge fan of Snyder either, his take on Superman felt like a fundamental misunderstanding of the character and he drew on material that he also fundamentally misunderstood in Batman v Superman. He also began riling up fan interest in reviving his take on the film. I can’t understand the level of entitlement here, it’s not a good look and neither is the studio acquiescing to the tune of $70m? This film already had a ballooned budget thanks to all the reshoots.

Of course, with Zack it’s all about the artistic vision. How do I know he’s gone this pretentious route? This ‘movie’ has a 4:3 aspect ratio and is available in Black and White. There’s nothing wrong with an artistic vision however, but with a medium like film, it should be an entertaining product first and foremost and that’s the angle I’ll be judging it from. It’s also nearly 4 hours long so to protect my sanity, I’ll be splitting this over 2 reviews. They’ve nicely broken it into 6 chapters so I’ll try and stick with chapters 1-3 for this review, and 4-6 for next week’s review.

Reb00t 1t - Ducktales Season 3

We’re back to the third and final season of the reboot of Ducktales, the show has been batting a really high average, most of the episodes have been great, with some real standout ones like The Last Crash of the Sunchaser! Whatever happened to Della Duck! And Raiders of the Doomsday Vault! To name a few. The show has established a vast world with a ton of supporting characters and given the antagonists a level of depth beyond simply hating scrooge. Even if they’re still over-the-top villain archetypes.

Mark Beaks has very little interest in Scrooge really, he’s mostly just a shewed but lazy tech businessman with a particular interest in Gizmoduck. He someone how managed to reclaim his company after Glomtales, maybe it was just his on-paper money he put into Glomgold’s scheme. Magika has been reduced to a wreck without her powers, and whilst still maniacally evil and hating Scrooge seems content to bide her time and get her powers back first. Glomgold was always meant to be a reflection of Scrooge and The Balad of Duke Baloney! Did a good job in realising that to its fullest whilst keeping his core attributes in-tact. Oh and the Beagle Boys and Ma Beagle have an interesting family dynamic and their beef with Scrooge is interesting.

But with season 3, we have Bradford Buzzard and F.O.W.L., easily the most effective and successful antagonists for the show. Magika had a plan of sorts that came to fruition throughout the season, but FOWL’s is a bit more intricate and complex and otherwise connects episodes they had nothing to do with.

And who better to solve a massive conspiracy and the resident nerd of the Duck triplets, Huey. Huey has been show to be smart, logical, efficient but also the least stable. When something challenges his perception of reality, he’s the first to completely break down. This happened a few times, when Dewey ended up favoured over him in The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks! And his interactions with Bubba Duck in Timephoon! To name a couple.

Let’s dive into season 3 and see how things progress.

Reb00t 1t - Ducktales Season 2

Time to take a look at the second season of Ducktales. In season one, Dewey got the bulk of the spotlight, but for season 2, the torch is passed to Louie. What will his character bring to the fold? Let’s take a look and find out.

Reb00t 1t - Ducktales Season 1

My history with the original Ducktales series is pretty limited but I watched the Treasure of the Lost Lamp and know the basic premise and some of the history. I was more a looney tunes than a Mickey Mouse guy growing up but in older age, I have grown to appreciate the wit of the Disney staple of characters as well.

But to business, Ducktales had a reboot, so welcome to Reb00t 1t

And because I’d rather not do another massive 50–100-episode retrospective I’m breaking this down by season. The Ducktales reboot premiered in 2016 and ran for 3 seasons, its finale airing in 2020. The show was a hit for Disney, making the rare jump from DisneyXD to the main Disney Channel, and has even found a life outside of the show with YouTube podcasts.

The show is primarily comedic, so we’re gonna glance over story developments that aren’t worthy of critique or contribute to character development. I may sum up some episodes in a couple of lines but I’ll give an overview of all the seasons, and break down episodes that I think are interesting or contribute to the shows overarching plot. We’ll be covering this in the intended Disney+ Order and not the original airing order.

REB00T 1T - Men in Black: International

Welcome to the new segment I’m starting called Reb00t 1t, where I’ll be discussing the successes and failings of franchise reboots, largely on their own merits but I’ll make comparisons to the original if I feel they’re needed.

Men in Black: International comes under the reboot/sequel category. Where this is technically a sequel but since none of the main cast return in major roles and it’s been a few years since the last sequel came out so I’ll classify it under reboot.

This film has issues in production from the start, Producer Walter F Parkes and director F. Gary Gray clashes on the direction of the film. Parkes oversaw extensive rewrites to the original script, with apparently it being so confusing to stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson that they hired their own dialogue writers.

It also seems he got involved with directing, annoying F. Gary Gray so much that he actually tried to leave production on multiple occasions. To be fair, Walter F Parkes was a producer of the original trilogy so I understand why his experience was considered valuable by Sony.

Made on $94m budget, the film made $265m at the box office, when you factor in a nearly $200m marketing campaign that went alongside this film, that’s a substantial loss for the studio. And despite most people’s views being ambivalent, it also holds the worst critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, with only 23% of critics giving it a positive score.