It’s that time of the year for ghosts and ghouls, and all things Halloween!
Pooja is back with her picks heading into the holiday week!
Pooja’s Movie Picks for September and October
‘Rings of Power’ and ‘House of the Dragon’: Do They Compare Under the Fantasy Umbrella?
If I had a nickel for every fantasy show that was intended to be a prequel of an existing franchise and aired in the fall, I’d have two nickels.
It’s not a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice, right? And that’s exactly what happened with PrimeVideo’s Rings of Power and HBO’s House of the Dragon.
Read More: For The Love of Middle Earth! My Lord of the Rings Story
Is There Really Room For A Comparison?
Since the premiere of both shows, many people have debated and argued over which is the better, more superior show. Several viewers clamored on about the Rings of Power tarnishing and changing the original lore from J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings amongst other related books. Other fans slammed House of the Dragon for being too boring and projected it to be a failure after the final two season of Game of Thrones proved to be a great disappointment to fans.
To no one’s surprise, extreme prejudice was also a major issue for each show as both shows featured characters played by Black and Brown actors and actresses. And yet, Rings of Power and House of the Dragon broke out with high ratings and praise from critics and fans alike, deservingly so.
If I’m being honest, at this point, the competition and comparisons between both shows are absolutely absurd and make no sense. There is no competition and there is no way to compare the two because of how very different they are from one another. And you may be wondering, they’re both under the fantasy umbrella, so how different can they really be?
The Rings of Power and What It Stands For
Rings of Power serves as a prequel to the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings, taking place before the One Ring was even created. Because the Tolkien estate has refused to allow the rights to a majority of Tolkien’s works be given to any studio, a lot of creative liberties were taken with the show’s stories, characters, and overall lore.
We still get to see familiar locations as well as characters we know and love like Galadriel and Elrond. But we’re also introduced to new characters like Disa, Arondir, and Nori and the other harfoots, all of whom are entertaining to watch and characters we’ve grown to love over the first season.
The show has proven itself to be capable of creating brand new stories while expanding on the world we already know but in a different era. And it stays true to one idea: The Lord of the Rings has always been about good versus evil, light defeating darkness. Even though darkness and shadow can seem big and intimidating, there is still light in the world that can defeat it, even for those who do not truly know their place in the world.
Yes, Rings of Power can be political and strategic at times. But at its core, it continues to follow the idea of different races banding together to fight a common enemy. And this is exactly what sets it apart from House of the Dragon, the prequel series to the critically acclaimed show, Game of Thrones.
House of The Dragon and Its Harsher Message
House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s book, Fire and Blood, taking place 200 years prior to the events of Game of Thrones. The messaging of the show so far is drastically different from Rings of Power in that allegiances change almost every episode, and there is no such thing are someone who is purely evil or purely good. Oftentimes, characters are somewhere in between or don’t know where they stand.
While Rings of Power believes in a united front and using kindness and goodwill to benefit one another, House of the Dragon explores the fickle nature of society from top to bottom. There is no one who is guaranteed to be on one person’s side or have their back in times of need. The show’s first season is also extremely political and has us navigating through tunnels of lies, greed, grief, trauma, lust, and above all, the continued fight for the iron throne.
The Beauty of Fantasy
Rather than comparing both shows, I think it’s safe to say they’re on completely opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the fantasy genre. They both explore conflicting ideas of their own worlds which are no doubt polar opposites of one another, and neither of these shows’ messages are wrong.
The world can be cruel and painful to navigate. But there is light to counteract the shadow that lingers over us. At times, we do have to act alone to get what we need, but other times, it’s important to learn to trust one another and work together to achieve a common goal.
Whether you watch one or you watch both is up to you. But in the end, there’s just no comparing The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon. We can have so many stories with conflicting messages and vastly different character types, all of which can coexist in the same genre. And that is the beauty of fantasy.
MrMARVELite’s Let’s Talk MARVEL – Why Iron Man Wasn’t at His Own Funeral
MrMARVELite is known throughout the Multiverse as someone wise and all-knowing!
In this series, Tony will dig deep into his knowledge about the MCU and Marvel to discuss the most burning questions fans have!
let’s take a look at why Iron Man wasn’t at his own funeral in Endgame!
Who Was Marvel’s First Latino Superhero?
Let’s get into a segment we like to call Character 101 with Thorstorian.
One of the most knowledgable and passionate comic fans is here to help you break down characters and what you need to know heading into new franchises, big announcements and first cinematic appearances.
Read: Nerd Initiative Chats With … Shortboxed!
So, let’s dig into Marvel’s first Latino superhero, the White Tiger!
Gunn, Safran Set to Helm DC Film, TV and Animation Divisions
It appears that Warner Brothers has finally decided who will helm DC productions into the future with James Gunn and Peter Safran being named co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios (Formerly DC Films which the leadership role was vacated by Walter Hamada). They will report to Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker series) and Peter Safran (The Suicide Squad, Aquaman, Shazam) are not novices to the DCEU and have been part of some of the most successful properties produced by Warner Brothers.
Questions have been brought up since the announcement as to whether Gunn will cease writing and directing future films with the weight of the role he is now tasked with. It is worth considering that leading the future of DC movies will be a shared role that may offer creative opportunities for both Gunn and Safran to explore.
There are many issues that will still need to be addressed, like the continued complication that is Ezra Miller and their upcoming Flash movie, but this leadership decision is a definite win for all comic book fans!
Did You Know? Ghostbusters, Poltergeist and More (Part 1)!
It’s almost time for Halloween!! With that in mind, we’ve got a special edition of Did You Know!!
Read: Nerd Initiative’s Top 10 Movies To Watch For Halloween
There are so many fun, interesting backstories to how films were made, what they could have been, castings that almost happened and much more. Let’s dive into some of your favorite movies over the years and reveal some iconic details that you may have missed or stories that you never knew!
So …. Did You Know?
Live Streamers Vs. Content Creators – Who Has it Harder?
Let’s Have A Conversation
There is a repeating conversation I have been seeing on social media recently. The whole conversation seems to stem from one question. Who has it harder? Live streamers on platforms such as Twitch or YouTube, or general content creators in spaces like TikTok or Instagram.
There is one question, however, that I feel is not being asked enough. Why are the two considered to be so vastly different than each other? Sure, it’s much “easier” in terms of discoverability on say TikTok rather than streaming on Twitch. But does that really mean TikTok is easier for creators?
There also seems to be some kind of suggestion that streamers are not “content creators” and thus, have different parameters as far as how hard they have to work to grow on their chosen platform. So let’s talk about it in a constructive way.
For those that don’t know the difference, here’s a visual.
This is content from what’s considered a streamer:
This is content from the general content creator:
Are Streamers “Content Creators”?
In my opinion, live streamers are indeed content creators, and I’ll explain why I think this is true. First of all, let’s look at the term itself, “Content Creator.” If we break it down to the simple meaning, it’s a person or group of people, who create some kind of media (media meaning videos, images, live broadcasts etc.) for other people to then consume and enjoy. That’s it. The media being produced is the content, regardless if it’s coming from a pre recorded video or a live stream, it’s still “content.”
Now that we have that most simple explanation on what a content creator actually is, lets talk about the big question everyone IS currently asking.
Does Either Have It Harder?
First and foremost let’s just put the simple honest truth out there in the open. Nothing about being a creator, live or otherwise, is easy. In order to grow you have to be consistent, creative, constantly adapting to algorithms and consumer attention spans. On top of that, you have to make yourself stand out from a crowd of literally millions of other people trying to do the exact same thing you are. Nothing about this is what i would personally consider easy.
One argument I have seen from streamers who say it’s more difficult for them is that their content is live and is dependent on interaction and entertainment in real time. Nothing they do is pre-recorded, so they are always at risk at any time.
Then the people who are on TikTok say the same. They go live for our followers as well. We have to deal with the same things when they are live there. On top of that TikTok videos stay online for longer periods, so at any time any video can still be flagged or reported.
Then the argument over tech issues arises. How streamers can miss an entire scheduled stream due to an OBS crash or system update. The same can be said for TikTok creators and other short form video makers. If the app you’re trying to post to is having issues (which happens a lot on TikTok especially) then their content just wont get posted at all.
Who Makes More Money?
I’m going to point out the fact that if you are getting into content creation or live streaming, just because you want to make money doing it then be prepared for a long road. Very few on either side every end up making an actual living off the platforms, let alone the extravagant lifestyle you see with the big name content creators online.
That being said, every platform has it’s ways to monetize your content, and none of them pay the small creators what they should. In order to make any kind of real money on social media, it’s mostly through sponsorships, subscriptions and donations from followers, or some kind of brand deal with a major company outside of the platform they post to.
Only the top percent of creators every make it close to the status of the Paul brothers or Ninja, just to name a few.
Live Streamer or Content Creator, whichever you call yourself, is a full-time, all the time grind that is year round and never stops.
Final Thoughts
Live Streamer or Content Creator, whichever you call yourself, is a full-time, all the time grind that is year round and never stops. You can’t go into doing either without being prepared to work extreamly hard, learn multiple new skills, and invest your own money into producing content. Those are jsut simple facts.
It’s going to be a slow process. You’re going to encounter numerous people who want to either take advantage of you or to see you fail. There are trolls, bots accounts, hackers, doxers, bullies, toxic fan bases, the list goes on.
Get into creating content for the love and fun of actually being creative and meeting new people. Network with other small creators to help grow both your communities. Reach out to every new follower and respond to as many comments as you can.
Either direction you choose whether its live or not, make sure you are having fun with it first and the rest will come on it’s own.
As always everyone and until next be safe, be kind, and take it easy.
One HECK of a Ride: Wendell & Wild
I had the opportunity to catch a early digital screening of the upcoming Netflix original film, Wendell & Wild. This stop-motion animated film from the minds of Henry Selick (director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Coraline”) and Clay McLeod Chapman (author of books “Whisper Down the Lane” & “The Remaking” and writer for MARVEL series “Scream: Curse of Carnage”, “Edge of Spider-Verse”, etc.) based on their unpublished book, of the same name, with the screenplay by Selick and Jordan Peele (Director of “Get Out”, “Us”, and “Nope”). To say it was a wild ride is to put it mildly.
What is Wendell & Wild?
Wendell & Wild follows a young Kat Elliot (Lyric Ross) who finds herself in a difficult situation and with plenty of guilt following a tragic accident. She discovers that she is a very unique individual and all Heck, forgive the pun, breaks loose. Kat encounters a pair of aspirational, yet dimwitted, scheming demon brothers Wendell (Keegan-Micahel Key) and Wild (Peele) and is thrown into a journey of self forgiveness and redemption where not only her future hangs in peril but the future of the entire town she is in.
Something to Note:
It is obvious that this film made with love and care by the entire production team. Not only is this the most fluid stop-motion animation I have seen in a long time, but the sheer scale and size of the environment is breathtaking. During the credits you will get to see some behind the scenes work and have a chance to absolutely appreciate the amount of work that was invested in this film.
My Thoughts:
This movie is a wild ride and doesn’t hesitate to really jump into action. The macabre style of this film immediately reminded me of the many stop-motion heavy metal music videos of the early 90’s. This story is very much in it’s own world with it’s own rules. I feel like many of the messages and themes would be lost on younger children and think that the set PG-13 rating is appropriate, not for concern of graphic or inappropriate material, but more for the maturity necessary for viewers to appreciate and understand what they are watching. Not to mention, some themes may be to scary for younger children, unless you enjoy sharing your bed with the kiddos.
As with any film that has Jordan Peele’s mark on it, this story attempts to tackle themes like privilege, trans-youth, second chances and the issues with privately run correctional facilities. This film makes many of these points rather quickly and I feel more time could have been used to flesh out the ideas presented, but “Wendell & Wild” does a great job starting the conversation. Many of the characters are extreme caricatures and are meant to be so. It is also easy to identify which real-life people are being depicted by those representations… and its hilariously disturbing.
Overall, Wendell & Wild is a worthy entry for Halloween and bound to be in many people’s watch list for the season moving forward.
Check out “Wendell & Wild” out and decide for yourself. “Wendell & Wild”, in limited theaters now and streaming exclusively on Netflix October 28th.
TOP 10 Comic Book Video Games
With the release of WB Games’ Gotham Knights right around the corner of being released here is a Top 10 list of the best video games based on around a comic book character.
10. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimension
This is the Spider-Verse video game before the Spider-Verse comic book series was even announced. Shattered Dimension was the first Spider-Man game that Beenox had developed and as far as their first attempt goes it is quite impressive. Especially seeing that this game had to follow the Spider-Man: Web of Shadows game. As far as gameplay goes it is very fun, and all four of the Spider-Men that are in this game feel distinctly unique. From Noir being primarily stealth based in his gameplay to Ultimate
Spider-Man where the Symbiote and Peter have bonded once more to feel like an absolutely brutal character. It is unfortunate that this game isn’t easily accessible anymore due to Beenox loosing the distribution rights to the character, but if you ever find a copy of it and like the Spider-Verse movie or comic definitely give this game a chance.
9. LEGO Marvel Superheroes
You can only rank a LEGO game so high when most of the game play and principles are recycled from one game to the next, but the reason why this game has made it this high up is due to how great the story honestly is. While yes the LEGO DC based games are great and fun as well, none of them have come near how wonderfully creative the LEGO Marvel game is. The way it is able to tie the Fantastic 4, X-Men, Avengers and other characters all together while giving us amazing depiction of our favorite characters like Doctor Doom or Iron Man is a testament to the quality of this game. The biggest fault of the game is that it is lacking some relatively iconic characters such as Miles Morales, Kamala Khan or Kitty Pryde.
8. Ultimate Alliance
With a starting roster of 16 unlocked characters and 7 unlockable characters it was one of the first games where a player had such a variety of their favorite superheroes and could choose the squad that they wanted to use for the story. While the combat is far from perfect and the game play can be repetitive if played for a prolonged period of time it does speak to how good the story honestly was. It should also be noted that it was a game that released back in 2006. It might not be considered absolutely stellar by today’s standards due to how lucky fans have been with the uptick in superhero media but I can’t deny that I definitely dissociated from the rest of the world as I just got immersed in this game as a kid.
7. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
While the movie that this game is linked to is far from good this game is somehow uncannily amazing. It is also most likely the most brutal and graphic superhero game that has ever been released. But the graphicness of Logan’s kills is not why this game is on the list, it is because of how well it adapts the experiences Wolverine goes through after he has the Weapon X process dealt to him. On top of the
pain that the character goes through it also has a gameplay where it is near impossible to get tired of hacking, slashing and dismembering people, cause if it was done poorly then the kills can feel hollow and unsatisfying.
6. Arkham Knight
While this game is not in the top 5, it should be noted that Arkham Knight is first in terms of gameplay (if we’re over looking most of the tank stuff.) The combat is honestly perfect. Free flow combat has never felt more powerful, and it is only made more satisfying by adding the ability to pick-up weapons, throw enemies in electrical panels, charging up equipment for more powerful stuns and various other capabilities. While the story is far from bad, it also isn’t as amazing when compared to how good the
story was in Arkham City, though Arkham Knight does end on a high note despite the journey to that “I am Batman” moment was less than spectacular. Now let’s talk about the tank. The controls for it is honestly very satisfying and tank combat as a whole was not terrible, the only reason why it brings it down is due to the copious amount of missions that involve Batman having to utilize the tank to the point where it disrupted the flow of the game. Another fault that this game has is that it was no memorable boss battles. It is fair to say that Batman has one of the most iconic rogues gallery in comics, so to have most of them squandered and reduced to quick little cutscenes where the player does not have the satisfaction of beating the villain it does have to be dinged for it.
5. Injustice 2
Injustice 2 is just such an improvement to the first installment. Injustice 2 took everything that the first game had and decided to balance it while also diversifying the character roster much more. While part of this decision is made due to me being a Green Arrow main and he got an upgrade in the boxing glove arrow, it is hard not enjoy the fact that the customization in character moves helps make this game that much better. Injustice 2 enforces the idea of each character being your iteration of them, but the amount of costume customization can definitely be overwhelming in and annoying in the fact that certain looks for characters are stuck to a certain class/level of gear.
4. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
With all the swagger of a sequel that improves on almost everything compared to the original; the Miles Morales game in my own personal case at times beats out the original since I personally hold the preference of being able to utilize Mile’s Venom Blast over various varieties of gadgets that Peter can. But due to this game being shorter, and having less options in side missions it does sadly get brought down by these factors. Though, the moments that Miles has with most of the antagonists he faces are just as amazing as Peter facing off against Doc Ock in the first game it suffers from that shorter story since it would have benefited the game more if the player could have spent more time with Mile’s villains so that the final hits that come are even harder to take in.
3. Arkham City
What was considered the pinnacle of superhero games it should be stated that this game still has what is seen as one of the best and almost iconic boss battles throughout video games in Mr. Freeze. But looking beyond just the amazing boss battle of Freeze, the fights with grunts and other bosses also feel cinematic but also lets the player feel like the Dark Knight himself to an extent. Whether it be taking on a group of goons in the Iceberg Lounge or Ra’s Al Ghul, Arkham City is an excellently crafted game that so happens to revolve around the world’s greatest detective. It should truly be a testament to how good the combat is seeing that I would personally burn away many hours just taking on goons in the Iceberg Lounge as Nightwing and replaying it even after getting as many points as possible.
2. Marvel’s Spider-Man
The Spider-Man game that would dethrone Spider-Man 2 as at the best Spider-Man game (personally never really liked that game.) But what this new Spider-Man game has over Spider-Man 2 is the fact that this game is its own universe and has taken the time and care to flesh out Peter’s supporting cast so that when certain emotional beats hit they actually hurt to watch some characters face their inevitable fates. Beyond the main story though the game has various amount of easter egg goodies to seek out, fun side missions and the fact that swinging is just that relieving.
- Guardians of the Galaxy
Controversial take, but yes the Guardians of the Galaxy game is what I consider to be a #1 comic book adaptation video game. It is perfect for those who are fans of the comics but also fans of the MCU’s adaptation of the team. While yes you as the player are limited to just playing as Star-Lord it works seeing that it does truly contribute to the feel of you being the leader of the Guardians. The combat is very fun but not too difficult, but nor is it a stroll in the park. Now the game can be easier when you nail your Roll Call, but if you fail it then you get Rick Rolled and if a game can get away with Rick Rolling you then it deserves a placement at #1. While Star-Lord is the main character of the story it does not mean that he steals the entirety of the spot light, the rest of the Guardians get quite a bit of development. So much so that it actually sets an even higher standard for the movies iteration of these characters. But if you are someone who likes the Guardians of the Galaxy in any piece of media then you MUST give this game a try because it is driven by so much heart and care… unlike other Marvel games that have come from Crystal Dynamic.
Here’s A Documentary You NEED to Watch – ‘The Redeem Team’
New documentary alert!! With so many new films and shows on streaming, it’s often hard to know where to turn to next.
Read: Did You Know? ‘The Crow’ (1994)
Well, we got you covered. All the Movie Things highly recommends Netflix’s the Redeem Team and find out why below!