Ah damn, my enthusiasm is dampened by 17%.

Sword and sandals is a trashy genre and always has been. If this doesn't give us a anything but Paul Mescal looking sweaty and aggrieved for 2 hours, the brief has been met. 

idk in the world of every studio being scared of just calling a sequel 2 i’m really glad this isn’t called like ‘gladiator: requiem’ or whatever. 

Well, it’s A Quiet Place, what did you expect?

“There was a dream that was Rome, where landowners conscript their lessers to help murder those we deem uncivilized. Where slaves flow like water. Where women have very little power and also we eat and drink lead all the time.”

Gladiator Revengeance

Gladia2r

Username checks out.

Sure, it’s clearly a sequel to and related to the first one, but there’s something sort of ridiculous about the name “Gladiator 2" (even if it’s dressed up as “II”). Surely there’s something better or at least less silly out there.

It definitely seems to be one that brings very little joy to the people who are good at it.  I guess it’s so competitive to keep a restaurant open that without that constant drive things can go sideways in a hurry.

I can’t believe that I only realized this season that Carmy is *also* an addict like his departed brother; he’s just addicted to restaurant instead of drugs.

One of my cousins is a chef closing in on retirement. I’ve heard him openly question why he chose it as a career. It’s an all consuming profession.

“Glad to meet you!”

kinds of kindness top 10 baby.

The MCU’s miracle ingredient has been Sarah Finn and her casting department. They keep finding note perfect actors and cameo actors who leave an impression. Even Inhumans had great casting.

It’s even more pronounced when you dig into supporting casts. I personally had little or no knowledge of Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Hayley Atwell and Elizabeth Olsen (beyond - wait? There’s a third one?)

When they get around to introducing the MCU versions of the X-Men proper, it should be with a new cast that have a chance to grow alongside the roles and won’t have the baggage of the earlier films.

Frankly, a good bit of the MCU weren’t exactly “big-name” when they started. They may not have been unknowns, but Chris Evans wasn’t “Chris Evans” until he played Cap, if it weren’t for GotG Chris Pratt would be even more insufferable, Chris Hemsworth’s biggest movie prior to Thor was the first 2 minutes of Abrams’ Tre…

I hope they bring in a new cast for the next X-Men. The Fox and Sony cameos have been fun, but the fresh takes are what’s fun about these franchises and what can keep the MCU going into the next decade. That someone would lament the lack of “celebrities” left is funny considering Hugh Jackman was unknown and a last…