... and Oscar-winning Chloé Zhao bringing her signature style and incredible talent to making this a success as well...

What about Ryan Coogler and Scott Derrickson?

I think that’s primarily because Marvel probably has a whole standalone unit dedicated to action scenes, to provide the experience (and consistent look and feel) to the film’s action scenes, while the director focuses on the story beats.

Kind of weird to lump Branagh in here. He did have an extensive directing resume and has a big budget (for it’s time) film on that CV. But, if you want it to feel like Shakespeare on the big screen, there’s probably no better guy to turn to.

Reminds me of when it was announced that Roger Deakins was going to be the director of photography for “Skyfall”, and no shock, it’s probably the best looking movie in Bond history and honestly should have brought him his long-overdue Oscar. I expect “Eternals” to look amazing given her resume.

Gotta say, yeah, Marvel definitely has an eye for talent. I mean, Branagh? Coogler? Gunn? Heck, I’ll even give them credit for Wright, even though that didn’t pan out. Yeah, sometimes the artistic direction gets pressed into the Signature Marvel Style, but you can’t say they’re not swinging for the fences.

So it begins. Now that Zhao has an Oscar, Marvel is going to trickle out press releases that emphasize how she uses practical sets and actual photographic imagery. The fact that these basic elements of cinema are being trumpeted as unique artistry should show you how stupid these people think we are.

Only one of those so far. Yeesh.

And so one of the realms that I felt like it didn’t make sense to introduce in this story, because we were so focused on Earthrealm and Outworld, was Edenia, which is another big realm in the Mortal Kombat universe.

I laughed at loud at the “Hasahi Family Blade” being the wife’s garden spade....did they really need an origin story for the stupid harpoon?

The issue was never about some turds bashing women for showing their boobies, it was about whether the platform was appropriate for it or not.

I think they totally should have knocked off Enter the Dragon btw. Thing is, that film found room to introduce the characters and flesh out their personalities and motivations quite deftly, with the tournament as the nucleus of the plot.

Why the fuck do screenwriters keep taking games with basic, obviously-filmable premises (deadly martial arts tournament, demons on mars, zombies in a mansion) and then just doing their own fucking thing instead?

Haven’t watched the movie yet, but it appears that once again they are taking a dumb concept way too seriously.

Joe Taslim as Bi-Han / Sub-Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion are so good in the opening moments they had me fooled into thinking the movie might be much better than I hoped.

Why won’t people accept that the original MK was the peak of fighting game movies and a classic on the same level as Top Gun, The Godfather, and Weekend At Bernie’s?

Coogler is in a difficult position, but his statement still looks like special pleading to me. Perhaps he is right that this movie will help local vendors more than it harms the cause of voting rights, especially if highly paid members of the production funnel profits to activists.

Perhaps they should enable a revive when players are not at the highest available World-Tier. That would keep things challenging for players who actively want the combat to feel like a puzzle, and it would cut down frustration for folks who just aren’t in the mood to git gud.

It seems odd to discuss the accusations against Warren Ellis without mentioning So Many of Us, the site featuring testimony by many women he exploited. The article quotes his statement, but the testimony that has emerged since then makes his apology seem hollow, even by the standards of such apologies. Whether it’s an…

No idea what the amount was, but it was of course more than the nothing they owed him.