F For Fake

It could be that I'm just getting older, and grumpier, but it is increasingly seeming like 1. Most people don't/can't/won't read anything they don't want to, regardless of how obvious it is. 2. They do not expect to be held accountable for not doing the reading. I don't know what the answer is, so I'm just setting folks on fire at random.

I agree 100% on the Sandman stuff, I think it's really great, and if we could have had a film of just that, I think it would stand up well against the first two. The Venom stuff spoiled it for me, but then again, I've always hated Venom. I should probably give Spider-Man 3 another shot. I think a new 4k UHD set is coming out (or heck, it may already be out) so I'll pick that up and give Spidey 3 another look.

I remember when DVD first started hitting. I went to the local Suncoast to look at laserdiscs, and was talking to a kid that worked there. He was telling me that DVD was the future, and that laserdisc would be dead in a year, and VHS would be dead in five. I laughed. LAUGHED. I'm an insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

I don't have a problem with him, and he's actually probably the best thing about those movies. In fact, I'd say just about the only things I like about ASM/ASM2 are him, and I also really liked the Spidey suit in ASM2. I thought it was the closest we'd gotten to a proper Spider-Man costume in the movies so far. Otherwise...I did not like those movies. At all. But, I would never tell anyone else they shouldn't like them. Different strokes and all that.

Seems plausible to me. It would be really strange for them to create that Luke subplot and then resolve it off-screen on a show that isn't even The Mandalorian. Then again, maybe they've got so much planned for Mando S3 that they had to push some of the expository bits over to Boba Fett. I'm not sure. I love Mandalorian. Boba Fett was...fine. I'm afraid that Disney is learning the wrong lessons from the success of Mando, and is going to stretch it all way too thin, way too fast, similar to what they're doing with MCU.

I like parts of Spider-Man 3, like all of the Sandman stuff. It's great. But the Venom stuff is just too much for me. The Andrew Garfield movies, I just can't. Once was enough. Life is too short. ha

It never occurred to me that we might have so many laserdisc fans on the boards! I don't have nearly as many as I used to, but I've stubbornly hung onto a few, and I enjoy hanging out in the LD groups on Facebook to see the collections of other folks. Having been born in 77, I grew up in the VHS rental era, and of course have great fondness for it. But by the time I had a job and was buying my own stuff, I got a laserdisc player, as that was the best/only way to see most of these movies in their intended aspect ratios, with bonus features, etc. So my childhood nostalgia is for VHS, but my COLLECTOR nostalgia is for LD. As for sealed copies selling for high sums, ugh. To each their own. But as has been mentioned, I'm just now sure how you differentiate recently shrinkwrapped movies over the originals. I'm sure there are methods, but I sure wouldn't know what I'm looking for. For a time I was scooping up horror VHS tapes whenever I found them, but I ended up selling my collection when prices started perking up. Considering the sheer tonnage of cassettes out there in the world, I did not foresee the run up in value. Guess I should have kept some! As popular as VHS was, DVD is the most popular home video format of all time. Will sealed DVD's see a similar price bump one day? I dunno, but am I stockpiling on the cheap? A gentleman never tells...

I can't say that Dark Phoenix was good, but I'm not sure if it's as bad as its reception would indicate. It's just stunning how the franchise could peter out so quickly like that. Huge sums of money, plenty of star power, and it hit the box office like a wet fart. So odd.

Watched NWH again with the wife this weekend, her first time, my second. This time it was from the comfort of my own couch, with my own sound system, and I enjoyed the experience much more. I haven't been a fan of the MCU Spidey movies, but I like this one, and think it's definitely the closest they've gotten to a real Spider-Man so far. I'd put it solidly in fourth place behind Spider-man 2, Spider-Man, and Into the Spider-Verse. Actually, those would be the four Spider-movies I'd consider watching again. The rest, not so much.

The face was...not great. But the voice was what really bothered me, with that flat, created-in-a-lab vibe. At this point, if they insist on using Young Luke, they just need to recast it. This cobbled together CGI abomination, living in the uncanny valley of both the eyes and ears, is just no good. It'll be easier to buy a new actor in the part than it will be to keep trying to pretend this seems normal.

You know, I usually don't care much about superhero movies one way or another, but I DO care about SAM RAIMI HORROR MOVIES. And the trailers definitely have some of that old fashioned Sam camera flair. I can't wait. I'm sure we're getting Bruce, but the real question is: how are they going to work the Delta 88/"The Classic" into it???

I mean, I guess I can see how some damage and errors might go unnoticed by a layman working somewhere along the line. But this...this is clearly a screw up that should be immediately obvious to any number of people between the slabbing and packing up to ship out process. It's right on top! These errors continue to illustrate that CGC simply doesn't care. They're just collecting money and turning books over, and are more than willing to eat any marginal losses that they have to cover. They must assume that most folks aren't going to bother with the resubmission process, and on the rare occasion they have to pay out of pocket to fix or compensate for a damaged book (good luck proving they damaged it!), it's offset by the massive profits coming in. It's all gotten really, really sad. There was a time when I felt like it was worth slabbing some stuff in order to keep the books well protected. These days I have no doubt that they're ultimately safer in a mylar, full back and top-loader here in my house. Ugh.

Good timing. They've just reprinted the first two volumes, and 3 will be here in a moment. Plus Omni 1 is a very thin volume, so you can get 1 & 2 for around $100 total. Not bad. I actually prefer Ditko's Dr. Strange stuff to his Spidey stuff. Much trippier.

I'm in a similar boat with UXM, just need Omni V. 5 to finish out what I consider the essential run. I'd assume that the Omni 5 would cover the same material from MMW 12 & 13, since that's basically what the other Omnis have done so far. Two MMW's = 1 Omni. So, UXM-194-209, UXM K9, New Mutants Special, Nightcrawler 1-4, Bizarre Adventures, Longshot 1-6, Marvel Fanfare 33. Should shake out to be a lot of great Art Adams goodness! Some folks think X-Factor stuff may be included, but I tend to think they'll get their own omni at some point. It's X-men, it's Simonson, it would sell on its own.

Still one of the best covers, and issues, ever. Alan Davis in his prime is hard to beat.

I have fortunately had the opportunity to see Alien on the big screen a couple of times as an adult, but have actually never seen Aliens in a theater, which really is a shame. Also a shame is that these days, when Alien is playing in a theater, it’s usually the Director’s Cut, which I think is truly inferior to the theatrical version. And as an admitted Alien 3 fan, I’ll be the first to admit that it is…not great. Especially in comparison with the first two, which are arguably the greatest sci-fi horror and sci-fi action films of all time, respectively. (I can see the arguments for Carpenter’s The Thing and Cameron’s T2 in those spots, and I do love those as well, but my heart belongs to Alien.) Alien 3 is a mess. The effects do not blend at all (a hodgepodge of man-in-suit, rod puppets, and rudimentary CGI); it’s filled with a cast of interchangeable bald British characters; and of course, it needlessly, and unceremoniously, dispatches beloved characters from the previous film in the opening moments. It’s not scary like Alien, and it’s not exciting like Aliens. All arguments against Alien 3 are valid, for sure. BUT, I do admire how relentlessly grim it is. Everything is so BROWN. It’s grimy. It’s beautiful in its ugliness. And it’s just so ugly and hopeless, it’s amazing it that was released as a big summer popcorn flick. Can’t think of many blockbusters that feature child autopsy complete bloody bone saws. Yeeesh. Anyway tl/dr: totally understand why anyone would dislike Alien 3, would even agree with most of the reasons why. But I still love it, ugly, cynical, brown mess that it is.

Regarding the preferred cut of Alien 3, I will have to respectfully disagree with @The Meta For one, there really isn't a "Director's Cut" of Alien 3. There's a "Theatrical Cut", and an "Assembly Cut". The entire production of Alien 3 was an ordeal. Stuck in development hell for years, numerous scripts, etc. A real mess. By the time Fincher was hired on and the film was in production, the studio reportedly interfered to such a degree that Fincher has refused to revisit the film since. So, you have the theatrical cut, which was hampered by studio-dictated edits, and you have an "Assembly Cut", which was the studio's effort to piece together a "director's cut" for home video, without the involvement of the actual director. Each has its pros and cons. For the theatrical cut, the cons are that it's a bit of a mess. Plot lines are dropped without further explanation, characters disappear entirely; its choppy, and if you stop to think about it, doesn't make much linear sense. The pro? It's more or less a "finished film". As for the Assembly Cut, those characters and storylines are put back into place, and the story, as a whole, makes more sense. However, the con in this case is that since Fincher wouldn't return to work on the release, and the studio wasn't going to put more money into it just for the sake of DVD, there are several effects sequences that aren't completed, so the movie occasionally has an unfinished, cheap quality. Particularly glaring is Ripley's finale, which in this version splits the difference between being artfully done, and also looking like a bad 80's music video. So, there is no one right answer for me. I saw the theatrical version four times in the theater, because I'd been too young to see the first two on the big screen, so when I got my chance with Alien 3, I took full advantage. Also, I'd read the novelization a couple of times at that point, which filled in some of the story gaps (primarily the entire Golic storyline). So my nostalgia is for the theatrical version. But as an adult, when I watch Alien 3, I watch the Assembly Cut, because even with its flaws, it is a more coherent flim, and a better story over all.

The Alien gaming library continues to grow! Sealed copies of Alien 3 don't show up often, on any of the platforms. It was released on so many...NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Master System, Commodore...it was everywhere! I had the Genesis version myself as a teen. I always enjoyed this game, but I'm also one of six or seven people on the entire planet that love Alien 3. (Not nearly as much as the first two films, mind you, but I do love it.) Anyway, a sealed SNES copy finally popped up that I could afford. There have been a couple of graded copies show up, but I'm not paying $800-$1k for a copy, as I truly do not care about graded video games. I just want sealed copies. This one has some wear, but overall it's fine, and the price was right. I grabbed a snazzy acrylic case, and it displays nicely. The hunt continues!

Ugh, I hate that for you. So frustrating. And of course, Amazon couldn't care less. Hoping you eventually get a keeper copy! I ordered a few things from the B2G1 sale at Target last week. Target used to do a decent job with packing (decent...not great) but it has really slipped over the last year. This box had three books and ZERO padding of any kind. One of the was completely butchered. To their credit they're shipping me another copy, and I didn't have to return the original, so that's nice. But still, i feel your pain. I know that in the grand scheme these mega-retailers think it's not worth the effort/money to pack more efficiently, but I can't even imagine the hit they're taking in returns/damages. You'd think it would be enough to make it worthwhile to change their packaging procedures, but I guess it isn't.

Congrats! That's great. I have a stack of #5 2nds, but I don't think a single one of them is better than VF. 9.8 is tuuuuuuuuuff. It's a very impressive collection, like I said before, I admire a man on a mission!

Nice! Always loved that cover, but that is a SHARP looking copy!

Awesome, will do!

I will have to check it out! I used to be a dedicated Constantine fan, never missed an issue. Had the whole 300 issue DC/Vertigo run, then got Justice League Dark, and tried to hang with the "mainstream" DCU series for a while, but just wasn't into it anymore. I'll have to look into the one you're talking about, as I love the character, but am really out of touch with moderns.

Love it all, and love your user id. I'm a big British horror fan. Hammer/Amicus/Tigon, whatever, I'm into it, especially if Cushing and/or Lee are involved! I assume you've seen the Van Helsing and Drac premium format statues Sideshow is doing? Pricey, but they look sweet.

Cool! I've got this one, as well as the Poison Ivy. I miss the old WB stores, this stuff was a lot of fun. The art prints, aniimation cels, etc. I used to know a guy who worked at the WB Gallery, and he'd hook me up with discounts and promo stuff. I used to have a huge Batgirl banner that had hung in the store, long since destroyed by flooding. They had such cool stuff, though!