Monday Media Musings - 1/20/20

[owlmoose]

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Episodes 4-5: Okay, I admit it. I thought I knew where this was going to go. For the most part, I was wrong. I was right in assuming that the entire populations of Earth-1 and Earth-38 would not be vaporized, but I would not, in a million years, have predicted that the two universes would be collapsed (along with whichever universe belongs to Black Lightning) into Earth-Prime. I'm fascinated to see how it all plays out, in particular to see how the rest of the world has changed around them -- Lex Luthor being a good guy to all appearances, for one, although I hope this doesn't mean that Lena is robbed of the character development she's been going through. Also, Oliver is still dead "for real" (although I still don't expect that to last -- there are two more episodes of Arrow to go, after all), and that was pretty affecting. Finally, I don't care how silly or obvious it was: setting up that round table and then pulling back to show a facade that exactly matches the Hall of Justice from the old Super Friends cartoon had me clapping with fangirl glee. That show was my gateway to superhero fandom, believe it or not, and I remember it with great nostalgic fondness. The faces around that table may bear almost no resemblance to the ones I remember -- and, other than the lack of Wonder Woman, I like the new line-up better -- but it still warmed my heart to see it.

What Men Want: Although this didn't review particularly well, T and I were amused enough by the trailer, and big enough fans of Taraji P. Henson, that we decided to put it on our Netflix queue anyway. We went in with low expectations, and so we enjoyed ourselves. Some genuinely funny moments, along with a share of cringy ones, a romance I enjoyed, and an ending that felt a little too pat while still being very satisfying. Plus, I will never say no to more Aldus Hodge.

The Problem with Apu: I'd always meant to watch comedian Hari Kondabolu's documentary wresting with this problematic character, but it came back to mind recently when Hank Azaria announced that he will no longer be doing the voice of Apu. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I hadn't realized quite how personal it was to Kondabolu and his experience, how strongly it would be from his perspective, and how much it would focus on his attempts to meet with Azaria face to face. And I'll be very curious to see where The Simpsons goes from here, in terms of either retiring the character or hiring an Indian actor to voice him.