Category: Movies

Movie Review: Supergirl

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Comics, Movies

Some things in this world are destined to go together, like peas and carrots, Han and Chewbacca, salt and vinegar, Trump and corruption, but also my movie previews and reviews. Yes, just as the predictable nature of the Earth and Moon’s cosmic dance, as well as Newton’s third law of motion, my movie previews are followed by a review, and in this particular case, it’s Supergirl. If you missed last week’s preview, you can find it here.

I’ve been called many things in my life, but nobody has ever called me a creature of habit, even though that’s what I call myself. This is self-evident in the painfully predictable formula that I employ when covering the previews/reviews, which, fortunately, do not get picked up by mainstream media. Imagine how popular I would become? No, I’m quite happy living without doing interviews all the time.

Supergirl premiered on Thursday 25th June in New Zealand, and I saw it on Tuesday. As always with the movie rant from yours truly, the ticket was purchased in advance, so when I turned up at the cinema, I only brought a bottle of Pepsi Max, because I’m so extreme that I live life to the max!

Anyway, just like every single time I have purchased an advanced ticket, I was not asked to produce it, because why would the staff need to see something like that? Am I right? There were 12 people in the theatre, which I thought was a lot for a Tuesday night. They played the trailers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey, which look cool, though I will discuss my fears for The Odyssey very soon.

As always, let’s go over the rules of the review.

1.) Please be aware there will be spoilers concerning the movie, so proceed with extreme anxiety and caution.

2.) The aim of my reviews are not to rip apart the subject or trash it. If I liked the subject enough to watch it, then I’ll give my honest (possibly biased) opinion.

3.) I’m not a professional critic, so I’m not going to dive into deeper concepts and themes, or the art of filmmaking. I’m just a geek; always have been, and always will be.

So, with that all out of the way, join me for another ill-advised rant about a big budget movie!

Credit: Warner Bros. and my local cinema. I’m sorry the photo is crappy, but it was cold and raining.

Let’s discuss the first part, because where else should we begin? Did I like the movie? The answer would have to be yes. Is it the best superhero movie I have ever seen? No, it isn’t. Is it the worst superhero movie ever? No, of course it isn’t, but I understand some people will probably want to rage because they can.

Before I go on, I want to explain the conversation I had with my wife when I got home from the cinema. I was discussing the movie, and of course, I was comparing it to the source material, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. She asked if it would have been better for me not to have read the source material.

Normally, I would have said, of course not, but Supergirl has made me rethink it. It’s an interesting question: was it better or worse to have read the comic beforehand? Just something to think about.

Things I liked:

In no particular order, the best place to start is the fight scenes, which I thought were amazing. With Kara being a Kryptonian, her power levels are massive, so that would translate to her fighting ability and style. It was nice to point out that under a red star’s solar radiation, it cancels out a Kryptonian’s powers. I thought it was important to display that Kara can handle herself, with or without powers.

I thought the fights were well-choreographed, inventive and destructive. In saying that, Kara did get beaten up often, but that is not necessarily a negative thing. It showed that she could take a beating and not give up, which is shown by her fight with the alien over Ruthye’s sword. As I said, the fight scenes were great, especially having Kara being able to adapt to the environment.

And speaking of adapting, it was a clever idea to introduce planets by using a title card, as well as the colour status of its local star(s); that way, the audience has an insight into whether Kara will have her powers or not on that planet.

I thought Milly Alcock’s performance as Kara Zor-El was solid. She did a fantastic job showing the differences between Kara and her cousin, because their life experiences have shaped them, as they do for all of us. At the start of the movie, she is a bit of a mess, but, like any great character development arc, as in Batman in The Lego Batman Movie, Kara is a changed person by the end.

As I discussed in the preview, processing the trauma of losing your culture, people, parents, city, and planet would take some time, and maybe it’s something you may never 100% get over, but I think they did a fine job with that, especially with the flashbacks. It was also great that, apart from the flashbacks and the final scene, the story was set away from Earth, with Kara mixing it up with various other aliens and visiting odd planets.

I’d like to take the time to discuss something I noticed in Man of Steel that bugged me, with Superman and Supergirl correcting it. Yes, I know these characters and worlds are fictional, but in Man of Steel, we were presented with two versions of Kryptonese/Kryptonian.1 One was the written form, which, as you can imagine, looked very alien, as the symbols and characters were not from Earth.

However, the written language did not match up to the oral language, because all of the Kryptonian citizens we saw were walking around speaking English. I remember this because I saw the film on my birthday with my girlfriend at the time, who, side note, became my wife one year later. I remember feeling cheated of seeing Kryptonians speaking in their native fictional language, as we got Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon yelling at each other in English.

Flash forward 12 years, and we finally got to experience some Kryptonian in Superman, then expanded on in Supergirl, with actors having conversations in the fictional language. If you are committed to the concept that these characters are aliens, then give us an actual alien language. From that point of view, I was impressed and appreciated the effort in Supergirl.

Jason Momoa’s Lobo was in the film longer than I thought he would be. I honestly thought we had seen the last of him on Bilquis, so seeing more of him was a bonus.2 His “Super useless,” “Bastich,” and “Bye, Tits” lines were hilarious to me because that’s very on brand for him. Momoa did a great job as the Main Man, though if I’m not mistaken, he never referred to himself as the Main Man in the film. If he did, that would have been outrageous.

Krypto was chaotic as ever, and the scene where he and Kara were in the apartment was awesome. He was flying around, trying to eat the feathers that he had just liberated from destroying the pillow. The scenes where he was shot, poisoned and dying were tough, because it made me think of my mate, Indy.

Obviously, I have no information about how much CGI was used for the various aliens, because I’m sure practical effects were used as well, but the point was that they were different, creative, quirky, and scary. All of the elements that you need to bring fictional aliens to life.

By the way, I’m not going to launch into great details about the comparisons between the comic and the movie; however, I was impressed that they included the scene on Barenton, when Kara was under the influence of one of the planet’s binary stars, where one was green and possibly made of kryptonite. It was important, at least to me, to show how physically, emotionally, and mentally strong Kara had become.3

Things I disliked:

Alright, this is the part where I’m leaning into the source material, maybe too much. I thought Eve Ridley’s portrayal of Ruthye Marye Knoll was a little odd. In the comic, only Ruthye’s father is murdered by Krem of the Yellow Hills, not her entire family, but that’s fine.

The point was that Ridley seemed wooden for Act 1 and Act 2. Now this could be put down to two reasons: the first could have been that Ridley was instructed to mimic Ruthye’s character from the comic, or possibly, the creative team and/or Ridley decided to go with that tone. She did grow into her role as the film went on, which was good, but Ruthye was difficult to like for the bulk of the film, as she did some strange things.

The main villain, Krem, is interesting because he has gotten a lot of hate for being a forgettable villain, or at least, providing Kara with a low-stakes problem. I honestly understand critics’ disdain for him, I do, and I agree, to a certain degree.

I do find myself defending Krem in a way. He was never going to be a Darkseid, Mongul, Anti-Monitor, Starro, or Brainiac. He was never trying to enslave a planet or the universe, or trying to rewrite history, distort reality, attain ultimate knowledge, solve the Anti-Life Equation, or control all sentient life forms. No, he wants money and to be able to kill whomever he wants.

Yes, that is evil, but it’s nowhere near the likes or power levels of the villains I just mentioned. He was never meant to be a high-stakes villain, but similar to the Hutts in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, where the villains are not trying to take over the universe. No, they are just trying to make as much money as possible, and if they have to kill to achieve it, all the better, just like Krem.

To me, Krem is a personal and intimate villain, creating problems surrounding Kara, but not with her, until he shoots Krypto with a poison arrow, then he becomes Kara’s business. He was never going to truly threaten Kara, but that was not the point; he was there to test Kara, emotionally and mentally. I’ve now reached the region of the rant where I need to confess something. Like I have mentioned many times, I sourced Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, because I wanted to know the story, thus I discovered Krem’s true fate.

At the climax of the story, Krem is defeated and at the mercy of Kara and Ruthye’s sword, but Ruthye basically repeats all of the lessons she’s learnt from Kara, back to Kara. So, at the end, after all of the shitty things Krem has done throughout the series, they don’t kill him. Kara wanted to protect Ruthye’s innocence from killing Krem by doing it herself, but Ruthye talked her down. They gave him mercy.

Decades later, Ruthyre is a very old woman, and both Kara and Krypto turn up, virtually unchanged. It’s then revealed that Kara and Ruthye did deliver justice by sending Krem to the Phantom Zone to serve out his sentence, and Kara is there to release him. Upon his release, Krem is full of regret and remorse, which his younger self lacked. He apologises to them both for his crimes.

Since Ruthye is elderly, she uses a cane to walk and hits Krem on the head, which is depicted as a silhouette. He collapses on the ground, with Ruthye walking away. Kara remains for a while before eventually moving on, with the only passage of time being the local star rising in the background. So, after reading this, I was a little unsure about whether Krem was dead, because of the position of his arms. I assumed that he was alive, as why would Kara and Ruthye punish him in the Phantom Zone, just to execute him upon release?

I mean, it’s a pretty boss thing to do, but I needed to be sure. I looked it up, and the answer was that Krem survived; he was just unconscious. I was correct, but I thought it was a strange choice to leave that up to the reader’s discretion, but hey, I’m not Tom King, nor a comic book writer. I’m just a sucker who buys them.

King came out later to clear things up and said Krem survived the ordeal, and the ending wasn’t supposed to be so confusing. Now here is where things get super weird, super fast. In the climax of the film, the roles are reversed, with Ruthye holding the sword, Krem is at her mercy, and Kara is the one talking her down.

Kara is essentially saying to Ruthye that killing Krem won’t give her justice; it will change her into something she’s not. Kara also points out that Ruthye could take revenge by surviving and living a good life. Ruthye agrees to drop the sword, walks away and not to kill Krem. As Ruthye disappears off-screen, Kara then picks up the sword and stabs Krem in the stomach for vengeance over Krypto, then stabs him in the neck for Ruthye.

Since the film’s release, Ana Nogueira, the screenwriter, received some backlash over Krem’s death, and in an interview, she stated that basically, the screenplay followed the comic, because Krem died at the end, at the hands of Ruthye. There is also a twist in this, because in the comic, Ruthye is narrating the story, as in a memoir.

She states that Kara killed him with a sword, and that was the end of Krem, but the reader knows that’s not true, before we saw him alive. This is a long-winded way of saying that I believe Nogueira thought that Ruthye had executed Krem, and then swapped his executor for Kara in the movie, to protect Ruthye.

Adapting a beloved story will always be a challenge. What things do you keep, what things do you drop, and what things do you change? Was Nogueira allowed to change elements of Superman: Woman of Tomorrow to fit a movie? Of course, it’s a yes. But, and there’s the big question, is it possible that Nogueira misinterpreted the comic’s ending and mistakenly added the wrong outcome?

And if, and it’s a rather large if, if that’s the case, why was this change in plot not picked up? Why was it ignored by the filmmakers? Someone, somewhere, in the creative process, must have noticed that the two endings were vastly different, and why wasn’t something done to correct it?

Writers are allowed to make mistakes, but why didn’t the director, producer, or anybody else stop to correct this mistake? The whole point of the comic was a personal journey about Kara finding her place in the universe and dealing with the trauma of her life, but also trying to protect Ruthye from killing Krem. By doing this, Ruthye gave compassion and mercy to both Kara and Krem.

However, in the film, Kara talks Ruthye out of killing Krem and gives me mercy, then she just executes him herself anyway. Everything she just said was a lie. The trip home would be very awkward. How would the audience react in Spider-Man: No Way Home if Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker stopped Tom Holland’s Peter Parker from killing Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn, then turned around to just kill Osborn himself?

Sadly, I feel the filmmakers may have dropped the ball on that scene.

So, what about my preview questions?

  • How faithful will the film be to the source material, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow? Overall, it’s quite faithful, which is rare in comic book movies.
  • Will Lobo’s appearance feel forced? It’s still hard to say. They could have left Lobo out, and the story would still have made sense, but it was fun to see him.
  • How old is Kara? That one is easy, she’s 23 years old.
  • Will Kara’s life on Krypton/Argo City be shown chronologically or as a flashback? It was done through a series of flashbacks, when Kara was explaining something or when a memory was triggered.
  • How much screen time will Lobo receive, and will he steal some of the spotlight from Kara? I suppose Momoa did steal some of the spotlight from Alcock, but I feel that was to be expected.
  • Will everybody’s interaction with Krypto seem real, or will it look uneven? I felt the actors’ interactions with the CGI Krypto were better in Supergirl than in Superman.
  • Apart from Superman, will there be any other cameos? I don’t think there were any cameos. I could have missed some, though I did notice Seth Rogen’s voice as an alien spacebus driver.
  • Will Krypto get a bad-arse scene? No, he didn’t, as he was poisoned for the majority of the film.
  • Is Supergirl known throughout the galaxy? Not that I’m aware of, but Krem did know of kryptonite and its effects on Kryptonians.
  • What is Supergirl’s status on Earth? Is she well-known? That’s a difficult question, hence the bulk of the story happens off-Earth. However, it seems that she is known on Earth, but nothing to the levels of my famous cousin.
  • Will Krem of the Yellow Hills be a believable antagonist? I discussed my answer to this amazing question in the above rant.
  • Kara seems to suffer from apathy, but will this continue by the end of the movie? No, by the time she is back on Earth, she wants to commit to Earth. Her friendship and adventure with Ruthye have empowered her with new hope.
  • Will audiences see Kara as a hero, standing on her own, or will she still be in her cousin’s shadow? I’ve realised that I don’t know how to quantify that. She has been around longer than Spider-Man, but deserves more attention than she gets.
  • Will there be a Brainiac reference somewhere? If there was, I missed it.

This brings me to discuss something I haven’t done before: box office returns. I’ve been planning on writing a series of blogs about what makes a film successful, because Supergirl has had some low numbers in terms of box office returns. At the time of writing, the movie has earned $89.1 million, against its $170 million budget.

I’m sure there are many people with a lot more qualifications than myself who have analysed the film’s earnings, but I have three working theories.

1.) Creative differences

The knives have been brought out, with various people throwing others under the bus, because of the film’s slow performance at the box office. From what I understand, the media has said there were two cuts of the movie, the director’s cut and the studio’s cut, and to the best of my understanding, the film released was the studio’s. There have also been reports of creative differences between the director, Craig Gillespie, and James Gunn, the co-CEO of DC Studios, along with other people.

2.) Release Time

I understand that film studios plan years in advance to determine the optimal release dates for their movies. They seek to find the best window for their product, which is essentially what a film is—a product that the studio is selling to us.

I also realise that the summer months for blockbuster releases in the Northern Hemisphere are June through August. However, it’s important to note that in New Zealand, June to August is actually winter.

Supergirl was released in New Zealand on 25th June, but it’s got stiff competition to earn our precious and hard-earned money. In New Zealand, Supergirl is fighting against Masters of the Universe, Disclosure Day, The Death of Robin Hood, Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters, and Jackass: Best and Last, with Moana, The Odyssey, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, just around the corner.

Releasing at this time, wasn’t the best idea in the world.

3.) Female Superhero movies

This theory has two parts to it. Since the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2008, the now-dead DC Extended Universe (DCEU), and the new DC Universe (DCU), 57 films have been released between all of them.4 Of these 57 films, only 4 MCU films (Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and The Marvels), 3 DCEU films (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, and Wonder Woman 1984) and 1 DCU film (Supergirl) have female lead characters.

That works out to be only 14%, compared to 54% with a male lead character. Only Captain Marvel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Wonder Woman have earned over $800 million at the box office.

What does this tell us? Well, male-led superhero movies tend to do better at the box office than female-led superhero movies, hence the massive discrepancy. But why? I think it’s the perception. I think studios need to be targeting male and female movie fans differently.

For males, studios need to be promoting female-led superhero movies, as these beloved classic characters need to be seen as the arse-kickers as they actually are, just like all of the male superheroes, and to actually prove it in the movie. For females, these female-led movies are a great opportunity for promoting these strong, intelligent, and powerful women as role models, not to be sidelined as sidekicks or love interests.

Hollywood is getting better at this, displaying more diverse voices, but women like superhero movies as well, so the studios just need them to turn up and care about these characters, as I do.

Another argument has been made against superhero movies as a whole genre, with the concept of superhero fatigue settling in. This is supported by the recent low box office numbers from Marvel and DC. The problem here is that with Spider-Man: Brand New Day being released only weeks away, and Avengers: Doomsday being released in December, both of these films will earn over $1 billion each. There will be no superhero fatigue with these two films, I promise you.

Fans want amazing special effects, along with tons of action and excitement, with a drop of humour; however, what drives these movies forward are the characters, which are driven by stories that mean something to people. We want to connect them because we want to see ourselves up there, whether they are male, female, dogs, aliens, or everything in between.

For the record, I enjoyed Supergirl. It does have its issues, but it does not deserve the hate and contempt that are overflowing from all regions of the internet. I think these haters are forgetting that if more superhero movies fail at the box office, more studios will be less inclined to invest money in them. So, in the end, more failed movies mean fewer movies being released, which means the audience and fans are the real losers.

If these people are truly fans, they need to stop cheering for a movie’s failure and start getting behind and supporting it.

But anyway, what do I know? Go out and see the movie for yourself, so you can be the judge.

I’m nearly done, but I need to mention a few things.

Firstly, this is my 300th blog post. I talk about some truly weird stuff on this blog, and it may never become popular, but I keep doing this because I feel I would go crazy if I didn’t have a creative outlet. Thank you to my long-suffering wife, but also UMC1 and UMC2, for allowing me the time to sit down and waffle on about history, books, movies, flags, geography, sport, politics, and fictional characters.

And thank you to my old and new subscribers, readers, and followers of New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website. Thank you for being an audience. Seriously, thank you.

This outpouring of emotion can also mean that my mid-year break is finally upon us. I will be taking a 2-3 week break from this website, because I’ve mentioned this before, but running a blog as badly as I do takes a lot of energy. There will be a shorter and smaller post for next week.

And that’s it. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch the World Cup quarter-finals and I’ll see you next week.

1 I’ve seen the term for the main language for Krypton be described as Kryptonese and Kryptonian, so I’m not sure not which one is more accurate then the other. In this regard, its the reader’s choice for which one to use.

2 If you have eaten your Vegemite, you would have recognised that the planet Bilquis, was named after the artist for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Bilquis Evely.

3 In DC lore, the green star was actually an artificial kryptonite star, created to neutralise and kill Superman, much like Solaris, the evil artificial-super computer powered red star was; except Solaris was sentient, whereas this green kryptonite star was not.

4 37 from the MCU, 16 from the DCEU, and 2 from the DCU. With the two different versions of the Justice League, I have counted as two different films.

Movie Preview: Supergirl

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Movies

My winter break is just around the corner, as well as my 300th blog post, which is a sad, yet funny reminder that I exist. However, before these two events can be achieved, we have a new Movie Preview/Review to sort out. Yes, I am once again entering the positive and uplifting world of movie reviewing on social media, because I’m too old and stupid to do anything else.

I realise the world is busy right now, with algae blooms, Boston recovering from the Scottish invasion, people researching where Curaçao and Cabo Verde are located, along with Andy Burnham, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappé taking over the planet. However, amidst all that craziness, I feel that in terms of preventing a total worldwide disaster, my Movie Preview/Review is here to save the day, just like Kara Zor-El.1

That seamless transition would make Ta-Nehisi Coates break down in awe, because the first half of the Preview/Review is the Preview, namely Supergirl. When I say Supergirl, I’m not discussing 1984’s movie, Supergirl, or Supergirl, the television series from CBS. No, what I’m discussing is the second cinematic entry in the DC Universe (DCU) Chapter One: Gods and Monsters Phase 1.

The first entry was last winter (Summer for my Northern Hemisphere friends), with Superman, for which I created a preview and review. Sadly, I’m still waiting for my Pulitzer Prize and an All Blacks call-up. Dreams are free, my friends, dreams are free.

As any keen and avid follower of New Zealand’s 5th least popular website will tell you, I always purchase an advanced movie ticket because that’s what hardcore fans do. Boo ya! I have my ticket for Tuesday 30th at 7.15 pm, and I have stopped name-dropping my blog when I purchase a ticket, because no one cares or has heard of this poorly received blog. Anyway, as you can imagine, my ticket is where it always is: centre of the back row.

Supergirl has been flying around in our minds and hearts since her debut in Action Comics #252 in 1959, and arguably, she has been an underrated and underused character in the world of DC. However, since Kara is a fictional character, and like so many others, her origin and backstory have been tweaked and retconned. This, of course, brings us to the US$170 million film that lies before us, written by Ana Nogueira and directed by Craig Gillespie.

To the best of my understanding, the cast includes Kara Zor-El / Supergirl (Milly Alcock), Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), Zor-El (David Krumholtz), Alura In-Ze (Emily Beecham), and Lobo (Jason Momoa), as well as David Corenswet returning as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman. Krypto will also be appearing via CGI, and as longtime fans will remember, I have a connection with Krypto.

Before I start my rant, though I feel I may have already started, I find it interesting that the number of people who proudly promote and cheer for a project, whether it’s a television series, novel, video game, comic book, or movie, to fail has been increasing. Someone a lot smarter than me would be able to dissect this trend, as haters have been crawling out of the woodwork for Supergirl long before the movie was released.

Then again, what do I know? I’m just a sucker with no self-esteem. And with those glorious lyrics, let’s push on and see what the Maid of Steel may have in store for us!

Am I looking forward to watching Supergirl?

I think I’m going to have to change this question, because it’s always the same answer; of course, I am. Watching comic book movies at the cinema, especially the developing DCU unfold, is exciting for me, just as it is when viewing the newest Marvel entry. I am a geek after all, but there’s more to it.

I’ve always liked Supergirl, and her reintroduction in 2004 was awesome, especially having Michael Turner on the art.

To the best of my limited knowledge, I believe that Supergirl is based on the mini-series, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1-8, which was written by Tom King and illustrated by Bilquis Evely. I remember when the mini-series came out, I was very tempted to buy it, because of Evely’s work on The Dreaming, but ultimately I didn’t. Mainly because, even though I would love to read a lot more comic books, I simply can’t afford them.

When I discovered that the film was going to be based on the limited series, I did whatever self-respecting geek would do: curse that I didn’t buy it the first time, and then tried to read it. Buying the single issues proved to be far too expensive, so I settled on the DC Compact Comics version. I liked the new format, which surprised me.

People are going to complain that the movie plot is similar to True Grit, and that’s true to an extent, but that’s the crux of the story; Ruthye enlists Kara’s help to track down Krem of the Yellow Hills, who murdered her father. It’s an old trope, but it still works.

I’m glad that I read it, because, once again, I was surprised. I honestly enjoyed it, because as I was reading it, I started to understand why it’s an acclaimed title. Anyway, the point is that I’ve read it, so I know the characters and why Kara is portrayed as she is. Also, Alcock’s Supergirl looks like a blast, so that’s positive.

I’m really excited about the DC Universe! In Superman, which featured a cameo from Kara at the end. This explained why Krypto was at the Fortress of Solitude, as Krypto actually belongs to Kara, and not Clark, in this universe. Unlike some others, I’m perfectly fine with this change.

What is the movie about?

According to DC.com, the premise is this:

When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion on an epic, interstellar journey of vengeance and justice.

What can we expect?

The running time is 108 minutes, which is sort of short, so your bladder should survive the ordeal, compared to Superman’s 130 minutes.

As previously mentioned, the movie is based on the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow mini-series, so regardless of how faithful it is to the source material, we can safely assume the majority of the plot will be off Earth. I discussed this in my last preview with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, about the joy of travelling to new planets with crazy environments and even crazier aliens. Visually, I have high expectations.

I believe the film will also follow the path that King and Evely laid out, with Kara dealing with survivor’s guilt, and the trauma that goes with watching your entire world die before your eyes, twice. This is the major difference between Kara and her cousin: according to the DCU, Clark landed on Earth as a baby. He has no real memories of Krypton, as he was raised as an infant on Earth.

Kara is different since she survived the initial crisis and lived in Argo City, a section of Krypton that survived. I’m not sure of the official DC decree on how old Kara was when she left Argo City, but she was a teenager. This obviously meant she grew up with her parents and had many years with them.

Yes, once again, Kara is a fictional character, but the level of pain, regret, sadness, and trauma would be real for many real people who have had their worlds ripped apart by war, disease, violence, or a natural disaster, and can relate to her plight. It’s an interesting aspect to create for a character, especially for someone who wears a large S on their chest.

It’s interesting to note that this idea has been transferred to Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval’s Absolute Superman, where Kal-El grew up on Krypton with his parents, before escaping the planet’s destruction when he was 11-12 years old. This trauma has been a subplot throughout the series.

And now we’re going back to Kara. I’m sure there will be darker themes of the emotional and mental impacts of the trauma, but that’s the point. Kara will need to overcome something to win or save the day.

These breadcrumbs have led us to Krypto, where, in the trailers, we see Kara meeting Krypto as a puppy on Krypton or Argo City. Whether he was a stray or not, I can’t answer that. It does look like Krypto will be some sort of emotional anchor for Kara, linking her to her Kryptonian heritage. In addition to this, I saw in a trailer, Clark meeting Kara, obviously when she first arrived on Earth. It will be nice to see their interactions, especially because of the language and cultural barriers.

Hopefully, it might be fun to see a Kryptonian cutting loose (under a yellow or blue star, of course) and causing havoc out in the universe, on a micro-level. There is also the issue of the film allowing Kara to step out from her cousin’s large shadow, similar to Nightwing, and being able to be recognised as a hero on her own.

I’m curious to see the friendship develop between Kara and Ruthye, or will the writer, Ana Nogueira go off-road? The same can be said for Krem of the Yellow Hills, though I don’t know if the audience will accept him or not. And speaking of acceptance, we need to talk about the Main Man.

Having Jason Momoa return to DC, but also portray everybody’s favourite violence-loving, cigar-smoking, Czarnian bounty hunter, Lobo, is fantastic. I’ve always put Lobo and Guy Gardner in the same group because they excel at upsetting people, but underneath the layers of whatever they like to display, they still have a moral code of sorts.

I’m looking forward to seeing Lobo’s infamous regenerative and fighting abilities, as well as his bombastic statements, his chain, the Spacehog, and, if we are lucky, some space dolphins.

Do I have concerns?

I tend to stick with the non-award-winning formula for these previews, so it would be remiss of me to say that I have had no concerns about the film, because I always do. No true geek wouldn’t.

  • How faithful will the film be to the source material, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow?
  • Will Lobo’s appearance feel forced?
  • How old is Kara?
  • Will Kara’s life on Krypton/Argo City be shown chronologically or as a flashback?
  • How much screen time will Lobo receive, and will he steal some of the spotlight from Kara?
  • Will everybody’s interaction with Krypto seem real, or will it look uneven?
  • Apart from Superman, will there be any other cameos?
  • Will Krypto get a bad-arse scene?
  • Is Supergirl known throughout the galaxy?
  • What is Supergirl’s status on Earth? Is she well-known?
  • Will Krem of the Yellow Hills be a believable antagonist?
  • Kara seems to suffer from apathy, but will this continue by the end of the movie?
  • Will audiences see Kara as a hero, standing on her own, or will she still be in her cousin’s shadow?
  • Will there be a Brainiac reference somewhere?

As usual, there’s probably going to be more things rattling about in my mind after the movie, but I’m done for now. I’m going to wear my Superman t-shirt to the cinema, but since it was -2°C last week, I’ll be wearing a jersey as well.

I want the film to work, but that’s out of my hands, just like New Zealand leaving the World Cup, or Cabo Verde beating Argentina in a knock-out match.

Just a heads up to everybody that next week’s Supergirl review will be my last major blog post before I go on my Mid-winter break. So, yay for that.

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, keep watching the World Cup, and I’ll see you next week for the Supergirl Review. Later gators!

1 When I young, I thought I would able to grow up and marry either Wonder Woman, or Supergirl. Like they were real and I would have a chance with them. HAHAHA!

Movie Review: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu 

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Movies

The challenge I laid down for myself last week was indeed achieved by me. What a result! Go me! And what challenge, dear reader, am I talking about? Yes, I braved the early wintery conditions and went to the cinema to see the latest Disney Star Wars entry, The Mandalorian and Grogu.

As always with this constant, ridiculous pop culture project, this blog post contains the second half. The movie preview can be found here.

If this is your first time reading one of my reviews, welcome, and I’m sorry. It’s great that you’re here, but if you’re hoping to get a detailed description of the film, then you will be very disappointed. My woeful reviews are mainly based on the preview, and this disaster is no exception to the broken formula. With that in mind, let’s be smart and start at the beginning.

Just like the immortal tales and legends of old, my cinematic ritual will never change. Following Batman and the Scouts’ motto of be prepared, I had already purchased my ticket, using the tears of my enemies. Wait…that’s a different story. No, I walked into our only cinema, to an empty foyer. I purchased my go-to drink, Pepsi Max, because I live life to the max. Um…no, I don’t.

Anyway, just like every single time I have purchased an advanced ticket, I simply walked into the theatre, with NOBODY checking to see if I had a ticket. It’s great to know they are consistent. By the time the film had started, there were seven people in the theatre, but for a Tuesday night, it was to be expected. Of course, I got to watch the movie from the centre seat of the back row, like a boss.

The trailers were nothing memorable, as in I can’t remember any of them, and then, surprise, surprise, the film started. As always, let’s go over the rules of the review.

1.) Please be aware that there will be spoilers concerning the movie, so proceed with extreme caution.

2.) The aim of my reviews is not to rip apart the subject or trash it. If I liked the subject enough to watch it, then I’ll give my honest (possibly biased) opinion.

3.) I’m not a professional critic, so I’m not going to dive into deeper concepts and themes or the art of filmmaking. I’m just a geek; always have been, and always will be.

I’m not going to fart around any more, as your Granny will show me up. So let’s get on with the review!

Credit: Disney and my local cinema

I guess the first question is the most basic one: Did I like it? Yes, I did. Is it the best Star Wars film I have ever seen? No, it isn’t. I think it does the job it set out to achieve; anything more than that, I’m clearly not clever enough to answer. However, it was certainly nice to watch a Star Wars movie in a cinema, even one based on a television show.

Things I liked:

These thoughts are in no particular order or importance, just the way my feeble brain works in recalling information.

I’m not sure what planet the story opens on, but whatever it was, it was a Hoth-type planet, covered in ice and snow. I already knew Din Djarin was a bad-arse from the clips I have seen, but I feel the filmmakers wanted to establish early on to new viewers that Djarin and Grogu are devastating as a team, but they still can show mercy, like in the board room, where he spared the representatives of various outposts/colonies. Also, Djarin taking down three Imperial Walkers reinforced this concept.

Let’s talk about the Hutts. When information about the movie was revealed, I read that Rotta the Hutt would be involved. This, of course, sparked my Spidey-Sense: Rotta the Hutt. I knew that name, but I couldn’t remember where I heard it.

After what seemed like an eternity, though it was only a few minutes, I searched for his name, only to discover it was Stinky! He made his appearance in 2008’s movie, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I remember watching that movie at the cinema, not fully understanding it was a long pilot episode or opening chapter for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television show.

Anyway, I’ll move on. It was interesting to see Rotta for a few reasons. Firstly, it is a trope to have a grown-up child being painted with the same brush as their parent, because of the parent’s sins. Having said that, it’s not a trope I get tired of, and growing up to be the scion of a crime syndicate would be awkward and demanding.

I liked his friendship with Grogu, and it was referred to that as a Hutt, Rotta could live for hundreds of years, so he would be the perfect candidate for an adopted father or godfather figure to Grogu, when Din Djarin finally dies, as he is only a human, to the best of my understanding.

Since I have not seen every single Disney Star Wars live-action or animated television episode, I can’t say this for certain, but travelling to Nal Hutta, the self-appointed home world of the Hutts, was something I’ve been waiting to see. The criminal underworld of Star Wars is rife with stories, as there is always a Hutt or two involved in the illegal dealings. I have learned that the Twins, the two Hutts involved in the movie, possibly siblings, have already appeared in previous television shows.

In various media, we have seen Hutts acting as agents of order and chaos. This, of course, leads to Rotta’s physique and fighting style in the arena. His rolling technique was quite impressive, and a smart move for the creative team to use; pun very much intended. As for witnessing a Hutt fight, that was not on my 2026 bingo board, as well as the Hutt ménage à trois, or at least that’s what it looked like. It was dark, and I was wearing 3-D glasses. Still, the Hutts fighting each other was great, and I loved it.

Rotta’s reaction to Djarin’s collaboration with the Hutts was important because it stemmed from Djarin’s response to Ward’s (Sigourney Weaver) suggestion of working with them. Djarin’s hesitance to engage in a partnership with the Hutts forced him to explain his position to Rotta, as neither character approved of the arrangement.

It does pose the interesting question of “Do the ends justify the means?” from a new perspective in the environment. Granted, the New Republic can be compared to the Allies after World War II, and Djarin is a Nazi Hunter, contracted to find war criminals. However, it would be like the Allies using the Mafia to track and hunt Nazis, and then paying them for it. I like the idea of putting characters into morally grey areas, where they need to untangle themselves from a situation that they are not comfortable with.

Continuing with Djarin, and after my rant about his helmet in the preview, I’m glad that Pedro Pascal only lost his helmet for a short amount of time, and not for the remaining part of the movie. It did not transition from a Star Wars movie to a Pascal action movie, which I was relieved about.

As a rule of thumb for aliens and me, the weirder the better, which is one of the reasons I enjoy Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who so much. The creatures in the arena were pretty wild and imaginative, which I enjoyed. And speaking of enjoying things, I thought the Twins’ mismatched droid army was genius. Of course, Hutts would not pay for top-quality droids; they would use whatever droids were cheap and lethal enough. They still have to worry about the bottom dollar, or whatever currency the Hutts prefer.

Today’s blockbusters seem to have a minimum $100 million budget now; whether that is a positive or negative thing, so I’ll let you be the judge of that. Anyway, the film looks great, even with the use of puppets, like the Anzellans. They look awesome, and I have loved the concept of the species, even since Episode IX.

I thought Grogu’s rescue mission was corny, but it was on brand. I mean, Djarin is effectively his dad, so why wouldn’t he try to save him, along with the Anzellans? Their spaceship was hilarious, which, after you think about it, does make sense.

One more thing I want to add is something about Zeb. I realise he was in one of the live-action Star Wars television shows, but I don’t know which one. He didn’t look exactly how he did in Rebels, but bringing an animated character to life isn’t the easiest job in the world to do. The point being, it was good to see him, because Rebels remains a hit in our house. Occasionally, I closed my eyes for a few seconds when Zeb spoke, just so I could focus on Steve Blum’s voice for nostalgic reasons. “Karabast!”

Things I disliked:

Fans of the TV show could answer this, but why does everybody in the New Republic and other places refer to Djarin as Mando or Mandalorian, instead of Din Djarin? Is his name not publicly known? Do soldiers of the New Republic refer to every Mandalorian as Mando? If they met two Mandalorians, would they be referred to as Mando 1 and Mando 2, regardless of gender?

I find this weird because in 2026, would you be ok if people referred to you as the name of your religion, or your race? And then even shorten that name? Like I said, weird. It would be like if people outside of New Zealand called me “Kiwi” or just “Ki,” but never bothered to learn or use my real name.

Continuity errors and issues were something that I wasn’t expecting in a film with a budget of $165 million. I have three, but I could be wrong about these.

The first was when Djarin was thrown into the pit at the Twins’ palace, which was filled with water, aquatic creatures, and a dragonsnake. His helmet was removed, and he was weaponless. The underwater scenes were murky and not 100% clear, so it was difficult to see what was happening.

The point was that Djarin had no weapon in the pit, then, like magic, he had a long war-axe. As I just mentioned, it is possible that Djarin fell into the water and found the weapon, and because of the dirty water, it was difficult for the viewer to see. It’s possible this happened, and because of the low quantity of the water and the speed of the scene, I may have missed Djarin picking the war-axe up. However, if it isn’t the case, then the film crew have stuffed up.

The second issue was on Nevarro, when Embo captured Djarin. It looked like he was stripped of his weapons, so Embo could transport him to Nal Hutta on orders from the Twins. Fast forward a little bit, and Djarin is rescued and saved by Grogu and the Anzellans, though it does take some time.

When Djarin had recovered, he was seen walking into the gunrunner’s ship with his blasters. I was hit with the realisation about where he got the blasters from. To the best of my understanding, Embo took Djarin’s weapons with him on his ship, since we saw them there. So, if that was the case, how did Djarin get the blasters? I suppose it is possible that Grogu and the Anzellans raided Embo’s ship, but how realistic is that?

The third continuity error was about the gunrunner’s ship. Granted, as the viewer, you don’t know how much time has passed since Djrain sent Rotta with the gunrunner on Nevarro, to the time it took to get to Nal Hutta. However, when Djarin and Grogu discover the ship, it looks like it has been there for years, if not decades. The ship was trashed inside and out, but it had only been there for a few days at the most.

Another argument is the lack of action in the movie, or at least, people saying that it’s boring. I do understand this because I believe it’s true. Not boring, but having a lack of high stakes. However, to somewhat defend the project, it was never going to be that sort of film where Djairn and Grogu are trying to save a planet, the Republic, democracy, or the galaxy, from the Empire, Sith or whatever else is threatening to destroy everything.

It was not a macro-story, but rather a micro-story; essentially a story about a guy taking his adopted son to work. The film is lacking in intensity, and the stakes were lower than any other Star Wars film apart from Solo, but I think that’s on purpose. So yes, I disliked the low-stakes concept, but it works for what it was, so I’m ok with that.

I thought Sigourney Weaver would have more of a role in the movie. She was in two scenes at the New Republic’s base, one with the aerial assault and another one back at the base. That was it. This is Ripley herself, one of the original female action and science-fiction heroes, and I feel that her character of Ward was wasted.

I was also hoping to see other Mandalorians in the film, but that was a long shot, and it never happened. This came from the show, and it was on display in the gaping holes in my knowledge of characters and planets. I knew going into the movie that it wasn’t going to play out like an original movie or part of a Star Wars trilogy, since it was based on TV characters. I feel the filmmakers did the best they could to include new fans, as well as catering to the existing fans, but I still couldn’t help myself thinking of all that I was missing.

This involved the names of planets, weapons, and characters, especially characters. Part of the film involved me trying to figure out if characters were from the show or original characters for the film. Was Ward an existing character, for example? Again, I knew it would be like this, but I still felt lost at times.

Having not seen the television show, the film felt like a film and not like extra-long episodes, but there was still the feeling that I was missing things.

So, what about my preview questions?

  • Will there be an opening crawl, since this is a Star Wars movie? (I know Rogue One and Solo did not have one) Yes, there was an opening introduction, but it wasn’t a crawl.
  • How much time has passed since the end of the third season? Don’t quote me on this, but I think 1-2 years.
  • How accessible will the movie be to people who have not seen the television show? It was accessible and easy to follow, but as I mentioned earlier, you do feel like you’re missing out on things.
  • Are there any remnants of the Empire? That is a hard yes.
  • Will Grogu’s performance be a mixture of puppetry, animatronics, CGI, or everything? It looked a cross between puppetry and animatronics, but I’m not an expert.
  • Wasn’t the Razor Crest previously destroyed? Yes, in Season Two. The Razor Crest in the film is another ship that was found, refitted, and given to Din Djarin as an advanced form of payment.
  • Will Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, or any other major character feature? Apart from Zeb, who was advertised in the film, there was a blink-and-miss-it cameo from R2-D2, the bounty hunter Embo and his anooba, and the Anzellans. There were probably others, but having not seen the live-action television shows, I wouldn’t recognise them.
  • Is the plot going to drive the story forward, or will it be flat? I’m not sure. Djairn has a new spaceship, which is a replica of his previous one, so I guess there is that.
  • Will we get to visit any new planets (to me at least) or discover new alien species? Yes, we got to visit Nal Hutta, a new planet that looked like Scarif, Nevarro (new to me), and Shakari. The fighting arena aliens were awesome, along with the Anzellans, the fishing-hut guy, and the Hutts.
  • Will any bad-arse weapons be involved? Djarin was using a mini-scout walker at the start of the film, plus the phase-pulse rifle, which, to me, is new, that can disintegrate targets. It looked like and worked like a sci-fi shotgun, considering that Djarin had to load and reload it.
  • Will we meet any force-sensitive characters? If we did, I definitely missed them.
  • Who will be the main antagonist? I would say the primary antagonists were the Twins, with Commander Coin/Janu acting as a secondary antagonist.
  • Will the movie work as a movie, or behave like long television episodes? It works as a movie, but as I said earlier, it didn’t totally work.
  • If the future of Star Wars movies is going to be based on television shows, how will I feel? That’s a difficult question to answer. I believe the future of Star Wars lies in television more than movies, because of the way characters can be fleshed out more. In saying that, movies would be more profitable for the Mouse House, and they are a business. THE business.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but there are more things I like in the movie than I dislike. There are issues with it and the direction Disney is taking the franchise, which we can’t control. I want the creative teams to focus more on story development and take their time, rather than slapping something quickly together for a quick dollar and destroying the fan base.

One thing to point out is that Star Wars fans are passionate, but we can be toxic and negative, which is not always a good thing. Fans cry out to see new things in Star Wars, then complain and compare the projects to the original trilogy. Fans will then also complain of seeing the same old, same old in Star Wars, and complain that Disney won’t try new things. Sometimes you can’t win with people.

The franchise is facing its 50th birthday next year, so it must be difficult for all of the Star Wars creators across all mediums, whether it is movies, television, novels, learn-to-read books, comics, as well as fact books, along with board games and computer games, to keep the old fans happy, but still draw in the next generation. Not very Star Wars fan is a straight, white, 40-year-old, married male, and hopefully the creators are aware of this.

I want to see and read fantastic stories from a galaxy, far, far away, because it can allow our ideas and creativity to soar, which in turn can also be a reflection of us and how we view each other. I love Star Wars, so whether I will ever get to watch Disney + or not, I need Disney to be getting it right, which, as you would agree, is more difficult than buying a workable droid from a bunch of Jawas.

Anyway, as I’ve said this before, don’t trust me, go watch it for yourself, so you can be the judge. Have you seen Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu? As always, please let us know.

That brings this non-award pop culture literature venture to its obvious conclusion. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember the FIFA World Cup and the Supergirl preview/review will be in June, along with my mid-Winter break, which is coming to New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website.

Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, wish a homophobe a Happy Pride month, and I’ll see you next month, where we get to discuss the FIFA World Cup. I know, I’m excited too!

Movie Preview: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Movies

Wow, the last time I did a movie preview was back in July 2025 with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and as I mentioned last week, we have plans to cover movie previews/reviews for Supergirl, The Odyssey, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day as well. The staff will be working overtime.

However, before these three movies have been previewed and reviewed by the most popular blog this side of the street, we have Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu to discuss. It was either this or The Devil Wears Prada 2, and that’s not going to work, now is it?

With Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, I thought I could give you the illusion of being effective and professional, which, of course, is the total opposite. In that vein, I’ll refer to Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu as The Mandalorian and Grogu from now on.

We have not had a Star Wars movie released since 2019, with the release of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker; however, we have had several Star Wars movies announced and then cancelled for one reason or another. Of course, as you are well aware, The Mandalorian and Grogu is not an original story, or continuing a movie trilogy, but rather a continuation of the television show on Disney +, Star Wars: The Mandalorian, or just The Mandalorian.

So, a new Star Wars movie is exciting enough for me to take the plunge and visit the local cinema. As longtime fans know, I try to buy my tickets in advance, so I can get the best seat, because, you know, that’s what hard-core geeks do. Anyway, my ticket is for Tuesday, 25th May at 5.45 pm. Centre of the back row, thank you very much.

Dun dun duuun!

To make sure we are all on the same page, The Mandalorian and Grogu is the cinematic appearances of the characters from The Mandalorian TV show on, and say it with me, Disney +. And to establish another concept, I don’t have Disney +, so just like all of the Marvel TV shows on the channel, I have only seen clips from YouTube of The Mandalorian, and never any entire episode, like every single Star Wars TV show on the channel.

It’s my understanding that The Mandalorian was released in 2019, and has aired for three seasons, or 24 episodes; eight episodes per season. Now, why there has been no Season 4 or why a movie has been based on the same characters, could be connected, or they could be as far away from each other as O. J. Simpson and the truth. Whatever the true origin of the movie and its existence is, it’s here.

Though, to the best of my understanding, the movie is a continuation of the third season, but that could be wrong. What the hell do I know about anything?

As for the cast, it’s been revealed as follows: Din Djarin/The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White), Ward (Sigourney Weaver), Janu (Jonny Coyne), Trapper Wolf (Dave Filoni), and Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios (Steve Blum).

These performances are a mix of live action and performance capture/motion capture, along with other characters, because you’re dealing with crazy arse aliens. This also includes Grogu, which, again, to the best of my understanding, is a hybrid of CGI, puppetry, and animatronics. It could make a nice drinking game; every appearance of a CGI character in a new scene, you drink.

The budget for each TV episode worked out to be around US$15 million; however, the movie’s budget was reportedly set at about US$165 million, which could buy you a lot of frozen pizzas and comics. A lot. Disney seems to have very deep pockets, though I don’t know if that’s a positive or negative thing. Still, Episode IX had a US$593.7 million budget in 2019, so who knows?


Will The Mandalorian and Grogu knock it out of the park, will it flop, or will it be somewhere in between? Join me as we preview the latest Star Wars movie.

Toys credited to UMC2. Yes, Din Djarin has no hands.

Am I looking forward to watching The Mandalorian and Grogu?

Like always, it’s a trick question, because if I’ve taken my time to write a preview of a movie, chances are that I’m looking forward to watching it, even as temperatures are dropping across the country, and especially at night. I’ve tried to have a steady diet of Star Wars content since 2019, mainly in the form of comics and novels.

I have discussed this before; not only do I like reading about Star Wars, but I also do not have, and say it all together…“I don’t have Disney +.” So, just to reinforce the point that I have not seen a single episode of The Mandalorian, only memes and clips on YouTube.

I get the general premise of the show, but obviously, not everything. Having not seen Season 3, I have no idea how it ended, because, as I understand it, the movie is set after that season, but I don’t know if it’s the next day, next month, or the next year.

Going into a Star Wars movie has always been an event for me, seriously, I love Star Wars. I also get that Mandalorian lore has been fleshed out over the years, especially with Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, which is only a positive thing.

However, after the sequel trilogy, my faith in Disney handling cinematic Star Wars experiences was shaken. Interestingly enough, I really enjoyed Rogue One, and Solo wasn’t half as bad as people made it out to be. But the sequel trilogy thoroughly disappointed me for various reasons. That being the case, I need to be honest. As much as I am looking forward to the movie, I am equally worried, for three main reasons that can be broken down.

The first reason is the previously mentioned concerns about Disney Star Wars movies. Of course, I’m basing these concerns on the sequel movies, and not on any of the animated or live-action TV shows, since I haven’t seen. None of the sequel trilogy movies would make my top five Star Wars movies. However, as I understand, the Disney live-action Star Wars TV shows are a lot better.

Another reason is the fact that since I have never actually seen the TV show, apart from short videos, I don’t know the characters that well, or even at all in some cases. There are three seasons of stories that I’m missing, so I need the filmmakers to have made the movie accessible to people who have never seen the TV show.

Having not seen the TV show, there is the concern that the movie will feel like an extra-long episode. I need them to drive the plot forward, but that’s difficult not knowing where the characters have started from, where they have been, where the audience left them, and where they are going. I want to travel to a galaxy, far, far away, but not feel guilty for not having enough money to pay for the TV show.

Sorry, I have a mixture of emotions, fighting for attention over this movie, and I’m trying to sort them out. I want this film to work.

What is the movie about?

According to Star Wars.com, the premise is this:

The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu.

What can we expect?

The running time is 132 minutes, compared to the last three Star Wars movies is short: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (141 minutes), Solo: A Star Wars Story (135 minutes), and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (152 minutes).

A budget of US$165 million is a rather large investment, but other films have had less money and achieved great results, but how many have been set a long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away? I want to be transported and escape to that galaxy that I’ve grown up loving.

I want to be blown away by visiting funky planets, cool aliens, wicked spacecraft, and bad-arse weaponry. Granted, I can only imagine the amount of time the actors would have performed in front of a green screen, but I still want the razzle-dazzle.

But here’s a problem: what I expect from The Mandalorian and Grogu will be similar to other people who have never seen the TV show, but different to those who are fans of the TV show. Our experiences and connections to the characters will dictate the outcome. Will I be able to adapt to the story being told to me, or will it feel like I’m playing catch-up?

How much of the story is going to unfold versus be explained to us, purely because the filmmakers might have understood that not everyone would have seen the TV show. To prepare for it, I have watched various WatchMojo videos about the TV show, so whether that will help, I have no idea. I believe the movie is set five or six years after Episode VI, but I’m not confident about that.

This is a roundabout way to say, I’m not sure what to expect because I don’t know Din Djarin, Grogu, and their allies and enemies that well. It would be like if they made an adaptation or continued the story of Cal Kestis and BD-1, from the Star Wars Jedi computer games. I know of them, but I have never played the games, so I would feel lost about the plot that has happened previously.

I do understand that in Mandalorian lore (I think), warriors should not remove their helmets in the presence of other people. How much of that relates to other Mandalorians, I can’t really say; however, I have seen Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) walking around without a helmet. I’ve viewed Pedro Pascal’s performance as Din Djarin from afar and have compared it to the two Judge Dredd movies: Judge Dredd (1995) and Dredd (2012).

This is a weird comparison, but I’ll explain. In the comics, Judge Dredd is (im)famous for never revealing his face. When he is working as a Judge, and when is he never not, Dredd is always drawn wearing a helmet. The helmet covers his upper face, but his lower face, as in his mouth and chin, is exposed.

When the creative team need him to be seen without the helmet, whether he takes it off, puts it on, or if it has been knocked off, Dredd’s face is put into shade or shadow. The idea is that it doesn’t matter what Mega-City One’s top lawman’s face looks like, because justice is supposed to be blind.

In the two movies, there is a small but subtle difference in Sylvester Stallone’s (Judge Dredd) and Karl Urban’s (Dredd) portrayal of Judge Dredd. In Judge Dredd, Stallone does an alright job of convincing people that he is the law. You know it’s Stallone wearing the helmet, because you’re not an idiot, plus, the lower part of his face is exposed; you know who it is.

Stallone is kicking arse until his helmet is removed, and it doesn’t go back on. From this moment on, the film transforms from a Judge Dredd movie to a Stallone movie. He stopped being Judge Dredd and was just Sylvester Stallone, running around without a helmet. It went from a crime-ridden futuristic landscape to just another 90’s Stallone movie. The rumour mill said that Stallone wanted to have the helmet removed, so the audience would recognise him. But like I just mentioned, we’re not idiots. Does that make sense?

Alright, flash forward to 2012’s Dredd, and Urban knew the assignment. Apparently, as the rumour mill went, Urban knew the comics and understood the character, so as a fan and audience member, you discovered this fact in the introduction.

When Urban is putting on his uniform, his face is never exposed to the camera, even when he places the helmet on. I was in Nelson at the time when I saw the movie, and when I saw that the filmmakers had obscured his face, I smiled and thought, “Yes, they get it.” I knew from that moment that we would never see Urban’s face, because the filmmakers were not going to treat us as…say it with me, idiots.

Now, going back to Pascal’s Din Djrain, and I could be wrong about this, but from the clips I have seen, the creative team took the steps to conceal Pascal’s face. People knew what Pascal looked like under the helmet; they didn’t need to be reminded. I did need to look this up, but his helmet was removed in the first season by a droid to receive medical treatment.

In the second season, he removes the helmet to infiltrate an Imperial base with Bill Burr’s character (I’ve seen that), and also says goodbye to Grogu, without a helmet. Now I believe, and I could be wrong about this, that in the third season, he had to atone for breaking the Mandalorian creed for removing his helmet in front of someone.

So, given the fact that someone like me, who has never seen an entire episode, understands that Pascal is Din Djarin, and the filmmakers have established the rule about never removing the helmet, there are scenes in the trailers that have Pascal as helmetless!

How much of the film will Pascal be running about without a helmet like Stallone? Is this due to part of the new audience members who won’t understand who is under the helmet? Is it part of a contract clause by Pascal?

Personally, I want to see Pascal’s Din Djarin be like Urban’s Judge Dredd, and not like Stallone’s. Then again, what the hell do I know?

Do I have concerns?

Of all of the movies that I previewed/reviewed, and let’s be honest, it’s not that many, The Mandalorian and Grogu have been the one that I’m most concerned for. Movies based on television shows, and I’m sure you’ll agree, have either hit the target or missed it; rarely settling in the middle. I am worried about this movie, mainly because it’s so unknown to me, and as a Star Wars fan, it’s an odd feeling. Some of my specific concerns are as follows, and will be answered in the review.

  • Will there be an opening crawl, since this is a Star Wars movie? (I know Rogue One and Solo did not have one)
  • How much time has passed since the end of the third season?
  • How accessible will the movie be to people who have not seen the television show?
  • Are there any remnants of the Empire?
  • Will Grogu’s performance be a mixture of puppetry, animatronics, CGI, or everything?
  • Wasn’t the Razor Crest previously destroyed?
  • Will Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, or any other major character feature?
  • Is the plot going to drive the story forward, or will it be flat?
  • Will we get to visit any new planets (to me at least) or discover new alien species?
  • Will any bad-arse weapons be involved?
  • Will we meet any force-sensitive characters?
  • Who will be the main antagonist?
  • Will the movie work as a movie, or behave like long television episodes?
  • If the future of Star Wars movies is going to be based on television shows, how will I feel?

There’s probably going to be more things to think about, but I’ll hopefully cover them in the review. I love Star Wars, so I hope this film works, I really do. Are you planning on watching Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu? As always, please let me know.

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, get ready for the FIFA World Cup next month, and I’ll see you next week for the Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu Review.

Also, I know it sounds boring, and it is, but the New Zealand Government will be announcing its budget for 2026 on Thursday, 28th May, and since it’s an election year, expect a lot of outrage across the media. I love it. Take care, and I’ll see you next week.

Happy Star Wars Day 2026!

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Books, Comics, Movies, Television

I find your lack of celebrating Star Wars disturbing. I’m kidding, but today is the best day to celebrate Star Wars, because it’s 4th May, or for my North American friends, May 4th, Star Wars Day! Once more, we can revel in the adventures of our favourite characters, set a long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away.

You could be a fan of Star Wars movies, television shows, books, toys, comics, video games, cosplay, board games, and everything in between, but today’s the day you can wear your Star Wars t-shirt with pride. To be honest, you could treat every day like Star Wars Day if you really wanted to.

Credit: Disney

May The 4th Be With You has taken on new meaning this year, because only a few weeks from now, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in cinemas, as well as new TV shows, books, and comics to be consumed. One day, I’ll get Disney +, so I’ll be able to catch up on all the television shows. Again, maybe.

I’m still waiting for the last five Star Wars: The High Republic books to arrive at our local book shop, so that will keep me off the dark and cold streets when I finally get to read them.

Credit: Dark Horse Comics, now Marvel. I’m not sure!

I’ve mentioned this before, but Star Wars is quite big in our house. My wife and UMC1 enjoy the vehicles, UMC2 is all about the droids, and as for me, I love the aliens. Star Wars has been a massive part of my life, especially now with boxes of Marvel (Canon) and Dark Horse (Non-canon or Legends) Star Wars comics. I could bore with a retelling of my love for Star Wars comics, but I’ll save that for another day.

We also play Star Wars: Risk on Star Wars Day, but only if it lands on the weekend, purely because the game takes hours. It usually ends up with UMC1 (The Rebels) teaming up with UMC2 (The Hutts), against The Empire (me). Oh, the fun and the arguments, I love it.

Image by Bruno from Pixabay

Anyway, it’s rare for Star Wars Day to fall on a Monday, because this is blog day for me. However, I always release a Star Wars blog post on 4th May, and this year is no different.

So, whatever kind of fan you are, and whatever kind of activity you do today, I hope this Star Wars Day is the one you’re looking for. This is short and sharp this week, but I’ll be returning to Star Wars very soon, for my Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu Preview blog post. Two geek events in three days, it’s great to be a geek. Enjoy today, and I’ll see you on Friday for yet another special blog post.

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1962

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, Movies, Music, Politics

There once was a man named Scott,
He thought he was funny, but he was not.
He wrote a blog,
It stunk like a bog,
Because he had the writing IQ of snot.

Just when you thought it was safe to venture online, actually, it’s not very safe, isn’t it? Thanks, Mark and Elon. Anyway, as much as I would love to discuss the world at the moment, I’m not. Why am I not going to do this? Easy, there is something more important, dear reader!

The history project that Philomena Cunk would want nothing to do with is back! Put the baby to bed, turn the jug on, put your feet up, and get ready to be bored, because Some Geek Told Me’s We Didn’t Start the Fire has returned.

I know, this is the gift that keeps on giving, yet here we are again. For previous entries, please check out the following list:

We Didn’t Start the Fire: The Beginning 

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1948-1949.

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1950

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1951

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1952

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1953

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1954

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1955

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1956

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1957

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1958

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1959

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1960

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1961

When we last left the song, we were well into the seventh verse, having just finished with 1961. So, logic and Spock would be correct, because we are going to look at 1962, which only has five references. So, shall we begin?

Credit: A.M.P.

Lawrence of Arabia 

Back in the 1957 entry, we discussed the movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai. That film was directed by David Lean, and wouldn’t you know it, he’s got another reference in the song. Lean directed Lawrence of Arabia, and it was released in 1962, which was based on the 1926 autobiography, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T.E (Thomas Edward) Lawrence.

The film had a budget of $15 million, but earned $70 million at the box office; Lawrence of Arabia was the highest-grossing movie of 1962. It went on to earn ten Academy Awards nominations in 1963, and won seven, as well as four BAFTA Awards and six Golden Globes. Like The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia is considered one of the greatest films ever made. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen it, and it’s a film that lives up to its hype.

We have discussed various modern movie equivalents in the past, so instead of revisiting those films, I want to take a different approach. Since Lawrence of Arabia won seven Academy Awards, I thought it would be interesting to list modern films that have also achieved this feat. The films that have won seven Academy Awards include: Dances with Wolves (1990), Schindler’s List (1993), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), and Oppenheimer (2023).

British Beatlemania

I’ll tell you this for nothing: you don’t need to have worked on the Artemis II mission to understand that British Beatlemania is a 1962 documentary by Sir David Attenborough. The documentary…no, I can’t do this.

British Beatlemania refers to the British band, The Beatles and their rise to fame and popularity around the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the world. They were part of what people would eventually call “The British Invasion”, which was the influx of British music “invading” radio stations, television shows, concerts and the record charts in the United States.

They made the list because songs such as Love Me Do, P.S. I Love You, and Please Please Me, helped kick-start Beatlemania. The crux of Beatlemania, at least to me, was having millions of people, mostly women, going crazy over the Beatles’ music, as well as the band members themselves, to the level of obsession or fanaticism. This was obviously aided by the mass media.

The Beatles had broken up before I was born, but I’ve seen footage and read stories about the craziness. My parents played a lot of Beatles’ music at home, so I get it. Some contemporary examples are Swifties (Taylor Swift) and Little Monsters (Lady Gaga), but one aspect of the Beatles’ legacy is that they are considered one of, if not the most popular and successful band ever, in part due to Beatlemania.

Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles. Credit: Harry Hammond/V&A Images/Getty Images

Ole Miss 

Ole Miss would be a great name for a horse, and maybe somewhere on the planet, that horse exists; however, this entry is not about them, but it has a connection to another name in the song. Back in 1957, via the fifth verse, we had the name, Little Rock. If you remember it, great stuff; if not, I’ll give you time to read about it now.

Sorted, you’re good to go? Excellent! Like Little Rock, Ole Miss was another flashpoint in the history of race relations in the United States. Ole Miss has a few different meanings, but in context to the song, it refers to the nickname of the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford, Mississippi, and its race riot in 1962.

I’m not sure if I can do this event justice, but I’ll try. James Meredith, an African-American U.S. Air Force veteran, had enrolled at the University of Mississippi, and when it was discovered that he was not the white man they thought him to be, shit hit the fan, with the university officials, but also the Mississippi Governor, Ross Barnett. At the time, the University of Mississippi was an all-white university.

In an attempt to deny him entry to the university, Meredith was temporarily jailed, then released, with Barnett barring him from attending the university. President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy got involved to find a way forward without violence, and allow Meredith to attend. Obviously, this incident, like nearly all of them, got out of hand.

Between 30th September and 1st October, a riot broke out on the campus involving federal law enforcement and a mob, consisting of segregationists, white supremacists, and some students. The aftermath of the riot included hijacked vehicles, destruction of buildings, and over 300 people were injured, including 28 U.S. Marshals being shot, as well as two civilians were killed. The next day, President Kennedy sent in over 30,000 troops to keep the peace and ensure Meredith could attend the university, with federal protection.

Meredith went on to graduate with a political science degree. So how does this event relate to the world of 2026? Well, how can it not? Yes, I’m not an American, but the evidence is plain to see. What the Little Rock incident did for the desegregation of high schools, the Ole Miss riot helped to bring about much-needed social reforms in universities within the United States.

Meredith, center with briefcase, is escorted to the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. marshals on Oct. 1, 1962. Credit: Associated Press

John Glenn 

John Glenn was a politician, wartime pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. As you remember from previous entries, 1962 was at the height of the Cold War, but most importantly, the space race had started between the United States and the Soviet Union. Glenn was one of the seven astronauts chosen to fly spacecrafts for Project Mercury. These astronauts are known as the Mercury Seven.

He was included in the song because on 20th February 1962, he became the first American to orbit Earth, but he was not the first American in space. That honour belonged to Alan Shepard in 1961. Facts matter, folks, facts matter.

Anyway, Glenn completed three orbits of Earth, flying the Friendship 7 spacecraft for the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. He completed three orbits in roughly 5 hours, 55 minutes, at speeds of over 28,000 km/ph.

A modern equivalent for a single astronaut achieving something new is sort of difficult, considering the huge advancements in space technology and flight. Instead of this, I could put forward the recent successful Artemis II mission, which is the second time I have mentioned it. I hope there’s not a third.

John Glenn entering his spacecraft, Friendship 7, prior to the launch of Mercury-Atlas 6 on 20 February, 1962. Credit: NASA.

Liston beats Patterson 

It’s been awhile since we discussed boxing, but like Thanos, it was inevitable. The boxers in question were Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson, and they fought for the undisputed heavyweight world championship on 25th September 1962, at Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois.

This was Patterson’s second reign as champion, as he first won the title in 1956, lost it in 1959, and then reclaimed it in 1960. This, of course, made Liston the challenger. Liston was older and heavier than Patterson, but Patterson had started boxing professionally before Liston.

Depending on who you talk to, predictions for the fight were slightly in favour of Liston; it was strange that the champion was not the favourite. Anyway, the fight was memorable because after two minutes in the first round, Liston knocked Patterson out to become the new heavyweight champion of the world.

The story doesn’t end there, because Liston successfully defended his title in a rematch with Patterson in July 1963. Liston then fought to defend the title in February 1964 against Cassius Clay, but he was defeated. Clay changed his name a month later to Muhammad Ali. He then faced Liston for a second time in May 1965, and Liston lost again.

Essentially, Liston made the song for knocking out the world champion in the first round. Some contemporary examples were difficult to cite, mainly because champions continue to be knocked out, but it’s rare for it to happen in the first round in heavyweight fights.

The best I could find was on 29th October 19931, when the WBO Heavyweight Champion Tommy Morrison was knocked down three times in the first round by Michael Bentt, and lost the fight and title.

So for 1962, we covered a film, fanatic fans, a desegregation university riot, an astronaut, and a boxing match. 1963’s blog post is roughly seven weeks away, so I’d better prepare myself! If you’re still enjoying this project, as always, please let me know, because nothing happens in a vacuum.

So that’s it for this week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me; it means a lot. My Twitter and Mastodon accounts are still ticking over with daily information that someone may find interesting. Maybe.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, thank the bus driver, and if you ever repeat any of the information I write about, and someone asks you where you discovered it, just say, ‘Some Geek Told Me.‘ I’ll see you next week, when we discuss the Artemis II mission. Third time’s a charm!

1 If you can call 1993 contemporary, of course.

Sam Kieth and Chuck Norris: Thank You

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Comics, Movies, People, Television

So…how is everybody doing? It’s an interesting period in human history right now, and it can seem that things could be getting out of hand. Maybe things are already out of hand. Regardless of the truth, I want to take the time to acknowledge the deaths of two people who were recently announced.

Before I do, I realise I have discussed the deaths of people on this blog before, especially people I have never met, which is somewhat awkward and strange. How do you convey your thoughts and feelings about the matter? Do we have the right to do so? I don’t know what the proper answer or response could or should be; I never have.

I have no stirring speeches about the deaths of people with influence, only that by looking and examining ourselves, we can see that humanity can still shine through in these dire times, but also, understanding and being grateful that we got to experience their gifts that they shared with the world. Because maybe, just maybe, that’s the point.

Anyway, I want to talk about Sam Kieth and Chuck Norris.

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

Sam Kieth died on 15th March, aged 63 years old, and from what I can understand, he died from complications from Lewy body dementia, which is a form of dementia I never knew existed, I’m sorry to say.

For those not in the know, Kieth was a comic book creator who worked with many companies, including Aftershock, Dark Horse, DC, Image, Marvel, and others. Kieth created and co-created memorable characters, including, but not limited to, Cyber, Mr Gone, Mervyn Pumpkinhead, Mad Hettie, Goldie, Zero Girl, Roderick Burgess, Azazel, and Julie Winters, along with the three most well-known: Lucifer Morningstar, The Maxx, and Dream of the Endless.

I can’t tell you what the first Sam Kieth art I saw was, but I can tell you how it made me feel. I always thought just like his characters, Kieth’s art was not conventional; it was kooky, surreal, weird, offbeat, and odd. But that’s why I felt it stood out from the crowd, and that’s why his art worked. I would see his art somewhere and think, “That looks bonkers, it must be Sam Kieth’s. I love it!”, and it usually was. I enjoyed his art and storytelling, so his talents will be missed.

Sam Kieth in 2013 at a retrospective of his work at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. His bold art aesthetic and exploration of mature themes gave an adult edge to his comic book characters. Credit: Stephen Lam

It’s difficult to believe, but Death finally found the courage to tell Chuck Norris that he was actually dead. His formal death was recorded as 19th March 2026, in Hawaii, aged 86 years. Born Switchblade Killingsworth, Norris changed his name because he believed it didn’t sound tough enough.

Norris was a famous actor, martial artist, author, and screenwriter. Walker, Texas Ranger was one of his most famous roles, along with his scene-stealing cameo in Dodgeball.

He was the most dangerous, courageous, intelligent, and lethal man in the world. Norris managed to achieve some truly mighty feats, which include:

  • He could delete the Recycle Bin.
  • He once won a game of Connect Four in three moves.
  • He counted to infinity. Twice.
  • He could slam a revolving door.
  • He could strangle a man with a cordless phone.
  • He could start a fire by rubbing two ice cubes together.
  • He could divide by zero.
  • He could kill two stones with one bird.
  • He once played Russian roulette with a fully-loaded gun and won.
  • He would drink napalm to fight his heartburn.
  • He could manage to achieve a bachelor’s degree in scheduled time.
  • He didn’t read books. He would stare them down until he got the information he wanted.
  • He once beat paper, rock, and scissors, all at the same time.
  • He never blinked in his entire life. Never.
  • He could speak Braille.
  • He could build a snowman out of rain.

Chuck Norris appeared in the ‘Street Fighter II’ video game, but was removed by Beta Testers because every button caused him to do a roundhouse kick. When asked bout this “glitch,” Chuck Norris replied, “That’s no glitch.”

Chuck Norris did go hunting because the word hunting implies the possibility of failure. Chuck Norris went killing.

The only time Chuck Norris was ever wrong was when he thought he had made a mistake.

There are many more, but my eternal thanks go to Chuck Norris. I read books documenting his feats to UMC1 and UMC2, while they were baking in the womb. It did this for four reasons: to build a connection to them with my voice, to watch my wife suppress her laughter, to educate them on what a roundhouse kick was, and to inform my unborn children of the adventures of the world’s greatest man. Death has a Chuck Norris problem now.

Chuck Norris being Chuck Norris. Credit: Fickeringmyth

Seriously, both Sam Kieth and Chuck Norris have helped me become the geek I am today. Thank you.

This was a short blog post, so it is what it is. Thank you for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. It wouldn’t be New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website without your support.

Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch Heated Rivalry, and I’ll see you next week. Look after yourselves and your family.

Is it possible to review a movie without ever watching it?

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Movies, People

Using the way-back machine, let’s travel back to 2022, where I wrote about various reviews of two television shows that I hadn’t seen at the time. I thought it was overdue to revisit this concept, but instead of writing about another television show, we’re going to look at a movie. This sounds like another excellent idea, like fire-proof matches, or ejector seats in helicopters.

We are spoiled for choice, as we are surrounded by a collection of motion pictures, whether they are shown at the cinema or through various streaming services. What an age to live in!

However, considering her spouse, the U.S. president, the Board of Peace chairman, the winner of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, the recent recipient of a hand-me-down Nobel Peace Prize, and convicted felony, Donald Trump, has been busy bombing Iran, I thought it would be fitting to look at Melania Trump’s movie, Melania.

Let’s establish something first. I can think of no conceivable reason why I would ever watch, Melania. Seriously, I don’t want to watch it. If I were on a long-haul flight, and I had no book, with the movie stuck on repeat, then maybe. A big maybe.

So, how does someone review a movie that they have no intention of ever watching? The answer is very simple; I read what other people have said. I had a staff meeting about this subject, and the consensus was that we should try to be fair and neutral. However, sometimes we can be biased, and today is one of those days.

Melania premiered on 29th January 2026, with a budget of US$40 million, and has made US$16.6 million worldwide, which technically makes it a flop. From what I understand, the film covers Melania’s movements and experiences around the last 20 days leading up to the second inauguration of everybody’s favourite president, Donald Trump. Sounds action-packed stuff, right?

And with that, let’s make it so!

‘Melania’ movie posters vandalized across LA. Credit: Fox 11 News

I enjoy reading humorous reviews as much as the next person, so this was a fun experience for me, unlike smelling an open bag of Sour Cream and Chives from 500 m away. Gross.

Because you demand nothing but the best from this wayward literary venture, I have collected some of the funniest reviews for Melania and have tried to group them accordingly, because I can, and it looks neat. Also, I am aware of review bombing, so thank you in advance for the heads up.

Rotten Tomatoes: (Accurate for 5th March 2026)

11% Tomatometer

98% Audience Score

Coleman Spilde: Salon.com 7th February 2026

This documentary doesn’t absolve any sins; it highlights them. “Melania” taunts the viewer and takes glee in the assumption that they can’t do anything about it.

Joseph Robinson: Fish Jelly Films (YouTube) 6th February 2026

More PR campaign than personal portrait, Melania is an astonishingly dull documentary that masquerades as a glamorous immigrant story while offering little insight beyond carefully curated image-making.

Robert Denerstein: Denerstein Unleashed 4th February 2026

By any critical standards I’m familiar with, I’ll tell you that Melania isn’t much of a documentary; it’s more like a plush Life Styles of the Rich and Famous episode that bleeds into a chorus of booming triumphalism centering on Trump’s inauguration.

Amy Nicholson: Los Angeles Times 3rd February 2026

Melania” plays like a sizzle reel for her post-political (post-spousal?) future career in which she may rouse herself to be a guest judge on a reality competition show.

Calum Cooper: Cinerama Film 3rd February 2026

Melania is shambolic, putrid, pitiful garbage: A brazen, awkward, irredeemable infomercial that ignores truth and scrutiny in favour of performative humility. It’s not just wretched – it’s offensive to the collective intelligence of the human race.

Donald Clarke: Irish Times 31st January 2026

No good impression emerges of the former Slovenian model. No bad impression emerges either. Ratner’s film achieves, rather, a sort of passive distance – as you might get by pointing a camera, for close to two hours, at a waterfall or a wheat field.

IMDb: (Accurate for 5th March 2026)

1.4/10 rating

Sleepin_Dragon: 1/10 rating 30th January 2026

I can’t pretend I sat through this to the end. There was only so much I could take, and as we left the cinema, the screen itself was empty. That probably says everything I need to say about this dire ….movie.

meltymark: 1/10 rating 30th January 2026

I’m not a political person, politics are disgusting to me on both sides of the isle and I understand Melania is not a politician and deserves some respect and dignity like all other people… but

This was not only boring, but it was also incredibly painful to watch. It reminded me of the feeling you get when a boss or person in authority is bragging about themselves and you have to just take it and act like it doesn’t repulse you and your body language and whole being just can’t take it to the point of it making you physically ill.

andrew-lundberg-1970: 1/10 rating 31st January 2026

Everything about this film is pure tragedy, and not in a meaningful or intentional way. It’s dull, self-important, and completely devoid of insight, as if it mistakes moodiness for depth and emptiness for sophistication. The pacing drags, the storytelling goes nowhere, and whatever point it thinks it’s making never arrives. If I could give it less than one star, I would. Don’t waste your time, your money, or your patience on this hollow mess.

mbvqp: 1/10 rating 1st February 2026

Melania” is an utter WASTE OF TIME and MONEY-hands down the WORST MOVIE I’ve ever seen. Its disjointed plot, uninspired performances, and cringeworthy ridiculous dialogue make it a tedious chore to sit through. Rather than offering insight, it delivers a bland, utterly uninspiring experience that adds absolutely nothing to the broader discourse. Please do yourself an enormous favour and SKIP THIS DISASTER entirely. You’ll be glad that you did!

rppratings: 1/10 rating 5th February 2026

Melania is less of a movie and more of a painfully long exercise in boredom. Calling it hollow would be generous – this film is a glossy, lifeless shell with absolutely nothing inside. It drags, it stalls, it goes nowhere, and somehow still feels longer than its runtime. Watching paint dry would’ve delivered more emotional payoff.

The “story,” if you can even call it that, is buried under endless slow shots, awkward silence, and a level of stiffness that makes mannequins look expressive. Every moment that should feel revealing or meaningful instead feels cold, staged, and completely devoid of humanity. It’s not mysterious – it’s empty.

The dialogue is flat, the pacing is brutal, and the entire thing feels like a stretched-out PR video nobody asked for. By the end, I wasn’t frustrated, I wasn’t moved – I was just stunned that something so expensive-looking could be so painfully pointless.

Melania isn’t just bad – it’s spectacularly, monumentally dull. A beautiful wrapper around absolutely nothing. A total waste of time.

JoshuaT-253: 1/10 rating 19th February 2026

There is nothing harder to describe than a movie that is simply dull and uninteresting. I could sit here and describe how nothing happens for close to 80% of the time. Just a lady sitting around waiting for things to happen. She then travels from place to place multiple times in great and tedious detail with nothing to show for it than more waiting to travel to yet another place. It has almost zero content, nothing to hold interest or to connect with at all.

Other sources:

Xan Brooks: The Guardian

30th January 2026

…No doubt there is a great documentary to be made about Melania Knauss, the ambitious model from out of Slovenia who married a New York real-estate mogul and then found herself cast in the role of a latter-day Eva Braun, but the horrific Melania emphatically isn’t it. It’s one of those rare, unicorn films that doesn’t have a single redeeming quality. I’m not even sure it qualifies as a documentary, exactly, so much as an elaborate piece of designer taxidermy, horribly overpriced and ice-cold to the touch and proffered like a medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.

Natasha Jokic: BuzzFeed

31st January 2026

…Last night, I left an empty chickpea can on my counter. When I came back 30 minutes later, small, black bugs had swarmed the tin and were crawling over my sink. I would rather relive that moment a hundred times over than have to watch another minute of the movie Melania.

Lauren Collins: The New Yorker

…Cameras followed Melania in the twenty days leading up to Trump’s second Inauguration. About nineteen of them seem to have been devoted to planning Melania’s big event, a candlelit dinner for MAGA backers and bagmen, including Bezos. Chef Chris’s menu opens with a “golden egg and caviar,” an event planner says. At this point, you think that “Melania” has broken the fourth wall, that the far-too-obvious symbolism is about to be acknowledged and then punctured or dismissed. But, no, the gilded hors d’œuvres are for real, even if, as a metaphor, they are at best incomplete. With “Melania,” you get the brittle shell, but none of the rich internal goo that makes for a compelling portrait.

Piper B.: Common Sense Media

February 2026

…People will tell you to remember that this is just a documentary and that’s why it’s boring, but that’s just plain wrong. This documentary shows no historical value other than “my husband became the president.” I would not show this to my children because I see no role model. If I want to show my kids a documentary, I’d choose one with a more empowering figure, someone they can look up to and strive to be.

Amy Nicholson: The Los Angeles Times

2nd February 2026

…I cannot recommend “Melania” as a good movie or even an interesting one. It has the feel of a soothingly looped AI screen saver, a trance-inducing spell where nothing matters so long as your high heels aren’t hurting your feet. Yet against all odds, there is a truth in her SUV-to-tarmac-to-SUV-to-tarmac insularity. Future historians will be glad to have “Melania” as a lens into this moment in time. Like everything she touches, it’s a costly artifact.

Owen Gleiberman: Variety

30th January 2026

…Melania is a documentary that never comes to life. It’s a “portrait” of the First Lady of the United States, but it’s so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial. Is it cheesy? At moments, but mostly it’s inert. It feels like it’s been stitched together out of the most innocuous outtakes from a reality show. There’s no drama to it. It should have been called “Day of the Living Tradwife.

Vince Mancini: GQ

2nd February 2026

Melania many go down in history as one of the least revealing documentaries ever made. But if you’ve never watched the First Lady get on and off a plane, Brett Ratner’s got a movie for you.

Samuel Clench: News.com.au

1st February 2026

…Melania is like a horror film with nothing scary in it, or a crime thriller with no twists, or an action film with no fighting. It is a documentary with no interest in exploring its central figure beneath her most superficial level. It is incomprehensibly empty.

But I think the best review I have discovered is this:

Greg: Cockbuster Video

30 January 2026

Couldn’t hear what the hell was going on during the film because the whole theater was filled with dudes in red hats sucking each other off load af.

Now, in the interests of being fair, not every single Melania review is negative; some, in fact, praise the film. Different strokes for different folks, though. Should you watch the film or give it a pass? I would give it a hard pass, not even to watch it, to decry it.

It goes for a general rule of thumb for any comic, book, movie, TV show, computer game, music, chip flavour or documentary; don’t listen to anybody else’s review or opinion. If you want to experience a product, go and experience it yourself; that way, you’ll always know. If you like it, then praise the living hell out of it; if not, then go the other way.

To quote one of the 90’s greatest arse-kickers, “The power is yours!”

And that, dear friends, brings another jam-packed blog post filled with mystery to a close. Also, regardless of what happens with Trump’s non-war with Iran, Iran is due to play all of its group games of the FIFA World Cup in the United States, with the first game against us, New Zealand, on 15th June. Who knows if Trump will let them into the country or if there will be a boycott? Who knows?

Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch The Creator, and I’ll see you next week.

2026 is off to an interesting start

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Blogs, Comics, Literature, Movies, Politics, Social Media, Sports, Television

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.

All of the staff at Some Geek Told Me are ready and raring to go for 2026. Another Gregorian Calendar year is spread out like a large, inviting beanbag, tempting us with comfort to trap us.

Many things are coming out this year that will evoke a range of emotions and feelings, filling therapists’ offices. Well, not all of them. There are things I’m looking forward to, and some that will make me squint my eyes and cross my fingers.

Over the past few years, I’ve published a version of this blog, and while it may not be entirely original, I believe it’s important to have things or events to look forward to. I also hold onto the hope that it’s all going to work out. Just to clarify, these are not New Year’s Resolutions, but rather Great Expectations for 2026.

And just like anything that happens on this wonderful corner of the internet, there are some rules. I have discussed them before, but let’s go over them.

1.) Just because an event is on the list does not mean I will get to experience that event in 2026. A book might be released in April, a movie might come out in July, or a TV show might be released on a streaming platform that I don’t currently subscribe to, so I may not read and watch them until 2027 or whenever. Also, I can’t watch every single sports game either; I wish.

2.) Some dates could be confusing because of time zone differences, but they are subject to change.

3.) Against popular belief, I don’t know everything. There will be information about an event that hasn’t been released yet, which I could be interested in, but if I don’t know about it, I can’t add it to the list.

4.) Hopefully, Sour Cream and Chives will finally be banned and labelled a plague on humanity. Dreams are free, aren’t they?

Two last things to note: I know the world is a crazy, but beautiful place. People are suffering for different reasons all over the planet, so this post is not ignoring that fact, but rather highlighting some positive and/or interesting things that are coming up in 2026, at least to me.

It also pays to remember that I’m a middle-aged, weird, straight, married white male, living in the South Pacific. The things you’re looking forward to could be very different from mine, and that’s alright.

So, what is there to look forward to in 2026? Let’s begin now, shall we?

Credit: Suncatcher Studio

Let’s start with you, the reader, and what you can expect from New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website in 2026.

  • More spelling mistakes.
  • More grammatical errors.
  • More badly chosen topics.
  • More comic and manga blogs.
  • More blogs that are arguably not funny.
  • More movie previews/reviews.
  • More We Didn’t Start the Fire historic references.
  • More Tour of the Solar System posts.
  • Images and photos that are loosely connected to a post.
  • Possibly more Trump posts.
  • Hopefully, more science-related content.
  • The annual posts about Star Wars Day and Free Comic Book Day.
  • Fingers crossed, to finally start the animals blog posts.
  • Continue to increase subscribers (At the time of writing, I have 242 followers/subscribers across three social platforms. Jealous much?)

I’m sure there are more things, but my media spokesperson said any more information could incriminate myself.

With that, let us move on to other subjects.

Politics

All general elections around the world are important, but these elections I will be following very carefully. Listen to me, talking like an expert.

  • Nepal: General Election (5th March)
  • Vietnam: Parliamentary elections (15th March)
  • Republic of the Congo: Presidential elections (22nd March)
  • Hungary: Parliamentary elections (Expected on 12th April)
  • Peru: General elections (12th April)
  • Libya: Presidential and parliamentary elections (Expected in April)
  • Colombia: Presidential elections (31st May)
  • Lebanon: Parliamentary elections (Expected in May)
  • Ethiopia: General elections (1st June)
  • Haiti: General elections (30th August)
  • Russia: Parliamentary elections (Expected in September)
  • Brazil: General elections (4th October)
  • Israel: Parliamentary elections (Scheduled for 27th October, but will likely happen earlier)
  • United States: Midterm elections (3rd November)
  • New Zealand: General Election (To be confirmed, but no later than 19th December 2026)
  • South Sudan: General elections (Expected on 22nd December)

Sport

There are always watching and following the teams that I support, and one day I’ll write about that, but these single games don’t count. It’s just tournaments and competitions that I’m focusing on, because they include my four favourite sports. I am a New Zealander after all.

Rugby Union:

  • Men’s and Women’s Six Nations Championship (February-March and April-May)
  • Men’s Inaugural Nations Championship (July-November)
  • All Blacks’ Tour of South Africa (August-September)
  • Women’s Pacific Four Series (Dates to be confirmed)
  • Black Ferns Home Series against France (October)
  • WXV Global Series (Dates to be confirmed)

Rugby League:

  • NRL (National Rugby League) Competition
  • Rugby League World Cup (October-November)

Cricket:

  • ICC Men’s T20 World Cup (February-March)
  • ICC Women’s T20 World Cup (June-July)
  • New Zealand Men’s Tour of India (January)
  • South Africa Men’s tour of New Zealand (March)
  • South Africa Women’s tour of New Zealand (March-April)
  • New Zealand Men’s Tour of England (June)

Football:

  • African Cup of Nations (December 2025-January 2026)
  • 2025-2026 UEFA Champions League
  • 2025-2026 English Premier League
  • 2025-2026 A-League
  • FIFA Men’s World Cup (June-July)

Movies

These movies are all coming out this year, and I’m going to hopefully watch them at the cinema or at a later date on a streaming service. Maybe. I’m also very aware that a lot of these entries are adaptations, remakes, or sequels. There are a lot of superheroes and science-fiction choices, sorry.

  • Wuthering Heights (11th February)
  • Hoppers (6th March)
  • Project Hail Mary (20th March)
  • Animal Farm (1st May)
  • Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (22nd May)
  • Supergirl (26th June)
  • Minions 3 (1st July)
  • The Odyssey (17th July)
  • Spider-Man: Brand New Day (31st July)
  • Coyote vs. Acme (28th August)
  • Clayface (11th September)
  • Sense and Sensibility (21st September)
  • Digger (2nd October)
  • The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (20th November)
  • Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew (26th November)
  • Dune: Part Three (18th December)
  • Avengers: Doomsday (18th December)

Television

Like the movie entries, I would like to watch these shows; it just depends on which streaming service they are on, because we don’t own a television. Basically, what I’m saying is that whether or not I can watch the TV show, it’s on the list because I want to watch it. As you can see, these TV shows are aimed at me.

  • Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (January)
  • A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (January)
  • Wonder Man (January)
  • Lanterns (Mid year)
  • VisionQuest (Date to be confirmed)
  • Spider-Noir (Date to be confirmed)
  • Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord (Date to be confirmed)
  • Star Wars: Visions: The Ninth Jedi: (Date to be confirmed)

Music

I have no idea. Seriously, I suck.

Literature

Comics

Apart from the monthly titles and mini-series I’m already reading; which don’t count, there aren’t a lot of choices.

  • Saga is returning with #73.
  • The Crown: A Tale of Hell #1-2 (Hellboy mini-series)
  • Any Marvel/DC crossovers like Superman/Spider-Man and Spider-Man/Superman.

Manga

Just like the comics, I read some manga titles, so they don’t count.

  • Star Wars: Visions: Tsukumo (July)

Fiction and Non-Fiction

I am embarrassed to admit this, but my to-be-read piles have grown out of control. I now have four piles of books, so because of this, I have not researched any fiction or non-fiction books that are being released this year. I’ve become a dragon hoarding treasure, except the treasure is books. I’ve decided I need to read more books from my piles before purchasing any new ones this year. However, I might still give in if something truly captures my attention.

Honourable Mentions

  • The Commonwealth Games (July-August)
  • Free Comic Book Day/Comics Giveaway Day (2nd May)
  • Star Wars Day (4th May)
  • Any new species discovered.

I know the list is boring, and I also know there are more important things in life than movies, sports, and comics, like capturing a leader of a sovereign nation. Don’t be like the United States, I’m looking at you, Russia and China. It could just be me, but I’m starting to think Donald Trump doesn’t take the FIFA Peace Prize seriously at all.

Have I missed anything? What are you looking forward to in 2026? As always, please let me know. Thank you for reading, subscribing, and following Some Geek Told Me in 2025, and may it continue in 2026. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, the Earth is not flat, and I’ll see you next week.

Shakespeare movie adaptations that are hidden in plain sight: Vol 1

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Literature, Movies

Step right up, step right up for another blog post detailing how humanity can cure cancer, solve climate change, and understand why children are weird. Oh, wait, I can’t answer any of those questions, sorry. At least not today.

Diving into the nearly five-year-old bag of suggested topics from the staff at Some Geek Told Me, I have selected a topic that, every six months or so, I decide to write, but talk myself out of it. However, the die has been cast, and the wait is over.

As hardcore followers of this amateurish attempt to educate people, you will know that this geek suffers from a Shakespeare affliction. I can’t recite speeches or explain what the hell the characters are saying. Though, to be fair, what I can do is explain the plots and the themes. Well, to be honest, it’s what I think the themes are, so I could be 80% wrong.

Granted, the works of William Shakespeare have lasted over 400 years, much to the disappointment of all secondary school students studying English. I love the motivations behind characters, both heroes and villains, as well as how relevant the stories can be to contemporary audiences.

Watching a Shakespearean movie or attending one of his plays automatically engages my brain to sit up straight, focus, listen, and try to keep up. Over the years, this has led the plays to be adapted into various media like movies, comics, novels, and TV shows, among others.

Some adaptations would keep Shakespeare’s language of Early Modern English, while others would use Modern English, but still keep to the plot. Some adaptations are set in 16th-17th-century Europe, others in modern times, while others are set somewhere in between or earlier.

For today’s lecture, we are going to look at one group of these adaptations: the movies. Typically, it’s quite easy to identify a Shakespeare movie adaptation, because of its name: William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, Henry V, Othello, Richard III, Hamlet, and Coriolanus, to select but a few.

They are direct adaptations, or as close as a film production can allow. However, young grasshopper, there are a small group of movies that are indirect adaptations of one of Shakespeare’s plays, but they are not advertised as that, for whatever reason. Several films can fit into this niche, so this blog post will be the first of many; the single consideration is that I’ll try very hard to only have one movie per play.

So, for your reading pleasure, I have collected four examples of movies that are secretly Shakespeare adaptations. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it. Let’s begin now.

Image by beauty_of_nature from Pixabay

West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet)

We are going to start with a very obvious one, and for good reason. West Side Story was originally a musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, which had opened on Broadway in 1957. The production was a huge success, so a film was produced, based on the musical.

The film was released in 1961, which is what we will be comparing. In the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, in 1957, is where we lay our scene. In comparison, Romeo and Juliet was written sometime between 1591 and 1595.

Both stories deal with star-crossed lovers, in the form of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, along with Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria (Natalie Wood) from West Side Story. The House of Montague and the House of Capulet are feuding families in Verona, with Romeo and Juliet belonging to opposite houses.

Maria’s older brother, Bernardo (George Chakiris), is the leader of the Sharks, a teenage street gang, looking to control the Upper West Side. The Jets are a rival gang of which Tony was a co-founder and former member.

Trying to keep the warring families at bay in Romeo and Juliet is Prince Escalus, with the equivalent being two characters, Lieutenant Schrank (Simon Oakland) and Sergeant Krupke (William Bramley) in West Side Story. Other similar characters are Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, and Riff (Russ Tamblyn), best friend to Tony; Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, is Bernardo; while Count Paris, Juliet’s suitor, is Chino Martin (Jose De Vega).

The two stories follow events to their tragic conclusion, but with a subtle difference. In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is slain by Tybalt, Tybalt is then slain by Romeo, Paris is killed by Romeo, and both Romeo and Juliet kill themselves. Both Houses are in mourning, and thus, the feud ends.

In West Side Story, Riff is murdered by Bernardo, who, in turn, is killed by Tony. However, you are expecting Tony to kill Chino, but it’s the opposite; Chino shoots and kills Tony. Maria threatens to kill Chino, the Jets, and the Sharks because of their hatred, which has taken the lives of Riff, her brother, and her lover. In the end, she backs down, but she ultimately survives the carnage, and the feud ends.

On a personal note, Romeo and Juliet is often described as the world’s greatest love story. It’s not the ultimate love story; it’s one of the world’s greatest tragedies. Much like West Side Story, love, violence, hatred, and prejudice are woven into both tales to tell and explore the human experience. West Side Story is a love story as well as a tragedy. Tony dies, but Maria lives, so hope remains. As for Romeo and Juliet, their tragedy is complete, for never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

The Lion King (Hamlet)

I’m sorry to point this out and possibly damage your childhood, but I am not the first person to say this; the story of The Lion King is actually Hamlet in disguise. Wait, just hear me out.

This tragedy has a prince who goes into mourning as his father, the king, has died. The prince’s uncle, his father’s brother, ascends the throne. The prince goes into exile with two friends and returns years later to a kingdom that is rotten.

If you had thought I had just explained Simba’s story when it came out in 1994, you would be correct; however, it also mirrors Hamlet’s journey, which was written between 1599 and 1601. The stories share characters and their equivalents, with Simba (Hamlet), Mufasa (King Hamlet), Scar (Claudius), Nada (Ophelia), and Zazu (Polonius), along with Timon and Pumbaa (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern).

Even though the early 17th-century royal court of Denmark is swapped for the plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania, the plots have parallel events, though not entirely. Both kings are murdered by their brothers, who take the throne and are terrible rulers; both kings appear as ghosts to their sons and give advice; Simba and Hamlet have a love interest in Nada and Ophelia, respectively; both princes go into exile; and Scar and Claudius both die at the end.

Disney could have gone all in with a more accurate adaptation with Simba killing Nala’s father by accident; Simba’s mother, Sarabi, marries Scar; Nala commits suicide by drowning; Simba goes mad with grief and vengeance; another pride of lions invades and takes over the Pride Lands; and lastly, Sarabi, Scar, and Simba, all die in the closing scene. It would have been a beautiful nightmare, with Simba/Hamlet’s story haunting a generation of children, all over the world.

10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew)

Viewed through a contemporary lens, The Taming of the Shrew can be some what problematic, considering it was between 1590 and 1592, when it was written. However, that did not stop Hollywood from having a crack at it. Back in 1999, 10 Things I Hate About You was released, and even though the titles were different, it was based on The Taming of the Shrew.

I hope the Bard can forgive me for breaking his comedic play down like this, but The Taming of the Shrew was set in Padua, Italy, where we met a nobleman, Baptista Minola, who has two daughters, Katherina and Bianca. Many suitors would like to marry Bianca, but her father has decreed that Bianca can only get married when Katherina does, but no man wants to because of her assertiveness, along with her quick and sharp wit.

Some plans focus on the suitors Hortensio and Gremio, but also include Lucentio, who also wishes to marry Bianca, and Petruchio, tasked with wooing Katherina. Typical Shakespearean romantic mischief ensues, with everyone ultimately finding love.

10 Things I Hate About You shares many plot points, names, and characters with The Taming of the Shrew. The film is set around the students who attend Padua High School. Walter Stratford (Larry Miller) has two daughters, and you guessed it, Katarina (Julia Stiles) and Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). Like a similar decree from Baptista Minola, Walter explains that Bianca is only allowed to date when her older sister does.

Enter Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who has fallen for Bianca, so he enlists help from Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to woo the anti-social Katherina, so Cameron can date Bianca. By the end of the film, everybody is happy like a 90s high school film should be. It also had a Shakespeare reference with Sonnet 141.

O (Othello)

If you have been keeping score, and why wouldn’t you be, we have discussed two tragedies and one comedy. I’m a bit inclined to favour the tragedies, since they can teach us a lot about ourselves. Case in point, here is another tragedy, Othello.

Written about 1603, the story of Othello is a blueprint of having it all and losing it to jealousy. It’s a cautionary tale about Othello, a military commander, who is tricked and manipulated by one of his lower-ranked officers, the traitorous Iago, into believing that his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with another officer, the loyal Michael Cassio.

In some academic and literary circles, Iago is considered to be the worst villain in all of Shakespeare’s works, and it’s not a surprise; he ruins lives. By the end of the play, Iago had murdered his wife, Emilia, and Roderigo (a nobleman), while stabbing Cassio, but not fatally. Othello had murdered Desdemona by smothering her, because of Iago’s lies, then realised Iago was behind it all, and stabs him, but he survives.

Othello then commits suicide by stabbing himself. Iago is arrested and taken away, but famously refuses to explain his motivations. Othello has mischief and hijinks, but it is not comedic; it’s just fraught with paranoia and jealousy.

Like 10 Things I Hate About You, O is set in modern times, with American teenagers. Mekhi Phifer stars as Odin (Othello); Josh Hartnett as Hugo (Iago); and Julia Stiles is back again, but this time she plays Desi (Desdemona). We also have Andrew Keegan as Michael Cassio (Michael Cassio), Elden Henson as Roger Calhoun (Roderigo), Rain Phoenix as Emily (Emilia), John Heard as Bob Brable (Brabantio, Desdemona’s father), and Martin Sheen as Coach Duke Goulding (The Duke of Venice).

The story of O does not centre around soldiers and officers, but rather high school basketball players and students. O follows the events of Othello, with Hugo manipulating people and events, but the end is still the same. Hugo shoots and kills Roger, along with his girlfriend, Emily. Odin strangles Desi to death, then shoots himself after learning that his friend, Hugo, had caused all of the chaos. Hugo, vowing not to reveal his motivations, is arrested by the police.

As I said earlier, many more films have been based, even loosely, on Shakespeare’s works, and this blog post will return to discuss more of them. But like I also said, only one movie per play, so Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, and Othello are done, with more to follow.

Do you have a favourite movie that is secretly a Shakespeare adaptation? As always, please let me know.

That’s it for me this week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, donate to a food bank, and I’ll see you next week, where I discuss comics for a change.