Marvelous! Or, the Death of Cinema

As the DC Extended Universe nears its inevitable reboot, filmmaker Chris Bell (Failed State, Attention Shoppers, The Winds That Scatter) joins the pod to dissect one of its last offerings in the form of Blue Beetle, a comparatively decent entry from a franchise that's still got another very expensive bowel-movement or two waiting for us. We once again debate the merits and limitations of Hollywood progressivism with this rather earnest if not by-the-numbers origin story for the Jaime Reyes incarnation of Blue Beetle, who according to SOME third mics is more popular than Iron Man if you're going by children's' lunchboxes. More importantly, what is a Blue Beetle and what's his relationship to the School of the Americas? Why did it take until the DCEU was about to be scrapped for parts for a Latino-led superhero movie to get released? Do Toyotas speak to an authentic Latino cultural experience? Did mother Susan Sarandon relish the opportunity to play her mortal enemy Hillary Clinton?
 
If you'd like to see Chris' newest film, Failed State, send him an email at christopherjasonbell@gmail.com. And check out Attention Shoppers and The Winds That Scatter on Means TV. Use promo code CHRISBELL to get 10% off an annual subscription.
 
An extra special thanks to our $10 Executive Producers: JetChiclete, GalaxyPeaBrain, squishward, JayJeffrey, Walt Lewellyn of The Black Casebook, Tropical Doves, jprestonpoole, Lohik, bernventers, and Owen2.
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A sample from our latest patrons-exclusive TVChat, wherein Cole and our long time friend and recurring guest Seqarts continue their retrospective on the 2000s superhero-monster-of-the-week-teen-melodrama Smallville. 

Support us on Patreon if you'd like to hear the rest and other exclusive episodes!

... according to Letterboxd, anyway, but your pals at Marvelous! aren't quite so sanguine. From Phil Lord's tyrannical rule of production to the tedium of infinite Spiders-Men and the so-facile-it-might-be-accidental queer representation — we dig into all the things that keep this (sometimes good) film from achieving the greatness its reputation implies. 

For this episode we relied especially on the following articles:

Spider-Verse Artists Say Working on the Sequel Was ‘Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts’ by Chris Lee

Get Real! Relatability on Demand by Matt Purets, Alisha Hines, and Yalda T. Uhls

Laborious Aesthetics: Visible and Invisible Labor in the Spider-Verse franchise by Jordan Schonig

An extra special thanks to our $10 Executive Producers: JetChiclete, GalaxyPeaBrain, squishward, JayJeffrey, Walt Lewellyn of The Black Casebook, Tropical Doves, jprestonpoole, Lohik, bernventers, Owen2 and Ronnie Gardocki.

If you can, please lend some support to these organizations:

Gaza Funds

PCRF (Palestinian Children's Relief Fund)

MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians)

National Networks of Abortion Funds

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

If you enjoy the show please consider:

Subscribing to our Patreon, where you can enjoy exclusive episodes and other material, like our retrospective on the rest of the Fast and Furious series.

Giving us a positive rating and review on your platform of choice. It really does help!

After concluding our long patreon-exclusive retrospective on the series, we arrive at last back in 2023 with Fast X, the bloated, messy, chaotic beginning of the end for the 'Fast Family'. Along the way we discuss Justin Lin's sudden exit, too much bluescreen, Vatican pinball, Jason Momoa as an evil gay guy, sticking Michelle Rodriguez in a concrete room for most of the movie, alternate storylines, Vin Diesel's social media carnival barking, giant ego and allegations -- it all comes to a big, bald head here with the penultimate installment of this strange, misshapen, yet often lovable mutant of a movie series. 

Note: We relied heavily on the books Fast and Furious Franchising by Dan Hassler-Forest and Welcome to the Family by Barry Hertz to inform our research and discussion of this series.

An extra special thanks to our $10 Executive Producers: JetChiclete, Isaac, squishward, Walt Lewellyn of The Black Casebook, Tropical Doves, jprestonpoole, Lohik, bernventers, and Owen2.

If you can, please lend some support to these organizations:

Gaza Funds

PCRF (Palestinian Children's Relief Fund)

MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians)

National Networks of Abortion Funds

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

If you enjoy the show please consider:

Subscribing to our Patreon, where you can enjoy exclusive episodes and other material, like our retrospective on the rest of the Fast and Furious series.

Giving us a positive rating and review on your platform of choice. It really does help!

Cole's back and they've learned the secret of the orient: not being that mad anymore. 

An extra special thanks to our $10 Executive Producers: JetChiclete, Isaac, squishward, Walt Lewellyn of The Black Casebook, Tropical Doves, jprestonpoole, Lohik, bernventers, and Owen2.

If you can, please lend some support to these organizations:

Gaza Funds

PCRF (Palestinian Children's Relief Fund)

MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians)

National Networks of Abortion Funds

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

If you enjoy the show please consider:

Subscribing to our Patreon, where you can enjoy exclusive subscriber only episodes.