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The Triumphs and Pitfalls of Blue Beetle- Sincerely, two Latinos
We're delving into the character arcs and themes of Blue Beetle, from the dialogue to the character development of Jaime, and the rest of the cast. But that's not all; we discuss the themes of family and power that are woven throughout the film, and we're not afraid to point out its inconsistencies and disappointment in this Latino Superhero Film.
Episode Chapter Markers:
(00:00) - Discussion on Blue Beetle Movie Ratings
(06:33) - Comparing Blue Beetle to DC Movies
(11:54) - Critical Discussion of a Superhero Movie
(27:09) - Flaws in Ethnic Casting
(41:22) - DC Movies and James Gunn's Universe
We're delving into the character arcs and themes of Blue Beetle, from the dialogue to the character development of Jaime, and the rest of the cast. But that's not all; we discuss the themes of family and power that are woven throughout the film, and we're not afraid to point out its inconsistencies and disappointment in this Latino Superhero Film.
Episode Chapter Markers:
(00:00) - Discussion on Blue Beetle Movie Ratings
(06:33) - Comparing Blue Beetle to DC Movies
(11:54) - Critical Discussion of a Superhero Movie
(27:09) - Flaws in Ethnic Casting
(41:22) - DC Movies and James Gunn's Universe
Dude, how was your cinema night? How did you go to the movies? How was it, dude? Did you really like going to the movies tonight? Yeah, yeah, how about you, bro? Don't worry about me, man, I just really want to ask about you. How did you? How did you the movie you saw? You like the movie you saw? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I didn't like it, but it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. Hey everybody. Today is August 23rd on 2023, me and Slick and our friend Tom.
Speaker 1:Newman 2023.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, right, Just came back from watching Blue Beetle, which came out last Thursday, and speaking of cinema night, actually this weekend, slick we were talking about it. Sunday, which is the 27th, is actually cinema day and the movies are going to be $4 that day, supposedly.
Speaker 1:So I want to go on a I want to restart my my barbenheimer that weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you watch barbenheimer that Sunday, that is crazy, bro, that's a.
Speaker 1:Yo, that is crazy, that is crazy.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed it. It was a great. Yeah, it was a great day for cinema, but man it was. I was still in the theaters for a very fucking long time and yeah that's like.
Speaker 1:well, combining three hours plus two hours is five hours. That's five hours in theater. Yeah, Five hours of sitting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I've been thinking about it since. I wonder if it impacted the quality of the second movie I watched. So the second movie I watched was Barbie, and which I liked and it was a good movie, but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I saw it, if I saw it on its own, you know, when I wasn't in the fucking theaters for like five hours already, because Oppenheimer is three hours.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised you guys made it for two days that day. I mean for two movies that day, because after one movie I got to like digest it and then go home, slid it, digest and then get ready for the next one the next day.
Speaker 2:I agree. I agree, but this is a huge occasion it was. It was honestly like it was cool to see people in theaters like and every lot of people did it, and it was nice to see that many people there and that many people excited about a movie in the theaters. It was a great day and I was glad I got to partake in it. So, um, but anyways, today we're going to talk about Blue Beetle. It's funny because we didn't know that we were going to record this episode on this today and we didn't know that we're going to do it on this. But last episode we ended up talking a lot about DC and the Snyderverse and here we are.
Speaker 1:So it's a good follow up. We segue to another episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know Blue Beetle, directed by Angel Manuel Soto, who's a Puerto Rican director. Shout out, yay, Yay, it's all the Puerto Rican's out there. It's not his debut film, but I think it's. It's definitely his biggest film thus far. Ron Simeo's score of 77 and the audience score of 91. What, what'd you think of Blue Beetle's like?
Speaker 1:The rating. Want to get my rating. What would you think? Yeah?
Speaker 2:What's your rating on it right now?
Speaker 1:I'll give it. I like there was a few moments that like I think the most process is decent, like it's not good but it's not bad either. What it's like. I'll give it like uh, what is, what is 50s? 50s are like okay, range, right, nah?
Speaker 2:it's funny, it's 50s. Okay, now it's still. It's still rotten.
Speaker 1:So it's 50s rotten basically right, 50s, 100% around.
Speaker 2:It's 50s failing. You know, if you got a 50 in an exam, that's not.
Speaker 1:You are not passing that, but I know 60s is still, they're still good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean tomato. Some people say a D is passing, some people don't you know 60s, I think is?
Speaker 1:Well, it's not 60s, it's 5.
Speaker 2:I think average personally is 7. 70 is average and I know that's fucking weird for people to say, well, I is in 5 average. Um, because we're not rating.
Speaker 1:Because I've seen tomatoes with 50s and it's still like plump. It's still red 50s. Nah, no way yeah yeah, just some, unless they change the algorithm. Back in my day, back in my round tomatoes days, 50s was just okay.
Speaker 2:When at least 60% of reviews for the movie are positive or red tomatoes displayed. Less than 60 is not positive. It'll be a splat.
Speaker 1:That's interesting, all right? Well, okay, I'll give it like a 54. A 54.
Speaker 2:I am honestly surprised that it's it's doing as well as it is on round tomatoes. Somebody had to pay these mofas out. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I wonder who the reviewers are.
Speaker 2:It's definitely not that bad. I don't think it's that bad so.
Speaker 1:It's better than the, than the, the like in earlier DC movies.
Speaker 2:That's, that's for sure. I agree. Um, if I had to rate the movie, I would give it also a 50. I would also give it a 50.
Speaker 1:But it, you know, it has potential.
Speaker 2:It has potential, just a 50. It has potential, you know what? All right, maybe like a honestly 58. You're right, I'd give it a 58 because I think it has potentials and it and it, the things that it gets right uh, it really does get right and I appreciate it. Um, but compared to all the Marvel movies, is it better than like, let's go through it, let's go to start with like Marvel movies? Is it better than Iron man, the Incredible Hulk, Iron man 2, thor, captain America, the Avengers, hell, no. Is it better than Iron man 3?
Speaker 1:I think so Wait, is it?
Speaker 2:better than Avengers. I'm saying no, it's not better than Avengers. It's not better than any of the movies I said already. Is it better than Iron man 3? Yes. Is it better than Thor, the Dark World? Yes, absolutely. Um, is it better than Ant-Man? Personally, I'm not a big Ant-Man guy. I thought those movies were kind of really lame. Childish, yeah, childish, and, like you know, paul Rudd's great. You know some of the parts were funny, but I'm not. I didn't think they were that good. And Blue Beetle definitely, conceptually, is way cooler than Ant-Man. So let's see Thor Ragnarok.
Speaker 1:What did you say is better than the new Ant-Man that came out early this year?
Speaker 2:Yes, the Quantum.
Speaker 1:Mania yes.
Speaker 2:It is better than Quantum Mania. The only thing that Quantum Mania has that this movie doesn't have, and this movie has a pretty good villain in Care Packs. Yeah, In Care Packs they had a fucking. They had Kang the Conqueror, who was played by none other than Jonathan Majors. So that's what Ant-Man Quantum Mania has, Jonathan Majors. Jonathan Majors brah like ass. But you know, like I just named a couple of movies, this is definitely better than. It's better than Ant-Man and the Wasp, I think. And as far as DC goes, it's. It's better than Aquaman. That's to percentage. Sure it's better than Aquaman. It's better than Joe Hex. It's way better than Green Lantern. It's better than the original Suicide Squad. It's, in my personal opinion, it's better than. It's better than Justice League. To me, I think it's better than Shazam.
Speaker 2:Oh, I like just, it's better than Wonder Woman 1984. My personal opinion.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:It's like so look, it's not good, it's not a good movie, but it's. It's a step in the right direction, I think, and it and it had a lot of potential. So, right off the bat, for those who don't know one, I've been reading comics for a long time and I'm definitely, when it comes to reading comics, a Bigger DC fan than I am a Marvel fan. So I have to go out and watch these, these movies, especially when the superheroes Latin based, hispanic based, especially when the directors Puerto Rican. So I was pretty excited about this blue beetle. There are different renditions.
Speaker 2:I've read the comics when Ted cord was blue beetle or when Jaime Ramiz was blue beetle. They're two different characters. The story for Jaime is that there's an alien scarab from an alien planet that comes and they're known as, like a world destroyer, and it chooses a host and it chooses Jaime Reyes and he gives them superpowers, it gives them a sue and, like, he can make any weapons he wants, he can fly, he has regeneration, it it Impews itself in his DNA and they become like the symbiotic, very much kind of like venom, honestly, very much like venom. Except the original blue beetle was Ted cord, who actually didn't have the scarab, choose him. He used the scarab to kind of power and influence a lot of his weapons. But he was a genius. He had like an IQ of like 192 and he was, according to the comics, smarter than Batman. He was skilled in martial art. He had like Olympic athleticism. So I mean the dude, I was a superhero in his own right. You know he went out there, he made a suit and you know he fought crime. He was very silly and all his stuff was very, very like his gadgets Always had like beetle logos on them or like beetle inspired ship was called the bug. But the new one, the new 52 blue beetle.
Speaker 2:And Jaime Reyes is different. He's a young guy. In the movie he's graduating college. From when I read in In the comics he was graduating high school, so they aged them a little bit more for the movies. And he's Mexican American, coming from Mexican family in Paloma city, which is another made-up city that DC made. All right. So let's start here, since I give you kind of the wait, ted court is a.
Speaker 1:When was he originated?
Speaker 2:when Ted court is in the comics. I want to say, like 1950s is when he came out of comics, wow.
Speaker 1:I don't even know. Blue beetle was one way back as nuts.
Speaker 2:He was in the Justice League. The first appearance was in Captain Adam 83 in 1966. Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's way back.
Speaker 2:I didn't, I didn't, I didn't know he was yeah, he ends up being the Justice League and then being a big part of Justice League International and Court industries are pretty important. In the comics they rival star, which is more popular. It's in the spider-man comics and was in the video games, but same same concept, more or less court industries.
Speaker 1:Is. He is court, is court family. They're Brazilian right no they're white.
Speaker 2:They're white Right in the movies. Ted court Marys, brazilian, has a daughter, jenner and Jenny cord. Yeah, that's why she was Brazilian. Yeah, but let's start off with this movie, since you have the concept down of his superpowers, his origin and, and, I guess, the family and you know why. It was kind of different in the new 52 or when. The new 52 is like when they rebooted all the comics for those of you that don't know, in DC. I mean, it was cool what happened when me and slickery younger and we're all about it, it was huge, I think.
Speaker 2:Dc is doing way better than Marvel. Back then, the new 52 Everybody was getting and they had great writers and Scott Snyder for Batman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a stack green Lancer. We're buying everything. We came in at a right time. Yeah, we came in at a right time. We came in like when they just started. I think, right, yeah, um, that's just that was beast, that was a beast arrow.
Speaker 2:It really was. And then and then, after Marvel really hit it off with the movies DC. I wasn't being able to keep up since and we talked about this before and I'll talk about this earlier. It's just like the Marvel movies they are winning because they're not hooking just the comic book fans, they're hooking regular people by making good movies, you know. But DC, only people who are comic book fans are going to watch blue beetle. I don't even know if people know blue beetles out right now. Honestly and I have I have no right To try and get one of those guys to watch it because that movie wasn't good objectively.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would recommend that.
Speaker 2:It's hard for me to recommend that but it it did have its moments and I'm excited to talk about it. I really am, because the things that it got right. It kind of gives me hopeful for the future and, as much as I'm Trashing it, I'm telling you I think that it's worth it and if you're a DC head or I think you're gonna find a lot of things I think it's a latino or latina I think you're gonna find a lot of the qualities in this movie that you're like. Yeah, you know they hit that that nail on the head and that was good. I wish they did some things better, but you know they're on the right track. So, uh, what are the things that you you didn't like about the movie? What I didn't like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, right off the bat, I don't like. I didn't like the inconsistency between, like, the moral dilemma between the family and the main character of the not killing. No, first of all, this is going to be spoiler. Yeah, I don't know if we did absolutely free warning.
Speaker 2:I don't think I have no warning. I'm about to spoil it. Right now. I don't think anybody's watching this movie, so we might as well let them know what the movie is about.
Speaker 1:Um, what, what else do you need? There's gonna be. Yeah, so there was a more dilemma of, like the main character not wanting to kill but like the family, towards the end of the movie, when they're trying to rescue this guy, the main character. They basically was held captive by like Court and corporation, whatever the fuck they're called. They were like an evil corporation and they were like they had the guns and everything and they had like the Uh, a scapegoat machine that they were inside and they were gonna rescue hymen and they would just start killing people. There was the grandmother had a galing gun. She started killing people, fuckin uh. There was a character named uh, what was his name? George Lopez, was it ray?
Speaker 2:rudy was no.
Speaker 1:Rudy. Rudy had was controlling the scare of and he was stabbing people.
Speaker 2:I didn't mind that. I like that they're killing people, but I fucking I didn't.
Speaker 1:I didn't. I didn't like that. The main character didn't want to kill. Like if you're gonna make them kill and he's seeing it and he's like chairing them on, they might, as he might as well, just kill it too. It was just a major inconsistency. There's no, I just didn't like that, that direction of writing, and even he was supporting them. You know Like it just doesn't make sense, it's true.
Speaker 2:Well, that goes back to the biggest problem with hymen, who's played by Zolo Maria, who got big from the Cobra Kai Netflix show, which was originally a youtube show. He got big from that and they used him and honestly I never really thought he was that bad of an actor. I think he's a great crier, but in this movie he was not that good. One of my biggest stripes of the movie was that acting was not good.
Speaker 1:But same thing like Acting trash, but to your point, for his 10 minutes I'm like oh yeah, I saw some. I saw some seeds. Yeah, I was not, I was cringing, I was making acting is it's so important for these movies?
Speaker 2:because, look, it's already You're talking about comic book shit and very much like anime comic book shit is gonna happen. You know that just isn't Believable or it's not good, but you know it's like the typical tropes. So you need to have good actors to really ground the audience. That needs to be very like a priority. But but as you're saying, like, yeah, jaime was his, his, I guess, most prominent quality was they didn't want to kill people, but his family didn't mind and that's okay. But that's the only thing that they gave us for Jaime. Very much like Venom.
Speaker 2:I don't like the Venoms. I think they're trash, because the whole time it really feels like Tom Hardy is not even the character he doesn't want to fight. Every time they're fighting it really feels like Venoms completely taking control. So when they're getting his as be, he's always just like Venom, come help me out, or like nothing feels like Tom Hardy plays a role in it. You know he's just a host. And they do the same thing for Jaime, where it's like yeah, like like Jaime doesn't do anything, he can't fight, there's nothing, you don't know if he can fight. He's not athletic at all. They don't ever show that he's athletic and then he's whooping people's ass and he's asking for help from Kazida the whole time. You're just like this guy is literally just the suit. He's just a host. His only quality in the whole movie. The only time you get to see him be a hero is when he decides not to kill somebody and then his family ends up killing people. So yeah, I guess you're right. The other very.
Speaker 1:This seems where he's like ruining his grandma. Keep go, grandma. And he's like shredding people. It's like bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's true, his whole thing is like don't kill anybody that his grandma fucking Gatling gun? Machine guns like fucking 10 motherfuckers yeah just cheering them on.
Speaker 1:You know, the writing was bad.
Speaker 2:The writing wasn't good enough and it's kind of like Tom said, and especially like there's a lot of like. Obviously, jaime is talking to the symbiote that controls body, kaji dial, which is the name, and there's a lot of dialogue where he's like what is that? What's going on. What is it? What are they doing when we can see what they're doing? It's like dumb questions like what is that? It's a guy running at you full-fledged with a body of armor like don't, we can see what's going on.
Speaker 1:You know that's not it's not good when he gets stabbed and he's like, oh my god, what'd you do to me?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's like oh, what is that dog? You got stabbed, bro, what's what's up? And and he and I know he's not a bad actor and it's really tough to Distinguish if it's bad acting or bad script, because George Lopez, we know, isn't a bad actor and there were moments in there that were cringe. Suzanne serendon is not a bad actress. Oh, she was in like rock or show and stuff and and she wasn't very believable.
Speaker 1:Her character was the worst.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bruno Maudencine, which was the like of another. She was a pretty big character. She's plays Jen cord, who's the daughter of Ted cord, and she's actually making her first appearance in the movie. She does not exist in the comic books, neither does uncle Rudy. Um, she wasn't that bad, but when she had scenes with Victoria cord, susan serendon, they were not good. None of it was believable. They could have done a lot. The grandma Nana, who's played by Adriana bizara, and the mother, who's played by El Pidi a carillo. They were not good actors. They were not good actresses. They were so bad. It hurt me really bad.
Speaker 1:Who's the main antagonist name?
Speaker 2:Victoria cord.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, victoria, yeah, she was that, I'm talking about her. She was the worst character.
Speaker 2:I was not convinced, yeah she's funny because she's a good actress, but she was very evil. But they didn't give her anything other than the fact that she was evil.
Speaker 1:And if you're gonna do that, that's fine, but then evil.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then you need to put more emphasis on the other villain, carapax, who's played by railroad through G, who I thought was a good actor and a really cool character, who they also changed his whole like origin story, because Originally he's an architect who goes to investigate an island when he finds a secret lab by Jarvis cord, who's the grandfather of Ted and Victoria cord, and he finds a robot and when he touches it he becomes like electrocuted, loses control of his body and like his soul and mind gets stuck in this Indestructible robot. Then he goes on killing motherfuckers and you know he shows up in a couple comics but he, I think, is Blue Beetle's main rival.
Speaker 1:This guy, that actress. Yeah, hurt me seeing her act like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wasn't good, it's, it's really cool. So, like I said, the old blue beetle he was Ted court, theodore cord and his sister's Victoria cord, and she's kind of the smarter one in the recent comics. She wasn't as evil as she was in this movie. In the comics she did some weird stuff but she wasn't like that. But um, she you know, ted cords missing in this movie and she's in charge and she wants to, like you know, take the company in a different direction. When their father died and passed on, who was gonna keep the company gave it to Ted cord and Victoria. She was really salty about that. So when, when Ted went missing and she took over, she just wants to like, build technology and like, change the diversion, do whatever the fuck she wants, make an army. So that's her whole thing, you know, which is okay, that's fine. I didn't think she was all that bad, but I'll take it.
Speaker 2:The let's see other things, other things you don't like here. We talked about this very briefly and Tom mentioned it and it's something I never really thought about before is true, dc needs to stop with these made-up towns and cities. Like I said, there's already like this imaginary concept. It's really hard to ground the audience and making Paloma City instead of Miami or you know somewhere in Texas. It's not a good idea, it's. It's just weird and the way that Victoria played out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the way, the only, like we said, the only thing I didn't get away with this Gotham. Gotham's the only one you can get away with, but other than that, use real cities, bro. Nobody, nobody knows, nobody can name where flashes from. It doesn't make anybody kind of proud and you need people to feel connected to these characters. Another thing yo, in this movie, victoria cords like straight up set like a fucking army with helicopters and guns to this random town In the family and, no, there's no police to be found. Nobody cares, like these guys are fucking Government though.
Speaker 1:right the court?
Speaker 2:No, of course you know, and if they are, you need to make some correlation here. Man, you need to connect us to some type of cuz.
Speaker 1:I remember in the beginning of the movie she had a helicopter and she was like she flowed down to the base and a little yeah is she part of the army?
Speaker 2:There's no, nothing made sense. They need to connect us to reality. I understand as a comic book, and I know that sounds really weird, but Marvel does it, bro, they do it. There was those other than the acting and the script.
Speaker 1:And lines. You mentioned it before. There was too much, too much reliance on dialogue, like there was not enough visual storytelling and too much reliance on dialogue. It's true, and I'm just pointing out the obvious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right. And Raul through you, who plays the villain, care packs? He is a half body, half robot. You know, half body war veteran lieutenant who had, you know, was taken by you know some South American or Central American. I don't know if he's Mexican or not. I think he's Mexican.
Speaker 2:He was made as like, captured by the military, made to fight a war, and then he watches his mother die Through an A-POM strike. And then he looks at the missile and it's named after court industries. You know, they're kind of like the stark industries of these things, like they were making weapons, and for some strange reason he's working with the courts now. It doesn't make sense, bro. And then he's carrying around this little like necklace with a with a gold heart and inside there's a picture of his mother and him, and the whole time he's saying shit like your love for your family makes you weak. When he's fighting, hate high me. That doesn't make sense. And then at the end he says some shit like oh, my memories are back to the Victoria cord before he kills her and you're just like your memories are gone, like you're telling me this right now. It's like ten movies to the movie ends like this is fucking crazy. This is not. This is horrible writing. What are you doing? What's going on here? It wasn't good. Oh, I was like yeah that was.
Speaker 1:I was super lackluster. The ending I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah and man, it was not. It was not a funny movie. It hurt every time they made a joke that they thought was gonna be funny and it wasn't it was. How are you missing that, bro? Who's the funny person that's telling them that these jokes are funny because it's not good.
Speaker 1:It's really was pretty funny. I think I was probably Rudy at his moments most funny in that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, george Lopez. George Lopez had his moments, sure, sure, but you know, very but he had a lot of moments that weren't funny either, and it wasn't, it wasn't his fault most of most of the scenes were cringe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, this is. This is a problem with superhero movies. They make a lot of it's too light-hearted, yeah it can be both DC and Marvel. Like it's, like it gets way too light.
Speaker 2:At least Marvel's funny. At least Marvel's funny.
Speaker 1:Not for me. I'm kind of it's played out for me at this point Now.
Speaker 2:Guards the galaxy three made me laugh a lot. Made me laugh a lot.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen that yet.
Speaker 2:That's a, that's a banger. It's on Disney right now. That's just. It's a good movie. So yeah there's. So there's things we did wrong. We talked about the plot a little bit. It was weird, not very good aligned, the acting was bad, the script was bad, but it had had potential. And once again, I'm gonna say this again Jaime had no nothing to him as a character. And then they did the same thing with the comics. This guy isn't an athlete, he's not martial arts, it's not super smart, he's not a super good person and I'm sure he is, but they don't ever show me. You know, his family was amazing. His family was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's it, and he did one thing I liked about the movies that they definitely added like the family was More attached to the plot, which I didn't expect, and I thought that was something I you don't really see in superhero movies.
Speaker 2:You know, Mostly like the family would be introduced and then they would like forget about it and move on, but they were a big part of this film and that's what makes this superhero so exciting for me is, like that's true, like I'm glad that he does not try to hide his identity from his family. You know, that's something that I think it's an overplay trope and I like that. I love how important family is. That's ethnic, you know, us Latinos, latinos, you know. Like that is family, like family is everything for us, you know, and I love that they put that in.
Speaker 2:But the way they put it in was just a little bit too cheesy. I mean, it wasn't well done. The things I did, like all the scenes with the father played by Damian Al-Qassad were amazing. They were like legit, like they brought a lot of much for me. Like if that movie continued at that capacity, it could have made me cry. But the scenes with the father explaining how important the family is, you know, not really knowing what his destiny is, and just like you know, losing the house, having a heart attack, and just like working and working and like hey, don't worry, we're going to figure this all out Like I love that, you know.
Speaker 1:His death scene in this movie was very impactful. It was super powerful, definitely the most powerful moment throughout the whole film.
Speaker 2:That has to be one of the most brutal deaths in comic book movies that we've seen Like for somebody to experience like their father, yeah, the darkest.
Speaker 1:For real. I agree that shit was rough. That was like damn Jaime's getting kidnapped.
Speaker 2:He lost basically a fight and he's getting kidnapped and while he's getting dragged away, his father's having a heart attack dying right in front of him and he's just screaming, wishing he could do something he can't, and he gets kidnapped and taken away and his father dies, you know, there, with the family surrounding him. It was a good scene.
Speaker 1:Every actor, like the acting on that scene, was great, like everybody around that scene that particular scene did great, yeah, and especially the crying through that I was impressed. I've the movie had more scenes like that, like less lightheartedness and more, much more of a serious tone. I would have liked them much more. Yeah, I think that potential would have definitely be reached if I just had a bit more serious tone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's hard to have those serious tones with actors at that caliber, and this is something that I feel like is it's tough, for in my personal opinion, there has to be some fucking like white guy, head honcho, who thinks that they're doing the right thing. But you got, you got. You got a Puerto Rican director, cool. I'm sure the actors and actress are Mexican, spanish, latino, hispanic, what have you. I'm sure they all put it in there, but just because somebody units.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just because they got somebody who knows the Latin experience, it's not enough. You know, I'm sure they got these actors and actresses to play the grandma, the mother, the sister, because they can speak Spanish and they know the authentic Latino experience. And then they've seen the struggle and that's why they picked up. They're like you, you don't even need to act. You are the grand, a Mexican grandmother, you are a Mexican mother, you are a Mexican father. But then they don't realize that these people aren't actors and you put them in front of a camera. They still have to act.
Speaker 2:You know, you, still you can't just act as yourself, casually, in front of a camera and get away with it. Some people can do it, like Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise. They just kind of act like themselves and it works out and they're believable. Not everybody can do that, you know, and there are Latinos and Latinos and actors and actresses who do have the authentic experience and can act. You know they exist. We need to find them. You can't just pick somebody, because they know the experience, expect something artistic and something with quality to come out. It's not going to work, you know, and they do that. They'll be like you. You, yes, you are Spanish you or Latino, or Latina, hispanic, whatever, you know how to act this You've experienced it You're going to do great. That doesn't always translate. You still need to know how to act. They exist.
Speaker 1:Yeah, these, these type of stories are important, man, like they're, like it's important to to make it good. You have to do it right, man you have the people you got to, you got to make it. You know you can't, just you can't be lazy about it, Like they got the components but they don't. They're not putting in the work and I put in the effort you have the intent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you have it. I understand you're trying to do the right thing by getting these actually ethnic people to do you know, who live the life to do it, but I'm telling you that they also still need to be above average. It's talented, you know, and they exist. They exist, I know they exist. You just have to look a little bit harder. I bet you feel like you're doing the right thing. Dude, that mother actress, bro, there's no way like that's the best you can find bro there's.
Speaker 2:there's no way, dude Like that can't be it, bro. The scene at the end, when they're flying out and she's shaking the steering wheel, screaming, was I was like oh man. Oh man dude, holy shit. I hope I can find a clip of that shit when I watch this it like, so I can make a video out of it. It's crazy, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:It's great, that's really great, and then you know after it gets good yeah, after it gets kidnapped and, you know, the father dies, they have the scene where the grandma, you know, gathers the family, the old Rudy and the little sister and the mother and now that was a grandma, you know has a speech is like hey, look like we don't have time for self pity right now. All in Spanish. We have time for self pity right now. We can do that later. Right now we have something to do. We're going to go rescue Jaime and do our stuff.
Speaker 2:I love that because it's very much, it's true, like it's something we talk about all the time with Latinos and, and I've seen a lot of plots where I feel like a lot of the new age stuff is like, oh, you get hit with these racist things that happen to you as a brown or black person, as a minority, and a lot of the new age stuff is them sitting there complaining and like, whoa is me? But that's not what our culture is. We get that shit. We're like I bet we're going to have to break through this, do better, and when we make it, we'll write a book about it and talk about how this shit fucking sucked, but at the time, you're not going to sit there and be like, oh, this person treated me poorly, blah, blah, blah. That's not in our culture, bro. We don't do that, you know. We suck it up and then we'll take care of that shit later.
Speaker 2:But, self pity, we have too much pride for that shit and I love that she was trying to like say that, but it's too bad that the acting was fucking horrible and that at the end of the day, there's this 90 year old who, 80 year old, who ends up getting a gaitling gun and shooting people and like organizing the entire game plan to save this guy from a military fortress. That's what happens. She gives a speech, then GenCord comes. They get into the bug, which is literally a blue beetle spaceship. Sounds crazy, which I don't mind. Whatever, it was an ode to the comics and as they're on their way to the prison to save Jaime, nana, who's like an eight year old, is sitting there planning the entire thing and it's really silly and it's just like what's what's happening.
Speaker 1:And they're like hinting, like yo did you go to war?
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's like, oh yeah she fought the imperialists in her country back in the day. All right, look, that can all be true, and I get it. This is a comic book thing, but we need to do better than that, bro. It was like it wasn't good, right, it wasn't well done.
Speaker 1:That was. Yeah, they were just trying to make that funny. It was just like nah, that was it, sorry guys.
Speaker 2:I'm not connected to this.
Speaker 1:I'm not detained yeah.
Speaker 2:So, in my personal opinion, things that could have been no better, because it did have a potential. Like I said, the father scenes were great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and he has and he has another you know moment with his son after his death, in the mind of Jaime, where he's like look like, this is your purpose, like, my purpose is to be here to help you realize and get you to your maximum potential, which is a very parent thing to say, you know, and I love that.
Speaker 2:It was a good scene, but I think in the beginning it should have been like this no dialogue, introduction of, like, the father and the family crossing the border, working the four jobs, doing all this stuff, getting Jaime, because it starts off. The movie starts off with Jaime landing from graduating college with a degree in pre-law from Gotham, and that is a big deal for Latinos, you know there's not many people who graduate college, you know, for their families. And in how is the audience just supposed to know that? You know what I'm saying? Like, start off, like showing the day across boys, show the family doing that and then, while you're showing that and all these struggles without dialogue, you can show care packs, who was a kid who got taken by the military, forced to fight, you know, struggling, growing up, does well, still loves his family, still has a mother and then watches the mother die.
Speaker 1:That would have been a cool intro you know, something like that would get me involved in it. It would have been a better approach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's realistic and it's showing something without the dialogue. You know, cuz I get it, like the directors definitely Spanish. We got to see a lot of cool shit. We saw fucking like don Francisco, you know, on on the TV and shit, and they made a lot of joke about old. You saw El Chacal, the guy playing the trumpet from Don Francisco. We saw like an old Mexican cartoon and they talk about these old novellas like we get it. That thing's cool and stuff. I'm glad you put that in. But there's more to the Latin experience than that that shit. You know, you're just kind of like pandering and showing me that you're Spanish. But I know, I know, I know those shows, I grew up with them. But what about everybody else? What about the audience? You know?
Speaker 1:What about? The story is a story good story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Is the the plot good? Yeah, let me, get me that. I. I appreciate it. But I would appreciate it more if you just put it ever to make a real Good written film, you know yeah that would be more appreciative and now's the way more.
Speaker 2:It's true, that's what string about the movie. You're right, the things that the dialogue, that the Latinos are saying. You're right, that is our culture, the not self-pitting, the pride, how important family is, how strong the family is, the struggle, crossing border, working three jobs and things the family did for that. That's all true, but just saying out loud, like White people, if you're not Latino, you hear it all the time. You hear it on the news, like you have an opportunity here to show an Audience the experience, to make them feel it, but they did not deliver it Well, and it's so.
Speaker 1:Come on. Potential was like you said. The potential was there. Man, yeah, just there.
Speaker 2:You need to, just need to push it, just push, yeah, and and the relationship with Kaji da, who's the alien symbiote in the body, was not really ever Enriched either, like she was just a voice, and then they try to make her significant and give her personality. At the end I'm like you can't just do that. You can't. There has to be a relationship between these two people. Instead, they wanted that really lame scene where he gets taken by the blue beetle and then he goes to space, then he goes down, he's testing all his weapon, breaks a bus, all this other shit. That was like fucking, like six minutes of this dumb ass shit. You could have replaced us on the house.
Speaker 1:I Agree, I was like I was, I was played out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and even like Kaji da, like you remember what's that alien anime when the alien takes over this guy's arm, meegee.
Speaker 1:Oh parasite parasite.
Speaker 2:Like you know, like I was thinking, like you could have made like like there was like parasite, was like trying to understand the human Nature, and you know they're just like googling and just like asking a question like why are you guys do this, why do you guys do that? And it's so like mechanical, it's like so robotic the way the alien thinks, because the aliens are always thinking like this is your percentage to die, we just want to survive, but slowly. After asking all these questions, the alien realizes like alright, like this is human nature to care about family and friends and empathy and relationships, and kind of putting Statistics and logics behind you for the sake of feelings, you know, and that would have been a cool thing to have Kaji da do. Instead, they didn't do any of that. Instead of that fucking scene where they're going to space, all that shit you show in the trailer, you could have had her Experiencing the human you know component of earth and life and humanity, and that would have been cool I'm guessing.
Speaker 1:In the comic she was a.
Speaker 2:They had like a strong relationship right between Jaime and you know and it's funny that you say that and I mentioned it to you earlier the comics which I've read only because I was really excited about a Latin, you know, superhero, and the whole thing is also not that good. They miss it, they miss the mark with that all the time, with Kaji da and there I think they're trying to fix it. The last blue beetle comic came out was called graduation day, was a six-part series and basically the alien force that's coming Originally from where Kaji doc comes from is is, you know, on its way and they have to, like you, kind of dig into the backstory. But it's really not good. Like there's no relationship with Kaji da and Jaime and once again, there's nothing that makes Jaime spectacular. He, he's not like a martial artist, he's not super smart, he's not like a work. Ethic is crazy, you know, he's just a regular dude from pre-law yeah like they need to do something about that.
Speaker 2:In the beginning of the movie, though, you do get to see the other Beatles in graduation day. You do get, so you get introduced to basically like the yellow beetle, the green beetle.
Speaker 1:They also possess people from like around the world as hosts and and are they similar to like Green Lantern, where they it's like it's very evil?
Speaker 2:Some of them yeah, I think all of them are good eventually, oh, in the comics. So they kind of like I think maybe they'll eventually make a team or something. But the color scheme, yeah, we're like there's like different Beatles, but they more or less have the same power Obviously. I remember like the yellow beals, like a little bit more brolic. They kind of have like different weapons systems, but it was yeah, personalities. Yeah, yeah, I mean like all, they all have different human hosts. So okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was, it was cool. That seems cool. A lot of the stuff conceptually is cool and visually is really cool in the comics, but they just they're really bad at kind of just hitting that. They have no delivery bro.
Speaker 2:And there's something I told you about earlier too, that they do in the comics that I'm not too sure I agree with is that they have a lot of Spanish dialogue without translation. It's just like I'm so proud of like being Latino I really am, I love it, and at the older I get, the more proud I am so like, I'm very like passionate about like getting other people involved in our culture, and there's more to that Than just, you know, like saying we're, we're Hispanic. You know, and you know dancing around and all this other shit that we like, like I want people to understand and experience. You know what it's like, you know it's important and that's kind of like fun. And when people do it wrong, I'm just like, come on, guys, do better. Don't just wave the flag around in front of their face and expect them to fucking understand. You know, like, show them a story, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, you know, it's really frustrating.
Speaker 2:You know. But you know James Gunn said this is, this is the beginning of the fucking gun universe.
Speaker 1:But he didn't partake in any creation, and so I wish he did it's off to a stinky start.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I wish he was there, man, and it's very frustrating.
Speaker 1:Like they, they they had like the depth, they could have gone way deeper you know, yeah, yeah, they could have they could have. Yeah, I can't tell if, like, they just didn't have enough time or they just decided to cut out all the good parts, or it just didn't have the budget wasn't there, I don't know. I don't know the reason why, or maybe the ideas didn't come off right. I mean, I just I can't find an explanation on why they didn't just Like. I guess that goes for a little bit more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that goes for all of the DC movies. Man, there, I don't know they're missing something. Wonder Woman I was so sad and I'm really sad that Gal Gadot is potentially Wonder Woman. Yeah, I think she's a horrible cast for Wonder Woman. I think they have a chance to fucking cast someone who's actually I think there's such a negative opinion Dylan, like they think like very like in shape woman or like, you know, stocky woman, like it's a masculine thing, it's not sexual Like cast Wonder Woman as somebody who's stocky, like Bill, you know. Like let's get rid of that. Wonder Woman should be, she should be, you know, an athlete, you know fucking like in the comics, exactly.
Speaker 2:Instead, you got this fucking yeah, this action is fucking well like 110 soaking wet bro. Probably you know all she does is like fucking air squads. No fans got to get up and be do train more.
Speaker 1:I don't fucking know, but all I'm saying is that she was in the army, though, which is interesting.
Speaker 2:I mean that was part of her culture. Everybody in Israel has to go to the army, everybody. It's mandatory. I was in the army, it was pretty cool yeah, but you know what I'm saying. Like you have a chance to kind of just get like you know, like break the mold. You can be cool, you can be cool. How are you butchering all of this? Oh, man.
Speaker 1:The 1984, that shit was like baby Jesus. Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:Oh, I wish that.
Speaker 1:I could do this, this, that, and I wish that you were going to be like that and I wish that something. Something, bro, don't go that. I wish I couldn't believe that was the plot, bro. I get I'm like many way watching the movie and I'm like dude, there's no way this is like the real thing. This is the actual plot of the film. They have to make wishes in order for shit, to make the, make the plot continue and make the story go forward. They have to rely on wishes Nuts it's true.
Speaker 2:Let me look up the DC movie. Is DC upcoming movies? Let's see what. If there's anything to look forward to here. There's Aquaman, the Lost Kingdom, yeah. I don't watch Aquaman I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do with that, there's the new Joker movie, unrelated to the new, you know, james Gunn versus the musical bro. Yep, there's Superman Legacy coming out in 2025.
Speaker 1:Who's what you know, I forgot his name. He's been he's in a lot of like a theater and musical Lin Manuel, miranda, right that's his name, right yeah. What if he's in them, the musical.
Speaker 2:I won't be too happy about that, Unfortunately. I think Lin Manuel is awesome. Hamilton Hamilton is great. Look, but you can. You can spot a Lin Manuel song from a mile away. Bro, Kind of has kind of like the same things bro, but and he's talented. But maybe just go to do your shit with Disney. It works for Disney, but don't, don't raise your. The Joker. Joker's gonna do great, though. Still directed by Todd Phillips executive. Produced by James.
Speaker 1:Gunn. I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah, james Gunn is going to evolve?
Speaker 2:I think they might. Yeah, I think they might try to make it into the universe honestly Joker, but we'll see. Yeah, I do Damn. Superman Legacy 2025, the Batman Part II 2025. That seems to be the only things in line right now for James Gunn's new universe. It seems also very very far away.
Speaker 1:Part two Batman Part.
Speaker 2:II. I'm not too sure. I think that it's a conversation that's happening right now, but it has been confirmed. I really hope not, well, you don't know what the new universe is going to be. Yeah, but you're right, it is too cool. Batman is too good to be mixed in with the new Beatles, the new vlog and the atmosphere and villains are just like.
Speaker 1:We have our own universe. We're okay by ourselves. We don't need a James Gunn. No offense, james Gunn is great, but I rather. You know I'm very a prideful Batman fan. We should just be on our own island, our own bubble. What are you going to say, superman? What?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, james Gunn announced that his projects are going to be released in like chapters, similar to like Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first chapter he's calling Chapter One, gods and Monsters, and it's officially going to kick off Superman Legacy in 2025, which he is directing and writing. So that's really going to be the first one really of James Gunn's universe.
Speaker 1:So this is the end count. No, no, no, no, no, no at least from what I know it's part of the Snyder, because it did come out the one that Snyder moves, the first one.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's not mixed in with anything, so I'm not sure if it was. You know they tried to put in Superman at the end of the first one because Shazam, superman, we're supposed to be like a thing. But yeah, that turned out.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that's all, blue beetle. Did we recommend it? No, but do you want to see it anyways? Sure, it's up to you. Want to see how bad it is? Fine, it's up to you. Well, be warned you. Yeah, there was only a few good moments. I say it's decent because those few moments I liked, so that's why I'm giving it just a decent 54. You know, there's not much to say, still kind of dooky. But what do you expect from superhero movies these days? That's what you're going to get. I'm just done with the lightheartedness man. I just want more serious tone movies, I agree.
Speaker 2:It's kind of what makes DC different from Marvel, honestly. So they should definitely capitalize on that, and they can, but they're going to have to, in a weird way, like really ground a lot of their superhero stuff a little bit more, which is why I don't really like Superman. He's too OP, but you can ground him, there is a way, because the dark knight or the new Batman's very heavily grounded, like motherfucker Ron Patterson was getting his ass whooped, often by fucking minions. It was real, you know, and they need to do that with these movies. They need to like give these people powers but also make them seem like they could be beaten.
Speaker 1:Oh, this is one thing I forgot to mention too. Things you reminded me, the weapons and blue beetle, that shit was pretty repetitive until the end with the big ass the blasters Every time you got a cool ass weapon. No, no, I don't want to kill, don't do that. Back to blasters. This is true, it's very true Sounding blasters. I was just like bro yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean she said she could imagine anything. It could have been worse, bro and I in Green Lancer, and that they could. He also imagine anything and he imagined like a NASCAR going down the fucking NASCAR tracks. It was not good. So other DC movies that James Gunn has has lined up is other than Superman Legacy is the Brave and the Bolt, and Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow and Swamp Thing.
Speaker 1:Supergirl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sir.
Speaker 1:Let's go, we're in the same. Supergirl from Flash, right? I'm not sure, Like what do you mean? I mean you should, yeah, the same Supergirl from Flash. He's going to make a movie out there, right.
Speaker 2:Oh, that Supergirl from Flash. I'm not sure if it's going to be the same Supergirl. She has said she hasn't heard any word. That was once again. That was kind of part of the old Snyderverse. I don't know if she's going to be used in the new Supergirl. Oh yeah, yeah, so we'll see. But anyway, I think that's that man. You got anything else. You got anything else for the people?
Speaker 1:Nah, man, it's 54. It's okay for me. I mean, you still think it's dookie. That's okay with two. I agree that with the poor writing and the plot development character it could have been better. But you know, if he says ass I won't correct you.
Speaker 2:But I'm glad we supported it still, it had potential. Yeah, we can do this, guys, we can do this.
Speaker 1:We just work a little bit harder, it's all we need. Use some chat. Gbt, the Marvel chat. Yo, we're at Aschat, gbt bro.
Speaker 2:Honestly, they'll tell you. Even the AI will fucking tell you. So they got me. Yeah, all right, guys. Well, thanks for coming. We'll probably record very soon. We have Cinema Day this Sunday, so we're definitely going to check something out. So, peace, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.