(BP)

Yeah, I think if nothing else the sequel vindicates Nicole Perlman to a degree. Gunn definitely should have had a co-writer break the story with him and then he could've done his thing to it and expand from there.

I said this when Paxton died, but I really have to sit down and watch Frailty again.

GOTG2 is enjoyable, but it's not really structured in any way other than to pop the audience every few minutes. Gunn's instinct that the characters would be the heart of the franchise was wise, but he essentially made a hangout movie with some action beats. There's no Macguffin driving the movie like in most Marvel films. They get to where they need to by the third act, but there's not really any focus. Every character's given some business, but it is really disconcerting to get to the end and realize it was Yondu's movie. The lack of any real engine driving the film is even more apparent once you realize there's no forward momentum on the Infinity Gauntlet storyline at all. I liked it, but it's hard to imagine it having any of the repeat value of the first one.

Powers Boothe has passed away from natural causes. He was 68.

"All she can do is dial and yell."

Nicholson reprising his role from Terms of Endearment in The Evening Star for an electric and charming five minutes. The rest of the film is not so great.

It's funny, I just watched a match Taz had with Taker on Smackdown probably within the last few months before he retired, and even though it went only a few minutes I was surprised how well he was protected and made to look like an asskicker. Though this was during Taker's Big Evil phase where he probably gave more of his matches to the other guys than he usually did.

FXX has ordered ten episodes of a Deadpool animated series co-created by Donald Glover. https://www.google.com/amp/variety.com/2017/tv/news/deadpool-animated-show-donald-glover-fxx-1202421886/amp/

On top of everything else, I'm sure Punk was pissed that they wouldn't use one of Brock's limited dates to give him the win back in the cell for the blowoff. I remember their Summerslam match not being bad, mostly because it told a pretty good story of Hunter targeting Brock's abdomen after his bout with diverticulitis. The Mania match is remarkably bad. I don't know if I ever saw the cage match blowoff, but I remember hearing it was decent.

Goddamit. Michael Parks has passed.

WCW wanted a working relationship with ECW, at least to help promote in the northeast. It was Heyman holding a grudge for getting fired and also not wanting his talent to get squashed on WCW television that killed it.

Punk/Lesnar was fine other than Brock giving way too much of the match to Punk and needing Paul to win. I recall Bryan/Cena being a career highlight for both guys and easily smoking everything else on the show.

They're de-aging Pacino and Deniro for The Irishman right? I was skeptical about the technology, but at least at Disney they've been crushing it in the Marvel movies. They've made huge advances since creepy 80s Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy. When it's not the actual actors but stand-ins like in Rogue One, not so much.

Does anyone else remember when Ellen Burstyn received a best supporting actress Emmy nomination for the HBO film Mrs. Harris despite only being in 11 seconds of it? There was a lot of grumbling because it was clear someone at their academy had just seen her name in the credits.

This is nitpicking, but regarding Ego

To be fair, Mickey could avoid the old lady jokes if she'd stop wrestling in JNCOs.

There's no way Jinder makes it to the fall without a Wellness suspension. I think even he knows it and he's just happy to be making more money until he gets popped.

I'm assuming based on the joke that the kid is Orton, but I'm confused because I always assumed he was born with shitty tattoos.

WCW vs WWF is definitely the Phantom Menace of Vince booking.

Wait, he's writing more Dark Tower?

It's strange in retrospect that they had no plans for Ric at the top of the card when they were losing Hogan and their relationship with Warrior was so tempestuous. But they also didn't have much use for Savage by that point either.

That is some of the most unprofessional shit I've ever seen in a major wrestling company.

She's clearly looking at Eddie and wants to grow up to be a translucent Mustafa-like figure that hovers above wrestling matches.

Fuck, what have they done? Those posters and the word of mouth from the Cinemacon footage are bumming me out.