Boys Don’t Cry (Except When They Do)
Pop Culture Detective takes a look at the societal norm of when movies allow allow boys, or men, to cry.
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July 2021
Usagi Yojimbo: The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy #1
- Title: Usagi Yojimbo: The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy #1
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Stan Sakai
- Artist: Stan Sakai
IDW continues to collect old Usagi Yojimbo stories and release them in color for the first time. Usagi Yojimbo: The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy #1 offers the retelling of the first chapter of “The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy,” originally released in the late 1980s Fantagraphics Usagi Yojimbo run. Although Miyamoto Usagi does appear in the issue, as one of three separate weary travelers struggling through the rain (the other two being Gen and Zato-Ino), his entrance to the story comes rather late.
The story of Chapter One involves Lord Noriyuki sending Tomoe Ame to investigate the unusual activity of his neighbor Lord Tamakuro who seems to be stockpiling warriors and weapons for some unknown purpose. Tomoe confirms her lord’s suspicions by discovering rifles and gunpowder but is captured before she can report back (which is where our rabbit ronin steps into the tale).
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Loki – The Nexus Event
- Title: Loki – The Nexus Event
- wiki: link
Leave it to the most narcissistic character in the MCU to fall for himself (or at least another version of himself). After surviving the literal end of the world and seeing Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) captured, “The Nexus Event” moves the series back to the Time Variance Authority where Loki is held accountable for his recent actions and Sylvie uses the seeds of her previous encounter with the TVA to arrange for an escape and face-to-face with Time-Keepers. Four episodes in, the show continues to change things up with the death of a major supporting character, the apparent death of Loki, and a reveal that might not show us what is behind the curtain but certainly confirms the curtain’s existence.
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The Tomorrow War
- Title: The Tomorrow War
- IMDb: link
The Tomorrow War, about soldiers from the future who arrive to draft earlier generations to fight a war against aliens who are wiping out humankind in the future, is a passable horror movie. The problem is it’s also a below average sci-fi film with aspects of a TV-movie thrown in for good measure. Director Chris McKay and writer Zach Dean struggle to make the various pieces fit into a coherent whole.
Any movie with Chris Pratt, who stars as a high school science teacher with delusions of grandeur, and Yvonne Strahovski, who stars as the future commander, starts out on pretty good footing. The film makes less use of the rest of the cast, which are mostly monster food or stuck in family drama subplots which, will of course, need to be resolved for our hero to learn his lesson.
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Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #4
- Title: Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #4
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Simon Spurrier
- Artist: Sergio Fernandez Davila
Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #4 isn’t a great issue for our heroes. Dane Whitman finds himself haunted by visions shown to him by the Ebony Chalice and finishes the issue slowing bleeding out on the floor. Jackie Chopra dies a rather gruesome death. And Elsa Bloodstone abandons the fight when Mordred buys her off with the bobble she came for.
Speaking of Mordred, his plan comes together quite nicely as he captures the Ebony Blade and then smelts some of the other Ebony items into an Ebony Crown as he reveals his plans to assume the throne his father kept from him.
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