Sean Lemme

I started blogging as a way to lazily pass my high school senior project and somehow I've kept doing it for more than half my life

Sean’s Sad Superhero Sundays: Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Zack Snyder’s Justice League

We gave up a lot of things in 2020 and that sucked. One thing that maybe actually needed a break was the superhero genre, which has dominated cinemas for more than a decade now. Last year, only DC managed to release anything (Birds of Prey and WW84) unless you count the final season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which was probably only watched by me. Well, now it’s 2021 and we’re coming back and we’re all super depressed. Over the next few… however long this takes me, I’m going to review all the sad new superhero shows and movies of 2021 leading up to Black Widow‘s release in July. Come wallow with me!

I’m thankful that I’ve had enough time for a whole other Zack Snyder streaming movie to come out before writing about Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Because I still haven’t quite figured out how to feel about this “movie.” And I have to admit, in and of itself, that is a failing of my personality. I’d much rather be the kind of guy who never thinks about Justice League at all. Not just because I’m an adult man in my thirties and this is a movie about superheroes beating up demons – sorry parademons – but also for what this release represents. The Snyder Cut is just as much a victory for passionate fandom over bad corporate decision-making as it is another alarming sign about the toxic power of butthurt nerds on the Internet (RIP The Rise of Skywalker, another Chris Terrio joint).

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Sean’s Sad Superhero Sundays: WandaVision

WandaVision Season 1

We gave up a lot of things in 2020 and that sucked. One thing that maybe actually needed a break was the superhero genre, which has dominated cinemas for more than a decade now. Last year, only DC managed to release anything (Birds of Prey and WW84) unless you count the final season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which was probably only watched by me. Well, now it’s 2021 and we’re coming back and we’re all super depressed. Over the next few… however long this takes me, I’m going to review all the sad new superhero shows and movies of 2021 leading up to Black Widow‘s release in July. Come wallow with me!

In retrospect, it’s pretty funny that the creators of WandaVision wanted to make a show about how even superpowers can’t protect you from the pain of loss and we were like “I can’t wait for her to fight the devil.” Until the pandemic happened, this was going to be the fourth release of the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following Black Widow, The Eternals, and the planned first Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But Disney refused to release their biggest cash cows exclusively on streaming and the Captain America twins had their production halted, so the red-headed stepchild got called up to lead the charge in January. Which was a real blessing, because it ended up being a wonderful showcase for all the benefits and drawbacks of dragging the MCU into this format.

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Oscars Fortnight Day 15: Minari

Minari (2020)

The 93rd Academy Awards (2021)
Nominations: 6
Wins: 1

I wanted to close out our fortnight with something from this year’s batch of Best Picture nominees, and since Colin already reviewed Nomadland, it really had to be Minari. This has been a long time coming, as Minari has been on my radar since is debuted at Sundance way back in January 2020. Typically I’m able to see the “big deal” indie movies at least sometime in the December-January awards catch-up season, but given the on-going situation this movie wasn’t something I could see until it hit virtual cinemas in February. That was such a long time to spend listening to critics hype it up that I almost resented it and dragged my feet to finally watch the movie. But boy am I glad I finally did.

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Oscars Fortnight Day 13: Munich

Munich (2005)

The 78th Academy Awards (2006)
Nominations: 5
Wins: 0

Hollywood loves revenge. It’s one of the easiest ways to simultaneously motivate a character and get the audience on their side. It doesn’t matter if you’re Batman or Beatrix Kiddo, as long as you’re trying to right as perceived wrong, that’s a compelling story we’ll all want to see. As an added bonus, revenge stories come pre-packaged with ethical dilemmas for filmmakers to sink their teeth into: what does justice look like? Who decides when enough is enough? Do the ends justify the means? Ultimately: is revenge ever the best course of action? Increasingly, I find my answer to that question is no. And based on 2005’s Munich, I think Steven Spielberg agrees with me.

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Oscars Fortnight Day 11: Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich (2000)

The 73rd Academy Awards (2001)
Nominations: 5
Wins: 1

An interesting thing happened with the Oscars in the 1990s: they started giving the big awards to popular movies. Forrest Gump won Best Picture. Titanic won Best Picture. For as snooty and out-of-touch the Academy has a reputation for being, there was a stretch there were being the biggest movie of the year also meant you had a legit shot at Best Picture. That trends goes at least as far as the 73rd Academy Awards, which gave the top prize to Gladiator, the third highest grossing film of 2000 (behind How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Mission: Impossible II). Now, I love me some Gladiator, but is it truly superior to Steven Soderbergh’s one-two punch of Erin Brockovich and Traffic? And beyond that, did the Academy pick exactly the wrong time to go mainstream?

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Oscars Fortnight Day 7: The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter (1978)

The 51st Academy Awards (1979)
Nominations: 9
Wins: 5

I’ve wanted to watch The Deer Hunter for a long time for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, it’s the last of John Cazale’s film roles that I hadn’t seen, and the fact that all five movies he was in went on to get a Best Picture nomination meant this was the perfect opportunity to close that blind spot. It’s also coincidentally the second time he played a character named Stan. But Cazale might not even be the most interesting person involved in this production. That honor might go to his legendary costars: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep. Or it could be its director, Michael Cimino, who did so well with this that he went on to spearhead one of the biggest disasters in cinema history: Heaven’s Gate. Yes, the pedigree of the creatives behind The Deer Hunter sure make it an interesting movie. But also, on a less intellectual level, I was really curious about seeing those Russian roulette scenes.

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Oscars Fortnight Day 1: Rebecca

Rebecca (1940)

The 13th Academy Awards (1941)
Nominations: 11
Wins: 2

Welcome to what could be the beginning of a beautiful tradition here at Mildly Pleased: two whole weeks of posts about Academy Award-nominated movies leading up to Hollywood’s biggest night, which is somehow in late April this year. The first feature I’d like to tell you about is 1940’s Rebecca, the second of producer David O. Selznick’s back-to-back Outstanding Production (Best Picture) wins. A year prior, Selznick had found enormous success with Gone with the Wind, setting the record for most Academy Award nominations (13) and wins (eight) at the time. This time, Rebecca won only one other award, Best Cinematography – Black and White, setting it’s own (still standing) record as the only film to win Best Picture while receiving no Academy Award for acting, directing or writing. Because how could we forget that Green Book won Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor along with the top prize?

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