It’s the season the season for forgiving and forgiveness, so let’s leave our politics and political correctness and 21^st century tendency towards anger at the door for a minute and talk about Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, THE HATEFUL EIGHT. I know it’s going to be hard for some folks to be objective about this but let’s be honest; Tarantino’s comment about police earlier this summer probably didn’t cost him a lot of his core audience. Tarantino’s movies have always been a love/hate proposition. If you loved PULP FICTION and INGLORIOUS BASTERDS you’re probably going to see THE HATEFUL EIGHT regardless of what Tarantino or I have to say about anything. If you don’t generally care for his films, you’ll head on down to the next theater and watch that quirky little art film everyone’s been talking about, Star…something.

With assistance by Mike Maillaro

Check out Newsarama for a complete list of Marvel books shipping in March.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #7 by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • MIKE DEODATO (A/C)

“THE WAR MACHINES” PART 2!

• War Machine and Iron Man team up to stop a brand new threat to the Marvel Universe… like only they can. All this plus more hints to next summer’s insane Marvel blockbuster event.

With assistance by Mike Maillaro

Check out Newsarama for a complete list of DC books shipping in March.

Mike: So, of the 52 books that launches under the New-52, 12 of them are still around for issue 50 (well, 49 for Justice League).

It’s Christmas time!  While most people are thinking of Santa, I’m thinking of that other eternal figure, The Doctor!  This year’s Christmas special is called “The Husbands of River Song.” 

We’ll be posting a review up after it airs, but for now, have some trailers!

If you haven't yet seen the movie, turn back now. There are spoilers in this post that will ruin it for you. Given the record breaking numbers at the box office during opening weekend, I'm comfortable writing this article as most diehards have seen the movie several times already.

For those of you who haven't, *waves hand* you will leave this page and drive to your nearest cinema.

Still here? Well then, you must have seen the movie. Because like I mentioned, there are SPOILERS below.

Cheap Pops - December 22, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

- TLC Results
- The Roman Empire Begins!
- NXT Takeover London Results
- PWS Fightmare Before X-Mas Results
 

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week

Kind of just winding down the year here. Lots of books I’m reading this week, but very few new series or anything that really jumps out at me. Let’s see what we can find to talk about…

If you look back over history and think about great openings to great stories, what comes to mind? “It was a dark and stormy night?” “It was the best of times, It was the worst of times?” Perhaps even “Once upon a time?” Yes, truly all classics, openings to wonderful stories. But what about “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?” I will venture to say without even flinching that this last opening means more to perhaps more people in the world today than even “Once upon a time!”

I myself have just returned from seeing the latest installment in the Star Wars saga--and having darn near sequestered myself from watching, reading, or even listening to anything pertaining to who was in it and what was it about, I will offer no spoilers here.

Lady Antebellum spent much of 2015 on the road on their "Wheels Up Tour," taking off in Olso, Norway, and landing in Las Vegas in early October. About half-way through they filmed a show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, California on June 27th and that is the basis of this release.

The video opens with a carload of young girls who rode three days from Austin to attend. And no wonder -- they get an up-close-and-personal meet-and-greet with the band. Quickie interviews of fans coming to the concert in Irvine and stage setup and preparations make way for a typical rock concert smoke and lights entrance. They've come a long way since I saw them at southern Wisconsin's Rock County 4-H Fair in the summer of 2008 -- just a simple show following their self-titled debut, but with the enthusiasm you knew would take them far. I see the dude sporting the dual braids is still playing backing guitar.

By Mike Weaver and Mike Maillaro

Squadron Supreme (2015) #1

Long-time industry veteran Wyatt Easterling has spent a good part of his career as a successful songwriter, producer and as the head of A&R for a major label. But it’s often when those such as Easterling step out of the shadows as artists themselves that true music fans are rewarded. Such is the case with Easterling’s latest effort, Goodbye Hello. The album features eleven original songs that speak to love and loss, honoring the past, and a changing outlook on life and on the future.

“In the process of writing these songs I discovered, for the umpteenth time, that life is about facing change and embracing it,” said Easterling.  “As the new album began to come into focus, it dawned on me that I’d been writing songs about my own transitions.”

The album is summarized thus: The songs here are about endings and beginnings, some about living and some about dying, and in the end finding new love and how that brings out the best in us all.

SECRET WARS 8 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic

Summary: It’s all out war as everyone seems to be coming together to take on Doom. The two Reed Richards arrive on the scene in a ship piloted by Starlord. They are hit by a Hulk and their ship crashes into Doom’s palace.  The Reeds head off to disrupt Doom’s power, leaving Starlord to repair the ship.

Meanwhile, the giant Ben Grimm arrives.  He takes down Maestro’s ship.  Franklin arrives riding Galactus to try and stop Grimm.  Ben is stunned to realize Franklin is Sue’s son.  This allows Franklin to destroy Grimm.

There are several emerging trends in current films that I’ve noticed – and many are trends I’m not fond of, such as rebooting old concepts (Another Batman movie but still no Wonder Woman or Black Widow?) and making single books into multiple movies (don’t even get me started on my rant). However, one thing I’ve noticed in recent cinema that I absolutely love is the rise of lady-driven comedies crushing it at the box office. Between Bridesmaids, Trainwreck, and a whole slew of Melissa McCarthy movies (Spy, Tammy, The Heat, and Bridesmaids again), those “but women aren’t funny!” trolls are running out of steam.

Should someone 70 years old be able to play the guitar like this? Should Vladimir Horowitz have been able to play the piano the way he did in his 80s? While you may have to sacrifice a little finesse, when you’re the master of your instrument age really does become nothing more than a number.

What can be said about Eric Clapton that hasn’t already been said before? Even that line has been said before! I have often found it very interesting that, when guitarists talk about Jimi Hendrix, they say he was the best ever, and they invariably follow up with "I can play him perfectly." Oddly enough, though, I have not heard such banter spoken about Eric Clapton. Yes, there are many that will say, and perhaps justifiably so, that he is the best ever, but I have never heard anyone say they could play him perfectly. Why is that?

So what is it that makes Dino Charge so special?

Like I said when I started this, I really didn’t have a strong bond to Power Rangers growing up.  I did think the martial arts they showed off in the show were cool, especially the Green Ranger (Jason David Frank), but it wasn’t anything I went out of my way to watch.  If I turned on TV and it was on, then I watched it. 

Welcome to part 2 of our deep dive into Power Rangers: Dino Charge!

The Power Rangers

First of all, I thought the casting was great.  All of the Rangers were good actors, and they all brought their characters to life brilliantly.  Usually there is at least one (maybe more) Rangers that annoy me, but I thought each Ranger was given a strong personality in Dino Charge.

Before we get started here, huge shout out to my friend, Brian Clark.   I am terrible about naming things.  That has been a long-standing issue for me.  In the past, I have done a few of these deep dive columns where I talk a look at a topic and go into obsessive detail about it.  In the past I've done "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the DC Multiverse" and "The Beginner's Guide to Doctor Who."  I have hated both those names, but I felt they needed a name, so that is what I came up with.  I had opened this up to some friends, and Brian got back to me immediately with Critical Depth. Which I loved, so it's the winner.

In a single tweet, one of Zenescope's best titles has been cancelled. Pat Shand, writer of ongoing series 'Robyn Hood', announced that issue #20 will be the end of his run for the alluring archer.

In his blog post he states that he will have one more story to tell in April, a month after the final issue comes out. According to Shand, the double-sized Robyn Hood: Annual #1 "acts as a coda to basically everything I’ve done on the title since the first issue in 2012. Also, there’s a wedding."

He goes on to say that she will be back and fans won't have to wait very long.

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by: Freddie E. Williams II
Colored by: Jeremy Colwell
Lettered by: Tom Napolitano

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week