Between the Streams: ‘Justice League’ is bearable, Franco goes X-Men, ‘LOTR’ TV

There is so much to talk about in entertainment this week, we’d normally have no idea where to start, but luckily it’s also the week of DC’s Justice League premiere, so we have a pretty good idea. We went to see the film’s premiere (so you don’t have to) and we’ve got a lot of opinions on it, but most of them aren’t great. But if you like whizbang, blow-’em-up films — and you’re not too stuck on dialogue, plot, or the fabled Uncanny Valley — you may well enjoy the latest from Zack Snyder and company, thanks in no small part, we’d wager, to Avengers director Joss Whedon’s reshoots. Unfortunately, some of those uncanny valley issues were also caused by the reshoots, so they get you coming both ways. We’ll go into more details in our spoiler-free review on today’s show.

While there isn’t much else to boast about in theaters this week when it comes to new attractions, there’s plenty more to talk about in superhero land, as you’ve no doubt guessed by now. We got a slew of news this week from the ever-expanding ring of franchises and cinematic universes, but one of the more intriguing might be the news about James Franco — who is on a freaking roll these days — and his new X-Men spinoff film in which he’ll play Multiple Man.

Teaming up with the writer of Wonder Woman, the Franco co-production could be another fun exploration in the X-Men multiverse, which is admittedly getting a little crowded. However, with horror releases like New Mutants, a canon film starring Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), and, of course, Deadpool 2, the franchise is expanding into some cool corners of the famous comics.

And speaking of Deadpool 2, if you didn’t see the ridiculous “teaser” wrapped in a Bob Ross parody released this week, you owe it to yourself to do so right away — after this podcast, of course.

It might seem like everything’s coming up superheroes — and to a large extent it is — but there are other movies and TV shows to talk about this week, including a trailer for The Rock’s new movie Rampage, based around a freaking 8-bit arcade game, as well as news of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series. The latter project is still steeped in secrecy, but according to the company, the series will serve as a prequel to the movies and was championed by Amazon chief (and the richest man in the world) Jeff Bezos himself. Amazon’s looking for its own Game of Thrones but as lifelong Tolkien fans, we have our reservations there.

Also this week, we’ll discuss the just-released (and DT reviewed) Punisher series, Disney’s cheaper-than-Netflix streaming service, a Mario and Luigi movie, a throwback Between the Cracks pick, and much more.

So tune in and hit us up live at 2 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top.