All right, so now Avengers: Endgame has proven that not only could this franchise survive for a decade, it can successfully reach a satisfying conclusion for a decade-long arc and retire certain characters whilst also providing new directions. So we’re long past the point of “proving you can do a superhero movie well” and “proving you can do a team-up superhero movie well” and “proving that Vin Diesel can act by the sheer emotion he wrings out of five words, two of which he only says once.”
So what else can the next “phase” or whatever (you know it’s happening) prove? Something like this:
- Proving that you can make a superhero team-up film when all the superheroes are teaming up to do is go down to the corner store and pick up some snacks for movie night.
- Proving that you can shoot an entire film consisting of Chris Hemsworth arguing with a key grip over who was the best James Bond while a tired director calls for Chris to please get in the shot.
- Proving that you can make a film in which the climactic battle is a dance fight set to a song which is difficult to dance to, like Spandau Ballet’s “Gold.” Actually, exactly that song.
- Proving that you can make a film entitled “Spider-Man: A Prairie Home Companion” and have the title actually work within your schematic.
- Proving that you can make non-terrible X-Men films.
- Proving that there is apparently no critical mass beyond which these movies cannot reach as we somehow get a feature-length film about Alpha Flight.
- Proving that someone will keep trying to make Inhumans happen.
If you have other suggestions please do not leave them in the comments of this week’s What Are You Playing. We’re good.
Bonus question: What’s your favorite movie that you would describe as bad? Like “this movie is dumb as heck and I love it”?
​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): I guess I’ll be playing a bit of the new Mortal Kombat at my monthly console party, but I’m hoping there’ll be some Overcooked 2 too. And yeah, I’m playing some Pokemon Go at some point too.
Favorite dumb movie has got to be the old Super Mario Bros movie. It’s actually not that bad, but it’s cheesy as all heck.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): I have guests in town the next couple of weeks, so my gaming time is about slim down to not much for bit, but my husband and I are still in Guild Wars 2 – we started season 4 this week – and obviously we’re still working out plans for City of Heroes. I want to play with my kids, fam.
Does Return of the Jedi count?
Carlo Lacsina (@UltraMudkipEX): I’m going to do the same as Mia, I’ll be doing my AFK fishing to get the money in Black Desert Online. I’ll be pretty busy this weekend though, my wife and I will be busy building a new set of desks for the office. I’m so excited for that! I’ll probably be farming MGP for Final Fantasy XIV to get the Regalia!
I’m not really much of a movie guy, but I’ll say Final Fantasy Advent Children, the non remastered mode without the extra footage. That movie’s plot was a mess, but I love the battles.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): The Path of the Slayer update in Dauntless has completely hooked me in with all its little carrots to chase, so that will definitely be a primary feature. I’m also probably going to wander around in The Elder Scrolls Online and will peer in to Mortal Kombat 11 now and again.
I, Robot gets my vote. It’s not a particularly brilliant movie, especially when you consider the source material it came from, but if you didn’t know about Asimov, it was a pretty serviceable and dumb fun movie. Also, I enjoy Will Smith. Sue me.
Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): One of my big pre-expansion bits of prepwork in FFXIV is almost finished, so this weekend will be wrapping that up (or nearly so). I’ve also got to continue my long-running theme of getting to things about a million years late by firing up Bloodborne.
I love bad movies as much as I love good ones; awful movies are a special kind of crazy and dumb and I have legitimately watched some Mystery Science Theater 3000 picks without the episodes themselves. My favorite bad movie is still probably Snakes on a Plane, which is dumb as hell and I love it; I also love both the original and the most recent Power Rangers films.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): Fallout 76 is beckoning me for another try at this multiplayer survival sandbox, and while I know I’m probably doomed to be disappointed, I feel that I must give it another good try. You know, to justify the cost I spent, etc. Other plans involve going through Lord of the Rings Online’s anniversary scavenger hunts and doing some Dungeons & Dragons Online grouping with my guild.
Mia DeSanzo (@neschria): My game plan for this weekend includes AFK fishing in BDO at the Waterpark and playing a little bit of a several lesser known games so that I can have a better adventure story to share.
I am also going to have a bunch of teen girls sleeping over for my daughter’s 14th birthday, so I expect things to be noisy and hectic. Nonetheless, I am also hoping to get into some online learning to polish up my GIS and cartography skills.
My family has a tradition of watching Better Off Dead together. You know, the John Cusack teen flick about skiing and stuff? Yeah. Great bad movie.
Samon Kashani (@thesamkash): With all this talk about superhero MMOs, I’m kind of hankering for some high flying, incredible action. So, I’m going to find out if I can dig up my old Champions Online account and see if the game still exists. Also I had a good time in Albion Online, so I’ll hop in there some too.
As for movies, I liked Spider-Man 3 and The Matrix Revolutions. A lot of people think they aren’t really good, but they are missing some of the deeper plot elements!
Tyler Edwards: Beyond the usual D&D game (which actually didn’t end up happening last week cause people were busy with Easter), I’m not sure. Feel like I’m in a bit of rut lately. Maybe The Division 2, but I have to say it’s really not living up to the original, and I didn’t exactly adore the original. I was thinking of maybe buying a month of Origin Access just to try out a bunch of games. Boy, I miss demos.
As a rule, I’m not one for guilty pleasures or appreciating things ironically. I like a lot of movies other people think are bad, but I usually still think they’re good stories. I will, rather shamefully, admit to enjoying the first couple of Michael Bay Transformers movies. They’re awful in every way, but on the other hand, big robots go smashy-smash.
Pierre, Patron: I’m still enjoying The Division 2. The reason is probably I don’t have a lot of time for gaming lately, and so instead of some kind of bulimic gaming behavior, I savour the game slowly. I’m also progressing through Tales from the Borderlands. I reiterate my recommendation: If you never played it, it’s one of the best games from regretted Telltale Games. Finally, it’s this time of the year when I’m tempted again to launch World of Tanks (happens every year xD). And I must say that I’m enjoying the game much better than last year: Wargaming apparently decided to listen to the players and improved many things in WoT. So this annual guilty pleasure time will probably last me longer than I thought.
Enjoy your weekend MOP readers. And let us know what you’re playing, it’s always a great source of inspiration. <3
Every Saturday, join the Massively OP community and staff for What Are You Playing, our roundup of what MMORPGs and other games we’re hoping to play this weekend (with a bonus question or two for our amusement). Tell us what you’re up to! Go off-topic! And don’t forget to have fun!
