By:  Gere Iverson - MSTv contributor

Welcome September! 

With the beginning of the ninth month, a few things start to enter most of our minds: the holidays, football, winter and of course, the new Fall television season!

This year's theme seems to be, "choices, choices and more choices." But, how many of these new shows are good for your viewing pleasure?

Well, we here at MSTv live for the geek and fun shows that are new, returning and those which just won't die..

What do we mean? You can make your own choices from the complete listing below. So, let's get to it!  Plus, tell us your favorite return choices in the comments below.

SPOILERS BELOW. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
YOU WERE WARNED.
THAT IS ALL.
 
February 8, 2016
By JAVAN H.
 
The Haves and the Have Nots—it’s an age-old descriptor in socioeconomics, and also the name of one of TV’s hottest soaps. Airing on OWN, the thriving Oprah Winfrey Network, #HAHN centers around two legal families, the Cryers and the Harringtons, and the working-class Young family, the matriarch who’s a maid for the Cryers. Set in Savannah, Georgia, the show focuses the misdeeds of patriarch Judge Jim Cryer and resident love-to-hate villain Attorney Veronica Herrington, as they plot and scheme amongst themselves, taking viewers on a ride that puts Shondaland (Shonda Rimes) to shame. You see, #HAHN is part of a rotating block of shows from New Orleans’ own Tyler Perry--#inspiration--along side sitcom Love Thy Neighbor (both of which are based on the play of the same name), trading seasons with sitcom For Better or for Worse and soap If Loving You is Wrong. I’ll provide a write-up on that last monster soon…and I do mean MONSTER.

The Cryers

Jim Cryer (singer John Schneider) is a ruthless-yet-embattled judge vying to become governor of Georgia. With his fiery wife Katheryn (Renée Lawless) remaining at his side, he is fresh off the heels of a years-long affair with Celine (Eva Tomargo), a former maid with whom he has two estranged children. Jim is also at odds with his son Wyatt (Aaron O’Connell), a substance abuser who was involved in a hit-and-run. Tension only grew worse after Jim’s daughter Amanda (Jaclyn Betham) committed suicide, which in their eyes only validated his selfishness and lack of concern for his family.

The Harringtons
 
Judge David Harrington (Peter Parros, Knight Rider) shares the ticket with Jim as lieutenant governor. Sort of a Judge Judy type, tame in everyday life but a fiend in the courtroom, David is known for his loyalty…
 
…even if it’s to all the wrong people…
 
Enter Veronica Harrington (Angela Robinson), his wife and a criminal defense attorney referred to as “the ice queen” by fans. The resident love-to-hate character, Veronica is known for her constant need to control. After all, control freaks are usually those who lack control in their own lives; she’s insecure, an alcoholic and a drug addict, and it only makes sense that she feels the need to do everything in her power, which she has no shortage of, to control everything from her marriage, to her son’s sexual orientation.

Jeffery (Gavin Houston) bears much if the brunt of Veronica’s ire, as he was tricked into knocking a girl up, and was also beaten to a pulp by one of the most dangerous people in Savannah. I should also note that he’s coping with unrequited love from Wyatt, who is straight somewhat antagonistic, but takes advantage of the affection. As for Veronica, there’s always a method to her madness, whether it’s burning down her house to destroy evidence of the above-mentioned hit-and-run, engaging in an affair to retrieve more damning evidence or releasing said “dangerous person” to attack her own son.
 
By the way, his name is Quincy—father of Quincy’s, Jr., Candace’s son.

The Youngs
 
The Youngs are a working-class family headed by Hanna (Crystal Fox, In the Heat of the Night), a long-time maid for the Cryers. All she wants is for her children, Benny and Candace, tell her the truth. But in reality, that’s asking for too much. Candace (Tika Sumpter, Gossip Girl) is a former escort and a known opportunist, now enduring the fallout of extorting Jim Cryer for millions of dollars. After being kidnapped by Quincy, Benny (Tyler Lepley) managed to return Quincy, Jr. home, which ultimately led to a custody dispute between Hanna and Candace. Quincy (Medina Islam) drove his car through Hanna’s uninsured home, burning it down as an act of revenge.
 
Always aiming to do the right thing, the God-fearing Hanna refuses to live in the home that Candace bought her for and Benny with the extortion money. Take note: no one knows now Candace got the money. They only know that it was probably stolen in some way. Hanna is now left scraping up anything and everything she possibly can to take care of her sick grandson, and avoid him being taken away by CPS.

After a previous season of plots to retrieve the extorted money, Quincy seeking payback, meddling district attorneys and Wyatt becoming an informant, “The Haves and the Have Nots” is now taking us on the journey of what happened afterwards.

Wyatt was able to avoid jail time by ratting out his parents and the Harringtons. Last season, Jim had him sent to jail as a means of threatening him to keep quiet about the hit-and-run, as it would damage the campaign. But Veronica took things a step further and had a serial rapist moved into his cell. Armed with a vendetta, district attorney Jennifer Sallison (Shari Headley, Coming to America) later had the judges and their wives arrested and put into adjacent cells to obtain information. But in true Tyler Perry fashion, things took an interesting turn this season when Jeffery was placed in a cell between them. Think “Goldilocks and the Three Bears;” now with Veronica’s affair semi-exposed, the Harrington family fought amongst each other with Jim instigating.
 
Unbeknownst to them, Jeffery stabbed the fatal wounds into Quincy’s back as he attacked Candace earlier that evening. To ease his paranoia about the accident, Candace made him down a bottle of vodka, but everything when straight to Hell once the nosey neighbor called her son, a homophobic cop, to have Quincy’s car removed from in front of her yard. Mind you, Quincy’s dying body was in Candace’s living room and out of the officer’s view. The cop then followed Jeffery and locked him up for DWI.

As it stands, Jeffery has turned his back on Candace, stating that she’s responsible for many of the problems in his life, Hanna has a sick grandson with no money to live off of and Benny is about to find out just who nearly killed him during that hit-and-run. Will Candace retaliate against her former best friend? Will Benny unleash his wrath on yet another huge target? Will Veronica finally get her comeuppance? We’ll just have to find out on Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots, every Temptation Tuesday at 8pm Central on OWN.

He’s Javan H.—check out my other musings in the #MSTv universe both on-air and online, as well as at JAVANH.com, YouTube.com/JJLucasH, Twitter.com/JJLucasH and on IMDb.
 
This is ‘MyScene TV’—all things entertainment.
Images found through Google searches. All rights to their respective owners.

Originally published by: Comicbook.com

Ever since we saw Robin's defaced costume mounted in the Batcave in the first Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer, fans have been wondering how director Zack Snyder is going to incorporate The Dark Knight's sidekick into the DC Cinematic Universe and is the presumably dead Robin, Jason Todd.

Latino Review had delivered an early Christmas gift that answers those lingering questions. "Jason Todd is indeed the dead Robin in Batman v Superman and he is also the second Robin that Batman has worked with," Latino Review reports. "What's more is that Dick Grayson, the first Robin, will get a shoutout in the movie!"

Back in 2013, Latino Review reported that Dick Grayson would make an appearance in the film based on an early draft, but in the intervening time the characters inclusion was "dropped."

In Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice opens March 25, 2016.

SPOILERS BELOW. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
YOU WERE WARNED.
THAT IS ALL.
 
October 30, 2015
By JAVAN H.
 
Hide your sons, hide your Lyons, hide your cookies; Taraji P. Henson turns it ALL the way up in the 2014 thriller No Good Deed, now on TV and On Demand. I first saw the Sam Miller/Will Packer film during its opening week at the former UA CitiPlace Theater, now Movie Tavern, as one of my “Movie Tuesdays,” a one-man tradition since 2012. However, I’m not afforded the, um, ~*~benefits~*~ of being able to spend on downloads, the few movies that I do actually watch. Luckily for me, I’ve been blessed with a digital box, now able to shack up on a rainy evening to watch one of my all-time favorite flicks.
 
Everyone’s heard the phrase ‘no good deed goes unpunished’—yeah, tell me about it—and the movie stays true to that classic Oscar Wilde phrase. Taraji P. Henson (Empire, Person of Interest) plays Terri, an Atlanta-based prosecutor-turned-housewife who longs for the affection and respect of her husband Jeffrey, played by Henry Simmons (NYPD Blue, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). He leaves her at home with the kids as he travels out of town to visit his father. A rainstorm comes that very night, the perfect time for a large, dark Black stranger to land on her porch at 17 Creston Lane.
 
Enter Idris Elba (The Wire).
 
Elba plays Colin, a convicted murderer who escaped prison in Tennessee at the very top of the movie. He makes his way back to Atlanta to stalk Alexis, his fiancée played by telenovela star Kate del Castillo, after finding evidence of her cheating on him, evidence in the form of a letter marked…17 Creston Lane. But unbeknownst to her, Colin’s been feelin’ a little lonely. I mean, who wouldn’t after five years in prison? So what happened? Did they make wild passionate sex, like, some convict love in the hot tub with whipped cream and…okay, well, it was wild, it was passionate…but more in the form of Colin snapping her neck in half.
 
Exit Alexis.
 
Now he’s on a mission to find the mysterious 17 Creston Lane. He takes his stolen Ford Ranger down the long, dark and winding roads of Buckhead—I’m very familiar with those—before staging a collision with a tree. To be honest, I never would have thought of that. Keep that sentence in mind. Upon finding the home, Colin approaches Terri in need of a tow. Though reluctant, she offers him her house phone while making a few sweet eyes and preening as his back was turned. I mean, she can’t just let the Black-lady-heartthrob get soaking wet in that deluge of rain like Flashdance, right? Naturally, she let the stranger into her home and patched his wounds. What a feeling!
 
#ZING
 
Colin and Terri got to know each other better, as he watched her prepare supper for her two young kids.
 
“I’m a prosecutor, but…my hubs is iffy with me. I miss my old spark. LUCIOUS!!!!”
“I’m a murderrrrrmy fiancée cheated on me…”
 
Enter Meg, played by Leslie Bibb (Talladega Nights).
 
Armed with wine, Terri’s horny best friend and realtor gets to know Colin, scoping out his knowledge of the neighborhood while fantasizing about his knowledge of… But like a true realtor, Meg quickly realizes that something’s off. She and Colin go on a smoke break while Terri checks on the kids, now asleep upstairs. He makes a brazen implication about Terri, causing Meg to call him out. Too bad Terri would never find out about it from her.
 
Exit Meg.
 
After heading back inside to cover his ass, Colin snoops through pictures and mail around the house. He then accosts Terri, who earlier lied about where her husband was. Terri looks around; Meg’s umbrella is there, but Meg isn’t. The knives are missing, the phone lines are cut and BOOM, the power goes out.
 
“Colin? Colin! I can explain!”
 
Too late. The lights return, and Colin’s ready to play…with her daughter Ryan. Horror runs through Terri’s body as she sees him bouncing the young girl in the air, with a Glock in his back left pocket like the Missy Elliot song. Mama bird managed to coerce Colin away from the child, later whacking him down the stars with a fire extinguisher before trying to make a run for it. But the man of steel defied certain death, forcing her to put the kids back and nearly raping her in the master bathroom. Or maybe not...
 
“Colin, please don’t do this.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Wait, what?? F**K you!”
 
Terri tries again to knock Colin out, but to no avail.  He then decides to take a trip around the corner in her vehicle, which has a dodgy alarm; no, Colin didn’t give her gas money. Terri then sees where Meg’s been “hiding.” During the ride, she tried to talk Colin down, as I alluded to before, by making it clear that most criminals aren’t that smart—they all get caught eventually. But Colin’s puppy dog eyes remain alert as he eyeballs his crashed Ranger.
 
“Don’t even think about it. Keep driving.”
 
Fatigue gets the best of Colin as he dozes off. At an intersection, Terri manages to use her brights to signal an oncoming squad car. Colin awakes, Terri plays it off, and the cop eventually makes a U-turn to question them. Now with her newborn in jeopardy, Terri drops hints to the officer, proving futile as Colin quickly snuffs one of Atlanta’s finest and rolls him into the ditch.
 
The joyride continues. The destination: Alexis’ home, as seen earlier in the film.
 
“Terri, Alexis. Alexis, Terri.”
 
POW! Thunder hits, causing the Honda CR-V’s alarm to sound once again. Separated from her kids, Colin ties Terri up while he goes out to kill the noise. Luckily for her, he has a much harder time fixing it than before, as she manages to use a shard of porcelain to free herself and answer a phone under the bed. Whose phone was it? Who was on the other line? This is when you check out No Good Deed for yourself.
 
I know, boo-hiss.
 
I won’t give away the ending [this time], but after watching it, I damn near conked my head on the curb leaving out the theatre; I’ll tell you that much.
 
No Good Deed is a mind-bending, new-school thriller that still has an old-school feel; Idris Elba did a damned good job masking his heavy British accent, while Taraji P. Henson nailed it in the relatability department, reminding me of my aunt in Houston. Naturally, I have no doubt in my mind that this is a flick you’ll enjoy again and again…especially on a dark and stormy night.
 
He’s Javan H.—check out my other musings in the #MSTv universe both on-air and online, as well as at JAVANH.com, YouTube.com/JJLucasH, Twitter.com/JJLucasH and on IMDb.

This is ‘MyScene TV’—all things entertainment.
Images found through Google searches. All rights to their respective owners

By:  Gere Iverson - MSTv Contributor  @mstv01

First off, film director, Josh Trank has nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of regarding this film. Trying to stand and compete in the face of Marvel Studios previous multi-billion dollar grossing films is a daunting task of itself.  But all in all, Trank and his film got a bad rap that wasn't entirely deserved. 

Apparently, numerous fans, critics and some ticket consumers might have gone into this, entirely different style film, expecting "Avengers Assemble," repulsor rays, or shield-slinging type action, but found only disappointment. 

Well, that's usually what you get when you expect too much.  From anything.

That being said, realize that this current incarnation of Marvel's first family, isn't nearly as bad as the majority critics would have you believe. Fantastic Four is a film with problems.  Sometimes, major problems..  But, its a relatively entertaining film, with promise, that degenerates into more of the Roger Corman film version at its ending.

Like its mainstream Marvel film universe stars, this new film "borrows" a lot of its plot from the Ultimate Marvel Fantastic Four comic series. (IE: The characters are younger and contemporary.) As happens in both cases, the "foursomes" are drawn into a think-tank to work and become "fantastic" due to the consequences of their work. 

Its on these ideas and execution, where the film works best.  It begins with brilliant nerd Reed Richards discovering partial teleportation and also making a new best friend in the hardened outcast, Ben Grimm.  Years later, Richards then refines his work to completion and is discovered by Franklin Storm, administrator of the Baxter Building; a government funded think-tank, who wants to use Reed's findings on a massive scale. Reed meets and befriends the Storm siblings, Sue and Johnny" along with misfit science outcast, Victor Von Doom. This all builds to our science whiz kids first solving the teleportation problems and then wanting be the Neil Armstrongs' of a new dimension. 

Three wonder-kids (Reed, Johnny and Victor) make the road trip to Planet Zero and drag Ben Grimm along for who knows what.  Then, stuff goes horribly wrong in the new world. Von Doom appears to die there and the other three barely make it back to our earth; although they're badly injured up and "changed."  Also, Sue gets a blast of the mutating energy, on the guys arrival back, and goes through changes as well. Tragedy abounds in the Baxter Building..

Now, this film's major reason for being is this build up and its aftermath. Yet strangely enough, its at this point where the movie starts to fail. 

We're given a nice linear generic, yet entertaining story in the first 2/3rds of the film.  Then we get both tragic and action sequences that go nowhere and have you asking questions that are never answered.

The ending portions are littered with weak plot points like Richards deciding to run away, rather than help cure or understand the other mutated three. Or Von Doom being alive, then brought back to Earth seemingly all-powerful; yet now wishing to destroy his home planet. And a final showdown that just looked "Corman version" crappy with bad special effects and Reed (Miles Teller) badly posturing, trying to look like a leader.  These few things alone just took away all the steam this movie had in its beginnings.  And In the end, I think it truly was its endings that help damage this film.

But, as I said before, Fantastic Four isn't horrible by a longshot.  Its just different.  It took risks that many objected to, but they worked nicely anyway.  And it gave the fans and critics another view of a Marvel film universe with concepts the Marvel universe proper has difficulty portraying: family and unity.  Remember, everybody fights everybody at Marvel.

And despite a very weak ending and a spotty plot on the whole, this new cinematic version of the Fantastic Four tries to convey the principals that made its characters Marvel comics launching pad over 50 years ago. And while this film didn't do a great job of equaling that feat, it didn't horribly dishonor it either.  

So stop being swayed by the hype and go see this, slightly above a Sci-Fi channel movie, without expectations.  A good effort at a decent movie deserves that much at least.  And, Mr Trank did make a good effort.