Inhumans - A fairly unexciting season opener didn't give us any unrealistic ideas about what to expect with the rest of the season. Or rather series as the high cost of the show (which never looks like it was high budget) and comments from IMAX seem to guarantee that there will not be a second season.
It was basically eight hours explaining how the Inhumans moved from the moon to the Earth. I feel like a movie from Marvel Studios could've done that in three minutes and then given us a more interesting plot. Frankly, I'm with the fans who won't mind if this show is ignored from future MCU continuity and Marvel Studios eventually brings new versions into the movies.
The Punisher - A far more compelling series from Marvel Television and Netflix, 13 episodes of how Frank Castle wound up with his name being dragged through the mud publicly as he violently takes revenge on the men who ruined his family. Very violent (not as graphic as Punisher: War Zone, though), but very character-driven.
Runaways - Marvel Television's weekly series on Hulu was also a concept that had originally been intended to be a movie. Unlike Inhumans, however, this one benefited from expanding to a series because of the large number of characters to look deeper into.
Six kids in Los Angeles discover that their parents are part of a strange cult and witness a ritual that involves the death of a young woman. The kids begin to discover that they have super powers of their own and begin to investigate what their parents actually do.
As for the CW...
Supergirl - During the course of the series, a cult sprung up around Supergirl. While she discouraged it, it became clear that at least one person has a lot of information about Kryptonian religions. Discovering an ancient craft, the team at the DEO discover that it's actually from the future, containing members of the Legion of Superheroes in stasis, including Mon-El, Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5. J'Onn J'Onzz recovers his father from white Martians on Mars while Alex breaks up with Maggie after realizing they want different things from their relationship. A single mother in National City discovers that she is Reign, a Kryptonian punisher.
The Flash - As Wally leaves for Blue Valley, feeling overshadowed by Barry in Central City, Barry adds former police chief and current hard on his luck private eye Ralph Dibny to the team. Ralph is one of a dozen people who became metahumans thanks to dark matter exposure when Barry broke out of the speed force, Ralph having elastic powers. Caitlin finds unexpected fame as Killer Frost, leading her to consider how much of her is the frost villain. Barry and Iris finally marry as it becomes clear that the Thinker—aka Clifford DeVoe—is targeting Barry, particularly when he puts himself in the body of a telepathic metahuman and uses his old body to frame Barry for murder. Barry is put on trial, the outcome sure to shake up the show for the rest of the season.
Legends of Tomorrow - Something is tracking the crew on the Waverider as they continue to fix aberrations throughout Time, and Damian Darhk is back as a villain. During the events of the Crisis on Earth-X crossover event, Professor Stein is killed and Jax makes his exit.
Arrow - Oliver temporarily has Diggle take over as Green Arrow as the FBI investigation continues. Oliver marries Felicity as Team Arrow begins to fall apart.
Crisis on Earth-X - Barry and Iris' wedding is interrupted by Nazis from an alternate earth who won World War II. The two-night crossover event saw characters from Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow team up with resistance fighters from Earth-X to drive the Nazis from Earth-1. An exciting crossover made poignant with the self-sacrifice of Professor Stein, somewhat flawed in the ending by Barry and Iris choosing to finally simply marry with a justice, and Felicity deciding to marry Oliver and turning Barry and Iris' wedding into a double wedding.
Riverdale - The second season started strong with the near death of Archie's father and the introduction of Hiram Lodge, but the Black Hood plot began to dwarf everything else and not in a compelling way, so I quit watching the show.
Black Lightining - The CW's new show follows an African-American father with his two daughters who works at a principal at his school. After some issues he spots going on, he decides to resume his superhero identity as Black Lightning.
The show seems aimed at a more mature audience than the other superhero shows on the network. Interesting addition and we'll see how it develops going forward.
And on Fox...
The Gifted suffered through some scheduling headaches, but overall became a story about the Strucker family joining with a resistance group tasked by the X-Men to protect mutants. Some good character moments and some interesting developments, but probably better appreciated when you're not keeping up with so many shows.
Lucifer revealed that a force behind Lucifer's problems was a man who called himself "the Sinnerman" that Lucifer tracks down. Marcus Pierce turns out to be none other than Cain, the man cursed to walk the earth after killing his brother.
Gotham has had Bruce kill R'as Al Ghul and then nearly abandon his crimefighting life, becoming the playboy. After reviving from being frozen, Riddler puts a revived Butch known as Solomon Grundy in a fighting ring. Tensions between crime factions rise in Gotham.
And here's some movie reviews:
Thor: Ragnarok - The funniest Thor movie yet sees Thor realize that Loki is still alive and disguised as Odin on Asgard. Finding Odin on Earth just before his death, Thor and Loki are told of Hela, the Goddess of Death, their sister. When she appears, she makes her way to Asgard, stranding Thor and Loki on the planet of Sakaar, where Thor is put to fight against the Incredible Hulk in an arena.
I enjoyed the film a lot. Fast paced and colorful, it took the Thor series in a bold new direction it desperately needed. However, as Marvel Studios tends to only do trilogies, it may have only opened up new characters for them to use in the future. Still, perhaps the humor is a little off as many characters and elements from the Thor locale are disposed of with little or no ceremony.
Justice League - Parademons begin popping up on Earth as the villainous Steppenwolf seeks the Mother Boxes. Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince begin finding other super-powered individuals—Victor Stone, Barry Allen and Arthur Curry—to help them stop Steppenwolf.
This film didn't fare particularly well at the box office or with critics. To be fair, the film has issues, tonally different scenes and some particularly bad CGI for a high-profile superhero movie, coming off as a second-rate Avengers. But that's not to say the movie is bad. There's a clear story that is fairly easy to follow, unlike Batman v Superman. They manage to create a fairly good movie regardless of the aforementioned issues.
Showing posts with label TV recaps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV recaps. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Comic Book TV season opening reviews
Had a good summer? I didn't. I mean, I still had to work and all. Summers mean less post-30. Except for OzCon. That was awesome.
I'm not going to be doing these blogs weekly like last year. Instead, I'll write reviews when I wish. Most likely if there's anything I want to say in the midseason finale. I'll certainly be reviewing more than one episode of The Flash this year over at my new blog, Dibny Diaries.
The Defenders - The culmination of the Netflix and Marvel shows sees Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock and Danny Rand unite to defend New York City from the machinations of The Hand.
The eight-episode format nearly makes this one of the better Netflix and Marvel shows, except for the sheer number of characters included. Not only do we have the four main characters, but their supporting casts also showing up and getting involved, and while this is done well, it can be a bit much on first time viewing.
The plot is not the same high-stakes adventure that we saw in The Avengers, the first live action Marvel team up property. A good reason for this is right in the titles: The Defenders. Defense is preventative, while avenging means something bad has already happened. When viewed that way, the series is more satisfying.
DuckTales - Disney XD revives the classic 80s show for the 21st century with a new voice cast (except for Donald Duck, who is still voiced by Tony Anselmo), a new look, and a brand new continuity. The original DuckTales was inspired by the comic book stories of Carl Barks, and while the new version is still proud of the original series, it takes a lot of inspiration from the Barks comics.
The double-length season/series opener features Donald Duck leaving his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie with his Uncle Scrooge McDuck while he has a job interview. Meeting Webby Vanderquack—granddaughter of Mrs. Beakley, Scrooge's housekeeper—the boys get into trouble with Scrooge's treasures, which Scrooge helps them set right, reawakening his sense of adventure. After an adventure in Atlantis, Scrooge invites Donald and the boys to move in with him.
The new series so far has introduced many elements of DuckTales lore around fun and exciting plots that are written so well that adults without kids should enjoy it as well. As of the fifth episode aired, we have Flintheart Glomgold, the Number One Dime, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose and his helper robot, and Magica DeSpell. New to the series is a running plot addressing what happened to the mother of Huey, Dewey and Louie, Della Duck.
Fans of fun adventure of all ages should find quite a bit to like about this new DuckTales, so I recommend it.
Inhumans - Marvel's third show for ABC was a collaboration between them and IMAX theaters, who ran an edited down version of the first two episodes in theaters for a couple weeks in early September. Now the first five episodes have finished airing.
Running into a coup on the moon by his brother Maximus, Black Bolt and the other members of the royal family are forced to flee the city of Atillan to Hawaii, where they must reunite before returning to take back the throne from Maximus.
The royal Inhumans can be compelling characters, but their in-character snobbery can make them off-putting. In the comics, the royal family was introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four, allowing a familiar and likeable team to be the conduit to meeting these characters. Inhumans doesn't have this luxury, with the Agents of SHIELD no longer on Earth and no other teams at the TV department's disposal. The series attempts to find ways to make them appealing, but considering this show is only going to have eight episodes and we've finished three and have only five left, this might be asking a lot from the audience to stick with it.
Inhumans was originally announced to be a film before it was quietly pushed back indefinitely. This series was announced, and the television budget, despite being high thanks to funding from IMAX, begins to show, particularly on Atillan. Nowhere does it feel majestic or imposing. Lockjaw, the giant telepathic teleporting bulldog looks great, but the budget means we only get a few scenes with him.
Inhumans seems doomed to get only one season at the moment. Aside from Lockjaw, there's not a lot that I'm excited about for it. The "give it a few episodes" advice doesn't help when we're looking at a small number of episodes. If you wanted the royal Inhumans in live action, check it out. Otherwise, take it as you will.
The Gifted - The Strucker family discovers that their children are mutants. In a world where the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants have vanished, the only chance they have is to join with a desperate band of on the run mutants.
The pilot sets up a lot and while fine, doesn't quite have enough time to make us totally get into the multiple protagonists. Thankfully, the second and third episodes gives us more of an idea where the showis going and gives us a much better idea of this world. Perhaps this isn't going to be quite as well crafted as Legion, but this seems to be a worthy X-Men TV series so far.
Gotham - This season finds young Bruce Wayne beginning to master the double life of playboy socialite and vigilante he will become famous for in his years as Batman as the villains continue to rise. Gotham finally feels on track as "the Batman show without Batman" finally has Batman.
Lucifer - Discovering that his wings have come back, Lucifer tries to remove them permanently while continuing to assist (loosely) with detective Chloe Decker's investigations. Tom Welling joins the cast as Lieutenant Marcus Pierce, who seems to be hiding a few things.
Supergirl - While Kara misses Mon-El, life continues in National City, for her, Lena Luthor who has bought Cat Co., and Alex and Maggie who are getting married. Reports are that this season will introduce this generation of superhero TV's Legion of Super-Heroes.
The Flash - Cisco manages to break Barry out of the Speed Force, revealing him to now be faster than ever before. Caitlin—hiding her Killer Frost identity—rejoins Team Flash as Cisco and Gypsy work on their relationship, as do Barry and Iris as they prepare to get married. Meanwhile, a new villain—the Thinker—watches the pieces of his plot come into place.
Legends of Tomorrow - Finding various anomalies through time, the Legends have the Waverider taken from them by Rip Hunter's new time correction force. After getting it back from him, they convince him that they can help him correct anomalies through time. Meanwhile, a mysterious threat rises.
Arrow - With Thea in a coma and Oliver now having to care for his son, things take a turn as a photo revealing Oliver as the Green Arrow is exposed to public, putting him under the eye of the FBI.
Riverdale - As Archie's dad recovers from being shot at Pop's, the killer begins to target other people in Archie's life.
That's what we've been able to tell from the shows so far. Frankly, I'm enjoying this season. Even Inhumans, though I'd say it's quite the weakest show.
Here's some quick reviews of comic book movies that came out since the last blog.
Wonder Woman - The first truly impressive DCEU movie features the story of Wonder Woman as depicted by Gal Gadot as Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) arrives on the island of Themyscira and tells the Amazons about World War I. Diana returns with him to find and defeat Ares, the God of War.
Wonder Woman finally gives the DCEU an inspirational hero. Henry Cavill's Superman and Ben Affleck's Batman are promising, but their outings so far have rendered them as flawed without really having a victory without a major downside. In Man of Steel, while saving the world, about half of Metropolis is destroyed. In Batman v Superman, Batman makes the wrong judgement call and Superman is killed. Diana sets out to destroy Ares and even though she makes mistakes, she learns and emerges victorious. And it's done with a very good pace and amazing visuals. And furthermore, the message the movie makes is pretty welcome.
Spider-Man: Homecoming - The first MCU Spider-Man solo film embraces the high school setting of Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) early years in his career as Spider-Man, being secretly assisted/monitored by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Peter comes across the weapons-running gang of the Vulture (Michael Keaton). Tony and Happy tell him to let someone else handle it, but Peter wants to prove himself. Just he needs to do that and balance his school life, especially if he wants to impress Liz (Laura Harrier).
Homecoming is a lot of fun, but also uses some good intrigue to the proceedings with a worthy plot twist. The film clearly links to the larger MCU, but manages to create a world specifically for Spider-Man to exist in on the streets and neighborhoods of Queens. Giving Spider-Man a benefactor and a confidant (who is not a romantic interest) gives us something new that we haven't seen in any of the five previous Spider-Man films from the past twenty years. For once, Spider-Man feels like a young kid. He screws up, but he gets up and tries again. That's really what the character is about and Homecoming nails it.
Batman and Harley Quinn - One of this year's DC animated movies finds Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Nightwing (Loren Lester) teaming up with a reformed Harley Quinn (Melissa Rauch) to foil the plots of Poison Ivy (Padget Brewster) and the Floronic Man (Kevin Michael Richardson).
It goes for a bit more of a comedic take on Batman mythos while not betraying the characterizations. Some of the humor is a bit more raunchy, including a scene where Nightwing and Harley have sex. Overall, I had fun, but some fans have expressed displeasure.
Batman vs. Two-Face - The follow up to The Return of the Caped Crusaders finds Harvey Dent (William Shatner) entering the world of the Batman 1966 TV show. After an attempt to drain Gotham's worst of their evil goes awry, Harvey is transformed into the villainous Two-Face, with Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) going after him. Both Julie Newmar and Lee Meriweather do voice work for the movie as well.
Although still campy, the film feels a bit more serious than the old TV show, but it's all right as the audience for the show has changed and is more open to it. It has a good story, fairly good animation (it's still direct to video), and a spectacular voice cast.
I'm not going to be doing these blogs weekly like last year. Instead, I'll write reviews when I wish. Most likely if there's anything I want to say in the midseason finale. I'll certainly be reviewing more than one episode of The Flash this year over at my new blog, Dibny Diaries.
The Defenders - The culmination of the Netflix and Marvel shows sees Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock and Danny Rand unite to defend New York City from the machinations of The Hand.
The eight-episode format nearly makes this one of the better Netflix and Marvel shows, except for the sheer number of characters included. Not only do we have the four main characters, but their supporting casts also showing up and getting involved, and while this is done well, it can be a bit much on first time viewing.
The plot is not the same high-stakes adventure that we saw in The Avengers, the first live action Marvel team up property. A good reason for this is right in the titles: The Defenders. Defense is preventative, while avenging means something bad has already happened. When viewed that way, the series is more satisfying.
DuckTales - Disney XD revives the classic 80s show for the 21st century with a new voice cast (except for Donald Duck, who is still voiced by Tony Anselmo), a new look, and a brand new continuity. The original DuckTales was inspired by the comic book stories of Carl Barks, and while the new version is still proud of the original series, it takes a lot of inspiration from the Barks comics.
The double-length season/series opener features Donald Duck leaving his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie with his Uncle Scrooge McDuck while he has a job interview. Meeting Webby Vanderquack—granddaughter of Mrs. Beakley, Scrooge's housekeeper—the boys get into trouble with Scrooge's treasures, which Scrooge helps them set right, reawakening his sense of adventure. After an adventure in Atlantis, Scrooge invites Donald and the boys to move in with him.
The new series so far has introduced many elements of DuckTales lore around fun and exciting plots that are written so well that adults without kids should enjoy it as well. As of the fifth episode aired, we have Flintheart Glomgold, the Number One Dime, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose and his helper robot, and Magica DeSpell. New to the series is a running plot addressing what happened to the mother of Huey, Dewey and Louie, Della Duck.
Fans of fun adventure of all ages should find quite a bit to like about this new DuckTales, so I recommend it.
Inhumans - Marvel's third show for ABC was a collaboration between them and IMAX theaters, who ran an edited down version of the first two episodes in theaters for a couple weeks in early September. Now the first five episodes have finished airing.
Running into a coup on the moon by his brother Maximus, Black Bolt and the other members of the royal family are forced to flee the city of Atillan to Hawaii, where they must reunite before returning to take back the throne from Maximus.
The royal Inhumans can be compelling characters, but their in-character snobbery can make them off-putting. In the comics, the royal family was introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four, allowing a familiar and likeable team to be the conduit to meeting these characters. Inhumans doesn't have this luxury, with the Agents of SHIELD no longer on Earth and no other teams at the TV department's disposal. The series attempts to find ways to make them appealing, but considering this show is only going to have eight episodes and we've finished three and have only five left, this might be asking a lot from the audience to stick with it.
Inhumans was originally announced to be a film before it was quietly pushed back indefinitely. This series was announced, and the television budget, despite being high thanks to funding from IMAX, begins to show, particularly on Atillan. Nowhere does it feel majestic or imposing. Lockjaw, the giant telepathic teleporting bulldog looks great, but the budget means we only get a few scenes with him.
Inhumans seems doomed to get only one season at the moment. Aside from Lockjaw, there's not a lot that I'm excited about for it. The "give it a few episodes" advice doesn't help when we're looking at a small number of episodes. If you wanted the royal Inhumans in live action, check it out. Otherwise, take it as you will.
The Gifted - The Strucker family discovers that their children are mutants. In a world where the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants have vanished, the only chance they have is to join with a desperate band of on the run mutants.
The pilot sets up a lot and while fine, doesn't quite have enough time to make us totally get into the multiple protagonists. Thankfully, the second and third episodes gives us more of an idea where the showis going and gives us a much better idea of this world. Perhaps this isn't going to be quite as well crafted as Legion, but this seems to be a worthy X-Men TV series so far.
Gotham - This season finds young Bruce Wayne beginning to master the double life of playboy socialite and vigilante he will become famous for in his years as Batman as the villains continue to rise. Gotham finally feels on track as "the Batman show without Batman" finally has Batman.
Lucifer - Discovering that his wings have come back, Lucifer tries to remove them permanently while continuing to assist (loosely) with detective Chloe Decker's investigations. Tom Welling joins the cast as Lieutenant Marcus Pierce, who seems to be hiding a few things.
Supergirl - While Kara misses Mon-El, life continues in National City, for her, Lena Luthor who has bought Cat Co., and Alex and Maggie who are getting married. Reports are that this season will introduce this generation of superhero TV's Legion of Super-Heroes.
The Flash - Cisco manages to break Barry out of the Speed Force, revealing him to now be faster than ever before. Caitlin—hiding her Killer Frost identity—rejoins Team Flash as Cisco and Gypsy work on their relationship, as do Barry and Iris as they prepare to get married. Meanwhile, a new villain—the Thinker—watches the pieces of his plot come into place.
Legends of Tomorrow - Finding various anomalies through time, the Legends have the Waverider taken from them by Rip Hunter's new time correction force. After getting it back from him, they convince him that they can help him correct anomalies through time. Meanwhile, a mysterious threat rises.
Arrow - With Thea in a coma and Oliver now having to care for his son, things take a turn as a photo revealing Oliver as the Green Arrow is exposed to public, putting him under the eye of the FBI.
Riverdale - As Archie's dad recovers from being shot at Pop's, the killer begins to target other people in Archie's life.
That's what we've been able to tell from the shows so far. Frankly, I'm enjoying this season. Even Inhumans, though I'd say it's quite the weakest show.
Here's some quick reviews of comic book movies that came out since the last blog.
Wonder Woman - The first truly impressive DCEU movie features the story of Wonder Woman as depicted by Gal Gadot as Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) arrives on the island of Themyscira and tells the Amazons about World War I. Diana returns with him to find and defeat Ares, the God of War.
Wonder Woman finally gives the DCEU an inspirational hero. Henry Cavill's Superman and Ben Affleck's Batman are promising, but their outings so far have rendered them as flawed without really having a victory without a major downside. In Man of Steel, while saving the world, about half of Metropolis is destroyed. In Batman v Superman, Batman makes the wrong judgement call and Superman is killed. Diana sets out to destroy Ares and even though she makes mistakes, she learns and emerges victorious. And it's done with a very good pace and amazing visuals. And furthermore, the message the movie makes is pretty welcome.
Spider-Man: Homecoming - The first MCU Spider-Man solo film embraces the high school setting of Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) early years in his career as Spider-Man, being secretly assisted/monitored by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Peter comes across the weapons-running gang of the Vulture (Michael Keaton). Tony and Happy tell him to let someone else handle it, but Peter wants to prove himself. Just he needs to do that and balance his school life, especially if he wants to impress Liz (Laura Harrier).
Homecoming is a lot of fun, but also uses some good intrigue to the proceedings with a worthy plot twist. The film clearly links to the larger MCU, but manages to create a world specifically for Spider-Man to exist in on the streets and neighborhoods of Queens. Giving Spider-Man a benefactor and a confidant (who is not a romantic interest) gives us something new that we haven't seen in any of the five previous Spider-Man films from the past twenty years. For once, Spider-Man feels like a young kid. He screws up, but he gets up and tries again. That's really what the character is about and Homecoming nails it.
Batman and Harley Quinn - One of this year's DC animated movies finds Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Nightwing (Loren Lester) teaming up with a reformed Harley Quinn (Melissa Rauch) to foil the plots of Poison Ivy (Padget Brewster) and the Floronic Man (Kevin Michael Richardson).
It goes for a bit more of a comedic take on Batman mythos while not betraying the characterizations. Some of the humor is a bit more raunchy, including a scene where Nightwing and Harley have sex. Overall, I had fun, but some fans have expressed displeasure.
Batman vs. Two-Face - The follow up to The Return of the Caped Crusaders finds Harvey Dent (William Shatner) entering the world of the Batman 1966 TV show. After an attempt to drain Gotham's worst of their evil goes awry, Harvey is transformed into the villainous Two-Face, with Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) going after him. Both Julie Newmar and Lee Meriweather do voice work for the movie as well.
Although still campy, the film feels a bit more serious than the old TV show, but it's all right as the audience for the show has changed and is more open to it. It has a good story, fairly good animation (it's still direct to video), and a spectacular voice cast.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Comic Book TV recap (5/15/2017 - 5/17/2017)
Agents of SHIELD sees its season finale this week. It has officially been renewed for a fifth season with, although it will not begin as usual with Inhumans taking its slot, which has been moved to Friday night. Supergirl, The Flash and Arrow will be wrapping up for the season next week.
Supergirl: "Resist" - Reya's invasion of Earth begins and Cat Grant and the President return to Central City to face off against her along with the DEO.
Gotham: "Light the Wick" - The Court of Owls grows suspicious of their new recruit, Jim Gordon, as he investigates what they're doing with the Alice Tetch virus, being assisted by Oswald. Ivy tries to revive Selina using plants.
Lucifer: "God Johnson" - Investigating another murder, Lucifer meets a man who claims to be God, and he becomes convinced this is actually his father.
The Flash: "Infantino Street" - The day that Savitar will kill Iris has arrived and Barry has to recruit the help of a past version of Leonard Snart to steal the power source for a cannon that will trap Savitar in the Speed Force.
iZombie: "Dirt Nap Time" - Infuriated at the theft of the remaining doses of the zombie cure, Liv eats the brains of a friendly teacher who also slept around. Major attempts to find the thief.
Agents of SHIELD: "World's End" - The agents reunite with Robbie Reyes in a last ditch effort to shut down the Framework, defeat Aida and stop anyone from using the Darkhold again. The finale wraps up the storylines of Season 4 nicely while setting up new possibilities for Season 5.
Arrow: "Missing" - With Adrian Chase in jail, Team Arrow believes they can breathe easy until they realize Chase's true plans are yet to be realized.
Supergirl: "Resist" - Reya's invasion of Earth begins and Cat Grant and the President return to Central City to face off against her along with the DEO.
Gotham: "Light the Wick" - The Court of Owls grows suspicious of their new recruit, Jim Gordon, as he investigates what they're doing with the Alice Tetch virus, being assisted by Oswald. Ivy tries to revive Selina using plants.
Lucifer: "God Johnson" - Investigating another murder, Lucifer meets a man who claims to be God, and he becomes convinced this is actually his father.
The Flash: "Infantino Street" - The day that Savitar will kill Iris has arrived and Barry has to recruit the help of a past version of Leonard Snart to steal the power source for a cannon that will trap Savitar in the Speed Force.
iZombie: "Dirt Nap Time" - Infuriated at the theft of the remaining doses of the zombie cure, Liv eats the brains of a friendly teacher who also slept around. Major attempts to find the thief.
Agents of SHIELD: "World's End" - The agents reunite with Robbie Reyes in a last ditch effort to shut down the Framework, defeat Aida and stop anyone from using the Darkhold again. The finale wraps up the storylines of Season 4 nicely while setting up new possibilities for Season 5.
Arrow: "Missing" - With Adrian Chase in jail, Team Arrow believes they can breathe easy until they realize Chase's true plans are yet to be realized.
Saturday, May 6, 2017
Comic Book TV Recap (5/1/2017 - 5/4/2017)
After recovering Nebula (Karen Gillan) from the Sovereigns, the Guardians run into Ego (Kurt Russell), who reveals himself to be Peter Quill's father and is eager to reconnect with his son. After being betrayed by his team of Ravagers, Yondu (Michael Rooker) joins up with Rocket, Baby Groot and Nebula. None of the Guardians suspect a plot that threatens the entire galaxy.
It's a little difficult to describe the plot without spoiling the movie. As I guessed early on in promotional stages, parenting is a big theme in the movie, with the Guardians caring for Baby Groot, Nebula and Gamora confronting how they've turned out, being the daughters of Thanos, and the comparison of Yondu and Ego, who are both father figures to Star Lord: one is the person who cared for him (admittedly after abducting him from Earth) and brought him up, the other is his biological father.
I was also impressed at the use of female characters in the movie. We once again have a strong leader of a society who is female, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki). The Guardians also add Mantis (Pom Klementieff), whose power is actually her empathy, enhancing a usually considered feminine trait into a superpower. While Peter is revealed to be falling for Gamora, her own story in the film doesn't revolve around him.
And of course, it's as full of fun and humor and action as you've come to expect from a Marvel Studios film and The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Excellent entry to the MCU, definitely check it out.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Comic Book TV Recap (4/24/2017 - 4/27/2017)
Gotham makes its return along with the CW shows this week (except, of course, Legends of Tomorrow). Lucifer is coming back next week. I will be seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on Thursday night next week, so my recap blog will likely be posted Friday.
Supergirl: "Ace Reporter" - Jack Spheer (Rahul Kohli) arrives in National City to debut his nanobots that appear to have revolutionary medical advances, as well to reconnect with his ex, Lena Luthor. However, Kara spots the nanobots attacking people. Anxious to return to Cat Co., Kara approaches Snapper Carr again. James takes issue with Winn having his girlfriend nearby when they're working nights.
Gotham: "How the Riddler Got His Name" - Proving to himself that he doesn't need Oswald, Eddie begins committing crimes, giving his victims or the GCPD clues via riddles. The Court of Owls finishes grooming their Bruce Wayne clone and kidnaps the actual Bruce. Jim reconnects with his Uncle Frank who invites him to join the Court of Owls.
The Flash: "The Once and Future Flash" - Trying to discover the identity of Savitar, Barry goes to the future to discover his surviving friends and future self broken, and himself unable to return to the past. Finding Central City under the thrall of Mirror Master and the Top, Barry finally realizes that he has to remind the future of what it means to be a hero.
iZombie: "Wag the Tongue Slowly" - As Ravi tries to perfect his memory serum by using Blaine as a guinea pig, Liv uses the brain of a murdered office gossip to try and figure out whodunit. Clive gets a lead. Major's condition continues to get worse.
Agents of SHIELD: "All the Madame's Men" - May and Daisy—now with her powers returned—escape the HYDRA base as the plans of Madame HYDRA becomes clear, and Fitz is working hard to see them completed as Coulson prepares to hijack a pro-HYDRA television program to spread the truth about HYDRA. Daisy sorts out her feelings about Ward.
Arrow: "Dangerous Liasions" - As Oliver deals with bad PR while exposing Adrian Chase, Felicity's new hacker friends try to break someone who can trace Chase out of jail, which Team Arrow carefully monitors in case anything goes wrong.
Powerless: "No Consequence Day" - While this episode was advertised as the staff of Wayne Security celebrating "No Consequence Day" (Lois Lane was killed, so from that point onward, anything goes as Superman will reverse time to save her), NBC has pulled Powerless from the lineup, which seems to effectively cancel the show. The remaining episodes will be released, we have been told, but how and when is a mystery.
Riverdale: "To Riverdale and Back Again" - Archie's mom is back in town to reconnect with her son as well as the school homecoming. There's a lot of suspicion on Jughead's dad, and despite Betty's wishes, Archie and Veronica sneak away to search his trailer. Polly discovers some secrets about the Blossom family.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Comic Book TV Recap (4/18/2017)
Most of the shows are not on this week. Powerless is scheduled to air "Emergency Punch Up," which I wrote about two weeks ago.
iZombie: "Eat, Pray, Liv" - As Major works undercover for Filmore Graves, he begins to feel his condition getting worse. Liv eats the brain of a yoga guru as they solve his murder. Blaine and his friends attempt business endeavors as Peyton is confronted with the truth about Blaine as Ravi tries to prevent memory loss when Major must finally take the cure.
Agents of SHIELD: "No Regrets" - After the shocking reveal of Fitz last week, the agents band together to infiltrate HYDRA inside the Framework under the leadership of Mace as the Patriot. Can they gain more support? Can Daisy be recovered from HYDRA's prison?
Friday, April 14, 2017
Comic Book TV Recap (4/11/2017 - 4/13/2017)
An aside, what has been up with Powerless? A couple weeks ago, an episode was expected, but an episode of another NBC show aired instead. Last week, my TV series app said an episode titled "Van of the Year" would air. Day of airing, it had revised to this episode, but "Emergency Punch-Up" aired instead. This episode was on Hulu the following day and sites such as Wikipedia claimed it had aired. I'm getting a bad feeling about chances of a Season 2. And now for the episode that aired this week...
As the Titans handle moving on with their lives—such as Nightwing and Starfire moving in together and bringing in a new member—they are unaware that Brother Blood and his cult have sent Deathstroke to capture them to absorb their powers.
Personally, my enjoyment of the movie was hampered by the fact that I'd had little sleep the previous night and wasn't feeling up to watching a movie, and had said as much, but it was played anyway. Still, there's a reason why Warner Brothers keeps making these movies: they keep selling. And they sell because they show respect to the characters and to good storytelling, which is continued here. The animation is good, never spectacular, but that's really all that's required of it. The voice cast does well, too.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Comic Book TV Recap (4/4/2017 - 4/6/2017)
Supergirl, The Flash and Arrow are on a short break as Legends of Tomorrow has its season finale. iZombie and Agents of SHIELD return.
Legends of Tomorrow: "Aruba" - The Legends have to go back in their own time to stop Eobard Thawne from using and destroying the Spear of Destiny. Thing is, interacting with their past selves may cause severe damage to time itself.
iZombie: "Heaven Just Got A Little Smoother" - "Team Z" gathers after the public exposure of Max Rager and prepare to face the new threat of the CEO of Filmore Graves, who wants to turn Seattle into a zombie homeland.
Agents of SHIELD: "What If..." - Jemma and Daisy find themselves in the Framework, experiencing a virtual world where HYDRA is in charge. Daisy works with her boyfriend Grant Ward, along with their supervisor agent May and their commander Fitz. Jemma finds Coulson working as a teacher, telling kids about how Inhumans are a danger and how HYDRA has helped the world. Just one more twist: in this world, Jemma's records say that she's dead.
Powerless: "Emergency Punch Up" - A gas bomb attack on Charm City cancels a retreat for the staff of Wayne Security. How long can the team stay chipper? And what happens when Emily gets exposed?
Riverdale: "La Grande Illusion" - Veronica befriends Midge and discovers the effects of the Lodge brand on Riverdale. Archie is befriended by the Blossoms, being invited to family events. Jughead finds another possible link to Jason's murder.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Comic Book TV recap (3/27/2017 - 3/30/2017)
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Comic Book TV recap (3/20/2017 - 3/23/2017)
Riverdale continues its mini hiatus before its final three episodes. In addition to the regular shows we watch every week, we also got in the complete first (?) season of Iron Fist.
Supergirl: "Star-Crossed" - Couples are having problems this week as Mon-El's parents (Teri Hatcher and Kevin Sorbo) arrive, revealing that he is the royal prince of Daxam. Winn's alien girlfriend gets caught in an art theft, and Winn could be arrested if he can't figure out what happened.
The Flash: "Duet" - The long awaited musical crossover of Supergirl and The Flash sees the Music Meister (Darren Criss) put Kara and Barry into a sepia-toned alternate world where familiar faces are characters in a musical they're living in. Just two catches: they must see the show to the end, and if they die in the musical, they will die in their world.
With all the musical talent that have been featured in The Flash and Supergirl, doing a musical episode was basically inevitable. John Barrowman, Melissa Benoist, Grant Gustin, Jeremy Jordan, Jesse L. Martin, Victor Garber, Carlos Valdes and Darren Criss have all done musical theater, so finding a clever way to do a one-off musical episode (that thankfully isn't all-singing all the time and didn't forget about the currently running plots of the two shows) was brilliant and quite welcome.
Legends of Tomorrow: "Fellowship of the Spear" - The Legends are determined to destroy the now completed Spear of Destiny. But in order to do so, they need some of the blood of Christ. There's one man who knows where to find a sample: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. In order to counter the Legends, the Legion of Doom adds a new member: Leonard Snart. Vixen, meanwhile, has other ideas about what to do with the Spear.
Arrow: "Kapiushon" - As Adrian Chase tortures Oliver, we're shown an adventure from Oliver's past that built to some of his defining moments.
Legion: "Chapter 7" - David's friends finally understand the very real threat of the Shadow King/Lenny as David works with his rationality (depicted as Dan Stevens with his British accent) to understand the threat himself and what he needs to do to be a hero.
Powerless: "I'm a Friend You" - This is strange, but it seems the episode was pulled at the last minute. I randomly selected the above promo picture, but now it seems most appropriate for my reaction.
Iron Fist - This is Marvel's fourth show on Netflix, the final one before the crossover event The Defenders. It also wound up being controversial for casting a white actor as a white character. This follows from a distinct lack of Asian-American led properties on film and television, and the fact that the character of Danny Rand learns a traditionally Asian (or Asian-like) skill and takes an honored title and special ability. No one raised a fuss when the character was introduced in the comics in the 1970s, but the movement for better representation wasn't quite there then. Also, the character has never been a major one for Marvel.
Keeping Danny white falls into problematic tropes about white characters taking part in non-white cultures and becoming a leading example of that skill. Marvel and Netflix decided to continue with the character as established. I don't think the show deserves the extremely negative criticism on this point, but the issue does deserve to be brought forward. The lack of representation for Asian-Americans as lead characters should be addressed.
Well, going in with the problematic premise, how is Iron Fist itself?
The Rand family was reported dead fifteen years ago when their plane wrecked over China, leaving Rand Industries in the hands of Harold Meachum (David Wenham) and his family. However, young Danny Rand survived and was brought to the mystical realm of K'un-Lun, a city in another dimension, where he spent the next fifteen years learning to fight and claiming the power of the Immortal Iron Fist. But now, Danny (Finn Jones) has returned to New York to take his place as his father's heir at Rand Industries.
It's not so easy, however. As it seems, forces inside Rand Industries were responsible for the plane wreck, and the way the company's grown since, Danny's return is inconvenient. Danny is also on the lookout for the cult known as The Hand, which he's looking to destroy. He winds up meeting and enlisting the help of Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), and Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) returns.
The Marvel Netflix shows have had a problem of being thirteen-hour long movies with long plots and subplots running through them. Daredevil and Jessica Jones were able to fill the episodes with enough drama and supporting characters to keep us happy. Luke Cage began to show signs of suffering due to needing to fill thirteen hours. Iron Fist really shows that weakness. Fans are suggesting Marvel and Netflix change up after The Defenders, incorporating Danny into Luke Cage and creating Heroes for Hire, and having Colleen and Misty Knight team up for their own show, Daughters of the Dragon. Others feel that 13 episodes is too much and future seasons should look into fewer episodes.
Iron Fist spends little time on the expected martial arts, despite it being very present. A lot of the show is spent inside with board meetings and talks about how to move forward with Rand Industries. The acting is fine, the pacing is slow, and fans looking forward to an energetic series are disappointed. If you're a Marvel fan and want to keep up, find some time to watch it. It's all right enough if you're fine with a slow pace. It seems some issues were tied to Iron Fist having the smallest budget of the Netflix shows and being contracted for 13 episodes. Still, smaller budgets should force creative talents to make a better show without spending more money. The writing certainly suffers by never saying exactly why Danny came back to New York, with a kind of clue being given late in the series. Perhaps the next Netflix/Marvel series, The Defenders, can improve on this take on one of Marvel's more obscure heroes.
Pryde of the X-Men - This week's throwback is the pilot for an animated TV series based on the X-Men. Using Kitty Pryde, we are introduced to the X-Men as she joins their fight against Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants.
I'm not a big X-Men comics reader, but I thought it was a rather nice start for an 80s X-Men cartoon, but it seems fans thought the tone was too campy and there were too many changes with the characters. However, if you don't mind that, it's just fine. This stands as an obvious forerunner of the popular X-Men animated of the 1990s, even some of the animation designs are similar.
If you want to see the pilot, it's on YouTube.
With all the musical talent that have been featured in The Flash and Supergirl, doing a musical episode was basically inevitable. John Barrowman, Melissa Benoist, Grant Gustin, Jeremy Jordan, Jesse L. Martin, Victor Garber, Carlos Valdes and Darren Criss have all done musical theater, so finding a clever way to do a one-off musical episode (that thankfully isn't all-singing all the time and didn't forget about the currently running plots of the two shows) was brilliant and quite welcome.
Keeping Danny white falls into problematic tropes about white characters taking part in non-white cultures and becoming a leading example of that skill. Marvel and Netflix decided to continue with the character as established. I don't think the show deserves the extremely negative criticism on this point, but the issue does deserve to be brought forward. The lack of representation for Asian-Americans as lead characters should be addressed.
Well, going in with the problematic premise, how is Iron Fist itself?
The Rand family was reported dead fifteen years ago when their plane wrecked over China, leaving Rand Industries in the hands of Harold Meachum (David Wenham) and his family. However, young Danny Rand survived and was brought to the mystical realm of K'un-Lun, a city in another dimension, where he spent the next fifteen years learning to fight and claiming the power of the Immortal Iron Fist. But now, Danny (Finn Jones) has returned to New York to take his place as his father's heir at Rand Industries.
It's not so easy, however. As it seems, forces inside Rand Industries were responsible for the plane wreck, and the way the company's grown since, Danny's return is inconvenient. Danny is also on the lookout for the cult known as The Hand, which he's looking to destroy. He winds up meeting and enlisting the help of Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), and Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) returns.
The Marvel Netflix shows have had a problem of being thirteen-hour long movies with long plots and subplots running through them. Daredevil and Jessica Jones were able to fill the episodes with enough drama and supporting characters to keep us happy. Luke Cage began to show signs of suffering due to needing to fill thirteen hours. Iron Fist really shows that weakness. Fans are suggesting Marvel and Netflix change up after The Defenders, incorporating Danny into Luke Cage and creating Heroes for Hire, and having Colleen and Misty Knight team up for their own show, Daughters of the Dragon. Others feel that 13 episodes is too much and future seasons should look into fewer episodes.
Iron Fist spends little time on the expected martial arts, despite it being very present. A lot of the show is spent inside with board meetings and talks about how to move forward with Rand Industries. The acting is fine, the pacing is slow, and fans looking forward to an energetic series are disappointed. If you're a Marvel fan and want to keep up, find some time to watch it. It's all right enough if you're fine with a slow pace. It seems some issues were tied to Iron Fist having the smallest budget of the Netflix shows and being contracted for 13 episodes. Still, smaller budgets should force creative talents to make a better show without spending more money. The writing certainly suffers by never saying exactly why Danny came back to New York, with a kind of clue being given late in the series. Perhaps the next Netflix/Marvel series, The Defenders, can improve on this take on one of Marvel's more obscure heroes.
I'm not a big X-Men comics reader, but I thought it was a rather nice start for an 80s X-Men cartoon, but it seems fans thought the tone was too campy and there were too many changes with the characters. However, if you don't mind that, it's just fine. This stands as an obvious forerunner of the popular X-Men animated of the 1990s, even some of the animation designs are similar.
If you want to see the pilot, it's on YouTube.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Comic Book TV Recap (3/6/2017 - 3/9/2017)
Arrow is taking a week off. Due to inclement weather, I had to wait until Friday to watch the Thursday shows.
Supergirl: "Exodus" - Kara and Alex are both tested at their jobs as Cadmus rounds up aliens from the DEO's registry, intending to send them to the other side of the universe.
The Flash: "The Wrath of Savitar" - Still trying to stop Iris' future death at the hands of Savitar, Julian helps the STAR Labs team contact him.
Legends of Tomorrow: "Land of the Lost" - While Nate, Ray and Amaya search the Cretaceous period for a missing piece of the Waverider, Sara and Jax enter Rip's mind to find where the next piece of the spear is.
Legion: "Chapter Five" - David's friends discover more about his powers and just how dangerous they are.
Powerless: "Cold Season" - While Cold-themed villains besiege Charm City, Van enlists Ron to help impress his current girlfriend by having him assemble toys for her children. Emily convinces Teddy to submit his heated gloves for a contest.
Riverdale: "In A Lonely Place" - The town searches for Polly as Jughead attempts to reconnect with his father.
Logan - The movie set to say goodbye to Hugh Jackman's take on Wolverine is set in 2029. Most mutants are dead. Logan (Hugh Jackman) drives a limo (Uber-style) to pay for medication for Charles Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) medication to stave off seizures, which makes everyone nearby have them as well. He gets a job to take a little girl (Dafne Keen) and her "mother" up to Canada, and his hand is forced when it's revealed that she has mutant abilities rather like his own, including adamantium-coated claws coming out of her knuckles and feet when she fights.
Logan is the second lower budget R-rated entry in the X-Men film franchise. (Unadjusted for inflation, it is the third-lowest budget of the franchise, behind Deadpool at $58 million and the first X-Men movie at $75 million. Logan's budget is $97 million.) The film is allowed to go all-out, but director James Mangold has taste. The violence is graphic, but not gratuitous and branches out of the story. The characters use profanity not as highlights, but naturally in their dialogue, which for Charles and Logan, feels very organic for where they are now, the tired, aged and broken-down men that they have become.
Which is very good. We have a movie from a superhero franchise that treats its main characters not as superheroes, but as people. The story is well-paced, very character driven, and even has quite a few twists. It's a well-done film that makes us say, "Keep this up, and we won't mind that you're keeping the X-Men from joining the MCU."
Supergirl: "Exodus" - Kara and Alex are both tested at their jobs as Cadmus rounds up aliens from the DEO's registry, intending to send them to the other side of the universe.
The Flash: "The Wrath of Savitar" - Still trying to stop Iris' future death at the hands of Savitar, Julian helps the STAR Labs team contact him.
Legends of Tomorrow: "Land of the Lost" - While Nate, Ray and Amaya search the Cretaceous period for a missing piece of the Waverider, Sara and Jax enter Rip's mind to find where the next piece of the spear is.
Legion: "Chapter Five" - David's friends discover more about his powers and just how dangerous they are.
Powerless: "Cold Season" - While Cold-themed villains besiege Charm City, Van enlists Ron to help impress his current girlfriend by having him assemble toys for her children. Emily convinces Teddy to submit his heated gloves for a contest.
Riverdale: "In A Lonely Place" - The town searches for Polly as Jughead attempts to reconnect with his father.
Logan - The movie set to say goodbye to Hugh Jackman's take on Wolverine is set in 2029. Most mutants are dead. Logan (Hugh Jackman) drives a limo (Uber-style) to pay for medication for Charles Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) medication to stave off seizures, which makes everyone nearby have them as well. He gets a job to take a little girl (Dafne Keen) and her "mother" up to Canada, and his hand is forced when it's revealed that she has mutant abilities rather like his own, including adamantium-coated claws coming out of her knuckles and feet when she fights.
Logan is the second lower budget R-rated entry in the X-Men film franchise. (Unadjusted for inflation, it is the third-lowest budget of the franchise, behind Deadpool at $58 million and the first X-Men movie at $75 million. Logan's budget is $97 million.) The film is allowed to go all-out, but director James Mangold has taste. The violence is graphic, but not gratuitous and branches out of the story. The characters use profanity not as highlights, but naturally in their dialogue, which for Charles and Logan, feels very organic for where they are now, the tired, aged and broken-down men that they have become.
Which is very good. We have a movie from a superhero franchise that treats its main characters not as superheroes, but as people. The story is well-paced, very character driven, and even has quite a few twists. It's a well-done film that makes us say, "Keep this up, and we won't mind that you're keeping the X-Men from joining the MCU."
Friday, March 3, 2017
Riverdale - "Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!" recap
So far, Riverdale has impressed me with how it updates the Archie characters and puts them into a Twin Peaks-like drama and yet generally stays true to the characters fans of the comics have known for so long. (There's a couple exceptions. Jughead—longtime relationship-free character, recently called asexual in the comics—kisses Betty in this episode.) I've long thought the Archie characters would lend themselves to a TV show well, and while Riverdale is quite different from the show I'd imagined, I can't say I'm not liking it.
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Comic Book TV Recap (2/27/2017 - 3/1/2017)
Powerless is taking the week off. A recap of Riverdale will be posted separately.
Supergirl: "Homecoming" - Kara rescues her father from Cadmus, but Mon-El is suspicious, and as the Danvers family and DEO adjust to having Jeremiah back, strange behavior is noted. Mon-El's suspicions put a strain on his relationship with Kara.
The Flash: "Attack on Central City" - Barry and his friends discover that Grodd and an army of gorillas are planning on invading Central City with help from Gypsy. Jessie tells her father that she's staying with Wally on Earth-1. HR and Harry clash. Iris makes Barry promise that he won't kill anyone in his attempts to save her life.
Arrow: "Fighting Fire With Fire" - As the revelation of Oliver's tampering with records becomes public, impeachment proceedings begin and Oliver is forced to make one of the most difficult decisions of his career. In addition, a new villain is out for Oliver. Felicity and Thea have to re-evaluate their methods.
Legion: "Chapter Four" - David won't wake up, but using Ptonomy's powers, they venture into his memories again to find them damaged, finding more questions and a few answers about David's powers as David explores his mind himself.
Guardians of the Galaxy - Film number 10 in the MCU was being predicted to be Marvel's first flop. The characters were virtually unknown, any recognizable talents were only secondary characters or were voicing CG characters or being covered in makeup. In addition, the story would be very separate from the world we'd seen in The Avengers and the films that had just served as direct sequels.
The film follows the exploits of junker Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), aka Star Lord, who had been abducted from Earth years before by an alien named Yondu (Michael Rooker). After finding a mysterious but much sought after orb, Quill is thrown into jail along with assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the raccoon-like Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and a talking, walking tree-like creature called Groot (Vin Diesel). They break out with the help of Drax (Dave Bautista) to meet the Collector (Benecio Del Toro) before running into Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), who plans to use the gem inside the orb to lay waste to innocent planets.
The movie quickly introduces the characters, mainly following Quill as the lead, and keeps up a fast pace with action, humor and a good bit of pathos and character building as the five members of the team come together. Not to mention, the movie brilliantly uses a retro soundtrack having hits from the 70s and 80s play as we explore alien planets and outer space with Quill and the gang. Even watched independently of the rest of the MCU, it's a great time for all.
Avengers: Age of Ultron - The sequel to The Avengers was heavily anticipated, mainly because of the first movie's success with audiences, critics and the box office, and with the cast and crew returning, expectations were high.
The movie finds the Avengers retrieving Loki's scepter from a HYDRA base, running into a pair of "enhanced" twins—Pietro (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen)—along the way. Analyzing the scepter, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) believes it holds the key to completing his Ultron project: an army of robots that will ensure world peace. This goes awry as the required AI suddenly develops itself. Taking a singular sentience over a growing army of robots, Ultron (James Spader) begins to enact his plans for world peace: there will be no problems if there are no humans left. Putting each of their strengths to work, the Avengers join with new allies as they set out to save the earth again.
The reception of the movie was tempered at best. Some enjoyed it, others were far more critical. Ultron—a formidable foe in the comics—didn't feel as if he met his full potential. A romance between Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) featured in the film with little to no set up in previous films and didn't really serve the characters' stories well. Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is given a family, again with no set up in previous films, and contradicting a common fan theory that he and Natasha were a couple.
Another problem with the movie is that it was near the end of Phase 2. A lot of the films in Phase 2 were spoiled with the knowledge that there would be future films. By the time Age of Ultron was in theaters, fans knew about future films, so the threat of Ultron causing an extinction-level event was ruined by the knowledge that of course the plan wouldn't pan out. The question "Are they all going to die?" is pointless when you know the answer is "No." This is the same problem with Thor: The Dark World. Phase 2 had the problem that it wasn't a beginning or an end, but simply a continuation. The highlights of Phase 2 to most fans are Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy because the former severely changed the world of the MCU, and the latter was disconnected enough from it to do nearly whatever it wanted.
Is Age of Ultron horrible? No, on its own, it's still a very good superhero movie, and it introduces three new heroes to the MCU, gives us our first mention of Wakanda and the first glimpse of a future villain, and moves the plotline of the Infinity Stones forward. It has its flaws which are very apparent, but it's not "skip it" bad.
Ant-Man - There had been quite some history with this film. Popular action/comedy director Edgar Wright had been developing an Ant-Man film since about 2003 and had been hired in 2006 to direct and began a long development process before the film was announced for a 2015 release. After casting Paul Rudd as the lead and preparing to shoot, Wright left the film, he and Marvel Studios citing creative differences. Director Peyton Reed took over and Paul Rudd helped rewrite the script. People weren't sure about the obscure hero, some were made aware of controversies in the character's past and made up their minds to skip the movie.
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) gets out of jail, and is desperate to get back on his feet, which isn't easy for an ex-con. His friend and roommate Luis (Michael Peña) gives him a tip on a heist he can pull, but all Scott gets away with is a strange suit and helmet. Trying them on, Scott discovers they can make him shrink to the size of an insect. He soon meets the owner/inventor of the suit, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), who recruit him to infiltrate Pymtech to steal the prototype of the Yellowjacket, a suit and formula that builds on Hank's work and weaponizes it.
Ant-Man wisely keeps its focus small. In addition to learning to master the suit and communicate with ants, there's a big focus on being a father. Hank and Scott have messed up with their daughters. Cassie still devotedly loves her father, while Hope and Hank have some problems they need to iron out. In addition, the movie is also very humorous but wisely balances the proceedings with enough pathos to tell the story of how Scott not only becomes Ant-Man but how he and Hank become better men. A very good closer to Phase 2.
Captain America: Civil War - This movie proved to be quite the controversial choice to open Phase 3. The Civil War comic story had been a massive story that built on the Marvel Universe and many fans were displeased about how characters acted as the government required superheroes to register with them. Promotion of the movie made it clear that the story would deal with the consequences of collateral damage, which appeared to be a factor in the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which had originally been scheduled to open in 2015 and then was pushed back to a couple months before this movie.
The directors would reveal that the decision to base the third Captain America film on Civil War seemed to actually be spurred by the announcement of Batman v Superman. While some fans of DC Comics' properties saw this as Marvel trying to copy, it would be more fair to see that Marvel saw the other film as something that could set new standards for superhero movies and needed to do a story big enough to keep up. Fans will likely debate for ages as to which film did it better, but I won't do that here.
The character Spider-Man had been a major part of the comics story, but being one of Marvel's most famous characters, the rights to him had long been licensed to Sony Pictures, who had recently begun a second film series based on the character, making him unavailable for Marvel Studios to use. However, Marvel was in close contact with Sony, and their current plans for Spider-Man were in flux. Their current Spider-Man actor had been fired after not appearing at a Sony event and the latest Spider-Man film had been successful, but had not reached the expected profit margin. So, Marvel offered to take over production of a new Spider-Man film series that they would produce for Sony in exchange for letting Spider-Man appear in some of their films. Sony ultimately agreed to the deal. Captain America: Civil War would introduce Spider-Man to the MCU along with Black Panther.
After a mission in Lagos, Nigeria goes wrong, the deaths of several people from Wakanda are blamed on the Avengers. In response, governments across the world agree to ratify the Sokovia Accords, which would put the Avengers under government oversight. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) remembering that he caused many deaths by creating Ultron, decides to go along with it. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) decides against it as he states, "We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own" and citing the loss of freedom of choice and possible government corruption as another reason. However, Steve's attempt at retirement is cut short when there's an explosion at the United Nations building in Vienna that kills T'Chaka, the king of Wakanda (John Kani). The bombing is pinned on none other than the Winter Soldier, the revived and HYDRA-influenced and enhanced Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Wanting to question Bucky himself, Steve goes after him, and soon has to shield him from the government, his former fellow Avengers, the new king of Wakanda, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), and Tony's new recruit Peter Parker (Tom Holland).
Captain America: Civil War has a large scope and an even bigger cast (all of the Avengers except Thor and Bruce Banner/Hulk appear in the film), but it doesn't lose focus on its main narrative of Steve seeking the true culprit of the UN bombing. Thematically, it wraps up the story of Captain America in the MCU, reminding us that it's never been about the colorful costume or the shield, but the man. Like Winter Soldier, it changes the status quo of the MCU and instead of giving us a neat, pat ending, it leaves the door wide open for questions and further developments that fans still want to see. A very good start to Phase 3.
The film follows the exploits of junker Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), aka Star Lord, who had been abducted from Earth years before by an alien named Yondu (Michael Rooker). After finding a mysterious but much sought after orb, Quill is thrown into jail along with assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the raccoon-like Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and a talking, walking tree-like creature called Groot (Vin Diesel). They break out with the help of Drax (Dave Bautista) to meet the Collector (Benecio Del Toro) before running into Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), who plans to use the gem inside the orb to lay waste to innocent planets.
The movie quickly introduces the characters, mainly following Quill as the lead, and keeps up a fast pace with action, humor and a good bit of pathos and character building as the five members of the team come together. Not to mention, the movie brilliantly uses a retro soundtrack having hits from the 70s and 80s play as we explore alien planets and outer space with Quill and the gang. Even watched independently of the rest of the MCU, it's a great time for all.
The movie finds the Avengers retrieving Loki's scepter from a HYDRA base, running into a pair of "enhanced" twins—Pietro (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen)—along the way. Analyzing the scepter, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) believes it holds the key to completing his Ultron project: an army of robots that will ensure world peace. This goes awry as the required AI suddenly develops itself. Taking a singular sentience over a growing army of robots, Ultron (James Spader) begins to enact his plans for world peace: there will be no problems if there are no humans left. Putting each of their strengths to work, the Avengers join with new allies as they set out to save the earth again.
The reception of the movie was tempered at best. Some enjoyed it, others were far more critical. Ultron—a formidable foe in the comics—didn't feel as if he met his full potential. A romance between Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) featured in the film with little to no set up in previous films and didn't really serve the characters' stories well. Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is given a family, again with no set up in previous films, and contradicting a common fan theory that he and Natasha were a couple.
Another problem with the movie is that it was near the end of Phase 2. A lot of the films in Phase 2 were spoiled with the knowledge that there would be future films. By the time Age of Ultron was in theaters, fans knew about future films, so the threat of Ultron causing an extinction-level event was ruined by the knowledge that of course the plan wouldn't pan out. The question "Are they all going to die?" is pointless when you know the answer is "No." This is the same problem with Thor: The Dark World. Phase 2 had the problem that it wasn't a beginning or an end, but simply a continuation. The highlights of Phase 2 to most fans are Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy because the former severely changed the world of the MCU, and the latter was disconnected enough from it to do nearly whatever it wanted.
Is Age of Ultron horrible? No, on its own, it's still a very good superhero movie, and it introduces three new heroes to the MCU, gives us our first mention of Wakanda and the first glimpse of a future villain, and moves the plotline of the Infinity Stones forward. It has its flaws which are very apparent, but it's not "skip it" bad.
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) gets out of jail, and is desperate to get back on his feet, which isn't easy for an ex-con. His friend and roommate Luis (Michael Peña) gives him a tip on a heist he can pull, but all Scott gets away with is a strange suit and helmet. Trying them on, Scott discovers they can make him shrink to the size of an insect. He soon meets the owner/inventor of the suit, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), who recruit him to infiltrate Pymtech to steal the prototype of the Yellowjacket, a suit and formula that builds on Hank's work and weaponizes it.
Ant-Man wisely keeps its focus small. In addition to learning to master the suit and communicate with ants, there's a big focus on being a father. Hank and Scott have messed up with their daughters. Cassie still devotedly loves her father, while Hope and Hank have some problems they need to iron out. In addition, the movie is also very humorous but wisely balances the proceedings with enough pathos to tell the story of how Scott not only becomes Ant-Man but how he and Hank become better men. A very good closer to Phase 2.
The directors would reveal that the decision to base the third Captain America film on Civil War seemed to actually be spurred by the announcement of Batman v Superman. While some fans of DC Comics' properties saw this as Marvel trying to copy, it would be more fair to see that Marvel saw the other film as something that could set new standards for superhero movies and needed to do a story big enough to keep up. Fans will likely debate for ages as to which film did it better, but I won't do that here.
The character Spider-Man had been a major part of the comics story, but being one of Marvel's most famous characters, the rights to him had long been licensed to Sony Pictures, who had recently begun a second film series based on the character, making him unavailable for Marvel Studios to use. However, Marvel was in close contact with Sony, and their current plans for Spider-Man were in flux. Their current Spider-Man actor had been fired after not appearing at a Sony event and the latest Spider-Man film had been successful, but had not reached the expected profit margin. So, Marvel offered to take over production of a new Spider-Man film series that they would produce for Sony in exchange for letting Spider-Man appear in some of their films. Sony ultimately agreed to the deal. Captain America: Civil War would introduce Spider-Man to the MCU along with Black Panther.
After a mission in Lagos, Nigeria goes wrong, the deaths of several people from Wakanda are blamed on the Avengers. In response, governments across the world agree to ratify the Sokovia Accords, which would put the Avengers under government oversight. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) remembering that he caused many deaths by creating Ultron, decides to go along with it. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) decides against it as he states, "We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own" and citing the loss of freedom of choice and possible government corruption as another reason. However, Steve's attempt at retirement is cut short when there's an explosion at the United Nations building in Vienna that kills T'Chaka, the king of Wakanda (John Kani). The bombing is pinned on none other than the Winter Soldier, the revived and HYDRA-influenced and enhanced Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Wanting to question Bucky himself, Steve goes after him, and soon has to shield him from the government, his former fellow Avengers, the new king of Wakanda, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), and Tony's new recruit Peter Parker (Tom Holland).
Captain America: Civil War has a large scope and an even bigger cast (all of the Avengers except Thor and Bruce Banner/Hulk appear in the film), but it doesn't lose focus on its main narrative of Steve seeking the true culprit of the UN bombing. Thematically, it wraps up the story of Captain America in the MCU, reminding us that it's never been about the colorful costume or the shield, but the man. Like Winter Soldier, it changes the status quo of the MCU and instead of giving us a neat, pat ending, it leaves the door wide open for questions and further developments that fans still want to see. A very good start to Phase 3.
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