August 18th
August 18th
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
If you're the CEO of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate maybe you shouldn't be breaking into buildings without a mask, ffs Danny.
Movie Theater Diary
Kinda goes hand in hand with my remarks how Daredevil is the only one of these guys who a. has a secret identity, and b. actually wears a costume. Can't help but feel he's gonna stick out, unless they address this by, like you said, actually giving Danny an outfit to mask his identity as well.
This aptly demonstrates the problem with a secret anything --- because the weak link isn't you, it's your social graph. The bad guys don't need to know who the man in the mask is, because they know who Luke Cage and Jessica Jones are.
I'll be surprised if they don't address the mask in Defenders.
Some lame dialog- otherwise I'll watch it.
"You're on the same side"
I'm down with that trailer.
So this released on Netflix last night. Anyone watching yet? I think I might start either tonight or sometime this weekend.
Just watched 5 episodes in a row and gonna stop it there for now. Impressions so far:
- There's a really great chunk of the pilot that's just scenes showing the "boiled down essence" of 3 of them one after another: Jessica Jones sitting at her desk tracing a phone number, cut to Misty talking to Luke Cage about the importance of him being a role model for young men, cut to Matt Murdock whining to a Catholic priest in a confessional. Perfect snapshots of them. Kinda telling, though, that it doesn't cut to Danny Rand scene after that. He's got the weakest characterization, and apparently the writers don't know what his signature character moment should be.
- So maybe it's smart that they make the whole plot revolve around him. This is like 40% DD Season 2 and 60% IF.
- I was goddamn right though that they should've just made an Iron Fist & Luke Cage show in the first place. Mike Colter and Finn Jones' chemistry is pretty good (Run the Jewels help). I like that they immediately become a double act once DD and JJ come into the picture.
- Krysten Ritter, still GOAT Marvel hero.
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I watched first ep last night. Opens with bunch of same bad fast cutting around Jones fighting. That bit is unfortunate. Rest of it was enjoyable though. I didn't realize I missed Jessica Jones as much as I did.
Yeah the fight scenes continue to be the worst aspect of these shows.
Movie Theater Diary
I never finished watching Iron Fist. Should I at least watch the final episode before this?
Probably. The final moments of that show definitely come into play quite a bit so far here. (I'm three episodes in so far)
It's good to see that, so far at least, this series has finally stopped pretending that the Marvel Netflix Universe takes place in the MCU. I was so ready for an obnoxious Avengers reference when they all teamed up for the first time.
First two episodes in.
- I really like the transitions.
- Sigourney Weaver as a centuries old character is very good casting. There's something about her face that completely sells it.
- The best of these four characters is by far Jessica Jones. I know, Matt Murdock is a brilliant character on paper and there's more source material to draw from, but Ritter's performance is superior in every way. She really comes off as a unique being and not just an archetype.
I enjoy the cast, but good God the writing is bad. Every scene is cop show cliche piled on cop show cliche. I half expect somebody to yell "You're off the case, McGonagle!" at Ritter.
Iron Fist is embarrassing. His tatt looks like it was drawn on with a sharpie. And the dissonance around the cultural appropriation is startling.
They burned almost 3 hours before Weaver indicates what she's up to.
I'd rather see these same people do almost anything else. There's a real chemistry and affinity between the actors. It's too bad the material is so shallow and baseless.
I'm on episode 5 and I'm bored. Is it possible this is the worst Marvel season yet?
Nah, that's still Daredevil season 2.
Gosh that fight scene in episode 7 was especially bad. Four separate fights all going on at the same time, and it keeps quick-cutting back and forth between all of them to the point where it's impossible to keep up with any of them. Like, what the hell...
Just finished The Defenders. Not great, not awful, sorta somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, I think that it being only 8 episodes definitely helps keep it more focused, unlike how, say, Daredevil season 2 was an absolute mess, and Luke Cage sorta went off the rails during its second half, after having such a stellar first half. So this show didn't last long enough to quite get to that point, which I definitely feel it probably could have and would have had it been the usual 13 episodes, particularly considering how much it feels in line tonally with the aformentioned messy Daredevil 2.
That said, as a result of being a shorter series, I think what gets sacrificed there is the phenomenal character development that we saw in much of the other series. Most notably is Sigourney Weaver's character, who feels like she should be an outstanding villain in the same vein of Fisk, Kilgrave, and Cottonmouth (and in terms of her performance, she certainly sells it to that level). However, she never really gets her moment to have the spotlight shine on her and truly develop her as deeply as all those other characters. And that's really sort of a shame, 'cause it definitely felt like there was loads of potential there that ultimately went unfulfilled.
So, there's your toss-up, at least as far as it concerns this series' length compared to all the others. Hopefully moving forward, assuming they stick with the 8 episode formula, they can find a bit more of a balance. Perhaps tone down a bit on the plot heavy stuff and really tighten that all up, and really spend that time focusing more on exploring these characters. That's what elevated Daredevil season 1 and Jessica Jones as high as it did, and that's what made the first half of Luke Cage stand out as great as it did, before it got all plot heavy and silly in its latter half.
And that's arguably what sorta ruined DD2 and Iron Fist, was that they placed more emphasis on plot over character, and, well, the plot just wasn't all that great, to be perfectly frank. And seeing as this series directly picks up where those two series left off, it's no big surprise to see this series carry on in that manner, even if to its own detriment. (Also sorta funny how much of this series so heavily depends on you really having actually watched Iron Fist, considering how many people opted out on that one. Can't help but feel there's gonna be a lotta people watching this show who are gonna feel really damn lost because of this, especially in the earlier episodes. Heh, whoops. :P )
But the best moments in this series are honestly when shit calms down and the characters get to have moments to actually interact with one another. There was definitely a lot of great chemistry with the team, and I'd love to see more interactions between Luke/Jessica and Luke/Iron Fist. And even the last moment between Daredevil and Electra was a really damn powerful scene.
The action scenes are mostly forgettable, and on a time or two, terrible. The opening scene in the series is god fucking awful, and that action scene in episode 7 is especially horrendous, all due to how poorly they're edited with quick cuts and such, making it impossible to tell what's happening and really be able to invest in the scenes. Yeah, kinda miss some of the awesome action scenes from Daredevil, like those two single shot hallway fight scenes. We get something SORTA like that in the last episode, though it doesn't last long, and doesn't really leave too big an impact. But eh, it's something.
So yeah, this was a bit of a mixed bag, but like I said, nothing really especially great nor terrible overall. In any event, I look forward to seeing where things go from here (and hopefully this shit with The Hand is finally over. Seriously, we need a new antagonist already...)
Rankings:
Jessica Jones
Daredevil S1
Luke Cage
The Defenders
Iron Fist
Daredevil S2
Last edited by TGM; 08-22-2017 at 05:21 AM.
I watched the first seasons of Jessica Jones (my favorite so far, and I don't have as many problems with it as many others do) and Daredevil. Lost interest a few episodes into Luke Cage and Daredevil Season 2. Never bother with Iron Fist. I read a quick, very brief recap of all the seasons on Buzzfeed before watching this. Two episodes in and generally enjoying it so far; the first is a good drop-in into the four characters, maybe even more enjoyable for me because after skipping a few seasons, I don't find their many tangents to feel redundant. But the second episode kinda feels that way though, and is too long a set-up, even if it ends very well. Ritter is as great a presence as ever, so is Weaver in her still not significant screentime.
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
Very similar to my ranking, except I think Iron Fist is actually worse than DDS2.
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