[TV] The General Marvel TV/Streaming Thread

[Hailey Knight]

Finished it tonight. Really well-acted, enjoyed the characters. The pacing took a dip in the middle, but it picked itself up in the last few episodes.

Spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler

They tried their damnedest to make Diamondback a compelling character, but I missed Cottonmouth for the second half of the show. I felt the tension between him and Luke was more genuine because Cottonmouth acted like a person, while Diamondback felt more like a 2-dimensional crazy character.

That said, the fight between Luke and Diamondback was one of the better brawls in the MCU. Goofy outfit aside, that they were able to draw out the fight, make it feel like a big deal, get other characters involved without having them fighting too, get the setting into it, and so on, really made it one of the better fights between the movies and shows.

It was a bit of a bummer that the show ended on a down note, but at least we'll get Daredevil and Luke connected. I'm also not crazy about Luke with Claire; I was hoping he'd end up with Jessica like in the comics. We'll have to see. It could still happen. Hopefully Claire doesn't start falling for Danny in Iron Fist.

Only gripe I have is that in every story there are a bunch of crooked cops. Am I just that naive to think that this trope is way overused? It's one of the things I liked about Stranger Things. The cops were intelligent and careful. That was kinda rare in shows.

Consider the times of today and the location.

Oh, what was the music piece you found weird? Was it

Spoiler

the three guys going "stop and look and you have found love" where the lead singer kept breaking the notes, and they had three guys on instruments behind them? Because my wife and I figured Diamondback saying he liked that set sealed the deal for him being a villain

 

[Dave]

That was the one. All falsetto all the time. I was seriously looking for the woman singer.

 

[Hailey Knight]

That was the one. All falsetto all the time. I was seriously looking for the woman singer.

Texting today, I quoted the song to my wife as a joke. The reply:
"My day was going good until you sent that and reminded of that shitty song! NOW IT'S IN MY HEAD!!! WHY!!!!!!"

 

[IronBrig4]

http://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2016/10/03/luke-cage-so-black.html?cid=facebook

Apparently some white commenters are upset that Luke Cage is an angry black man. I know the type (middle-class, painfully nervous, thinks racism is over). I can practically taste their pumpkin spice flavored tears.

 

[CynicismKills]

http://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2016/10/03/luke-cage-so-black.html?cid=facebook

Apparently some white commenters are upset that Luke Cage is an angry black man. I know the type (middle-class, painfully nervous, thinks racism is over). I can practically taste their pumpkin spice flavored tears.

That one tweet makes a good point, the tears when Black Panther releases and has maybe like one non-black person in it will flood theaters.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

(middle-class, painfully nervous, thinks racism is over).

Yeah, those are the worst types of racists.

They think contemporary black heroes should say "Jive turkey" and wear Afros, use coded language toward national anthem performances like "funkified", post memes laughing at starving poor black children being maimed by land mines, calls ethnicities "boat people" casually, and thinks any phone call with broken "Engrish" is a scam.

Those racists are pretty bad.

 

[IronBrig4]

I'd also like to see a Spider-Man costume with webpits too, as an homage to the original. Funkified is just a term that encapsulates all the overlong and pretentious attempts to sing the national anthem with a unique spin. Third World Success is a funny meme, just like First World Problems. "Boat people" is a term employed by anthropologists and historians, and I'm a historian by profession. And when you get an unsolicited phone call from a Pakistani speaking in choppy English, chances are he's going to claim to be an IRS agent extorting Target gift cards from you.

 

[CynicismKills]

Iron Fist is confirmed for a 3/17/17 release date.

 

[Hailey Knight]

http://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2016/10/03/luke-cage-so-black.html?cid=facebook

Apparently some white commenters are upset that Luke Cage is an angry black man. I know the type (middle-class, painfully nervous, thinks racism is over). I can practically taste their pumpkin spice flavored tears.

Fuuuuuck these tweets.

"Lack of white people in Luke Cage makes me uncomfortable. This show is racist, how is this on Netflix???"

Doesn't sound like Netflix is the racist one if the lack of white people makes you "uncomfortable." This would only be an issue if you looked at the main cast and thought "other." Ridiculous.

"Is it me or the new Netflix. Luke Cage a little racist. Notice it's mostly black where is the diversity."

-_-

"im not racist but :/ why is luke cage so political :/ why do they talk about being black all the time :/ where are the white characters :/"

Why is "I'm not racist but" always followed by something racist? Why can't it be "I'm not racist, but I've got a comfy couch."?

I felt the social issues were handled with great care on Luke Cage. Subtle, no, but it wasn't trying to be and it didn't have to be because it was core to what was happening in the show. There was an episode of Supergirl where they paid lip service to some of the police/community problems, and it felt exploitive rather than actually delving into what was going on. Luke Cage wanted to be about these issues. Even when the protagonist is a likable hero you'd think anyone could get behind, there are people for whom it's impossible to wriggle outside of their box. I'm sure everyone on here feels the same as me--there was never a point while watching the show where I felt alienated as a viewer.

Iron Fist is confirmed for a 3/17/17 release date.

From this I estimate The Defenders will be around late September, early October.

 

[Tress]

Yeah, those are the worst types of racists.

They think contemporary black heroes should say "Jive turkey" and wear Afros, use coded language toward national anthem performances like "funkified", post memes laughing at starving poor black children being maimed by land mines, calls ethnicities "boat people" casually, and thinks any phone call with broken "Engrish" is a scam.

Those racists are pretty bad.

Yup. They're right up there with self-righteous white assholes who try to crusade for every perceived social cause without really having the intellectual capacity to understand the actual issues. Of course, those guys usually don't even understand how obnoxious and unhelpful they are, which is the really sad part.

 

[Dave]

A show set in Harlem about a black superhero is racist? The fuck? Should we all be surprised at how articulate they are?

And I could see him saying jive turkey and having an afro if the show were set in the 1970's. But since it isn't that would make no sense.

I thought the show was extremely well done.

Oh, and Shades is one of my favorite characters. Dude's a survivor full stop.

 

[Bubble181]

Eh, people complained Agent Carter was sexist/overly feminist and too on-the-nose about feminist issues, too. As if those wouldn't be important in a show featuring male heroine in the 40s.

For some the norm is still a white male, and any deviation is weird or strange. This will change in time.

 

[Denbrought]

What are they even talking about, anyway? There's plenty of white characters. I sat down to watch 2 episodes with my wife, and I can remember at least 5 with lines.

The show's plot is great, and so are the actors. My only issue with is that all the conflict choreography feel off. Like they couldn't decide what style they wanted, and it ends up just falling flat. Thankfully there isn't that much of it, and the dialog more than makes up for it.

 

[Ravenpoe]

What are they even talking about, anyway? There's plenty of white characters. I sat down to watch 2 episodes with my wife, and I can remember at least 5 with lines.

The show's plot is great, and so are the actors. My only issue with is that all the conflict choreography feel off. Like they couldn't decide what style they wanted, and it ends up just falling flat. Thankfully there isn't that much of it, and the dialog more than makes up for it.

I think the fights are fine, they just seem less choreographed than something like Daredevil because Luke Cage isn't a martial artist, he's a brawler.

 

[Denbrought]

I think the fights are fine, they just seem less choreographed than something like Daredevil because Luke Cage isn't a martial artist, he's a brawler.

It's hard to make someone look amateur on-screen, I don't think they made it. I haven't watched Daredevil (or any other Netflix superhero show) so I don't have that frame of reference, unfortunately.

 

[GasBandit]

Yeah, the fights were very different. Daredevil's choreography was frickin amazing. Luke Cage had a lot of... I dunno, grabbing people and throwing them into walls/ceilings. The Jessica Jones scenes were... somewhere inbetween?[DOUBLEPOST=1475601505,1475601360][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh, also, I liked how they started lampshading how corny the "always" arc words were by the end of the season.

 

[IronBrig4]

Compared to the MCU movie fights, I prefer how their Netflix and TV properties choreograph fights so you can actually see what's going on. They don't do 20 cuts per frame. The shaky cam was my main gripe with Winter Soldier and Civil War.

Anyways, I noticed something at the end. It's when Claire is looking at the ad for martial arts classes. The instructor is Colleen Wing, who is one of Iron Fist's love interests.

PS - Not many good things happen to Turk Barrett.

 

[Celt Z]

I finished the series last night, and like the previous ones, I loved it. I love that we have this darker niche in the Marvel Universe where things can get gritty but never hopeless, and it doesn't have to affect all of the Marvel properties where it'd be less effective *coughMurderversecough*. But speaking of which, a small thing bothered me about the ending, though not enough to take away from my over-all enjoyment:

Spoiler

The first black lead and his ending is he's carted off to jail while some of his villains go free? I know this series didn't shy away from the reality of the current tensions with the black community and law enforcement, and I'm glad they didn't, but it just kind of sucks that he has to go to jail, but both Daredevil and Jessica were able to completely stop their antagonists. Okay, maybe not Daredevil, but we didn't learn that until half-way through the second season.

But the complaints about Luke Cage baffle me, much like the ones about The Force Awakens leads: we have NO shortage of white, male leads in ANY genre. Is it really so hard for some people to see a story though eyes that aren't their own sometimes? Because the rest of us (i.e. not white males) have to do it ALL the f-ing time, and somehow that's acceptable. I'm glad they kept the casting the way they did in Luke Cage. It felt true to Harlem, it felt true to the character, and it needs to happen more often. Speaking of casting, I loved the cast (though it took a little while for us to stop seeing Cottonmouth as Remy from House of Cards), but Erik Laray Harvey did a great job creeping me out with that grinning zealotry. I pretty much always enjoy Alfre Woodard, and that scene

Spoiler

when she kills Cottonmouth was so emotionally charged, I had to stop and take a break. As someone who had been molested by a family member, and had to hear those accusations at one time, her reaction was so brilliantly cathartic. I've never wanted to kill anyone, but I knew that pain. It was raw and authentic.

Before I forget, how does one get to be Claire Temple? Because, damn, girl! I thought Coulson had the best part in the MCU (prior to The Avengers, anyway).

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

Before I forget, how does one get to be Claire Temple? Because, damn, girl! I thought Coulson had the best part in the MCU (prior to The Avengers, anyway).

You just have to be Rosario Dawson and work decades of thankless roles in bad nerd-shit (sorry, Clerks 2), before everyone realizes you're one of the most-talented and hardest-working actresses alive

 

[Celt Z]

You just have to be Rosario Dawson and work decades of thankless roles in bad nerd-shit (sorry, Clerks 2), before everyone realizes you're one of the most-talented and hardest-working actresses alive

I meant that in the less literal sense, having been a long-time fan of Rosario Dawson. Claire is essentially the linchpin of the Netflix MCU (and gets the bonus of making out with both Matt and Luke) without being pigeonholed as the damsel in distress. She doesn't have any superpowers or SHIELD connections, and yet her own talent and ingenuity make her vital to all the "supers" running around. And she gets to be our "everyman" without being white or a man! ("Could such a thing exist? It would never work!") She is the unsung hero of the Netflix 'verse, and I was trying to point that out in a light-hearted way.

 

[Covar]

What's disappointing is the character is basically Night Nurse, was planned to be Night Nurse, but then they thought they might include Night Nurse in Doctor Strange, so they changed the character's name, then Night Nurse wound up not being in the screenplay, but Daredevil was already in production so it was to late to change back.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

Yeah, we agree! I love her / the character.

 

[Tiger Tsang]

Is it really so hard for some people to see a story though eyes that aren't their own sometimes? Because the rest of us (i.e. not white males) have to do it ALL the f-ing time, and somehow that's acceptable. I'm glad they kept the casting the way they did in Luke Cage. It felt true to Harlem, it felt true to the character, and it needs to happen more often.

You do realize a lot of the people 'complaining' are just taking the piss out of people like Charlie who complain about the lack of POC's in the Miss Peregrine movie, or Witcher 3 or . . . grrr I can't remember the name of the game, but a Medieval combat/feudal simulator set in Eastern Europe.

 

[CynicismKills]

You do realize a lot of the people 'complaining' are just taking the piss out of people like Charlie who complain about the lack of POC's in the Miss Peregrine movie, or Witcher 3 or . . . grrr I can't remember the name of the game, but a Medieval combat/feudal simulator set in Eastern Europe.

Do we have to bring this into every fucking thread, holy shit

 

[Celt Z]

You do realize a lot of the people 'complaining' are just taking the piss out of people like Charlie who complain about the lack of POC's in the Miss Peregrine movie, or Witcher 3 or . . . grrr I can't remember the name of the game, but a Medieval combat/feudal simulator set in Eastern Europe.

I'd like to believe that, and in some cases it's possibly true, but evidence to the contrary seems to outweigh it.

 

[Tiger Tsang]

Do we have to bring this into every fucking thread, holy shit

"Fuck Tim Burton and his White Supremacist ass."

 

[Tiger Tsang]

I'd like to believe that, and in some cases it's possibly true, but evidence to the contrary seems to outweigh it.

Well, note this didn't happen with "The Get Down" *which is awesome btw* that only had the one main character that was white "the scuzzy producer" and the handful of side characters that interacted with Smits character.

I'm sure there are some ignorant racists saying crap, but really it looks more like trolls poking at the perpetually offended types.

 

[CynicismKills]

"Fuck Tim Burton and his White Supremacist ass."

Do we have to bring this into every fucking thread, holy shit

If you want to do this make a fucking We Hate CDS Thread or something, goddamn, that wasn't even in this thread

BACK TO MARVEL STUFF

Luke Cage was great, and I'm really excited for Iron Fist and Punisher. Netflix/Marvel have been getting really talented people to work on these shows and it's insane how solid every season has been.

 

[GasBandit]

 

[Celt Z]

 

[IronBrig4]

I'm going to be THAT guy and ask how Luke's hair manages to stay intact. He can cut his hair and keep his head shaved. In fact, his facial hair is usually well groomed. But it doesn't get singed off even when he's on fire.

 

[Dei]

One of my pet peeves was in Luke Cage though.

Spoiler

OMG STOP SHOCKING FLATLINES

 

[evilmike]

The Luke Cage Playlist
https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:user:marvel_music_:playlist:0f5Amxafaiq8N0120Y5s8A

 

[Celt Z]

I'm watching Luke Cage again (I got ahead of Mr. Z and now I'm hanging out while he catches up), and there's something I didn't notice until now: there are a lot of women as major characters. Probably more than Daredevil and Jessica Jones combined. A lot of strong, well-rounded characters, both good, evil, and somewhere in between, without constantly calling attention to them being women or sexualized. Not just Claire and Misty, but Mariah, Inspector Ridley, Captain Audrey, Thembi, even "Genghis Connie". Kudos to whomever made that happen.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I think one reason the pissbabies are whining about not enough white people in Luke Cage vs some other shows is that they wouldn't watch those other shows in the first place, while Luke Cage is a Marvel superhero show. The MCU is a big popular brand right now and those particular dumbshits have expectations about stuff they watch.

So yeah, just wait for Black Panther.

So I checked out some comic stuff, and Mariah Dillard is a very different character there.

On the left. I can't imagine the character on the show is going to get some super-soldier serum treatment.