Monday, March 27, 2017

Iron Fist REVIEW Part 1: Danny Rand (SPOILERS)


Image Courtesy www.ign.com

Rather than review each episode individually for Iron Fist, something that fizzled out about halfway through on Luke Cage, I’m instead going to break my review up into a number of articles reviewing specific aspects of the season.  Obviously, all of these articles will contain SPOILERS for Iron Fist season 1, so consider this your SPOILER WARNING for every Iron Fist related article for the next month or so.

This week we will start off by talking about Danny Rand himself, considering that he’s the main character, after all.

There was a lot riding on Marvel’s decision to cast Finn Jones as Danny Rand for Iron Fist.  Considering that Iron Fist was one of the original characters selected by Marvel Studios/Marvel TV for The Defenders, it was important to get the character right the first time since he will make multiple appearances in both his own show and the crossover, as well as possible appearances in the other shows.  Additionally, Iron Fist was the series that Marvel seemed to have the most difficulty with in the pre-production process, which led to multiple calls by critics for Marvel to do something completely different with the series.

The biggest call from critics was for Marvel to cast an Asian-American actor as Danny Rand in order to increase diversity among the heroes.  Did Marvel make the right call in casting Finn Jones in the lead role?

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Sony's Trying to be Stupid Again


Does Sony really want another of these
on their conscience?
Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com

In the “Weekly MCU Review” this morning, I talked about Sony’s continuing descent into madness.  However, I don’t think I quite talked it to death enough there, so here we are.  To recap:  news broke last week that Sony was planning to produce a Venom movie (something they had been planning as a spinoff to The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, but which the Marvel deal put on hold).  However, it was unclear at that time whether the Venom movie would be part of the MCU.  This week, news started circulating that Sony was also planning a movie about Black Cat and Silver Sable, two female antiheroes associated with Spider-Man.  Then, almost as soon as the news came out, there was a follow-up Tweet saying that this movie will not be part of the MCU and that Kevin Feige is not involved.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Sony decided to get in on the Female-Led Superhero Movie™ bandwagon.  After all, Marvel Studios has two different movies on the way starring female heroes—Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel.  Warner Bros has Wonder Woman coming out this June, and they have already started working on a Gotham City Sirens movie with Harley Quinn (among others).  So of course Sony wants to get in on it without stopping to consider why any of these movies will (presumably) be successful—and without even waiting to see whether Wonder Woman will even make money!

I’ve already talked about the possibility of Spider-Man spinoffs, and about why the Venom movie should be in the MCU.  This time around, I will talk about exactly why Sony would be shooting themselves in the foot by producing spinoffs outside the MCU, why Black Cat and Silver Sable will not work outside the MCU, and why this movie concept will work in the MCU.

Weekly MCU Review for March 25



Another week, and more MCU news!  Iron Fist is out now and The Defenders finished filming.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Iron Fist Episodes 7-13 NON-SPOILER REVIEW


Image Courtesy www.ign.com

For the fans, Iron Fist is an exciting introduction to the final Defender and his supporting cast.  The series is not without its flaws, but it does a respectable job of tying things together, connecting in the other Marvel Netflix shows, and setting up the upcoming crossover The Defenders.  Without giving away too much, here is my non-spoiler review of the second half of the season.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Iron Fist Episodes 1-6 NON-SPOILER REVIEW


Image Courtesy www.ign.com

The biggest story relating to Iron Fist in the week leading up to its release was, unfortunately, the wave of mostly negative reviews from the critics who were able to see it prior to release.  Sadly, I was not one of those (not that I ever expect to be), so I didn’t get a chance to watch for myself until everyone else did.  Well, Iron Fist was just released on Friday, and so far I have watched my way through the first six episodes.  This will be a non-spoiler review, mostly focusing on the question of quality as well as the series’ suitability for all viewers.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Weekly MCU Review for March 18



Another week, and more MCU news!  Iron Fist came out yesterday.  And Sony is still trying to make a Venom movie—whether or not it’s in the MCU is still not known.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Iron Fist EXPECTATIONS


Image Courtesy www.ign.com

Marvel and Netflix look to continue their hot streak tomorrow when Iron Fist becomes available for streaming (and offline viewing) on Netflix.  What do we expect from this series?

Monday, March 13, 2017

Iron Fist TL;DW



I have written these “Too Long; Didn’t Watch” articles before for upcoming movies, but this is the first time I’ve felt the need to write one for a television series.  However, with the TV corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuing to expand, I feel like it’s only faith that I put together a “Too Long; Didn’t Watch” article to anticipate the Netflix release of Iron Fist later this week.  The “TL;DW” articles for the movies have offered viewing suggestions, but I don’t think I can really do that here.  For one thing, it’s only 3 days until Iron Fist comes out; for another, there is so much TV to wade through, and it’s pretty much impossible to pick and choose which episode to watch, at least with the Netflix series.

Image Courtesy www.ign.com
For the sake of brevity, this “TL;DW” will ignore everything happening in the movies (apart from acknowledging Doctor Strange), as well as Agent Carter, which takes place in 1946-47 and probably won’t be much of a factor on Iron Fist.  Of course, just because I said that, Peggy Carter will find a way to appear on Iron Fist, just to make me look stupid.  I will deal with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. first, and then take the Netflix seasons in order of release.  At the end I will note the other upcoming TV series, though I doubt there will be much connection to Iron Fist.

Note:  Here is your (inevitable) SPOILER warning:  from here on out, this article contains major spoilers for everything having to do with Marvel TV!  You have been warned…

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Weekly MCU Review for March 11



Another week, and more MCU news!  We’re only a week away from Iron Fist, Thor: Ragnarok is ramping up its marketing, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is only 2 months away!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Sorry I haven’t posted anything but MCU Reviews for a while.  I’ll try to get a “Too Long; Didn’t Watch” article on Iron Fist published early in the week, and then post expectations for it on Thursday.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Weekly MCU Review for March 4



Another week, and more MCU news!  We got a whole lot of Inhumans news this week, including the entire main cast.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!