ABz B👹anaz
Grandfathered In 
This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,991
Member is Online
|
Post by ABz B👹anaz on Aug 18, 2022 18:40:25 GMT -5
I haven't seen the pilot episode of She-Hulk yet, but I did watch the after-credits scene and laughed so hard I scared the cat. (Then again, he managed to scare himself into hiding behind the sofa for an hour by sneezing last night, so...) Shulkie getting hammered and crying about a hot guy dying being a waste of a gorgeous ass, then screaming "CAPTAIN AMERICA FUCKS" is absolutely in-character, so kudos to whoever wrote that bit. I just finished the first episode, and I am 100% on board for this! It's so awesome that Jen is able to control her emotions already because she already HAD to, and it's perfect. I LOLed a bunch during her training with Bruce. And yes, that mid-credits scene is fucking hysterical. I'm still laughing about it! Also, Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo: |
|
|
|
Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Aug 19, 2022 8:22:23 GMT -5
So I did watch the first episode last night, and though I'm generally over the MCU, I enjoyed this a lot. The reviews from whiny bros about it shoehorning in feminism are just hilarious to me at this point, because literally nothing Jen said about containing her rage every day as a woman is untrue. I always forget that there are lots of men who take it incredibly personally that a woman would ever say, "hey, sometimes we're afraid you're gonna murder us," oops. Also, dollars to donuts says that 9/10 of the whiners have never so much as picked up a She-Hulk comic in their lives. Even noted crank John Byrne had Shulkie smack the shit out of a guy for being a creep more than once.
|
|
Rainbow Rosa
TI Forumite
not gay, just colorful
Posts: 3,604 
|
Post by Rainbow Rosa on Aug 21, 2022 23:19:20 GMT -5
Oh, that was cute. Still kinda waiting for the show to stop with the nostalgia for a movie franchise that I stopped paying attention to in 2012 and kick into "Ally McBeal with superpowers" mode?
Also, it took me a *really* long time to recognize Ginger Gonzaga. She should star in an Alias reboot, because her hairstyle changes so drastically with every show she goes on, apparently.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Aug 22, 2022 8:29:04 GMT -5
Oh, that was cute. Still kinda waiting for the show to stop with the nostalgia for a movie franchise that I stopped paying attention to in 2012 and kick into "Ally McBeal with superpowers" mode? Also, it took me a *really* long time to recognize Ginger Gonzaga. She should star in an Alias reboot, because her hairstyle changes so drastically with every show she goes on, apparently. Single Female Lawyer She-Hulk is my favorite She-Hulk iteration. I've actually cosplayed as Lawyer Jen a few times! |
|
Rainbow Rosa
TI Forumite
not gay, just colorful
Posts: 3,604
|
Post by Rainbow Rosa on Aug 30, 2022 11:39:14 GMT -5
Oh, that was cute. Still kinda waiting for the show to stop with the nostalgia for a movie franchise that I stopped paying attention to in 2012 and kick into "Ally McBeal with superpowers" mode? We're... still not there yet. Super cool that a future main character gets maybe ten seconds of screentime but this ""Emil"" guy gets like half the episode. Seriously, what is this show's deal? It dedicates three minutes to EXTREMELY unsubtle exposition explaining the plot of fourteen-year-old film, and then does a literal wink-to-camera meta comment (I hesitate to call this a "joke") about the casting of that film? Jeez.
Seriously, every few minutes the show feels like it's going to be about something interesting - vigilantism! tokenism in corporate America! military-industrial complex scientific fuckery! - and then you can feel Kevin Feige practically swat the pen out of the writers' hands and scream "nOoOoOo!!! Stop with this "theme" stuff and get to the fanservice!!" It's not even very interested in being funny, like, it almost seems embarrassed to lean into the direct address stuff that's historically defined the character. C'mon, Marvel. Do something not shitty for once.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Sept 1, 2022 9:59:11 GMT -5
Due to our continued internet issues, we didn't get to watching these until last night (we've seen the first two now). I'm enjoying it so far - the first episode was a little exposition heavy, but probably necessarily, and it's good to get all the origin stuff over and done. I think they've hit the right tone, too - maybe more Slott than Byrne, but it might make more sense for the MCU. I'd like to see Louise Mason show up, but that may be too meta for an in-continuity show.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Sept 26, 2022 19:49:00 GMT -5
Six weeks in, is She-Hulk a good show? No, not really. Is it bad for the reasons men on IMDB think it is bad? Also no. I am watching it for pure spite at this point.
I did get a shout-out in the comments section of the AVC review, though! That felt nice.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Sept 30, 2022 13:32:21 GMT -5
Yesterday Wifemate randomly mumbled the first line of the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law theme song, and I had to belt out the rest. And then we both realized how we were hoping for the MCU version of that show, like the Wong episode. Unfortunately, She-Hulk is merely okay. The group therapy episode was cute, but the new overarching storyline is extremely predictable.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Oct 7, 2022 20:37:42 GMT -5
Werewolf by Night
Well that was an absolute delight.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Oct 13, 2022 22:34:13 GMT -5
Ultimately She-Hulk was fine. Light and amusing. They never topped the episode with Megan Thee Stallion, but it was fine. Ended with the solid in-joke of the AI wearing a Kevin Feige ballcap.
|
|
|
|
Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Oct 14, 2022 10:57:10 GMT -5
Yesterday Wifemate randomly mumbled the first line of the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law theme song, and I had to belt out the rest. And then we both realized how we were hoping for the MCU version of that show, like the Wong episode. Unfortunately, She-Hulk is merely okay. The group therapy episode was cute, but the new overarching storyline is extremely predictable. Yea, it’s hard to give them points for doing self-aware jokes about veering away from what would have made the series most fun when it raises the obvious question “if you knew this, why did you still clog everything up with the standard-issue MCU stuff?” |
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Oct 22, 2022 18:14:46 GMT -5
I found nothing delightful about Werewolf By Night. There were brutal kills but no gore, light moments but no laughs, characters but no investment in them, action but no tension. It was sub-replacement level imitation of Guillermo del Toro design and Robert Rodriguez style. They couldn't even put together a good werewolf change. The most inessential MCU output since "What If...?".
|
|
Crash Test Dumbass
AV Clubber
ffc what now
Posts: 7,058
Gender (additional): mostly snacks
|
Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Nov 11, 2022 11:47:49 GMT -5
I'm finally caught up on the serieseses and here is the only possible rating:
1. Hawkguy
2. Ms. Marvel
3. The Brutalist architecture in Loki
4. The first episode of She-Hulk
5. WandaVision
6. Loki
7. The rest of She-Hulk
8. The Falcon And/Or The Winter Soldier
9. Dammit Moon Moon Knight
10. Getting hit by the Brutalist architecture in Loki
11. Why Tho? What If?
Ms. Marvel was a delight. Just a straight up delight. I've never read the Kamala Khan comics, but I liked it a lot.
I'm angry I liked Hawkguy so much, and mad at She-Hulk for not handling the character better or knowing what direction it wanted to go, especially as a big fan of Byrne's run in the 90s. I liked a couple of episodes a lot, but trying to shoehorn in events from the terrible Ed Norton movie was just ugh. I'm kind of OK with bringing in bits from the Netflix Daredevil show, even though I never watched it.
I also liked Moon Knight in the 90s, but haven't read later comics, so the alter ego thing was new to me. It was meh.
Aside from Hawkguy and Ms Marvel, I got a lot of A Game Of Thrones vibe from the serieseseses*: not so much the epic storytelling, but more like "we have these really great ideas, but we have to go catch a plane now; here's five bucks, write some endings" that ended the HBO show.
* yes I know 'series' is both singular and plural, I just want some way to show the difference. Dammit English.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Nov 25, 2022 17:53:27 GMT -5
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Goofy and low stakes, but entertaining. Felt like pure unfiltered James Gunn in much the same way Peacemaker did. Not really essential (though there are a couple of plot-important things in it), but a fun enough way to spend 45 minutes. There was also an unexpected cameo from someone I've been expecting to turn up somewhere in the MCU for a while.
|
|
ABz B👹anaz
Grandfathered In
This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,991
Member is Online
|
Post by ABz B👹anaz on Dec 4, 2022 1:31:44 GMT -5
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday SpecialGoofy and low stakes, but entertaining. Felt like pure unfiltered James Gunn in much the same way Peacemaker did. Not really essential (though there are a couple of plot-important things in it), but a fun enough way to spend 45 minutes. There was also an unexpected cameo from someone I've been expecting to turn up somewhere in the MCU for a while. The three of us watched this tonight and thought it was great, especially the song at the start. Lot of fun and totally absurd. Nebula's "Wow. I guess all actors aren't complete pieces of shit" was great |
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Jul 5, 2023 20:23:48 GMT -5
Somebody needs to have the fridging conversation with the Secret Invasion writers room.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Nov 11, 2023 0:20:17 GMT -5
Wow, Loki season 2 pulled out a reverse-Marvel.
Instead of producing a solid season with some interesting elements only to have everything turn to garbage at the end (like Loki season 1 and a lot of others), season 2 was ass all the way but managed a finale that tied everything together with elegance, character arc, and even some deeper meaning.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Jan 9, 2024 23:37:28 GMT -5
What If...? Season 2 Unnecessary reviews of an unnecessary show
S2E1: Nebula noir on the planet from the first Guardians movie. Really leaning into the unnecessity. This was clearly premised on putting the arrow-controlling on a different blue character. Howard the Duck, Korg the rock pile, and the bland-hand thing playing rock/paper/scissors is the only solid joke. The animation at least does a good job of replicating Karen Gillan, meow. 1 out of 5 Guardians.
S2E2: Young Ego-powered Peter Quill returns to 1980s earth. It actually kind of fulfills the premise of this show, as a lot of MCU supporting characters band together in a pseudo-Avengers doing things not seen in the actual movies. And Disney actually recruited all the original voices. But like many other episodes, it crams a decent premise and a movie's worth of characters and plot into 30 minutes. 3 out of 5 Mar-Vels.
S2E3: Happy Hogan becomes Purple Hulk to fight inksuit Sam Rockwell at the tower Christmas party in an extended Die Hard riff, though it would have been far better if they played it straight and he didn't hulk out. There's an even more impressive assembly of returning voices and also a still-annoying Kat Dennings. 2 out of 5 Starks.
S2E4: Welcome to Marvel Kart, woo-hoo! Tony Stark is transported to the Thor: Ragnarok junk planet as an excuse for a kart race and more riffing from Jeff Goldblum and Taika Waititi, as if we needed an excuse. Can't we drop the life advice bits and focus on the shenanigans, though? 4 out of 5 Topazes.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Jan 10, 2024 23:29:11 GMT -5
What If...? Season 2Unnecessary reviews of an unnecessary show, part II
S2E5: As The Winter Soldier is to Captain America: TFA, so is this episode to the S1 episode that produced Captain Peggy Carter, a concept so popular that it got featured in the maximum fanservice segment of Multiverse of Madness. This is not merely a gender-flip, it tells its own story and mixes it up with Black Widow. The plot is not rushed despite the runtime. The script is so tight I thought Scarlet Johansson buried the hatchet for the girl-power party, but it's Lake Bell with a solid impression. Tragically, there's a twist at the end that sets up another What If multiverse cross-over that was dumb as hell in S1. Too bad, it's probably as good as this show could be. 4 out of 5 Captains.
S2E6: In a radical departure, the episode features no MCU characters. Instead it remixes the Black Panther 2 Atlantis concept and uses MCU fantasy to grant powers to Native Americans fighting Spanish Conquistadors. The animation actually looks great, the powers aren't just MCU-alternates, the whole episode is in either the Mohawk language or Spanish, and it's a satisfying anti-colonizer smackdown. Even more tragically than last time, animated Dr. Strange pops in to foreshadow the mulitverse team-up. Drop those last five seconds though and this was great. 5 out of 5 Namors.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Jan 11, 2024 23:38:49 GMT -5
What If...? Season 2Unnecessary reviews of an unnecessary show: return of the unnecessityS2E7: Cate Blanchett returns to vamp it up as Hela, cast down to Ten Rings' ancient China in a Thor-like manner. Anachonistic language has always annoyed me; it logically took Thor a lot of movies on contemporary Earth to learn how to make quips. The fight scenes are undeniably well done though, and once again it makes the animation look good. 3 out 5 Odins.
S2E8: Throw the MCU and the What If series in a blender, frappe until incoherent, and pour into a "1602" with co-existing Shakespeare, Robin Hood, and American accents. Also there's no modern technology but shrinking tech still exists. Plus a "to be continued stinger" for the What If continuity. 1 out of 5 Watchers.
S2E9: Just make a Captain Carter show, if that's what people want. Surely people don't want to remember this What If S1 stuff. This final showdown wasn't all bad, for what it's worth, but it's kind of boring. Why do comic book characters in possession of cosmic power (in this case all the infinity stones in a suit) always have such a lack of imagination for how to use them? 2 out of 5 Yawns.
That's an average of 2.78 and a median of 3 out of 5, which feels too high.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Jan 12, 2024 22:26:18 GMT -5
You’re making me want to watch a few of the What Ifs!
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Feb 10, 2024 9:16:08 GMT -5
As I said elsewhere, Echo was darn good, a low-stakes character study that the MCU doesn't do much anymore. The lead actress has quite the ever-present scowl so it makes a difference when it breaks. Lots of cool shots, particularly the fight in the first episode and powwow in the last episode. Maybe not as good as Dark Winds (only see the first season) but certainly better than whatever True Detective S4 is going for right now. Spun off from arguably the best MCU show Hawkeye, this is top-tier MCU TV.
And it's probably going to be the least-watched MCU anything, dumped in 5 simultaneously-available episodes over the holidays adjacent to What If S2. Hell, they even invented a totally different Native woman character for What If S2.
|
|
ABz B👹anaz
Grandfathered In
This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,991
Member is Online
|
Post by ABz B👹anaz on Apr 1, 2024 9:37:22 GMT -5
Krysten Ritter is on set as Jessica Jones for Daredevil: Born Again! I am ridiculously excited that most of the cast of the Netflix shows are being brought into the MCU. Hoping Mike Colter, Simone Missick and Jessica Henwick are next. Finn Jones? Eh. He was better in Iron Fist S2 but kind of forgettable.
|
|
ABz B👹anaz
Grandfathered In
This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,991
Member is Online
|
Post by ABz B👹anaz on May 15, 2024 14:59:59 GMT -5
The X-Men '97 season finale - WOW. Such an amazing show. Who knew a sequel to the 90s cartoon I barely watched would be on par with the best MCU films?
The characters are all fantastic, heroes and villains alike. It can be utterly BRUTAL too. But they dive headfirst into the racism and prejudice aspects of the comics.
So well done. I can't recommend it enough.
|
|
|
|
Post by Celebith on May 16, 2024 23:24:06 GMT -5
The X-Men '97 season finale - WOW. Such an amazing show. Who knew a sequel to the 90s cartoon I barely watched would be on par with the best MCU films? The characters are all fantastic, heroes and villains alike. It can be utterly BRUTAL too. But they dive headfirst into the racism and prejudice aspects of the comics. So well done. I can't recommend it enough. The season peaked at episode 5, but the rest were all good, too. And maybe I'd rate the finale a bit higher later, since I was tired and bugeyed from allergies when I watched it. Even counting the best adaptations of the Phoenix / Dark Phoenix storyline, this was the best season of the show, and it was nice that they did their own thing instead of adapting existing storylines. Also, love what they've done with Morph! |
|
|
|
Post by WKRP Jimmy Drop on Sept 18, 2024 21:22:36 GMT -5
God I love Kathryn Hahn SO MUCH.
Also that song absolutely slaps.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Oct 6, 2024 21:55:39 GMT -5
The opening parody of Mare of Easttown was pretty funny, and I like Debra Jo Rupp, but three episodes in and the closing credits of "Agatha All Along" have more style than the show.
|
|
|
|
Post by Desert Dweller on Oct 16, 2024 21:05:20 GMT -5
I'm really enjoying Kathryn Hahn's performance in "Agatha All Along", but I'm not loving the show yet. I've now watched 4 episodes.
|
|
|
|
Post by Desert Dweller on Oct 18, 2024 3:56:16 GMT -5
So, this show is telling us that the entirety of "Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" only happened because this kooky witch put a spell on Billy Maximoff so that not only could Wanda not sense him, but he himself didn't even know who he was.
This is hilarious. I suppose there is no chance that he will ever learn this, right? Because, like, Dr. Strange is probably the only person who could connect those dots. But, wow, that is genuinely hilarious to me.
I greatly enjoyed how the show simplified his character history.
Now wondering if this show is going to claim that Agatha accidentally killed her own son because she can't control her powers. That would be incredibly dark. But they seem to be claiming her son is really dead, and the way she and Aubrey Plaza's character are talking about this certainly leaves this open as a possibility.
I am still loving Kathryn Hahn's performance in this show. She is so great, just nailing every single change in tone and character twist they throw at her.
Episodes 5 & 6 took a darker tone that I am enjoying more than the earlier episodes.
|
|
|
|
Post by Desert Dweller on Oct 18, 2024 23:07:19 GMT -5
Oh, The Ringer's podcast about Episode 6 attempts to theorize about what is really going on with "Agatha All Along".... y'all, I think they are right. I've been wondering about how episodes 5 and 6 seem to be saying that this show is about something else entirely. Oh, yeah, I think I now get what that "something else" is.
Oh dear, if this is true, then Agatha is a MUCH more interesting character. And now I dearly hope, deeply, truly sincerely hope that we don't get a tired bog-standard Marvel CGI battle at the end of this show.
|
|
