Countdown to Avengers 3: Black Panther

Can you believe that we’re doing a third installment of Countdown to Avengers? It seems like it was only yesterday that we teamed up with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome to tackle all the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films (and then some) that lead up to The Avengers. Believe it or not, we’re back, and now we’ve got Jay from Life Vs. Film along for the ride as well. 

Marvel

And now we've come to the end. We're looking at the last film before Infinity War. That's right, Infinity War is out THIS WEEK so Jay and I are looking at the phenomenal Black Panther. Let's go back to Wakanda! Mandatory spoiler warning!

This is getting pretty ridiculous. The MCU movies are starting to change the fabric of society. I'm sure Marvel would have made four Black Panthers by now if they knew it would have been such a cultural, critical, and financial success. Black Panther serving as the final standalone film before Infinity War is an interesting choice (coincidence?). The isolated Wakanda opening up to the rest of the world is kind of a metaphor for the MCU opening up and connecting its various characters even more than they already have.

? via IMP Awards

Black Panther follows one of the newer recruits of the MCU, King T'Challa, (Chadwick Boseman) as he tries to fill the shoes of his recently departed father. T'Challa's trying to balance everything that's happening in Wakanda and fully take on the mantle of king when his long lost cousin Erik "Killmonger" Stevens (Anthony B. Jordan) comes along with plans to start a worldwide revolution.

So there's no way I can say Black Panther is a bad film. Simply due to the talent on display and behind the scenes, Black Panther is a very, very good movie. However, it's not my personal favorite MCU film for various reasons. A reason that springs to mind: the whole maglev vibranium train fight at the end sort of seemed taken out of a crummy X-Men movie.

A broader criticism I have for the film is about its villains. Or rather, how they relate to Black Panther. Kilmonger was killed off - bad move. It'd be like if they killed Loki in the first Thor movie (which I guess they sort of did and brought him back so it's possible Kilmonger could return).

It's revealed that T'Challa's father essentially killed his own brother and left his son on his own in America. I felt like this was a big controversy but wasn't handled as such. T'Challa didn't really seem to want to fix or even address this injustice. After he had essentially killed Kilmonger he thought about saving him. You would have thought there would have been one instance of T'Challa saying, "Hey, what my dad did was wrong, I want to fix this." I also don't get killing off Klaue (Andy Serkis). You killed both awesome Black Panther villains. Why? Also, I was kind of hoping T'Challa would have a cool scene where he had to prove himself and survive after his initial fight with Kilmonger. But M'Baku's (Winston Duke) people just kind of save him. And we don't even see that! They just reveal that he's alive.

Like any MCU film there are connections to other Marvel movies. Even though Black Panther is sort of an insulated film (it's literally taking place in a hidden, isolated country) we have some connective tissue. Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) plays a big role in the movie so that's a bit of a connection to Civil War. We also get to see - in a post credits scene - that Bucky (Sebastian Stan) has come out of his self-imposed cryogenic hibernation at the end of Civil War and seems to be doing better...under the care of Shuri (Letitia Wright), no less.

It's always fun to speculate how a stand alone character will fit in with the rest of the Avengers. In this case, we've already seen Black Panther side by side with a lot of the other Avengers, but it was pretty limited (even though his role was not) and in the context of fighting. I've really tried to avoid trailers for Infinity War but it looks like a large part of the movie is set in Wakanda and Black Panther is taking on a leader role. I'm looking forward to some sort of interaction between Black Panther and Bucky. The last time we saw them together they were trying to kill each other. I think Black Panther has the potential to lead the Avengers in future films. I'm not sure if that's happened before or if it's canon, but that would be cool.

Extra Thoughts from Jay:

Every time I think the title Black Panther, I can't help but flip it in my head to Plaque Bantha, so I keep imagining a film about a giant woolly horned beast from Star Wars desperately needing to see his dentist, but I highly doubt that film would be one of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time internationally, which Black Panther now is. In fact, within the MCU it's only currently being beaten by the two Avengers movies, making it the highest grossing standalone character film, which is pretty damn impressive given I'd never even heard of the eponymous character before Captain America: Civil War.

It's clear from the Infinity War trailers that the events - or at least, the locations - of Black Panther are integral to the future of the Avengers, with Wakanda presumably being the location of the Soul Stone. This decision must have been made prior to Black Panther's release, so I'm guessing Kevin Feige and the rest of the Marvel team are all giving themselves pretty smug pats on the back given how successful Black Panther was, and how many guaranteed ticket sales that'll grant them for Infinity War. Those back-pats are entirely deserved though, as BP is an awesome movie. It features many of the best antagonists of the franchise so far in the forms of Andy Serkis' Klaue, Winston Duke's M'Baku and of course Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger, has some awesome action - I cannot wait to see the casino fight and ensuing chase again - incredible production design, supporting characters, music, visuals, dammit, everything is just great. To date it's the only Marvel film that I've only seen once, but that's going to change pretty damn soon, I assure you.

Countdown to Avengers 3: Doctor Strange

Can you believe that we’re doing a third installment of Countdown to Avengers? It seems like it was only yesterday that we teamed up with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome to tackle all the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films (and then some) that lead up to The Avengers. Believe it or not, we’re back, and now we’ve got Jay from Life Vs. Film along for the ride as well.

Whereas that first series of ours was special, this one will be even more epic. It heralds the end - or, at least, the beginning of the end - of this current manifestation of the MCU. Infinity War releases in a matter of days so, without further adieu...2016’s Doctor Strange. Mandatory spoiler warning!

“...Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who’s a threat to Hydra!” - Jasper Sitwell, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

With this mention in an excellent installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the MCU's Doctor Strange was born. The character was and is exciting for me because he's among the crop of new Avengers (who doesn't want to see a New Avengers Movie featuring Ant-Man and The Wasp, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and others?). I also was (and am) a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock, so I was happy with the casting.

Paul Shipper via IMP Awards

Going into Doctor Strange, I thought quite a bit about the 2007 cartoon movie, Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme, which explored the character's origin story. That movie really showed me that a superhero's beginning could still be fun. Interestingly, something the live action film didn't touch on was the death of Strange's sister and how it affected him. Although I'm not sure if that's canon and it may have made the film too sad.

The plot in a nutshell: Cumberbatch's Strange is an arrogant and talented surgeon who loses his skills after a car accident essentially destroys his hands. He ultimately travels the globe and to Kamar-Taj to try to fix his hands. He winds up embroiled in a war of sorcery, however.

I do like what they tried to do with Chiwetel Ejiofor's Mordo vis-à-vis making him more of a heroic character, but ultimately he’s a villain and I think he’ll be the main antagonist in the sequel. Maybe they'll go with a sort of reluctant villain as opposed to a mustache twirling incarnation, but the post credits sequence would not suggest that. Put simply, he loses his mind. He just seems disillusioned and heartbroken the last time we see him in the main film, but then when we see him in the post credits scene he's essentially murderous and maniacal.

The film mostly delivered on Strange's potential. The movie in general may be a bit of a "style over substance" situation for me. It had a cool look (one of the Crown Jewels in the film has to be the sequence where The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) sends Strange on a trip through space, which is his first glimpse of magic in the film) but generic villains, for instance.

Like any MCU film, Strange is rife with connections to other Marvel films. There's a theory about the phone call Strange has just before his accident and the fact that the injuries listed might be mentions of other heroes, particularly Captain Marvel (I have a feeling this isn't the case, however). Wong mentions The Avengers and that's huge, of course. Towards the end Wong also mentions that The Eye of Agamotto is an Infinity Stone, which may be the biggest mention, particularly since Strange later meets Thor, who's been on a journey to find the stones. This scene where Strange meets Thor is great fun and would go on to become part of the immensely successful and popular Thor: Ragnarok. There was some speculation at one point that he would even join Thor and Hulk on the main adventure.

I'm really looking forward to Strange meeting the other Avengers. He wasn't in Civil War and he's only met Thor. We know via the trailers he meets Bruce Banner and Tony Stark and the three of them, along with Wong, gear up to fight someone. We see him interacting with Peter Parker (Spider-Man if you use his made-up name) and Star-Lord. It will be interesting if we get a Sherlock reference between Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch. We see him being tortured a bit in the trailer and I wonder if that leads to a cool rescue mission on his behalf. See my comments below for some very spoilers thoughts on how Doctor Strange and elements from his films might factor into Infinity War and other MCU films.

Extra Thoughts from CT:

The first time I saw this movie, I came away not overly impressed. But a second viewing really turned it around for me. Not a character I ever connected much with when reading the comics, but one I still liked when he would guest star in books I read.

Strange was mentioned in a throwaway reference during Captain America: Winter Solider which in retrospect, now seems a little odd that a surgeon would be mentioned of all people. I mean, there might be famous surgeons out there, but when you list a set of random high profile people, I would guess a surgeon would not be on your list. Still, despite his arrogance, even then, Hydra had pegged him as a threat. They saw something in him that no one else did for a few years.

As we move closer to Avengers: Infinity War and the conclusion of this phase, we know that the Time stone will certainly play a role. Speculation has suggested we will see some major time travel as a part of the plot for these next Avengers movies. I have not delved into that territory more than what I just mentioned though. Still, it wouldn't surprise me. Time travel is a major plot device that has yet to really be explored in the MCU. Dr. Strange just barely scratched the surface of it.

Also worth noting that even though we see this movie set up plot points for eventual sequels, there is no confirmation of a Dr. Strange 2 yet. Which is surprising to me, but also puts Strange on the potential chopping block as a character to get killed. Personally, I hope not. I think a nice set of three or so Dr. Strange movies would be good. I would love for him to still be active when the FF characters get grafted in (I'm speaking very hopefully) and we see the Real Defenders in a movie together: Dr. Strange, Hulk and Silver Surfer (Namor being the other prominent member but who knows what's up with him).

Spoiler Thoughts:

The Time Stone might come into play in having something to do with Captain America. Also, and I thought this was confirmed, but I think Doctor Strange will wind up being another mentor for Peter in Spider-Man: Homecoming 2.

Countdown to Avengers 3: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Can you believe that we’re doing a third installment of Countdown to Avengers? It seems like it was only yesterday that we teamed up with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome to tackle all the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films (and then some) that lead up to The Avengers. Believe it or not, we’re back, and now we’ve got Jay from Life Vs. Film along for the ride as well. 

Whereas that first series of ours was special, this one will be even more epic. It heralds the end - or, at least, the beginning of the end - of this current manifestation of the MCU. So we’ll be looking at at least one MCU film a month until Infinity War releases in May. First up...2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. Mandatory spoiler warning!

Marvel

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Looking back on Avengers: Age of Ultron, maybe it deserved the mixed reviews it received from critics. Let's see...it definitely suffered from sequel bloat. The plot was basically the same as the first Avengers. You could argue that the film yet again suffers from that "Marvel has a villain problem" situation. Others have definitely pointed these problems out, but the fact remains. Personally, I particularly remember some hate about how Black Widow was handled and I’m pretty sure returning director Joss Whedon quit Twitter over this whole movie. All that said, this film could have been a lot worse, and there was a lot to live up to. Considering all that, Whedon more or less pulled it off.

Basically, post The Winter Soldier, The Avengers have reunited to take down Hydra and the film opens on the team attacking Baron Von Strucker’s (Thomas Kretschmann) base in Sokovia to steal back Loki’s scepter from the first Avengers movie. This all, believe it or not, leads to the birth of the titular villain, the devious A.I. Ultron.

There was definitely a lot going on in this movie...almost too much. Consider for example that Thor goes off on his own at one point on a fact finding mission to learn more about the Infinity Stones. At the end he even actually leaves to go find the Stones. It explains why he wasn't around for Civil War. Maybe it's something that could have been emphasized a bit more, but I probably just wasn't paying attention/didn't appreciate it.

Some of the film's highlights for me were the Black Widow/Hulk stuff. It was nice to see their relationship develop past their meeting in India and their shenanigans in the first film. Speaking of the Hulk, I also enjoyed his fight with Iron Man's Hulk Buster, but I do think they could have maybe injected a little seriousness into that fight. It never really felt like Tony was in danger at any point. It would have been cool if maybe Hulk pried the suit open a little bit. The lack of danger and consequence is a bit too much.

There’s a ton of connections to the other films littered throughout this movie. Almost too many to mention (and dozens of other folks have already done it). It opens with the team trying to retrieve the scepter from the first film, which went missing after Shield fell in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Thor hits Captain America's shield to produce a shockwave like in The Avengers, but here it's like a combo attack move. Falcon shows up in this so it's another nice throwback to The Winter Soldier.

We get some action from the Iron Legion at the beginning, which are more or less an extension of all of Iron Man’s suits from Iron Man 3. Although he did blow all of those up, but I guess it was just sort of foreshadowing an Iron Man suit army. Despite their destruction, it leads to the Legion and ultimately Ultron.

This flick was not only setting up Civil War - Cap and Tony’s wood chopping scene - it also laid a lot of ground work for Infinity War. Tony has a premonition of the aftermath of the team fighting Thanos, and there’s obviously a lot of talk about the Infinity Stones - and we SEE an Infinity Stone in the form of Vision’s forehead stone.

The team now inhabits Avengers Tower, formerly Stark Tower. We basically saw this foreshadowed at the end of The Avengers, with all the letters of "Stark" - except for the "A" - having fallen off the building.

Traffik Cone via AMP

Now in this series of ours, we'd normally talk about how the main character from the film in question will fit into the upcoming Avengers movie. But not only is this not a stand alone film, there’s a subsequent film - Civil War - that features most of the team, so you can’t even say how the whole team will behave once they’re reunited.

But I'll speculate a little anyway. Will there be two teams in Infinity War? Iron Man's team and Cap's team from Civil War and they all have to come together? Not to mention The Revengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. They've all been scattered so it'll be interesting to see them all join up together. Although I have to wonder if there will even be a unified team in Infinity War. It may just be these different factions doing their own missions. An Avengers Army (what else can you call it if this is a war?) would truly be awesome, however. But we might have to wait for that.

There was no way Avengers: Age of Ultron was going to live up to The Avengers and the sheer joy of seeing all the characters meet up for the first time. At the end of the day, Age of Ultron is just a good MCU film, not a great one. There were better films before it, and there have been better films since. But it had a lot to accomplish, so maybe we’re unfair to the film.

Countdown to Avengers 2: Daredevil: Into the Ring

Avengers: Age of Ultron officially premieres tomorrow! Since January we've been counting down to the film's release with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome by looking at different aspects of "Phase 2" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Marvel

We've looked at Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Now it's time for our final pre-Ultron post, and for that, we head to Hell's Kitchen for the pilot episode of Netflix's Daredevil!

Beware spoilers for Daredevil and other Marvel productions!

Daredevil: Into the Ring

I'll just come out and say it - Daredevil, a joint effort between Marvel and Netflix - is one of the best projects Marvel has ever done. It's well acted, well scripted, and competently produced.

And this was just Marvel testing the Netflix waters. Shows revolving around superheroes Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the Iron Fist are planned, before a team up ala The Avengers in a fifth show - The Defenders.

Marvel

While I have seen the entire series, we're just covering the pilot episode. But what a pilot! We start out with a frantic and emotional scene that shows how Matt Murdock, the man who will become Daredevil, was blinded as a boy (saving an innocent of course). This is followed up by the adult Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) confessing to his priest. This scene fluctuates between charming, emotional and dark, and Cox just nails it. I can see showbiz hopefuls using it as a monologue in their acting classes in the future.

What we see next - and what Matt was asking forgiveness for in advance (that's cheating!) - is our hero saving a group of kidnapped young women from the sex trade. The fight scene is fierce and brutal, and shows you what you're in for in terms of the action and choreography of the show. 

Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, a woman Matt helps who goes on to be his employee, was effortless in the role. The only actor I didn't really like was Elden Henson who played Foggy Nelson, Matt's law partner. He did grow on me over time, but I'm confident they could have found someone with a little more talent.

As for references to the MCU, there weren't that many in the pilot. We get some references to alien attacks and destruction (the battle with the Chitauri from The Avengers). There were more as the show went on, but the pilot was pretty light, which I think was intentional.

There are already rumors that Daredevil and the rest of the Defenders will fit into a future Avengers film. I say bring it on. I'm looking forward to revisiting Hell's Kitchen.

Thoughts from CT at Nerd Lunch...

Robert asked me to contribute some thoughts about the first episode of Daredevil, but I wound up watching the whole thing. It is episodic, but plays as a 13-hour long movie in a lot of ways. Everyone applauded Guardians of the Galaxy for telling a different kind of story in the MCU and proving how versatile it can be. Granted, this is something that comic readers have already known. The comics' world contains super powers, advanced tech, magic, monsters, supernatural forces and just regular ol' street crime. With the Daredevil TV series, Marvel has done it again and told a story unlike anything they've done and set it in a world with magic hammers and iron suits. Strip a few things out, and this is a simple crime drama. But place it in the context of the MCU and it's so much more.

Marvel

As a result, I think this is the start of something special and I applaud Marvel and the success they've had with this series. I hope the subsequent shows are as good and I look forward to more Daredevil in the future. Hopefully he'll get a movie appearance someday, too.

Countdown to Avengers 2: Thor: The Dark World

We're counting down to Avengers: Age of Ultron with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome! Each month leading up to Ultron's release on May 1, we'll be reviewing a different aspect of Marvel's Phase 2.  

Marvel

CT from Nerd Lunch and I tackled Iron Man 3 last month, and now it's time for Pax and I to take a look at Thor: The Dark World.

Beware spoilers for Thor: The Dark World and potential spoilers/speculation regarding Age of Ultron.

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World picks up after the events of Thor and The Avengers. Our titular hero is establishing order in the Nine Realms now that the Bifrost has been restored. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), now studying in London with Darcy (Kat Dennings), is done searching for Thor and is trying to get over him. Meanwhile, back in Asgard, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is in prison. We see him interact with a hologram of his mother Frigga (Rene Russo).

Mondo

So not only has much changed for Thor and his friends and family since the last film, a new villain is on the scene: Malekith, the Dark Elf. Long ago, Malekith tried to obtain the Aether, a powerful relic that can essentially destroy the galaxy and restore darkness to reality. This is bad. What's worse is that Jane of all people manages to stumble upon the Aether and becomes imbued with its powers. Thor reunites with Jane (who's very upset at him for not doing so earlier) and whisks her off to Asgard. Malkeith follows and the rest of the film is Thor battling Malkeith for the Aether.

It might be because I just rewatched this film, but it's the Thor franchise that makes me want to see more Marvel character interaction. I'd love to see Anthony Hopkins' Odin interact with Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man or Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, for instance. I think that's a testament to these characters and actors. Some of the relationships in this movie are really quite fantastic. In a nutshell, Marvel's first family is fractured. The relationship between Loki and his mother Frigga is pretty heartbreaking here. She's one of the last connections he has outside of his prison cell, and when she's killed, Loki is devastated. An especially nice touch is when Thor goes to see Loki after her death. The trickster appears calm and collected, but when Thor questions him, Loki drops his holographic facade and reveals that he's disheveled and destroyed his cell in a fit of rage. Another great relationship is that of Thor and his father Odin. The All-Father wants Thor to take the throne and Thor still passes it up. Also interesting is that Odin and Thor have essentially swapped stances on war in this movie. Thor simply craved war in the original film because he was a spoiled brat, however. Here, Odin seeks vengeance for the death of Frigga.

The strongest relationship in the film is that of Thor and Loki, of course. Hiddleston turns in a particularly fine performance. His death (which comes after protecting both Thor and Jane and avenging Frigga) not only validates Hiddleston's role in the movie, it sort of validates Hemsworth as well. The two actors play off each other with ease.

Another great aspect of the film is the visuals. The opening shots of the elf/Asgardian battle on Svartalfheim is pretty fantastic. The visuals and production design sort of reinforce the fact that Thor and his people are more aliens with advanced science than gods. One of my favorite visual effects sequences in the film is the final battle between Thor and Malekith, not just because of their portal jumping, but because Thor's hammer Mjolnir is flying around desperately looking for Thor, almost with a life of its own.

There are plenty of connections to The Avengers for fans to enjoy here. The Bifrost is restored sometime before the start of the film, which we know was still damaged in The Avengers after Thor and Loki's battle in the original Thor. There's a lot of fallout from The Avengers. We see the repercussions of Loki's actions on his entire family. Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) is now essentially crazy after Loki's brainwashing and the Battle of New York (the good kind of crazy, however - running around in your underwear, that kind of thing). In one of the movie's funnest moments, Loki briefly takes the form of Chris Evans' Captain America.

I'm sure - like me - you're wondering how Thor will fit into Age of Ultron. For one thing, I've heard a rumor that Jane and Thor didn't work out after The Dark World, so we'll have to see how that plays out for the God of Thunder.

I've also heard that Thor winds up in Asgardian hell and I guess Thor: Ragnarok will be him getting out. Maybe he goes to Asgard to get help to fight Ultron and Loki throws him in hell (where he discovers Odin has also been a prisoner?).

One thing I'm hoping for is that we see more of a Thor/Captain America bromance. Stark and Banner already have their "science bros" thing going on, so it only makes sense that Thor and Cap have something similar (muscle bros?). The brief part in the first movie where the two teamed up to fight Chitauri on the streets of New York was fun, and they seem to be friendly at the glimpses we've gotten of the party scene in the Ultron trailers. The fact that Cap almost picks up Mjolnir while a (briefly) worried Thor looks on in the trailer is something else to consider.

Thoughts from Pax at Cavalcade of Awesome...

I saw Thor: The Dark World in the theater just before it left and then I saw it again when it hit Blu-Ray. I actually quite liked it the first time I saw it but the more I moved away from the viewing my stance changed. I didn't remember why I liked it and the only thing I could think of was that Natalie Portman acted as if she didn't really want to be there and that they completely wasted the potential of Christopher Eccleston as Malekith.

So, I was not 100% looking forward to my re-watch for this countdown. But watching the film again, I am completely swept away by the charisma of the movie's cast. Hemsworth is simply a revelation when he's playing Thor. He's amazing. And I don't think I need to harp on how great Hiddleston is as Loki. And having these two team up for a "buddy" movie was a great idea. But it doesn't stop with them; Jaime Alexander, Zachary Levi and Ray Stevenson as Sif and the Warriors are also awesome. I want a Sif and the Warriors Three movie. STAT. Make that happen, Marvel. We even get to see Rene Russo and Idris Elba punch out tiny bits of awesomeness in this movie. It's also nice to see Kat Dennings' intern character come back. I had so much fun watching the movie this time and it's all based on the amazing cast.

Coming back to the bad part? Malekith. Completely wasted. Not too surprising since we keep getting visually amazing but ultimately hollow villain characters with very muddled motivations in almost all of these Marvel movies (I accuse you, Ronan the Accuser). And Natalie Portman is not great in this, but she isn't as bad as I remembered. It helps that she's gorgeous in nearly every scene that she's in.

Overall a very enjoyable movie that for some reason I forgot how fun it was to watch. And the humor was much more prevalent than I remembered as well. Not sure why I lapsed a bit in my Thor worship, but I'll be sure not to let that happen again.

Nerd Lunch Podcast 73: Pirates of the Caribbean Drill Down

Welcome to another episode of The Nerd Lunch Podcast! Jeeg is off sailing the high seas but CT and Pax were kind enough to welcome me and Jay from The Sexy Armpit aboard for a discussion on the Pirates of the Caribbean films. If you can get past my pirate puns it's a great episode.

Enjoy!

Anybody Want a Peanut?
The Princess Bride at MOVIECLIPS.com

Nerd Lunch Podcast 35 Supplemental

**spoiler alert!**

Another Nerd Lunch podcast from CT and Jeeg from Nerd Lunch and Pax from Cavalcade of Awesome has been loosed on the world and yours truly makes an appearance. Check it out below. First, however, I thought it would be fun to provide some supplemental material for some of the topics we discussed.

While we were discussing excessive, spoilery trailers, CT brought up Prometheus. The team behind the promotion of Ridley Scott’s new flick has been putting out a steady supply of viral videos to hype the upcoming film. I mentioned one of the more recent videos - an ad of sorts regarding Michael Fassbender’s character. Check it out below (unless you’re CT).



As a bonus, here’s a post I did on one of the earlier videos - a TED talk put on by Guy Pearce’s character Peter Weyland.

Later in the podcast we touched on the topic of product placement (PP) in films. I mentioned that I don’t have a problem with PP (giggle) and I brought up this scene from Wayne’s World.

I Will Not Bow to Any Sponsor
Wayne's World — MOVIECLIPS.com

I also mentioned the movie Mac and Me. It’s a horrible rip-off of E.T. filled with product placement. There is a crazy hilarious McDonald’s scene, however. Check it out:



And, for good measure, here’s the infamous Mac and Me wheelchair scene:



We went off on a tangent about the Hoverboard from Back to the Future and fake products in general for a while. I think I attributed a recent article about a real-life Hoverboard to joblo.com but I actually read it on Badass Digest. Sorry about that!


One thing I forgot to mention while we were on the topic of celebrity meltdowns was this interesting, recent(ish) clip of Robert Downey Jr. asking the world to forgive Mel Gibson:



So that’s it! I hope you like the podcast. I know I enjoyed my third time in the hot seat and I hope the gang invites me back on. Now I’m just waiting on Pax to call me about that Fantastic Four/The Room double feature...





 

Countdown to Avengers: Captain America

It's time for another installment in our Countdown to Avengers series with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome!

Mini Review

In a world of modern superhero films, such as Kickass, The Dark Knight, and Watchmen, Captain America has become the rarity: its hero isn’t complicated or morally ambiguous, and he doesn’t have issues. He is, simply put, a good man. 

Wikipedia

And, simply put, Captain America is a good film. It’s definitely a worthy addition to the Avengers series, combining heart, a tried-and-true adventure story, and an old-fashioned sense of fun. The film itself could be considered “the little guy”, coming last in the line of a series of successful films and boasting a director - Joe Johnston - who had just come off the messy but enjoyable The Wolfman.

The film isn’t perfect. Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America is great for the most part, but there’s something about him that rubs me the wrong way at times (maybe it’s the fact that he had already played The Human Torch in the Fantastic Four series). Other things grated on me as well, such as the dummy grenade scene (Rogers was really that desperate to be a hero?).

The film’s pro column is much larger than its con, however. The supporting cast is great, with Stanley Tucci, Tommy Lee Jones, and Hugo Weaving turning in fine performances. Another great aspect of the film is Chris Evans’ transformation. The technique used to morph Evans into “skinny Steve” rarely looks bad, and makes me forget I’d hoped the actor portraying Cap would go method and lose and put back on a bunch of weight.

Avengers Connections

Captain America is a treasure trove of Avengers connections. Not only does it have a lot of tie-ins to the rest of the movies, the film also takes place years before the rest of the series, allowing us to see how some of the Avengers backstory came together. Remember, we heard about the super soldier program back in The Incredible Hulk. Captain America shows us that program first hand.

A big character in the film is Howard Stark, father to Tony Stark/Iron Man. We first meet Howard presenting a flying car at the Stark Expo, seen here in its heyday, years before Tony revives it in Iron Man 2. Howard works on the Super Soldier program along with Dr. Erskine (Tucci) and goes on to serve as the Q to Cap’s James Bond, supplying him with the final version of his trademark shield.

Another big element of the film ties into Thor. Captain America begins in Tønsberg, Norway, the same village Odin and his forces protect from the Frost Giants in Thor. Pax from Cavalcade of Awesome points that out and more in his breakdown of Thor. Captain America's nemesis The Red Skull (Weaving) discovers Odin’s tesseract in Tønsberg and uses it to power his doomsday weapons. At the end of the film we see The Red Skull disappear into a rift caused by the tesseract, vanishing into what looks like Thor’s stomping grounds.

Finally, we get to see more of SHIELD and Nick Fury, when Cap wakes up at the organization’s building in New York after being revived in the modern world.

How Will Cap Fit into the Avengers?

Believe it or not, The Avengers will be told through Cap’s perspective. I mentioned that Hulk was an outsider in my breakdown of The Incredible Hulk, and Cap is just as much of a loner in a way.

It’ll definitely be interesting to see how Rogers interacts with Tony Stark. From the trailers it looks like they have an adversarial relationship, which contrasts with the friendly relationship Rogers and Howard Stark seemed to be developing in Captain America.

As I said, Cap is definitely a loner, but expect him to pull the team together at the beginning of The Avengers third act.

Some Thoughts from CT at Nerd Lunch

With great power comes great responsibility and all that...

In general, the Marvel Comics characters are filled with flaws and their origins are a turning point in their lives. Tony Stark and Thor are each flawed characters that must face their past mistakes and attempt to redeem themselves for those mistakes by choosing to use their powers and abilities for an even greater good. Even Incredible Hulk had this to some degree. Stan Lee set out to make comics about characters who were people first and super heroes second. And in recent years, this has translated to Marvel having a wealth of material to base movies on. And every one of them, executed well or not, showed great promise because of its source.

But there is one Marvel character who is different because he pre-dates all that. He comes from an older era, the same era that the original DC characters came from. That character is Captain America. Cap is the most DC-ish character Marvel has. So I wondered how well his movie could be executed without the typical Marvel guilt story at the center of it. Surprisingly, the movie turned out great and should be the model for what DC should look at (DC needs to stop trying to be Marvel and be proud of who they are. Green Lantern is not Iron Man. Make a Green Lantern movie. Stop trying to make DC's Iron Man movie. But I digress...).

Cap is one of my favorite Marvel characters and I felt some trepidation about a movie. In the end, it's one of my favorites of the five pre-Avengers movies and I'm looking forward to seeing how Cap does in The Avengers.

Previous Countdown to Avengers Posts

Countdown to Avengers: Before the Avengers Initiative

Countdown to Avengers: Iron Man

Countdown to Avengers: The Incredible Hulk

Countdown to Avengers: Iron Man 2

Countdown to Avengers:Thor

Batch o’ Hatch: Jax Film Fest, The Nerd Lunch Podcast, and Halloween and Our Tribute to The Shining

Jax Film Fest

On Saturday and Sunday this past weekend I volunteered at the Jacksonville Film Fest. Volunteering apparently meant just standing around a lot.

Seriously though, I think the fact that there were a lot of volunteers and we didn’t have much to do is just a testament to the fact that so many people care about the film fest and wanted to volunteer.

Other than standing around, not much happened for me. Although, while I was walking down the sidewalk on a dinner break Saturday night, a nice (and crazy) bike riding gentleman decided to serenade me. I guess he wanted some cash but I pretended to make a phone call and ducked into a restaurant. I also witnessed a flash mob – but I don’t think it can be considered a flash mob since most of the volunteer staff knew about it and told me to go check it out.

I talked to some interesting folks and I think I’ll definitely participate in the fest next year – I may just attend some parties and screenings, however.

Nerd Lunch Podcast

If you’ve got some spare time and you want to confirm your suspicions that I’m just one giant walking awkward pause, check out this week’s episode of the Nerd Lunch podcast. We chat about different films and TV shows that may or may not live up to their own hype – my topic was HBO’s The Wire.

It may have been my first attempt at podcasting, but the Nerd lunch Podcast regulars (CT and JEEG from Nerd Lunch and Pax from Cavalcade of Awesome) were on their A-Game as usual. You can listen to the podcast on iTunes.

If you want to spice up your listening experience, take a drink of your favorite booze every time I say “uh”, “um”, or any derivative. Between that and listening to us talk about stalking Bruce Campbell, torture, and zombies, you should have a good time.

At one point in the podcast I mention a quote about The Wire from Community. I failed to mention that I got the full quote, the name of the episode – and the actual clip – from two message board users on IMDb. Thanks, IceTruckDexter and arcangle66!

Halloween and Our Tribute to The Shining

Last but not least for this installment, I’d like to point out some of the Halloween-related stuff we’ve done this month so far.

Favorite Scene Friday! Jaws: Quint Scares The Shit Out Of Us 

Favorite Scene Friday! Twilight Zone: The Movie: Airplane Gremlin 

Music Video Monday! Michael Jackson: "Thriller" 

Music Video Monday! Metallica: "One"

Music Video Monday! TV On The Radio: "Wolf Like Me"

When Werewolves Pop Up In Other Films

What Happened After…John Carpenter’s The Thing

A Peek Through The Hatch: The Walking Dead Season 2 

We’ll be doing some other Halloween-related posts, including a big tag-team review of/tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which’ll hit the blog this Saturday, October 22^nd.