Superheroes!

[EgonSpengler]

"'I don't see why men shouldn't be as cruel as nature.'"
"Try not to quote Hitler in public, dear. It's bad for the brand."

 

[Cutlass]

"'I don't see why men shouldn't be as cruel as nature.'"
"Try not to quote Hitler in public, dear. It's bad for the brand."

Source and context?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Source and context?

Lex Luthor and his mother, in the season finale of Supergirl.

Spoiler :

Lex had built a device that used extraterrestrials as a power source, and engineered the ascension of a puppet xenophobe to the Oval Office, who would round up undocumented aliens to power the device. In the end, the Martian Manhunter and Dreamer used their combined telepathic powers to overload the device while Supergirl absorbed the essence of her dying Soviet doppleganger to defeat Lex in his kryptonite-fueled 'Iron Man' armor. Comic-book science. It's not just camp, it's super-camp! Best not to look at it too closely, lest we go blind from the blazing ridiculousness of it all.

 

[EgonSpengler]

So it sounds like, even though ABC is under the Disney umbrella, Kevin Feige & Co weren't able to ask, tell or coordinate with ABC on when season 6 of SHIELD would air. I'd have loved for season 6 to take place in the 5-year interim period. That would mean telling the SHIELD writers, cast and crew that there was a 5-year interim period, but that's what NDAs are for.

Ming Na Wen and I are on the same page wrt the shorter seasons, and the two separate halves of season 4. I think those shorter seasons are stronger in just about every show that's used them. Ye Olde 22-episode seasons work best for the soap opera-style shows (e.g. Grey's Anatomy) and for the episodic shows (e.g. Law & Order), which don't really have story arcs.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Netflix released their June schedule:

June 1 - Batman Begins and The Dark Knight
If you're in this thread and you haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, you're officially on notice. Batman Begins isn't mandatory, but I might rewatch it. I haven't seen it since it was in theaters, and I remember generally liking it. That one was from before the recent Superhero Renaissance, and I'm curious to see how it looks now.

June 26 - Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
I haven't seen it yet. I have a higher bar for animation than for live-action, just my own taste/bias, but this got rave reviews. 97% on Rotten Tomatoes; 87 Metacritic score. I think the latter makes it one of the best-reviewed superhero movies of all time. The Dark Knight got an 84, Black Panther got an 88, The Incredibles got a 90. Hopefully it doesn't lose too much on the small screen.

TDB - Jessica Jones season 3
No date given, but it's on the June releases list, so I'm stoked. Unlike Agents of SHIELD, I actually hope this series takes place before Infinity War and continues to willfully ignore the wider MCU. I expect we'll see Hellcat make her debut. It'll be interesting to see whether Trish goes all-in on a costumed alias, like she tried to get Jessica to do.

Leaving Netflix June 5 - Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
Also not mandatory, but fun. If you miss it here, I'm sure it'll be on Disney+ when that starts in the Fall.

I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!

 

[EgonSpengler]

June 14th.

Spoiler :

 

[EgonSpengler]

Agents of SHIELD, episode 4 fun fact: Deke's ditzy girlfriend Sequoia was played by showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen.

 

[Cutlass]

Agents of SHIELD, episode 4 fun fact: Deke's ditzy girlfriend Sequoia was played by showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen.

I don't remember last season enough to remember who Deke is.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I don't remember last season enough to remember who Deke is.

FitzSimmons' grandson from the future.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I started rewatching season 2 of Jessica Jones over the weekend. I'm still not loving the reveal that [Janet McAteer - I can't remember the character's name] is her mother. I thought that was a swerve away from the mystery woman as a vision of what Jessica could be in danger of becoming, an out of control "rage monster" who hurts people (she's a female Bruce Banner, in a way). I had forgotten the moment in the previous episode, where the police are arresting Jessica for the bloody murder of the P.I. in the van, and she says "That's not me." At first, of course, she's telling the police, "I didn't do it", but then she repeats it, sotto voce, like she's trying to reassure herself that the older woman doesn't represent her own future. To my memory, the rest of the season kind of drops the "anger management" plot in favor of the "mom's a monster" story. I'd also forgotten that Malcolm got busy with Trish. My man. *fistbump* I'm looking forward to the next episode, though; the flashback to when the girls were a little younger, Jessica living with her boyfriend and 'Patsy' trying to be a more adult pop-star, with a hilarious 2000s music video for, iirc, "I Want Your Cray-Cray." It's like a This is Spinal Tap-style parody, where you can't quite tell if they're serious or they're joking; sometimes the best satire is half-homage.

 

[EgonSpengler]

A trailer for season 3 of Jessica Jones that focuses on Krysten Ritter's directorial debut, and features clips of Trish Walker training for her MMA debut. I'm struck by how none of the actors speaks anything like their character, in real life. I don't think I've ever heard Rachael Taylor in her natural speaking voice. I couldn't place Eka Darville's accent, I had to Google him. He's Australian, too.

 

[Cutlass]

There's an awful lot of Australian actors that you'd never know just seeing them screen.

 

[EgonSpengler]

There's an awful lot of Australian actors that you'd never know just seeing them screen.

It's true, foreign actors rarely use their natural accents on American television. I kind of wish they would, more often. I think every other person I look up on IMDb is Canadian (a lot of Canadians don't have a discernible Canadian accent anyway), but there are also lots of Aussies and Brits. Off the top of my head, the only actor on an American tv show I can think of who uses his normal accent is Rahul Kohli on iZombie (and his castmate Rose McIver, who's from New Zealand, doesn't use hers). I think there are many film & tv actors who just stick with their American accent when doing interviews and public appearances here, so in some cases you'd really never know if you didn't Google them. For example, I'm not sure I've ever heard Charlize Theron use her South African accent (and according to Wikipedia, Afrikaans is her first language).

 

[Laurana Kanan]

First WW84 poster:

 

[EgonSpengler]

First WW84 poster:

I was just about to post that myself. I mean, whoa. That thing could trigger seizures in some people.

 

[Cutlass]

It's true, foreign actors rarely use their natural accents on American television. I kind of wish they would, more often. I think every other person I look up on IMDb is Canadian (a lot of Canadians don't have a discernible Canadian accent anyway), but there are also lots of Aussies and Brits. Off the top of my head, the only actor on an American tv show I can think of who uses his normal accent is Rahul Kohli on iZombie (and his castmate Rose McIver, who's from New Zealand, doesn't use hers). I think there are many film & tv actors who just stick with their American accent when doing interviews and public appearances here, so in some cases you'd really never know if you didn't Google them. For example, I'm not sure I've ever heard Charlize Theron use her South African accent (and according to Wikipedia, Afrikaans is her first language).

Theron I don't think spoke English at all when she first started modeling. Karen Gillian is a good one, she's Scottish. But was best known playing English, with an English instead of Scottish accent. In Jumanji:Welcome to the Jungle, she plays an American accent. But if you watch the special features, she speaks with a Scottish accent.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Swamp Thing has been canceled after 1 episode, despite getting decent reviews (67 Metacritic; 92% Rotten Tomatoes). I haven't seen any of the DC streaming service shows yet, but I'd like to. One article I read speculated that Warner Bros. may be rethinking the whole thing. I can't believe Warner Bros. is such a fustercluck, especially with their DC Comics properties. I wish someone could take all that stuff away from them. I guess Greg Berlanti's CW shows must be below the business radar, so the morons haven't meddled. I read elsewhere that Warner Bros. is moving ahead with a Supergirl movie (they're still in pre-production), and the expectation is that it will not be Melissa Benoist, who's basically perfect for the role.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I read elsewhere that Warner Bros. is moving ahead with a Supergirl movie

Meanwhile they have (had?) a perfect (imo) Superman with Henry Cavill that they're just sleeping on. Where's a proper Man of Steel 2 movie?

Personally, I like Benoist in the role, but after the first season I just couldn't stand watching Supergirl on the CW, the writing was just horrendous. I also don't think she's quite ready for "leading lady" status on a major studio production.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I heard they cut it because the state lied about the tax credit and forced a correction. The value ended up being less than half of what was originally promised.

Well that blows. Was it Louisiana? I don't know how many authentic bayous there are, outside of that region.

Meanwhile they have (had?) a perfect (imo) Superman with Henry Cavill that they're just sleeping on. Where's a proper Man of Steel 2 movie?

Personally, I like Benoist in the role, but after the first season I just couldn't stand watching Supergirl on the CW, the writing was just horrendous. I also don't think she's quite ready for "leading lady" status on a major studio production.

I agree, Cavill wasn't the reason I didn't like Man of Steel or Batman v. Superman (Ben Affleck wasn't either, fwiw).

A Supergirl movie probably does need a different approach than the show, even if they went with Benoist. The writing, for starters, as you point out. It would also need to have a bigger budget and more big-screen "spectacle." It couldn't just be an extended episode of the series, for a number of reasons. I do think that Benoist could handle a film, but she wouldn't be a known quantity, although they did forge ahead with Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa in Aquaman, and both gambles paid off, so that could maybe encourage them to take a flier on Benoist. I guess one reason to not use Benoist would be if they want the movie to be completely separate from the tv show.

 

[Cutlass]

What are they doing with all the DC properties? They're apparently mostly in different universes, so it doesn't matter that they're incompatible with one another?