Review

Daredevil Season Two

Most people (myself included) thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Daredevil. It wasn’t perfect by any means, hampered by an increasingly meandering story as it went on and a finale that dropped the ball in a multitude of ways, but as an introduction to this new part of the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe? It did a good job of setting the tone for the rest of the Netflix shows, something followed up by and capitalised on by the significantly better Jessica Jones.

Although the second season of Daredevil fails to reach the heights set by Jessica Jones, it’s still an improvement over the first season in nearly every way – primarily thanks to the way that show-runners Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez seem to have listened to and acted on criticisms of the first season. The most obvious strength that the second season has over the first is also the most simple – the second season of Daredevil has enough going on to actually justify it’s length.

There are two fairly distinct stories at play in the second season of Daredevil. The first sees the introduction of fan-favourite character Frank Castle (also known as The Punisher) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a murderous vigilante who is terrorising Hell’s Kitchen as he seeks revenge for the death of his family at the hands of criminals. The other sees Matt reunite with Elektra Natchios, an old girlfriend from Matt’s time in college who is significantly more dangerous than she may appear at first glance.

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Deadpool Review

I went to the 9:50 screening of Deadpool last night. I managed to get the center seat in the back row. The theater was about 1/4 full, and even then there was a buzz in the air.

Deadpool, Marvel’s latest comic book character to receive the R-rated movie treatment due to violence and subject matter, drew genre appropriate previews. I couldn’t even absorb the body count before the actual film even started. If you like “shoot -em up bang! bang!” movies, this summer might be your best summer yet.

Deadpool can be a bit of a smart-ass.
Deadpool can be a bit of a smart-ass.

I have been enjoying the Deadpool teasers as they have been released, so I had a pretty good idea of how the movie was supposed to be, but we know how that can work. Best laid plans and all that. However, this particular movie delivered. Yeah, sure, this movie is about a wisecracking immortal a-hole comic book character, but the immortal wisecracking a-hole comic book character has style, and the film even managed to give us enough backstory to make Deadpool three dimensional. The movie felt like it was crafted by both the people in front of and behind the cameras. It comes across as the movie they meant it to be and wanted us to see.

It was entertaining from the opening credits all the way through the closing credit scroll (and beyond), so don’t be in a rush to leave your seat. Ryan Reynolds admirably breaks down the 4th wall, and this movie is most definitely a feather in his cap. 2016’s Deadpool is a far cry above the version he played in X-Men Origins, and the supporting cast, CGI, stunts and dialogue come together to make this film funny, action packed, and maybe, just maybe, my new favorite comic book to movie translation.

It is full of helpful life lessons, like math and advice on relationships, delivered with his never say die attitude. I’m just going to say it. If you like the comic books, you will love the film.

Your friendly neighborhood Major Stackings.

Lego Marvel’s Avengers – A First Look

The latest entry in TT Games’ highly successful Lego video game series is Lego Marvel’s Avengers. Similar to the Lego Harry Potter and Lego Star Wars games, Lego Marvel’s Avengers is an adaptation of multiple movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; specifically, the content of the game covers portions of Captain America: The First Avenger; Avengers; Thor 2: The Dark World;Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. I recently picked up this game and played through the first few levels, and thought I would share my initial impressions.

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a “review” of the video game; I wouldn’t consider myself qualified to score it relative to all other video games. As a fan of Marvel and of Lego video games in general, this is just my first impression on where this game falls among it’s peers.

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The 13 Commandments from the TNG Bible.

Star Trek: The Next Generation had a Writer/Director’s guide, commonly referred to as the bible. Within this guide was a list of 13 things that were not to ever happen on TNG (i.e. commandments).

Here we will look at each commandment, and show when TNG maybe didn’t follow their own rules.

All blockquotes and episode details are from Memory-Alpha.

Rule #1. Stories which do not materially involve our own crew. Yes, we do like to see interesting new characters — but only when used in addition to an interesting story line involving our continuing characters.

TNG Episode 7×15 “Lower Decks”

Junior officers speculate on the reasons for recent unusual actions taken by the command crew near the Cardassian border.

This episode only has the main cast in the periphery, and focuses on four junior officers and their attempt to receive a promotion.

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