Marvel Cinematic Universe

I wouldn’t mind a story based on the Banner, Hulk, and Mr Fixit story line, with each persona battling for dominance. You’d need to set up a few characters and introduce Mr Fixit. The problem with it is they have skipped the fusing of the Banner and Hulk personalities.

Got round to Shang-Chi - thought it was pretty good! The first fight in the bus was great. The subtitles were a bit unreliable tho - sometimes they flashed up for only a very short sec.

I hadn’t realised we were getting a sequel but very happy to hear it, Spiderverse was brilliant.

As one of the best entries in the super hero genre, very happy with that.

Charlie Cox confirmed to return as Daredevil by Feige himself. In what capacity is unknown, but as least its confirmed.

I would argue the exact opposite. Immortal Hulk is pretty much the best hulk series Ive read (although as a standalone, cinematic sci-fi story Planet Hulk is tough to top on any front)

Immortal Hulk is extremely complicated and bizarre, and builds on a lot of deep Hulk mythology, almost none of which is in the film's. I don't see them doing any time soon with the MCU. And yeah the magic/mystical elements completely recontextualize the Hulk in a way that I think most casual Hulk fans will find bizarre or creepy (though I totally get why they went that way when trying to draw together so much stuff). It's a totally different vibe to the MCU, too. More like a much darker and more depressing Spiderverse. I think if we saw it from Marvel on screen it'd be as an alternative thing like Spiderverse.

I've decided to rewatch all the Spider-Man movies in anticipation of No Way Home next week. I say "rewatch" but I've never actually seen the Amazing films before.

So the MCU films are great, Spider-Verse is a masterpiece. I've made it through the Raimis and started watching Amazing last night (which so far, halfway through, is... fine? Like, Garfield is good and the physicality of Spidey is great, even though the plot and the Uncle Ben rehash stuff is ropey).

Anyway, my thoughts of the Raimi films, which I adored back in the day:

SM1: better even than I remembered; picks a delightfully campy, melodramatic tone and sticks with it, everything played up to the max, reinforced by the camera angles and sound design. All the cast are terrific, especially Dafoe. Five stars.
SM2: used to be my favourite superhero movie, but now I think... it's a bit long, a bit soapy. It's actually quite miserable, all the Peter/MJ/Harry stuff is way more fraught and angsty and sad-teen-drama than it was in the first film. And this really drags the film, shoots the legs from under it, when the fights are incredible, the stuff with Doc Ock remarkable. Molina is almost as great as Dafoe was, and this is where the film excels. But yeah, I found it wasn't quite the masterpiece I remembered. Four stars.
SM3: okay, I'd always had some minor issues with this one, but now I'm flat-out annoyed by it, because it does SO MUCH right but bungles other stuff in a really amateurish way. Again, the Peter/MJ relationship angst is a pain in the arse, turning MJ into a sadsack and making Peter a dick. I know that's sort of the point, but it's all so slow and sad that - like SM2 - it cripples the film's momentum whereas the first one was soaring the whole time. It repeats plot points - Harry is evil, now he's good, now he's evil - and introduces way too many characters, not just the villains. Venom is uninteresting, the "evil suit" aspect basically relegated to one half-hour sequence in the film, and distracts from who the real baddie should be: Harry, corrupted by his father. Franco is great in this film; gaslighting people, breaking up Peter & MJ, etc. Oh, and Sandman is in it too I guess; his origin is really nicely done but he barely registers as a presence. So yeah: mixed bag, some terrific stuff let down by really shoddy plot work. Three stars, but at times it felt like a two.

Ref the last episode

No one has tried to buy a boat so far, so pretty disappointed.

Yeah that was really weirdly done.



Loved everything else about the episode though, continuing to enjoy this a lot more than I thought I would, and also, both the leads (and the woman playing the mother, though not sword guy) can actually act. Renner always seemed pretty bad in other stuff I saw him in, but with the tight close-ups on his face and the slower pace and so on, he was actually very convincing. And Steinfeld is just great, loads of charisma, nails the character completely.

It's a bit odd and I would be surprised if she's the only one in the MCU that doesn't want the Jab

One place that’s being really hit by vaccine requirements is reality tv shows. MTV is allegedly being hardcore about it for their new seasons. Who’d have thought people vapid enough to show up on those things could be anti-vax?