Comic Book and Superhero movie & TV discussion.

[Polish Dad]

New suit looks better, but Serafinowicz still has the face of Arthur rather than a Golden Age superhero.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

He just can't compete with Patrick Warburton, that guy has a face like a cartoon character.

 

This drama around the new Batman film is getting even worse, the latest developments are; Ben Affleck just got out of rehab for alcoholism, Matt Reeves is scrapping Affleck's script and rewriting it from scratch and it's definitely not going to make its release date. Also Joe Manganiello has publicly said he doesn't even know if Deathstroke will still be in it despite the fact that he was already cast and did screen tests and the character's costume had been designed.

Fair enough though if I was given the chance to write and direct a Batman film from the ground up I would probably be tempted to drop someone else's idea of Deathstroke as well.

Edited March 19, 2017 by Call me Bellend

[Chest Rockwell]

Anyone given Iron Fist a go yet?

[chokeout]

Anyone given Iron Fist a go yet?

Yep.......it's not very good. It suffers from the same pacing issues as the previous series but it's all heightened by the fact that the lead character just isn't likeable and, considering it's a series about martial artists, there isn't really any good fight scenes ( this isn't helped by the fact that guy playing Danny doesn't seem to have any background in martial arts and that the character, despite being the worlds greatest martial artist, spends the majority of the series getting his ass kicked.)

[BigJag]

I watched the first episode. Its quite story heavy. I think it'll be a series you have to put effort into. I did find myself easily distracted from it. There's a little bit of Arrow about the first episode. Worth watching.

[Chest Rockwell]

There's a little bit of Arrow about the first episode. Worth watching.

are those two statements not contradictory?

 

I saw a video just now when scouring for opinions of this show where there were 50-something cuts in 35 sec fight scene. It was hideous. I had no idea what was supposed to be going on. I thought the show might have a cool old school martial arts vibe to it, like Luke Cage went for the blaxploitation thing. This video put paid to that hopeful hypothesis.

[DEF]

I've watched 5 episodes now and I actually quite like it. I think the reviews have been harsh. That said its quite paint by numbers. The guy playing Danny Rand is probably the problem. He's fine when hes not fighting but comes off very disingenuous in the fights. His movements just dont ring true.

 

I'd say so far its better than the bits of Daredevil season 2 that don't feature the Punisher but not even close to being as good as the bits with the Punisher. The action is better than Jessica Jones by some way but thats not difficult, quite similar to Luke Cage's action but with a lean toward Daredevils ninja stuff. Its nowhere near Dardevil's top notch cutting edge action sequences though.

 

I think the comparison to Arrow only really is based in that he kinda looks alot like Oliver Queen and the story is essentially the exact same. It still feels more like Marvel Netflix than CW DCU.

Edited March 20, 2017 by DEF

[HarmonicGenerator]

I'm two episodes in and quite enjoying it so far as well.

[King of Hamptons]

_{I'm currently binge watching the Spiderman Cartoon for the mid 90's.....  Its still amazing.}

 

Definitely _{gonna have to watch the X-Men cartoon next}

[lambyUK]

I'm two episodes in and quite enjoying it so far as well.

Same myself and for me it's very good so far.

 

In fact there's a lot of articles popping up saying that despite the reviews fans are really enjoying it

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/critics-wrong-iron-fist-great-say-fans/

[drkopen]

_{I'm currently binge watching the Spiderman Cartoon for the mid 90's..... Its still amazing.}

 

Definitely _{gonna have to watch the X-Men cartoon next}

Other than the ending the Spidey cartoons great.

 

Now they've brought Dr strange into the marvel universe I'd love them to bring in madam web and give us a multi Spiderman story.

[BigJag]

http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/lewis-tan-marvel-iron-fist-interview.html

 

That article is of an interview with an actor who read for the lead in Iron fist. He has a martial Arts background. Would possibly have brought more authenticity for that aspect of the character. Would his ethnicity be too much of a departure from the comic book character? Do Marvel have form for changing character ethnicity in their film/TV projects?

[HarmonicGenerator]

http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/lewis-tan-marvel-iron-fist-interview.html

 

That article is of an interview with an actor who read for the lead in Iron fist. He has a martial Arts background. Would possibly have brought more authenticity for that aspect of the character. Would his ethnicity be too much of a departure from the comic book character? Do Marvel have form for changing character ethnicity in their film/TV projects?

I get a bit of a sense that certain corners of the internet would have jumped on it either way. They're going for the 'white saviour' thing now, but if they'd cast an Asian actor, the same people would probably be going after the 'oh, so all Asians are good at martial arts are they' angle. Whether either of these are legitimate grievances or not, I have a feeling Marvel would have been damned if they did and damned if they didn't. Edited March 21, 2017 by HarmonicGenerator

[Carbomb]

 

http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/lewis-tan-marvel-iron-fist-interview.html

 

That article is of an interview with an actor who read for the lead in Iron fist. He has a martial Arts background. Would possibly have brought more authenticity for that aspect of the character. Would his ethnicity be too much of a departure from the comic book character? Do Marvel have form for changing character ethnicity in their film/TV projects?

I get a bit of a sense that certain corners of the internet would have jumped on it either way. They're going for the 'white saviour' thing now, but if they'd cast an Asian actor, the same people would probably be going after the 'oh, so all Asians are good at martial arts are they' angle. Whether either of these are legitimate grievances or not, I have a feeling Marvel would have been damned if they did and damned if they didn't.

 

 

Nope. I get the logic, and it makes sense, but there's a lot of ire directed at Hollywood these days regarding Asians in main roles, especially with the recent Ghost In The Shell furore, as well as the white-washing of the Tekken and King Of Fighters movies.

 

Bear in mind there is a long history of Western cultural producers doing this. For a long time, the only representation of potent Asian masculinity in Western cultural texts was the ridiculously racist and Western-constructed Fu Manchu, or analogues of him, like David Lo Pan or Charlie Chan - and they were usually played by white actors anyway. It wasn't until Bruce Lee showed up and basically forced the West to acknowledge another model of masculinity by being so un-ignorable (despite their treating him like shit and forcing him back to Hong Kong initially) that we got any kind of variation on that theme. And even when Hollywood does cast an Asian in the main role, he never gets the girl - can't have one of the Yellow Peril touching our pure white women, can we? Enter The Dragon, Bruce Lee's big Hollywood movie, and they actually had to create a whole alternative white main character, Roper, who could have some romantic interests.

 

As to comics, I'm not a fan of Western comics companies doing anything to do with East Asian culture, because they follow the same patterns as the TV and film companies. It's usually stereotypical, patronising, and follows the usual pattern of the main character being the "acceptable" white receptacle of Asian knowledge, because clearly no Asian is good enough to be a true exponent of that knowledge; the only thing they're ever good enough to be is a source (e.g. the Ancient One, Mr. Miyagi, Zian from Kickboxer, and so on). Hell, even the Ancient One from Dr. Strange, who's supposed to be Asian, was played by Tilda bloody Swinton! And this can be seen all throughout Marvel and DC. The best martial artists in those universes are never Asian: Iron Fist, Black Canary, Batman, Bronze Tiger and so on.

 

Also, every time we see Asian antagonists, it's always ninjas or samurai, fighting with swords and bows and arrows, and behaving like there was never any kind of modernisation and abolition of feudalism.

 

​It's only relatively recently we've seen any kind of change, with the Green Hornet movie being re-structured to place Kato as the real hero, or Glenn from The Walking Dead not only having agency of his own, but also being a major character AND gets to be with a white woman. But with the Ghost In The Shell, Tekken and King Of Fighters bollocks, not to mention the entire history of how Asians have been represented in Western cinema and TV throughout the decades, it's starting to feel like one step forward, one step back.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Carbomb

[BigJag]

I've only seen the first episode of Iron Fist. The fight scenes did come across very clunky. As if the main character was very green and the opponents were almost trying to make him look bad. It is strange that they didn't cast a more accomplished marital artist in the lead. How is the rest of the series holding up? Is martial arts such a large part of the character that it could be it's downfall?

Edited March 21, 2017 by BigJag