This year is the 10th Anniversary of Iron Man and The Dark Knight being released in theatres. Two very different superhero films that not only changed the genre forever, but filmmaking in general. So, on this episode of The World’s Best Podcast, co-host Ryan McDonald and I take a trip from Gotham City to Stark Industries and dive into these epic movies. This the first of a 2-Part episode! Is Robert Downey Jr. perfect superhero casting? What theories are there about the secret origin of The Joker in The Dark Knight? What legacy have these films left behind? Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
In this episode I make multiple references to an article I wrote about the villains of the MCU, I thought I’d put a link to the article here in case anyone wants to read it after listening to the episode:
I’ve been thinking a lot lately that the characters from the TV and Movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe need to crossover. It is long past time that the guys over at Marvel Studios, stop measuring each other’s dicks and get the heroes and characters from the Netflix shows to appear in the Marvel films.
The head of Marvel’s film division is Kevin Fiege and all of the television and streaming content is overseen by Jeph Loeb. I have a lot of respect for Kevin Fiege. I think he’s the main reason the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the success that it has. He’s always believed that following the incredible stories and characters from the comics and translating that to film has been the key to their success. I’m paraphrasing, but I’ve heard him say that as he was coming up as a junior producer on other less successful Marvel films at other studios, he’d often wonder “Why don’t they just follow the comic book?”. It’s all right their on the page. MCU films aren’t shot for shot, panel for panel adaptations of the comics they’re based on. However they completely understand why something works in the comics and then adapt that to film in the way that makes the most sense. They get the core of the stories right by respecting the incredible stories from Marvel Comics. However, most importantly Marvel Studios understands the importance of character. Marvel has incredible characters and they’ve done an excellent job of translating that to film. Character, character, character: the secret to their success. Which Kevin Fiege understands perfectly.
Jeph Loeb on the other hand I have a less high opinion on. He’s written some great comics in the past, but over the last 20 years he can be described as a hack at best. I’ve never been comfortable with him being the final word on all things from Marvel’s television division. He seems to be arrogant and egotistical. Possibly worst of all he seems to think he’s smarter than he really is. The guy wrote Commando with Schwarzenegger, he’s not exactly Shakespeare. Obviously I have a bias here. I don’t like Jeph Loeb. So even though I’m not 100% sure, I suspect he’s the main barrier that separates Marvel TV and Marvel Film coming together. This isn’t just based on my opinion. Most articles discussing when and if MCU characters from TV will make it to the movies, make it seem as if the guys making the films are more open to the idea. The TV folks, usually producers, are the ones who tend to down play the chance of a crossover. But maybe I’m underestimating Mr. Loeb. I can only judge his very uneven track record.
This is very cool, but not the real poster for Spider-Man Far From Home. Just a fantastic piece of fan art.
Marvel finally got SPIDER-MAN in their movies, they can get Daredevil into one of their flicks. Tony Stark is aware of Peter Parker’s relatively unremarkable burgeoning superhero career in Civil War, when Peter’s only had his powers for 6 months. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and the bulletproof Hero of Harlem are major news stories. There’s no way some one like Tony Stark, The Avengers, the people behind the Accords, and what’s left of SHIELD aren’t aware of these guys. Hell, New York City was in more danger in The Defenders than some of the threats in the big screen Marvel films. It would be really cool of The Avengers took notice of this.
The hero from TV I really want to see on the big screen is Daredevil (THIS Daredevil, Charlie Cox). Specifically, I’d love to see him in Spider-Man: Far From Home. I like the idea that, like Tony Stark in the first film, Peter has a hero mentor in each of his films that teaches him something new about being a hero and growing up. Daredevil is the perfect character for the second film. In the comics he’s the character Peter associates with most besides Johnny Storm who’s more of a peer than someone Peter looks up to. Peter’s also seen enough and been through enough at this point that he’d be ready for the more mature lessons he’d undoubtedly learn from a darker, street level character like Matt Murdock. He’s more of Peter’s world than Tony was and Matt could open Peters eyes to some hard truths about the way the world works in a way that Tony couldn’t.
I really think that eventually Marvel will break down this barrier and we’ll see crossovers between TV and Film. They’ve said time and again that PHASE 4 is something completely new. What better way to send that message than break some of their old, stupid rules and put Daredevil in the next Spider-Man movie? Here’s hoping…
Watch both videos, one after the other. It’s one scene, but the best version I could find had been split into two videos. This is a flashback scene from the spectacular movie, BatmanBeyond: ReturnofTheJoker.
I’ve often said that M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable is a massively underrated movie and easily one of the best superhero stories ever put on film. I’ve wanted to see the continued adventures of David Dunn and Mr. Glass for years now. When Split was revealed to be a quasi-sequel to Unbreakable fans like myself were understandably blown away. It was a fantastically creative and unique way to reintroduce audiences to this world Shyamalan created over 15 years earlier. Next January, Glass is hitting theaters as a sequel to both Unbreakable and Split. Finally reuniting Elijah Price and David Dunn with Kevin Wendell Crumb thrown into the mix. Below are some of our first looks at Glass with pictures put out exclusively by EW.com. Check them out below and I’ll share a few more of my thoughts as we go through them…
After The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, Shyamalan was being hailed as the next Hitchcock or Spielberg. Then he released The Village, an interesting failure which was crucified at the time for not living up to the monumentally high standard we’d come to expect from Shyamalan. It was all downhill for the director from there. For years, the man who was once being hailed as the next Alfred Hitchcock had become synonymous with terrible filmmaking.
Is that Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) in the background?
Then the comeback began. First he did the very solid found footage thriller The Visit and he followed that up with Split. Shyamalan is on a comeback tour. If he’s able to stick the landing with Glass, he won’t be on a comeback, as far as I’m concerned, he’ll just be a great filmmaker again.
Glass James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy
I think this picture is really interesting. Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) was The Hoard’s captive in Split, so why is she visiting him in an institution? What larger roll does she play in the story’s narrative?
Sarah Paulson plays a doctor who works at a psychiatric facility that’s a key part of the film.
Elijah’s mother and David’s son (both played by the original actors) are returning for this movie. How’ve there lives changed?
That surly Ole’ son of bitch Bruce and buddy Night, behind the scenes.
I’d say the thing I’m most looking forward to seeing is how David has developed and learned to use his abilities over the last 2 decades. Since this an original work, it’s not like there’s a comic book that we can pick up to guess where the story’s going. I love that we’re seeing these characters and this world again and I love that I have no idea how this crazy story will play out! As always, thanks for reading!
On this episode of The World’s Best Podcast I’m diving into The Quantum Realm to review the latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man & The Wasp! I keep it SPOILER FREE in the beginning and then transition into FULL SPOILERS, but I make sure to point out when the SPOILERS begin. Thanks for listening and enjoy! Listen here or subscribe Stitcher and ITunes:
Paul here and I wanted to thank all of the loyal listeners of The World’s Best Podcast for so being patient with me. As you may know, I like to get a new podcast episode every Monday (sometimes Tuesday), but my Summer Movie Season film reviews have thrown off my episode release schedule a little. However, we’re back on track now with, not one, not two, but THREE podcasts dropping this week. Beginning with this episode here, in honor of the 4th of JULY…
Roland Emmerich’s INDEPENDENCE DAY is a classic of the 90’s sci-fi/action films. The trailers were fantastic. The cast was great. I was still a kid when the movie premiered in 1996 and I could not wait for the movie to come out. When I finally saw the film, I loved it and through the years it’s become one of those movies that I revisit every summer around July.
In my opinion the film holds up well. In fact, I recently made a list of my top 100 favorite movies of all time and Independence Day easily made the list. To clarify this wasn’t a list of the 100 BEST movies of all time, but my personal FAVORITES.
It’s basically an unofficial modern day retelling of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and it’s so much better than Spielberg’s abysmal crack at adapting that story. Anyway, you can listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
Some really cool concept art from upcoming superhero projects has hit the internet today. Including our best looks at Captain Marvel and Robin from DC’s Titans. Most of this I found over at CBR.com, but first is the concept art that looks like it’s from the upcoming Captain Marvel film. The big giveaway being the look at a young Nick Fury, which is very cool. Check it out:
Then we have a few cool concept art images that are definitely from Avengers 4…
A few things to point out here include, Hawkeye is finally back (Yay!), Hulk seems to have a costume of some sort. Does this help regulate his transformation from Banner to Hulk and vice versa? Consider they had performance issues in Infinity War that could be a factor. This image of Thanos is interesting because he’s armored up and he has a gun. Why does he need all that if he has the Infinity Gauntlet? Is it working properly? Or did he blow its load killing half the Universe? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!!!
Finally, moving from Marvel over to DC, we have our best look yet at Dick Grayson Robin from Titans, the new series from the upcoming DC streaming service, DC UNIVERSE. Take a look…
Cool stuff, huh? Anyway thanks for checking us out as always!
I was ecstatic when Marvel and Netflix announced they’d partnered up to produce multiple TV shows that would be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, focusing on the gritty, street level heroes of the MCU. The original plan was to start with five series. Four focusing on the individual heroes, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, with the fifth series culminating in an epic superhero crossover, called The Defenders. These are probably my 4 personal favorite Marvel characters, so it’s always been exciting when one of these new shows premiere.
Each series ended up being much more successful than Netflix expected. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage in particular were big hits with audiences and critics. As a result this already ambitious undertaking grew larger. What was originally a 5 series model, added second seasons for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, as well as a spinoff series for The Punisher (with more seasons to come including Daredevil Season 3 later this year). The first two season of Daredevil and the first season of Jessica Jones are among the best pieces of fiction to come out of the MCU PERIOD and that includes the movies. Luke Cage Season 1 was excellent as well, but a terrible villain who popped up in the second half of the season, really brought down the show’s average. Fortunately, the creators seemed to have learned from that particular mistake, but I’ll get back to that in a minute…
Like Hell’s Kitchen on Daredevil, Harlem feels very like much a character on Luke Cage
It was the kind of superhero storytelling I was always looking for. These stories aren’t about saving the world, they’re about saving a neighborhood. With fantastic character work and mature content that we’d never see on the big screen in the MCU. When these shows are firing on all cylinders they are spectacular. Sadly, there’s been a dip in quality in the last few Marvel/Netflix outings. However, I’m very happy to say that Luke Cage has returned with a phenomenal second season that surpasses the first and reminds us just how good these shows can be.
First of all, as I said before, this is just better than Season One. Luke’s arc in Season Two is complex and interesting in the best way. He’s more or less accepted his roll as the “Hero of Harlem”, but he carries a rage inside of him because of everything he’s seen and been through. Luke’s struggle to find out how to channel that anger in a healthy way is a big part of his journey in Season 2. With characters like Claire Temple, Danny Rand, and the late, great Reg E. Cathy as Luke’s father, helping him deal with that anger along the way. Luke is right up there with Matt Murdock as one of the most morally interesting characters on the Netflix shows. His rage, the responsibility he feels to Harlem, his growing lack of faith in the justice system, how race affects how he views himself as a hero, and more all add up to one of the most unique protagonists on TV.
Speaking of Danny Rand, this is probably the best use of The Immortal Iron First we’ve seen in the MCU so far. Even though he doesn’t have as much screen time as I would have liked, his presence is felt throughout the season. I wish we saw him more in the season, his big team up episode with Luke is everything you’d hope for. Of course, I was very happy to see the writers planting the seeds for “Heroes For Hire” in a big way.
While we’re on the topic of cool stuff from the comics making their way to the show. After losing her right arm in The Defender’s, we finally see Misty Knight get her badass robot arm like she has in the comics (though in this version the arm is provided by Rand Industries instead of Tony Stark). The arm gives Misty a degree of super-strength and it’s just enough to bump her up into superhero territory. She also has a few great scenes with Colleen Wing, who’s always a delight to see, setting up “Daughters of The Dragon” much like “Heroes For Hire” is teased with Danny and Luke.
As fun all the Marvel Easter Eggs are and as great a hero Luke is, it’s the so called “villains” that bring this series to the next level. Mustafa Shakir as Bushmaster, Theo Rossi as Shades, and the legendary Alfre Woodard as Mariah Dillard elevate the show to another level as the so called antagonists. Each of them are layered and anchored in very real, human emotions. One of the biggest strengths of this series is that each of these villains have done evil, horrible things, yet at certain points you’ll find yourself sympathize with them and maybe even root for them. At times the lines between hero and villain are blurred, with cops that don’t follow the rules and villains that genuinely want to help their community, it can be hard to decide who to root for. There simply isn’t any other show right now that has such complex villains and it’s one of the best things about the series.
Bushmaster: The new Big Bad in Harlem
Bushmaster is a force of nature, who more than makes up for Diamondback, the Season One villain that really hurt the quality of the second part of the first season. It was great to see a new villain who could go toe to toe with Luke and was also as strong a character as Bushmaster. His motivations are very personal. He’s not looking to become a Kingpin, he just REALLY, REALLY wants to kill Mariah Stokes as he insists on calling her. His history with Mariah and her family is revealed throughout the season and I wont spoil it hear.
One of the greatest aspects of this series is the fantastic music. Live musicians perform live at Harlem’s Paradise, a club owned by Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard), the music is used beautifully to enhance the story and bring style to the show.
Alfre Woodard is fantastic in pretty much anything, but I don’t think she’s ever played a character like Mariah Dillard. She’s magnetic in the role. She terrifying, vulnerable, fierce, sexy, charming, brutal, manipulative, and more. Sometimes you’re not even sure which side of Mariah you’re seeing in any given moment. Is she being genuine or is this a manipulation? She is absolutely one of the MCU’s best villains.
Her relationship with Shades is complex and layered in it’s own right. These two mix business and pleasure. Their on screen chemistry is fantastic and adds something big to both of the characters. Shades, like Mariah, has continued to grow as a character from Season One. I’ve been a big fan of Theo Rossi since his days playing Juice on Sons of Anarchy and his Shades is someone you’ll find yourself love and hate in equal measure.
Lastly, one of the biggest things people will talk about after watching Season Two is how the season ends and where it leaves Luke as a character. SLIGHT SPOILERS HERE The show did a fantastic job of making this turn for the character feel earned. It wasn’t some twist that came out of nowhere. You can see over the course of the season, after everything he’s been through, why Luke would make a decision like this. In the comics, Matt Murdock does a very similar thing when declares himself Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen during Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Daredevil. It was something I always hoped they’d get to on Daredevil’s series, but in the context of the universe Netflix has built, it makes more sense for Luke to be going down this path. I really like the idea whether it’s Matt Murdock or Luke Cage because it’s a unique direction for Luke’s journey as a hero. END SPOILERS
So, Luke Cage Season Two is real return to form for the Marvel/Netflix shows. Season Two improves upon it’s already strong first season with its rich mix of music and setting, unique and compelling hero, and captivating villains. Finally, the end of the season leaves the show in an exciting place with the potential to go in a number of cool directions. If you thought the Marvel/Netflix shows were beginning to lose a step, watch Luke Cage Season Two and you’ll see there’s still some great stories to be told through this format.
Check out the latest episode of The World’s Best Podcast where I give a SPOILER filled review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom! I had to brave the dangerous jungles of Isla Nublar to give you this review, so you better fucking appreciate it! Otherwise, please enjoys my take on the highs and lows of the latest entry in the Jurassic Park franchise.
During the Podcast, I mentioned a video I saw on YouTube from a guy named Patrick H. Willems, who made a fantastic video about why he believes none of the Jurassic Park sequels work. I don’t agree with everything he says in this video, I must admit I really like Jurassic World (the 1st Jurassic World from 2015). He makes some very insightful observations about the Jurassic Park franchise and why he feels the series doesn’t work beyond the very first movie. He makes excellent videos like this all the time and if you like World’s Best Media, you’ll probably enjoy his great YouTube channel: Patrick (H) Willems . The video is embedded on this page, below the links to my podcast. Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
Bushmaster is a force of nature, who more than makes up for Diamondback, the Season One villain that really hurt the quality of the second part of the first season. It was great to see a new villain who could go toe to toe with Luke and was also as strong a character as Bushmaster. His motivations are very personal. He’s not looking to become a Kingpin, he just REALLY, REALLY wants to kill Mariah Stokes as he insists on calling her. His history with Mariah and her family is revealed throughout the season and I wont spoil it hear.
Lastly, one of the biggest things people will talk about after watching Season Two is how the season ends and where it leaves Luke as a character. SLIGHT SPOILERS HERE The show did a fantastic job of making this turn for the character feel earned. It wasn’t some twist that came out of nowhere. You can see over the course of the season, after everything he’s been through, why Luke would make a decision like this. In the comics, Matt Murdock does a very similar thing when declares himself Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen during Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Daredevil. It was something I always hoped they’d get to on Daredevil’s series, but in the context of the universe Netflix has built, it makes more sense for Luke to be going down this path. I really like the idea whether it’s Matt Murdock or Luke Cage because it’s a unique direction for Luke’s journey as a hero. END SPOILERS
World’s Best Media 