I think the thing about No Way Home that elevates it is that it actually does something with its fan service. It’s not (just) that Tobey and Andrew etc. all show up just to drop some references and do Spider-Man things. Tobey gets to reconcile with his mentor. Andrew gets a chance to redress his biggest regret. Everybody gets to show up and have arcs in keeping with their character that somehow all buoy Tom Holland’s Peter Parker too. It’s an incredible juggling act.
Also Jon Watts (the Spider-Man director) is currently on deck to do their Fantastic Four.
I get that they’d change Ms Marvel’s powers for budget reasons but I don’t see it looking goofy in live action as a reason not to give her stretching/shapeshifting powers. They’re goofy and awkward looking in the comic too, they’re meant to be. I’d need to go back to reading the comic to remind myself of specifics but i remember that it had Kamala have to deal with that in interesting awkward ways that the show seems to have no interest in doing, seeing how they changed those powers to be something more generic and marketable.
I have no connection to this character other than the Avengers game. But the powers looking silly is kind of the point? It is deliberately absurd in a way that only comic books can be. I don’t see what this does other than to flatten the powers down to the usual CG lightshow that every other superhero looks like already. I can’t say any part of that trailer did anything for me, but this is especially disappointing.
Stephen Chow has already mastered this art of outrageously unreal cartoon physics in the live action and the results are truly wonderful. I mean, check out the giant foot guy from his Journey to the West movie:
I guess I’m basing this on the Fantastic Four movies, but in addition to the issues with CGI, they do have to make changes to Ms Marvel’s lore because Marvel (rightfully) does not want to deal with Inhumans anymore. Making her powers more energy based should also make her more aligned with Captain Marvel and should have her fit better in the upcoming movie.
But none of this appeals to you based on the trailer. I doubt reverting her powers will change that, so really does it even matter?
I imagine a show that would have a big foot or hand in it would probably also not have all the other issues I have with that trailer, which is like Disney Channel Scott Pilgrim. I think once you’ve reached that creative compromise you’re not going to have much to supply anyway.
Also, all these themes just seem like they were done better, and maybe done with more maturity in Turning Red.
Oscar Isaac does the best accent work in the MCU. I would also like to report that I am the tallest person in this kindergarten classroom.
I know basically nothing (like, not even enough to Dunning-Kruger Effect my way through it) about Egyptology but (knowing they had an Egyptologist on speed dial to field questions and fact-check), it sure sounds like they do.
I think they structured the narrative in service of people who aren’t familiar with Moon Knight. Which is cool! I bet it’s really cool if you’re not familiar with Moon Knight! But I blasted through about two runs of Moon Knight a month ago so I selfishly hope they level-set everybody ASAP so we can get on with the show, so to speak
I was mortified by Oscar Isaac’s accent in the trailers (I’m British, by the way), but I’m happy to admit that in its full context, it works. He’s a chameleon. Anyway, highly amusing first episode and I’m very curious to see where they take it.
Is the museum in Moon Knight the same one Kilmonger was introduced in? It feels a little odd to do an African mythology and base it in a British museum after that.
Still, I do quite like Oscar Isaac. This first episode has a bit of a Venom feel, and Isaac sells that similar sort of frantic energy mixed with intense awkwardness. Not quite as sold on Ethan Hawke’s villain, but he could grow on me.
I had to check but apparently Steven Grant is working in the British Museum (i.e. the real one) and in Black Panther it’s the “Museum of Great Britain” (a fictional one, because the British Museum wouldn’t grant permission to film there). It’s an interesting comparison because (only based on the premiere), Black Panther is obviously a lot more critical of Britain’s hoarding of stolen artefacts, so it might imply that Moon Knight is not going to delve into that aspect going forward.
I did read that Moon Knight has an Egyptian executive producer and lead director, Mohamed Diab, but I’m unfamiliar with them beyond a short interview where they were critical of Hollywood depictions of Egypt (specifically calling out the scenes in WW84). I’ll keep an open mind on it but given Disney’s recent track record, it’s hard to know how much Diab is bringing to it, or if what seems like representation is cover to launder some cultural appropriation. I’m still reeling from the “actually, the fascist supercop is good now, and was meant to be good all along” energy from The Falcon and Winter Soldier showrunner’s exit interview.
Yeah, I had the same reaction to the trailers, but it does work weirdly well when you get a whole episode of it. (Of course, “multiple personalities in the same body” (is that a spoiler? It’s a key part of the whole Moon Knight thing…) is a gift for a particular kind of actor, and Oscar Isaac is one of that type.)
Given that there’s a few pretty negative reviews flying around, I thought it was actually quite a likable episode in general. Even if it intentionally twists Ammit as a deity - in the actual ancient Egyptian religion, she just eats the hearts of the wicked, it’s Anubis who does the actual judging bit.
I’m really hoping this turns out to be one of those shows. So far it’s like okay Oscar Isaac is doing anxious Brit (and doing it extremely well) but I want to see what he’s like as Marc (and possibly more? I have only limited knowledge of Moon Knight in comics). Actors playing multiple roles is one of my favourite tropes (Orphan Black being my favourite example).
Outside of Marc and Steven (in the comics a billionaire financier), there’s Jake Lockley (in the comics a cab driver) and “Mr. Knight,” a pseudo-Batman detective figure
It does not fit into the MCU given the corporations fighting, but one of my friends was in town and we decided to see Morbius this weekend on a lark. We saw it at the local independent theater and the room was empty (not surprising).
I gotta say, it was not a good movie. It has a bunch of stuff in it that is just inexplicable from both artistic and monetary standpoints, but I had a lot of fun. Blurring a bunch of just bizarre things in the movie that stuck out to me.
All the CGI around his movement reminded me of the game Prototype for some reason. Matt Smith got his own scene where he got to channel Joaquin Phoenix dancing in Joker. At one point Morbius breaks up a money counterfeiting scheme in an abandoned building so he can use their “lab”, which was basically a computer and a printing press, to do his blood science??? The big fight at the end is won by Morbius “bat-bending” a bunch of bats at Matt Smith so he can inject him with a vial of poison that is “fatal to bats, lethal to humans”. The post credits scene establishes that Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes got transported to the Sony universe during the climax of No Way Home and is now apparently stuck there? And is going to team up with Michael Morbius, who he has “been reading a lot about”. Nothing in this movie made any sense.
Anyway, enough about the bad movie. I also caught the first episode of Moon Knight and I’ll have to revisit it, but the thing that stuck out to me the most was how bad the CGI looked. I couldn’t get into it at all because of how awful it looked to me. I’ll probably wait for the new episodes to release and try them all at once.
There was a bit in that Moon Knight premiere where my partner turned to me and asked, “was that finished?” during the car chase. I think they said they’d noticed a car that seemed to have no reflective surfaces, like the effects weren’t quite complete. I was able to get past it and enjoy the episode overall but I’m certainly in agreement that the effects were ropey.
With the announcement that the Obi-Wan premiere has been pushed back two whole days I can’t help but assume these series are coming in very hot on the post-production side. There was the recent furore about Disney bowdlerising some of the violence in Falcon and Winter Soldier, and putting a pin in the artistic merits of that for a moment, the effects themselves in the change are pretty convincing. I do wonder if there are more subtle visual effects updates going on the background, not unlike the infamous changes to Cats during its theatrical run, because things literally don’t have enough time before they’re pushed out the door.
Depending on where they do their VFX work, I bet it’s coming in very on fire
EDIT: All I can think when I see the suit is the line from Deadpool: “Just as long as it isn’t green. Or animated!” I do kinda like how they handled Mr. Knight, though - I’m really happy they gave Steven something other than just whining. God bless Oscar Isaac, who seems to be aware that his accent doesn’t hold up super well and so he’s acting his tail off to make up for it. Absolutely crushing it.
UPDATE: Episode 3 is great. Steven’s really coming into his own as a character. Location shots all look great. Oscar Isaac can fight!
UPDATE: Anybody worried that Moon Knight was too much hat, you gotta watch Episode 4. If Oscar Isaac doesn’t win an award for this I’m going to be very upset.
UPDATE: I know there are a couple of you MCUheads out there. If you’re not watching Moon Knight, you’re missing out. Some of Marvel’s best work in years.
I haven’t been commenting on this thread since Moon Knight started really, but I am keeping up with it and I agree, it’s some of the better work Marvel’s done. (And certainly the best developed of the new MCU TV series.)
Although would argue that a lot of this is still down to Oscar Isaac acting his heart out. That said, it’s also committing hard to the “just how much of Marc/Steven’s experience is due to his mental health issues, and how much is real” topic that is part of modern Moon Knight, which I appreciate
I think basically everybody is bringing their A game here but Oscar Isaac’s A game is something else. Maybe the MCU’s best actor; certainly the MCU’s most actor.
Oh, certainly - even the motion-captured Taweret - apparently her voice and mo-cap actor has no TV credits before this role, too - is doing amazing things, and we shouldn’t downplay May Calamawy’s work as Layla. But Isaac is acting for three…
