Marvel Studios

Daredevil liveblog

Hello, I'm Abigail Brady and I have booked off Friday from eating and needing to go to the toilet, so I'm going to be liveblogging Netflix's Marvel's Daredevil, starting at 0800 sharpish (midnight Pacific). Watch this article from then for updates about how I didn't understand a thing because I was too busy writing about it, until either I finish or pass out.


Nearly 12 hours later: Well, that was certainly the best Daredevil film I have seen. It could stand to lose a few hours.

My recommendation: don't marathon it, don't even rush it. Eke it out. There are some big spoilers out there but you should be kinda able to see them coming anyway, and while I wouldn't recommend seeking them out, I don't think your enjoyment will be substantially reduced by it.

The boldest thing about this series is the decision to entirely dump the overall tone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that mix of humour, action and emotional truth, that everything from Iron Man to Thor to Agents of SHIELD to Agent Carter has been going for (with varying degrees of success - I'm as fervent in my dislike of SHIELD as James is). This feels very different. There's a combination of tenseness and violence to it quite unlike any of the MCU stuff, with a kind of stylised approach that's also not like any of the grim crime dramas I've been watching lately. It's its own thing. I'm still not sure whether I liked that thing. But it absolutely did what it was trying to do.

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Review: Agents of SHIELD 2x13: One of Us

Guest reviewer Ian Grundy returns with a look at this week's episode of Agents of SHIELD. It does not have a Thor in it, but it does feature one of your other childhood favourites: Angar the Screamer.

"I've had it with these motherfucking quakes on this motherfucking plane!"

There's something deeply unsatisfying about the way the plot of Agents of Shield lurches onwards. Every episode, every scene, and every subplot seems like it was started with absolutely no idea where any of it is going. Plots are frequently resolved by different plots showing up without warning overriding the previous plot. It's like jangling keys at the audience to distract us from the previous jangling keys.

Review: Agents of SHIELD 2x12: Who You Really Are

Guest reviewer Ian Grundy casts his critical eye over the latest episode of Agents of SHIELD, which almost has a Thor in it.

This week's episode guest-stars Jamie Alexander as Sif. Finally, a Sif episode! Sif's presence means there is a chance that someone might at some point actually say "Thor" out loud in a scene, as part of actual dialogue, to another character! As unlikely as it sounds this show actually started off as a tie-in with those popular Marvel movies, so it's always nice when someone from them actually shows up for a bit.

Oh wait, she's lost her memory. Never mind.

Cinematic Universe Episode 4: Agent Carter (2015)

The comic book movie podcast, now produced in association with Film Divider, gets all televisual, as Panel Beats editors Seb and James join host Joe Cunningham to discuss Marvel's Agent Carter miniseries, and recommend some comics that may or may not actually have Peggy Carter in them.

(Spoilers: they don't.)

Cinematic Universe Episode 3: Iron Man (2008)

The Cinematic Universe podcast lands on the MCU for the first time, with the groundbreaking 2008 film Iron Man. Seb and James of this here parish join movie buff Joe Cunningham to discuss the film and also recommend some background reading from the comics.

The Avengers react to Spider-Man joining the MCU

Tony just really, really wants someone he can build that Iron Spider costume for.

The teaser poster for Netflix's Daredevil is very Christopher Nolan (but also very cool)

Of course, we reserve the right to continue to be sceptical about this show until they confirm that at some point he's going to change out of that silly black ninja costume and into a proper red one.

BECAUSE WE'RE NERDS.

The 5 Best Things From NYCC 2014

This weekend past saw the ninth annual New York Comic Con take place, not in San Diego as expected, but in the surprise venue of New York. One half of the main PanelBeats team (James) was there; so it makes perfect sense for the half that wasn't (me) to be the one to do a round-up of what happened. So in a completely unfocused and to be honest somewhat ill-informed manner, here are my five favourite things that were announced, or otherwise happened, at the convention.

Agents of SHIELD's Tone Problem

Season 2 of Agents of SHIELD is coming! Aren’t you excited? No? Oh.

Well, neither was I, really. Not until I heard that Hayley Atwell was in it. Lord knows the regular cast is not enough.

I never gave up on Agents of SHIELD in the sense that I stopped watching it. Not because I wasn’t disappointed with it, not because I had faith. (Faith is why I continued watching Dollhouse.) What was it, then? I think perhaps sheer stubbornness in wanting to finish what I’d started, with a modicum of terror about finding another show for our weekly telly-watching group. But I gave up hope in it improving.

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

It's been stated often enough that Guardians of the Galaxy - excellent trailer campaign notwithstanding - has by far the toughest job of any Marvel Studios film yet when it comes to capturing the attention of the casual viewer. It's somewhat appropriate, then, that - assuming enough people are actually sufficiently drawn in by the premise and promotional material to go and see it - it ends up being quite probably the most immediately engaging and accessible movie in the Studios' canon.