Designed by students at the University of San Diego, Push For Beer launched on March 19th and allows smartphone users to play games in return for free beer at local bars.
Developed by Nathan Resnick and Albert Frimpong, the app targets college students in the San Diego area with three student bars in the area so far agreeing to hand out free beer.
“So far the response has been incredible, and the retention in the app is insane,” Resnick told UT San Digeo. “When they start playing, they don’t stop until they win a free beer.”
Netflix’s newest original series, “Daredevil” debuted April 10, with all 13 episodes of the Marvel Comic adaptation’s first season available on the streaming service. Ed Carroll will review each episode here on Monkeys Fighting Robots without fear and let you know if the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe meets the lofty standards of its predecessors. There are more Daredevil review links at the bottom of the post.
I’m going to do a full season review later this week, so this review will focus on Daredevil‘sseason finale, “Daredevil,” which felt a tad anti-climactic up until the final 20 minutes or so. We saw Ben’s funeral, which was a major bummer, and then we did get a pretty eventful finale. But after what we’ve seen in previous episodes, it didn’t feel like enough. Until Fisk actually got arrested, which I’ll get to later.
I’m honestly surprising Leland had lasted this long, as was in nearly every episode this season, and had become openly antagonistic in recent episodes. I guess he thought he covered his bases by swooping up Hoffman and keeping Fisk in the dark, but Leland, you’ve SEEN Fisk beat people to near-death, probably not a smart idea to confess your attempted assassination to a guy like this. I’m fairly certain he was supposed to be dead after Fisk threw him down the elevator shaft.
Foggy and Matt (finally) buried the hatchet, and Marci had come through with a ton of evidence from her firm, which set off an all-night search session. Thankfully, Murdock was able to back up some of the research and get a lead on Hoffman’s whereabouts, saving him right before Fisk’s crooked cops got to him. I honestly wasn’t expecting Hoffman to come back in such an impactful way, but Hoffman’s testimony really set off the arrests of people on Fisk’s payroll – Turk, some of the dirty police officers we had seen before, a senator, and finally Fisk himself. The only real intrigue of this scene was the woman the FBI took away instead of editor Ellison, who had all but confessed to being in on the cut, too. Was he not really, or did he find a way to shift the blame. Fisk also got engaged to the delightfully creepy Vanessa before he was arrested too. They’re such a power couple.
But this episode really picked up once Fisk began his pretty elaborate escape, and he just looked invincible at that point. Murdock went to see Melvin Potter, who had finished a prototype of his red suit. We got less than 15 minutes of the red suit Daredevil in season one, but boy was it an awesome moment to see him in action. I’m sure some hardcore comics fans will hate the red suit, but it’s way better than the crappy one Ben Affleck wore in the 2003 film. I thought the eyes looked a little goofy, but other than that, I had no issues with it.
Fisk and Daredevil finally went toe-to-toe at full strength, and it did not disappoint. Fisk uses a lot of sheer brutality, but he’s certainly a worthy opponent for Murdock. While Daredevil prevailed in the end, it was certainly satisfying to finally get the confrontation we all knew was coming. We also finally got the first use of the actual “Daredevil” name, and I’m certainly happy to finally just call him Daredevil.
I can FINALLY post this!
I don’t get why Foggy would go back to Marci, but I guess anything between he and Karen is dead. Given Karen and Matt’s hand-holding at the end of the show, I wouldn’t be surprised to see those two moved together, like they were often in the comics.
I feel much more comfortable for the chances of a second season after watching the finale, as Fisk is still in jail (and I’d love to see Vanessa be the one to break him out), Daredevil is still on rooftops fighting crime, and Nelson & Murdock: Attorneys at Law got back together. We probably wouldn’t get a new season until after the Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist shows (and the Defenders mini-series), but hey, better late than never.
I have to admit I was slightly disappointed by this finale, but “Daredevil” absolutely nailed the parts it needed to nail: the red suit reveal and the showdown between Wilson Fisk and Daredevil. I’ll write up a full season Daredevil review later on Monkeys Fighting Robots, but I have to admit I just found this episode closer to the “good” side rather than the “great” side. We still got big payoffs on two storylines, and the show is pretty well-positioned to soar higher next season. But it’s a bit of a shame when your season finale is among your worst episodes, but thankfully Daredevil has already set the bar really high.
Netflix’s newest original series, “Daredevil” debuted April 10, with all 13 episodes of the Marvel Comic adaptation’s first season available on the streaming service. Ed Carroll will review each episode here on Monkeys Fighting Robots without fear and let you know if the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe meets the lofty standards of its predecessors. There are more Daredevil review links at the bottom of the post.
Daredevil’s 12th episode, “The Ones We Leave Behind,” continued the show’s run of excellent television, as we saw Karen cope with the consequences of killing Wesley last episode and Daredevil effectively eliminating Gao and her heroin from the equation.
There were a few other developments, but I’ve really come around on Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page. Her performance featured nightmares and binge drinking, yes, but the fear was definitely believable. She’s also consistently been calling both Matt and Foggy out on their crap. It really sucked to have this fight extended through another episode, but at least this time both Matt and Foggy made some progress into finding dirt on Fisk. At least Foggy doesn’t think Daredevil is a terrorist anymore.
Foggy made an interesting play, giving Marci some information on her employer’s relationship with Fisk, in an attempt to have her reclaim her soul. It was a bit of a reach that Foggy would think giving Marci sensitive material, but it makes more sense considering those scenes where we saw Foggy hooking up with her in previous episodes.
As for Matt, we didn’t get the actual Daredevil suit yet (guess that’s in the finale), but we got to see more of Gao’s creepy heroin factory, and the people who had apparently chosen to be blind. Gao also appeared to pull her operations out of Hell’s Kitchen, so assuming we don’t see her next episode, she’s still in play for a return in a potential season two.
That said, this felt really anti-climatic, as the heroin facility was surprisingly under guarded. Murdock is in a pretty bad state, physically for sure, but probably mentally, too, so they probably couldn’t throw too much at him at this point.Also, it looks like Matt might be ready to let Karen in on his secret, too, and maybe that will bring Foggy back into the fold to get the gang together again.
Fisk had an up-and-down episode, with Vanessa woke up (yay!) and spoke to Wilson … and she refused to leave and demanded to stay by his side, as well as expect that Fisk will make whoever poisoned her pay. I’m just happy to see the power couple alive and back in action. We viewers got confirmation that, yes, Leland was working with Gao to poison Vanessa and not Fisk, because they felt she was a distraction. Fisk is still unaware of this, but he did find out about Wesley’s death and later saw his body. Also, Fisk beating the crap out of Frankie was disturbing, but it did once again show how ruthless Fisk can be (and how he often can’t control his anger).
Bloggin’ Ben Ulrich really got a chance to shine, as he tried to get his editor to approve the article he wrote about Fisk’s mother. Ben (correctly) called out his editor for being on Fisk’s payroll, but a visit to his wife changed his thinking about blogs a little. It was a really nice moment for his wife to convince him to keep going and to keep telling the truth. Which made what followed so absolutely heartbreaking to watch.
I’m so sad I’ll never get to embrace Ben Ulrich, blogger. I seriously would watch a series based off that alone. But once the camera panned out to reveal Fisk was sitting in the shadows of Ben’s living room, the grim gloom became obvious.
Ben and Fisk’s conversation, pre-strangulation, was pretty revealing to viewers, both in terms of confirming that yes, Ben’s editor was on Fisk’s payroll, but also what Fisk doesn’t know about the investigation: namely, of Karen’s involvement in Wesley’s death. This could provide Nelson & Murdock, Attorneys at Law some much-needed breathing room to dig up more dirt (or at least not be immediately killed by Fisk), and for Matt’s body armored symbol to be ready. It’s gonna be exciting when Daredevil finally gives us, well, Daredevil.
But losing Ben sucks, and Vondie Curtis-Hall had a good, updated spin on the character, who has long been involved in both Daredevil and Spider-Man comics. Ben often provided the level-headed reason that Murdock, Foggy and Karen usually needed. Curtis-Hall and Woll in particular seemed to work really well together, and some of Karen’s best scenes have been with Ulrich. But I suppose Murdock needed to take one more gut-punch before the finale, and given Ulrich was a journalist and likely to be a persistent thorn in Fisk’s side, it made sense that he would be the one killed off, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
One episode to go. Can’t wait for the costume reveal.
Netflix’s newest original series, “Daredevil” debuted April 10, with all 13 episodes of the Marvel Comic adaptation’s first season available on the streaming service. Ed Carroll will review each episode here on Monkeys Fighting Robots without fear and let you know if the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe meets the lofty standards of its predecessors. There are more Daredevil review links at the bottom of the post.
A lot of episode 11, “The Path of the Righteous,” was more about moving the pieces into place for episode 13, which is the season finale. Karen faced the fallout both from Foggy and Matt’s fight, and then later from visiting Wilson Fisk’s mother.
As for some of those moving pieces, Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) returned after a few episodes of being away (or only mentioned). Murdock clearly had the body armor on his mind before Claire came back to stitch him up, but I do think she factored into his decision to search out Fisk’s special armor.
Murdock searched for the armor, which had him once again cross paths with the trafficker from the first episode, Turk (Rob Morgan). Turk gave up the name of the guy who does his body armor — Melvin Potter (Matt Gerald), better known in Marvel Comics as Gladiator (you can see parts of the Gladiator suit in Melvin’s shop). In the comics, Potter was first an enemy of Daredevil but later became an ally, and Netflix’s Daredevil (wisely) speeds up that process. I wonder if we’ll see the iconic red Daredevil suit in the next episode or the season finale, but this is a pretty solid way to get Murdock into that red suit without it seeming ridiculous. This series has also emphasised this notion that Murdock “has the devil inside him,” so setting up his suit as the simple does make sense.
We got a lot of Toby Leoanard Moore’s fun Wesley character, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear we’ll get much more of him (other than flashbacks) in the future, and that left me a little bummed out. I had particularly enjoyed his friendship with Fisk, which was arguably Fisk’s only friendship before he met Vanessa. Of course it made sense for Karen to shoot him, rather than let him get any sort of advantage on her, but it was a little shocking to see her shoot him so many times (also, I know she’s scared, but wouldn’t you at least try to look at the phone number calling Wesley?). This is the second major blow to Fisk, even though he doesn’t know Wesley is dead yet. Vanessa is still alive, but just barely, and I hope she survives. It’s going to be fun watching Vincent D’Orofrino’s Fisk extract his revenge for two very personal losses, but I’ll miss what the Wesley character brought to the table. Also, for the episode to end with just the ringing was perfect.
I was honestly annoyed that Matt and Foggy’s personal feud continued throughout this episode, particularly to the way both of them would respond to Karen. Also, Foggy is apparently sleeping with his awful ex, Marci (Amy Rutberg), because hey, let’s make bad decisions all across the place! Hopefully Karen’s scolding of Foggy at Josie’s put some sense into him. As for Matt, he sought out the body armor as a means to protect himself for others, particularly Claire. I think both of them are being stubborn, and they need to just hug it out or something, but that would likely make for terrible television.
Despite the fairly big developments near the end of this episode, most of “The Path of the Righteous” was getting characters where they need to be for the finale, both physically and mentally. It’s really nice to see a show that can still be riveting, even in its quieter moment. Two episodes to go, and all I know at this point is that two episodes aren’t going to be enough. Hopefully this gets picked up for another season.
LOS ANGELES, April 13, 2015 – HBO has renewed the comedy series VEEP for a fifth season and SILICON VALLEY for a third season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.
“VEEP and SILICON VALLEY are terrific series, and I’m immensely proud that they will return to HBO next year,” noted Lombardo. “Along with ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,’ both of which have already been renewed for 2016, they give HBO a stellar Sunday night like no other.”
Created by Armando Iannucci, VEEP stars Emmy® and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus as new President Selina Meyer, for whom even the most banal action can have unexpected and far-reaching consequences. The Emmy®-nominated series kicked off its ten-episode fourth season Sunday, April 12 (10:30-11:00 p.m. ET/PT).
In addition to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the ensemble cast for the fourth season includes Emmy® winner Tony Hale, Emmy® nominee Anna Chlumsky, Reid Scott, Matt Walsh, Timothy Simons, Sufe Bradshaw, Kevin Dunn, Gary Cole and Sam Richardson.
The Emmy®- and Golden Globe®-nominated series SILICON VALLEY takes a comic look at the modern-day epicenter of the high-tech gold rush, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success. A collaboration between Mike Judge and Alec Berg, the show returned for its ten-episode second season Sunday, April 12 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT).
Cast regulars for the second season include Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Josh Brener, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods, Amanda Crew, Matt Ross, Suzanne Cryer and Jimmy O. Yang.
Season four credits: VEEP was created by Armando Iannucci; executive produced by Armando Iannucci, Christopher Godsick, Frank Rich, Chris Addison, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Stephanie Laing.
Season two credits: SILICON VALLEY was created by Mike Judge & John Altschuler & Dave Krinsky; executive producers, Mike Judge, Alec Berg, John Altschuler & Dave Krinsky, Michael Rotenberg and Tom Lassally; co-executive producers, Dan O’Keefe and Clay Tarver; supervising producers, Sonny Lee and Ron Weiner; producers, Carrie Kemper and Jim Kleverweis.
Max Bemis Writes a Love Letter to ’90s Comics in His New BOOM! Studios Series ‘Oh, Killstrike’ Award-winning publisher BOOM! Studios is pleased to announce the May debut of Oh, Killstrike, the new tongue-in-cheek miniseries created and written by Say Anything frontman Max Bemis (Polarity, Evil Empire). Bemis teams up with artist Logan Faerber for a personal story that combines his deep love of ’90s superhero comics and the anxieties that come with being a new dad in a coming-of-age, twisted buddy comedy.
“When you combine Max’s love letter to ’90s comics with the same deeply personal storytelling that we saw with Polarity, Oh, Killstrike is what you get,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. “This is a story that’s hilarious, heartwarming, and will likely put a smile on the face of anybody who loves comics. Logan’s artwork is spectacular—there’s nobody better to bring Killstrike to life. We’re so proud of this series; I genuinely can’t wait for readers to get this into their hands!”
Jared, a new father, fears parenthood. An old comics fan, he turns to them for comfort. But when he unwittingly lets loose his favorite character, Killstrike—a single-minded, vengeance-loving antihero—onto the world, Jared must find a way to send him back before he harms all the people he loves the most. But before that happens, Killstrike leads Jared on a quest of self-discovery to make him realize the kid who loved this character is not the man he has become.
Oh, Killstrike #1 arrives in comic shops on May 20th.
Black Widow finds the secret to taking down the Hulk in a clip from Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” hitting theaters May 1!
When Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) jumpstarts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go terribly awry, forcing him, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the rest of the Avengers to reassemble. As the fate of Earth hangs in the balance, the team is put to the ultimate test as they battle Ultron (James Spader), a technological terror hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they encounter two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff.
Release date: May 1, 2015 (USA)
Netflix’s newest original series, “Daredevil” debuted April 10, with all 13 episodes of the Marvel Comic adaptation’s first season available on the streaming service. Ed Carroll will review each episode here on Monkeys Fighting Robots without fear and let you know if the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe meets the lofty standards of its predecessors. There are more Daredevil review links at the bottom of the post.
Before I get into the meat of a pretty eventful tenth episode, “Nelson v. Murdock,” I’d like to offer both an apology as well as a grateful shoutout to reader Brian Sosin for notifying me that he was getting subtitles on his device. The lack of subtitles has probably been my biggest consistent complaint. I had been watching the series on my Playstation 4’s Netflix app, as that’s my most-used console, and despite fiddling around with the closed captioning settings, I wasn’t able to get any subtitles, so I just figured the show didn’t use them at all. After Brian’s comment, I decided to try another device, since Netflix is on nearly everything, and sure enough, the subtitles work on my Wii U. It isn’t the first issue I’ve had with the PS4 Netflix app, but I’m quite grateful to finally get a better sense of what’s going on; I’ll re-watch every episode where I complained about this, and will add a disclaimer to those posts, and possibly edit them if necessary. Thanks again, Brian.
The subtitles came in handy, as early on as Gao and Fisk met, with Gao expressing her disappointment both in Fisk’s role in Nobu’s death as well as the lady in his life, Vanessa. We know Gao is involved in the heroin trafficking, but we haven’t really seen too much of what she does.
She was apparently able to convince Leyland to ally with her, although he was already questioning Fisk’s methods. Perhaps I misinterpreted what happened incorrectly, but I’m pretty certain Leyland was the one who poisoned the drinks (which explains why he didn’t drink any even though he grabbed two glasses). Unfortunately for everyone, Fisk didn’t take the other drink but Vanessa did. I don’t know if she’s dead or not (my guess is probably), but I really hope she isn’t dead. She’s been a great part of the show, adding a needed humanity to Fisk and she was a fun character in her own right.
The main storyline in this episode, though, focused on the fallout of Foggy discovering Matt to be the man in the mask. Apparently Claire had stopped by at some point between the end of the last episode and the beginning of this one, which seemed like a bit of a. cop-out cause why not show Foggy meeting Claire? Regardless, she stitched Matt up, and Foggy stayed to keep an eye on him and send him on a guilt trip.
But seriously, this episode did a lot to establish what Foggy actually is doing on this show. He’s been entertaining, for sure, but he rarely felt like a necessity. Between the conversation in the present, where Foggy was feeling understandably betrayed, to the flashbacks from various periods in their lives, it became far clearer why Foggy was so important to Matt (and vice versa), and makes Foggy’s anger much more understandable. Foggy keeps Murdock’s secret (for now), but does appear to have quit the law firm by the end of the episode (I can’t believe that would be a permanent move for the show, though). Elden Hanson did a good job in this episode, and I admit I nearly cried at the end of their argument when he walked out the door.
The ‘C’ storyline started out pretty mundane, but ended up potentially providing Ben and Karen (and Foggy and Matt, eventually) an unexpected link to Wilson Fisk. I didn’t make the connection that the elderly woman was Wilson’s mother, thought to be dead, but by the end of the scene, the only thing that didn’t make sense was just how Karen found her, since Ben clearly didn’t have any idea, but I have to imagine that will be revealed soon enough. Not sure what they’ll use her for, but it’s safe to say Fisk probably doesn’t want anyone to know about her.
After 10 episodes, I think it’s safe to call Netflix’s Daredevil a good show, and it’s in position to potentially be a great show if the final three episodes are up to snuff. I’m honestly a little bummed there are only three left, and I really hope this gets a second season already. Unless Marvel wanted this as a limited series, it would seem foolish for Netflix not to give us more of the man without fear to binge on with glee. I know this Daredevil review sounds like gushing, but I’m not going to be angry about good television. “Nelson v. Murdock” continued the run of excellence, giving us needed answers while still adding new developments to the story.
When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future…
