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…
Madonna crashed the Coachella stage on Sunday night!
During his set at Coachella last night, Drake welcomed out special guest Madonna as he performed a verse and a chorus from his song “Madonna” off his latest album If You Are Reading This It’s Too Late.
“What the f— just happened?” he laughed after the kiss.
“I’m Madonna, bitch,” the 56 year-old mumbled before exiting the stage.
Madonna just sucked out Drake's soul at Coachella like she was a dementor from Azkaban. pic.twitter.com/EMKwXrISwV
This could be one of the coolest gadgets to add on to your smart phone but the price point might be just outside the general consumer. The Moscase is a health tracking accessory in the form of a smartphone case and you can purchase and support the project on Kickstarter for $133. Where Moscase could be on to something really interesting is with their backplate designed. A user could have interchangeable active backplates from speakers to a breathalyzer. Here is a complete list below:
The Breathalyzer
You can never have enough cool sensors! The Breathalyzer is equipped with a special detection sensor, capable of analyzing your breath in order to determine the alcohol content in your body. The Moscase App will let you know what your allowed limit is based on your location.
The Rocker
For all you music lovers out there, this backplate upgrades your smartphone’s stock speakers with ones that rival most full range Hi-Fi systems. Enjoy listening to your favorite music the way it was meant to be listened to.
The Collector
Harness the power of light and extend your smartphone’s battery life with this solar cell equipped backplate. It’s functional, it looks cool, plus it’s environmentally friendly. What’s there not to like?
The Booster
Strapping on some extra juice can be a life saver in a lot of situations. Top that off with extra storage space for all your photos, documents and other media, and you’ve managed to beef up the two weakest aspects of smartphones.
The Reader
E-paper has two advantages over any other screen: it’s super easy on your eyes and its power consumption is practically non-apparent. Read notifications, display photos, or use it for reading books and articles.
The second Ant-Man trailer was released Monday morning with your first real look at the villain Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll).
The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
According to Rueters, dutch brewer Heineken is set to buy Slovenia’s largest brewery Pivovarna Lasko after it offered the highest bid for Lasko, sources close to the deal told Reuters.
Heineken offered 25.5 euros per share, which would value the whole company at some 220 million euros (158.8 million pounds), the sources said.
Sunday afternoon Sylvester Stallone gave fans of his Instagram account the first glimpse of Creed. This will be the seventh film in the Rocky franchise and has a release date of November 25, 2015.
Creed, helmed by Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler, is a spin-off from Stallone’s own legendary Rocky series focusing on the son of former world heavyweight champ Apollo Creed, Adonis Johnson. Born after his father’s death (and despite the circumstances of Apollo’s passing) Adonis heads to Philadelphia to be trained by his father’s best friend: Rocky Balboa (who is described as currently “battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring”).
According to Alex Young of Consequences of Sound, On July 31st, 2015, the Griswolds will embark on their latest family vacation. The film stars Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Charlie Day, Beverly D’Angelo, and Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold.
In the film, Helms plays Clark’s son, Rusty. He decides to take his wife (Applegate) and kids on a cross country trip to the family’s favorite stomping grounds, Wally World. Along the way, Rusty meets up with his sister Audrey (Mann), her husband (Hemsworth), and their parents Clark and Ellen (Chase and Beverly D’Angelo).
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. Previous Daredevil review links are at the bottom of the post.
WOW. AGAIN.
It seems like Netflix’s Daredevil is making sure it avoids the early-season mistakes of ABC’s first Marvel Cinematic Universe show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., of which its chief mistake was stalling. It took about 16-episodes (and a game-changing twist I won’t dare spoil here) for S.H.I.E.L.D. to get any sort of consistency, and the show didn’t become truly great until season two. Admittedly, that show had about 24 hour-long episodes in its first season, where Daredevil has a little more than half that, with 13, so Netflix’s show had to have a faster pace anyways (much like ABC’s second MCU show, Agent Carter).
But it’s still impressive to see what Daredevil is accomplishing, and it’s truly taken advantage of the freedom of being a Netflix original. Unlike network (and even a lot of cable) shows, Netflix doesn’t need to account for commercials or commercial breaks. Netflix originals also don’t have any set requirements on episode length; Daredevil episodes have ranged from 48 to 59 minutes. It’s not a massive deal, but it’s nice that the creators can keep an episode short if they feel it paces better, or in the case of this ninth episode, “Speak of the Devil,” some more time to fit in some pretty big plot developments. Very few of the scenes feel wasted, which helps keep the show riveting.
Karen and Foggy brought Matt into their plans with Ulrich, which seemed like the smart play from the start. A lot of the beginning of this episode was chasing dead ends, and some disorienting flash-forwards that made more sense as the episode progressed.
Things picked up when Murdock went to meet Vanessa and met the woman who loved Wilson Fisk, and then an unexpected and unsettling meeting between Fisk and Murdock. Murdock controlled his emotions and left, but I wonder if Fisk realized who he was speaking with (or made the connection later). This was a scene that started out light and fun, with Murdock asking Vanessa for help picking out art for his apartment, but quickly spiraled into suspense and tension.
But the first true shocker was the murder of poor Ms. Cardenas, who was the unfortunate bait to lure Murdock out of the shadows into attacking Fisk. I was surprised at the empathy I felt for a character I didn’t particularly like, but I did feel for Foggy and Karen, who were the most shaken. Murdock took the bait, and was lured into a fight with Nobu (Peter Shinkoda). After roughing up some goons and junkies, Daredevil showed some vulnerability today, as he got knocked around first by Nobu, and then later by Fisk himself.
That fight with Nobu was fun; it was one of the more elaborate fights, and Daredevil was really close to being down for the count a few times against Nobu, who was more than a worthy opponent. I’m curious to see how much guilt Murdock carries with him since he basically murdered Nobu.
I was slightly disappointed by the first in-person meeting between Fisk and Daredevil. I’m not certain Fisk made the connection between Murdock and Daredevil yet, but I could be wrong. Still, it was slightly disappointing to only see the two go toe-to-toe but have Daredevil be really beaten up already. Still, it’s always fun to see Kingpin in action, and I absolutely love Vincent D’orofrio’s portrayal of Fisk. Still, a pretty big moment, and smart planning by Fisk.
Murdock of course got away to his apartment, but only after a drunken Foggy had stumbled over to his place, too. Foggy heard a non-sexual crash and investigated, only to discover the identity of the man in the mask. I’m really glad the show didn’t delay on this inevitable development, and this was a great way to do it. I don’t think Foggy should really be so upset with Murdock that he’d end the friendship, and this might be another way Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple re-enters the picture.
This was another showcase episode of Daredevil, with a great extended fight and loads of juicy plot developments. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it much here, but even the credits sequence is absolutely brilliant (a weird niche that Netflix absolutely NAILS, with standouts such as House of Cards and BoJack Horseman). “Speak of the Devil” also pushed Daredevil closer to its inevitable season finale (maybe series finale?), with several big reveals, and nearly every actor or actress is owning their characters. This has been brilliant television, and I’m kind of sad there are only four episodes left, but I can’t wait to see what’s next. Links to every one Daredevil review of each episode are at the bottom, and feel free to let me know what you think in the comments!
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. Previous Daredevil review links are at the bottom of the post.
After sitting out the previous episode, Wilson Fisk came back in a big way in Daredevil’s eight episode, “Shadows in the Glass.” It’s really interesting to see the show’s dedication to not having this version of Kingpin be one-dimensional; yes, the Kingpin was always a bit more nuanced in the comics, but for TV shows, it’s often rare to have such a ruthless villain cast in such a sympathetic light.
No, it’s not very original to go for the abusive father angle, but “Shadows in the Glass” did an excellent job of showing not only how Fisk’s father drove him to murder, but also how it shaped Fisk to be the person he is today. It was also a nice contrast with previous episodes (particularly “Cut Man” and “Stick”) which gave us a look at how Matt Murdock came into his ideals. Particularly, Murdock’s belief that he doesn’t need to kill and Fisk’s belief that to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.
Domenick Lombardozzi was an excellent casting choice for Bill Fisk, as he nailed the blue-collar tough guy mentality, initially just seeming to be rough around the edges, but scene-by-scene, we learned just how hard he was on Wilson (not to mention his brutal beating of Wilson’s mother, which didn’t seem to have been the first time). Even though Wilson murdered him without much remorse, but we still felt empathy for him, and that’s a credit to both the acting but also the writing, and how they allowed us time with the Fisks in the past to understand what it was like growing up in that household. We also saw why Wilson was so captivated by the Rabbit in a Snowstorm painting (despite it being a bunch of white paint).
In the present, Fisk’s empire had been crumbling for much of the episode and we show how poorly he was handling everything. The lack of subtitles reared its ugly head again though, this time the language was Chinese, during a discussion between Fisk and Gao (Wai Ching Ho). I’m just not sure what the purpose would be for keeping the viewers in the dark so frequently, and it’s becoming a source of frustration. That discussion seemed important, but without knowing what was said, it was hard to take Fisk’s anger over it too seriously. It’s fun seeing Fisk and Vanessa becoming a bit of a power couple, though.
Karen and Foggy (inadvertently) let Matt in on their plans to expose United Allied, but unfortunately for them and Ben Ulrich, Fisk got the jump on everyone by coming out of the shadows and announcing … something. That he’s here to protect the city? Is he now going to run for mayor? It was a smart play to have Fisk get ahead of Daredevil like this, but it felt a little half-assed in terms of what he was actually doing. Still a pretty dramatic way to close out the episode. And poor Ben, having to delete a complete article is just soul-crushing. The scene in the rain with Ben and Daredevil was also well done; as someone who used to report, it’s encouraging to see Ulrich practice responsible journalism ethics in this series (for the most part).
Also, the jerk cop Blake (Chris Tardio) ended up dying in the hospital, thanks to his partner (and considerable money from Fisk). I’m not sorry to see the character go, but even I can admit he got screwed a little bit. Oh well, shouldn’t have been crooked.
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.
As the title of this Daredevil review (and episode) tells us, a major character in the Daredevil comics, Stick (Scott Glenn), made his first appearance. And this episode handled his introduction expertly, using a mix of flashbacks and present-day action to help explain why Stick was so important to Murdock and why it was so hard on Matt when Stick bounced.
Of course, by the end of the episode, we got a bit more insight into the war Stick claimed Murdock was about to face, but this still seems like a big mystery. And I’m not entirely sure who the Black Swan boy is supposed to be; part of me thinks he might have had some sort of super powers (possibly an Inhuman?). But it was pretty cool to watch Stick and the still-not-calling-himself Daredevil reluctantly team up, and there were some really good fight scenes between Stick and Murdock, in both the past and present. I found Stick’s “old man attitude” to be laugh-out-loud funny at times, and both Glenn and Charlie Cox seemed to have a great rapport together.
We got another extended discussion in Spanish, and I just find it curious that the show flatly refuses to provide any subtitles for what the characters are discussing. I’m not entirely sure why Karen left the apartment (other than a mention of “tattoos,” which the one thug who assaulted Karen had), but seeing Foggy show up to help her take care of the thugs was a fun scene, and as a result, Karen has brought Foggy in on her and Ben’s plans to take down United Allied. This series does an excellent job of moving the pieces around the board.
Murdock is still keeping both Foggy and Karen in the dark about his vigilantism, which I suppose makes sense, but given Foggy’s reaction to the man in the black mask (whom Wilson Fisk framed for the murders of police officers and the bombing in previous episodes), wouldn’t it make more sense to open up sooner rather than later? I suppose this contrasts with what Stick told Murdock about cutting all ties, because they will die.
Murdock is clinging hard to the idea of killing as a line he cannot cross, and it was interesting to see someone similar to him that did cross that line in Stick. Murdock obviously doesn’t view himself as a solider, but it will be interesting to see how Matt decides to proceed.
Some of the action in the final fight between Daredevil and Stick was absolutely brutal, in some of the best ways. It seems like a given that we’ll see Stick again this season, and I’m excited to find out who he’s actually working for — a man with a lot of scars on his back.
All-in-all, this was a fun episode, one that didn’t seem to advance the overall plot too much, but introduced new questions. The Kingpin sat on the back-burner, which was probably the right call after their tense discussion last episode and allowed the show to really focus on the Stick-Murdock dynamic. Netflix’s Daredevil hasn’t had a bad episode yet.
