Binge-Watching Netflix: Luke Cage

Marvel’s Luke Cage is an American television series created by Cheo Hodari Coker for the streaming service Netflix, based on the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), acknowledging the continuity of the franchise’s films, and was the third Marvel Netflix series leading to the crossover miniseries The Defenders. The series was produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, with Coker serving as showrunner.

Mike Colter stars as Luke Cage, a former convict with superhuman strength and unbreakable skin who now fights crime and corruption. Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Rosario Dawson, and Alfre Woodard also star, with Mahershala Ali and Erik LaRay Harvey joining them for season one, and Mustafa Shakir and Gabrielle Dennis joining for season two. Development of the series began in late 2013. Colter was cast as Cage in December 2014, to appear in the series Jessica Jones before starring in his own series. Coker was hired as showrunner in March 2015, and focused on themes of race and black culture with a neo-blaxploitation, neo-Western tone. Filming for the series, which looked to replicate the unique culture and atmosphere of Harlem, took place in New York City. It features many musical guests as well as a “’90s hip-hop” score by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

The first season was released in its entirety on Netflix on September 30, 2016, followed by the second on June 22, 2018. They were met with positive reviews, and received numerous accolades including a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award. Following creative differences during the development of a third season, Netflix cancelled Luke Cage on October 19, 2018; all of the Marvel Netflix series were removed from Netflix on March 1, 2022, after Disney regained the license for them. They began streaming on Disney+ from March 16.

via Wikipedia

I know I don’t usually have such long quotes from Wiki but it needed to happen for this one, especially since I put off making this post for some time, probably too long honestly.

I started watching Luke Cage when it first came out on Netflix. There are only two seasons, and I watched them both before the series was moved to Disney+. So while I binged watched it on Netflix, it is now only possible to do so on Disney+. Are we okay with all of this? Not really, but it makes sense for Disney to have all their videos in one place.

Okay, let’s get into the actual series. There are two seasons, and they are vastly different from each other. Season one is basically the origin story, introduction to the character and the journey to becoming the hero of Harlem. I like origin stories, so I’d have to say season one is my favorite, though I am disappointed at the season finale sneak peak that never came to fruition.

Season two is where I’m sure Netflix vs Disney+ issue came in as Season two is the series finale. The entire story line is wrapped up in a nutshell. All the bad guys are defeated in one way or another and Luke Cage finds his final role in Harlem. While I don’t like the ending, I’m not sure how else it would have ended given Luke’s character arc.

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★

All in all, as a Marvel fan I’m glad I watched it, I’m just not sure it’ll ever be a favorite.

More Netflix to Binge:

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Terror of Mechagodzilla Trailer

Terror of Mechagodzilla (メカゴジラの逆襲, Mekagojira no Gyakushū, lit. ’Mechagodzilla’s Counterattack’) is a 1975 Japanese kaiju film directed by Ishirō Honda (his final film as a director), written by Yukiko Takayama, and produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka and Henry G. Saperstein, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Distributed by Toho and produced under their effects subsidiary Toho–Eizo, it is the 15th film in the Godzilla franchise, serving as a direct sequel to the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Terror of Mechagodzilla stars Katsuhiko Sasaki, Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata, and Gorō Mutsumi, and features Toru Kawai, Kazunari Mori, and Tatsumi Nikamoto as the fictional monster characters Godzilla, Mechagodzilla 2, and Titanosaurus, respectively. The film was released theatrically in Japan on March 15, 1975. It received a limited release in the United States in 1978 by Bob Conn Enterprises under the title The Terror of Godzilla. The film remains the least financially successful entry in the Godzilla franchise to this day.

via Wikipedia

This film starts right off with scenes from the previous Godzilla movie – Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, cementing it’s continuity right off the bat. Even the first scene of the this movie references the previous one, as we see a group of researchers searching for the head of Mechagodzilla.

Of course this wouldn’t be a Godzilla movie without a new monster for Godzilla to fight. Enter Titanosaurus, a water dwelling dinosaur, that unfortunately is being controlled by a scientist who are working for the aliens who built Mechagodzilla. All of them are getting revenge on humans for casting them out.

This movie is very heavily technology based, which isn’t surprising given that the title is the name of a giant man-made robot. However, I’m starting to see why this moving is the lowest grossing Godzilla movie. Godzilla doesn’t show up (unless you count the opening credit scenes from the pervious film), until two thirds into the movie with only a half hour left! For a Godzilla movie that doesn’t really do our friend any justice.

The monster battle to end the movie was as novel as it usually is, but by now we know that Godzilla never loses, it’s just an interesting battle to see how he wins. In this instance he wins because of… love? Yeah, it’s an interesting turn of events in the human world, even if it is somewhat cringe-worthy.

My Ranking: ★ ★

And that’s it for Showa Era Godzilla movies. I will be taking a break from posting monster movies for awhile, especially since I just started streaming Disney+. I am aware that my tastes are all over the place with movies, but it makes for a more eclectic movie review blog!

Happy Movie Night !

More Godzilla Movies to Binge:

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (ゴジラ対メカゴジラ, Gojira tai Mekagojira) is a 1974 Japanese kaiju film directed by Jun Fukuda, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Distributed by Toho and produced under their effects subsidiary Toho–Eizo, it is the 14th film of the Godzilla franchise, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla, Anguirus, and King Caesar, along with the mecha character Mechagodzilla. The film stars Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, Gorō Mutsumi, and Akihiko Hirata, with Isao Zushi as Godzilla, Satoru Kuzumi as both Anguirus and King Caesar, and Kazunari Mori as Mechagodzilla. The film marks the first appearances of King Caesar and Mechagodzilla in the franchise.

via Wikipedia

This is the first Godzilla movie in awhile that has a bit of a different plotline. I love the archaeology involved in the plot (even if it is made up). I also like the new monsters in this movie, they have good background stories too.

Mechagodzilla is an alien machine from Mt. Fuji (you have to include Japan’s iconic landmark in every Godzilla film) that at first looks a lot like Godzilla, but quickly loses it’s disguise thanks to a panicking Anguirus. There’s also an ancient prophecy and statue to resurrect King Caesar, a stylized ancient lion protector of a nearly extinct peoples of a small Japanese island.

Altogether there is an epic monster battle, with some human interference with the alien’s base at Mt. Fuji. Mechagodzilla did hold the two off for quite awhile, I have to give him some props for that. I feel like this movie revitalized the Godzilla Franchise and I’m looking forward to seeing the next movie!

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★ ★

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Godzilla vs. Megalon (ゴジラ対メガロ, Gojira tai Megaro) is a 1973 Japanese kaiju film directed by Jun Fukuda, written by Fukuda and Shinichi Sekizawa, and produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Distributed by Toho and produced under their effects subsidiary Toho–Eizo, it is the 13th film in the Godzilla franchise, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla, Megalon, and Gigan, along with the mecha character Jet Jaguar. The film stars Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, and Robert Dunham, alongside Shinji Takagi as Godzilla, Hideto Date as Megalon, Kenpachiro Satsuma as Gigan, and Tsugutoshi Komada as Jet Jaguar.

via Wikipedia

I enjoy that our main characters this time include a racecar driver, of course this means there are a few car chases, but that’s no problem here. It adds a bit to the action and story. Speaking of which, more nuclear testing has been done, but this time underwater, which upsets the underwater population of Seatopia so they fight back, naturally.

This is how our main characters get involved, the Seatopians steal the inventor’s robot, for use to guide their giant beetle, Megalon, to the place they want it to start the attack. From there many things happen, kidnapping, car chases, Godzilla, Gigan (apparently a friend to the Seatopians), and a weird setting with the robot.

As all Godzilla movies do, it ends with an epic fight scene between monsters and robots.

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★

Elvis (2022)

Elvis is a 2022 biographical musical drama film directed by Baz Luhrmann, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner. It stars Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as his manager Colonel Tom Parker, with Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Xavier Samuel, David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Luke Bracey in supporting roles. The film is dedicated to the memory of the Ladd Company’s founder, Alan Ladd Jr., who died in March 2022.

via Wikipedia

First: I’ve had a decent backlog of posts, and I’m happy to only post reviews once a week. I did go to see this movie in theater with a group of friends and I have the pictures to prove it! So with that out of the way… a very delayed movie review of a film that you can probably find now on YouTube, Netflix, or Amazon.

I am not an Elvis expert, so I cannot comment on the authenticity of the situations performed in the movie. However, it was very entertaining. Some of the music was used to tell the story, some of it was used as a statement, much of it was just music. Beautiful music.

This movie is not Mamma Mia. There are many adult themes at work here as I’m sure some of you Elvis fans were already aware of. There are also underlying political themes of the time, segregation laws, lewdness, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But there is also family, music, and friends.

It is very obvious how this movie ends, it’s a historical fact and a biography. So I’m not spoiling anything when I say the movie ends shortly after the untimely passing of Mr. Presley. I appreciated that the end of the movie was a tribute to Elvis Presley and showed footage of the man himself. I would like to see this movie again.

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★ ★

2036 Origin Unknown (2018)

2036 Origin Unknown is a 2018 British science fiction adventure film directed by Hasraf Dulull, written by Dulull and Gary Hall, and starring Katee Sackhoff and Steven Cree. The film follows mission controller Mackenzie “Mack” Wilson (Sackhoff) and ARTI, an artificial intelligence system (voiced by Cree), as they discover a mysterious object on Mars and witness it transporting to Earth by faster-than-light travel.

via Wikipedia

I feel as if I’ve seen this actress in another movie or at least somewhere else. There’s also a very big chance she looks almost exactly like another actress. If you’re reading this and know who I might be talking about would you please leave me a clue in the comments?

I’m also going to appallingly honest here – I did not watch the last 20 minutes of the film.

I’m reminded of a previous movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, but with a lot less actors. The basic premise is the same, sort of. A.I. versus humans, who controls who, and can we control the hierarchy at all. Lots of politics, personal drama and struggle, and all of it mostly filmed in one little control room with monitors.

I got bored. I won’t say I’m not interested in politics, but for this instance it made for a rather boring movie. I know I didn’t finish it, but all the discovery had already happened, the politics were established, and many arguments had already ensued, including a murder/kidnap attempt(?). All the action had already taken place, and I really didn’t care how it ended by that point.

It’s very rare that I find a film that I can’t watch until the end.

My Ranking: ★

Frozen (2010)

Frozen is a 2010 American psychological survival horror film written and directed by Adam Green. It stars Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore and Kevin Zegers as three friends stranded in a chairlift after a day of skiing, forced to make life-or-death choices in order to avoid freezing to death, while also trying to avoid being killed by a hungry pack of wolves.

via Wikipedia

Horror might be a bit of a stretch here, but the addition of the wolves gives it just enough of a reason I suppose. Also, Stephen King writes a lot about everyday situations that turn completely dangerous, but I still think it’s a bit of a stretch here.

Also, I did spend a good amount of time yelling at the stupidity of the characters – the girl loses her glove taking a smoke, the boyfriend is an idiot, none of them think that maybe they should completely zip up their coats and pull their scarves around them more securely.

I want to deviate here and say that I get it, it’s a movie, and the plot would have progressed anyway, but I think that all these things also made it less of a horror movie to me. After awhile I just started laughing at their stupidity.

Anyway, it was entertaining, in a way. I kept trying to guess who was going to survive (if anyone, they didn’t have two brain cells between the three of them to rub together), and I honestly did not guess it in the end.

My Ranking: ★ ★

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

Ouija: Origin of Evil is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed and edited by Mike Flanagan and written by Flanagan and Jeff Howard. The film is a prequel to the 2014 film Ouija and stars Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, and Henry Thomas. A widow and her family introduce a Ouija board into their phony seance business, thereby inviting a spirit that possesses the youngest daughter.

via Wikipedia

I have watched several movies now that involve a Ouija or Witch Board. My feelings on the object itself are neutral as it is exactly how it’s portrayed – a board game. It’s more your thoughts and opinions that make it evil or not. As this is a central point of the movie and I’m giving my thoughts, there is my background for this post.

Any plot centering around a Ouija Board is essentially the same and this one is not that different – kids think it’s nothing and summon a dark entity. With that all said, I do like the exectution here. The ending isn’t what it seems, which if you’ve seen the other Ouija movie (this is a prequel to the original, which I have not yet watched) then that might make more sense to you than it did me.

On the whole, I’ve never met a horror movie I’ve absolutely hated or wished I had the time back from watching it. And this one I would say is right the middle, I don’t hate it, but it’s not really that original.

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

Godzilla vs. Gigan is a 1972 Japanese kaiju film directed by Jun Fukuda, written by Shinichi Sekizawa, and produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Distributed by Toho and produced under their effects-based subsidiary Toho-Eizo, it is the 12th film in the Godzilla franchise, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla, Gigan, Anguirus, and King Ghidorah. The film stars Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yuriko Hishimi, Tomoko Umeda, and Minoru Takashima, alongside Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla, Kenpachiro Satsuma as Gigan, Koetsu Omiya as Anguirus, and Kanta Ina as King Ghidorah. It is the last film in which Godzilla was portrayed by Nakajima after playing the character since the original 1954 film; he subsequently retired from suit acting.

via Wikipedia

The humans are at it again, this time they attract more aliens who have decided that the humans are literally destroying the Earth, so they’ve come to take over and make peace by putting the humans in their place. Of course, the actual humans have no idea that about this plot, as the aliens have built themselves a corporate empire to work out of and hire humans to do their dirty work with them ever knowing. Except for a couple of outsiders who’s brother has been kidnaped. Because that happened.

What does happen is that Godzilla and Anguirus are summoned from Monster Island to fight King Ghidorah and Gigan, a mechanized flying monster with a saw blade in it’s belly. Yeah, Gigan is hella creepy. The monsters battle it out between themselves while the aliens get their laser ready (do all villains have lasers?). Our human friend group have this all figured out though and thwart the use of the laser, which eventually leads to Godzilla and Anguirus successfully fighting off the space monsters.

Like the last movie in the Godzilla series, this move too plays host to the environment and how humans are treating it. Space aliens are brought in as a catalyst, but Godzilla is left to fight the battle for the humans again. It’s a two on two fight between the Earth Monsters and the Space Monsters, similar to the original movie with King Ghidorah featuring Rodan as Godzilla’s battle partner.

The battle strategy is different as neither Godzilla nor Anguirus can fly and both King Ghidorah and Gigan (being mechanized) are very good at it. It’s an interesting battle sequence that’s different from previous movies and it’s fun to watch. It’s a fun watch for monster movie fans.

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★

More Monster Movies:

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah is a 1971 Japanese kaiju film directed by Yoshimitsu Banno, co-written by Banno and Takeshi Kimura, and produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. It is the 11th film in the Godzilla franchise, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla and Hedorah. The film stars Akira Yamauchi, Toshie Kimura, and Hiroyuki Kawase, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano, and features Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla and Kenpachiro Satsuma as Hedorah. Satsuma would go on to portray Godzilla in later Godzilla films.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah features an environmentalist message, with the malevolent Hedorah being spawned from pollution.

via Wikipedia

The rest of the early Godzilla movies (including this one) are fights between Godzilla and other monsters from various backgrounds. As referenced from the above quote, this one has an environmental ethics take on the monster that fights Godzilla.

Hedorah is a monster that feeds on pollution, it starts off as a fairly small sea-going creature, but quickly becomes larger as it feeds off the smoke and garbage it finds in the sea around Japan. The rest of the movie carries on in traditional Godzilla fashion, with multiple fights between the two monsters. However, Hedorah is now more powerful than Godzilla due to the huge amounts of pollution it has now consumed.

A small group of humans figure out that electrifying Hedorah, and therefore drying it out, will weaken it. So they build a couple of towers directly in the path of the fighting duo which happens to be on Mount Fuji. This is the epic fight scene of the movie, so I won’t spoil it for you, but there are clips of it on Youtube if you’re so inclined.

At this point in the Godzilla movies the creators have taken to given the monsters an ethical spin, making Godzilla the hero, and humans the cause of most of his troubles (humans created the pollution that created and fed Hedorah), most of those troubles being alien space creatures brought about human actions. While that doesn’t necessarily take over the entirety of the movie it is there in the background the entire time.

I still love watching Godzilla fight, I still enjoy the fight scenes between the two monsters, and I still enjoy the humans being mostly ignorant with a few others knowing exactly what’s going on and how to fix it. It’s still good.

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★

More Godzilla Movies You Might Enjoy:

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