Author Topic: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***  (Read 6534 times)

Online perc2100

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #30 on: April 09, 2021, 09:46:47 AM »
"Falcon and the Winter Solider" isn't a bad show: it's fairly solid with its acting & directing.  But it does seem to be incredibly comic accurate in the sense that with rare occasions (like may Christopher Priest's run), The Falcon makes a FAR better character in a team-up/ensemble setting than as a headliner.  It feels like the creatives of this series don't have a ton to add to his character beyond some of his family issues and social issues being Black in America.

When one of my all-time favorite bands The Beastie Boys, the one I've probably adored the longest in my life, put out their album 'To The 5 Boroughs' I discussed with friends with legit wonder, "if a band I love puts out an album that breaks little new ground and is more-of-the-same done well, is that good or a slight disappointment?"  I think the same can be said here of FatWS: a competently shot series now 2/3rds finished with solid acting and action set-pieces that feels like is kind of crawling through the storyline and not really revealing much about its core characters.  The actors are fine, with Daniel Brühl standing out for me, but this feels _almost_ like a slog to sit through.  The last couple of weeks I've mostly watched passively; while there is some intriguing set-up between Bucky still trying to adjust to his 'new normal' as well as the social commentary of the terrorist group Flag Smashers (with their leader, played by Erin Kellyman who's doing the best with what she has to work with), it feels like either there wasn't enough story to space out over 6ish hours or our main characters are kind of boring by themselves. 

Again, that's not to say this is a _bad_ show - there's a lot going for it, and I'm legit interested to see where US Agent/John Walker goes: though if I'm being honest I think episode 3 could've ended with Walker's 'rage' from the end of e4 and have been better, getting us to this point sooner with a tighter story.  This show seems to be good at setting up conflict, but not great at fleshing it out or developing its characters all that well.

IDK; I'm not going to harp too much here.  I'm hoping the last couple of eps end strong but I can't help but feel more excited for the June "Loki" series than I am for next week's penultimate FatWS episode

I will say this, though: the shot of the Wakanda Dora Milaje soldier holding Cap's shield as some of the best imagery of this series so far!

Also, the options for who exactly the 'Power Broker' is (with the writers being careful not to attach any pronouns so they can be male/female/non-binary) at this point all feel like fairly weak structural ideas: Sharon Carter going way off-the-rails; someone we already know in the MCU; someone who is brand new to the MCU that will get a grand reveal next week; a red-herring/someone who doesn't exist as more than just an ideal.  I thought maybe Zemo would be the Power Broker for a hot minute until he seemed to adamant to destroy the Super Solider serum
« Last Edit: April 09, 2021, 09:55:49 AM by perc2100 »

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #31 on: April 09, 2021, 11:33:36 AM »
My small pet peeve is that even though it is made for TV, they filmed it at a movie aspect ratio instead of at a TV aspect ratio. They are wasting precious screen space. I guess they wanted to keep that cinematic MCU feel.

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #32 on: Today at 10:00:40 AM »

Offline puppy

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #32 on: April 09, 2021, 03:30:23 PM »
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My small pet peeve is that even though it is made for TV, they filmed it at a movie aspect ratio instead of at a TV aspect ratio. They are wasting precious screen space. I guess they wanted to keep that cinematic MCU feel.

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought most TVs are widescreen now. Am I wrong? Do movies not actually fit widescreen TVs?

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #33 on: April 09, 2021, 10:03:10 PM »
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Forgive my ignorance, but I thought most TVs are widescreen now. Am I wrong? Do movies not actually fit widescreen TVs?

In the beginning there was one aspect ratio to rule them all, 4:3.  In the early days of film, they experimented with a variety of aspect ratios and settle on 4:3.  Thus it remained for decades.  Then an upstart appeared on the scene to compete for the attention of an audience, TV.  TV adopted the same 4:3 aspect ratio.  This sent a chill through the movie industry fearing that people would stop going to movies and watch TV instead.  So they sought to differentiate themselves.  They went back to something that was experimented with earlier, a wider aspect ratio.  Thus 1.85:1 and 2.40:1(2.35,2.39) were adopted as the popular aspect ratios to film movies in.  When HDTV was proposed, they had to pick a aspect ratio for that.  There were different ones in the running.  I still have and use a 16:10 HD resolution monitor.  In the end they settled on 16:9 as a good compromise that could display both 4:3 and 2.40:1 aspect ratio content.

So for modern wide screen TVs the aspect ratio is 16:9(1.8:1).  Falcon and the Winter Soldier is being filmed in movie 2.40:1 AR.  Thus it's displayed in a letterbox on a HDTV, there's empty unused space above and below.

Offline MickeyJack

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #34 on: April 11, 2021, 07:14:14 AM »
Sebastian Stan needs to get Emmy consideration for acting in his White Wolf flashback scene.


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Offline Chris

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #35 on: April 12, 2021, 08:10:20 PM »
Random thoughts from the last 2 episodes:
--Madripoor!  When's Wolvie showing up?  Snikt!
--It's nice to see some of the previously smaller characters get the limelight
--Not a fan of the cussing as I would hate for parents to not let their kids enjoy these shows
--Sharon Carter!  My girlfriend is back!
--I like the new look for Bucky's arm
--Zemo.  Marvel continues to find ways to adapt comic design into believable "real world" costumes
--While I liked the fact that the scientist's work was lost to the blip, I'm over the blip, no one say blip
--Nit pick:  I am not a fan of the primary color lighting--red on one side of the face/yellow one the other, etc.  It's a cheap trick in my opinion that that this show is better than
--Anybody else see the x-symbol on the gate of the GRC company when the Flag Smashers were talking by the scooter?  I know it's not x-them, but it's nice to know they're coming.
--LOVED the emotional impact of Bucky being free and what that meant to him
--This new "Cap" seriously needs to get his @$$ kicked. Like hard n'stuff.

Offline Pyramid

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #36 on: April 14, 2021, 06:42:39 AM »
I have now rewatched episode four ten times.  So yeah, I love the show. I have my own thoughts on this but I am curious what do you think Walker will do with the extra vial of Super Soldier Serum?  I think he's
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Online perc2100

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #37 on: April 14, 2021, 09:38:09 AM »
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I have now rewatched episode four ten times.  So yeah, I love the show. I have my own thoughts on this but I am curious what do you think Walker will do with the extra vial of Super Soldier Serum?  I think he's
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I really dig the fact that Marvel Studios wrote and likely even shot a lot of this series before COVID & the swell of BLM protests: this series is a sort of 'accidental'/slightly unintentional reflection of modern times (yes: racial injustice and systemic racism have existed well before Marvel Studios, let alone FatWS; yes: good writers are able to think/write in-the-moment and maybe even slightly anticipate future sentiment/feelings).  While obviously the Flag Smashers are violent in their means, that sense of loneliness and feelings of being ignored and unheard in society feel right in the wheelhouse of where we're at right now in time coming a year+ into a pandemic that's shut most of us off from society, caused many to lose their job and/or business, etc.

Offline Chris

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #38 on: April 14, 2021, 10:54:30 AM »
He took it.  At one point after a supermove, Falcon said "what did you do?"

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #39 on: April 14, 2021, 12:49:12 PM »
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I have now rewatched episode four ten times.  So yeah, I love the show. I have my own thoughts on this but I am curious what do you think Walker will do with the extra vial of Super Soldier Serum?  I think he's
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Online perc2100

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #40 on: April 15, 2021, 01:48:23 PM »
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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #41 on: April 15, 2021, 10:03:32 PM »
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« Last Edit: April 15, 2021, 10:08:37 PM by chocolateshake »

Offline Pyramid

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #42 on: April 16, 2021, 06:56:37 AM »
First thing I did this morning was watch Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  I nerded out when
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  More important than that is how the show is dealing with race in America.  So many sides are being presented and debated between character motivations.

"What is the point of all the pain and sacrifice if I wasn't willing to keep fighting."  This line doesn't just refer to Sam but I think to all of us as Americans who need to keep fighting against racism and other societal ills.

And Sam
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  The scene with the vote on the Patch Act was a nice nod to Dr. Strangelove.  I absolutely love this show.
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Offline Chris

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #43 on: April 16, 2021, 12:46:36 PM »
Notes:
--Falcon always felt like a main character to me who never got enough screen time.  Now he does.
--Bucky never felt like a main character to me until this show
--I seriously NEED a film quality cap shield
--LOVE the way they use Falcon's wings in combat
--After 5 years I can't believe that they adapted a costume for Batroq the Leaper
--When Sam's nephew chased him around the house, I was dying for an "on your left" quote
--I liked the downtime episode like they do with the comics issues to show characters being people and not all action

Me talking to the TV:  "Why does Bucky just use his metal arm"
Bucky:  "I'm right handed."
Me:  "Ah."

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Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier ***Spoilers***
« Reply #44 on: April 16, 2021, 01:54:28 PM »
By the way, I think they could have left the whole flag smasher/zemo part out and still had a compelling story about the legacy of the shield, what it means to me a soldier/super soldier, and that cap was more than a shield and couldn't just be replaced that easily.

And saying goodbye to Chris Evans.  ::sniff!::