I haven’t mentioned this yet? I haven’t mentioned this yet!
Frank Oz got a bunch of Muppeteers together, and they talked about their careers, how they got into performing with the Muppets, and of course about Jim Henson sniff. The discussion is interspersed with vintage footage, behind-the-scenes photos, and… schematics. The schematics are good for explaining things like the exploding desk.
The video costs about $10 US. If you’re interested at all it’s totally worth it.
What other films do I have to watch first in order to understand and/or care about Infinity War ?
Phase Two of the Mega Marvel Movie Marathon is complete (up to Ant-Man).
Strangely (probably because we’re dealing with fewer origin stories), only two more examples to add to the count.
Returnees:
Tony Stark: 0
Bruce Banner: 4
Thor Odinson: 2
Steve Rogers: 1
Natasha Romanoff: 0
Clint Barton: 0
No love interests shown yet:
Relationship barely beginning:
My true love is dead and I’ll never love another:
So, existing relationships (such as they are) are being abandoned at a similar rate as before.
The are a couple of new relationships which seem to be building up slower and perhaps stronger.
But, for the most part, in Phase Two, there’s too little screen time shared among too many heroes for such relationships to get any depth. Tony continued to be horrible to Pepper in IM3, the Thor/Jane romance was somehow sidelined while at the same time being central to the plot of The Dark World, Cap’s love life was constantly discussed but not developed in Winter Soldier, and Age of Ultron focused on Black Widow/Hulk to the exclusion of all other relationships, and still didn’t gave it spare enough to develop it and make it compelling.
The only two films in Stage Two that had a romantic relationship as part of the plot and actually put effort into developing that relationship were Guardians and Ant-Man.
Oh, and an honorable mention to Phil Coulson, resurrected for the TV show, who can’t be with his cellist girlfriend because she thinks he’s dead.
I haven’t seen Infinity War, but I’ve seen all of the films leading up to it (except Spider-Man: Homecoming), and judging by what I’ve seen:
Most of Phase One you can skip, unless you really want an in-depth background of what’s going on.
Phase Two had only a few key movies:
As for Phase Three, these are starting to be movies that are supposed to lead directly into the action Definite ones to watch are:
Should watch:
GOTG2 I’d give a pass to, and I haven’t seen Homecoming.
Someone else might have a different list (I’m watching them all), but those would be my highlights leading into this specific film, not knowing its major plot points.
I approve of this list.
Homecoming might add a bit more Spiderman\Ironman background, but it is covered well enough in Civil War
Looking over that list again, I think I was mistaken to omit The Avengers. It’s almost certainly not going to be essential to “understanding” Infinity War, but seeing them meet and become a team might be pretty necessary to “care about” what’s going on as mentioned.
Colony is back this week
This is the real X-Files revival. Aliens invade, traitors betray, humanity is enslaved.
Also a metaphor for how America behaves in places like Iraq after the conquering is over.
For character development and backstory I’m always a completionist, GOTG2 and Homecoming are fun movies with great lower-tier villains. Homecoming especially.
Just finished this on Netflix:
Not bad. Typical dark murder mystery with a twist.
True. Casting Keaton as the Vulture was great.
Oh, myself as well. I just wanted to cut out any movies which weren’t necessary to understand who the Avengers were, what their relationship was to reach other, and what’s going on with the whole Infinity Stone business.
GOTG2 doesn’t really make that cut. Having watched Homecoming last night… Eh. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy it (much better than GOTG2, and the best end-credits scene in a long while), but I don’t think it will make much of a difference to my experience watching Infinity War.
Is anyone else still watching Lucifer? The AVClub is taking forever to post the recap (and I’m pretty much perma-gray Kinja-wide since I mostly lurk.) And tonight’s episode threw a curveball or two…
MEGA spoilers ahead, of course…
…though not as much of a curveball as I expected. Since last week’s promo told us someone would die, the last person I thought it would be was Charlotte. She’s been worried about what would happen to her after death all season long; her dying, I thought, would have been far too obvious. The show was bound to pull one of its typical swerves and kill someone, anyone else. Dan, Ella, and Trixie were my most-likely suspects.
What suprised me more than anything was my reaction. I was actually sad and disappointed when Charlotte died. I did not expect that. I was sometimes annoyed at “Mommy Dearest’s” hamminess and Charlotte’s self-absorption. But over the course of the season, Tricia Helfer really sold her character’s development. Charlotte was becoming someone interesting to watch, and I’m suprised to be so sad that her journey came to its end tonight.
My predictions for next week’s season finale: Lucifer gets his game face back, and Chloe sees it. It’s about time, too.
With less and less enthusiasm. I think it peaked when Linda saw Luci’s “true face.” There have been good bits since then but it’s been mostly downhill.
The writers don’t know what they’re doing and for SOME INEXPLICABLE REASON they’re not bothering to use any of the source material they PAID FOR. Surely some lawyer could have told them if all they wanted was a cop show with the Devil in it they didn’t have to pay anybody. Even Lucifer the Rebellious Angel, cast down after the War in Heaven, has been public domain for at least three hundred years.
I’ll go watch this week’s episode 
I think Fox bought the comic rights for the same reason Disney bought the rights to Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides in conjunction with the Pirates of the Caribbean films. They didn’t really want to do a full adaptation, but it legally covered their butts. (Though wasn’t “Mommy Dearest’s” storyline in Season 2 an adaptation? I forget.)
I also agree that this season’s storyline has been weaker than the first two (though I’ve missed a few episodes here and there.) The beginning of the season seemed to drag, and the end is racing to its conclusion. Chloe is being treated more like a prize and less like a person, again. But somehow, I’m still captivated enough to hang in there and see what happens next.
RE: supernatural cop shows, I’m also about two seasons behind in iZombie.
I haven’t seen any iZombie, but I hear it’s fun.
It is, certainly for the first couple of seasons. With Season 4, I think the writers are trying too hard to create a “serious” ongoing story line.
Same deal as Lucifer, it was a comic book that they bought and then didn’t really use.
I’ve fallen behind, and bingeing the show is really disorienting. It’s part of the premise that the heroine has a completely different personality every week, and about half of them are annoying people you don’t really want to hang out with.
I watched the first four episodes, and will probably watch more, but everything else seems to be ahead of it in the queue.