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How did one decade change American cinema – and culture – forever? Elvis Mitchell explores the history of Black representation and the cultural impact of witnessing unapologetic Blackness.
The documentary makes its debut November 11th on Netflix.
I spent countless hours in my younger days wandering the aisles of Blockbuster. I miss those days. The very act of choosing a movie was something to do. That’s why I find it slightly unsettling the streaming site that helped put the video rental chain out of business will now have its own show about that company. It’s like someone stealing all your clothes and then renting them back to you. But if you’re going to have the gall to do that, you might as well do it in style. Or, in this case, with an awesome cast. And the new trailer for Netflix’s Blockbuster definitely has that.
Look, if you’re young, I get it. You don’t understand why any of us would be nostalgic for putting on clothes and going to a store only to potentially find out the movie you want is unavailable. (Not to mention the scourge of late fees.) But I promise, that was way better than scrolling through infinite streaming options at home. And if this show captures even a little bit of why, it’ll be a fun watch. The trailer for Blockbuster certainly has us anticipating more.
The premise and the show’s stars should also make for a good time. Here’s Blockbuster‘s official synopsis from Netflix:
Timmy Yoon (Randall Park) is an analog dreamer in a 5G world. He’s spent his entire adult life dedicated to his first love, movies — a passion that’s kept him at his first and only job, managing his hometown Blockbuster Video.
Then Timmy is alarmed to learn that his store is officially the last Blockbuster in America. He now has no choice but to take action to stay open and keep his friends employed. Timmy and his staff quickly come to realize that being home to the last Blockbuster might actually be exactly what their community needs to rekindle the human connections they lost to the digital age. It also unexpectedly reunites him with his long-time crush Eliza (Melissa Fumero), who’s recently come back to work for him. Will this battle to preserve the past be the push Timmy needs to step into the present? His employees can only hope so.
Hard to go wrong with Park and Fumero as your leads. But when you add in J.B. Smoove, it might actually be impossible.
Of course, the irony is that if you want to see Blockbuster, you’ll have to stay home and watch it on Netflix. The ten-episode first season comes to the streaming site on November 3. But I might wander around my house for an hour before watching. That way, it feels more authentic.
The post Netflix’s BLOCKBUSTER Opens for Business in Star-Studded Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.
Daredevil is famous for his deadly and serious villains. Kingpin, the Hand, Bullseye, Typhoid Mary, Elektra. The list goes on. But those characters came after his gritty reboot in the ‘80s from Frank Miller, which set the course for the character from that point forward. Before that, in the Silver and Bronze Age of comics, the Man Without Fear had some very silly villains. We met one of them, Man-Bull, in She-Hulk’s seventh episode. And now, they have introduced us to another: the amphibian costumed Leap-Frog. But is the ridiculous character a TV invention, or is he from the comics? Well, not only did Leap-Frog originate in the pages of Marvel Comics, but Stan Lee co-created him. Let’s look back at Leap-Frog’s comic book history.
Leap-Frog’s Comic Book Origins
Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan created Leap-Frog, and he first appeared in Daredevil #25-26 back in 1967. Vincent Patilio was a scientist and novelty toy inventor who found little fame and success in his chosen field. So, he turned to a life of crime to make himself rich. Clad in a head-to-toe frog costume, Patilio’s suit contained electrical coils on the soles of each of his two flippers, allowing him to leap great distances up to 60 feet high or 100 feet long. A backpack contained Patilio’s power source, which he activated with buttons in his gloves. Taking the name Leap-Frog, he fought Matt Murdock in one of his earliest adventures.
Leap-Frog did not exactly become one of Daredevil’s star rogues after that. The hero of Hell’s Kitchen thoroughly kicked his butt on a few occasions. Ultimately, it was Iron Man who put Leap-Frog away for several years, after the foe had joined with a group of other villains. And for the most part, Marvel writers forgot about this silly character. When he finally got out of prison, he went back home to his wife and son.
From Leap-Frog the Villain, to Frog-Man the Hero
It was at this point that his son Eugene Patilio took up the Leap-Frog costume. Not to become a villain, but to become a superhero instead. He thought using his dad’s inventions to fight crime might change his family’s fortunes. The younger Patilio changed his name from Leap-Frog to the somehow less imaginative Frog-Man.
In an effort to ease his financial problems, the elder Patilio pretended to be a villain again, and went undercover in the criminal gang of the villain White Rabbit. But his son, as Frog-Man, was trying to take down the White Rabbit gang, not realizing that dear old dad was undercover in the organization. This led to much confusion, but ultimately they worked it all out. Patilio didn’t want his son adventuring as Frog- Man anymore, but he didn’t listen to him. He tried out to be a member of the Defenders, back when several original X-Men were part of the team. He had a few adventures with Spider-Man as well.
But Frog-Man simply never made it into the big leagues, despite several attempts. Still, he was seen as important enough by the Skrull Empire to replace him with a doppelganger during the events of the Secret Invasion, although that led to a long readjustment period once they returned him to Earth. Perhaps one of Eugene’s most embarrassing moments came when Kraven the Hunter captured him and placed him in a zoo for supervillains with animal motifs. And yet, Frog-Man soldiered on, hoping to one day be recognized as a legit superhero—or at least make up for the criminal past of his father.
The MCU’s Leap-Frog
For his MCU debut on She-Hulk, Leap-Frog was fairly comics-accurate. When his suit malfunctioned (due to his own stupidity), he went to Jennifer Walters for legal representation. Just like in the comics, he goes by Eugene Patilio. And also just like in the comics, he’s not very good at being a hero. The show mentioned his rich and powerful father, who we didn’t see on camera during the episode.
Eugene having a rich dad was a deviation from the comics, as the senior Patilio was anything but wealthy. But it sounds like he had some kind of notable career before his son did, which tracks with the comics. By making Leap-Frog a villain at the end, they definitely combined him with his father. Will we ever see Leap-Frog again in the MCU? He definitely holds a grudge against She-Hulk now, and Daredevil as well. Maybe he will try to reinvent himself as Jen’s arch-nemesis. Good luck with that, Eugene.
The post The Comics History of SHE-HULK’s Leap-Frog Explained appeared first on Nerdist.