Matt Linton
- Dec 15, 2017

The Weekend Watchlist

The Punisher (Season 1) – I’ll be honest – I’ve already marathoned this series. I’m not a huge fan of the character from the comics, but I loved his appearance in Daredevil Season 2 so I was looking forward to this. It seriously paid off. The show centers on Frank Castle, a military vet whose family is killed. He goes more than a little nuts and lots and lots of violence ensues. Some of the gore is not for the faint of heart. The series has some of the same pacing issues of the previous Marvel Netflix shows, but Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) is brilliant in the role, and his performance carries you through some of the slower episodes. At the moment, this is my favorite of the Marvel Netflix superhero shows.

Streaming on Netflix.

Runaways (Season 1) – Ever since Marvel Studios got started, I’ve been hoping for an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona’s Runaways series. The premise is simple – what if a group of teenagers discover their parents are really, really terrible people? Like, “sacrificing innocent victims” terrible. Then what if the teens find out that they have superpowers and can do something about it? Hulu is releasing the season on a episode-per-week basis, but the first seven are available for streaming now. The pacing is a bit slow, but the casting of the characters is spot on, the teens are a fun mix in a Breakfast Club sort of way, and there’s enough changed from the comic that I don’t feel as if I know everything that’s going on. It’s also a nice, light (aside from the sacrificial victims stuff) alternative to the gritty violence of The Punisher.

Streaming on Hulu Plus.

24 Hour Comic (2017) – I started watching this documentary earlier this fall and then got bogged down in school work, so I wasn’t able to finish it. The filmmaker’s decided to document a yearly event in which comic book creators, professional and otherwise, work to write and illustrate a complete comic book (around 22 pages) in a twenty-four hour period. It’s like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) on speed. This features an engaging mix of personalities, art and work styles, and for someone fascinated with the creative process it’s super interesting and worth checking out.

Streaming on Hulu Plus.

The Iron Giant (1999) – This is another “comic and/or genre fans of a certain age” film, in that it’s much loved and viewed as a legitimate classic. I haven’t watched it in such a long time, so I don’t have very strong opinions about it, but it’s directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and it’s from 1999, possibly the best year in film ever (fight me). Plus, I kind of miss old school 2D animated features.

Streaming on Netflix.

Ash Vs. Evil Dead (Seasons 1-2) – I was initially planning to stick with a comic book theme to follow up my recap of the year’s comic book movies, but then I remembered that this series is FINALLY streaming. I love all four Evil Dead movies to varying degrees (and, yes, I said four – even the remake/boot/quel) so I’ve been wanting to check this out since it started. From what I’ve heard this is more Evil Dead 2 than Army of Darkness, which is great, so I’m psyched to check it out.

Streaming on Netflix.