Film Review : "The Joker "

Lots has been said about this movie. A lot more has not been said about it. What has been said is that it is not like other super hero movies. This is true. What has been said is the acting is great. This is true. What has not been said is ...can acting alone save a movie when the writing is shit? What about if there is very little plot and a message about the 1 percent being pushed when in fact the would be hero to come is the 1 percent ? The movie is well made from a production stand point. It looks great. In my writing on music one of my common complaints about music these days is bands might sound good, meaning they have every thing dialed in to get a certain sound, but they can not write songs. This fits if you replace sound with look. This movie could have been edited down to 30 minutes because nothing happens until the last 30 mins. Oh, a sub way shooting. That could have happened during the opening credits. But it is an origin story one person  on Facebook cried when I expressed my boredom with the first half of the movie . To which so was Conan the Barbarian. In fact Conan had a much worse go of life, he not only saw his parents get killed, but he was sold into slavery and forced to push a wheel of pain for 14 years...and still he was kicking ass with in the first 20 minutes of the movie.   

The buzz this film built around it came from the scare of gun violence. Without it would it have really had much more hype than "Suicide Squad" or the "Venom" movie ? It is closer to Venom than Suicide Squad in terms of execution. Though It reminded me more of "the Brown Bunny" if it had been given a "Falling Down" twist. The comparisons to "Taxi Driver" are not unfounded but almost gives the writing too much credit. It felt like they only had a script for the last 30 minutes.  There will be some who would like to think they are thinking deeper about this movie  so lets make sure we did not miss anything. Life is hard for the Joker. He has a condition where he can not stop laughing. This is difficult. The mental health care system is rough, hey I know this one first hand , I am always saying I should become super villian. Life dealt him a bad hand. How many movies has this been the case ? Mmm "The Elephant Man", "Hunch Back of Notre Dame" , "Carrie" ...I can keep going though you can also count the other movies we have used as comparisons too. He cracks under pressure and we know where this is going so there are no real spoilers here. In other words more thoughtful than most villians get and I think he will stack up well again the Twilight Knight version of Bat-man.

What I liked the most about this movie was even in trying to be a high brow art house flick it was not overly apologetic for being a comic book movie kept things in Gotham and gave appropriate wink to the Bat Man mythos. If you were really into this character then I think you will appreciate this part. As how he stacks up against the other Joker's he is closer to Heath's which is not my favorite and I think the hype of his performance will not stand the test of time . I think the scare tactics employed for controversy might have been generated by the studio themselves. Nothing in the movie is any cause for alarm. Some one asked me if this is dark and I told them what are you comparing it to ? Other super hero movies sure. Lars Von Tier or David Lynch films ...no. Horror movies no. If there is a cheap matinee is worth that I would not pay more than six buck unless you are really bored or a mega Joker fan.

Film Review : "Spider Man- Far From Home"

The "Home Coming" sequel finds them picking up the pieces from "End Game". Firmly entrenched in the Marvel Universe , even more so than "Home Coming". Holland has settled into the role, Granted this is the 5th movie with him playing Peter Parker. The kids in Parker's school are dealing with the logistics of what is being called "The Blip". Nick Fury , who does not want to talk to Captain Marvel for reasons later revealed, is set to make Parker the next Iron-man and wants him to step up to the plate. So this movie is more about Peter Parker thinking about the great responsibility this would come with and comparing him self to Stark. This whole scenario is far from the comic, but som how feels like it could have worked in them.

Mysterio is a villain who represents fake news. This is the under lying message. However this movie tries less to be politically correct than it's predecessor Mary Jane and Flash Thompson are still terribly off from the comics. I mean can you see that guy becoming Venom like Thompson does in the comics, which is not likely to happen. Parker never punches anything but drones. The Hydro-man and Molten - Man appearances are  are not what they seem from the trailers. Obviously their size is off, but that is not all. The movie is well paced. Sure there is more scenes of Parker in action without the suit than I might prefer, but we get him in a few different suits. This movie does not set things up for Miles Morales, so if you were getting your hopes up for that , you will be waiting sometime. The whole alternate time line /Universe is not delved into like in the last Avengers movie.

It seems like there is one more movie they can get out of Holland. They have him playing the press, there is no indication he is going in a gay Spider-man direction considering the love interest for this movie. This movie carries the weight of the bigger Marvel Universe story they are still telling, so I think "Homecoming' is a little better in tone, despite every one being more settled into their roles. The Vulture also proved a better villain. I am also surprised they did not elaborate more on the Scorpion. Norman Osborne is supposed be set up here, if you blink you miss it. Is it fun? Yes, so it accomplished what it needed.    `.  .   

Swamp Thing Episode 1 Review

First off Swamp Thing is my favorite D/C character. Going into this let us consider a few things . We have had 2 Swamp Thing movies. The first campy as it may have been for the 80s, looking back it is still my second favorite D/C Movie, the first Super Man being number one. Let's say you are going to watch a show on a D/C Comics streaming site. Not mainstream TV. you then might know the premise. As for DC's streaming site,  They have so far produced Teen Titans , which I do not have a great deal of interest in, but will watch in due time and Doom Patrol which 8 episodes in is excellent, maybe the best Super Hero Tv, behind Smallville and Daredevil. So I know they can do it. Production wise the show does well with it's budget and some of the scenes make me feel like I am watching a Stuart Gordon film. But lets me not stray from the crux of the matter here.

If you are DC fan, who at least knows the basics of Swamp Thing. If you are a person with half a brain and not a DC  fan, yet somehow stumbled into their streaming site after Googling Washingtion DC  then dumb as you are, maybe you know when you click on a show called Swamp Thing...THAT ITS A THING FROM A FUCKING SWAMP ! So can someone tell me why do you need to take 45 minutes to explain how this fucking thing got in this fucking swamp? It takes five minutes, Hi I am Alec Holland, there is no need for you to really get that invested in me as a human because I won't be one for long. I am however going to be a Thing from the Swamp having a human experience. We have seen this origin done in the Hulk twice. One they showed us . The second time they did not. The second time was a better movie. We never need to see Bruce Banner hit by Gamma rays again. We never need to see Bruce Wayne's parents get shot again, Nor do we need to see Peter Parker get bit by a radio active spider. It is even more important that we do not see Alec Holland fall into the burning swamp ...ok we can see but oops hello, I am a scientist, I am studying plants in the swamp, shit goes wrong and now I am a THING. Whoever plotted this shit out has shit for fucking brains. Oh, but
we need to make him human so you care about him.Then why was Brendan Fraiser in Doom Patrol before he turned into Robot Man, after his tragic accident. Because they know what they are doing and their writers are not trying to tell the story of a secondary character.  If  I wanted to see a female scientist trying to solve a mystery I would watch CSI, if  I wanted to see a show about a monster super hero from the swamp, I would watch Swamp Thing. 


Abby Arcane is the daughter of the Swamp Things' arch enemy Anton Arcane.  While she is Holland's Lois Lane   We don't need 45 mins of her . Her story could have been better told in 10. Well it's the pilot...well we only have 8 episodes  if that is the pace they are telling this story at we are fucked. Yes I have seen the trailer and know Blue Devil is coming. Yes  I like that it is more horror, But why in the hell waste my time with setting up some disease that is not even in the comics?  Have your disease , but do not waste my time with 45 mins of it. There was the line about the town being special so I hope this is how they are going to work in the Green. The second episode better be less Abby more Swamp Thing. Sure we need her. She falls in the water and gets menaced by UN-men, who we have not gotten a peak of  though I can see where they could be going with it. They better turn this ship around fast as it is a hot mess.     

Film Review : "Avengers End Game"

If you think anything you could read about Avengers :End Game “ is going to be a spoiler then you did not pay attention to the other movies. It was all foreshadowed if not outright telegraphed, Not to mention the fact that most of the characters are getting either tv shows or sequels so how much in question can the fates of Spider-man, Dr. Strange, Winter Soldier, Vision , Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Black Panther really be ? Did this movie need to be 3 hours ? No. It does drag some in some of the laboratory scenes and when everyone's is getting into their feelings about the post-snap world the movie starts off in.  Despite juggling the story-lines for the 6 original Avengers, it does stay on track, there is still plenty of fat that could have been trimmed. Perhaps it’s this fat, along with the performances of the veteran core, that hides the fact plot which has less surprises than plot line of your average video game that is high on the quest mode.

If you had not read the comics then I am sure the ending of the last movie seemed like a cliffhanger. This all culminates here, the final fruits of the movies picking and choosing what parts of mainstream continuity and the ultimate universe they want to pick from , we see how if they had stuck closer to the source material they would not have to jump the shark so hard. So without characters like the Sliver Surfer and Adam Warlock we are left with Stark having to do a bunch of tinkering and coming up with “Legends of Tomorrow “ like narrative. None of which is really spoiler heavy if you have already seen the movies they revisit. You are going to regret not seeing Dr. Strange.

While it does get mired down in sentiment it is the sense of humor that helps balance the pace and once they get on their respective missions, the movie is certainly fun. It focuses largely on the 3 core members  Cap, Thor and Stark. This makes sense as they have been the 3 who have held up their own trilogy of films .All the actors from the first film have really settled into their roles so it’s hard to not see them s these characters. I think Paul Rudd once again steals the show with conviction, so I am hoping they make an Ant-man 3. There are plenty of mis steps that are balanced out by the heart of the performances. The big cgi battle at the end feels a kid just dumped all their action figures on their bed to see what would happen.

One thing I do like about this movies is it is aimed at the fans who have stuck by these movies and not the fair weather fans only there for the diversity marketing in fact  Black Panther only gets a few passing glances and Captain Marvel get much less screen time than most predicted. . While there are easter eggs at the end that give nods to certain shifts in the comics, since they were largely short lived when b - list characters proved unable to support their own series, I can see this transitioning into another Avengers movie , though he next Spider Man movie it is going to be a rough ride for Marvel until they are able to dust off the Fantastic Four and the X-men.

Film Review : "Shazam"

As a kid I was more into D/C characters than I am now, though even then I preferred Marvel. So while I have an appreciation for Captain Marvel, who we are now back to referring as Shazam, despite the fact he came before Carol Danvers, I don't have an emotional investment in the character. In fact before Kelly Sue DeConnick began to write her. In the battle of the two Captain Marvel movies I will go ahead and say that this one wins. I think what puts this movie over the caped shoulders of most D/C movies is the tone stands out. While Aqua-man, tried to add a bit of levity to things, this movie does a better job of that. Does it at time wear out it's welcome with the "Big" inspired jokes, somewhat though it does directly wink at this fact. I think it succeeds in the same way Guardians of the Galaxy did for Marvel movies.

It falls into a few tired superhero tropes, with a villain who is an inverse mirror image of the hero. Not that he has as deep of a rogues gallery as Bat-man or Super-Man. I also think bringing in the whole Marvel family was jumping the shark a bit. I get that it is a part of his mythology, but it turned the end of the movie in one of the typical D/C cgi fests that seems to be a reoccurring problem for the post -Nolan films. The bulk of the movie was fun and made the most out of the fact it was an origin story. While I normally dislike origin movies, I think the fact the story of Billy meets the Wizard has not been told a half dozen times helps.

The 7 Deadly Sins felt like monsters from Ghostbusters, but once again the tone of the film made this work. As far as D/C goes I think this movie was much better than Aqua-Man. It stands shoulder to shoulder with Wonder Woman , and perhaps a little better since aside from the Little Rascals elements it comes closer to the comic books. If you are a fan of the comic book, then you are going to feel the same way I felt about the Dr. Strange movie. It did the best it could given the medium being used to tell the story in this day and age. In fact Shazam needed an origin more than Dr. Strange did. The acting is better than bulk of the post- Nolan films and I think it could set the tone for movies to come if D/C is smart..

What I Need From Marvel in 2019

You might have noticed I began to cover more comic book related media and less about the actual books themselves. I have kept reading them, but did not feel inspired enough to write about them.  They have not been bad per se , in fact they have improved now that we have corrected problems like Steve Rogers not behind the shield, Banner not as Hulk, Jane Foster the impostor Thor and Toney Stark being MIA. So going back into finishing what is less of a review and more of an over view, we will look back to see what they have done so far and where it needs to go.The Avenger's book has been treading water , Ghost Rider doesn't fit on the team. I am also fine with Dr. Strange not being on it despite him being one of my favorite characters I think he works better in the context of the Defenders. I liked when they brought Namor in , but that story kinda fizzled. We know the Squadron Supreme is showing up and Coulson is a bad guy now.This year will bring the Avengers into 3 big events . The War of the Vampires, No Road Home and a big Asgard themed event the War of Realms . At present they are no faring as well in their solo books. Thor has gone in a weird world direction. The last issue of Captain America focused too much on the side story of the bad guys, while he is being framed for the murder of Gen. Ross, I think they could do better than recycle this tired old spin,  Iron Man's current conflict with the Controller might be the most interesting story of the big 3 Avengers with proven track records for holding their books down.

Black Panther is hit or miss with his inter-galactic story arc, but at least they have him out of Wakanda,because when he is stuck there they tend to tell the same stories over and over again and due to his limited rogues gallery it gets boring quick. While we are on Avengers with limited Rogues galleries it looks like the newest run of Captain Marvel, is resorting to alternative universes and even then she has Spider-woman tagging along. I think Jessica Drew holds her own book down better than Capt. Marvel which is going to prove a detriment to trying to mine sequels out of a Capt . Marvel movie. The same thing could be said for Black Panther.


The Immortal Hulk is being praised as horror book, but I am not sure it's much different than any other version. He is in Hell at the moment, which lends it self to Clive Barker like dark streak, but I am not sure I am totally sold on the direction they are taking it. I did like the ass kicking he gave the Avengers a few months ago.The first issue of the new Guardians Of the Galaxy worked for me. I am fine with Moondragon and Beta Ray Bill on the team. It looks like Gamora is going to be pulled in at some point. When it comes to the cosmos, the return of the Fantastic four should find Marvel's first family, pulling it all together if they are smart. They have gone right for Galactus and Doom, which you can guess will be the focus of any movie coming down the road. The key to their success lies in getting Dr Doom. right. Spider Man Far From Home could have also served as a place to introduce Doom. Spider-man 's book as long as they stay away from convoluted plot points with clones are fairly consistent. It is too bad Miles did better in Into the Spiderverse than in his own book.

X-men are trying to shake things up with almost another no more mutants trick.  I like the fact two of the New Mutants, Magick and Wolfsbane are on the main team.Though the New Mutants are not that new any more. It seems like a very contrived way to bring  Cyclops back. Matt Fraction is coming back to Marvel and may or may not be on an X-book. An Eternals vs X-men books could be cool as you know with a movie pending they are going to need more fleshing out. If they are planning to make Ikaris gay, though most people have assumed it will be him though it could be Sersi, which I would find more interesting, though Ikaris' Prince Valiant hair cut is kinda gay . Also we can expect more Nova and Shang -Chi in the coming years . It will also be interesting to see how they blend Conan into the universe proper.

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Film Review : "Captain Marvel"

So when I reviewed "Black Panther" there was the out cry that comes when you say the Emperor has no clothes of people saying "That movie is not for you" . To which I replied "You mean a comic book movie isn't for someone who reads comics?" That is what this is coming to now. So I will first give you the review of someone who this movie is for ... a 9 year old girl. After all they are making GoFund Me's for this movie so they can go see it. Or perhaps that is all in the hype , and if you can sell this as something that a cultural even rather than a super-hero movie then perhaps we don't notice when the movies take on the same formula. But I digress here is what a 9 year old girl thought of it.

First she has seen other super hero movies in theaters ... Spider-man, Wonder-woman, Ant-man, and Avengers. She did not make it through Aqua-man,got bored fast. She loves Suicide Squad and I think if you ask her will tell you she prefers Harley Quinn over Captain Marvel, a fact also substantiated by the fact she has watched Suicide Squad multiple times. So she can sit through a super-hero movie. Another point is considering she is my daughter she has grown up around comics. She knows who the Sentry is as well as Satanna, so might even be more well versed in them than many of today's fair weather Marvel movie fans. Since she knows the comics and not just the movies,  Today she asked is Captain Marvel the greatest super hero ever before we watched the movie and I told her well...probably not, but that can be a matter of taste.  So the heavy sci-fi shoot outs at the beginning between the Kree and the Skrulls , began to lose her, she wanted super-heroes not star wars. Then 30 mins later she was falling asleep.  When I asked her how did she like what she saw she liked Ant-man and Wasp better.

I think that is a fair assessment of where this movie falls. I was surprised the girl power was not more heavy handed. There was only one montage like scene where she gets up after being knocked down that put it in your face. I will also say , the cgi was not as bad as what they showed in the commercial. Not on Infinity War level or even Dr. Strange. I like the fact that it felt more like a super-hero movie than Black Panther and more fluidly flowing into the Marvel Universe. That is the movie's strong point. There was a lull midway into it, but it was not as slow going into as I had expected. So points for that too.

Where the movie was a train wreck was doing things like making the Skrulls good guys. I went in thinking it would make for a great entry point for the Fantastic Four. Boy did they fuck that up. I did like the little Kirby looking servant skrulls though. Visually they were handled pretty well. The Kree have appeared on Agents of Shield before which is part of the cinematic universe. Anette Benning as Mar-Vell was another place they dropped the ball. Mar-vell as a conspiring bad guy? Give me a fucking break. Ronan was hardly used. The cat everyone was talking about, underwhelming. I agree that the 90s thing seemed forced. Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, lags behind Scarlet Witch or Wasp in terms of convincing me, though she was better than anticipated, but my expectations were pretty low. I am all for female super-heroes...She-Hulk could carry a movie better. Mantis could be a bad ass instead of a Pokemon. Where is Tigra? If they left an easter egg for Kamala Khan it was buried. Decormick kinda killed Danvers for me in the comics, I think I prefer the yellow and black suit.

As a movie stripped of any Trojan Horse agenda, I liked it better than Black Panther , the Andrew Garfield Spider-man movies and think it has a better ending than Wonder-woman. But if they try to sell us The Eternal with this same hype machine, Marvel is going to have ruder awakenings in store.

The Punisher Season 2

When the smoke clears the Punisher has stood taller than the other Netflix shows, with Daredevils coming in a very close second. I am not sure how I will even bring myself to watch the 3rd season of Jessica Jones. Which is a shame as the first was pretty good. The second season finds the show still apologizing for being from a comic book, even though Jigsaw's gang wore masks. Jigsaw was a pretty big disappointment. They gave him a few scars and called it a day so not even coming close to the movie version. Where the show does work is in some of it's grittier moments and the raw fighting style of Castle.It is often more depressing than it is dark.

There is less cross over with the Marvel Universe as a whole , which is a mistake on their part. If it is in the same world as Luke Cage, when how far removed should Stilt Man be ? He does wear the skull a little more this season. He has his van. But I think the depiction of him from the 2nd season of Dare Devil. They did bring up online why does this ignore the events of Infinity War? While I don't need this to have happened, I think a vigilante like Castle would have proved more needed in a world run rampant after half the population disappeared. What does that look like on a street level. Half the police force would be reduced it could be like Mad Max anarchy in the street with the Punisher being the one who is left to clean up after it.

Instead what we got was another gangster tale that could have been from any true crime show. What did set it apart is knowing what the identity or persona of the Punisher does to people . The skull was an effective tool to get into Jigsaw's head and made him even crazier from the ptsd it instilled .The show was not boring it kept me watching , but like many of the Netflix mishaps , it tended to go off into side stories of characters that were not the Punisher and not as needed. This could have been invested in something that would have been more engaging in the Marvel world around it. Even pulling from other ties like how the Owl was created in Daredevil and never fleshed out . Worth watching if you are fan of the character as he has really settled into the role so here is hoping for a season 3. Not holding my breath.