Film Review : Thor Ragnarok

The third installment of the Thor movies is the most entertaining of the three, but is that really saying much considering how flawed the first two are. The first well Thor doesn’t have his powers most of the movie, the depowering route means the writers don’t know how to handle the character in their true form. The second movie was better to some extent though we had elves in space ships. The third film is fun , but has major problems. I am a huge Thor fan, I have the Walt Simonson Thor tattooed on me. So the bar is high, but I want to see Thor on screen. I like Chris as Thor, I think the script he has to work with most of the time leaves something to be desired.

Clearly this movie was following a blueprint laid out by the Guardians of the Galaxy films.As it tried to inject more humor into the story. To the point of making the Hulk come across like Drax when he was given something to do aside from smash. Sometimes this worked better than other, using the Hulk in a humorous context worked better on the first Avengers movie , if the Hulk was going to have a sense of humor which he is typically to angry to have one, it should be handled more like it was there. But of the movie’s problems this was actually the mildest one. I can understand on following the comic books frame for frame. When it comes to the actual Norse mythology, the comics have been more faithful to it than others , but have adhered to the basics, aside from obvious faults like turning Jane Foster in a Thor. I get that Valkyrie was not Brunhilde, though I did like the wink to her in the flashback sequence. The problem is Valkrie’s are not sworn to protect Asgard they are sworn to take dead warriors to Valhalla, pretty basic core stuff.

Another big plot fail is the fact Hel is the daughter of Loki, not his sister. OOPS, that pretty much pisses on the point of the movie. Toilet flushing inserted here. So with the basic premise being foolish, let's look at what I liked. Dr Strange being way more powerful was cool to see. I also liked Korg and Meik being included in the wink to the Greg Pak “Planet Hulk” storyline. Funny how it made it into this movie after having Beta Ray Bill replacing the Silver Surfer in the cartoon adaptation. Why Beta Ray Bill wasn’t in the movie I don’t know , while the Hulk is my favorite superhero I would have prefered Beta Ray Bill fighting Thor in the arena if we had to go that route. I thought Hel looked good and Skurge was fairly true to the character. The film leads us up to where Thor and Loki are going to fall into the Infinity War. We already know the Hulk buddies up with Rocket Racoon. So it’s too bad the Thor films never got it right , but at least this one was fun getting it wrong.  

Movie Review : " It"

Friday night my daughter and were talking about what her mom was going to do I told her she was going to go see “It”.Because 7 year olds know everything My daughter replied “No she is going to see a movie about a scary clown. I then tried to explain to her what the title of said scary clown movie was . But if you are wanting to see a movie about scary clowns you might be better off with the current season of American Horror Story. As “it’ doesn’t limit itself to just being about a scary clown and the bigger more sinister picture is well painted . itself among the some of the better Stephen King adaptations to film, this movie falls short of the Shining or the Mist in terms of scares , but has a lot of heart.This is only the first chapter so if you go in wanting to for them to return to Derry as adults then you better stock up on pop-corn and wait for the next movie. Generally speaking I think the director nailed the personalities of kids. This was the studio putting a ton of faith in a director whose other work “Momma” was luke warm. This film does a better job than the Tim Curry tele-vision miniseries. The big question you are really going to ask here is how does Pennywise stack up?

So you are asking Bill Skarsgard to stuck up against Tim Curry. If you strip away any cgi that was augmenting Skarsgard’s performance and kept it do who delivered their lines better than Curry would win.This also outline’s one of the movie strengths that blows the nostalgia horror fans are known for hanging onto out of the water. That is no saying we need to re-make “The Exorcist” of “the Shining” with today’s effects. In fact since this was originally a made for television mini-series and not a full length theatrical release then technically it’s not a remake. So it’s 2017 and has a bigger budget than the televised version, so it looks better. This is not just from a effects perspective there are some well placed shots, most of these you have seen in the trailer. Though a few like right before Pennywise starts dancing in his lair, so effective.

Pennywise never goes full out bug in this version, just like we are once again not shown the kids giving it to Beverly in sewer, I think that is something you can only see in Second Life. The sexual tension was more present. Not just with the kids, but a few of the townspeople and her father. Much like the lesson Joss Whedon taught us in Buffy that highschool is a terrifying place. The early adolescent world of these kids is just as scary as anything they encounter in the sewers. So it is much truer to King’s vision in this regard. I think the maniacal headshaking charge we see repeated by Pennywise was the only part of the movie I did not like, though the inclusion of the Wolf-man the protagonist sees in the book would have been a nice touch but perhaps Universal had too tight a reins on those rights. I haven’t read the book since it’s release in 1986. But the impact the book had still made me able to weigh it against the film and able to chant”he thrusts his fist against the posts, and still insists he sees the ghosts” which could have been given a little more context. So even the overblown drama of the Hollywood moments was not able to diminish the films entertainment value. If you are a horror fan you might find it lacking in the scares department, but it’s still a fun ride for Stephen King Fans.

Spider Man - Home Coming

So this is Marvel Studios first shot at a stand alone film with arguably their most beloved hero. What worked with Holland's portrayal of the character in Civil War still works here. The movie is flawed, but fun. Where the other actors fell flat Holland excels, but he still has a script to adhere to and it's the writing where things get a little iffy. The twist with Keaton's Vulture and how he was mixed into his life on a few levels was clever even with it's deviation from the source material. However the biggest flaw was the lack of Spider sense. Spidey senses tingling is almost a part of the pop culture surrounding this character so why is it not a part of the character? Would this have really messed up the twist with Keaton before the third act ? No.

What did they get right? I thought Keaton did a good job as the Vulture. I liked the easter eggs they dropped for the Sinister Six and making it obvious Scorpion is going to be at least one of the villains in the next movie. I still want to see Black Cat on screen and they could have laid the ground work for that without making her seem like a Cat-woman rip off which she is but some how it's still ok with me , must be the boobs. But I digress. I had heard going into this it was more of a comedy than a action movie. This is not true it was a good balance. I think one of the things I was most greatful for was that it was not another origin story. There was still that Greatest American Hero moment with the hi tech suit which, I know Spider-man has now in the comics thanks to Parker Industries , but he did not have it back then.

Sure some of the casting was flawed. An Indian Flash Thompson was a stretch, how many Indians do you know with the last name of Thompson? But it was the fact he was on the debate team and not the football team that really fumbled. They missed a great chance to throw in some anti-bullying social justice bull shit here which I would have still rolled my eyes at , but it would be in proper context and was part of Parker's mythology. Tomei as Aunt May still worked. So that was a casting oddity I was fine with so I am flexible to certain extent. I was also fine with the alien tech from the first Avengers being used to make things like the Shockers gauntlets. So it did not seem forced. What did seem forced was Parker's relationship with Stark. Aside from that I think it's on the tier under Dr. Strange, Captain America and Iron-Man, so maybe number five in the Marvel movies...are we counting Logan in that ? Oh yeah I would review it but it's been out so long I'll just say I liked it and put it in the top five Marvel movies

Wondering on Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman has been out for three weekends. By now most of you who would click on an article like this have probably seen it.I waited to review it after I had a week to think about it. It's easy to get swept up in the hype and have it's momentum to blur objective thinking. I saw on Facebook some one making their views about the movie known and saying not o say anything negative about it. This is dangerous because it means you can't hear other peoples views as it threatens how you feel about your own.  I get it Wonder -Woman was the movie you had been waiting for. Lets face it if Wonder- Woman had flopped it would have seal to coffin on the sub-genre of female fronted super-hero films .But Wonder Woman is  not a scared cow. To say Wonder Woman is one of the best  D/C movies is not really saying much. It's true it is better than Super-man vs Bat-man, Cat-Woman,Green Lantern and Bat-man Forever. Those movies are all also awful. super hero movies in a long time is just untrue- It's not better than Dr. Strange or Civil War.

The first Captain America movie is a good one to compare this to, It has a retro feel. It even has the displaced born in the wrong time element. Here is the push and pull of the origin story. I am so sick of them and then it was un-needed as we were already introduced to her in Batman vs Super-man. There might have been a better way to take us to Paradise Island and give us a little background into how she is being defined here. It could have been told in five mins over a campfire when they are in Germany. The movie's strengths are when it played to her connection to Humanity. Much like Captain America she was a person from another time trying to find her way back into the world of man. The humor was well balanced. Gal Gadot captured Diana's personality, though is still a little scrawny to be an Amazon, Her picking up a tank just seemed laughable with those arms.  The suspension of disbelief laid solely on her acting. The action sequences up until the climax which turned into a huge cgi throw down. It was like the producers called up asked how much of the budget was left and then told them to throw that into effects . This is a problem with many comic book movies. I think Dr.Strange, the first Cap and Iron-man not as much. So Wonder-woman only suffered where many others do. But if they wanted to make this stand out they could have chosen differently. I think that's why the Netflix shows like Daredevil do more with less.

So while Wonder-woman rose to the occasion, especially on a box -office level and with the re-shoots of Justice League taking place cements her as the center-piece of the D/C verse til another solo Bat-man movie comes out, what does it mean for other female super-heroes? We know Joss Whedon is doing a Bat-girl movie, but Capt Marvel could be the next big flop on the heels of a bigger flop in Black Panther, whose trailer looks like the Jungle Book meets Fast and Furious. It could mean D/C movies on the up swing, until they get to Cyborg, which will get pushed back as other properties with more potential bump it out of the way. I'll agree Wonder-woman was the best D/C film that's not Bat-man Begins or the Original Super-men, but trails behind others. If you are afraid to take off the blinders and see the reality of that then you deserve the Cyborg movie.

Bat-Man vs Superman

Marvel continues to kick D/C's ass when it comes to the big screen. D/C often works better on Television because on a show like Gotham or Smallville, they break things down into smaller bit sized portions to focus on the character's rather than the big picture. When the scope gets too big it's hard for the often more mythic heroes of D/C to be anything more than card board cut outs. Bat-man has worked on screen time and time again because they are able to make a emotional connection with Bruce Wayne while the alien messiah is harder to make down to earth. When this is touched upon in Batman Vs Super-man the film is working best.  So lets look at what makes the movie and then see what breaks it.

Makes the Movie

Affleck is better at being Bat-man than we expected.

Breaks the movie

He is worse at being Bruce Wayne, this gives us more of an emotional connection with Super-man, who comes across as being the mis-understood under dog in all of this.

Makes the Movie

Wonder-man, despite being a little on the scrawny side compared to the iconic Linda Carter, Gadot's Woman is one of the best things this movie has going. Perhaps it's because if we don't count the Lego Movie,  we have been through six Super-Man movies, Smallville and Lois& Clark, along with seven Bat-man movies  and Gotham . So we are hungrier to see Diana on screen. Lets not get into the others as Cyborg might have gotten more screen time than Aqua-Man and the Flash got more than both. As Wonder-woman she does just as the trailer suggests, but we do get to see her bracelets and lasso in action.

Breaks the Movie

The best part was too condensed, they could have given us more and less Lois.

Makes the Movie

The action scenes with Super-man were much better than Man of Steel.  When he lets Bat-man dent his armored fist on him it was great.

Breaks the Movie

The big showdown. Super-man is not dumb. If this is his first encounter with kryptonite, then it's effect might be  a surprise, but after he see what happens when he breathes it in then would he not hold his breath when his super-hearing picks up Bat-man cocking the trigger of the gun? His reflexes make him not only faster than a speeding bullet but fast enough to have the gun up Bat-man's ass before he pulls the trigger. So that did not work for me.

Makes the movie-

I liked the messiah approach to Super-man and Lex Luthor's line about "if God is All-Powerful then he can't be all good, and if he is good than he can't be all-powerful" as well as the line where he says Clark Kent and mentions all the other names of gods .

Breaks the Movie

The worst depiction of Lex Luthor ever, he comes across more like the Joker than it seems Jared Leto's version will. Luthor is a megalomaniac not a maniac. He should come across more like Kevin Spacey's character in "House of Cards" at his most human and be more cold and calculating, but wait in this movie that would blur the lines between Luthor and Bruce Wayne.

I think I fell asleep for a couple minutes building up to the big show down but caught the rest of the movie, was a little confused why Super-man didn't use his hearing to find this mother if he didn't want to fight Bat-man. Bruce Wayne was a jerk so he did need the beating he got. Could have stood for less Bruce Wayne, the scene with Bat-man taking out the Russians was good enough for my Bat-man fix. Once the big throw down with the troll from Lord of the Rings that they decided to make Doomsday took place I thought was funny that Bat-man just got out of the way since there was little he could do. The end was no surprise because you know what is going to happen to Super-man when Doomsday shows up, you can paint him as a messiah figure with out him becoming a martyr.

I didn't like Nolan's too realistic take on the D/C Universe in the movies that followed Bat-man Begins, but this tried to hard to rub a coat of grit on everything and missed what makes the Avengers/ Marvel movies fun as it took itself too seriously. Even though Civil War and Dr. Strange are more than likely going to be the last of the great Marvel movies and bring the curve of the comic genre back down in it's wake, much like the fate of the Universal Monster trend met it's end with the Abott  and Costello films until Hammer breathed new life into the undead, D/C is pretty much still born at this point.

Movie Review : Deadpool

Deadpool is one of those books I skip more often than not because I have reached an exhaustion point with the character, since he not only appears in Uncanny Avengers now, but has multiple books and for the past few years was being forced fed to you due to  his immense popularity. Popularity evident in the almost endless parade of Deadpool cosplay at any convention that was a a fever pitch last year. The movie works off of the same elements that made the character popular an due to the R rating doesnt' have to let up. This redeems the character of Ryan Reynolds previous portrayal in Wolverine Origins. However one thing that should have carried over from the Wolverine movie is absent, namely the Weapon X Program. Instead we have a torture chop shop that is closer to Hostel. Thus creating a vacuum that is filled by made up villains when actual villains from the Marvel Universe could have been used. Deadpool's rogues gallery might not be the strongest on it's own, leaving his scraps from the X-men's table , but there re plenty of villains who have yet to see screen time in the X-men movies that could have fit the bill.

Wait you say, Ajax is in the comics. Sure if we are talking about the big Hulk sized goon from Pantheon. That one is far from a big bad, and I would have been fine with the Pantheon being worked into it. This did not ruin the movie for me since my emotional connection to the character is much less than if this was a Hulk, Thor or Dr. Strange movie. Why did they not make the character Fantomex ? The movie was very entertaining and kept me engaged, I did not feel bad for having to pay 20.00 dollars to see it in Imax, because all the other showings were sold out. As I told me wife the only other movie I am going to pay that much to see again will be Dr. Strange....I guess until 2025 when the Sentry movie comes out or Marvel makes a Hulk solo film.

Everything about the movie was over the top. The action scenes were bloodier than even Daredevil's Netflix show.  We had numerous masturbation references, We had sex scenes , which were just a few degrees less tame than those from Jessica Jones. Is it a kid's movie. Well it depends on how old your child is and how much they like Deadpool. If he is their favorite character, well you are going to have to have a talk with them before and after. He has had little cartoon face time so unless we are talking the video game they would have have to have read the comic book. So they are not a stranger to the kind of adult flavored wackiness, but bringing it to life might be intense and require a bathroom break or eye covering in a few moments like the strip club scene. If they are 12 or older let them have at it. I saw Conan the Barbarian when I was little and it didn't warp me, though I suppose my previous therapist might say that is up for debate.

Will my daughter see this movie? No, but  she doesn't really care about the character, if she wants to see Wonder-Woman on March 25th, well ratings wise it should be a different story. There are plenty f reasons for Deadpool's r-rating all of them are what makes the film work, so props to the studio for not backing down and editing it to a pg-13. Half the dialogue would have needed to be rewritten. Colossus pretty much serves as the movies moral barometer and that would have given his character a less pivotal role. The cgi on him is good and shows how many of the larger than life characters should be handled one day when they hit the screen...I'm thinking Sasquatch when they make a Alpha Flight movie.Speaking of big bruisers, another question is why make up this Angel chick when she could have very well have been Monet?No only do you not have to be a fan of the comic book, but the movie works better if you aren't even thought the tone and the character himself is pretty much intact. No laser beam eyes, though they do poke fun of that depiction as well as Green Lantern. It gladly defies most of the super-hero conventions , except for the origin story which is told in a way that doesn't bog the movie down. The effects and fight scenes are pretty much everything you could want from a Deadpool movie and future Wolverine or Punisher movies could stand to learn from.

Reynolds shows he was in fact perfect for the role with Morena Baccarin once again proving she is more than a pretty face, she adds a bit of an edge to her character and is believable in the role. The girl who plays Negasonic Teenage Warhead, is passable and the villain is typical for what he doesn't would have been better served as real character with more depth. But overall it's a ride that doesn't slow down and keeps you pulled into Deadpools world. Hopefully rumors are right and the Liam Neeson jokes are winks toward him bringing Cable to life which is confirmed in the post-credits scene. One of the better Marvel movies and the best of the X-men films. It was also a great movie for Valentine's.

How Does Ant-man Measure Up?

Marvel is aware that despite being one of the founding Avengers they now Ant-man is about as well known to the general public who doesn't read the comics as Rocket Racoon and the concept is just a s willy to some people, so they tried to take a similar tone as Guardians  of the Galaxy. One of the things Marvel is doing since they are also aware if they approach the basic origin superhero formula in the same say it will accelerate the fatigue of the trend they are riding so they have tried to make each film fit a different mold, the first Capt America really stated this as that was their war film, Thor their epic Fantasy, the second Captain America, was their espionage movie, Guardians there space opera, with some of the other movies in-between those being allowed to be more comic centric. One can assume Dr. Strange with also be set aside in that way , but after that they might be in trouble. So Ant-man is their heist film. This Ocean 11 type element injected into the movie takes itself pretty seriously and the supposed humor that apologizes for being about a man makes himself the size of an ant is often counter balanced by this.

The humor really isn't that funny, I don't think I laughed the entire film, granted I generally did like comedies because much like Ant-man they try to hard to make you like and it ends up feeling very contrived.The huge Thomas the Tank Engine or the pet ant, seem to be a bit of a reach. For me where the film works is they allow Lang to keep his mask on. They do acknowledge that Hank Pym was originally Ant-man and they even show Wasp for about ten seconds as a flash back sequence. I am not sure why they didn't allow Hank Pym to be Ant-man rather than going with Scott Lang. Its another way Marvel has screwed themselves from being able to connect the dots with their own mythos. How can Wonder Man ever show up ?

Paul Rudd gets the job done. Douglas is also pretty decent as the aged Pym. Every one else is a little stiff. It takes thirty minutes before he gets the costume on, and while I like how that comes about , I think all origins should take place in the first ten minutes and then it's go time. I liked how it connected to Avengers two, Falcon's appearance was cool, and was it me of did his costume look a little red white and blue, which could lead to one of my fears about the prophetic tone the comics could be taking in order to work around actors contractual obligations and give Marvel a loop hole out of the Disney deal.

In the new politically correct world of geekdom, there have been questions about how Wasp was sidelined, how black and Hispanics are portrayed and I think if any stereotypes were played into it was done so with a reason that made sense for the story and you have to remember stereotypes get played into because there have been enough examples to justify them.  Hollywood works off archetypes, Yellow Jackets plays into some of the most run of the mill villain cliches.  He just hops into his suit and they  are at it , so I am not sure why Rudd had to train to used his and Yellow Jacket was able to pop it on and go. I am not sure why Marvel didn't show Pym as Giant Man  rather using the particles to make inanimate things bigger.

Quality wise some of the cgi did't hold up to the other movies when they are small everything is not as blended. They have elluded to the fact that the astral world of Dr strange is going to be like sub atomic world, which I hope is not the cas as it looks like a darker version of the dreamier Fortress of Solitude sequences from the Reeve era Super-man films.The ants at times were a little suspect and I was surprised that that element of his powers took so much focus , so I give them props for at least not downplaying that.

Was it fun? Sure and it didn't come across to much like "Honey I Shrunk the Avenger".  It was a pretty mixed bag and I am glad I didn't throw down the twelve bucks to see it in the theater and you should only do that if you have nothing better to do and too much money or a bug Scott Lang fan. As Superhero movies go I think it's better than Spider-man 3, Iron Man 2, Daredevil, the first Punisher, Catwoman, Dark Knight Rises, Electra, most of the Blade Sequels and Fantastic Four so use that as your barometer , after Dr. Strange it's only going to get worse from here as Captain Marvel comes across like My Super Ex Girl Friend and Black Panther the Captain Africa.

The Pros and Cons of Avengers Age of Ultron

There might be some spoilers head as we look at the pros and cons of the Avengers sequel. I am not sure what movie some of the people who reviewed this movie as claims that Hawkeye is the hero of the movie and it's centered around him and Black Widow are pretty off base.

The Pros

1- Origin aside the Vision was well handled and the best new character that was introduced.

2-The depiction of how powerful Thor is was handled better than it has been even in the Thor movies.

3-The first woman super-hero with real powers hit the big screen and Scarlet Witch is allowed to kiss ass.

4- Quicksliver is well played and Aaron Taylor Johnson does a better job at playing him than Evan Peters.

5-The interpersonal relationship between Rogers and Stark is developed in a way that will easily lead to Civil War with out making one a good guy or bad guy.

6-The movie is well paced and never drags.

7- They introduced new characters without making the story feel overcrowded.

8-I liked the interaction Hawkeye had with the twins since they were on the team at the same time once the original lineup broke up.

9-I liked the set up for other movies like Black Panther and Infinity Wars. Klaw was a nice touch, particular what happen to him to further move his character forward. Who was this Cho woman, is she Amadeus' mother? I guess we also get a clear look at who is on Cap's team for Civil War if we are judging by the end.

10-It is also cooler if you catch this week's episode of Agents of Shield before seeing the movie because it sets you up for the first scene.


The Cons

1- I didn't like how the Hulk was handled in the movie, he seemed to take a back seat at time despite the spot light given in the fight between him and Iron-man, where the out come was questionable and not clearly explained, was he in mid transformation or not? I'm fine with the Hulk not being an Avenger, but if you are going to get my hopes up in the trailers and make it look like he is in the movie more than he is, some of this should have helped my con number four but it didn't.

2-Black Widow was given more to do but I am sure the feminists are going to cry out how  she is more focused on trying to hook up with Banner making her look like girl with daddy issues.

3-Scarlet Witch's mental state has always been fragile but making her her cowering after she had already handled the Avengers and knew how to use her powers why would she be afraid of robots? And her response to what happens to Quicksliver, should have really given you the chance to see how powerful she is ,  that should have been game over after she went almost berserk.

4-Number 7 of my pros I said the story did not feel over crowded, this is not true about what happened one screen. I think six Avengers at one time is enough. So when Quick Sliver and Scarlet witch showed up, Black Widow and I dunno Hawkeye, could have been captured or ko'ed or whatever.

5- The opening attack on the Hydra base looked and felt like a video game. The cgi did not help with this , I felt at times the Hulk had a more life like look on the first film.

6-Speaking of video games and over crowded fight scenes the combo moves they kept doing felt even more video game like and less like the comics. The interplay between Thor and Vision worked , but some of the other stuff with Thor and Cap or  Cap and pretty much anyone was silly.

7- In pro 9 I said I like how they set up the other movies, but why was Ant-man excluded from this? Also the credits scene is like one we saw in another movie, he just takes things into his own hands more here.

8-Where was Coulson?  I know he has other stuff going on and we saw Agents of Shield lead up to it but to have been instrumental in the first film he felt oddly absent.

9-The exception of pro number 7 was War-machine, he felt a little forced into things at time.

10-The running Captain America potty mouth joke got worn into the ground after the second time it came up, some of the humor didn't feel as natural as the first film.

Guardians of the Galaxy

There is a good reason this move has cracked the  90 percentile range on Rotten Tomatoes. Its is one of the best super hero movies Marvel has pumped out thus far. Why some might argue this is just a sci fi flick and not in the same category as Iron - Man. Star Lord wears a mask and in their comic incarnations bump elbows with both X-men and Avengers a like, in fact Ms Marvel has been a regular the past few issues.

It is obvious the film doesn't take it'self seriously, the tone often not unlike James Gunn's Super.The laugh out loud moment mainly come from how the band of cosmic heroes carry themselves. It could be argued that Pratt played Quill like the re-boot version of the young Captain Kurt, I like Pratt depiction of Starlord, more than I like the character in the comics. While familiar with Drax and Gamora from the Infinity Gauntlet series, that this movie often hints it could lead into, the character I had the most connection to in the comic only appeared for a few minutes a Breet the alien girl who followed Banner in the early eighties appears.

The visual elements make up for the few  moments of stiff acting that come from Lee Pace who plays Ronan the Accuser, a character that was pretty one dimensional , until he hooked up with the Inhumans a few years ago. Brolin's Quick appearance at Thanos , who actually appears in the film and not just as a hologram like the folks at Marvel , was a high point for me as the character looks awesome.

The cgi characters Rocket Racoon and Groot, could have been the movie's weak spots, proved that with the Avenger's Hulk Marvel studios has learned the value of getting the cgi right in order for the audience to connect to the characters. The other worldy landscapes were cool, in the future perhaps they can get a little more Blade Runner with this , but what they did worked.The action scene . were very coherent and not just too much thrown at you too fast.

The characters all received pretty equal screen time despite the fact this was from Quill's perspective, it would be great if for a sequel it was more from Rocket's. These guys have set the bar pretty high for the sequel the studio already signed this one up for before the movie came out and with a 11 million dollar opening night they guessed right.The easy way out on the sequel would be to bring them to Earth, but I think just expanding the Cosmic world, as it still leaves the Star Jammers, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill and the Sliver Surfer to name a few and you know I could keep naming for days here.

Some of the Easter Eggs which ranged from Howard the Duck to the Nova Corps, were good teases, put why not have one of them blast off as the real Nova instead of flying around in ships. Where was Adam Warlock is a good question. The celestials were cool and unexpected as well.Overall you don't have to geek out and now your Marvel inside out to like this Movie, though sense I do I have to look at my girl friend's perspective when it comes to what the normal non-comic lifer's view on this is ,even though like I said I never had much of an emotional investment in these characters. They did win me over here.She really like the movie anf was willing to endure me pulling out my big hard bound encyclopedia to the Marvel Universe and search out more on the characters afterwards. And yes that sort of thing does happen at my house.     Avenger's Age of Ultron is going to really have to come correct if they are going to be able to top this...but it could happen.

Movie Review: Captain America: the Winter Soldier

Thor 2 aside , Marvel keeps getting closer to getting it right and the sequel to Captain America comes the closest yet. I liked the first movie and in someways think it stands out from this one in the way it juxtaposed the two time period where this movie comes across like a straight up action flick, a more over the top version of one of the Bourne films. This over the top element it what a comic book movie needs. A good question to ask is if this was in the pages of the book would it be a good read? This felt closer to the comic book than previous marvel films, with the first Iron Man, right behind it in this regard.

It is placed firmly in the Marvel Movieverse and is not unlike the Agents of Shield show it was good to see the characters from that show cross over into this and word is the movie is cross back over into the show. Right off the bat they were throwing in more characters from the comics with Batroc the Leaper the first threat. Arnim Zola turned out to be one of the masterminds behind the whole thing and Baron Von Strucker marches his way into the lead in they provide to Avengers 2 ...and then there was my favorite moment the appearance of Quicksliver and Scarlet Witch. Is it me or did Scarlet Witch come across a lot like Drusilla?

I thought Sam Wilson was handled well. I have little emotional attachment to the character and was much more excited to hear Stephen Strange's name mentioned, in the discussion of possible threats. There was a lot more of Black Widow in the film than I expected, her combat moves stay the same as they did in Iron Man and Avengers, and to be honest, I would not mind her getting phased out of Avengers 2  to make more room for Wanda and Captain Marvel, since we won't get Wasp until after Ant-man.

As for Bucky Barnes, it was funny how much of the audience was shocked to find he was the Winter Soldier, I would have expected more comic book readers in the theater , but when a movie is raking it in like this one is I guess realistically it makes sense. But this goes to show a movie can do well while sticking to the source material. Chris Evans is well settled into the role and with this films success it lives no doubt that there will be a third film. Maybe the Serpent Society or Modok for the next one, though Baron Zemo needs to show up at some point to prep for the Masters of Evil, which would be good for Avengers 3.

Overall I am pleased with this one, it kept me entertained and gave me enough easter eggs to keep me satisfied. I can't say Cap is in even my top twenty heroes, but I respect him and value his place in the Avengers and the Marvel U.  

The Wolverine

The movie was fun and paid more tribute to the comics than the first Wolverine solo outing. First off  if you are hung up on the height thing, well then the Transformers sized Sliver Samurai isn't going to do it for you.  Nor will the fact Viper doesn't have green hair, I mean was that a lot to ask of the wardrobe department, not to mention we will never see Logan in a full costume and mask.  So once you have all that out of the way you can enjoy the movie.

I do have one more beef, so its good news bad news with the bad news first. The fact Logan doesn't have his healing power for the whole first 2/3 of the movie irked me , just like having a de-powered mortal Thor bumbling around on earth the middle of his movie... you are telling me that you don't think the character is relatable because they are so powerful, well though shit Hollywood it's a super-hero film. Wolverine did transcend a lot of the spandex stereotypes by feeling more like a martial arts films with the yakuza and ninjas flying about.

The film was well directed and the part somewhat over dramatized by Jackman but it was balanced out , my attention was kept and the action was reasonably paced. For some reason I had it in my head Omega Red was going to be in this but...oh well.  Jean Grey did haunt Logan throughout the movie which was a nice connective tie, as well as an Trask industries in the news footage and of course the two big cameos at the end.

The end was big and cartoonish, which was a slight departure from the rest of the film that kept a somewhat grittier tone than most Marvel films this side of Punisher Warzone. There was a lack of blood for someone who should have been cutting his opponents to shreds, but maybe that was flying off screen. I think Iron Man 3 was a slightly bigger and better movie,  it was a hello of a lot less chaotic than Super-man, but  aside from the whole mutant thing it was grounded in reality, though Viper who doesn't have powers in the comics somehow got the toads tongue in this.

My expectations were pretty low, so it was surprisingly good all thing considered and worth the rare trip to theater. Granted I only have a moderate interest in the character, I'm not sure he is even in my top ten marvel characters, though he is immense in his popularity almost surpassing Spider-man, I appreciate the thought behind this now if we just stick to everyone's powers as is, i'll live with the compromises in costuming.

Movie Review: Man of Steel

If you read this blog, it is no secret that Super-man is my favorite D/C comics character,  so the anticipation and the expectations are raised pretty high, though after the Rotten Tomatoes reviews started coming in and the social media reaction was not negative but just not knowing how to take the film, I tried to lessen my expectations. Now after seeing it myself I can understand the odd reactions as it was not what people expected and I am still a little unsure how I feel about it.

It was entertaining and did not suck. Part of this was due to the fact it was incredibly well made. Some of the mega-galatic qualities made elements of the Avengers look like cheap video game cgi.  So from a production and cinematic level it was a better movie than Avengers as it had more of a Ridley Scott feel than the more comic like elements Snyder normally employs.

From the get go liberties began to be taken with the mythos. Krypton resembled something that was a cross between "City of Lost Children" and "Dune". Truth be told I am so tired of this origin story being told I guess the visual element was needed to keep from losing me. The last adventures of Jor-el, while fun to watch could have been trimmed to have put more screen time with Clark in the suit before he turned him self over to the military. Zod shows up and outs Clark via a broadcast threat, so the fact the military decided to just take Zod's word or everything seemed a little off to me.

The Fortress of Solitude being a space ship instead of an ice castle , made sense i selling it with as much realism they attempted with this and I think overall the film succeeded in what it intended to do in making Super-man more feasible to modern audiences when he was so grounded in World War 2 values. The Smallville elements were handled better than previous films , I feel even more than the Donner films. Reeves had more charisma on screen and made you feel like Super-man was your friend, this movie he was much more clearly alien and there was an sense of isolation and being on the outside looking in that almost took from the Bill Bixby Hulk television show.

As with Smallville or any of the movies there is this sense of joy that wells up inside of me when ever I see him first appear in the suit. Its such an iconic image that somehow manages to almost hold more weight for me than when I see Banner transform on screen. I think this is because the Hulk is more about release where Super-man is the actualization of our higher selves. It was in these moments the movie excelled, but when it threw a lot of hard sci-fi at you in the big battle scene in the movies second half that it lost something for me.

After Clark saves Lois when she is crashing to Earth and becomes embroiled in stopping all these various terra forming plots and devices Zod has set in place it gets scattered and then turns into a disaster film combined with the third  Matrix film. Snyder dialed back his trademark slow-mo fight scenes but went just as over  the top but in a much more Micheal Bay manner and lost me because then I couldn't see the character. The character came back in the final fight scene with Zod. I find it hard to believe Super-man would have allowed for that much destruction of Metropolis to take place, but this is a different Super-man who will kill, when he has to.

Overall I will have to see the middle section again to make a final judgement, it quality film making but feels weird seeing this as the portrayal of his world be it on Earth or on Krypton, it was gritty and often serious , though I don't think that was necessarily problematic, it was an intangible element in the tone, but maybe I just need to see it again to get use to the stylistic difference. It was one of the more well made Super-hero films to date and raises the bar on Marvel when they think about the quality in which they wish to bring the cosmic elements to life.    

The Hobbit: Movie Review

I went into this a little worried hearing it was bloated and wondering how a three hundred page book would be made into three movies. Well from the beginning this was solved as it went into The Silmarillion...I can't say that word without thinking of the band who wants to be Genesis. The Dwarf city was breathtaking and it set the tone for the rest of the film, which was most visual stunning when it came to the sets and landscaping to build the world.

Not as dark as they Lotr films , the filter on the film wasn't as grayed so the cgi didn't seem to be as well blended as it was with the first films. Though there were some strong cgi moments, the eagles and Gullom being the best.

The pacing was fluid , at three hours I was never bored, even in some of the more dialogue heavy sequences where they were telling not showing.some of the action like the battle in the goblin city looked a little like a video game and I was waiting for Gandalf to hop on a power up. It was pretty bad ass when he sliced the top of a goblins head off , there were a few beheading making the violence more graphic than the first trilogy, though not Game of Thrones.

I like how they never showed all of Smaug, and left the Necromancer a little more of a mystery. Like in the books. I liked all of the sets they were truly one of the films highest achievements , even though they where always introduced from an Ariel shot looking down just like Mordor.

Bilbo was a little on the slim side, but did an excellent job showing his trepidation I. Regard to his journey. The dwarves were good but I didn't like how they tried to sneak some sexy dwarves in , I mean one of them don't even have a beard. It alike Hollywood has such a low opinion of women that they think women are vapid enough to have sat through nine hours of the first trilogy just for Elijah, Viggo or Orlando. I mean how many guys went home to fap to Liv Tyler or Kate Blanchett? ...ok how many guys whose masturbation collection is not solely pictures of cosplayers taken riding on elevators at Dragon-con?

Of course I enjoyed the parts which stuck the most closely to the book but the liberties taken were generally not too offensive if at all, the feel was captured perfectly, the trolls stooge like , the goblins didn't just see like little orcs. This defiler Orc , did look like he stepped out of world or Warcraft or like Panthro from the Thundercats if he was designed by Ray Harryhaussen. But the Orc dwarf war was cool a great scene of the decimated battlefield.

I left the theater wanting to see more and then later in the afternoon when contemplating something to do that night I wanted to go see it again so despite sexy dwarves Jackson pulled it off as I am a tough audience when it comes to my high expectations om regards to all things Middle Earth.