Film Review : "Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"

 Calling this film Dr. Strange vs Scarlet Witch would have been a more fitting title. Would I have preferred a villain like Nightmare or Mephisto?  Sure, but I will take what we got here. If anyone is going to complain about anything it would be the depth of the story. This lack of depth gave it more of a comic feel and made me think that director Sam Rami might have read some Dr Strange comics from the 70s. Marvel said it was going to be a horror movie, and it was not. Is there talk of demons and a darker tone than say the Avengers movies? Yes, but that does not make it a horror movie, so do not go into this expecting that. Yes, I know there have been comparisons made to "Army of Darkness" but the iconic Sam Rami film might be connected to "Evil Dead" but it's not a horror movie either. Is it a lot of fun yes, but does it scare you ? No thus not a horror movie, the same can be said for this movie.  

The movies biggest enemy was the internet that had set up expectations that everyone was going to be in the movie, and I think the What If Series was helping to set the tone. With that said the number of new characters introduced into the MCU felt right, it did not feel cluttered. The guest appearances of the cheer rousing Reed Richards, who got the loudest applause of any moment in the theater and his Illuminati partners gave me a lot more from these characters than I had bargained for going into this movie. Black Bolt looked and felt better, though I am not sure that mentioned the Inhumans, where the Fantastic Four was mentioned. 

The end could have relied on America Chavez less, since well it was not her move, she is not a character who can hold her own movie but work well with someone like Captain Marvel. I was glad to see Charlize Theron's take on Clea, who I feel might have worked better than the Christine Relationship which never really felt like great chemistry from the first movie. But Cumberbatch shone in his role as he takes the character seriously and owns it. It never felt like they were apologizing for the source material. The action was balanced, and while all the Marvel movies have begun to take on a uniform CGI glaze it worked here.  

Review : Moon Knight Episode 1

 While Moon Knight might not be my favorite Marvel character of all time, he is like a deep cut from an album no one appreciated until the past 5 years. That is if you read comics. He crosses over into books I read more though I have given his books a fair shake when they come out. I know Marc Spector pretty well. The challenge would be how to make him not come across like Marvel’s version of Bat-man , who wears white. They had to lean into the crazy. I approve of this in theory, how they executed it is another thing. The adherence to the Khonshu theme gets a thumbs up as Marvel has been apologetic in the past about Thor being a god. 

In some of the action scenes I was reminded of the “Quantum of Solace” , a more comedic James Bond. The losing time was a nice touch, but only for a first episode, if they went to the well too many of them it would not work. Overall Oscar could dial back some of the goofiness, just because someone is mentally ill does not mean they are so servile and meek.  Perhaps this is going to be ironed out and will prove just to be one of Spectors alters . I know this is not going to be set in the bigger picture of the Marvel Universe. I do not expect Blade or Daredevil to show up. 

I think there is promise, but it does seem they might be steering this in the wrong direction. If they continue with Oscar bubbling around like a Greatest American hero, then this will fall very flat. I get staying away from being like Bat-man but at some point we need to see what he is really about. This means not shying away from the costume. This means getting a good bit darker than what we have seen so far. I think by not using things like Werewolf By Night they are missing out on opportunities, hopefully the villain won’t fall into the mirror image of the hero trop they have worn out. Moonknight is going to become a household name now, lets hope it is the most accurate depiction and things are ironed out.

Film Review :' 'the Batman"

 Matt Reeves has a pretty clear vision of the Batman he wanted to bring to life. This allowed him to cast Robert Pattinson, as the Dark Knight, and focus on the early noir of the detective days. After all DC stand for Detective Comics. Comparisons to movies like "Seven" could be applied. The gimp version of the Riddler even worked. The less you saw of him the better. This is Batman year two so I f not to get too hung up over the first fight scene that saw just common gang members able to take more than one punch from Batman. Early buzz about the movie made claims that this was the best Batman movie ever on one side of the fence and that it was too woke on the other. In 2022 we have allowed a narrative to flourish that a rich white man would be the enemy, so that would be Bruce Wayne how did they handle this?  

The Riddler was a social justice warrior who wanted to bring this into the light. The politics of this film were much like the riddles the villain set up if you look into the layers the joke might be on you. We find that Thomas Wayne, whose relationship with Falcone leans onto the "Long Halloween" storyline. Wayne whose politics must be left leaning considering how much he gives to those in need, something that is even brought up by a political candidate who asks Bruce to follow in his father's footsteps, askes the gangster to have someone taken care of, which would align him more with the Clintons.  So who is the movie covertly mocking? Or is this an even handed message that all power corrupts no matter than hat they are wearing. 

It was when the Riddler's mask comes off that the movie falls apart, It almost recreates the scene with Heather Ledger and Bale in the second Nolan film. In fact this is where the movie loses the focus it started with and tries to hard to be a Nolan film. The climatic final battle, was too formulaic, We find Batman most in peril because he is hanging by one arm. This is a guy who swings around Gotham , climbing on buildings, he has been doing it for two years, do you mean to tell me he can not do a one arm pull up? Not buying it. Leading up to this i dozed off a few times, as the movie was that captivating, but the parts a slept through needed to be edited any way as it did not miss a beat with the storyline, much of the bloat could have been trimmed and this film given more focus. Lots of wasted potential .Pattinson was better than expected but as a physical prescience, even Keaton was better.  I wished the move kept the tone of the first 30 minutes. 

Marvel's Hawkeye

 

The Disney Plus shows have been a mixed bag. There have been strong moments with Wandavision possibly being the best, though I do like those character more than the others that have graced the small screen. The Netflix material had its moments the first season of Jessican Jones, the Punisher and Daredevil being the strongest and the rest boring to unwatchable. Hawkeye is better than Falcon and Winter Solider. It flows more seamlessly out of the movies and does what only Spider-Man No Way Home has done which is attempted to reconcile those Netflix shows with the movies, by bringing Kingpin in. Matt Murdock was in No Way Home only for 30 seconds at most, and Kingpin's character in Hawkeye is closer to the comics. Renner shows how comfortable he is in the role. Hailee Steinfield works really well as Kate Bishop and is a likeable character, so it happens in a very organic way than Marvel shoving a female superhero down our throats.  

Not to say the shove does not occur and predictably fail with the introduction of Echo. The character has no personality. Which was never really developed much in the comic books, there was talk hyping her up for her own series which is hopefully something Marvel rethinks as that would be watching paint dry as she can work well supporting say Daredevil, but the show does not flesh her out, nor should it since we already have other characters like the Swordsman, who is more charming and interesting. We also get Yelena, the other Balck Widow, who was introduced in the Black Widow solo movie. She has also grown into her role. The show was a bland of action and story that felt very natural along with the staple humor the movies have been known for.

I am far more interested in Moon Knight and She-Hulk as characters, so it makes me hopeful to see those if Marvel can make me root for a character, I am lukewarm on, though I have been reading comics for over forty years so even then forty years with any character and you gain more affinity for than not. It is wise to streamline these down to 6 episodes as it takes out a great deal of filler so it never drags. They did alot right here so hopefully they learned from this going forward.    

The Truth About the Punisher

It is time to clear up some misconceptions about the Punisher. The children of today who are prone to cry about everything raised their tiny fists in the air to take offense at police and supporters of police using the Punisher’s logo as their own coat of arms. While generation outrage is correct in pointing out that the Punisher is not a fan of police, the joke is still on them. If they do not like Police then they really are not going to like Frank Castle and need to wake up to why he doesn’t like them. Frank Castle is not against police brutality. He thinks police are not brutal enough. That is why he kills criminals because he thinks the system is just going to spit them back out on the streets. He sees criminals as a problem that needs to be ended. 

 When Frank Castle first graced the pages of Spider-man in 1974 he was the villain. Over the years that followed he continued to come up against actual superheroes like Daredevil, Iron-Man, Wolverine and Ghost Rider. He was not created with the intention of being a hero, but Marvel has a long tradition of turning villains you acquire enough popularity into “anti-heroes” because why not cash in. It paid off as the Punisher has had longer stretches of carrying his own book than both Captain Marvel and Black Panther combined. He has appeared in three movies and carried multiple tv shows. It is unlikely he is going anywhere since he has made Marvel a ton of money.

 Marvel’s only Punisher problem is finding the balls to point out. this is who the character is and not all products are for all people. A person who does not want to watch a Punisher show or read a Punisher comic has other options to choose from. Just like it is not realistic to like everyone in the world, the Marvel Universe should be no different. You are not going to like every character, but that does not mean they need to change. You are opposed to police brutality, well then, the Punisher is going to be harder to handle as he wants to skip all due process and be judge, jury executioner. Funny enough, in the current cancel culture due process is not really a thing, but I guess that is just a matter of convenience. Most superheroes are vigilantes. They do not go to the lengths Frank Castle does, perhaps even having to hold back because they have superpowers making them more capable of killing than Frank who is just a normal man. I think his dedication and intensity is what makes Frank an interesting character and one of the few sonic book character who does not have powers that I like, typically because the stories are so dark. He has worked as a character for almost 50 years and there are many more stories worth telling with him, if you do not like him or what he stands for then just do not read or watch them,

Film Review : Spider-man No Way Home

 This phase of the Spider-man trilogy comes to an end in a big way. I have a couple of friends who have not cared for Tom Holand in the role and this movie dismisses such notions in a very vivid manner. It picks up where the previous film left off with Parker's identity being revealed. If you have seen the trailer and have half a brain the plot is not surprise. Nor are there any surprises that are not numbered among the fan theories. Though there are a few theories that do not come to life, this movie does not include Captain Marvel who was rumored to appear and try to hunt Spider Man down. Nor does Miles Morales appear. Kraven the Hunter is also not one of the film's villains.  Dr. Strange is one of the main characters but really only bookends the film, yet this movie is a clear cut set up for his sequel. 

If you did not like the previous Holland movies, I do not think you are going to like this one. Since magic figures in as a key plot point, if you need hyper realism then stick to Bat-man movies.  It feels more like a comic book. Which is the tone these movies should have. They try to fix a few problems the movies have had. It is well paced and two of the major fan's theories do occur and pay off well. It almost made me think if the internet buzz is the new focus group and wonder if Marvel did reshoots for these. I think there is a balance of meeting expectations. The focal point is not his legal disputes though the thought of Spider-man being painted as a more of an anti-hero is present. His relationship with Dr. Strange is pretty comics accurate.  I think the only flaw in the movie this version of MJ.  She worked better in the previous film, but the chemistry is not believable and trying to paint them as a couple in real life is one of the oldest Hollywood tricks in the book, if you need an example of this watch the movie "Hail Caeser" . I give that picture they are trying to paint with them a month or two before that clause in their contract expires. 

Yes, this movie is a huge marketing vehicle. The Marvel brand is out the center. To the point that this is the first time one of the post credit scenes has been a trailer. This is done in a way that works and is not heavy handed until that moment. The movie is a lot of fun, one of the strengths is how it redeem William Dafoe, who has the movies best performance, no that is not a spoiler, he is in the trailer so if you get your feelings hurt by thinking it is, then go fuck yourself.  This movie sets up the next phase of Marvel movies better than anything we have seen so far and is the best of the four Marvel movies released this year.   

Marvel Comics -2021 a Year in Review

 When I started this blog, I reviewed the comics that came out every week. Perhaps I need to go back to that, are maybe once a month would be a better goal, as their need to be some voice of quality control out there which does not just pay lip service to the current comics trends since that is what got us here in the first place. Marvel is a mess this can be summed up in the most recent Kazar comic. How hard is Kazar to mess up? Instead, they turn it into an acid trip, giving him new powers, when it is ok that he is their version of Tarzan, there is no reason to turn him into Animal Man. They want to celebrate but the artist felt the need to slut shame Shanna because her costume has worked for years. Is he a character that could use more depth? Yes, but this story does not do that and the art is awful

It is not all bad news, when the Fantastic Four is not cluttered up by becoming a home for wayward cosmic kids, they capture the feel of the first family and the art works. But the bulk of their books clutter up the stories by diluting the book with supporting casts that take away from what makes the hero special. Hulk was the first I noticed falling victim to this when we saw too much focus place on a multitude of other colored hulks.  do we need a Red and Green She-hulk? The off-shoot books from this work, but not as a main book. The Immortal Hulk book got mired into this as we had Sasquatch merged with Doc Sampson tagging along, which did not play to the strength of Leonard Sampson and melding the two characters did nothing.  They tried making She-Hulk more like Banner and took away what makes Jennifer Walters work.  The whole Hulk spaceship story they are on now is going to tank hard, I think Immortal might not have been as great as people made it out to be, but was better than what we are getting now.  

The Avengers would work better with Vision and Scarlets Witch re-joining the team and getting rid of Blade and Ghost Rider, who did not fit and are not about the same kinds of missions. Blade was best made an example of in Hulk when he just threw him across the city. If it is not a vampire, then it is not his problem. Both Spider-man and the X-men suffer from similar problems, though perhaps Spider-man to a lesser extent. The Hulk issue we touched on earlier too many Spider-people. The X-men are clustered up on a island, which is not unlike the Mansion in that regard, but rather than focus on certain characters in certain books, we get a bunch of books that have no focus. 4 X books is what works best Uncanny, the main team big mutant threats. X-Force- black ops team. X-- Factor- the CSI teem and New Mutants, the training camp.

With Spider-man, it felt like we were circling the same drain. the Black Cat off shoot book at times working better. Amazing is really all we need, Spider-woman works thought Jessica Drew does not need to get mired down into other spiders, nor does Mile Morales need his own clone sage, it is like they never learn. Thor was another hit or miss book, that jumped around to Thor's past and future and forgot what makes him great. This unworthy thing, well I have talked about how if Jesus was a comic character, they would never treat him that way. Why kill off Dr. Strange? he is the least likely character to stay dead as he knows how to traverse the astral plane. Why replace Daredevil with Elektra?   

Over in DC the Bat books are overcrowded with other Bat characters so learn the lesson here. The days of big events are done, they were all anti-climactic anyway. Hopefully 2022 sees Sentry coming back and more Elsa Bloodstone. Given to how they follow the movies expect big emphasis to the point of over kill for Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She Hulk, and the movie stars pending Thor, Dr. Strange and Capt. Marvel. Which I am fine with as two of those are two of my favorite characters. Comic books are already on life support sales wise do stick with what works and build off it rather than deconstruction and build it back into something that does not work.