Movie Review: The Marvels

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: The opening act was fun

Cons: Too much silly overall

The Bottom Line:

After opening

The film becomes too silly

This one’s skippable

“Is This an Avengers Test?”

I’ve let myself fall behind on the Marvel movies again.  (Let’s not even discuss how far behind I am on the shows.)  Part of that is because I stopped enjoying the movies, and what I was hearing about the movies I hadn’t seen wasn’t good.  Still, I’m hoping to catch up, at least on the movies.  And the first step toward that was The Marvels.  It was…interesting.

As the movie opens, the Kree, being led by Dar-Been (Zawe Ashton), are on the move, and Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), is trying to stop them.  Her stop at a wormhole that is sending out power surges coincides with Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) investigating.  And, back on Earth, Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) is playing around with her bangle.  When an energy surge sends them swapping locations, chaos ensues.  But Dar-Been is still on the move.  Can the linked trio figure out a way to work together to stop her?

I’d heard lots of bad things about the movie, and for the first act, I was pleasantly surprised.  The opening action scene was quite fun.  Yes, Kamala and her fan girling was a bit much, but I was willing to look past that since it was appropriate for her character and her age.  It did go on a bit too long, but I was happy with how Carol responded to it.

As long as we are talking character stuff, the needed scene between Carol and Monica was way too short.  I get it, they only had 90 minutes or so of story time to work with, but it just didn’t seem like they earned the character reunion they pretended happened with the rest of the movie.

It was in the middle of the movie that things went off the rails.  The first time for me was the planet we visit half way through the movie.  Yes, it’s a fun gag at first.  But then, it goes on too long and just gets weird.

Then there’s the bit near the climax that, again, is just too weird.  Sorry, but I’m not buying it.

Overall, the movie seems to gloss over some plot details as well.  I felt like some crucial scenes were cut.  Or a major plot point was covered by one sentence of dialog.

Granted, I was watching this on Disney+, but I felt the special effects held up.  Which is good because, in many ways, the plot was just an excuse for special effects and stunts.

The acting was a bit of a mixed bag.  Some of the cast were fully committed, others felt like they weren’t that invested.

There was promise in this film, but it just got too silly by the end.  Unless you need to keep up with the MCU, there’s no reason to watch The Marvels.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action and acting

Cons: Pacing in mostly predictable story

The Bottom Line:

Guardians are back

Fighting to save one of them

Predictable film

Quest to Save Rocket

Somewhere along the way, I got behind on Marvel movies again (and newer movies in general).  Part of it is the cable movies I’ve been watching.  But part of it is pure laziness.  I wasn’t going to see stuff in the theater and I wasn’t even trying to catch it on streaming.  But I’m trying to catch up now.  We’ll see how long it lasts, right?

All of that to say that I finally sat down to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.  And I may have found another reason why I let myself get behind.

When this movie opens, it finds the Guardians on a planet, trying to recover from a recent, devastating loss that has hit their leader, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), especially hard.  But when an outside force attacks, leaving Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) fighting for his life, Peter and the rest jump into action to try to find a way to save him.  But the only way forward is going to put them on the radar of a truly evil man.  Will this mission cost all of them their lives?

As I was watching this movie, the biggest thing I struggled with was the fact that I didn’t care.  I mean, you know where the story is going to go, the only question is the how.  Now, I will confess that a couple of things along the way did surprise me, but most of the big questions fell into this predictability.

It also didn’t help that we had extended flashbacks finally filling us in on how Rocket became the racoon we all know and love.  I will give them this, it was definitely relevant to this story.  But I still felt like we could have gotten that same information in less time.  Considering the movie is two and a half hours long, finding something to leave on the cutting room floor would have been nice.  Then again, it wouldn’t have given Bradley Cooper as much to voice in the movie.  I feel like one purpose of these many flashback scenes was to show how truly evil the villain was, but we got that from the modern storyline.  We really didn’t need to devote as much time to the flashbacks as we got.

I think another part of the problem was that we just had too much randomness in the film.  Some of the stops along the way felt weird just to be weird.  Maybe these stops served a purpose, but it just felt like a chance to visit another alien planet.

Now, I will give the film this – the effects looked good to me.  Sadly, we can’t always say that about modern special effects.  And the acting was all good.

And this isn’t to say that the film was bad.  I did get drawn in.  I found the action scenes lots of fun.  And a few moments of humor made me smile and chuckle.  But it wasn’t enough to really make me feel like I’ve missed anything by waiting this long to watch the movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 definitely continues the struggles that Mavel has had in the post Endgame era.  It’s not that this is a bad film.  But I’m also not sorry I haven’t watched it sooner.

Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Effects and acting seemed fine to me

Cons: Too strange, Nothing to make us care

The Bottom Line:

Head to Quantum Realm

Movie is completely strange

I struggled to care

“You’ll Be Great.  It’s Just Like Flying a Bike.”  “Is the Bike Alive?”

It wasn’t until the second half of 2024, that I watched any of the Marvel movies from 2023.  Granted, from what I’ve heard, I’m not missing much, but since I have Disney+, all I’m wasting is my time.  And, since I’ve mostly kept up with the shows, I figured I’d go ahead and catch up on the movies.  Up first was the third Ant-Man movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.  Having watched it, I just have one question – What the heck did I just watch???????????

The movie opens with us catching up with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) after the events of Endgame.  He’s a hero and he’s even written a book about his time in the Avengers.  He’s still dating Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who is running the Van Dyne company now.  His daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has become something of an activist as well as a genius scientist.

During a family meal, Cassie shares that she’s made a major breakthrough.  She goes to demonstrate that, with the help of Hank (Michael Douglas), she has created a device that can connect with the Quantum Realm, so it can be mapped.  When Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) realizes what is going on, she panics and tries to shut it down, only to have it turn itself back on and suck the five of them in.

They land in the Quantum Realm in two groups.  Scott is with his daughter, while Hank, Janet, and Hope are together.  Can they find each other and figure out a way home?  What will they encounter along the way home?  And what isn’t Janet telling them?

Okay, so I wasn’t bothered by the fact that Janet has kept something from the rest of them.  She is trying to forget about what happened when she was stuck there for 30 years.  I get it.  And she never expected her past to come back again.  But why must we have characters saying something bad is coming but not telling us what it is?

Before we even get there, we have Cassie’s activism.  When Scott tries to parent, he’s the one who winds up being lectured.  I feel like there is a version of this scene where Scott makes the point that what Cassie did was wrong but he is also challenged to do more.  Maybe I’m just looking for a sitcom ending instead of a scene fifteen minutes into a movie.  There’s also the lecture that Hank starts to give about the benefits of socialism before he’s shut up to get on with the climax.

But here’s my biggest issue.  When we get to the Quantum Realm, we are treated to lots of special effects and some magical creatures.  Normally, I’d be all for that.  This is fantasy, after all, right?  But as I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but feel that the writers had to be on something.  I mean, this is a psychedelic dream with so many odd things happening that it’s just too wacky.  In better hands, I think there’s a version of this script where those strange creatures and things worked.  Maybe a world where things were consistent.  Instead, it felt like we were pulling one from column A and one from column N in creating the Quantum Realm.

The story?  It works.  I’m not sure I cared since I knew the characters would figure out a way to defeat the bad guy and get home.  There’s lots of talk about there being a multiverse and we also get a big introduction to Kang, who was supposed to be the major villain of this phase of the MCU.  One of the end credits scenes is taken directly from Loki’s second season, where Kang also played a large part.  Of course, with Jonathan Majors’s conviction of domestic violence, that’s all gone out the window as well.

But not to worry, just in case you thought things had gone too well at the end, we get Scott’s monologue about how things are going to fine.  There’s nothing for him, or us, to worry about.  Seriously, stop worrying.  No, it’s not as clever as it is supposed to be.

Considering how many special effects there are in the film, I thought the film looked fine.  I seem to remember hearing some people complaining about the effects, but I didn’t see it.

Likewise, the acting was fine.  However, too many of the cast aren’t given much to do by the script.  It’s a shame to see that talent wasted.  That includes Bill Murry and William Jackson Harper, who essentially just have cameos.

At the end of the day, I just couldn’t care about any of it.  Which is a rather bad thing for a movie.  We’ve got to have stakes we care about if we are going to be invested.

If you haven’t bothered to watch Ant-Man and the Wasp –Quantumania yet, you really aren’t missing anything.  You only need to watch it if you want to stay up to date on Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.  But if you feel that way, you’ve probably already watched it.

Movie Review: Deadpool 2

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Some humor, action, growth for Deadpool

Cons: Way too many jokes that were in poor taste and too much gore

The Bottom Line:

Pretty much like first

Which means mostly did not like

So don’t recommend

“What Am I Going to Do?”  “Probably Something Terrible.”

No, I didn’t especially enjoy the first Deadpool movie.  But with all the hype surrounding Deadpool & Wolverine, and the fact that I could watch it free on Disney+, I decided to go ahead and give Deadpool 2 a shot.  Yes, I had the same reactions to this movie I did the first one.

When the story begins, we find Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) out stopping human traffickers.  No, he’s not doing it the usual way of making sure they get arrested.  He’s flat out killing them.  Of course, the problem with that approach (or going after evil people in general) is that sometimes, your work can follow you home.  It happens to happen to Deadpool on his anniversary, with tragic results.

However, a devastated Deadpool can’t die, despite his efforts.  And, through a series of events, he finds himself with a new goal, helping a boy with powers (Julian Dennison) who is dead set on revenge.  Considering an assassin from the future (Josh Brolin) is after the boy, will he be able to do it?

My biggest issue with the first movie is back here in full force – the double entendre.  They are in full force almost the entire movie.  Okay, I’ll admit, I did like a couple of them, but most of them went too far and were too excessive for my tastes.

Which is too bad because I really enjoyed some of the other humor.  The movie once again breaks the fourth wall constantly, and most of those jokes are great.  I loved the meta humor as well.  These jokes definitely made me want to keep watching because I was enjoying that.

On the other hand, there is the excessive violence.  Yes, it is cartoony, but it wasn’t remotely in good taste in my opinion.  The excessive gore was quite disgusting.

But here’s where the movie made a big change from the original.  I actually liked Deadpool more than I did originally.  He wasn’t quite the antihero he was there.  That meant, I could get on board more with rooting for him to succeed in his goal, especially when he starts trying to help the boy in the second half.

And the action scenes themselves were usually pretty good.  Yes, that’s where the worst of the gore came in, but when it wasn’t reveling in that, they were fun.  We did get some obvious special effects during these scenes, but for the most part, I bought what I was seeing.

I will give the actors full credit for making us care about the outcome of the story as they brought the story to life.

You’ll definitely want to watch through the additional scenes during the credits.

At the end of the day, I’m not sorry I watched Deadpool 2.  But I also don’t plan to watch again and I don’t recommend it.

Movie Review: Venom - Let There Be Carnage

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Character growth

Cons: Violent; too much set up

The Bottom Line:

Violent sequel

With little to recommend

Die-hard fans only

“Those Two Need Some Serious Couples Counseling.”

When I enjoyed Venom more than I thought I would, I decided to give the sequel a try.  Sadly, Venom: Let There be Carnage didn’t really have any of the fun of the first one, but it had all of the things that bothered me.

Life has not improved for Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) since we last checked in with him.  In fact, he’s still trying to get back to being a reporter, so he’ll take any story that comes his way.  Which is why he agrees to an interview with convicted serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson).

The interview is…interesting.  Eddie thinks it is a waste of time until Venom, the symbiotic alien living inside him, pieces together some clues that help find more of Cletus’s victims.  But Cletus’s execution goes wrong.  With Eddie and Venom on the outs, can anything stop Cletus now?

I’ll admit, the first movie was a mixed bag for me.  Yes, I enjoyed much of the humor, but the violence was so extreme, and I found Eddie and Venom’s fighting irritating and a little too stressful to be entertaining.  Unfortunately, this movie is all of the things I didn’t like with little of the things I did.  While Venom is a little better behaved than he was in the first movie, he’s still out of control much of the time.  We don’t really get any of the humor that made the first one tolerable for me.  And the violence?  I’m truly perplexed that this movie got away with a PG-13 rating.  I guess because so much of the violence is CGI generated?  It seems extreme to me.

Not to mention that the movie takes so long with its set up that, by the time things were set up, it was time for the climax.

On the other hand, I did appreciate the character growth we got for Eddie and Venom.  It wasn’t that original, but it felt natural based on what else is going on.  I also liked what was going on with returning characters Anne (Michelle Williams) and Dan (Reid Scott).

This is an effects heavy movie, even for a superhero film.  They mostly worked here, although they were extremely excessive.  Seriously, the climax is pretty much two CGI monsters fighting each other.  Again, makes it a little hard to care about the outcome.

The actors all do a good job bringing their characters to life and reacting to the CGI.

If you enjoyed the first movie, you’ll want to check out Venom: Let There be Carnage.  If, however, you found it average, you’ll be glad you skipped this one.

Movie Review: Venom

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action and fun

Cons: Predictable; special effects seemed off

The Bottom Line:

New superhero

Familiar origin plot

But still, there’s some fun

“How Did You Do That?”  “Apparently, I Have a Parasite.”

Venom wasn’t on my radar to watch when it first came out.  Even when a sequel came out, I figured it was a comic book movie that wasn’t for me.  However, a friend suggested we watch it, and I went along.  While I’ve seen movies I’ve enjoyed more, this one was better than I expected.

The movie centers on Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), an investigative reporter who will go to any length to get a story.  At times, that includes crossing lines he shouldn’t cross, like taking advantage of his fiancee’s (Michelle Williams) work emails to get a jump on a story.  When he tries to use that information to confront Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) about his inhuman medical research, it goes wrong and Eddie loses his job and his fiancée.

However, Eddie was right, as he learns first hand one night in Carlton’s labor.  That’s when Eddie accidently gets infected with an alien symbiote that begins to control him.  And this might be Earth’s only chance against others who want to take it over.  Will Eddie learn to work with the symbiote in time to save the planet?

I’ll admit, part of my problem with this is that it is a typical superhero origin movie.  We know where things are going, and it goes there.  I felt myself waiting for the typical plot points to happen so we could get to something new.

That’s not to say there weren’t a few surprises along the way.  A plot twist or two I hadn’t expected threw me off, and there were plenty of fun scenes along the way.

I was surprised to find that the special effects didn’t really work for me.  Since Venom, the creature that Eddie turns into, is all CGI, that was an important element to the film.  It just looks fake.  I know, I know, how is a space creature supposed to look?  Still, it just didn’t look quite right to me.

But I did have fun along the way.  There are some great action scenes and there is plenty of humor.  Some of it was a bit grosser than I like, but I still laughed multiple times over the course of the movie.

I’m glad I watched Venom.  While I’m not anxious to watch it again, I’m curious enough to watch the sequel at some point.  This isn’t a rush out and watch movie, but if you are curious about the film, you’ll be glad you watched it.

Movie Review: Deadpool

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Some of the humor, the action

Cons: Much of the humor, hard to root for any of the characters

The Bottom Line:

Anti-hero born

Action and off-color jokes

Result not for me

I Was Warned Away from This Movie.  They Were Right

Over the last few years, I’ve heard lots of praise for Deadpool.  But a few friends have all ended their praise by saying, “But this isn’t a movie you’d enjoy, Mark.”  I believed them, but a small part of me was curious about it, so I decided to watch it with a friend recently.  Those warnings?  They were completely right.

The movie introduces us to Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) in action as he is in the process of getting the information he needs to get revenge on someone who did something horrible to him.  And it’s in the middle of flashbacks that we learn just what happened to him.  He used to be a man named Wade who happened to fall in love with a woman named Vanessa (Morena Baccarin).  Just as their relationship was fully blooming, Wade got horrible news.  In an attempt to fix things, he agrees to some questionable experiments.  What might the consequences be?

Because the movie starts out about two thirds of the way into the story, we jump right in with the action, and then we get the context to this origin story.  Considering how similar origin story movies can be, I did like this approach despite my usual dislike of this story telling framework.

There is plenty of action.  There’s a great opening and closing scene, and a few other fun action scenes along the way.  I bought the action, stunts, and effects, although this wasn’t as heavy on the special effects as some superhero movies can be.

The people I know who praised the movie love it for the humor.  Unfortunately, much of that is double entendre humor.  While I will admit to finding some of that funny, here it was just too crude for my tastes.  And there was a lot of it.  In many ways this movie is as much comedy as action/superhero.

Some of the humor did come from Wade breaking the fourth wall, sometimes with other characters and sometimes just to us.  These jokes I did appreciate.  Well, most of the time.  At times, I felt like it was trying a bit too hard.  It came across as “Look at me, aren’t I clever.”

Deadpool is very much an anti-hero.  I don’t usually go for revenge movies, and that’s essentially what this movie was.  Yes, I was rooting for him, but I wasn’t rooting for him completely because of that.  Not to mention that Wade really was rather shallow early in the movie.

Speaking of early in the movie, there is an extended sex scene early on in the movie.  Keep that in mind before you watch it.  This is an R rated movie.

The results of all of this was a movie I wanted to like, but I didn’t wind up enjoying.  I know plenty of people who did enjoy Deadpool, but it just isn’t for me.

TV Show Review: Loki - Season 2

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Satisfying resolution to a fun show

Cons: Still some pacing issues, but much less than season 1

The Bottom Line:

Continue story

A satisfying ending

Glad I watched season

“I Have No Memory of Having My Memory Wiped.”

I was less than impressed with the first season of Loki, mainly because of where the show left us.  Since this was the first (and so far only) of the MCU shows to earn a second season, I didn’t know to expect that they would be coming back to tell more of the story.  That’s why I decided to give the second season a try, and I’m glad I did, since I enjoyed it much more than the first.

This season picks up where the first season left off.  He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) has been killed.  While Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) is happy with the results, it’s Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who faces the consequences as he keeps popping in and out of various timelines.  Once he is able to stabilize himself, thanks to help from Mobius (Owen Wilson), they both learn that their problems are just beginning.  By allowing other timelines to grow, the machine at the heart of the TVA is now unstable.  Somehow, Loki has to convince Sylvie to join him in a hunt of a variant of He Who Remains to stop what they’ve started.  Will they save the universe as we know it?

If half of what I just posted makes no sense to you, that means you aren’t ready for season 2.  As much as I struggled with season 1, there is no way to enjoy season 2 without that part of the story.  Very little of what happens here has been brought up in the MCU elsewhere (at least so far), so you can’t possibly understand what is going on.

The good news is that, once you struggle through season 1, you’ll be rewarded here.  Yes, the show still has the pacing issues it did in season 1, although it’s not nearly as bad as it was then.  I can really only think of one episode that needed some editing, in my mind.  The rest keep the story moving forward.

Now, this isn’t to say that I always saw how the story was moving forward.  I was scratching my head with some of what they were doing, especially early in the season.  But it does all build somewhere if you are patient.

And what does it build to?  I’m not going to spoil anything, but I will say that I was very satisfied with how this season ended.  If the show ends here (and I kind of feel like it will), this is a great end to things.

The acting is always on point.  I especially enjoyed the interactions between Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston, and they shared a lot more screen time this season than the first season, which was a bonus.  Ke Huy Quan joined the cast this season (he’s everywhere now, isn’t he?), and I enjoyed his character, too.

The show looked great visually as well.  The special effects worked, and the practical sets were great to look at.  The sets are not usually something that stands out to me, but it did here, in a good way.

If, like me, you struggled with the first season of Loki, you’ll be much happier with season 2.  If you enjoyed the first, you’ll be very happy to see what happens next in this season.

TV Show Review: Secret Invasion

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action

Cons: Slow story between the action

The Bottom Line:

Will Skrulls take over?

Story rambles in series

Should have been cut down

“I Was There Trying to Stop the Attack.”  “Well, Great Job on That.”

I go into every new Marvel project hoping for the best.  But it seems like they are very hit or miss these days.  While I wouldn’t say that Secret Invasion was a complete miss, it definitely could have been better for me.

The story focuses on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as he learns of an imminent invasion of Skrulls.  If, like me, you’d forgotten just exactly who these aliens are, they are shape shifters who landed on Earth decades ago looking for a new home world.  Fury had promised to help them, but some Skrulls, lead by Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), are tired of waiting.  They plan to take over Earth from the humans.  They’ve been at this plan for a while, infiltrating the highest levels of government all over the world.  Will Fury be able to stop them?

Yes, the Skrulls have been introduced in previous Marvel movies.  And this brings me to my first issue, and it is a personal issue.  I can’t remember all the characters and aliens that’s we’ve met over the course of the various movies and shows.  It would help if I went back and watched them all again, but since I haven’t taken the time to do that, I miss some of these connections and the background.  There were several times that I know I was supposed to feel something with what happened during the story, but it meant little to me because I didn’t remember the background of most of the characters were outside of Nick Fury.

My other complaint is another common complaint of mine with the Marvel shows.  There was a good story here, but it didn’t need to be a six episodes TV show.  The result was something that was dragged out.  Yes, there were some good plot points and action scenes here, but they could have edited it down and presented it as a movie and it would have been stronger.  This is especially true given how long some of their movies are running these days.

I will say this for the show.  I often worry when dealing with a shape shifting foe that we are going to constantly have to watch out for characters sometimes being themselves and sometimes being a shape shifter.  And we had some of that, don’t get me wrong.  But it wasn’t over played here, so when it was done, it was done effectively to further the story.

And yes, there was a good story here; it was just buried under all this extra stuff that should have been pruned away.  Maybe four episodes would have sufficed if it couldn’t be cut down to movie length.

None of this is a reflection on the actors, who all do a good job of bringing their characters to life.  Likewise, the special effects were good.  Yes, there were moments where the effects were obvious, but for the most part I bought what we saw.  And I definitely enjoyed the stunts and action sequences.

As I’ve been saying, Secret Invasion was okay at best.  The series should have been more focused to really keep our attention.

Movie Review: Spider-Man - Into the Spider-Verse

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: A fun, fast movie

Cons: A little slow to get started

The Bottom Line:

Meet new Spider-Man

Filled with action and humor

Purely delightful

“I Can’t Let You Open a Portal to Another Dimension.  Brooklyn Isn’t Zoned for That.”

I didn’t pay too much attention when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came out several years ago.  It was only after it had been out for a while and I started hearing lots of people praising it that I decided I should watch it.  Since my to watch list is as long as my to be read pile, I didn’t get to it until this last weekend, but I quickly saw why everyone loved it.

The movie tells the story of Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore).  He’s struggling with being the new kid at school and dealing with a father who is stricter than Miles appreciates, especially when it comes to Miles’s passion of being a graffiti artist.

While his uncle is helping him with a painting in the sewers one night, Miles is bit by a spider.  He thinks nothing of it until the next day, when things seem different.  Since there is already a Spider-Man in the city, Miles quickly figures out what is happening to him.  But a trip back to the sewer to confirm his theory gets him involved in a fight with the city’s future, not to mention all of reality, on the line.  And with help coming from some surprising places, can Miles figure out his new powers to save the day?

I’ll admit, I was beginning to wonder exactly where the movie was going early on.  I know it had to introduce us to Miles and his world before we could really get into the story, but it seemed a bit slow to me.  But that is a minor complaint overall.

Not being super familiar with the comics, I don’t know how the characters here fit into any comic books, but I don’t care.  This is fun, and what is presented here makes sense even if you are coming in cold.

Once the movie really got going, it was an all-out roller-coaster ride to the end.  It was hard to look away for a second as there was always something going on.  The story moved forward quickly.  Yes, some aspects of it were still predictable, but this is definitely a case where I didn’t mind because I was having fun.

There are lots of great one liners that provide laughs.  Some of them are pretty meta, and others are witty.  I laughed numerous times and smiled plenty of others.

Yet the movie also does a good job of giving us characters moments.  We truly do come to care for Miles and some of the other characters, so some of the events in the third act really hit home.

The voice cast is filled with names I recognized.  But they never outshine their characters.  I got lost in the story, never listening for voices I recognized instead enjoying their performances.  And this movie also has Stan Lee’s final Marvel cameo in it.

The animation is very stylized.  It’s designed to mimic a comic book.  I’ll admit, it took a bit to get used to it, but it was worth it.

I know the sequel has just opened.  While I doubt I’ll go see it in the theater, I have definitely added it to my to watch list.  If you have missed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you’ll be happy you made it a priority to watch it.

Movie Review: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Good characters, action, effects, fun cameos

Cons: Ending feels like too much of a cheat to really work for me

The Bottom Line:

Doc Strange answers call

For help across dimensions

Fun parts and weak parts

“Rule Number One of Multiversal Travel – You Don’t Know Anything.”

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original Doctor Strange movie because I found it too, well, strange.  But since I know that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was going to follow up on WandaVision, I was looking forward to the sequel.  Even so, it was just a couple of weeks ago that I finally got around to watching it.

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is attending the wedding of his ex, Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) when the reception is interrupted by a huge fight happening outside.  A strange creature is after a young woman, America (Xochitl Gomez).  What’s really weird is that Dr. Strange had just had a dream about America the night before.  Yet he’s never met her before.

Dr. Strange quickly learns that America has been jumping across dimensions in an effort to stay away from someone who is determined to get his hands on America’s powers.  Not that America knows how to control her dimension hopping power.  In an effort to get some help, Dr. Strange turns to Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), who is currently in isolation.  But when the next attack goes wrong, Dr. Strange finds himself with America in a different dimension.  Can they stop the force against them and find a way home?

Ironically enough, I found this movie a little better grounded than the first one even with all the dimension hopping.  Of course, it helps that we’ve already set up the multiverse in other recent Marvel movies and shows, so I’ve had the time to wrap my head around that idea.  And, I’ve gotten used to Dr. Strange and his powers, so they didn’t feel so out there to me.

The movie pretty much jumps into the story.  We have just enough time to get reacquainted with the characters before the first attack happens.  From there, it’s a fast-paced race that keeps us engaged the entire time.

However, it was the characters where the movie was a letdown for me.  There was one in particular that I just didn’t like what they did with.  I can understand it.  I just didn’t like it.

Which leads us to the climax.  Again, I have mixed feelings on it.  From one stand point, it feels like a cop out ending where the writers didn’t know how to end things.  On the other hand, I feel like it truly did create some nice character growth.  Or maybe it was just the character growth I was hoping for since looking back on it, it was a little forced.  And that forced feeling is probably why I didn’t buy the ending.

There are some very fun cameos at one point in this movie that fans of Marvel in all its movie incarnations will appreciate.

None of my problems with the movie come from the actors.  The cast is all fantastic and bring their characters to life well.

Likewise, the special effects are all wonderful.  And there are a lot of special effects.  The actions scenes are fun as well.

I don’t have a good sense of how the various Marvel movies are building to anything right now, so I will be interested in seeing how Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ties into that storyline.  If you are still interested in the Marvel universe, you’ll want to see this movie.  However, it’s not the strongest movie in the series.

TV Show Review: Ms. Marvel - Season 1

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Iman Vellani creates a warm and charming main character

Cons: Writing is too unfocused

The Bottom Line:

Meet a new hero

Writing lets character down

But lead is charming

“Come with Me if You Want to Live.”  “Huh?”  “Just Kidding.  I’ve Always Wanted to Say That.”

I was excited about Ms. Marvel.  I knew nothing about the character, but I’ve wound up enjoying the last couple of Marvel shows on Disney+, so I went into this one with high expectations.  Sadly, this one needed some structural work.

The show introduces us to Kamala Kahn (Iman Vellani), a die hard fan of all things Avengers.  These superheroes are her heroes because of everything they have done to save humanity.  There is the first annual Avengers Con happening near her home in New Jersey, and she will do anything to go with her friend Bruno (Matt Lintz), especially since she has the perfect costume based on her idol, Captain Marvel.

One requirement of the costume contest is that each person must have one item that represents them, and Kamala chooses a bracelet that was her great-grandmother’s.  However, when she puts it on, she quickly discovers she now has powers of her own.  Unfortunately, her powers have attracted the attention of two groups of people.  Can Kamala figure out how to use them in time to defend herself?

If you look back through my Marvel movie reviews, especially the first ones that introduce the various character, I complain that they feel very formulaic.  This one tries to break the formula, and yet I’m going to complain that it doesn’t quite work either.  Part of that is because we expect certain things, so if a story is going to buck those trends, it needs to make sure it really works.  In this case, I feel like they were trying to work too many things into the six episodes here.

The show takes a couple of episodes to really introduce all the players.  I think that’s part of the problem.  It leaves so much to pack into the second half that those episodes feel rushed.  There are multiple times that people seem to switch their behavior on a dime.  One is definitely plot driven.  The other one was some very welcome character development, but it still felt too abrupt.

Speaking of abrupt, one of the groups of villains got a weak climax.

One of the episodes spends a lot of time with Kamala seeing parts of her family’s history.  While it was well crafted and did have a couple of keys to the story, it still felt like a momentum killer late in the season.

This is all the fault of the writers.  The actors were amazing at bringing their characters to life.  I especially have to praise newcomer Iman Vellani who carried the entire show with ease.  She made Kamala charming and a joy to watch each week.

That’s why I’m looking forward to seeing more of this character in next year’s The Marvels.  Fans will be interested in meeting the character early in Ms. Marvel.  I just wish the writing had been better on the show.

TV Show Review: Moon Knight - Season 1

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Weird, trippy, but ultimately rewarding

Cons: Violence a couple of times, a major question about the final scene

The Bottom Line:

Weird superhero

Keep watching to understand

Makes sense in the end

“I Don’t Have a Card for That.”

Since I’ve never really followed superheroes, I only know the most famous (and mostly the DC) heroes.  As a result, I came into Moon Knight completely blind about what it was going to be about.  The result was…strange.  It took a bit to adjust to it, but in the end, I was glad I watched it.

In the very first episode, we meet Stephen Grant (Oscar Isaac).  He works at the gift shop of the British museum.  He lives alone with only a fish for company.  You’d call his life boring except that he finds himself waking up in some strange places after blacking out.  And he doesn’t drink so that’s not the problem.

Things get even worse when he starts waking up finding himself in danger.  He’s got people calling him Marc.  Then there’s the weird run in he has with Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), who wants to bring about peace and harmony, but seems shady, too.  Will he figure out what is going on?

I’m leaving my teaser there without introducing any of the other characters since you really need to experience this show as it unfolds for yourself.  I really don’t want to risk spoiling any of the fun surprises along the way.  It’s trippy and confusing at times.  It takes a lot of effort and attention to follow it.  But it is worth it.  The payoffs will reward you in the final few episodes.

Having said that, I am going to say the story does get heavily into Egyptian mythology.  Personally, I didn’t mind since many superhero stories involve references to other cultures’ gods, etc.  Thor and Wonder Woman are two prime examples.  Know that going in, and you’ll be fine.

Along with the twists, this show features plenty of action.  Some of it is straight action, and some of it is rather comical.  The stunts and special effects that go along with it are well done.  A couple of times, a special effect seemed a little off, but the majority of them work perfectly.

I have to praise the acting.  There isn’t a weak link in the cast, but Oscar Isaac is outstanding.  This show required a lot from him, and he really delivered.  There is so much nuance to his performance, and so much screen time for him.  The show would be worth watching for him alone.

Having said all this, I do have a few niggles with the show.  Like the fact that the final scene of the finale doesn’t make logical sense.  I’m not talking about the mid-credits scene, which does make sense.  To say more than that would involve spoilers, but it’s a major sticking point for me.  I get what they are doing from a storytelling point of view, but from a logic point of view, it doesn’t work.  A few scenes are more violent than I feel like we really needed.

Most of my concerns from the early episode are addressed/resolved before the show is over, so keep watching and you will be rewarded.  And since it is only six episodes, you don’t have to invest too much time and effort before you are rewarded.

I’m glad I was patient with Moon Knight.  It’s a wild, crazy, trippy ride that is ultimately rewarding.

Movie Review: Eternals

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Some fun action, nice change from usual origin story

Cons: Repetitive plot in middle of film

The Bottom Line:

Superhero team

Story drags in the middle

Could have been better

“Well, I Guess You Must be the Pilot.”

I’ve done it.  After letting myself get behind on the Marvel movies last year, I’m all caught up again.  I didn’t intentionally save Eternals for last, but it was the one I’d heard the most mixed reviews for, and I can see where they are coming from.

This movie is a bit of a departure for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Our heroes are a team of eternal beings (I know, shocking from the title) who were sent to Earth millennia ago in order to protect us from the Deviants, horrible creatures that would have killed us off long ago without the Eternals.  Once the Deviants were vanquished, the Eternals went undercover, living among us.  A new attack by a Deviant in modern London makes them start reuniting.  However, a shocking discovery along the way will change their understanding of who they are.

Yes, I’m being vague and not going into the characters too much.  Honestly, that’s because this is a group film.  In some ways, this is focused on Sersi, played by Gemma Chan, and you could argue that this is her story.  But I still feel like this is more about the group of characters than any one character.

I do complain about superhero movies, especially first ones, being formulaic.  I didn’t feel that was the case here at all.  While most of the story takes place in the present, we do get some flashbacks to other times to help flesh out the Eternals backstory.  That was a very welcome change of pace.  We also didn’t have the characters learning about their powers.

On the other hand, outside of one or two characters, we didn’t really get to know any of them.  I liked them, but I wasn’t that invested in them or their story.  It’s hard to balance an ensemble movie like this, but this one didn’t do it for me.

Then there’s the story.  It started well, and I was intrigued by what the characters were learning.  But then the plot got into repeat mode as we hunted down a member of the team, told them what was going on, got their reaction, went on to the next one, etc.  It grew repetitive.  I was ready to get on to the action.

When it comes to action, we are well rewarded.  The action is thrilling and fun.  The special effects are great as well.

The acting?  I felt like it could have been a little better.  Maybe I just don’t know the characters, but I felt like they weren’t that connected to each other or the story they were telling.

Parents are sure to expect the action related violence and the little bit of foul language in the film.  There is a heterosexual implied sex scene about thirty minutes into the movie.  While we don’t see any body parts, we do see skin, and it is easy to figure out what is going on.  We also learn another member of the team is a homosexual and meet his husband over the course of the film.  You know your kids best, so you can decide when you are comfortable with them watching this PG-13 rated movie.

The repetitive nature of the plot made this movie less than it could have been.  I’m sure we will see the impact from Eternals in upcoming Marvel stories, so I’m glad I saw it.  But if you are only casually following the Marvel movies, you can skip this one.