Tag: Marvel Comics

Movie Review: Spiderman: Homecoming

“Spiderman: Homecoming” on IMDB

Comedy/Adventure/Drama, 133 Minutes, 2017

This is an incredibly fun movie. Tom Holland [IMDB] is perfectly cast and Michael Keaton [IMDB] is always on his game. There’s thrills, chills and spills. The character’s integration into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe is clean and elegant. It’s absolutely worth your time and money.

And yet…

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Movie Review: Logan

IMDB, Logan“Logan” on IMDB

Drama/Action/Sci-fi, 137 Minutes, 2017

Before we begin, we must recognize the true hero of this story: Chatty-guy-behind-us. When the movie was sneakily attempting to foreshadow something or self-indulgently tried to build a moment, Chatty-guy was there for us! He heroically defused the tension from key scenes and selflessly, loudly kept us informed of events happening directly in front of us on a giant screen.

That boy deserves a medal. A god-damned medal.

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Powerful Scenes: Spiderman 2

Cracked, Spiderman 2 Comunacho

Comunacho’s entry. Used respectfully, but without permission.

I’m a big fan of Cracked.com’s special brand of fact-based listicle’s. Their regular feature, Photoplasty, takes reader submissions on a variety of topics. One from last year, “23 Movie & TV Subplots That Were A Total Waste Of Your Time” surfaced recently on my Facebook feed and the entry to the left caught my eye.

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Movie Review: Deadpool

IMDB, Deadpool“Deadpool” on IMDB

Adventure/Action, 108 Minutes, 2016

Let’s get right to it: Deadpool is great fun. It’s earned $500 million worldwide (on its $38 million budget) in its first two weeks of release, so chances are good that you’ve already seen it and decided it was great fun. Sure, there are always curmudgeons, contrarians and those who thought that they were taking their eight year-olds to see “Spiderman”, but the world, as a consensus, is in sweaty-monkey-love with Deadpool.

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Movie Review: Philomena

Philomena“Philomena” on IMDB

Drama, 98 Minutes, 2013

In the 50’s and 60’s the Irish Catholic Church declared war on unwed mothers; debauched sinners, unfit to raise children. Philomena Lee, pregnant and unwed at 18, was sent by her pious father to a convent where she was forced to sign a contract relinquishing all rights to her child. She, and thousands like her, spent three years caring for their children while working without pay to reimburse the church.

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Movie Review: Ant-Man

IMDB, Ant-Man“Ant-Man” on IMDB

Adventure / Sci-Fi / Action, 117 Minutes, 2015

The overwhelming success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has allowed them a certain leeway; a certain freedom to experiment.  While this hasn’t yet resulted in something truly insane, like a film led by a woman, it has allowed them to explore some of the quirkier ideas and characters available in the vast Marvel catalog. Two years ago, this led to the explosive success of Guardians of the Galaxy [IMDB] and now it brings the closest we’ve come to a straight Marvel comedy.

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Movie Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron

IMDB, Avengers, Age of Ultron“Avengers: Age of Ultron” on IMDB

Action/Adventure, 141 Minutes, 2015

The tent pole of the Marvel cinematic universe is back with a vengeance after the massively successful 2012 “The Avengers” [My Review]. The entire main cast returns joined by many smaller characters from the various individual films. Joss Whedon [IMDB] is also back at the helm; rumors have it, for the last time.

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Movie Review: Big Hero 6

IMDB, Big Hero 6“Big Hero 6” on IMDB

Family/Adventure, 102 Minutes, 2014

This was a good movie. A fun movie. No complaints really. Solid, if clichéd, characters, cool visuals and some weepy-eyed moments. Heck, Disney went all out on this by (sorta) orphaning this hero twice! Everybody knows that a Disney hero isn’t worth shit unless they’ve got at least a few dead family members (yes, Merida, Bob Iger’s going to get your parent’s Scottish asses any minute now).

Still… was it really all that?

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Catching Up with Marvel: Three Studios, Three Movies

IMDB, Catching Up with Marvel

As fans know, the Marvel cinematic universe is split across multiple production companies; the result of a coordinated sell-off to stave off bankruptcy years ago. This is why you won’t see an X-Man helping out an Avenger or Spider-man chatting with The Fantastic Four even though they live a few blocks from one another. It’s worked out well enough for all involved, but it does create some friction.

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Movie Review: The Wolverine

IMDB, The Wolverine“The Wolverine” on IMDB

Adventure, 126 Minutes, 2013

I lost track of the “X-Men” movies some time ago. The overblown “X-Men: The Last Stand” [IMDB] and oddly paced  “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” were decent, but seemed to represent a downward spiral from the first two films. The excellent semi-reboot “X-Men: First Class” [IMDB] seemed to distance itself from the earlier films.

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