Category: Marvel

Posted on

Season Two Of Jessica Jones Is Both Better And Worse Than Season One

Season One of Jessica Jones was pretty dang good, and it had one of the best villains in the MCU (which they keep insisting the Netflix Marvel shows are a part of).  While season one kind of explained why Jessica was a grumpy drunk, they really didn’t get in to it.  Season two takes a deep dive in to Jessica’s past.  Since her memory is sketchy at best, we figure out her origins with her as she investigates them.  It is not a happy trip down memory lane.

Had they just stuck to the Jessica stuff, things would have been excellent, but sadly season two has an irritating Trish Walker ‘B’ story that is aggravating to watch.  Every time she is on screen she is doing something dumb.  Which was true in season one as well, but they really amped up the annoying for her this season.  Additionally, Netflix has this strange need to make their Marvel shows thirteen episodes long, and this season would have been much better had they cut out at least three episodes.

Figuring out where Jessica is from makes Jessica Jones Season Two well worth watching, unfortunately the show takes a dive almost any time she is not on screen.  Good side characters are a requirement for a long running series, and so far almost all the Marvel Netflix shows have no one other than the main character we care about, and this is becoming a problem.  Maybe they can just clone Foggy or something.  Regardless, I still enjoyed season two quite a bit, and it had some of the series’ greatest moments, but it is bogged down by all side stories.  I hope they can figure this out for future seasons.

Posted on

Shmee Travels To Wakanda!

After ten years and seventeen movies, Marvel has finally made a movie based off of their first African superhero, Black Panther.  While King T’Challa technically made his debut in Captain America: Civil War, this is really our first big screen introduction to the character, and it was quite the introduction.  The reviews and the build up have been telling me that Black Panther is the greatest Marvel movie of all time, which it isn’t, but it is very good, and it makes me wonder why Marvel took so long to introduce such an important character.

Black Panther begins right after Captain America: Civil War ends, but just in case you are worried, they do a little flashback, so you don’t need to have watched that movie or re-watch it to remember what happens.  King T’Chaka (John Kani) has died, so the mantle of King of Wakanda and Black Panther now fall to his son T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman).  Unfortunately for T’Challa being King will not be easy because he will have to face down the failures of his father.

Black Panther is the best Marvel origin story since Iron Man.  It manages to tell a personal story with real stakes, and the villain’s motivations actually make sense.  He is not just trying to kill people and rule stuff because that is what villains do.  Michael B. Jordan’s Erik “Killmonger” Stevens is still undeniably evil, but you understand why his is doing what he is doing, and you sympathize with his quest.  You want him to fail, but at least you can see where his world view comes from.

While Jordan’s Killmonger may steal the show.  Chadwick Boseman’s uncertain yet always just Black Panther is also a treat.  Yes, he is another rich guy in a suit, but at least he isn’t a self absorbed jerk.  He values his friends and family, and that makes him much more likable.  Boseman brings him to life expertly.  Then just to tie things together they throw in a cast full of Oscar winners and powerhouse talent.  Black Panther’s casting director wasn’t playing around.

What didn’t hold up so well is the CGI.  For the most part it is okay, but during the big fight scenes at the end it starts to strain a bit.  The purple smudge of a Vibranium mine and some  globby charging animals just look off, and if you were hoping that Black Panther would end without two cartoony CGI guys punching each other you, will be disappointed.

Still, a slightly off ending was not a enough to derail all the good that Black Panther did in the first 90% of the movie.  Marvel has yet another great movie to add to its collection, and a new hero to move about its movie universe, so if you are one of the two people that hasn’t seen it yet, you probably should.  To Marvel fans everywhere, you should be thrilled.  The king has arrived.

Posted on

Venom’s First Trailer Forgot About Venom…

As you can see in the trailer above, we see Venom’s symbiote in a glass jar at one point, but we never see it on Tom Hardy, so the first Venom trailer is Venom free.  Tom is also doing some strange take on an American accent.  I don’t know if he is trying to be more New York or something, but it is not working.  I hope he gets a mask to mumble in to quick to straighten that out.  Anyway, it is not a great first impression, but they have until October to win me over.

Posted on

Shmee’s Top 5 Movies Of 2017!

2017 was kind of a down year for the movies industry.  Its box-office totals were way down compared to last year.  It started the summer off with a string of busts that were supposed to be box-office guaranties.  That being said, there were still a lot of good things to watch last year, so here are my top five films of 2017 in reverse order!

5: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Homecoming was the movie Spider-Man fans had been waiting for.  It brought Spider-Man back home to the MCU, and it did not disappoint.  It served up the comedy and action you would expect from an MCU flick while firmly cementing Spidey in the MCU.  Its only major flaw was that it played it too safe.

4: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Rian Johnson had the impossible task of living up to fan expectations with The Last Jedi, and he didn’t quite do it, but he did expand the universe in meaningful ways while trying new things.  Which is no small feat.  I can’t wait to see where all the stuff he set in motion ends up, and that is what a middle movie in a trilogy should do.

3: Thor: Ragnarok

Taika Waititi gazed upon the MCU and found it lacking a true comedy, so he fixed that, and it was amazingly successful.  I am not sure that Thor: Ragnarok lines up 100% of the way with the rest of the MCU, but it was too much fun to care.  It was one of my favorite MCU films to date.

2: Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman finally got her chance to shine, and she didn’t waste it.  It was by far the best movie DC has put out recently, and it made the mess that was Justice League look even worse by comparison.  Heck with Patty Jenkins just being in charge of Wonder Woman, make her in charge of the whole DCEU!

1: Dunkirk

People were wondering if Christopher Nolan had anything left in the tank, but Dunkirk proved that he is still a world class director.  Dunkirk was a stunning achievement, and it showed that there are still interesting war movies left to be made.  Expect Dunkirk to make some noise this award season.

So that is my top five list!  What was your top 5?  I would love to hear about it you liked (or didn’t).

Posted on

Well Disney Went And Did It; It Owns The Best Parts Of Fox Now!

What does $52.4 Billion buy you these days?  Well if you are Disney it pretty much gets you all of Fox except Fox News.  It is official as of this morning (12/14/2017).  Disney now has almost all of the Marvel Movie rights under its umbrella.  Bring out the count down clock for Wolverine being featured in a Marvel movie.  At this point it is just a best guess, but I am giving it a year and a half.  They have to re-cast him/her, and then figure out how to jam him/her in to story that makes sense.

Warner Brothers executives must be screaming in to a pillow somewhere.  Though it is kind of on them for not being able to make an actually good movie for two flicks in a row.

Of course Disney also gets another 30% stake in Hulu (they now own 60%), the Simpsons, and all of Fox’s random cable networks.  It is safe to say that their media empire just grew significantly.  As with any acquisition this big, regulators will get involved even though Disney isn’t technically buying all of Fox.  That way the regulators can pretend that they do something useful.  In which case, I may have to set the Wolverine Count Down ClockTM back another six months.