End Game

I just saw End Game today and what a show it was. After my friends cancelled three times I decided to break out on my own and watch an early morning 10am showing in Dolby at AMC. The seats were very comfortable, and they reclined, perfect and much needed saying since this movie is clocking in over three hours.

This movie is the movie that ends most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Chances are you might have missed a couple of the Marvel movies before you saw this one. You definitely need to see Avengers, Avengers Age of Ultron, and Avengers Infinity War before you see this movie. Now before we get into the nitty-gritty, stop reading this if you don't want spoilers. 

Okay, a brief synopsis. So half of the population has been wiped out by Thanos. Ant-Man gets out of his quantum realm with the help of a rat [funny, nice touch]. He comes to the present time-line only to find out that a lot of people are dead, including himself. He teams up with the Avengers and they come up with the idea of a time machine. It's actually Ant-Man's idea.

Captain Marvel brings Stark [Iron Man] back to Earth and Stark helps them develop the time machine. Time travel is always messy and it definitely doesn't make sense in this movie, but hey, who am I to argue? It's very cliche, and its a super old science fiction trope that doesn't hold up well in this day and age, going back to 1820-The Time Machine by HG Wells. Great idea for 1820 not so much for 2019. But I digress.

Anyways, they branch off into small groups and fetch the infinity stones from the past, so they can bring it to the present, use the infinity gantlet to bring everyone back. There's a scene I like that reminds me of the comics where Steve Rodgers [Captain America] is a double agent. He grabs the stones and tasseract from the bad guys who are from Hydra, evil Nazi's. Cap says, "There's been a change in plans. I'll take care of the goods." Then he whispers to the bad guys,"hail Hydra." I liked how they sneeked that in there. 

Thor is fat and depressed. Natasha [Scarlett] feels that her only purpose is to bring everyone back with the Avengers. Brie Larson is snarky, just like in Captain Marvel. Nebula takes on a more serious active role, helping the Avengers go back in time to grab the stones, only to be kidnapped and then her doppelganger from the past comes to the present and messes everything up-you got all that? One thing that should be noted is that the jokes are few and far between. This is a much more serious Avengers team. Rather than their typical snarky smart ass selves they portray in the other movies.

Okay, so this movie is sort of all over the place and the first 2 hours and 45 minutes are just them going back and forth for the infinity stones. Then Thanos from the past comes to the future to do what he did in the present-again! Why, because this is fate, he says. But we're not stupid, we know that the script is written that way so that he can get his ass kicked-again. Actually Thanos dies in the first thirty minutes of the movie. Thor chops his head off, the blood splashing across Nebula's face. "I aimed for the head." Nice bit of gore there.  

The last twenty-thirty minutes is straight-up superhero fanfare. Hulk uses the infinity gauntlet to bring back everyone, bringing them on a huge battlefield against Thano's army, that he brought from another time-line thanks to evil Nebula from the past time-line. Captain Marvel destroys Thanos' ship in one fell swoop. Thanos is desperately trying to get the infinity gauntlet [which has all the stones] but Stark quickly puts on the glove.

Thanos [putting on the guantlet]: I am inevitable. 
Stark [who somehow had the rings with a makeshift Iron Man suit guantlet]: I am Iron Man.

It doesn't seem like a powerful line but it is. And it was his last line of the film, and the franchise, because Stark ended up dying after he used the gauntlet. Apparently humans aren't strong enough to wield the power of the infinity stones. Even after Thanos used it, he was old and dying on a planet somewhere, his energy wasted from the stones. When Hulk used it, he burned up his arm and upper body, and he's the strongest one out of all of them. 

The fighting was great. Especially Cap. Thor is about to get sliced by his own blade by Thanos. Then out of nowhere Thor's hammer flies into Thanos' skull-its Captain America's doing. 

Thor: I knew it! 

Cap wields Thor's hammer like a god. Like Achilles from the Iliad. He's swinging the hammer in his left hand and holding his shield up in his right, like a true warrior. Not only that but he's commanding lightning strikes with the hammer as well. That was my favorite moment of the film, it was great to see that not only is he worthy of Thor's hammer, but he can use it just as well as Thor too. The female heroes had their moment in the sun too. They're protecting the infinity stones as Spiderman says, "Uhh, be careful, you might need some help." "We have plenty of help right here," the female Wakanda warrior says as the women beat and bash their way through enemies.

The end is what this movie is truly about. "End Game". Thor joins the Guardians of the Galaxy. Stark dies. Natasha sacrifices herself so the team can get the soul stone, a very sad and tragic death. That one was a real tearjerker.  Hawkeye gets his family back. Captain America goes back in time and stays there with his sweetheart, becoming in the present an old man. 

At the end of the movie where we see Cap dancing with his sweetheart back in the 40's I had a sort of epiphany that the whole point of superheroes is for people to do normal things like that-have a simple and loving life. The thing I realized is that you don't need superheroes to enjoy that kind of stuff, you don't need all the action and the rigamarole, the twenty-two movie fanfare. If the Marvel movies had more of that and less of all the other stuff, it would've been a much more thoughtful experience. More acting, less fighting. Maybe that could become the new norm for superhero movies? I wish.

With all that being said, "Avengers assemble!"

Check out my reviews for all the other Marvel movies I've seen. 
 Antman and the Wasp https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/07/antman-and-wasp.html
Avengers Age of Ultron https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2015/05/avengers-age-of-ultron-thoughts.html
Avengers Infinity War https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/avengers-infinity-war.html
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2017/05/guardians-of-galaxy-2.html
Spiderman Into the Spiderverse https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/01/spiderman-into-spiderverse.html
Deadpool 2 https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/06/dead-pool-2.html
Thor Ragnorak https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2017/12/thor-ragnarok.html
Doctor Strange https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2016/11/time-will-tell-how-much-i-love-you.html
Deadpool I https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/search?q=deadpool
Venom https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/10/venom.html 

Captain Marvel [film]

Captain Marvel is the latest Marvel superhero flick [2019] about the character Carol Danvers, from the comics. Produced by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Motion Pictures, it is the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "The film is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, with Geneva Robertson-Dworet also contributing to the screenplay. Brie Larson stars as Danvers, alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law. Set in 1995, the story follows Danvers as she becomes Captain Marvel after Earth is caught in the center of a galactic conflict between two alien worlds." [wiki] 

Captain Marvel has some feminist overtones. But for who and why? I would say Captain Marvel is a female superhero movie for young adult males. Its a movie for fanboys that want to see a girl kick ass. Be a badass. Or something like that. Brie Larson smashes her way through every obstacle in the movie, just like any other male superhero would. No thinking involved. No surprise there.

What makes a female superhero different from a male superhero? Of course, I would have to say feelings, emotions, empathy. This movie has just a little bit of that. I really enjoyed the scenes where Brie Larson wasn't smashing her way through everything, where she could just be herself, a young woman dealing with complicated issues. The most emotional moment of the film for me was when Captain Marvel's best friend, a young female black pilot, and mother, tries to remind her of who she was, before she became a Kree, before Captain Marvel, to remember her past life. That scene was so real, visceral, it felt like something real, not a superhero movie. I actually smiled during that scene because it felt so real. That was some good acting. 

The young Samuel L. Jackson with the CGI young face was pretty cool. He gives the film a 90s Pulp Fiction vibe, minus the afro. The introduction of the Skrulls to the Marvel universe was interesting, as well as the Kree. The Flerkin cat sometimes acted out by a CGI cat was a real treat. Brie Larson does a fine job of being the latest and greatest Marvel superhero. But my 'bro' friends didn't quite agree.

We spent quite some time arguing about the film at lunch. They seemed to think the film had some overt feminist sjw [social justice warrior] vibes and that was a bad thing to them. I agreed but said that was a good thing. Let's put it this way, in today's day and age you can't have a female superhero that isn't a social justice warrior. You're never going to see a female superhero who is alt-right, extreme or anything of that nature. We're still in the middle of the Me Too Movement, where women are making headway in terms of status. The original feminists are much different from the feminists of today. Mostly in the fact that today's feminists will never get everything that they want. However, when it comes to Captain Marvel, Brie Larson does certainly bring a feminist charm. She's an attractive blonde [although she has a flat ass, as my friends complained], and she's used her platform as an actress to speak out against the lack of diversity amongst film reviewers. She even said of one of her films, "if you're a forty-year-old white dude, this movie wasn't made for you." That is such an explicit statement and I commend her for using her power to say whatever the fuck she wants. Most women don't do that because they're not allowed too, because some old white man is in charge of them or their work. What my friends fail to realize is that feminism is here to stay. It's alive and well. Thriving in fact. Brie Larson makes Captain Marvel a powerful female protagonist. I think what Brie Larson represents [sjw's, feminism, more female superhero movie directors, more female superheroes] is more important than her actual acting job done here as Captain Marvel. The RottenTomatoes fiasco was a big part of it. People won't forget about her or this movie. I think it will help her career. She'll find more appealing, better-acting roles, and be respected for it in the long run.

Larson's personality as Captain Marvel isn't captivating but it's still something. Her incredible power isn't some rare occurrence. She isn't a young Rei from The Force Awakens, who suddenly has more power than a Sith Lord out of nowhere. Rather, Captain Marvel is powerful because she got her powers from the Tesseract, an object linked to the Infinity Stones, making her one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe. When we see Brie Larson beating the crap out of an army of Skrulls, with dead weight chains over her arms, we realize that she's a complete badass. That's what the fans what, a woman who's a badass. Of course, being a woman who's badass gets old, just as it gets old when guys do it. When you pour the beer in the cup and let the foam dissolve, so to speak, you realize that this movie is just another beat-em-up Marvel superhero flick, devoid of anything meaningful or memorable. At the end of the day, it's just another goofy Marvel movie with trained actors running around in funny outfits. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. At least it was better than The Ant-Man and the Wasp, which was totally forgettable. 

Check out my other Marvel movie reviews below. I've seen so many of these superhero flicks. Luckily I saw all these movies free because I have a friend who works at AMC Theatres as a team member. 
 
Antman and the Wasp https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/07/antman-and-wasp.html
Avengers Age of Ultron https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2015/05/avengers-age-of-ultron-thoughts.html
Avengers Infinity War https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/avengers-infinity-war.html
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2017/05/guardians-of-galaxy-2.html
Spiderman Into the Spiderverse https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/01/spiderman-into-spiderverse.html
Deadpool 2 https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/06/dead-pool-2.html
Thor Ragnorak https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2017/12/thor-ragnarok.html
Doctor Strange https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2016/11/time-will-tell-how-much-i-love-you.html
Deadpool I https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/search?q=deadpool
Venom https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/10/venom.html 

Venom

Venom got a lot of bad reviews in the press. In fact, I asked a lot of friends and peers what they thought of the movie and most of them had mixed reviews. However, they still thought it was fun and 'good', albeit in a broad generalized way. I only read maybe two reviews before I saw it. I already knew most of the plot and details from friends but didn't know exactly how it would be displayed. I wasn't disappointed, I thought it was good. 

Tom Hardy's Venom is a kin to the common-man trope in many stories, be they science fiction (Phillip K Dick's characters), comic books (Peter Parker, nerd), or fictional Horatio Alger stories (stories of the great American canon). Tom Hardy is a reporter who's life goes to shit when he loses his job, his girl friend, and all ambition. Venom, a symbiotic form from space attaches to him during this time of crisis, not only that but he identifies with Hardy, saying, "where I'm from I'm a loser like you, but here 'we' can be something more." This is a further identification with the common-man trope, or in this case common-alien. 

Tom Hardy does a great Venom voice, deep and vicious with jokes sometimes and serious threatening behavior the next. Venom likes to eat tater tots and chocolate, which was kind of funny. Venom even eats people, biting their heads off, which of course freaks out Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy's character). I like the way Venom is portrayed here. Yes, he admits to being a 'loser', but he's also a bad ass character, a strong fighter, who develops a sort of labored love towards Eddie Brock, and even his girl friend, who when Venom takes control of her, kisses Brock as She-Venom, quite an intimate kiss. Oui la la. 

My biggest criticism of this flick is that the villains were boring and one dimensional. Donald Trump makes a better villain than any of the characters here. Venom has his evil tendencies, but in the end he becomes an anti-hero, willing to live, take care of, and be a willing part of Eddie Brock's life. First off, that bad guy who finds the symbiotic goo that is the Venom strains (there are millions of them, just like Venom), he's this Silicon Valley type Elon Musk guy named Carlton Drake. That guy is one of the worst villains I've seen in a Marvel movie. Elon Musk is actually much more of a d-bag villain, especially when he called a guy a pedo a while back. 

Anyways, this character was so generic it was laughable. They try to make it more interesting by giving him a symbiotic parasite too, named Riot. But Riot ends up being kind of generic too. Other than the fact that Riot and Venom have an epic fight to the death (with Riot and Elon Musk-alike getting blown up), there's not a thing interesting about these characters. The bad guys need to be better, have better motive, other than typical generalized ideology.  

Lastly, I would say that they captured Venom pretty well. The way he runs up walls check. The way he's like a glue that attaches to Tom Hardy's body check. His jump from Marvel Vs Capcom 2 check. His "we are Venom" characteristic voice-line check. They did Venom right. He comes across as bad ass. I thought the movie was bad ass, in the sense that the action was great, the voice lines were strong, especially the "have a nice life" line. The love interest is sort of down-played in this movie and my friends even said that the actors didn't have much chemistry. Its true, but I don't think the luke-warm relationship hurt the action-packed scenes or the exciting nature of the human-symbiotic relationship. 

As a kid I used to love reading Spiderman, Venom, Carnage, those three were some of my favorite superheroes, antiheroes, and villains, mostly because they're from the Spiderman universe and I always liked Spiderman. The Venom movie is a lot different from the comics but I would still say its does a decent job of not straying completely off base from the comics. In that sense, its a safe portrayal, ultimately a decent one of the classic antihero. 

Overall I think Venom is a pretty damn good movie. I thought a lot of it was humorous but it was also action-packed. This is a better movie than Ant-man and the Wasp, the last Marvel movie I saw. I recommend the movie to comic book fans, Spiderman fans, and Carnage fans for sure. Carnage even has a cameo after the credits so make sure to stay after the credits to see this ginger talk about "bringing carnage."  

Antman and The Wasp

Yesterday was another scorcher in the Valley so my friends and I decided to cool off at the movies. We saw Antman and Wasp, the new Marvel superhero movie. Paul Rudd (Antman) and Evangeline Lily (Wasp) save the world by telling jokes and saving a family member from a super teeny tiny space-universe. It pays the bills.

The movie isn't really about anything per se but if there is a plot it is this: Wasp and her father are trying to save their mother, who's trapped in a tiny universe. They need Antman's help because Wasp's mother used some kind of telepathic ability to have Antman explain how they can find her. What the what? It makes no sense, and if it did it would still be grade school level speculative fiction. But that's not what makes this movie good. What makes this movie good is that its fun.

The movie is only about an hour long, which is about as long as I can take when it comes to superhero movies these days. After Infinity War this movie is right in the pocket. Evangeline Lily looks great in her Wasp suit, Paul Rudd tells jokes that aren't as corny as Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool character, and the action scenes although cliche, they bring a wallop to the cinematography.

There's sketches of character development in this movie that is sorely missing in other Marvel movies. Antman is a great dad that loves his daughter. Wasp loves her mother and Antman.

The villain of the movie is sort of unclear. We have a villain-esque type character that reminds me of the character Sombra from Overwatch, the video game. Her body is in a lot of pain because her body isn't stable, its shifting through space and time, she is and isn't there physically. Needless to say she can whoop Antman and Wasp's ass, that's why they have to tag team her to beat her down. Great character, it'll be great to see if she joins their squad of superheroes.

This isn't a memorable film and I've already forgotten most of the one liners. However, its a blast of a summer film. Marvel won't surprise me with anything truly great or remarkable anymore. At the very least, I can still have fun.

Dead Pool 2

Finally got around to seeing Dead Pool 2 with a bunch of co-workers. It was a fun film, and had its moments. Here I'd like to go over the narrative and talk about the movie's best and most interesting moments. 

Basically Dead Pool (played by Ryan Reynolds) wants to kill himself. His girl friend was killed because of him, a bad guy killed her to take away what he loves most, the usual superhero sort of trope. So our guy has to find a new meaning in life and he finds that in this troubled mutant kid, goes by the nickname Fire Fist, or something like that. 

Fire Fist and Dead Pool end up going to jail after Dead Pool kills some people that were hurting the kid. Enter Cable, who's pretty much an anti-hero here. He says that the kid has to die because he grows up to become a killer after he gets his first kill (he was tortured at this home for mutants, plans on killing the guy in charge there), and he ends up killing Cable's daughter. The murdered family member thing, another popular superhero trope.

The kid makes friends with Juggernaut in prison and they cause a ruckus at the mutant home, where the kid is about to kill the schoolmaster (owner). Cable and Dead Pool agree to work together. Cable tells Dead Pool that if he can't stop the kid he's going to kill him. Dead Pool makes it his mission to stop the kid. 

In the end Dead Pool ends up getting a device that allows him to go back in the time, messing up the time stream. Dead Pool 3 looks even more fun now that we know he has this device. 

Now I'll go over the best and most interesting parts. The coolest thing about the fighting scenes for me was when Cable entered and was using futuristic cyberpunk weaponry. When he was being attacked by Juggernaut he was able to deflect physical attacks with this sort of orange cybernetic shield. His explosives and guns were super flashy and caused some major splash damage. 

The scene that introduces us to Cable was quite the fanfare. We see a dystopian world that reminds you of typical science fiction. And then he uses his time travel device. Two trips. One way. One back. That's it. 

Another scene I like action-wise was when Juggernaut created an earthquake when he was first set free. Now that is how Juggernaut should act. The kid's fire attacks were mage-like too, explosive fiery blast reminiscent of a fire mage a la video games. Also there's a fight at the end between Juggernaut and Colossus that has its moments. 

The most interesting scene was at the end where Dead Pool is dying and he ends up going to a kind of heaven, (which reminded me of speculative fiction) where he sees his murdered girl friend. They have a talk about how it isn't his time yet, and then they kiss. Although most of this movie is sort of a joke (and sometimes not funny) this part had a serious aspect to it that reminded me of some science fiction short stories that depict certain aspects of human relationships. It was good, and not corny like most of Dead Pool's scenes. The best thing I can say about this movie from seeing this part is that it had some human element, not just superhero flare. 

That's the best I can say about the movie. Ultimately its a movie that can be easily forgotten among a sea of Hollywood action and thriller flicks. But its not a bad theater experience for the beginning of summer.

Avengers Infinity War

Avengers Infinity War is a blast of a movie. Literally. Tons of repulsor blasts, magical projectiles, explosions, hand to hand combat, and more. Here I'd like to go over the good, the bad, and what I think could have been better. If you haven't seen the movie and care about spoilers then you should stop now.

First, the good. This movie has the Avengers, Black Panther, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thanos' crew of minions and they all get good spotlight. Iron man, Doctor Strange, Spiderman, and the Guardians (Quill, Mantis, Bautista's character) take the fight directly to Thanos on his home planet while the others are busy doing other things like protecting the infinity stone carried by the Vision, on Wakanda. 

Black Panther, Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Black Widow, Bruce Banner (not in Hulk form), and Scarlett Witch are all protecting Vision (and the stone) while simultaneously stopping a Thanos army invasion on Wakanada. 

"Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses. And bring this man a shield." -Black Panther

In addition, Thor gets a lot of good screen time. Fitting because after all, he is a god from Asgaard. Thor, Teenage Groot, and Rocket Racoon (or Rabbit as Thor calls him) all go to this planet to craft this legendary hammer from this Asgaardian dwarf, played by Peter Dinklage, called Stormbreaker. Once Thor gets the god-hammer he meets up on Earth in Wakanda to whoop ass. 

"Thank you sweet rabbit," Thor exclaimed happily. 

Everyone got good screen time although some of the minor characters just had short small moments. These characters include Black Widow, War Machine, Thano's minons, Captain America's robotic Hawk flying friend, and the Collector, who had one of the infinity stones. In terms of giving all the fan favorite characters good screen time the director did a fantastic job. I personally really enjoyed Doctor Strange as he is probably the mvp of the entire movie. 

In terms of pure action I loved the fight in the beginning between the wizards (Strange, Wong) with Iron Man against Thano's hulk monster and his skinny alien wizard. The magical projectiles flying around the screen (in Imax) looked particularly impressive. I always like to see more fantasy based magic projectiles as opposed to the standard hand to hand fighting combat or the typical projectile blasts. It looks sweet. 

Also, I'll have to say that when Thor arrived in Wakanda with the god-hammer Stormbreaker, ("That's a bit much," Rocket said) he drew lightning from it across the entire war landscape and decimated Thano's creature army to pieces. Pretty cool, it reminded me of the latest Thor movie where he murdered his sister when she broke out of hell. Good times.

Before we move on from all the great stuff about the film I must mention that although this is a dark villain movie the jokes were quality. From talking about ice cream, to "stop massaging the god man's muscles", to "have you seen that old movie aliens", and lastly "how long have you been there?" "An hour". The flow of the film would have been too ghastly if it were not for all of these quirky jokes from the cast of heroes. Its a nice, little touch. 

There are also emotional connections between the characters in this movie. More so than in the other Avengers films. When Thanos kills Gamora in order to retrieve the soul stone (Red Skull guides them to it, says they need a soul for a soul) that was a particularly sad moment. Also when Teenage Groot is about to die we've been told by directors that he saying "Dad" to Rocket Raccoon. The ending in general was quite catastrophic for the characters as well as the viewers. Its the end of the Universe man! 

Now for the bad. This movie only exudes one bad quality trait to me. The fact that the movie flows in a clunky way. The way everything moves around all the time as Thanos tries to retrieve all the infinity stones, its sort of all over the place. However, I don't think they could've done a better job because the point of this story is that everything is happening all over the place. They could've cut down on some of the fight scenes to make more meaningful dialogue and made the film shorter. If the film was shorter it wouldn't feel as clunky. 

Lastly, I must say that the movie is mostly good although I will debate any Marvel fan and say that its still super clunky and doesn't flow well. The first time you see it you will miss certain things not because you're not paying attention but because it doesn't flow well and your thoughts and eyes are focused on other parts. The seconding viewing I saw it, it was still clunky and didn't flow well. However, I still enjoyed it. Maybe even more the second time around (in Imax!). 

The thing is with these films is that yeah its cool they're going to destroy the Universe. That's exciting to all the fans and viewers. However, once you realize that it doesn't matter and that all of this crap is going to get relaunched eventually anyways, that's when the dream dies and you realize its just a movie for kids. 

However, its fun to be a kid sometimes and that's where Infinity War shines. Have fun with this film! 

Kid Gamora: Did you do it?
Thanos: Yes.
Kid Gamora: What did it cost?
Thanos: Everything. 

Thor Ragnarok

Thor Ragnarok is fun super hero movie. It has Justice League beat. Here's why.

Thor's story-line is simpler and easier to see out on the big screen. The fact that Asgard gets taken over by Odin's first daughter Hela who's Thor's sister. She took over countless civilizations with her father Odian and was the god of Death riding atop a giant wolf. The fact that Thor continues to have family disputes is not a surprise.

Thor's fighting scenes are cooler. The fighting scenes in Thor are marvelous, like a crude man's ballet. The weapons really added flair as there was weapons like swords and spears, guns, and magic.

One guy had some sort of enchanted Mace. He was pretty cool but he got speared through the gut by Hela.

The Hulk used hammers and axes against Thor in a fighting exhibition tournament match, akin to a gladiator affair.

Hela used magic to throw these Asgardian spears at an entire army of soldiers.

Thor was able to channel lightning throughout his body instead of just using his hammer. Because his hammer gets destroyed by Hela (by her bare fists) he learns how to use his powers without it.

Yeah, that was all pretty cool stuff.

Thor had a better soundtrack. At one point Thor gets lightning powers and he starts to annihilate an army of bad guys. The music from Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song is blasting away. That was a standout musical moment for the film.

Thor Ragnarok is good superhero cinema. I thought that Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Ruffalo did a great job in their roles. Actors like these give a good name for superhero flicks.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

I saw this movie about a week ago and I thought I'd jot down my thoughts of the film. Obviously a movie like this could never be truly great because its just bubblegum popcorn entertainment. However, I can critique and give an opinion on it. One thing to take note is that the movie made 136 million during its first opening weekend. Alien Covenant only made 36 million on its opening weekend and it was a much better movie. Onto the film...

Guardians 2 doesn't really take off where the first one left off. It's not really a true kind of sequel. Instead, it brings a brand new element to the series. Starlord is actually part god or as they call it in the film, celestial. Starlord (played by Chris Pratt) and the gang (Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, Bautista, and Baby Groot) meet Starlord's dad and they end up going to his planet. There Starlord learns that his father is a celestial (god) that formed that entire planet they went to and that Starlord's half god too.

His dad seemed like a pretty cool dude. The movie opens with Starlord's dad driving down a country road with then Starlord's mother in a convertible while she's singing a song. Its the 80s because he had a longhair mullet sort of style going on. It was a good opening. Very memorable even a week later. The rest of the movie not so much.

The basic plot of the movie is that Starlord's dad needs another celestial to power up the planet with a weapon....or something like that. The movie featured a ton of comedy. My favorite part was how Rocket Raccoon made fun of a mini-villain that gave himself the moniker Tazerface. Rocket says,"you call yourself Tazorface!?" He laughs and says,"whats next, buttocks scrotum?" I thought that part was super funny.

You can say that the plot didn't even matter for this movie because its ultimately forgettable. The fact that no more infinity stones were revealed in the movie or in any of the after trailers (there were four) was a bit of a disappointment for me. However, what the movie does do well is remind us that summer is here and that good times are meant to be had. Yeah, its a party movie. Dumb fun, like drinking beers when you're a little kid. I didn't hate it but at the same time its not something that will be talked about for years to come.

It differs from most Marvel, DC, and superhero movies in the sense that its not about action or even having a linear plot. Instead, its about the characters, jokes, and the relationships between them. Its at times funny, awkward, rude, and sometimes even weird. You can tell they were trying to save all the super important lore and story of the Guradians of the Galaxy at bay with this one. 

Time Will Tell How Much I Love You

Yesterday I saw the new Doctor Strange movie. It's terrific! I enjoyed it more than the last Avengers film and Captain America film. Marvel has done it again. Let me give you the good, the bad, and the nerdy. If you haven't seen the film and don't want any spoilers stop reading here.

First, the good. This movie is everything you'd expect from a Doctor Strange origins film. Benedict Cumberbatch does a great job portraying Strange as a brilliant doctor who is full of himself. Even the love interest in this movie doesn't get much love from him, at least not until the end. The best part of any Doctor Strange origin story for me is definitely the beginning. It starts with him losing control of his hands in a car crash. And it gets better from there.

Later, he realizes no Western medicine or surgery can fix his hands but he thinks if he goes out to Nepal for this special treatment he can gain use of his hands again and go back to being a brilliant surgeon. He learns about magic and other dimensions and such. He becomes an apprentice to this British female master-who's bald. Enter epic magic training montage.

The way they introduce everything in the first half of the film is brilliant. If you didn't know anything about Doctor Strange well now you do because of the beginning of this movie. Honestly most Marvel fans already know this stuff though but this is a great fresh reminder of who and what he is.

Now, for the bad. The magic in this movie was very cool but most of the fighting was done using melee attacks, energy weapons (magic sword), and not very much ranged magic attacks. I was expecting like actual ranged spells like in an rpg game or something but instead we got energy weapons made from magic and them using the cgi magic weapons, which were all mostly melee weapons like swords. I wish they used more actual magic in the fighting. Like in Warcraft. The magic used was all cgi trickery that looked super fake. But its not like they could do anything do make it look real.

Now for the nerdy. Stan Lee makes an appearance in the film reading the book The Doors of Perception. He's all laughing while reading it, pretty funny stuff. At the end of the movie we learn that Doctor Strange controls time using an Infinity Stone, which we know is linked to everything in the Marvel Universe. Thanos has an Infinity Gauntlet which basically gives him the powers of God. The fact that Doctor Strange has one makes him one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel canon.

Lastly, I liked the sentimentality from Strange's love interest. She gave him a watch that said time will tell how much I love you. Pretty sappy but very beautiful. The ending of the movie was amazing. Basically he put himself and this evil dark god (Drommamu) in an infinite time loop where Strange kept getting killed forever until this god agreed to leave and never come back. They could've been stuck in there for an eternity while time remained still on Earth. Pretty fascinating concept for a children's movie. Also, the fact that he endured death for an eternity is very dark for a Marvel movie.

Great movie! The ending credits showed Strange agreeing to help find Thor's father Odin. And the other ending was the goody black dude sorcerer becoming a bad guy sorcerer. Interesting.

Don't miss this one this Holiday season

Deadpool movie

     Today me and the lads went to go see the Deadpool movie. I was not dissapointed. This movie is terrific, action packed, and contains an origin story that leaves the watcher sympathetic to the character. Deadpool isn't really seen as a hero or a villain, he's just a guy who's out for revenge against the guy that scarred his face. He was told that they were going to cure his cancer and turn him into a super hero but instead they fucked up his face instead (they being Ajax). In the end his cancer was cured and he did have super powers.
     He decapitates guys with his swords, guns them down with pistols, and isn't a bad fighter when it comes to hand to hand combat. The cool thing about Deadpool is that he virtually can't die. There were moments like when he was fighting Colossus (from the X-Men, a cameo) and his body just got crunched and turned into a lump of meat. But then he was able to regenerate his broken bones, it was awesome! Kind of reminded me of the Pillar Men from JoJo's Bizarre Adventures if you've ever that. I guess this is Deadpool's mutant abilities at work. All I knew about Deadpool before I saw this movie was that he was a cool Marvel character in Marvel vs Capcom 3, that he liked chimichangas and Spiderman, and that Ryan Reynolds played him in X-Men first class. Now here he is with his own movie! Let me break down the movie.
     Basically the movie goes in a backwards order which reminded me a bit of Pulp Fiction because the story wasn't a linear progression. Deadpool is out to kill Ajax, this baddie that forced a mutation on Deadpool by giving him non-stop torture. Don't ask me how constant torture somehow brings out the genes for super powers but that's how they explained it in this movie. Deadpool is seen as a jokey straight up killer but he actually loves his girl friend and his whole fight in this movie was for her. The story isn't anything great but the action packed scenes more than make up for it. This is a straight up action flick with a lot going on. There are moments when people get messed up horribly but I wouldn't call this a gory movie. However, this isn't a movie you should take a young kid to. There are decapitations, torture scenes, and boobs! Haha, but seriously this is rated R for a reason. If they went with a PG-13 rating this movie would not have been as great as it was. It's great to see something from the Marvel camp that isn't just PG-13 Avengers.
     When I watched this movie there was a sense that everything just flowed well. It was like a perfect super hero movie. Although you can't really call Deadpool a super hero. He's kind of his own kind of hero ya know? I really like that about him. He's not a bad guy necessarily but that doesn't stop him from being a killing machine. Colossus even kept saying that he would make an X-man out of Deadpool yet. So there's still hope for Deadpool to turn to the light side. Things to look forward to when watching this movie; Ryan Reynolds' great acting and hilarious banter, cool action scenes, the strip club scene (which was very random), and a unique origins story. This is how you do justice to a comic book character in film form. It's just that good. Go see this movie as soon you can! 
     Lastly, I've been playing Street Fighter V and the issues that the game had seem to have been fixed. I haven't played any matches online but tomorrow I'll try to play my friend online. I've kind of found an interesting character that I like, Necalli. I thought he was some kind of vampire at first but he's actually some kind of Aztec warrior. Which seems just as awesome! He's become my favorite character just today but I'll probably play a lot of Ryu as well to learn the basics. In addition, I'm looking forward to going to a Smash tournament tomorrow. I'm going to go ham as Zero Suit Samus. I was working on my tech skill, perfect pivots and teching. I've also been working on not rolling so much. I need to completely change my style to remove all my bad habits in order to play better at the competitive level. Wish me luck!