The Falcon and the Winter Soldier revealed new characters to invest in (Review)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was a great episodic experience.
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WandaVision: First Impression Review
WandaVision’s first two episodes were quirky and funny. They had the old-school sense of humor that you would expect from a Bewitched and I Love Lucy.
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Who is Moon Knight?
Now that Oscar Issac has been cast as the mysterious new superhero, Moon Knight. It’s time to dive in and find out who Moon Knight is as a character and how he could fit into the MCU as Disney ramps up for a new series on the Disney Plus streaming service.
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Fast & Furious 9 Bombshell, Anaconda Reboot, + Marvel Series Premiere date announced
Headlines for the week of 1/27/2020 to 2/1/2020.
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Favorite Opinion Posts of 2019
There are a lot of reviews available on this blog site, but there a few opinions that I will argue with anyone about. I’ve listed them below.
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Opinion: Fantastic Four (2015) in retrospect is a sci-fi horror film
After watching Dark Phoenix, I was not blown away by the story and felt that certain story arcs should have been explored more to help with certain character development. I wrote a full review about it here.
I don’t feel like I was overly critical because I’m a glass half full kind of person. So even though I wasn’t blown away, I’d never say Dark Phoenix was bad. I just figured that the reboot may have been wrong for this point in time.
I mean this is an era of superhero movies that evoke tears! This is an era where people rewatch and rewatch until every easter egg and theory has been explored. Some times, the type of connection that fans have with a film could cause it to be re-released in theaters only one month and some days after the initial release.
Cough cough, Avengers: Endgame.
Dark Phoenix didn’t evoke that.
That being said I decided to go back in time to 2015. To a time when the world saw a reboot of another story about the Fantastic Four.
Previously, in the 2005 version, it was a story about 2 scientists, a researcher, an astronaut, and a pilot journeying into space to experiment with cosmic energy against the better judgment of certain party members. They get caught in a storm that turns them all into superheroes. Right away three out of the four participants use their powers for good, the fourth one eventually comes around and the Fantastic Four save the day while the fifth powerful being goes rogue.
The film was light-hearted enough. No real consequences that interrupted the flow of the world. Plus at the end of the day, the Fantastic Four stood victorious and all was well.
Cool.
Now that we’re up to speed, let’s look at the most recent reboot.
Reviews for Fantastic Four ( 2015) weren’t the best. In fact, if you google the film you’ll see mostly negative reviews. But I watched it for myself four years later and I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve been thinking about this all wrong.
This isn’t a whimsical story about superheroes. This is a sci-fi horror film!
Think about it.
Five teenagers who are under supervised with chips on their shoulders use their expertise in science to create a portal to an unknown planet. They have no respect for authority, barely get along with each other, and of course, there is a love triangle involved.
The lack of supervision gives them time to set up an exploration of the unknown planet and when they arrive there is an unknown entity waiting to pounce.
Student number one gets crushed by rocks, student number two is burned alive, and student number three is presumed dead after falling off a cliff into an acid lake.
While trying to bring their ship back,, student number four gets infected due toa blowback blast causing her to go into a coma. And student number five seemly gets away without an issue until he realizes that he is permantly deformed.
Student number five flees after the four surviving members of his group are captured by a private sector of the government. Pleagued by guilt due to the cost his friends have paid he leaves them to be experimented on by the government.
Eventually, the student who fell into the acid lake comes back when the adults, who weren’t paying attention in the first place, try to revisit the unknown planet. His skin is charred and he is unrecognizable. He’s seeking revenge. He’s being bent on death and destruction. He is no longer a human and now his only goal is to kill those who left him behind and destroy the earth by sucking it into a black hole.
See doesn’t that sound good?
Granted the end of the movie sees the four other teenage students band together to destroy the threat but, some horror films have happy endings too.
So next time Fantastic Four (2015) is on TV watch it with new eyes and tell me what you think.
Review: Dark Phoenix
Most of the time when I am going to watch a movie or any other type of entertainment, I try not to spoiler myself. This time was different. The story in Dark Phoenix could be considered some type of reboot because in the 2006 movie X-men: The Last Stand we met the on-screen version of Dark Phoenix played by Famke Janssen.
To my surprise, the 2019 reboot of Dark Phoenix played nothing like the 2006 version. I am not sure if that is a good thing. I left the theater thinking, is that how they wanted to end this rendition of X-men?
Spoilers ahead
I won’t go into the movie scene by scene because if you’re curious you should go see this for yourself. However, the lasting impression of Dark Phoenix was less than stellar for me. I don’t know if the directors did this on purpose, but most of the action parts of the movie can be seen in the trailer.
The movie itself had a slow start and when things finally did pick up, Jean Grey was so over the top and confusing. After taking in the Phoenix during a rescue mission in space, Jean just wakes up and is so stimulated that she wants to drink and party.
Okay.
However, she ends up having a meltdown at the sight of fire. This causes her to send a shock wave out, almost kill everyone around her, and then pass out.
Fine.
I understand the Phoenix power is something she can’t control. Her senses are heightened and so are her emotions. However, that does not explain why she is running around for the rest of the first half of the movie like a teenager with an attitude problem.
Jean is extra for no reason the entire time she’s under the influence of Dark Phoenix. Not once did I think, Jean really has no control. It always seemed like Jean was just irritated with people trying to help her, so she would throw a fit.
Example A, she kills Raven or Mystique (whichever name you prefer) while they are having a perfectly normal, non-threatening conversation.
HUH?
Poor Raven. All she wanted to do was stop being in the X-men and live happily ever after with Beast.
Example B, she runs to Magneto’s compound where he is actually living happily ever after and brings the military to his doorstep. And while he’s trying to cover for her, she comes out and tries to kill everybody with a helicopter.
HUH?
Magneto was legitimately trying to save you. Why would you do that?
Perhaps I never truly bought into the split personality in this movie. As I mentioned before, Jean Grey didn’t seem like she was changing personalities. She just seemed annoyed by everything. It was like the Phoenix powers acted on her impulse.
As a result, I was not excited when she went into space at the end and sacrificed herself to rid the world of the dark power. In my head, I was thinking, “You’ve been rude this entire movie, and I’m supposed to feel happy that you changed your mind?”
No.
The most interesting part of the movie:
The most interesting part of the story, which did not get explored nearly enough, was the Beast having an issue with Xavier. Beast was mourning the death of Raven so he called Xavier out for not really caring about the gifted children and using them for self-gratification.
Before her run-in with Jean Grey, Raven also mentioned that Xavier was conceded and only using the X-men as a way to fit in with humans versus protecting the mutants. Raven planned on leaving the X-men but the whole Dark Phoenix thing happened.
After Raven’s funeral, Beast was upset that he didn’t let her leave when she mentioned it. He confronted Xavier about his use of the mutants. He said it’s not the world the gifted children need protection from, it’s Xavier.
That was actually the best part of the movie.
From what I gathered, Xavier is to blame for Jean Grey going off the rails because he didn’t pay enough attention to her while she was growing in power and angst. He was too busy trying to unite the world, which is why he couldn’t calm her down when she eventually went off the deep end.
Sidenote:
Can we talk about how Beast can transform
There was a scene with Magneto and Vuk where he pointed a gang of guns at her and started lighting her up. It was a short scene, but it was exciting and I liked it.
Jean Grey did have a scene before she went out to space where she blew up a few henchmen and they dusted away. That was cool too.
Overall, Dark Phoenix isn’t in the top 20 of the best comic book movies created for the cinema. Maybe this reboot was best left untouched. The X-men have plenty of stories to tell and perhaps in the future, we will get to see them adapted to the big screen.
Opinion: You’re not invited to the X-Men Reboot with Disney and Marvel
Opinion: Who’s not invited to the X-Men Reboot with Disney and Marvel
I read an article on CBR.com. It just reported on an interview with James Marsden with ComicBook.com.
James Marsden played Cyclops from the first cinematic iteration of X-men in the early 2000’s with 20th Century Fox. In my opinion, it was a better time before this new class took over and the less than thrilling films came out. The new X-men films haven’t done justice to the franchise, if I’m being honest.
Besides Logan and Deadpool, those were works of art. Plus, they aren’t X-men films per-say even though they live in the same universe.
In the interview, Marsden basically said that he is open to reprising his role as Cyclops.
I’d like to see this.
The early 2000’s was a budding time for super hero movies. When you think of X-men, Spider-man, Fantastic Four, and even The Incredible Hulk, you can remember them fondly. They started a new action packed era of cinema.
Hopefully, now that Disney has required the rights to the X-men franchise, they will consider bringing back some of the X-men 2000 characters, especially the actors that really did a great job on their characters.
Maybe in a flashback or reprise… what do you think?
However, seeing the latest films leads me to believe one of two things. Either the actors don’t have a grasp on the character or they don’t have good direction to help them portray the character.
Because of that, I’m looking forward to a complete reboot of X-men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I’m sorry, but X-men: Apocolypse was not what I expected and a lot of the characters fell flat.
That’s what leads me to believe the actors need different direction. How was Sophia Turner able to be perfect in Game of Thrones? How was Jennifer Lawrence able to be inspiring in Hunger Games? How was Oscar Isaac so likeable in Star Wars: The Force Awakens?
I’ll leave that question to you.
James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine were great. The other characters in the new class just left something to be desired.
No offense.
What are your thoughts? Would you like to see James Marsden, Hugh Jackman and other X-men from the early 2000’s reprise there roles?
Do you want to keep going with the current class?
Would you like a complete wiped slate?
Avengers: Endgame | Is it April 26 yet?
If you weren’t pumped for the climax to the last 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) before, you should be now. Marvel Studios released new posters of the survivors and the fallen from Avengers: Infinity War.
I can’t lie, I cried a bit during the happening of the previous installation and I was in my feelings when I realized I had to wait a full year to find out it’s conclusion. I’m honestly not thinking past Endgame even though Spider-man: Far From Home comes out in July. I’m just not there yet.
Are you feeling as excited as I am to see the climactic ending? Maybe Endgame will act as a true beginning to the next saga. Perhaps it’ll be a love letter to the past decade while still putting over the next generation.
There will be a full review up on this blog when the time comes. Until then, feel free to keep dropping photos and trailers Marvel. I’m all for it!
Avengers: Endgame comes out April 26. There’s 1 month left. Take a look at this feature released by Marvel Studios on twitter (click the tweet below) and view these awesome posters to hold you over.
