Monthly Archives: September 2016
As with every sequel, things must get bigger and louder. Unlike the first film, the danger really comes from within. Tony is obsessed with changing the way things are done by building a peace keeping for that will put an end to the need for the Avengers. He has been working on an A.I. to watch over the world and prevent tragedy. Even as the Avengers are in action, he has Iron… Read More
The Avengers was the culmination of four years of effort on the part of Marvel Studios. They worked to establish their interconnected Universe building up to this. People were excited and the Marvel Machine had primarily seen success with their films leading up to this. The first hiccup was losing Edward Norton. Ed and Marvel could not come to an agreement for the Avengers. So Marvel brought in the likable Mark Ruffalo. The… Read More
The success of both the first film and the Avengers, Captain America was bound to return. While the First Avenger had a straight forward black and white approach (not to hard when your villains are Nazis) the Winter Soldier is about how far the world has fallen. Steve’s values are clashing with even the good guys. He is starting to doubt his missions and his teammates. The one bright spot is his… Read More
Captain America was a hotly debated character for the Marvel Films. Could a character so tied to American Nationalism be a hero the world loved? Joe Johnston (who directed Disney’s fun comic book movie the Rocketeer 20 years earlier) was brought in and found a way to make that answer be yes. Among the choices made were to set the film in World War 2, rather than begin in Present day. Chris… Read More
Thor’s post Avengers story stays outside of the world of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man and Captain America. It focuses squarely on Thor, Jane Foster and Asgard. The story opens with Odin telling the tale of how the universe had once been in darkness, and after a time, the dark elves sought to plunge the universe back into the darkness. They were stopped by Odin’s father who had their weapon (the Aether) hidden deep… Read More
As Marvel worked their way to the Avengers, they had a bit of an issue. Thor is supposedly a god, as are all his friends and family. How does this fit into the Marvel world? Their resolution was that they are mistaken for gods, but really their magic is just science we do not understand yet. Thor is introduced as a brash young man, a drunkard who cares more for fun than… Read More
Third times the charm! While I enjoyed the second shot at the Punisher starring Thomas Jane, it appears a lot of people did not agree. The Punisher is one of those tough characters. He is brutally violent and (in large part) that is where his entertainment comes from…how far will he go to take out the underworld? So, for the next attempt at the Punisher, much like the Hulk, they tossed aside… Read More
There is a lot to like…and yeeet… Created in the early 1970’s by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru, he debuted in Amazing Spider-man # 129, the first attempt at the Punisher was in the 80’s. It starred Dolph Lundgren. At the time the casting seemed like an obvious choice. But then the movie came out. It was really more like they had a Dolph Lundgren action movie and decided they should… Read More
It was a little surprising that Ghost Rider got a sequel. Or is it a reboot. The film is never really clear. It simply ignores the previous film, yet stars Nicolas Cage again. This time it is directed by the guys behind Crank. The trailer showed Ghost Rider pissing fire. Which just seems so crazy that it sets high expectations for hilariously absurd action. Considering the movie has gun toting monks protecting… Read More
Nick Cage huh? Well, that seems like a marginally less odd choice than playing Superman. Tim Burton tried to make that happen. Do you also remember a time when Cage was a highly praised actor from quirky Cohen Brothers films? If not, you probably were born after Michael Bay’s seminal the Rock. That is the film that altered the trajectory of Nick’s career that careened out of control resulting in… Ghost Rider. … Read More
