Houston, We Don't Have A Problem..."Captain Marvel"

Captain Marvel (2019)

Rated PG-13

Starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Benning,

Directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck

The Story:

Vers (Larson) is a warrior of the Kree civilization who has been having recurring nightmares with flashes of a life she doesn't remember. When she is captured by Talos (Mendelsohn) an enemy Skrull, he helps unlock the secrets locked inside her and sets her on a collision course with Earth that will reveal everything that she cannot seem to remember.

Welcome to Part 21, Year 11.

Never in anyone's wildest dreams, except maybe Kevin Feige's, did anyone dream that when Iron Man was released in 2008 that this is where we would be.

Find me another studio that has enjoyed the success that Marvel Studios has enjoyed with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Seriously.

I'll wait.

James Bond has had 25 films over a 50 year span. Some of the efforts have been good...some not so much.

Maybe the closest you could find would be the Disney animated films, which have taken decades to create over 21 beloved movies.

Even Pixar stumbled on their impressive early track record with the Cars franchise.

Someday, the audiences that have watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be able to look back and marvel (pun fully intended) at the actors and directors that brought this to life and be impressed by what they managed to pull off and string together.

21 down, 2 more to go this year, and judging by the previews, those will do just fine as well.

They resonate with critics and audiences alike.

However, with Captain Marvel, there seemed to be a larger disconnect, at least in cyberspace, between those that enjoyed it, and those that seemingly hated the movie.

I don't get the hate.

I don't know if I didn't enjoy Captain Marvel as much as I should have, because the whole time a voice in the back of my head was wondering, "what is everyone else complaining about"?

Shame on me for that.

I left the theater with my lovely date, and said, "okay, tell me about all of the plot holes you found and how much you didn't enjoy this one."

To my surprise, she said this was one of the better MCU films that she has seen and she was very impressed.

I'm a lucky guy, right?

So there you go.

About as spoiler-free of a review as you're going to get.

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll see Stan Lee in perhaps his greatest and most logical cameo ever!

Now, let's see her help save the day in Avengers: Endgame!

Armageddon It... "The Umbrella Academy"

The Umbrella Academy (2019)

TV-14

Starring Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton,

Created by Jeremy Slater

The Story:

In 1989, 43 children were born on the exact same day, none of whom came from mothers that were pregnant when the day started. Reclusive billionaire Reginald Hargreeves scoured the globe attempting to adopt as many as he could. He wound up with 7 of them. As they grew, he trained them to become a team of superheroes as they all exhibited superpowers, except one. Now, decades later, they are reunited for the first time in ages at the passing of their father...

So what to say and where to begin?

It's based on a comic book, and as I've mentioned, it's got superheroes in it.

The first episode is a little slow with introducing everyone and setting the stage, but it's a trip well worth taking.

Without spoiling too much, one of the siblings, Five (Gallagher) returns from the future where he has witnessed the end of the world. It's up to him and his family to try and avert that catastrophe from coming.

However, temporal assassins have been dispatched back in time as well to ensure Five fails.

Yeah, that's spoiler-free enough.

The storyline is spread among the cast as they get their own character arcs and intersect with one another as deemed appropriate from the plot.

There is also heavy flashbacks/flash forwards as the narrative requires. 

With such an ensemble cast, some characters will grow on you and become favorites: Five, Klaus (Sheehan) and Hazel (Britton) and some you may just want to throttle...Luther (Hopper) I'm looking at you.

As everyone in our house has finished the series, we all came to one conclusion:

Vanya (Page) is the character that nobody liked from the very beginning.

That we watched it all in different viewing groups and didn't discuss anything until it was over makes this outcome even more amusing.

If you've watched/read enough superheroes in your life (or ever read any book or watched a tv show or movie...) you will likely know each and every twist and turn that is going to happen over the course of the show's 10 episodes.

That's okay, at least you don't have any last minute twists that make no sense coming at you just as a "gotcha" moment.

While fans are still mourning the loss of the Marvel properties on Netflix, it's good to see that they are shoring up the superhero front with other properties that probably cost a lot less to produce.

I'm intrigued by the possibilities that Season Two will hopefully hold for this show, and we'll all be back to watch when they're ready.