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!

R.I.P. Stan "The Man" Lee 1922-2018

I absolutely hate writing these, and for quite some time I have avoided these, and a lot of writing this year for various reasons.

But when I saw the news today that Stan Lee had passed away at the age of 95, well, it's time to dust off the keyboard and get back to my favorite job:

Writing.

I owe that passion for writing to Stanley Martin Lieber, better known to us all as Stan Lee.

I was first introduced to Stan Lee as the creator of Spider-Man with  Amazing Fantasy # 15.

While I wasn't lucky enough to be around when it premiered, through countless reprints, I learned of Spider-Man's origins from the nerdy Peter Parker to the hero with problems, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

What made Peter Parker or the Fantastic Four so special?

Lee brought the humanity to his characters, the kind of which you never really saw in the Distinguished Competition.  Batman, Superman and the like seemed to perfect in what they did. There wasn't second guessing, joking because they were scared or any of those things. They were godlike, or at the very least, nearly perfect in the way their lives unfolded.

At Marvel, they were humans that were often thrust to do heroic things, even if it terrified them as they were doing it. It was refreshing, it was new... And now it's the model of how it's done.

Through the decades, fans have debated which was better, DC or Marvel. My answer has always been Marvel.

Stan imbued his characters with the best traits that we often aspire to be.

At the end of the day, it wasn't the costume, it was the person that wore the costume that truly mattered.

You take Peter Parker or Steve Rogers or Tony Stark or countless others out of their costume, and they are still as heroic and noble and yes, flawed, as when they are in it.

The man who brought "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" to life on the comic page for a teenaged hero-to-be spoke to us all.  We all have that power within us, we must use that power responsibly.

It is through our actions that we make the world a better place, and Stan gave us a great role model for kids of many generations with Peter Parker.

For those that didn't take the nerd/geek path and follow comic books when they were growing up, well....

Welcome to the 21st Century and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 20 films, and just about as many cameos later, the non-comic book reading world finally got to see what the rest of us already knew:

Marvel Comics are phenomenal!

I get goosebumps and misty eyes when the Marvel Studios banner unfurls... never did I expect to see these films in my lifetime, let alone that they would be so good.

That Stan got to be there when it all gelled into the perfect storm had to be icing on the cake for the man that had a celebrated career, one that will live on because of those very characters that he created/helped create nearly a half century ago.

Stan may have been embarrassed early in his career by what he was doing, and he was never able to be the great American novelist or anything, but I think he had one helluva career.

And if I'm asked who my favorite American author is, it's always Stan Lee, without hesitation.

Go read Amazing Fantasy # 15 again if you don't believe me.

Thank you for shaping my childhood, raising me into adulthood, and letting me share your creations with my children as you shaped yet another generation.

God Speed Stan Lee, you are now, and always will be, THE MAN!

Excelsior!!!

Verily Tis Time To See "Thor: Ragnarok"

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins,

Directed by Taika Waititi

The Story:

Ragnarok, the prophesied end of Asgard is at hand. Hela (Blanchett), the Goddess of Death seeks to destroy all that remains of Asgard and take her place on the throne. The only one who has any hope of stopping her is Thor (Hemsworth), and he's going to have to travel across the entire cosmos to get their in time. 

You've seen the trailer, and if that didn't get you psyched to go see this one, then there's not much I can write to convince you.

Waititi delivers the best of the 3 Thor sagas on the silver screen, and yes there's a lot of humor in it...

But I don't think at any point is the humor too distracting, or not in character for any of the characters.

Hemsworth has always been fun in the role of Thor, and they finally tapped into that and let the God of Thunder be the humorous, full of bravado son of Odin that makes the character shine.

He's complemented with the return of Hiddleston as Loki, and once more the brothers find themselves allied and at odds, sometimes both in the same scene.

Many more surprises, returns and losses for this final film from Marvel in 2017.

Is it their best of the year or best ever?

That will be debatable and vary from person to person.

I'm leaning at still giving that edge for this year to Spider-Man: Homecoming, but that may just be because after 5 attempts, I felt they finally got it right.

With Thor, they never really got it wrong, so much as they didn't deliver on everything that it could be.

So go, see the movie and have a good time.

Laugh it up, because things are about to get a lot darker next year with the arrival of Infinity War.

Final Grade: A

Welcome Home Web-Head! "Spider-Man: Homecoming"

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr.

Directed by Jon Watts

The Story:

Peter Parker (Holland) is trying to adjust to life as Spider-Man all the while waiting for the next call-up to something big by Tony Stark (Downey Jr.). When he discovers that a new bad guy, the Vulture (Keaton) is up to something really big, Peter gets tired of being ignored while he tries to enlist help, so he tackles it on his own. Needless to say, his web-slinging and high school problems are going to cause more problems than your typical high schooler has to endure.

Welcome home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spidey!

The deal that allowed Marvel Studios to use Spider-Man pays off huuuuuuge for Sony as they craft the best Spider-Man film so far.

For those of you that loved the Raimi trilogy...or at least Part 2, you're welcome to think that's the best Spider-Man ever.

I never cared for Tobey in the role, nor Dunst as M.J.

I much preferred Garfield's take in the role, but those films weren't without their flaws.

Now along comes Homecoming.

Holland is quickly winning me over as Peter/Spidey.

It also helps that Keaton's Vulture is an impressive and logical foe to set this whole thing up, and he is great as the film's bad guy.

Are there flaws?

Probably.

Am I willing to overlook those?

Absolutely.

The biggest complaint I could see is the characterizations of most of Peter's supporting cast.

I simply remember: this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not the comics.

Then yeah, I'm good.

What else can I say at this point?

1) The Spider-Man theme song makes an appearance.
2) Possibly the best ending of any Marvel movie.
3) There are indeed 2 scenes that appear after the credits.

I highly encourage you to stick around for both!

Congratulations to all involved, I'm now going to type what I thought unthinkable just 2 short months ago...

Sorry Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.... there's a new favorite movie of the year in town!

Good luck Thor: Ragnarok... you've got your work cut out for you.

Final Grade: A

"Doctor Strange" Is Not Covered By Your Affordable Healthcare Plan

Doctor Strange (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen,

Directed by Scott Derrickson

The Story:

Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch) is an extremely accomplished neurosurgeon who is as brilliant as his ego suggests he is. In an instant, his world comes crashing down, and he loses everything. In a last-ditch effort to regain the full use of his hands, he heads east in the hopes of healing, and winds up learning ancient mystic arts. Of course, when another former pupil is trying to learn a dark spell that will wind up destroying the earth, it will fall upon Strange's shoulders to see if he's learned enough to stop the threat.

Full disclosure, I never really cared for Doctor Strange when I was growing up. Aside from guest starring in the books that I read, I never sought his own comic out to read.

Just a character I never truly cared for.

However, much like Daredevil, give him to the right hands, and I might find myself really digging the character.

When I saw the trailer(s) for Doctor Strange, I was also less than overwhelmed.

They did nothing to alleviate my fears, unlike the killer trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy that made me realize THAT movie is going to be amazing, and I MUST see it in theaters.

Nope, this looked like one I could probably miss in theaters and catch on DVD, much like I did with Age of Ultron.

However, I wound up at the theater with one of my kids Friday afternoon, and we sat down to watch.

Neither of us hoping for much, other than to not be let down.

Part of me wonders why we even worry about anything Marvel touches anymore.

: )

In short, it exceeded any and every expectation that we had.

There was great characterizations, there was fun, Marvel dialogue.

The special effects are nothing short of amazing, and they keep the fight sequences fresh and visually stunning.

I've seen handfuls of reviews, both professional and not that actually recommend this one be seen in 3-D if possible.

I can only imagine how crazy that's got to look!

The final "boss battle" in the movie is really good, and keeps within the character that Doctor Strange has been and becomes as the movie progresses.

What else?

Doctor Strange sounds an awful lot like Dr. House. Apparently that is the default voice for grumpy brilliant doctors. : )

And if the Academy ever decides to create a Best Supporting Prop category, I nominate the Cloak of Levitation.

: )

Go see it.

You'll be glad you did.

Final Grade: A-

Little Hero. Big Heart. "Ant-Man"

Ant-Man (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena, Judy Greer

Directed by Peyton Reed

The Story:

Scott Lang (Rudd) is an extraordinary burglar who gets out of prison and needs to go straight so that he can be the hero that his daughter believes him to be.  However, going straight is tough when your best friend (Pena) knows people that know things and offers Scott a chance to make a huge score so that he can provide for his daughter. The job is quite simple: rob an old man's safe while he's away from home. What Scott finds inside that safe changes his life, forever!

I don't know what the beef between Edgar Wright and and Marvel Studios was, but I am quite content with the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It's a heist film... with superheroes!

It's also a film about love and what a father would do for their family...their daughters...

It's good stuff!

Rudd is his usual everyman charmer, and that pays off in the likeability of the character.

Surrounded with Luis and his friends, this is the most fun you've had at a Marvel film since Guardians of the Galaxy.

This time though, all the action takes place right here on Earth.

It was a perfect way to incorporate Hank Pym (Douglas) into the Marvel Universe and truly know that the film universe can, and will, exist on its own merits and upend everything you think you know with new versions of familiar characters, and you won't really mind any of the changes.

Do you miss seeing the winsome Wasp?

Maybe, but the promise of things to come looms large, and it's an exciting future not knowing what is in store for these characters.

Great storyline, and a thrilling, funny final act confrontation.

The biggest fear with this, and all Marvel movies, they're really using up their supervillains quickly!

Hopefully they don't hold the box office results against this film, I'd happily pony up to watch Ant-Man 2!

Final Grade: A