Don't Spoil "Avengers: EndGame"

Avengers: EndGame (2019)

Rated PG-13

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Josh Brolin, Brie Larson,

Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo

The Story:

After the conclusion of Avengers: Infinity War, what remains of Earth's Mightiest Heroes attempt to go after Thanos, retrieve the Infinity Stones and snap everyone back to life.

Buckle up for the 22nd installment of the greatest ride in cinema history.

No other franchise, no other studio has been able to do what Marvel Studios has done, 22 movies, 11 years of sustained excellence that have proven to be successful with audiences AND movie critics.

It all culminates here.

Go see it in theaters now, and prepare to have your list of favorite Marvel films be re-ordered.

Again.

:)

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!!!

The Number One Movie in All of the Nine Worlds? "Thor: The Dark World"

By the bristling beard of Odin!

The Story:

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has been busy restoring order to the 9 Worlds since the events of New York (see: The Avengers.  No really, you should really see that movie!)  But dark forces are gathering to eliminate the 9 worlds from existence!

Can Thor stop them?

Not without a little help from...

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) !!

That's all you're going to get from me during the opening weekend.

: )

I will say that like most Phase One movies, Phase Two doesn't miss a beat by replacing directors.  Alan Taylor takes the helm, and brings the Norse Legends to life, all the while taking a "comic book" movie and embracing the science fiction aspects of it.

And it works!

I liked the first Thor.

I liked this Thor even more.

To quote VeggieTales in summing up this movie:

"I laughed. I cried. It moved me, Bob."

Just about all of the original cast returns, to varying degrees of use within the film.  Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Natalie Portman, Idris Elba...

Good stuff.

If the ending is any indication, I am looking forward to seeing what Thor 3 has to offer.

Final Grade: A-... it will probably upgrade to a pure A when I review it again on DVD. :)

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: When does it come out on Blu-Ray already???!!!

Our Man Stan... "With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story"

Excelsior!

The Story:

A biography covering the life and career of Stan Lee and the characters that he created for Marvel Comics.

I love Stan Lee.

You'll never find a more engaging pitchman who so believes in what he does than Stan.

While I no longer read the comics, I will always love the characters that he created, or to spread the love truthfully, co-created in many instances.

Writing comics would probably be my dream job, therefore Stan Lee is my ultimate hero.

He had the job that I would love to have, but would always feel I could never live up to.

But man, it would be a blast to try!

To sit back and realize that YOU are the man telling stories about Spider-Man...or the Fantastic Four...or...

Yeah, pretty cool gig.

And for the most part, all of the other people that are interviewed in this film also gush about how cool Stan is, both genuine and personable.

Plus, there's some nice Stan at home scenes with his lovely wife, those two are still madly in love after all these years.

So if you want to see a good documentary on Stan and the history of Marvel, here you go!

Now available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Maybe I'll watch it again in a few years, but nothing that screams "buy me!"

The Tin Man Has A Heart..."Iron Man 3"

Phase Two Begins...

The Story:

Ever since New York, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has been feeling a bit... off.  Still tinkering with his suits, he is up to version # 42 when the movie begins.  This causes a bit of unease with Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) but when you're in love with a genius, there's a price to be paid.  Unfortunately, a terrorist known only as The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is attacking around the globe, and when one of his attacks injures Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), things get personal.  Tony seeks revenge, but even he may be no match for the greatest threat he's ever suited up against.

I'm not going to lie, I loved Part 3.

: )

And the # 1 complaint of the movie going public/critics seems to be The Mandarin and his fate in the movie.

This guy?  No problems at all with what unfolded.  I thought it was a stroke of genius to be honest. 

Stepping on board as director is Shane Black, in only his second outing behind the camera (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang), but he reteams with Robert Downey Jr., and he is the man who wrote Lethal Weapon, so the franchise isn't going to slip too much.

No, in fact, it rebounds from the disappointment of the 2nd film which gave us perhaps too much Iron Man (men) and in fact, let's Tony Stark spend much of the film sans armor.

This provides Iron Man 3 with its greatest strength, and that owes also to Marvel, Stan Lee, and all who followed in his footsteps in making Marvel the better comic universe to grow up reading:

The movie is about Tony Stark.  Tony Stark IS Iron Man.  You put any other guy in the suit, and while you can call him Iron Man, he's not.  He's an imitation.  Which is why Rhodey (Don Cheadle) became War Machine/Iron Patriot.

The human character is what made the heroes in Marvel lore stand out for me (and many other readers).  Take them out of the suit, and the replacement versions just never clicked after that.  Yet when you see the end of the Batman trilogy, it seems like they feel that if anyone jumps in the suit, they become Batman.

Meh.

So, there you have it, a review that hopefully gives nothing away on this opening weekend, but instead serves as a soapbox as to why I love Marvel heroes, and am thrilled to be seeing them brought to life on the big screen.  Changed as needed from the comics to make as much sense as possible, but never leaving out the heart that made the characters so endearing in the first place.

Go see the # 1 movie in America.  If you liked either of the first 2 installments, you won't regret your decision.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'd go again in a heartbeat, but I already got to see the film with my sweetheart. : )  So for now... maybe I'll just go pre-order the Blu Ray on Amazon.