Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s adaptation of the 1973 action comic book is Marvel Studios in its wisest. Their inability to grab top tier superheroes from their stable has enabled them to lend a spotlight to some of the more obscure and less featured superheroes from their universe. Thankfully the focus slides over to “Shang-Chi” one of their most dynamic and down to Earth superheroes who has proven a mainstay since his inception in the seventies and is brought to life in a truly exciting cinematic debut.
Tag Archives: Adventure
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001): Magical Movie Mode (DVD)
Harry Potter came seemingly out of nowhere over twenty years ago. It was a fantasy series that quickly blasted off in to a cultural phenomenon and began to re-think the whole fantasy genre for a new generation. Say what you want about the “Harry Potter” series. I was never a fan. But the book series and its cultural influence is powerful, as is its long, long (read: long) series of movies that started twenty years ago.
Superman ’78 #1 [of 6]
What’s old is new again, and now with Warner seemingly acknowledging the Tim Burton Batman 1989 movies as their own universe in “Elseworlds” on TV, DC dives head first in to expanding the original movie universes of their respective character properties. After “Batman ’89,” DC Comics follows up with “Superman ’78.” It’s an expansion and exploration of the beloved movie universe from Richard Donner’s Superman, and it wholeheartedly embraces everything about the movies we loved right down to the silly dialogue.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
Director Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” movie series has been very good so far. What’s kept the series from being great is the films’ lack of really interesting super villains that can make Diana’s heroic quest difficult. “Wonder Woman 1984” is a very good movie that has its sights set on paying tribute to the iconic heroine, and in those respects it’s a very good follow up to the original film—save for some glaring flaws that keep it from being a great follow up.
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Director David Ayer’s take on DC Comics’ “Suicide Squad” is one of the classic examples of studio interference, and how it can destroy a potentially great project. Director/Writer James Gunn has a talent for highlighting the more appealing and exciting elements of more underdog comic book characters, and with “The Suicide Squad” he shows us how a lot of the time allowing a director to just create and show audiences their vision can be beneficial for everyone.
Five Favorite “The Lord of the Rings” Characters
This week Amazon released their first image for the upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series. In what I assume they hope will fill the hole “Game of Thrones” left in its wake, the new series is promising to be epic in scale and (hopefully) continue the stories of J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth, as well as re-invigorate the property for fans (I saw all three films when they debuted in theaters) that were left disappointed by “The Hobbit” prequels.
In celebration, I listed my five favorite characters from the Peter Jackson “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
If you have your own choices, feel free to let me know in the comments!
Flight to Mars (1951): Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
Well, say what you want about “Flight to Mars” (reaching its 70th anniversary this year) but damn it, they make good on their promise in the title. There is definitely a flight to mars. It’s just a long, drawn out, monotonous, tedious flight to mars involving four boring male characters and one woman whose duties involve getting aggressively hit on by the spaceship’s captain, taking notes, and making the men coffee.
In Sp-a-a-a-a-ce!