The New Musings of a Quiet Geek

Wonder Woman  is the first real critical hit for the DC film universe.  It can't be ignored that star Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins gave us the Diana we remembered and loved. What's not widely known is Zack Snyder, who directed 2 of the previous 3 DC films, helped write the script. When  Man of Steel  came out, he was not shy in admitting he thought Superman was a really boring character and gave us a version of the character that didn't immediately know what he was doing as he's been portrayed on screen for the last fifty years. From a film perspective, this does make for a more compelling character but from the comic nerd perspective, it still enrages people to this day despite the fact you finally see the vision by the time  Batman v. Superman  came out...  My point is Snyder apparently does not hold the same criticism with Wonder Woman. It is true that, unlike Superman, she's always been portrayed as a bit fish out of water and unsure of h...

As I was organizing my thoughts for this review of  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ,  I checked to see if I had written a review of the first one. I had but it was ridiculously short. (Those who know me probably remember I was less than a year out from a horrible month of seizures so my brain wasn't working great...) The first question anyone asks is: Was it as good as the first? To be honest and fully accurate, yes and no.  The "Hey! This is new and different!" mystique is gone but Ego the Living Planet is definitely an improvement as the villain over Ronan the Accuser. Of course, this is partially due to making Ego the father of Peter "Starlord" Quill but this change was perhaps more necessary than  anyone first believed. If James Gunn had kept Quill's father J'Son of Spartax, he and his forces would have been too similar to Ayesha and The Sovereign. Add the Ravagers and it would have been a clusterfuck of alien armies. That's Babylon 5, not  Gu...

Late last week, I finally discovered the first season of the X-Men  related TV series  Legion.  The main character, David Haller is told he's a schizophrenic but he later discovers he's a mutant with a very high potential for psychic abilities. On the show, he's shown that he's only slightly more powerful than Jean Grey as he can do things she can't...unless she loses control and lets loose. Haller and his friends face threats on two levels. From a government agency randomly known as Division 3 and a parasitic mutant known as The Shadow King (real name Amahl Farouk.) In my review of X-Men : Apocalypse , I noted the title villain shared elements of this character and actually said: Oscar Isaac was very good as the title villain. To me, the story combined elements of the comic fight with him and also elements with the villain Shadow King, another powerful Arab mutant who will probably never be used on his own, as referenced in Storm's introduction and Xavi...

When I wrote my blog post on the previous Netflix series, Luke Cage, I noted it was only about 90% as dark as Daredevil  and Jessica Jones. Iron Fist  is only about 90% as dark as that series. While that does make me question the Mature rating, I have no problem with that. I feel in the mood to structure at least the beginning of this review on my feelings on complaints I've heard 1. The acting and writing: I'm sure my bar is lower than others but I feel people who feel the strongest about this have never watched movies on Lifetime or Hallmark. (Oddly, I read a comment on Twitter from a complainer that he had higher hopes for Cloak and Dagger on Freeform than  Inhumans on ABC. Special effects budget, sure but writing and acting? I think that's an iffy wager at best but I digress.) Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick are great as Danny Rand and Colleen Wing. Danny to me is just as a 25 year old man who spent 15 years cut off from the world as he knew it in a monastery (...

Went to see Logan yesterday. I had already read tweets claiming it was the "best X-men film to date" which, to be honest, is not the highest of bars to leap over.  After seeing it, I would go much further with my praise. It doesn't really have the feel of a comic book film at all. This leaves both Spider-man 2 and The Dark Knight  in the dust in this respect... To me, it feels more like a post-apocalyptic film (a genre that seems to get more critical praise, or at least scrutiny, incidentally.)  You have a small group of people, last of their kind, making the journey to Eden. This is the trope found in that genre. Death and bleakness, found also in Westerns, is evident from the Johnny "Man in Black" Cash songbook and the inclusion of Elizabeth Rodriguez best known from the show Orange is the New Black ! (Sure, possibly a coincidence but if not? Sweet!) Just because it includes characters from comic, I'm pretty sure award voters will not see it in this res...

Saw Jackie  this weekend and I have enough thoughts that I required a blog post. I really don't know how much of this story is true or just the screenwriter's imagination. The fact Billy Crudup's character who comes to interview her (which is the framework for the movie) is only known "The Journalist" only confuses the issue... Jackie's efforts to preserve Kennedy's legacy reminded me of Yoko Ono post-assassination of John Lennon. (I'm not sure what the political equivalent of The Beatles would be but I'm fairly confident she didn't break them up...) In the movie, Jackie and Bobby are in the ambulance transporting JFK's body and Jackie asks the nurse and the driver who James Garfield, William McKinley and Abraham Lincoln were. They didn't recognize the first two names which seemingly gave Jackie the idea of copying the Lincoln funeral procession. She even picked the exact spot she felt her husband should be buried at Arlington. I al...

When I heard what LucasFilms' first "anthology" film (a word I still prefer to "story") would be, I had my doubts for the following reasons:  Unlike more diehard Star Wars fans, I really couldn't get into the "Rogue Squadron" series of novels as largely the characters we all knew and loved had nothing to do with them.  Subconsciously, in the early days of rumors, I'm sure I thought that's what the movie was about on some level but the new characters bit is still applicable.  Then I heard it wouldn't have Jedi (Donnie Yen's character, Chirrut Îmwe, being a Guardian of The Wills instead is pretty much semantics by the way but lets overlook that for now...) I wondered how it would be different than a Han Solo movie since he's the stereotypical "average guy" established so far in the universe. Rogue One allayed my concerns pretty quickly, however.  Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso was not a smuggler and I did not find mysel...

No, this isn't about the election. I'm not ready to unlease that upon the world just yet.  Instead, allow me to share my thoughts on another fantastic entry into Marvel's cinematic universe.  Doctor Strange was the perfect blend of the tone we are used to and the adding of the supernatural world. Friends on Facebook may have noticed my comment that the first part of  The Imitation Game  was unexpectedly hilarious due in large part to Benedict Cumberbatch's turn as Alan Turing so it comes as no surprise he's awesome as arrogant neurosurgeon (a redundant phrase in my personal experience.) Doctor Strange, like Ghost Rider, is really not a character that lends itself to having a love interest but since it's an origin story, it worked here with  fellow surgeon Dr. Christine Palmer. Certainly better than in that movie ... I've loved Rachel McAdams since The Family Stone  but I'm sure the character'll just go the route of Thor' s Jane Foster and ju...

Because both Netflix and Twitter are down, some thoughts on the Netflix series Luke Cage 1. I would say it was only about 90% as dark and broody as Daredevil and Jessica Jones . Whether it's a coincidence hardcore DC fans on Twitter didn't gush about it as they did the previous two series is hard to say. Also, were there more scenes set during the day or was that just me? 2. Also hard to say is just who the Big Bad of the show was. There are really 3 possibilities: Cottonmouth Stokes who you could easily argue was just forced into the family business; Willis "Diamondback" Striker, the disgruntled half-brother of Luke Cage; or the villain left standing, Councilwoman Mariah Dillard?  The obvious choice is the last one but remember, Darth Vader is much more recognizable than Emperor Palpatine... Anyway, the fact it isn't in your face also adds to the ways the show was able to differentiate itself just as much as the change in setting and definitely the music... ...

DC's shared universe has gotten off to a rough start. Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman  presented movies that were mixed bags for even comic nerds such as myself. True, I haven't serious fed my comic addiction in about a dozen years but I still watch the movies, TV shows and animated offerings but that really should be beside the point. Studios do not shell out money for movies only a select group will watch any more than TV networks do... With each successive film, they've improved but they have a long way to go. Their third movie, Suicide Squad, continues the upward trend but still isn't a film that'll win over discerning viewers.  You'll hear stories on how studio interference meddled in the scriptwriting and how writer/director David Ayer had only six weeks to throw together a script. I'm sure it's true to at least some level.  Sony notoriously interfered with Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-man 2. The need to rush the "world-building...

Regular readers of this blog know my love of Terry Brooks and his Shannara books. Some readers may have caught my rant on the Rizzoli and Isles TV series being irritatingly different than the books. Why change Maura's serial killer mom to a gangster dad? Why change Warren Hoyt's name to Charles? (I do appreciate now the series is definitely it's own thing now in it's final season.) I had caught most episodes of the new Shannara Chronicles series when it originally aired and was pretty intrigued. Yes, most of the characters were not how I visualized them when I read Elfstones of Shannara back in high school (Reading the World of Shannara reference tome, I discovered my mind's eye was always wrong on that score anyway...) but the characterizations were spot on which is definitely more important. Yes, people who haven't read any of the books published recently may complain about the "cameos" made by remnants of our 21st century world but since it was ...

 X-Men: Apocalypse is the third of the "prequel movies" and today is my second favorite after First Class.  Don't get me wrong: the last one,  Days of Future Past , was far from terrible but you could easily argue it was an excuse to feature Hugh Jackman. The other two do just fine with cameos (which are both awesome and unnecessary but I digress...) The two biggest complaints I've had about the franchise are the lack of even internal continuity and lack of effort. This movie clearly had the attitude they know continuity is messed up and they don't give a shit. Havok and Cyclops are brothers but inexplicably 20 years apart in age but certainly don't look it. In '83, Prof. Xavier sees CIA Moira McTaggart for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis and comments, "You haven't aged a day!" Not even James Bond is a field agent in his late '50's but whatever... (Speaking of Moira,  Rose Byrne is Tasmanian while the character is Sco...

As I was recently discussing with someone on Twitter, I'm not a big fan of "Good Guys Manipulated Fight Each Other" films so it's sad that Captain America: Civil War came out so close on the heels of Batman v. Superman . As maybe I've confessed before I am more of a Marvel fan but that is not why this one was better.  DC fans frequently point out this was the 13th Marvel film while BvS   is only the second of their new cinematic universe. To me, that's why it worked better. The tension was building out of the last Avengers  movie and the characters have interacted for several movies worth of time (One must assume interactions happen off screen as well) so they know each other pretty well. Two friends having a disagreement carries so much more weight than two strangers going at it.  In my critique of  Batman v. Superman ,  I noted that the end of the featured fight hinged on the fact both characters' mothers were named Martha. Here, the big fight ended wh...

Saw Batman v. Superman this weekend. Overall, I really enjoyed it. Seeing Superman, Batman AND Wonder Woman on screen made me squee with as much delight as seeing Avengers the first time, as it should. Man of Steel for me was both the best Superman movie and worst Superman movie. Director  Zack Snyder still admits he finds the character boring.  In that movie, Superman is inexperienced as superhero and consequently, there's more death and destruction  then we're used to. Batman's mistrust of the Kryptonian in Batman v. Superman comes from this. Also, the film reminds you, Bruce seemingly hasn't let go of the anger over failing to stop the death of his parents as a child. (The movie hints that the events happen sometime after the death of Robin #2  Jason Todd at the hands of the Joker. No Robins are specifically mentioned so we have no idea how many this version of Batman had. Those readers who don't know anything about Batman after the '66 TV series are p...

As many of you know, for the past 5 or 6 years, I have been actively pursuing Social Security Disability.  It has not been an easy road. It was hard for even my lawyer to wrap his head around the fact I have a Masters degree in Library Science.  Never mind that there was little wrong with the left side of my brain. I, like many with disabilities, have been able to beat the odds and overcome adversity. My parents were told I was blind and would never walk. Sure, both are issues for me but I can still do them!  And then my dream job at the seminary happened. How can I prove I can't work when I in fact am and am now reasonably able to pay most of my expenses? Should I have turned down? Maybe. Have I ever pondered saying "No?" Hell, no. Two months later, the seizures happened and simultaneously, I experienced the darkness months of my life (Much of that time I don't actually have memory of...) but my case, morbidly gained new life. Recently, I've been mentally, ps...

Star Wars is pretty much in my blood. I went to the first one A New Hope while still in the womb. The third film, Return of The Jedi , happened to be one of the first movies I saw in the theater. If you do a search of this blog, you will find the phrase "Star Wars" mentioned in 19 previous posts. When it was announced that JJ Abrams was kicking the new trilogy off with The Force Awakens, I had no doubt he'd do a great job. Putting aside the references made on Alias and his other shows, when Abrams was tapped to reboot the other space series Star Trek for the big screen, he made no bones about how he was really more a fan of the George Lucas-created world. It showed with that film and it shows here. Regular readers of my blog know a few relevant facts that you might want to keep in mind reading this review/discussion: 1. Nostalgia and plot points that trigger creative thoughts or my vast storehouse of trivial knowledge will have me squee with delight. 2. I truly b...

I was on a blogging break when Netflix dropped the awesome Daredevil TV series but I will briefly say that was 1000 times better than the movie version of the character starring Ben Affleck and his future, and now past, wife, Jennifer Garner. Recently, Marvel Comics and Netflix released another series: Jessica Jones.  Unlike the former and upcoming series based on the characters of Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Jessica debuted in a comic, coincidentally called Alias which is the name of her detective agency, in my lifetime. Like Luke Cage, X-Men Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde and others, she has superpowers but doesn't have a super identity. In the comic, she has super strength and can fly. In the TV series, the second ability is greatly downplayed but could easily appear in future appearances. Krysten Ritter pulls off the darkly comic role spectacularly. (Watching her on The Talk this afternoon I also realize she's incredibly tall...) David Tennant is deliciously creepy as the vill...

Looking back at old review posts, I at one time apparently considered Casino Royale "the best Bond movie ever" because it didn't focus on gadgets. I even commented it wasn't slow moving.  Interestingly, all I really said about the next film, Quantum of Solace , was that I loved how they let M, played at the time by Judy Dench, actually do something. I didn't actually do an official review of Skyfall but that surpassed Casino Royale  as the best Bond film ever.  Casino was a needed reset after Die Another Day (Has any "final" Bond film ever been the actor's best? Diamonds Are Forever isn't my favorite Connery, View to a Kill isn't in my top 2 my favorite Moore, etc...) but Skyfall  made me realize "Lactose Intolerant Bond" just doesn't work long term.  You need a mix. The Serious And The Cheese. It also made me realize that letting M, Q and Moneypenny actually leave the damn office is awesome! In SPECTRE , M, and to a certain e...

After a decade of doing this blog, people have finally requested movie reviews so without further dithering here we go! Movies I've watched recently in approximate order: 1. Thanks For S haring- Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins and Josh Gadd play sex addicts on various stages of recovery.  After 5 years of recovery,  Robbins feels it's time for Rufffalo to start dating again. Enter Gweneth Paltrow.  The other two have their own issues. For me, the different storylines rotate around as far as my interest in them which definitely keeps my interest in the movie as a whole.  The only complaint really is that it wraps up a little too easily at the end but that's a problem with many movies,  isn't it? 2. Silver Lining Playbook- When I first heard about a movie  about two mentally ill people finding each other,  I feared it would be much too painful to watch but I was pleasantly surprised.  This was a fantastic film.  I'd be lying if  I said the na...

Last time I focused on the race for Governor here in Maine. Today, my thoughts on the Race for Senate. First up, an ad from incumbent Susan Collins' opponent, Shenna Bellows: She doesn't come right and say in this ad we need to raise the minimum wage but she does imply that, just as veterans and the elderly, and I would include all people below the poverty line, should not have to choose between eating and paying for their meds, people in the lower middle class bracket should not have to work 55+ hour weeks  just to provide for their family and in consequence never actually SEE their family... Let me tell you right out, I hate Out of State ads on both sides of the aisle so this one doesn't exactly excite me but I can't say everything said here is 100% wrong. Collins' people will tell you she is one of the most bi-partisan senators in Washington. At some point,I think even I have noted her votes are less than the 85% party line she used to vote during...