After a brilliant but arrogant surgeon loses the use of his hands in an accident, his search for healing takes him beyond science and medicine to strange realms of magic.
With new power comes new responsibility, as though that’s a common theme to all Marvel plots or something. Our reality is under threat, and Doctor Strange has to fully embrace the powers he only half-understands in order to fight back.
A rag-tag bands of space-mercenaries rattles around the galaxy. They take dirty jobs for low pay and stay mostly one step ahead of the law/various people who want to kill them.
Peter Quill, also known as Star Lord, wants to find his father. Others in the gang which to survive/profit, or have no particular motivation. They travel from planet to planet fighting humanoid aliens with different-coloured skin and non-humanoid aliens with large teeth. Continue reading “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) – Review”
“Top Ten Tuesday” is a feature started by “The Broke and the Bookish“, in which people list their top ten books that match some given criterion. It changes every week, and happens on a Tuesday. Lots (a frankly ridiculous number) of bloggers take part.
This week the theme is “back to school”, which is not normally something I enjoy thinking about. In the spirit of that theme, I’ve decided to list fictional educational establishments which – in one way or another – would be preferable to real-world schools. Importantly, this list is about schools it would be preferable to teach in, not to learn in – most fictional schools would give you a terrible education. Continue reading “Top Ten Tuesday – Fictional schools that would be better to teach in than an actual school”
The Punisher is another adaptation of a Marvel comic, but one that came earlier than the current plague of them, and one that is much, much darker in tone.
Unlike the majority of Marvel’s stable, The Punisher is more vigilante than hero, and more likely to savagely beat someone to death than leave them conveniently webbed near a police station.
Thomas Jane plays Frank Castle, an undercover cop whose job is to take down the big players in the criminal underworld. Shortly after that, he plays Frank Castle, happily retired and enjoying time with his family. Shortly after that, he plays the Punisher, a vigilante striking back against the criminals who killed his entire extended family and left him for dead. There’s a lot of plot development in the first half hour. Continue reading “The Punisher (2004) – Review”
Set after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War shows a world in which the civilian population has suffered catastrophe after catastrophe. Alien invasions, plummeting cities, general super-powered destruction and death.
In order to deal with growing public outrage at collateral damage, the UN takes control of the Avengers. Those who sign up can only intervene in situations when instructed. Those who refuse to sign are arrested, or forced to retire.
Captain America (and friends) end up on the other side from Iron Man (and different friends). While they fight over philosophical differences, future Nazis search for cryogenically-frozen super-soldiers.
Continue reading “Captain America: Civil War (2016) – Review”
I was initially a little reluctant to watch Deadpool; he’s a character who seems to have more than the usual number of fans who don’t know when to finish conversations. I was worried that the film would be pandering, full of fan service and self-conscious edginess.
When I was finally dragged to watch it though, I was pleasantly surprised. Deadpool, due to the concept, was always going to be a difficult film to pull off, but it’s actually rather well done. Continue reading “Deadpool (2016) – Review”
I love superhero movies, but they can get a little dull. There’s a clear formula, and film after film follows the same pattern – the same archetypes play out the same moves again and again, with the only changes being the specific powers and threats to humanity.
Ant-man, while not a total departure from the formula, does play around with it a little. Enough is changed that it feel fresh, enough is kept that it still provides the experience viewers are expecting from a Marvel film. The trailer is below.
Inconsistent Pacing 