Thunderbolts*

I'm trying to keep up with the rest of the world in regards to the kind of movies that exist in my realm of expertise (i.e. Nerd shit), so I was only about a week late on watching the Thunderbolts*. I'm getting better at it.

I'll be honest, this is not a movie I asked for from Marvel. They have been floundering since Avengers: Endgame to come up with something that will catch on. I don't know how much Thunderbolts will actually catch on, but I did enjoy it. In what is a surprising rarity for Marvel movies, it was pretty grounded and street level. If by street level we mean espionage experts that are excellent hand to hand specialists. With the exception of the Sentry showing up, the power levels of everyone remained on the same level.

Let's continue in my new format that lets me get lazy and just bulllet point shit. There are spoilers so if you didn't watch the movie, you might want to wait to read this. Unless you don't care about that sort of thing.

The GOOD (or what I loved)

• I love Florence Pugh as Yelena, the new Black Widow. I'm glad that she is the center of this movie. She is the unexpected heart and she has a personal journey that she goes through. I don't know if this is a hot take, but I like her as a Black Widow more than I ever did for Scarlett Johansen. 
• I am a sucker for team dynamics and while everyone's powersets were similar, I like the personalities bouncing off each other and how they form into a family that they all needed.
• The action was really good and didn't resort to a lot of nonsensical hero stuff (lasers shooting, flying, other super hero bullshit). Just punches, kicks and some bullets. It's why more grounded stuff like Captain America: Winter Soldier stays at the top of my list.
• David Harbour is out here living his best life and his portrayal of the Red Guardian remains fun without ever going too far.
• This movie didn't reach for it's humor like Marvel movies tend to do. They didn't beat us over the head with jokes. These heroes are all dealing with depression and they don't joke around too much about it to undercut that theme.
• They treat this team like a bunch of rag tag failures (like DC's Suicide Squad or Marvel's Guardians of hte Galaxy), but everyone here feels competent which is refreshing. I'm tired of a team full of goofballs that only get serious in the last third of a movie. 
• The movie was a respectable length and nothing felt bloated. It felt surprisingly tight.
• I'm so glad we get more Julie Louis-Dreyfuss. She's a fantastic villain in this and we even get a little more of her backstory too. 
• This movie really did a good job of showing mostly everyone's backstory and motivation so that you can buy it. I do think there was a miss here and I will list that in the next section.

The BAD (what I didn't like)

• Words cannot express how much I mega-loathe the Sentry as a character. When I heard he was going to be in this, I rolled my eyes. They did the absolute best they could. But I still hate him.
• Also, they did what they could, but I also do not like John Walker. He was always an asshole and they do their best. I'll never get past my bias against him. NEXT.
• This movie does NOTHING to explain who Ghost is. If you didn't watch Antman and Wasp, you will have no idea who she is and the movie does not hold your hand. That's certainly a choice. It's hard to buy into her motivations.
• This is nitpicky, but Marvel created this problem, so I will address it. You can't keep making these movies all interconnected and tying into one another and then NOT have no other heroes show up when a big city like New York is attacked. 90% of Marvel characters live in New York, so the fact that we don't get one cameo is a problem. 
• Why are we even bothering with Bucky as a congressman? It's a weird direction for his character at this point and doesn't add anything. 
• Look, did they fumble Taskmaster in the Black Widow movie? Yes. Was I hoping they'd do more with her? Yes. Do they? Nope. She is dispensed early and quickly and that is it. With it dies my hopes of an actual Taskmaster in this universe. To be fair, his comic book version is super goofy and trying to make that work in a movie was a reach anyway.
• I was perfectly fine with the way they called themsleves the  Thunderbolts, but when they pivot to the "New Avengers", I was not down with that. At all. I also don't feel like explaining myself.

Yes, I had a number of bad things here, but I still really enjoyed this movie in spite of my what I listed here. I found it to be surprisingly fun and I did actually enjoy it.

Sinners

I know that this is a comic blog and this movie is not technically a comic book movie. Let me break my own rules with these flimsy connections. Ryan Coogler directed Black Panther and Wakanda Forever. Michael B. Jordan was in Black Panther. Hailee Steinfeld is in the Hawkeye show and is Kate Bishop that will appear in other movies. Wunmi Mosaku was in the Loki series and the Wolverine & Deadpool as an agent of the TVA. In doing a quick scan of credits, Delroy Lindo was in a tv show, "Marvel's Most Wanted", a spinoff from the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show. So, you know... a lot of comic book ties. Justification complete!

This movie was fantastic. It was an unapologetically black movie. I'm so proud to see a movie like this doing so well. Gives me a glimmer of hope for the future as this "anti-DEI" bullshit takes a hold and manifests itself in my country. I've been thinking about this movie for days before I finally got it together and put this out. 

Anyways, lemme get to my new format to let me get my thoughts out better.

The GOOD (or what I loved)

• I want to start with the music. Music plays a very important part in this movie and it is all really good. I forgot that I liked Blues until I heard good blues music in this movie. The music in many scenes is purposeful and fits the moment in the story. I'm going to buy this soundtrack. I felt it in my soul.
• This is a gorgeous movie in the way that it's shot. Coogler had a very specific visual narrative and style to this movie that I appreciated. It made it feel classic, but also new. There is a beautiful scene in the movie where Sammie is playing his guitar and the shot swirls in and out of the dance floor. You'll know it when you see it.
• The cast is spectacular and there were no weaknesses here. I will give my flowers to Michael B. Jordan (pulling double duty), Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo and so many others I didn't name. There was a chemistry between the cast members.
• While the main antagonist, Remmick, is a vampire and technically the bad guy, he wasn't mustache twirling evil. He was kind of charming and he was kind of winning me over with his logic. I liked that his motivation was mostly animal instinct outside of trying to capture Sammie.
• While we're talking about Remmick, this movie dared to pose something interesting. The setting is the 1930's Jim Crow South and when Remmick poses to our main characters that they'd be better off in the post racial society of the Vampires, it made me pause. His reasoning was, humanity is not treating you well, black people, two of my new flock were actively plotting against you, so why not join us. I mean, given that offer, I might have taken him up on it.
• I Love that this took place all in one day and the stakes were just with our characters. There wasn't some grand save the world plot. Let's just make it through the night.
• I also loved that Vampires are a thing, no one spends time asking about it and they just roll with it. There wasn't some big lore dump about them. The movie doesn't treat us like we're stupid.
• As the story unfolds, Smoke and Stack have equally tragic stories and I was caught up in both of them. Yes, they wanted to make money, but they also wanted to take care of their own. As this movie showed and history taught us, no way that was going to be allowed to last.
• This movie had a slow burn with it's tension and that made for true horror. In the way that Get Out built to something, you feel that here. You're just waiting for the other shoe to drop and this movie makes you wait for it. 
• I guess Riverdancing is the dance that is used for a post racial society, huh? You know what, I'm down with that. If you've seen the movie, you'll know the scene I'm talking about.

The BAD (what I didn't like)

• This is so nitpicky. I wanted to see more of the magical herbs and spices play out in Wunmi Mosaku's character, Annie get a little more time. I was hoping she was a witch that would help fight the vampires, but it wasn't meant to be.

Don't be like me and wait too long on this movie. It is an experience and I don't use that term lightly. 

Daredevil: Born Again

Wow, it's been two months since I posted? Life has been lifing hard, so it has taken this series, to break me out of my slumber. Let me tell you, this took me back to those Netflix Marvel days in a good way. Daredevil was always the strongest show of that bunch and seeing the majority of the cast back has filled me with joy.

Before you go any further, yes, I loved the show. Now, let's get into the reasons as to why. I'm going to do this a little differently. I tend to ramble and I want to at least break out my points so you can take them in bite sized chunks, my tens of readers. 

Also, these are my OPINIONS. I want to be clear about that. But if you want to argue with me about any of this, my watch says I always have time. This should be easy to follow, so let's go.

The GOOD (or what I loved)

• The hand to hand fighting in this series has always been unrivaled. Even with all these shows that Marvel has done since going to Disney plus, this series beats all of them hands down. 
• The acting is always top tier. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are acting as if this is the last time they'll ever work. They're leaving it all out there. I know Kingpin's verbal ticks and mannerisms are always mocked, but if you watch the show, you know how unhinged and calculating he is.
• I can't explain it, but I've always loved the gritty look of the show. The production values are slick and even though I don't know anything about New York, it feels to me like this is authentic.
• Admittedly, the slow burn this show takes in ramping up, but man does it pay off. I also like that this season is the first arc of a larger story, so they didn't wrap things up quickly. I was afraid they would once we got to episode 8.
• There is something to the chemistry that Matt Murdock and Karen Page has that shows they are so good together. AS FRIENDS. Because Jesus, a man can be a friend to a woman without wanting to get in her pants.
• I liked the new supporting cast (for the most part) In this show. Specific shout out to "Cherry", the guy that knew Matt's double life and was a sounding board and moral compass for him.
• Geniune shocking moments. 
• Part of me wanted more of Muse, but I also am glad they wrapped him up pretty quick. He was a terrifying villain but doesn't have staying power.
• Bullseye is a menace. That fight in the first episode between him and Daredevil is what I'm talking about with my very first bulllet point. 
• They finally just call him Daredevil and not "The Vigilante". Cause seriously, New York is flush with Vigilantes. You need to be spceific!
• Even if it was short, I loved seeing a reference to White Tiger in this show and setting the stage for more. (I'm purposely being vague)

The BAD (what I didn't like)

• I love the Punisher in this show and I'm happy when he shows up as a foil to Daredevil. But damn, cartoony, excessive violence follows him and it is too much.
• Characters like Cole North, Krysten McDuffie are name checked for long time fans, but they serve no purpose here.
• Matt's relationship with Heather just felt off. I was never buying it or fully invested. She makes some questionable ass choices.
• For a show called Daredevil, we sure did have to wait a long time to see him in costume. There is a tipping point for how long you can draw out "anticipation" for a thing. This show crossed that line. 
• To follow up on the above point, I KNOW the point of the show is for him to get back after an extended time. They did a full year time jump, that's good enough. You don't have to make the audience suffer TOO.
• I've watched a lot of violent stuff over the years and to an extent, I'm desensitized. But this show (episode 9 in particular), when it wants to go hard, it goes way over the top. The fact that I mentioned the specific episode, you know what I mean. Gruesome, yes. But come on. I don't want to see that.

Captain America: Brave New World

I saw Captain America: Brave New World on Monday and now that I've sat with my thoughts a little bit, I can share what I thought. I'll save the suspense and say I thought it was a good movie, but not great. It was a very SAFE movie. That statement is what I want to explore with my review, which will be a little different than how I normally talk about movies. Apologies if this gets a little long, but it will give you a little insight into how I feel.

Disney/Marvel missed a real opportunity here. Having a Black Captain America is a huge deal and instead of leaning into that, Marvel made a movie that is essentially color-blind, ignoring that topic completely. The "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" series addressed this and I thought this movie would take the opportunity to take that conversation further. It doesn't. The fact that a Black Captain America has a Hispanic side kick is also a huge deal. Again, not discussed here. For little black and hispanic kids, this was a chance to see someone that looks like them on the screen and that should play into SOMETHING in the story. I've said this numerous times, but I wish as a kid, I would have had movies like this.

Comics is a medium that was devoid of any substantive characters of color when I was growing up. If you want to say, "But Kevin, Marvel had Black Panther!". Yes, they did. But between 1979-1998, he did not have an ongoing series. That's out. We had Luke Cage and a smattering of others, but that was it. My point is, there were very few (Meteor Man, Steel) to watch.

Marvel could have pushed for this in their marketing, when their stars were on their press tour, etc. Poor Anthony Mackie had to tiptoe around any comments he made about being Captain America, lest the whole country got butt hurt. What is readily apparent is Disney was looking out for the bottom line. They are victim of the whole, "Go Woke, Go Broke" mentality. If they push this is ANY way to  talk about it's diverse cast, they will get backlash and they will cower to it and worry about losing money. Instead of standing ten toes down, they lifted their foot up to appease the masses. I'm not saying this could have been as big as the moment we (my people) had with Black Panther, but it still could have been another kind of moment. It shows the different times we're living in now versus just over 8 years ago. 

Those were my thoughts through this entire film. Their black director, Julius Onah was essentially handcuffed. You can't convince me this was the way he wanted to tell this story. This film had so many reshoots and this movie was supposed to come out LAST year. That lets you know the studio was heavily involved. How do I know last year? My son got Happy Meal toys for this movie last year and the movie itself was nowhere in sight.

So at my core, this movie was disappointing to me in this way. It comes out during Black History month, but nothing to celebrate that and that hurts.

Let me address the content of this movie. If you read this far, be warned. There are spoilers that I can't avoid to make some of my points.

Remember that Incredible Hulk movie from 2008 that Marvel conventiently forgets about? Well 17 years later, they decide to reference it. A lot. This movie is essentially Incredible Hulk 2 with an appearance by Captain America. In fact, I would argue the protagonist of the movie isn't really Sam Wilson, it's President Thunderbolt Ross. The antogonist is Samual Sterns. (The Leader to those comic book nerds). Remember him? Probably not. AGAIN, that movie was 17 years ago. They oddly choose to pull on that thread for the central conflict of this movie. Sterns is going after Ross and Sam Wilson and his sidekick Joquain are merely in the way for most of the movie. Sterns ONLY starts targeting Sam when he ruins his plans enough and that's really at the end of the movie where he goes directly at him. 

This movie also tries to tell a mystery, but the audience knows what is happening throughout the movie. It's like a my first mysteries spy story. We've done this with Captain America: Winter Soldier already. We're just waiting for the other shoe to drop so we can get on with it. To really get reductive, this feels very similar to Captain America: Winter Soldier and I'm sure that is very much by design. We even have a fun sized Black Widow stand in. 

The hand to hand action stuff is very well done, my only fight scene issues is with Red Hulk and that's because I don't like bombastic action scenes like that in what was a pretty more realistic set of fight scenes. 

My final, personal issue with the movie is the way they've portrayed Sam Wilson and some of this extends to Anthony Mackie and his portrayal. I think Marvel has gone too far to the side of snarky, wise cracking action hero. I've felt this way for a while, but that seems to be the template they use for all their characters and it is super annoying. I hate having to endure characters that seem like goofballs and then suspend my belief that they can just turn it on at will. Pick a side, Marvel. Captain America can have a sense of humor, but he is the standard and has to carry himself as such.

With as much as Sam Wilson would be carrying here, I don't think he'd be cracking wise so much. I like Anthony Mackie. He's a charasmatic and funny guy, but I feel like he has wacky sidekick energy, not leader of a team energy and that's where I think the movies have done him a disservice. No one is asking him to be Steve Rogers, but I would rather see a lot more serious side to him outside of fight time. 

Ultimately, this movie feels like it is treading water for other movies and we'll see how much of these threads they actually pick up for other movies, other than trying to bring back the Avengers. Don't misunderstand me on this review, I didn't hate this movie. It's servicable. I'm just dealing with more disappointment of an awesome opportunity. I know I left a lot of meat on the bone with a bunch of other stuff in this movie (oh, now we're acknowledging something from the Eternals?!), but that wasn't what my heart was feeling.