Wolverine: The Long Night

At the suggestion of a friend, I downloaded "Wolverine: The Long Night" from iTunes. Although billed as a "podcast", this was like an old school radio drama.

To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. After getting through all ten episodes, each averaging about thirty minutes a piece, I can give an honest opinion.

I was surprised at how much I liked it. It is a very well produced radio drama. It has moody music in the right places, it has good sound design in that they mimic when people are across the room and good sound effects.

I thought the setting of Alaska was a perfect backdrop for this particular story. Wolverine in the wilderness or being that stranger in a sleepy town is definitely on brand. He is the guy that is trying to mind his own business, but gets drawn into events because he is a hero.

I also liked the methodical pace of the story telling and the mystery that unfolded. It wasn't too fantastical and none of the other X-Men make an appearance here.

For the most part, I thought the cast was very good. The only person I had a problem with was Richard Armitage as Logan/Wolverine. I understand that you wanted to get a name, but he was not the right fit at all. Years of X-Men cartoons, video games, etc. have me prepared to accept a different voice (Steve Blum) for Wolverine. He should be gruff. Armitage tried, but he does not pull it off. Instead, he just comes off sounding like a dude. If it wasn't for people addressing him as Logan, within the dialogue, I would not have been able to pick out his voice from everyone else.

Hugh Jackman was able to pull it off, but Armitage could not. It's disheartening when the star of the radio play is the one you like the least.

Maybe his time was expensive, so he really doesn't have a whole lot of lines. You barely get much out of him in the first half of this story.

I'm glad I gave this a shot. It was well worth my time and I would recommend it to anyone else that wanted to have something on while they drive. You better believe I'm counting it as a book that was read on Good Reads!

Kevin's Panels in Tremendousness

Welcome again, dear readers. Join me as we celebrate another entry into my Panels in Tremendousness. We have a real treat this time. You've come here before, so you know the deal. If not, here's the deal because I should know better than to assume things. I'm going to show a panel that is completely out of context, but on it's face it's pretty funny. If you DON'T find it funny, then why are we even friends!?! Sorry, I digress. This gem is from Marvel Team-Up #110.

The only reason I wear glasses is because my perceptions have been dazzled ONE TOO MANY TIMES!

Look, comic books in the seventies/eighties had a real penchant for goofy dialogue combined with stating the obvious. In case you couldn't tell, Dazzler is the one shooting the light beams. You know how I know? Not because I own and read the comic smart ass. It's because I speak Marvel. The bad guys specific choice of words key you in. How many times have YOU talked about having your perceptions dazzled? By the DAZZLER!? Never! So maybe you don't know what these guys are going through.

However, let's address how even in a comic book, what a weird thing to say. I guess, "Ahhh! My eyes!" was too low brow. The writers felt they needed to spice it up a bit.

Also, there is an important life lesson here folks. Find you someone who dazzles your perceptions every time you walk into a room. That's why I married my wife. (I really hope she saw that. Otherwise I am wasting some of my best lines in front of people.)

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Now that I've seen Spider-Man: Far From Home twice, as per the usual, I feel like I can fully talk about it. Thankfully, the viewings were only a few days apart, so I still have some hot takes left in me.

I want to warn you, there WILL be spoilers.

I loved this movie. I did like Homecoming more, but this one is still really good. It picks up on the threads left in the wake of Avengers: End Game.

One of the questions I had with fellow nerds was, what will the world be like for all those people that have come back from the Thanos snap. Thankfully this movie tackles that within the first ten minutes of this movie. Their handling of it made me not question it anymore and hopefully we don't have to hear any more about it.

Before I go any further, let me just shout this from the mountain tops. Tom Holland is far and away the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man that we've gotten. There is no questioning this. End of discussion.

He carries these movies and he is exactly like you would imagine a teenager with super powers would be. Awkward, clumsy and trying to figure out who he is. In this movie though, he is more tortured in that he is dealing with the death of his mentor/father figure in Tony Stark while also trying to navigate the life of a typical teenager. Layer that in with his crushing feeling of responsibility that leads him to think of others before himself and he is a guy that you always root for.

His "man in the chair", Ned is still great in this movie. He is the comedic sidekick that this movie needs to keep things light. He also gets a little bit to do. I also think that Zendaya should get more credit for the job she has done as MJ. Her awkwardness makes every scene, but also makes her a match for Peter and I love that. I say this because if you see her in other stuff, she is not like this, so that is a testament to the job she pulls off here.

I am all about the teen drama, so I loved watching all these characters bounce off each other. Seeing love triangles form and fall. Watching unexpected love blossom. All of this is a lot of fun without feeling trashy. While I am on the subject, I'm glad that they have kept everyone in high school and didn't feel the need to make them grown ups in subsequent films.

Can I also say how amazing it is that we live in a world where freakin' MYSTERIO is in a big budget Spider-Man? With a very great, modern take on his classic costume. He still has the fishbowl head. Jake Gyllenhal really commits to this guy and I can't think of anyone that is able to elevate what is traditionally a goofy character. We've had the Vulture, Scorpion (to a lesser degree), the Shocker and now Mysterio. They are slowly building their way to the Sinister Six and I hope that gets realized in about two movies from now.

Speaking of Mysterio, while I thought his motivation was a tad flimsy, I liked that they really leaned into it. For a while there, I was getting flashbacks to Iron Man 3. Like a good villain, he truly believes in what he is doing, even if it is a tad mustache-twirly. Also, credit to this movie to really pull from the past to show the people that joined in with Mysterio and why they are here.

All in all, this movie was a lot of fun. We get Sam Jackson back as Nick Fury and he is at his most Sam Jacksony-ish. You know what I mean. We get a lot more of Happy (Jon Faverau) and he definitely adds to the movie. He is not the absent dad like he was in the first one. Now he feels fondly for Peter, if he is also after Aunt May. There were a lot of good comedy beats. This movie may have dialed up the drama, but it also dialed up the comedy to keep in step.

Last but not least, we get an appearance from J.K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson! This proves again that he is perfectly cast. I would love for him to appear more in the next movie. He is too perfect. We haven't had the public hating on Spider-Man like in the comics and I think by the end of this movie, they have set it up to be just that.

In the end, the trailers made this seem more epic than it was with these huge "monsters" that Peter faces. I'm glad at the end of it all, it is still him fighting a regular dude. Keeping Spider-Man more street level after the Avengers movies is a great idea.

This was a worthy successor to Spider-Man: Homecoming and I hope we at least get one more Spider-Man movie, if not more with this cast.

High recommendation from me to go see this film. Stay for after the credits. THAT I won't spoil for you.