Into the Longbox

A few weeks ago, because we have Paramount Plus now, I finally got around to watching this movie that came and went over the summer. If you missed it, let me save you the trouble with this review. Don't bother unless you're a sucker for punishment like I am. It's amazing the sunk cost I have with these live action Transformer movies and I keep going back. I KNOW I have a problem. That's on me. Let's hope you're not with me, because misery loves company. First of all, God love Peter Cullen. Here he is like 40 years later, still giving voice to Optimus Prime. I hate that they trotted him back out for this movie. Like Kevin Conroy, he is always the definitive voice of this character. However, it's time we all faced reality and accept that they need to get new blood. These movies hurt my soul because these movies always make Optimus look like a completely incompetent leader and I hate hearing the voice of my childhood attached to that. Who knows what the timelin...

Although I finished this weeks ago, I'm just now getting around to writing about it. What you can take about that is my "meh" feeling with Marvel shows that leaves me ready to move past them, rather than talk about them. But then I'm not doing my duty for YOU dear reader, so let me give you my thoughts. Like the first season of Loki, I thought this was okay. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. What I respect about it, unlike the other shows, is it has this water cooler effect to it that I can't explain. To be more specific, it feels like appointment viewing and then you want to talk about it with your friends or co-workers and then guess about what happens next. Out of ALLLLLLLLLLLL the shows that Marvel has done, this show and Wandavision are the only ones I felt this with. It probably has something to do with the fact that these shows usually have the potential to change the overarching narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). So does this s...

I just saw "The Marvels" on Monday night and I wanted to write about it as soon as I could. To not bury the lede, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It is easily the best Marvel movie this year. I have more in-depth thoughts about the state of the MCU that I'll share at the end, because they are emblematic of something far worse and it's nothing to do with this movie itself. There is an undeniable fun chemistry amongst the three leads of this movie. If you hate strong female leads, you better go elsewhere. The lynch pin is definitely Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan. She was so damn likeable in the Ms. Marvel TV show and she's equally, if not MORE likeable here. Instead of being a useless third wheel, she holds her own in all the action scenes. Her family also makes the transition to the big screen and they bring some lightheartedness and grounding to the movie. Brie Larson actually gets to show a personality in this movie, something that had been missing in all her a...

My poor, beleaguered blog. I swear one day I'll consistently post to you. And post on timely topics. Today is not that day for ONE of these items.  It is no secret that DC has been destroying Marvel when it comes to animated features. I mean, does Marvel even make them anymore? Other than this year's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (which I will talk about soon) I can't even think of anything. While there is adult fare, like Harley Quinn, we skew in the other direction with this new show on HBO Max. Well, it's not new anymore by the time I got around to reviewing this, but whatever. You get my drift. We've been subjected to many different versions of Lois and Clark over the years. This show has to be the most wholesome thing I have ever seen. It has an anime look and some of the anime sensibilities, but when you get past all that, you have a wholesome versions of the early days of Superman that you will ever get. Some may be upset at how they play fast and loose with t...

I could come up with a million excuses why I'm late on my review for this movie. You've heard them already, so it doesn't MATTER. Let's get into it. Blue Beetle. Let's be honest, this is not the movie any of us asked for. But it is the movie we deserve. What do I mean by that? We deserve a fun, super hero movie that isn't about saving the world, but a personal story with our main character. You can be reductive and say it's like Iron Man's origin movie or Ant-Man's, but that is going to make you miss out. Also, other than the fact that all the heroes where a suit of armor, that's the only similarity. Don't get forget that Tony Stark and Scott Lang were assholes before they put on a hero suit. Jamie Reyes is none of that and is instantly more likeable.  Okay, let me also say this. The trailers for this movie do it a huge disservice. They make it seem like Jamie (Xolo Maridueña) is this poor down on his luck kid. In actuality, he just graduated...

Look, I am always behind in how long it takes me to post about what I watch. It's now become a feature, not a bug. So let's just get right into it without you accusing me of ANYTHING. Over the years, I have come to realize that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are probably my favorite property. It is easily top four with Transformers, Dragon Ball Z and Power Rangers. I can't explain it, nor WILL I. It's my prerogative. I have figures all over the damn place in my room and my favorites, by a mile, are my 1/4 sized set of the Ninja Turtles from the first live action movie. The property has been rebranded, rebooted so many times, it's hard to keep count. And I've watched nearly all of them. I enjoy each iteration. When I heard this movie was going to skew the turtles on the younger side of their teenage years, I half rolled my eyes. I go hot and cold on Seth Rogen. I feel like I've aged out of most of his humor and I can find him very annoying. All that being s...

In all my anger directed Secret Invasion, I forgot to mention that I finally got around to watching this movie on HBO Max. This was my first reaction after finishing this movie. I'm going to hate that the fun type of movies like this coming from DC will probably go away under James Gunn. I think this is a character and franchise that should continue on in the new DC Cinematic Universe.  Truth be told, I actually enjoyed this movie. I feel bad for the actor that played Billy Batson, because this movie was almost exclusively featuring Shazam. Don't get me wrong, Zachary Levi is fantastic and I'm glad he got to shine in this movie. We also get a heavy weight like Helen Mirren being in this movie. She instantly elevates anything she is in. They used her sparingly, so that when she shows up, there is an impact. If there is one small gripe I had with this movie, is that it leaned into the trope of incompetent super heroes doing their best. Then getting super competent in the end....

He looks as bored as I was watching this show I finished this about a week ago and I Just haven't gotten around to doing it, so here we are. I thought those days in between would help me cool off, but as I started writing, all that vitriol came back and then some. You know all that hate I typically save for DC movies. Buckle up, because that energy is being redirected to this show. Normally I am even keeled when it comes to my beloved Marvel. This was a show that I tried to force myself to like and I just. COULD. NOT. DO.IT. Beware, I'm going to have to do some spoilers here, there's no avoiding it this time. I like spy dramas, but I've never been so bored by a spy story in all my life. Whatever magic spell Marvel used to have on me did not work this time. This show is beyond underwhelming, I was invested in literally no one and we get to see a lot of great actors get wasted.  Now that I've let that out, let me get into more specifics about what I didn't like in...

Batman should be in the front! I know I'm late on getting to see comic book movies, but I make it when I can. It seems that they don't last in theaters long like they used to. Anyways, I just saw "The Flash" last week and as usual, I have thoughts. When my friend, Jay, turned to me and asked me what I thought about it, my words were: "Well, I didn't hate it." I think that is my general feeling of this movie. I'm sorry if I come off like I hate DC movies. They're just not good. And you may say, "But Kevin, you're such a Marvel zombie. You like anything they put out." You would be half right. I am a Marvel zombie. But as far as phase 4 and beyond has gone for Marvel, there were a lot of hits (Wakanda Forever, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) and misses (ETERNALS, Doctor Strange and Multitude of Madness, Ant-Man: Quantumania) for me. Black Widow and Thor: Love and Thunder are in the middle. So the lus...

Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. I'm super late talking about this movie. We'll chalk it up more to life than anything else. Rather than go on with my excuses, I'll dive right in. I don't even know where to start with this movie. It was fantastic. Just before I watched this, I was like, "When did that last one come out?" and when I did the math I was shocked that it had been five years! After watching this movie, I could see why it would have been five years in between movies. The animation here is next level. There are so many intricate details that I am sure animators had to work out the kinks for YEARS before this was released. A prime example is when Spider-punk shows up. His whole deal is he is animated in a punk rock style, re: the posters you would have seen. So he moves at a different frame rate than EVERY THING AROUND HIM. That's insane. There is a whole chase sequence of multiple Spider-Men in the back third of this film that is a beauty to behold and...

I saw the third volume of Guardians of the Galaxy and now that I have let about two weeks pass, I'll go ahead and share my thoughts. I will still try to keep this as spoiler free as possible. I'm only human. Even if you don't read anything past this sentence, I will say this. I liked this movie. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I feel like it was a good course correction after the last movie, which I did not like at all. There were so many things that movie did wrong that this movie gets right. Maybe after doing "The Suicide Squad" (hated it!) and "Peacemaker" (loved it!), he found the right mix of his humor and humanity. This movie was a satisfying conclusion to this iteration of the Guardians that we've been with for the last ten years.  I don't think this is a huge spoiler, but if you've been on the edge of your seat to learn about Rocket's origin, this movie is for you. I won't go into details, but we delve into his past an...

Let's carry on with Part II of my year in review. Now we get on to favorite writers, mini-series, events and favorite series. I have also started to read more graphic novels, so I now have a category for that as well. Favorite Writer of 2022 Chip Zdarsky (Batman, Daredevil, Devil's Reign) - I've become such a fan of Chip over the past few years. I still maintain that he should be writing the Fantastic Four after the wonderful job he did on the Marvel Two In One series a couple of years ago, but I digress. You could argue that Batman and Daredevil are similar-ish enough in nature, that it's almost like he's writing the same book twice. That couldn't be further from the truth. He's taken both books in different directions, enough that it feels somewhat fresh, given there's not much gold to mine from these characters. I think the supporting cast for each book is what makes it. In Batman, Tim Drake is the Robin of choice and we get to see him in the role he ...

I know it's been a few weeks since I watched this. It should tell you a lot that I'm just now writing about it. I just didn't feel compelled to talk about it at all. This movie didn't move me in the way they were hoping for. Will I elaborate? You know I will. Let me sum up my thoughts on this movie and the Ant-Man movies in general. Ant-Man was always the fun little side adventures that Marvel cooked up. No one asked for it, but we all believed we cared because we like Paul Rudd so much and we're just glad he's in the Marvel Universe. His previous two movies were fun heist movies and I legitimately liked Ant-Man & The Wasp. This movie, I didn't like at all. I didn't hate it, but I didn't fully enjoy it either. I was actually kind of bored with it and this movie kind of broke me. This movie follows the Marvel Cinematic Universe playbook to a T. And that's the problem. This movie made me realize how tired I am of the Marvel Movie formula. I am ...

Well, there is nothing like a timely end of year list that arrives a quarter into the following year. I gotta do better. So the world kind of opened back up in 2022. I read just as many books this year if not a few less. However, my time to read them was scattered and I read in waves. That's what having a kid does to you. As much as I read comics, there were so many damn comic book based movies and shows that occupied my time. This blog became more of a movie review site instead of comics. So in 2023 I will try to swing it back in that direction. There was so much that I read, it's going to be hard to remember what actually stood out. Guess I'll need to consult the ol' list of books I read. For those curious, the final count of issues I read this year was 551. I don't think my reading preferences changed that much. I still read a ton of Marvel. DC has started to fallen by the wayside. Wasn't as much Image as I usually do. Will this swing the other way in the new...

And then there was Black Adam. Let's end the comic book movie season with THIS movie. Look, you'll probably hear how the Rock produced, pushed for this film, blah blah blah. It's a passion project, blah blah blah. Sometimes that passion blinds people to what the end product is. This movie is not good. It's a movie, sure. I wouldn't say it's good.  At this point, you know what you get with the Rock and his acting. Somehow he seems to have less of the charisma here. He wants to be a guy that is so bad ass, he doesn't talk much, but he punches stuff a lot. And flies everywhere. And lift things. You know what, I see why the Rock wanted this movie. He wanted to look cool. Indulge me for a few minutes while I make a wrestling analogy to describe what I was thinking as I watched this movie. It's very apropos here. Black Adam is this new "hero" on the scene and he wants to get over with the crowd. So he is shown handling people with ease and is built u...