Tag Archives: marvel

Movie Review: “Thunderbolts” (2025)

thunderbolts

© James Pyles

I didn’t anticipate watching Thunderbolts* (2025), yes the asterisk is supposed to be there, but it was at the public library in the new films section, so I figured “why not?”

It was actually better than I thought, but you have to accept it for what it is. I’ll get to that.

Spoiler Alert: This review is loaded with them, so if you haven’t seen the movie and want to be surprised, stop reading now.

Pet Peeve Alert: The characters of Yelena and Alexei were once part of a spy cell pretending to be a typical American family and as such they spoke perfect English. Why, oh why are they now speaking in heavily accented English just to prove they are Russian? It’s stupid.

Now let’s continue…

Basically this is Marvel’s…I was going to say “B-Team” but they aren’t even that high on the list, well most of them anyway…trying to carve their way into being heroes when most of them at least have histories as villains if not actually still being on that list.

We start out with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Natasha Romanoff’s (Scarlett Johansson) secret agent sister (see the 2021 film Black Widow) still living the life of an assassin for the CIA killing people and stealing stuff. She’s totally empty and alone and has no purpose in her life, still grieving over Natasha’s death as seen in Avengers: Endgame (2019).

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Review of “Captain America: Brave New World” (2025)

brave

© James Pyles

Last night, I watched a couple of movies I got from my local public library branch. The first one was Captain America: Brave New World (2025). I have to agree with the opinions of most of the other folks who have long since seen this film. It wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t great either.

Spoiler Alert: Before I go on, be aware there are plenty of spoilers below. You have been warned.

I should say that I’ve never seen any episodes of the TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) nor do I intend to. I’ll assume that the little bits and pieces in the movie I didn’t understand such as who the heck Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) was supposed to be were introduced in that series.

It seemed a little improbable that Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) was President of the United States given how hostile and aggressive he had been across his military career. Then again, there were a few small parallels to our real-life President Donald Trump, so maybe it wasn’t such a fantastic leap.

The movie, from what I understand, was styled after any number of political thrillers involving dark conspiracies. That said, I think Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) did a better job in that arena.

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Retro Review of “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)

love and thunder

© James Pyles

Strolling around the DVD section of my local public library yesterday, I decided to finally check out the 2022 movie Thor: Love and Thunder. It had the benefit of me not having to pay to see the film.

I have now joined the vast legion of people (online anyway) who’ve gone on record as hating, detesting, and loathing this movie. I almost shut off the DVD at the 12 minute mark and then again at 15. However, I forced myself to watch it just so I could render some sort of opinion.

The only Marvel movie I did stop watching at about a third of the way through was Eternals (2021). I even managed to make it all the way through The Marvels (2023) before totally panning it.

Honestly, if this is the best Director Taika Waititi can do, he can stop making films right now (alas, he hasn’t).

The story starts on a barren planet where a man Gorr (Christian Bale) and his young daughter (played by Chris Hemsworth’s daughter India Rose Hemsworth) are dying. Gorr prays to his god for deliverance which does not arrive. Instead, his daughter dies.

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Why It’s Okay To Not Watch “Agatha All Along”

agatha

Promotional poster for the mini-series “Agatha All Along”

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I have no intention of watching the new Marvel/Disney+ mini-series Agatha All Along. There are a lot of reasons for this.

The first is that I haven’t seen ANY of the Disney+ Marvel shows, not even the very popular Loki series. I’ve mentioned before somewhere that I don’t particularly enjoy most television produced in the 2020s and don’t see myself subscribing to one or more streaming services just to watch a few shows I might (or might not) like.

Of course, I’m aware of these programs because you can’t be on social media for ten seconds without tripping all over them, or at least the latest ones. This is especially true of the responses to said-shows, both for and against. There really does seem to be some sort of war going on between those who like these series and those who don’t.

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Review of “Deadpool and Wolverine” (2024)

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Movie poster for “Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)

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Yesterday (as I write this) I went to see Deadpool and Wolverine (2024) in the theater with my teenage grandson. We had a blast.

Oh, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and want to be surprised, I do not promise a Spoiler free review.

The following is in a flashback while Wade is fighting

With his relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) on the rocks, Wade (Ryan Reynolds) attempts to join the Avengers around 2018 and interviews with “Happy” Hogan (Jon Favreau) not getting as far as “the big guy” (implying Tony Stark). Hogan turns him down because Wade is motivated by his own needs rather than the needs of others.

In the present day, we see him as a used car salesman alongside his endlessly optimistic “wingman” Peter (Rob Delaney). Wade sucks at that, too but it’s all he has. Wade still lives with Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) and taking his friend home, Peter lures Wade into his surprise birthday party (the guy’s a Merc and would be incredibly difficult to surprise).

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DVD Review of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023)

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DVD cover for the movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

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A few days ago, I checked out a DVD of the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) at the public library (so it didn’t cost me a cent) and got around to watching it yesterday.

First of all, I miss the “Wombats” (Michael Peña as “Luis,” David Dastmalchian as “Kurt,” and Tip T.I. Harris as “Dave”). I understand there wasn’t a place in them given the story, and they weren’t as well utilized in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) as they were in the original Ant-Man (2015), but they’re great comedy relief.

Secondly, I miss Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie. I know the MCU blipped ahead five years so the actress (now age 15) would be too young, but she was a lot of fun. I also know that an older daughter for Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) means she can join him on his adventures, but at 26, Kathryn Newton, who replaced Emma Fuhrmann in the role after Avengers: Endgame (2019) might be a little bit too “old” (Fuhrmann is only 21 which is just about right).

Most of the movie seemed to be pretty much in the dark, which made it hard for me to tell what was going on half the time. For instance, in the opening sequence with Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the Traveler/Kang (Jonathan Majors), I couldn’t see their faces and had no idea what was going on until later in the film.

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The End of the Punisher

knights

© James Pyles

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Although I’ve heard of the Marvel comic book character The Punisher (Frank Castle) over the years (He first appeared in Spider-Man #129 in 1974), I’ve never been a fan. I don’t know why. I guess I prefer the more traditional costumed superhero. Some guy running around shooting people doesn’t appeal to me.

Sometime later, the character and his symbol (a stylized skull) came into controversy when said-symbol was adopted by a number of law enforcement units. Essentially these officers were aligning with an ultra-violent vigilante which understandably made a lot of people nervous.

Marvel went so far as to change the Punisher’s logo to dissociate the character from the officers and others who had adopted the older symbol and Castle’s vendetta against criminals.

As an aside, it should be noted that very briefly in the 1970s, Marvel changed the name of their landmark character Black Panther to Black Leopard because they didn’t want T’Challa associated with the black militant group The Black Panthers.

Recently, Marvel announced they were ending The Punisher, not only by not publishing comics featuring the character, but having him commit suicide.

What? Why?

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Review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

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Poster art for the film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) obviously would have been a completely different film if Chadwick Boseman hadn’t died. However, it also would have been a very different film if the role of the Black Panther/T’Challa had been recast.

As it was, the movie started with T’Challa’s funeral. Later in the film T’Challa’s and Shuri’s (Letitia Wright) mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) tragically dies. Shuri has to bear the burden of both their deaths and indeed, the overarching theme of the film is loss, remorse, vengeance, and recovery.

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Scene from the film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Add to this the story of how Namor (Tenoch Huerta) lost his mother. In fact there’s a scene toward the end of the film of how both Namor and Shuri each “buried” their mothers. Riri (Dominique Throne) recalls her father’s death as well.

We can only imagine the ultimate resolution for Namor and Rini but we see Shuri’s acted out as she has to decide who it is she will be as the Queen of the Wakanda and the Black Panther.

Overall, the film was satisfying. I can’t say it was on par with the Black Panther (2018) but (and this is going to sound bad) it was much better than I expected.

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Review of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness (2022)

multiverse

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Last night I watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).

I got the Blu-Ray from my local public library so it didn’t cost me a cent. I was concerned because the film has mixed reviews and I didn’t necessarily want to waste my time on a turkey (like just about every Marvel TV show on Disney+ to which I thankfully do not subscribe).

It was…okay. Actually not bad at all, although somewhat flawed.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen the movie and you hate spoilers, stop reading now.

Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has a strange (no pun intended) multi-dimensional dream (part and parcel for Dr. Strange in the 1960s and 70 comic books) where he is trying to reach some sort of goal with a young girl (America Chavez played by Xochitl Gomez). Some dark force is trying to take her powers and he becomes too injured to help her. Chavez comes nearer to the goal but is then stopped by the creature. Strange believes the only way to stop the creature from stealing her powers is to steal them himself. Then he wakes up. It was a dream.

Or was it?

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Review of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021)

no way home

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Just finished watching Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) last night. It’s about two-and-a-half-hours long, and like a lot of superhero movies, it tries to cram too much into that space.

The movie starts out where Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) left off, with the recording of Mysterio/Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) saying that Spider-Man (Tom Holland) killed him and that Spider-Man is Peter Parker.

Peter’s life goes downhill immediately and so do the lives of his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), his wingman Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), and even Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau).

Federal agents detain all of them, but in spite of all their bluster, they can’t really hold any of them except Hogan who has ties to the Stark technology used in the previous movie. Even that doesn’t stick very long.

There’s a cameo of Charlie Cox appearing as attorney Matt Murdock (Daredevil) and a cute little scene where he catches a brick thrown through the Parker’s apartment window from behind. It was a tragedy that Daredevil didn’t appear in the movie because a Spider-Man/Daredevil team up would have been awesome.

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