This is the second time Marvel has made a film version of Dark Phoenix, the greatest X-Men saga of all time. The first attempt was X-Men 3: Last Stand, which was an awful movie, overloaded with pointless special effects and actors phoning in their performances, and culminating in a visually impressive but logically dubious fight scene in San Francisco Bay. This attempt is better than that one, although still not a great movie. I've ranked it Okay.
On a mission to save the space shuttle, X-Man Marvel Girl (civilian identity: Jean Grey) is exposed to a weird cosmic force which her body absorbs, the Phoenix Force. This gives her access to a cosmic level of power, but due to her traumatic past, Jean isn't mentally stable enough to handle it. Fearing her own abilities, Jean flees the X-Mansion and returns to her childhood home, where her father is not especially happy to see her again. When the X-Men come and try to persuade Jean to return with them, things soon escalate into a physical confrontation where Jean accidentally kills teammate Raven. Now on the run and convinced that even her closest friends are against her, Jean is vulnerable to persuasion by the bad guys, members of a shape-shifting alien race called the D'Bari, who wish to take the Phoenix Force for themselves.
I think the biggest problem here is that in the comics, the main villains for the Dark Phoenix saga are the Hellfire Club, a sort of Victorian social club of rich and powerful members, each of whom also happens to be an evil mutant. They're a pretty awesome group of villains, but the X-Men films already used them, in the X-Men: First Class movie. This movie uses instead the D'Bari, who are pretty generic. I found it difficult to find the D'Bari a real menace, or compelling in any way when they were on screen. Do the X-Men manage to defeat them and save Jean at the end? Probably, since there's no reason to think the D'Bari are sticking around.
I have previously ranked Ant-Man and the Wasp, Aquaman, Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Captain Marvel
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Dark Phoenix
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Ranking: Avengers: Endgame
I've now seen Avengers: Endgame twice. It is the second part (not a sequel) of last year's Avengers: Infinity War (which I reviewed here). It is the culmination not only of the two-part Avengers movie, but also of the entire 22-movie Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which has been building to this point since Iron Man in 2009.
At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, cosmic bad guy Thanos had assembled the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet, with its six power gems that have played a role in so many previous Marvel movies. Using the Gauntlet, he snapped his fingers and wiped out half of all life in the universe in one moment, including half of our heroes. Near the beginning of this movie, the narrative advances five years and we see how our remaining heroes and other characters are coping with their incredible losses. The answer: some better than others, but on the whole, not well.
When a freak accident causes Ant-Man to return from the quantum realm, where he's been stuck since the end of his movie from last summer, set just before Thanos's finger snap, he realizes that five years on earth was only about five hours for him. Time works differently in the quantum realm, and after describing his experiences to Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, our heroes theorize it might be possible to manipulate entrances and exits from the quantum realm to travel through time. That is, it might be possible to go back before Thanos assembled the power gems and rewrite history. Whether that works out or not, I will not reveal
I found Avengers: Endgame to be highly satisfying--not quite Excellent on my rankings list, but near the top of the Pretty Good movies. It's amazing how much the screenwriters and directors were able to put in--practically every character in the MCU has at least one meaningful scene--including some characters you may have nearly forgotten about--and yet it doesn't feel particularly over-stuffed. Thor and Hulk especially had some really fun character-building scenes. I'm not quite sure I can recommend it to everybody--if you haven't seen any previous Marvel movies, you have some serious homework to do before taking this one on. But for those already familiar with the MCU (you don't have to have seen every movie to date), this is a really fun movie.
I have previously ranked Ant-Man and the Wasp, Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Captain Marvel
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, cosmic bad guy Thanos had assembled the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet, with its six power gems that have played a role in so many previous Marvel movies. Using the Gauntlet, he snapped his fingers and wiped out half of all life in the universe in one moment, including half of our heroes. Near the beginning of this movie, the narrative advances five years and we see how our remaining heroes and other characters are coping with their incredible losses. The answer: some better than others, but on the whole, not well.
When a freak accident causes Ant-Man to return from the quantum realm, where he's been stuck since the end of his movie from last summer, set just before Thanos's finger snap, he realizes that five years on earth was only about five hours for him. Time works differently in the quantum realm, and after describing his experiences to Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, our heroes theorize it might be possible to manipulate entrances and exits from the quantum realm to travel through time. That is, it might be possible to go back before Thanos assembled the power gems and rewrite history. Whether that works out or not, I will not reveal
I found Avengers: Endgame to be highly satisfying--not quite Excellent on my rankings list, but near the top of the Pretty Good movies. It's amazing how much the screenwriters and directors were able to put in--practically every character in the MCU has at least one meaningful scene--including some characters you may have nearly forgotten about--and yet it doesn't feel particularly over-stuffed. Thor and Hulk especially had some really fun character-building scenes. I'm not quite sure I can recommend it to everybody--if you haven't seen any previous Marvel movies, you have some serious homework to do before taking this one on. But for those already familiar with the MCU (you don't have to have seen every movie to date), this is a really fun movie.
I have previously ranked Ant-Man and the Wasp, Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Captain Marvel
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Friday, April 26, 2019
Ranking: Captain Marvel
A few weeks ago while visiting Nashville, my family went to see Captain Marvel. In the comics Captain Marvel, alter ego Carol Danvers, is a character I don't follow too much, but I think the movie kept pretty close to her character. She starts the movie off as a warrior of the Kree, a fierce warrior alien race that are humanoid but with blue skin (although Captain Marvel looks perfectly human). Captain Marvel herself, known as Vers to her Kree companions, is superstrong and can direct energy blasts. On a mission to Earth to track an escaped Skrull, an alien race who are the enemies of the Kree, she starts to have human memories. During her time on Earth, more and more memories return to her, and she gradually realizes she actually is human, and that the incident that took her memory gave her her superhuman powers.
One big difference between the comics and the movie I did notice was (spoiler alert!) in the comics, the Kree and the Skrulls have been at war with each other for centuries. Both sides I think are seen as the bad guys, but the Kree are maybe seen as more a civilization whose morals have decayed from fighting for so long, while the shape-shifting, but in their natural form, green-skinned, Skrulls are considered definitely and inherently evil. In the movie, however, it is the Kree who turn out to be truly evil, with the Skrulls, at least the group we meet, being misunderstood victims.
This was a fun and highly watchable movie but not earth-shattering, so I'm putting it near the top of the Okay category.
I have previously ranked Ant-Man and the Wasp, Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Captain Marvel
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
One big difference between the comics and the movie I did notice was (spoiler alert!) in the comics, the Kree and the Skrulls have been at war with each other for centuries. Both sides I think are seen as the bad guys, but the Kree are maybe seen as more a civilization whose morals have decayed from fighting for so long, while the shape-shifting, but in their natural form, green-skinned, Skrulls are considered definitely and inherently evil. In the movie, however, it is the Kree who turn out to be truly evil, with the Skrulls, at least the group we meet, being misunderstood victims.
This was a fun and highly watchable movie but not earth-shattering, so I'm putting it near the top of the Okay category.
I have previously ranked Ant-Man and the Wasp, Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Captain Marvel
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Friday, April 5, 2019
Ranking: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Missed Ant-Man and the Wasp in the theaters, so I watched it with my family at home a few weeks ago. (I reviewed the original Ant-Man back in 2015 here.) In it, we revisit Scott Lang, who is now under year-long house arrest following the events in the first movie, with his parole officer Randall Park eager to catch him breaking the rules so he can send him to prison for a long time. Throughout the movie, various complications come up with inventor Hank Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne, who Scott is kind of in love with, that require Scott to leave the house in the Ant-Man costume, only to try to rush back to the house before Randall can notice his absence.
Of course, Ant-Man can get small and talk to ants (and so can Hope Van Dyne, in her own costume as the Wasp), and back in Captain America: Civil War, we also learned he can reverse the sizing process to get really big. The movie also introduces Bill Foster, an African-American inventor who was once partners with Hank Pym before they had a falling out. (Comics fans know that Bill Foster is the alter-ego of hero Goliath.) Though he's not himself evil, Bill Foster has allied himself with the movie's main villain, Ghost, who can alter her body's molecular structure and walk through walls or any other object, solidifying parts of her body--say, her fist--to pummel an enemy. But she doesn't have total control of her abilities and is slowly disintegrating, something Bill Foster is trying to help her avoid.
So I'm not sure I have a lot to say about it, except it was a fun movie! Fast-paced, funny, kids enjoyed it. I put it in the Pretty Good category, ranked right about where the original was.
I have previously ranked Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Of course, Ant-Man can get small and talk to ants (and so can Hope Van Dyne, in her own costume as the Wasp), and back in Captain America: Civil War, we also learned he can reverse the sizing process to get really big. The movie also introduces Bill Foster, an African-American inventor who was once partners with Hank Pym before they had a falling out. (Comics fans know that Bill Foster is the alter-ego of hero Goliath.) Though he's not himself evil, Bill Foster has allied himself with the movie's main villain, Ghost, who can alter her body's molecular structure and walk through walls or any other object, solidifying parts of her body--say, her fist--to pummel an enemy. But she doesn't have total control of her abilities and is slowly disintegrating, something Bill Foster is trying to help her avoid.
So I'm not sure I have a lot to say about it, except it was a fun movie! Fast-paced, funny, kids enjoyed it. I put it in the Pretty Good category, ranked right about where the original was.
I have previously ranked Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Monday, February 4, 2019
Ranking: Aquaman
My son and I saw Aquaman in the movie theater this past weekend. It was his second time seeing it, and it was entertaining enough for a 13-year old that he eagerly went back with me. The nice thing about going to a movie that's been out for a while--both our tickets together came to $13.00. Pretty cheap for a movie nowadays!
I'm not sure I liked it as much as my son, but I found it plenty entertaining. Unlike most DC films lately, it didn't have an especially dark tone. It was fun and fast-paced. Best of all, it didn't take itself too seriously, just like it's lead character, Arthur Curry, who was born to an Atlantean mother but raised by his human father in a small town in Maine. Arthur's main hobbies are drinking and hell-raising, though he sometimes likes to go for long swims to commune with the fish and, um, fight off pirates. When other characters start coming around asking him to come to the ocean to take up the crown of an undersea kingdom called Atlantis, all he knows is how inadequate he would be to the task of kingship.
When a war between Atlantis and other underwater kingdoms comes to the surface, though, he knows he finally has to visit Atlantis and overthrow his half-brother, Orm, a war-mongerer who sits on the throne in his stead. Not surprisingly, Orm doesn't want to go, and he tosses Arthur and their beautiful and headstrong cousin Mera, who has befriended Arthur, into a deep ocean trench filled with demonic deep-sea creatures. It is there that Arthur and Mera make an important discovery....
Like I said, the film is fast-paced and humorous, and it has plenty of great special effects without overly relying on them. It also has some surprisingly A-list actors: Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe. I don't know that muscle-bound and heavily-tattooed Jason Momoa is one of history's great actors, but as Aquaman, he has definitely found a role that suits him. All in all, I rank this movie as Pretty Good, the second-highest rating in my system, putting it just below the first Spider-Man movie from 2002 (yes, I know there was a 1970s made-for-TV Spider-Man movie, but I'm not counting it) and above X-Men 2.
I have previously ranked Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
I'm not sure I liked it as much as my son, but I found it plenty entertaining. Unlike most DC films lately, it didn't have an especially dark tone. It was fun and fast-paced. Best of all, it didn't take itself too seriously, just like it's lead character, Arthur Curry, who was born to an Atlantean mother but raised by his human father in a small town in Maine. Arthur's main hobbies are drinking and hell-raising, though he sometimes likes to go for long swims to commune with the fish and, um, fight off pirates. When other characters start coming around asking him to come to the ocean to take up the crown of an undersea kingdom called Atlantis, all he knows is how inadequate he would be to the task of kingship.
When a war between Atlantis and other underwater kingdoms comes to the surface, though, he knows he finally has to visit Atlantis and overthrow his half-brother, Orm, a war-mongerer who sits on the throne in his stead. Not surprisingly, Orm doesn't want to go, and he tosses Arthur and their beautiful and headstrong cousin Mera, who has befriended Arthur, into a deep ocean trench filled with demonic deep-sea creatures. It is there that Arthur and Mera make an important discovery....
Like I said, the film is fast-paced and humorous, and it has plenty of great special effects without overly relying on them. It also has some surprisingly A-list actors: Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe. I don't know that muscle-bound and heavily-tattooed Jason Momoa is one of history's great actors, but as Aquaman, he has definitely found a role that suits him. All in all, I rank this movie as Pretty Good, the second-highest rating in my system, putting it just below the first Spider-Man movie from 2002 (yes, I know there was a 1970s made-for-TV Spider-Man movie, but I'm not counting it) and above X-Men 2.
I have previously ranked Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
Aquaman
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Monday, January 21, 2019
Ranking Diamonds Are Forever
I previously ranked some of the James Bond movies here, here, here, here, and here. Last night my son and I watched Diamonds Are Forever, the final of the six Bond movies Sean Connery appeared in. It's acquired a reputation as one of the more ridiculous Bond movies--for instance, much of the first Austin Powers movie mocks/homages this installment in the Bond series. Sean Connery was really phoning his performance in--he had not intended to return as Bond and only came back because of the large paycheck the producers offered--and this is also the first of three or four Bond movies to use a lot of US locations to save money. It's in no way one of the better Bond movies.
That having been said, I think my little rubric for rating the Bond movies is going to do Diamonds Are Forever a disservice. It's a thoroughly mediocre Bond film, and yet there's little really bad about it. It's entertaining all the way through. It's certainly better than, say, The Man With the Golden Gun, but because that movie did a couple things pretty well despite its overall terribleness, I think it will end up ranking higher than Diamonds Are Forever, which does no single thing especially well. Let's see how it works out.
Since the Bond movies are formulaic and their quality is based on how well they fulfill the formula, I created a little rubric to rank the Bond movies, with several categories a movie can get points in. A Bond film gets 2 points if the movie is one of the top 4 Bond movies for a category, and 1 point if it's in the top 8, plus a couple special categories. Here are the criteria, with a maximum of 14 points available:
Story/Plot--2 points--Is the plot coherent and logical? Are the stakes high? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Action--2 points--Are the stunts exciting? The car chases thrilling? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Villain--2 points--What's a Bond movie without dastardly villains and their henchmen? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Setting--2 points--The Bond movies are all about exotic locations. (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Gadgets, Vehicles, Lairs--2 points--What's the cool stuff? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Bond girls--2 points--The ladies, oh yes, the ladies. (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Sean Connery or Daniel Craig?--1 point--These are the best Bonds (no need to debate) and get an automatic extra point if appearing in the film.
Musical theme--1 point if in the top 5
Diamonds Are Forever
Story/Plot--The story involves Bond trying to stop some smuggled South African diamonds from reaching their mysterious buyer in Las Vegas. Not real high-stakes, the ultimate use of the diamonds is a rather perfunctory surprise, and there's at least one Wha? moment in the plot, when James Bond just shows up at a house where he needs to be in Las Vegas with no indication of how he knew where to go. (0 points)
Action--Hmm. An early fight in a slowly-rising open elevator in an Amsterdam apartment building is expertly staged, but not all that interesting. A car chase in a casino parking lot has some impressive driving by Bond, but not actually that great to watch--I mean, they're just driving around a parking lot! I can do that myself! Another chase with a moon buggy in the Nevada desert is fun, but not quite Top 8. A scene with Bond scaling the outside of a casino in Las Vegas is nice but also not quite Top 8. (0 points)
Villain--Blofeld is the villain, played here by Charles Gray, who's no Telly Savalas. The henchmen, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, are an unfortunately-stereotyped gay couple with a shared penchant for elegant, sadistic, but only mildly creative assassinations. (0 points)
Setting--Amsterdam is a bit exotic from the American point of view, I suppose, but Las Vegas certainly is not. (0 points)
Gadgets, Vehicles, Lairs--There are some cool vehicles and gadgets in this one. Blofeld's cover for his nefarious doings is an aerospace firm outside Las Vegas, where they are apparently practicing driving around in a moon buggy in the stark Nevadan landscape (and possibly filming fake moon landings?). Q wins multiple jackpots on Las Vegas slot machines with a magnetic something-or-other he's testing out. Bond must evade a deadly pipe-cleaning robot when he's buried alive in some sort of pipeline that's under construction. Bond scales a casino with a grappling hook that can embed itself in concrete. This ranks #6 on my list for this category, pushing Live and Let Die out of the Top 8. (1 point)
Bond Girls--Lana Wood is extremely hot as Plenty O'Toole, but dumb as a rock and only in the movie briefly. However, she, together with Jill St. John as diamond smuggler Tiffany Case, manage to edge out Fiona Volpe from Thunderball. (1 point)
SC or DC? Sean Connery (1 (point)
Music--Theme song is sung by Shirley Bassey, who also sang the great Goldfinger theme. Unfortunately, this one is a pale imitation. (0 points)
Total: 3 points
Rejiggered points for other movies:
Live and Let Die moves out of Top 8 for Gadgets, Vehicles, Lairs (-1)
Thunderball moves out of Top 8 for Bond Girls (-1)
And, here are the updated results:
1) The Spy Who Loved Me (12 points)
2) Casino Royale (10 points)
3, 4) Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (tied with 9 points)
5) Skyfall (8 points)
6, 7, 8) Thunderball, Spectre, The Man With the Golden Gun (5 points)
9, 10, 11) Die Another Day, A View to a Kill, Live and Let Die (4 points)
12) Diamonds Are Forever (3 points)
That having been said, I think my little rubric for rating the Bond movies is going to do Diamonds Are Forever a disservice. It's a thoroughly mediocre Bond film, and yet there's little really bad about it. It's entertaining all the way through. It's certainly better than, say, The Man With the Golden Gun, but because that movie did a couple things pretty well despite its overall terribleness, I think it will end up ranking higher than Diamonds Are Forever, which does no single thing especially well. Let's see how it works out.
Since the Bond movies are formulaic and their quality is based on how well they fulfill the formula, I created a little rubric to rank the Bond movies, with several categories a movie can get points in. A Bond film gets 2 points if the movie is one of the top 4 Bond movies for a category, and 1 point if it's in the top 8, plus a couple special categories. Here are the criteria, with a maximum of 14 points available:
Story/Plot--2 points--Is the plot coherent and logical? Are the stakes high? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Action--2 points--Are the stunts exciting? The car chases thrilling? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Villain--2 points--What's a Bond movie without dastardly villains and their henchmen? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Setting--2 points--The Bond movies are all about exotic locations. (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Gadgets, Vehicles, Lairs--2 points--What's the cool stuff? (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Bond girls--2 points--The ladies, oh yes, the ladies. (2 points, top 4; 1 point, top 8)
Sean Connery or Daniel Craig?--1 point--These are the best Bonds (no need to debate) and get an automatic extra point if appearing in the film.
Musical theme--1 point if in the top 5
Diamonds Are Forever
Story/Plot--The story involves Bond trying to stop some smuggled South African diamonds from reaching their mysterious buyer in Las Vegas. Not real high-stakes, the ultimate use of the diamonds is a rather perfunctory surprise, and there's at least one Wha? moment in the plot, when James Bond just shows up at a house where he needs to be in Las Vegas with no indication of how he knew where to go. (0 points)
Action--Hmm. An early fight in a slowly-rising open elevator in an Amsterdam apartment building is expertly staged, but not all that interesting. A car chase in a casino parking lot has some impressive driving by Bond, but not actually that great to watch--I mean, they're just driving around a parking lot! I can do that myself! Another chase with a moon buggy in the Nevada desert is fun, but not quite Top 8. A scene with Bond scaling the outside of a casino in Las Vegas is nice but also not quite Top 8. (0 points)
Villain--Blofeld is the villain, played here by Charles Gray, who's no Telly Savalas. The henchmen, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, are an unfortunately-stereotyped gay couple with a shared penchant for elegant, sadistic, but only mildly creative assassinations. (0 points)
Setting--Amsterdam is a bit exotic from the American point of view, I suppose, but Las Vegas certainly is not. (0 points)
Gadgets, Vehicles, Lairs--There are some cool vehicles and gadgets in this one. Blofeld's cover for his nefarious doings is an aerospace firm outside Las Vegas, where they are apparently practicing driving around in a moon buggy in the stark Nevadan landscape (and possibly filming fake moon landings?). Q wins multiple jackpots on Las Vegas slot machines with a magnetic something-or-other he's testing out. Bond must evade a deadly pipe-cleaning robot when he's buried alive in some sort of pipeline that's under construction. Bond scales a casino with a grappling hook that can embed itself in concrete. This ranks #6 on my list for this category, pushing Live and Let Die out of the Top 8. (1 point)
Bond Girls--Lana Wood is extremely hot as Plenty O'Toole, but dumb as a rock and only in the movie briefly. However, she, together with Jill St. John as diamond smuggler Tiffany Case, manage to edge out Fiona Volpe from Thunderball. (1 point)
SC or DC? Sean Connery (1 (point)
Music--Theme song is sung by Shirley Bassey, who also sang the great Goldfinger theme. Unfortunately, this one is a pale imitation. (0 points)
Total: 3 points
Rejiggered points for other movies:
Live and Let Die moves out of Top 8 for Gadgets, Vehicles, Lairs (-1)
Thunderball moves out of Top 8 for Bond Girls (-1)
And, here are the updated results:
1) The Spy Who Loved Me (12 points)
2) Casino Royale (10 points)
3, 4) Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (tied with 9 points)
5) Skyfall (8 points)
6, 7, 8) Thunderball, Spectre, The Man With the Golden Gun (5 points)
9, 10, 11) Die Another Day, A View to a Kill, Live and Let Die (4 points)
12) Diamonds Are Forever (3 points)
Friday, December 28, 2018
Ranking: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
I went with my son and daughter earlier this week to see the new animated Marvel movie: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. After seeing it, I realized it was the first comic book movie I'd ever seen. You see, all the movies I've seen up until now have been taking the characters and idea from the comics and making movies out of them, but were not actually comic book movies. Spider-Verse does something more difficult than those other movies--it translates the actual comic book experience onto the big screen. It's one of the best comic movies I've ever seen.
Okay, so about five years ago, Marvel realized they had a number of different Spider-Men floating around in different media. There was the original comic book Peter Parker, of course, but they also had Miles Morales, the teen-aged African-American Spider-Man from their Ultimate universe line of comics. They had the Spider-Ham (bitten by a radioactive pig and given the proportional powers of swine) from the kids-oriented Star Line of comics in the 1980s. And they had various cartoon versions of the characters from over the decades. So Marvel decided to an event where all these Spider-Men came together in one story, along with a bunch of new ones they invented for the occasion-- the female Spider-Gwen, the 1930s Spider-Man Noir, the anime Sp//dr robot, Spider Punk, and so on. This story was called Edge of Spider-Verse and was very popular with readers.
It's that idea of a Spider-Verse that the movie runs with, although the plot is original. When the established Spider-Man Peter Parker dies in inter-dimensional vortex in an early scene, novice Spider-Man Miles Morales has to take his place. Only, he keeps running into strange other Spider-Folks around his hometown of Brooklyn. I won't say too much about what happens, although the main villains are the Kingpin, Tombstone, Prowler (who hasn't been a villain in the comics for a long time, but never mind), and a secret villain I won't reveal as it's a crucial plot point. The main thing is just seeing the interaction of all these Spider-Men.
The animation of the movie is highly urban, as befits Morale's home in Brooklyn, and extremely well-done, with the agility of the various Spider-Folks especially emphasized. The visuals are high quality to the point of awe-inspiring, the Spider-interactions are hilarious, and the plot if fast-paced and intelligent. I rate this movie as Excellent and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of comics.
I have previously ranked Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Okay, so about five years ago, Marvel realized they had a number of different Spider-Men floating around in different media. There was the original comic book Peter Parker, of course, but they also had Miles Morales, the teen-aged African-American Spider-Man from their Ultimate universe line of comics. They had the Spider-Ham (bitten by a radioactive pig and given the proportional powers of swine) from the kids-oriented Star Line of comics in the 1980s. And they had various cartoon versions of the characters from over the decades. So Marvel decided to an event where all these Spider-Men came together in one story, along with a bunch of new ones they invented for the occasion-- the female Spider-Gwen, the 1930s Spider-Man Noir, the anime Sp//dr robot, Spider Punk, and so on. This story was called Edge of Spider-Verse and was very popular with readers.
It's that idea of a Spider-Verse that the movie runs with, although the plot is original. When the established Spider-Man Peter Parker dies in inter-dimensional vortex in an early scene, novice Spider-Man Miles Morales has to take his place. Only, he keeps running into strange other Spider-Folks around his hometown of Brooklyn. I won't say too much about what happens, although the main villains are the Kingpin, Tombstone, Prowler (who hasn't been a villain in the comics for a long time, but never mind), and a secret villain I won't reveal as it's a crucial plot point. The main thing is just seeing the interaction of all these Spider-Men.
The animation of the movie is highly urban, as befits Morale's home in Brooklyn, and extremely well-done, with the agility of the various Spider-Folks especially emphasized. The visuals are high quality to the point of awe-inspiring, the Spider-interactions are hilarious, and the plot if fast-paced and intelligent. I rate this movie as Excellent and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of comics.
I have previously ranked Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, Man of Steel, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Ranking: Man of Steel
Man of Steel came out in 2013, and if I remember, it was critically panned at the time. I watched it recently with my son, and we enjoyed it pretty well! Not the greatest comic movie I've ever seen but perfectly entertaining. I rank this one at the high end of Okay.
It retells the origin of Superman, with the villain being General Zod and his fellow Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone. It worked fine on both scores. Where I think a lot of critics disliked the movie is because it did not have Christopher Reeve, the Superman from the 1970s-80s movies, who brought a palpable warmth and sense of goodness and dignity to the role. Superman in this movie (and in the DC shared-universe movies since) is played by Henry Cavill, a buff man who certainly looks the part of Superman, but comes across as rather bland. Nothing wrong with him, but he doesn't seem to bring much personality to the role. Nevertheless, the movie is fine to watch if you want to pass a couple pleasant hours.
I have previously ranked Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
It retells the origin of Superman, with the villain being General Zod and his fellow Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone. It worked fine on both scores. Where I think a lot of critics disliked the movie is because it did not have Christopher Reeve, the Superman from the 1970s-80s movies, who brought a palpable warmth and sense of goodness and dignity to the role. Superman in this movie (and in the DC shared-universe movies since) is played by Henry Cavill, a buff man who certainly looks the part of Superman, but comes across as rather bland. Nothing wrong with him, but he doesn't seem to bring much personality to the role. Nevertheless, the movie is fine to watch if you want to pass a couple pleasant hours.
I have previously ranked Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers movies, the Batman movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, the Man-Thing, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, the other DC movies, the Spider-Man movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Superman movies, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and the X-Men movies.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Man of Steel (2013)
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Ranking: Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: The Infinity War is what the Marvel movies have been building up to for many years. Hints about the villain, Thanos, have been seeded in movies going back at least to the first Avengers movie in 2012, and maybe farther (?).
Thanos is a titan, a sort of celestial being whose daughters, the good Gamora and the evil Nebula, have played big parts in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. He's trying to collect the six Infinity Stones, jewels of immense power that embody certain fundamental aspects of the universe--power, reality, time, space, mind, and soul. Once he finds them all and inserts them in his glove, the Infinity Gauntlet, he'll have complete control over every aspect of the universe. His plan once he's achieved this? To kill half of all things, thus eliminating poverty, misery, and famine, for the remaining living beings will have plenty of resources. After that, he'll simply retire to a nice planet and watch the sun rise in the mornings.
We've seen many of the infinity stones in Marvel movies before--the Mind stone, for instance, is embedded in the Vision and gives him life. The Time stone is part of Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamotto, a magical artifact. And so forth. Much of the movie concerns the Avengers and their attempt to keep Thanos from acquiring the stones.
And to stop him, they need help--a lot of help! In fact, nearly every hero introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes an appearance, including the Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and many others. And did all these heroes succeed in stopping Thanos? Um, no, actually. But they'll get another chance next summer in Avengers: Infinity War, Part Two.
This was a fun movie, and I admire the way it managed to give nearly every Marvel character something meaningful to do. After a while, though, it was all too much. I mean, it didn't feel quite as disjointed as one might think, considering all the characters--but it was still pretty disjointed. I think we'll rank this one as only Okay.
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, the Man-Thing, Thor: Ragnarok, and Wonder Woman.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Thanos is a titan, a sort of celestial being whose daughters, the good Gamora and the evil Nebula, have played big parts in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. He's trying to collect the six Infinity Stones, jewels of immense power that embody certain fundamental aspects of the universe--power, reality, time, space, mind, and soul. Once he finds them all and inserts them in his glove, the Infinity Gauntlet, he'll have complete control over every aspect of the universe. His plan once he's achieved this? To kill half of all things, thus eliminating poverty, misery, and famine, for the remaining living beings will have plenty of resources. After that, he'll simply retire to a nice planet and watch the sun rise in the mornings.
We've seen many of the infinity stones in Marvel movies before--the Mind stone, for instance, is embedded in the Vision and gives him life. The Time stone is part of Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamotto, a magical artifact. And so forth. Much of the movie concerns the Avengers and their attempt to keep Thanos from acquiring the stones.
And to stop him, they need help--a lot of help! In fact, nearly every hero introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes an appearance, including the Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and many others. And did all these heroes succeed in stopping Thanos? Um, no, actually. But they'll get another chance next summer in Avengers: Infinity War, Part Two.
This was a fun movie, and I admire the way it managed to give nearly every Marvel character something meaningful to do. After a while, though, it was all too much. I mean, it didn't feel quite as disjointed as one might think, considering all the characters--but it was still pretty disjointed. I think we'll rank this one as only Okay.
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Logan, the Man-Thing, Thor: Ragnarok, and Wonder Woman.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Ranking: Logan
I'm falling behind on ranking my comic book movies! I have two I haven't gotten to, and I haven't even seen Ant-Man & the Wasp yet. So let's start with the oldest one, Logan, which my son and I watched on DVD last weekend.
You know Logan, right? The real name of Wolverine, the gruff, unshaven guy with claws, unbreakable bones, and an ability to heal from wounds almost instantaneously? In this movie, the year is 2029, and mutants like Logan have been hunted down (perhaps as a result of the events in X-Men: Days of Future Past?) and are either dead or living in hiding. Logan lives in El Paso where he keeps a low profile, driving a rental limo for money. When he has time and spare cash, he visits Professor X, the telepath and former leader of the X-Men, now a doddering old man who suffers from epileptic fits that make his psychic powers go out of control. Professor X lives in an abandoned factory out in the desert with his caretaker Caliban, an albino mutant who can't go out in the sunlight.
A Mexican lady and her 8-year-old daughter, Lara, have somehow tracked Logan down and asked him for help, but he doesn't have time or inclination to help random people, even though the sight of the girl somehow makes him uneasy. It turns out they're being hunted by the Reavers, a pack of humans enhanced with robotic body parts, who want to capture the girl and bring her in. When they figure out Logan is connected, they raid Professor X's place, and Logan must fight. It turns out the girl has claws and a healing factor, too, as well as an attitude almost as bad as Logan's, and together they manage to escape in the limo, with Professor X in the backseat.
Now the girl and Professor X want Logan to drive them to a refuge for mutants in Canada. Logan doesn't believe the place really exists, but he doesn't have anything left for him in El Paso, and he does feel a strange connection to this young girl with powers so similar to his, so they set off on a road trip. What is the girl's story? And can they make it to the alleged refuge before the Reavers catch up to them?
This was a pretty good movie, but not for kids. With plenty of bad language and really bloody violence, it earns its R rating. For those who know Wolverine in the comics, think less John Byrne and more Frank Miller. So I can't exactly recommend it for kids, but for teens and adults, it's highly entertaining, well-scripted and well-acted. In my ranking system, it comes out as pretty good.
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the Man-Thing, Thor: Ragnarok, and Wonder Woman.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
You know Logan, right? The real name of Wolverine, the gruff, unshaven guy with claws, unbreakable bones, and an ability to heal from wounds almost instantaneously? In this movie, the year is 2029, and mutants like Logan have been hunted down (perhaps as a result of the events in X-Men: Days of Future Past?) and are either dead or living in hiding. Logan lives in El Paso where he keeps a low profile, driving a rental limo for money. When he has time and spare cash, he visits Professor X, the telepath and former leader of the X-Men, now a doddering old man who suffers from epileptic fits that make his psychic powers go out of control. Professor X lives in an abandoned factory out in the desert with his caretaker Caliban, an albino mutant who can't go out in the sunlight.
A Mexican lady and her 8-year-old daughter, Lara, have somehow tracked Logan down and asked him for help, but he doesn't have time or inclination to help random people, even though the sight of the girl somehow makes him uneasy. It turns out they're being hunted by the Reavers, a pack of humans enhanced with robotic body parts, who want to capture the girl and bring her in. When they figure out Logan is connected, they raid Professor X's place, and Logan must fight. It turns out the girl has claws and a healing factor, too, as well as an attitude almost as bad as Logan's, and together they manage to escape in the limo, with Professor X in the backseat.
Now the girl and Professor X want Logan to drive them to a refuge for mutants in Canada. Logan doesn't believe the place really exists, but he doesn't have anything left for him in El Paso, and he does feel a strange connection to this young girl with powers so similar to his, so they set off on a road trip. What is the girl's story? And can they make it to the alleged refuge before the Reavers catch up to them?
This was a pretty good movie, but not for kids. With plenty of bad language and really bloody violence, it earns its R rating. For those who know Wolverine in the comics, think less John Byrne and more Frank Miller. So I can't exactly recommend it for kids, but for teens and adults, it's highly entertaining, well-scripted and well-acted. In my ranking system, it comes out as pretty good.
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the Man-Thing, Thor: Ragnarok, and Wonder Woman.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Logan (2017)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Ranking: Black Panther
Okay, I should've reviewed Black Panther weeks ago. I'm finally getting to it!
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the Man-Thing, Thor: Ragnarok, and Wonder Woman.
I have a friend who mentioned this was his favorite Marvel superhero movie so far because the setting is different. It's not set in New York or San Francisco, with fights taking place in the city streets. Rather, it takes place in the jungles, mountains, and waterfalls of Wakanda, a fictional African country that enjoys advanced technology that it has long hidden from the world.
I agree, the settings were a high point of this movie. The first time we saw the capital of Wakanda, with its Afrocentric skyscrapers drawing on traditional African building styles for its architectural themes, I almost gasped. It was beautifully done in a way we haven't seen in Marvel movies before--maybe to an extent with Asgard in the Thor movies, but really Asgard is kind of cheesy. This felt like an architectural style that really should exist in the world--why don't Lagos or Nairobi or Johannesburg have buildings like that?
Alas, the rest of the movie wasn't quite as good. I mean, the plot, with Black Panther having to take back the kingdom from his nephew, who's usurped it, was more than serviceable. But the movie sort of struck me strangely--it's message seemed to be that what an advanced African economy really needs as an enlightened king to be in charge? I mean, shouldn't the Black Panther be trying to make the country into a democracy, rather than just being the best king he can be?
I was also disappointed in Klaw, although probably for a reason most movie-goers won't share. It's because in the comics, Klaw is a villain with an awesome costume, who after he lost his arm, crafted a new arm for himself out of pure sound, and can use his arm to blast concentrated sound waves at heroes. In the movie, he's just a mercenary who lost his arm and replaced it with a metal one. Ho hum. Definitely would've benefited from following the comics more closely, in this case.
I know this one was highly regarded, but other than the settings, it didn't really strike me as terrible memorable. It falls into the Okay category, although near the top.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the Man-Thing, Thor: Ragnarok, and Wonder Woman.
I have a friend who mentioned this was his favorite Marvel superhero movie so far because the setting is different. It's not set in New York or San Francisco, with fights taking place in the city streets. Rather, it takes place in the jungles, mountains, and waterfalls of Wakanda, a fictional African country that enjoys advanced technology that it has long hidden from the world.
I agree, the settings were a high point of this movie. The first time we saw the capital of Wakanda, with its Afrocentric skyscrapers drawing on traditional African building styles for its architectural themes, I almost gasped. It was beautifully done in a way we haven't seen in Marvel movies before--maybe to an extent with Asgard in the Thor movies, but really Asgard is kind of cheesy. This felt like an architectural style that really should exist in the world--why don't Lagos or Nairobi or Johannesburg have buildings like that?
Alas, the rest of the movie wasn't quite as good. I mean, the plot, with Black Panther having to take back the kingdom from his nephew, who's usurped it, was more than serviceable. But the movie sort of struck me strangely--it's message seemed to be that what an advanced African economy really needs as an enlightened king to be in charge? I mean, shouldn't the Black Panther be trying to make the country into a democracy, rather than just being the best king he can be?
I was also disappointed in Klaw, although probably for a reason most movie-goers won't share. It's because in the comics, Klaw is a villain with an awesome costume, who after he lost his arm, crafted a new arm for himself out of pure sound, and can use his arm to blast concentrated sound waves at heroes. In the movie, he's just a mercenary who lost his arm and replaced it with a metal one. Ho hum. Definitely would've benefited from following the comics more closely, in this case.
I know this one was highly regarded, but other than the settings, it didn't really strike me as terrible memorable. It falls into the Okay category, although near the top.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Black Panther
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Friday, December 1, 2017
Ranking Thor: Ragnarok
My family went to see Thor: Ragnarok last weekend and a good time was had by all. Oddly, the first Thor movie was lackluster but each sequel has only gotten better--not the usual progression for movies.
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the Man-Thing, and Wonder Woman.
So Thor:Ragnarok could just as easily have been called Thor/Hulk Team-Up, because the Hulk plays a major part in this movie. There's also a great cameo appearance by Dr. Strange. I think one reason the movie works well is because it takes two of the best and most grandiose stories for both Thor and the Hulk and combines them--Walter Simonson's run of Thor comics from the 1980s, and Greg Pak's Planet Hulk from 2006-07, plus elements from the 1980s Contest of Champions mini-series. It tosses them all together and adds in a hefty dose of humor. What comes out at the end of the process is one highly entertaining movie.
Another thing that struck me is that Loki in the movie is not a bad guy. Sure, he's self-serving and can't be counted on, but he does help his brother Thor when it's in his interests. And I found it interesting that at the beginning, when Thor returns to Asgard after a long absence and finds Loki has banished their father, Odin, and ruled in his stead, Asgard has not turned into some dystopian nightmare. Actually, it's a pretty fun place, with lots of drinking and funny dramatic works to honor Loki, and the people don't seem too put upon. Of course, Loki hasn't been vigilant about protecting Asgard from external threats, which is a problem, but he's not some awful tyrant. I think a simpler movie would not have had such a nuanced portrait of the trickster God.
The first Thor movie rated an avoid, and the second one was okay, but with this third one, the Thor franchise has reached pretty good.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the Man-Thing, and Wonder Woman.
So Thor:Ragnarok could just as easily have been called Thor/Hulk Team-Up, because the Hulk plays a major part in this movie. There's also a great cameo appearance by Dr. Strange. I think one reason the movie works well is because it takes two of the best and most grandiose stories for both Thor and the Hulk and combines them--Walter Simonson's run of Thor comics from the 1980s, and Greg Pak's Planet Hulk from 2006-07, plus elements from the 1980s Contest of Champions mini-series. It tosses them all together and adds in a hefty dose of humor. What comes out at the end of the process is one highly entertaining movie.
Another thing that struck me is that Loki in the movie is not a bad guy. Sure, he's self-serving and can't be counted on, but he does help his brother Thor when it's in his interests. And I found it interesting that at the beginning, when Thor returns to Asgard after a long absence and finds Loki has banished their father, Odin, and ruled in his stead, Asgard has not turned into some dystopian nightmare. Actually, it's a pretty fun place, with lots of drinking and funny dramatic works to honor Loki, and the people don't seem too put upon. Of course, Loki hasn't been vigilant about protecting Asgard from external threats, which is a problem, but he's not some awful tyrant. I think a simpler movie would not have had such a nuanced portrait of the trickster God.
The first Thor movie rated an avoid, and the second one was okay, but with this third one, the Thor franchise has reached pretty good.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men (1999)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Ranking Wonder Woman
Went with my family to see Wonder Woman last weekend. It was a fun movie! I noticed my daughter wasn't bored at any parts, as she has been with other superhero movies. Is that because Wonder Woman is an especially good superhero movie, or because it has a female protagonist? Not sure...
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and the Man-Thing.
So we start off with Wonder Woman's origin story, who grows up as the child, Diana, on the hidden island of Themyscira. She is the daughter of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, a warrior race charged by Zeus with battling the god of war, Ares--only Ares has not appeared on Earth for millenia. As she gets older, Diana proves to be the fiercest warrior of all, skilled in every sort of athletic event, yet her mother never fully lets her take part, claiming she is not meant for war.
When World War I spy Steve Trevor crash lands on the island in a plane, Diana rescues him. He tells her of the war raging across the globe, unbeknownst to the sheltered woman of Themyscira. Diana immediately connects the World War with the return of Ares, and wishes to accompany Steve back to the outside world. Her mother is against it, and Diana sneaks away with Steve at night on a boat.
In 1910s London, Diana is horrified by the pollution, poverty, and and crime she witnesses in the city. She wishes to travel as soon as possible to the frontlines, assuming she'll easily find Ares there. Steve Trevor has to slow her down, even as he tries (mostly in vain) to make bold, naive Diana less obtrusive in Edwardian society. Eventually he is sent on a mission behind enemy lines, and takes Diana with him.
I won't say what happens after that, except that the adventure could rightly be described as rollicking, and there's a lot of good humor. This is one of the best DC movies in a long time, not quite excellent in my rating system but pretty close.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
I have previously ranked the Batman movies, the Superman movies, the other DC movies, the Avengers movies, the X-Men movies, the summer 2015 comic movies, the Spider-Man movies, the non-Marvel and non-DC comic movies, Captain America: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and the Man-Thing.
So we start off with Wonder Woman's origin story, who grows up as the child, Diana, on the hidden island of Themyscira. She is the daughter of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, a warrior race charged by Zeus with battling the god of war, Ares--only Ares has not appeared on Earth for millenia. As she gets older, Diana proves to be the fiercest warrior of all, skilled in every sort of athletic event, yet her mother never fully lets her take part, claiming she is not meant for war.
When World War I spy Steve Trevor crash lands on the island in a plane, Diana rescues him. He tells her of the war raging across the globe, unbeknownst to the sheltered woman of Themyscira. Diana immediately connects the World War with the return of Ares, and wishes to accompany Steve back to the outside world. Her mother is against it, and Diana sneaks away with Steve at night on a boat.
In 1910s London, Diana is horrified by the pollution, poverty, and and crime she witnesses in the city. She wishes to travel as soon as possible to the frontlines, assuming she'll easily find Ares there. Steve Trevor has to slow her down, even as he tries (mostly in vain) to make bold, naive Diana less obtrusive in Edwardian society. Eventually he is sent on a mission behind enemy lines, and takes Diana with him.
I won't say what happens after that, except that the adventure could rightly be described as rollicking, and there's a lot of good humor. This is one of the best DC movies in a long time, not quite excellent in my rating system but pretty close.
As ever, my ranking system is
Green=excellent Blue=pretty good Black=Okay Red=avoid
_______________________________________________________________________________
Here's the master list of all comics movies I've rated so far, in order from best to worst:
Crumb
American Splendor
Iron Man
Heavy Metal (1981)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Avengers
Superman (1978)
Captain America
Wonder Woman (2017)
Batman Begins (2005)
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men 2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Superman II
Batman (1989)
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Dr. Strange
The Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man 3
The Wolverine (2013)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Sin City (2005)
X-Men: First Class
X-Men (2000)
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
Swamp Thing (1982)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Iron Man 2
Watchmen (2009)
Batman Forever (1995)
Superman Returns (2006)
Thor 2: The Dark World
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Mystery Men
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Man-Thing (2005)
Superman III
Supergirl (1984)
Thor
X-Men 3: Last Stand
Hulk (2003)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Batman and Robin (1997)
Batman Returns (1992)
Superman IV
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (Haven't seen)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) (Haven't seen)
Batman (1966) (Haven't seen)
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Haven't seen)
Catwoman (Haven't seen)
Constantine (Haven't seen)
Deadpool (Haven't seen)
Green Lantern (Haven't seen)
Hellboy (Haven't seen)
Judge Dredd (Haven't seen)
Man of Steel (Haven't seen)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Haven't seen)
V for Vendetta (Haven't seen)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Haven't seen)
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