Author Archives: Doc

Agent Carter (2013)

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May 14, 2022 Short 4

Following in the footsteps of Captain America: The First Avenger comes Agent Carter, a Marvel One Shot that proceeded a short run TV series on ABC starring Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter.

That TV series on ABC is one of the most underrated shows in the Marvel canon as it took a character and made her beloved. Hayley Atwell is charming and exceptional as an actress and every bit of it comes through in the series, as well as this one shot.

Peggy is working in the post war age in the intelligence business, a business that did not take well to a woman doing anything of the sort, and Peggy was becoming bored with the monotony of her position. Knowing she was more suited for the field, Peggy wished for an escape from the reports and the behind the scene paperwork she was being given.

When she had a chance to go take care of a mission on her own, she does so with flair and style becoming a special agent who fought side by side with Captain America.

There is a reason why Hayley Atwell keeps coming back to the MCU, most recently in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as Captain Carter. She is just awesome and she gets a chance to show that special oomph in Marvel One Shot: Agent Carter.

This was the first one shot to exceed double digits in minutes, and they use every second to highlight Peggy Carter and to provide reasons why we love her.

And I have to say that I felt touched when she pulled out the picture of Steve Rogers as thin, skinny Steve that we saw on her desk in Avengers: Endgame. It is one more awesome connection and a reason why we love the MCU continuity.

Agent Carter should have much more.

Item 47 (2012)

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May 14, 2022 Short 3

I thought I had seen all of the Marvel One Shots before, but then I came across Item 47 on Disney + and I realized that I had not.

Set after the events of The Avengers (2012), Item 47 was a piece of alien tech left on earth that was discovered by two people who started using it as a way to rob banks. This drew the attention of SHIELD and Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez) and his boss Agent Blake (Titus Welliver).

It is hard to watch this short which made Agent Sitwell into the hero knowing that this could have been Agent Coulson (who died in Avengers) and that Sitwell would be revealed as a mole inside SHIELD for Hydra in the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

It was kind of fun, but with the lack of someone who I really cared about, this one just felt like it was going through the motion.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2011)

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May 14, 2022 Short 2

Four short minutes of Phil Coulson greatness.

These short four minutes show you everything that we love about Phil Coulson, and of course, the amazing Clark Gregg who portrayed him.

Stopping for gas as the erstwhile Agent of Shield was on his way to see the unmovable hammer that had appeared on earth in New Mexico, Agent Coulson crosses paths with some dimwits trying to rob the gas station.

It was a pity for them.

Phil Coulson was funny, calm and absolutely kick ass.

I am certain that this is one of the reasons why Coulson was brought back to head up ABC’s Agents of Shield TV show.

The Consultant (2011)

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May 14, 2022 Short 1

The first ever Saturday Short is off and running with the first of the Marvel One-Shots currently on Disney +. It was called The Consultant and it featured the ever awesome Clark Gregg as SHEILD Agent Phil Coulson. I have missed Phil Coulson since the ending of the Agents of Shield and getting a chance to see him again is one of the main reasons why the Saturday Short binge does not have to be shorts that I had never seen before.

I saw this on the DVD of Thor and the short explained the reason why Tony Stark met with General Ross (RIP William Hurt) as the post credit scene from the Incredible Hulk.

This short has very little to do except show off Clark Gregg and Maximiliano Hernandez (who played Jasper Sitwell), both of whom would play bigger roles in the beginning of the MCU.

The Marvel One Shots include more substance as they continue so the next ones will be more than a short scene with two cool actors reprising their characters.

Friday Night Titans #10

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SPOILERS

It is Friday night and it is time again for the Movie Trivia Schmoedown’s weekly show, Friday Night Titans. This week we get a number one contenders match for the Innergeekdom championship on task with Saul facing off with Kevin “The Smasher” Smets. The winner of the match would earn a title match against the IG Champion Mike Kalinowski in a couple of weeks.

With all due respect to Saul, who I have gotten to like more this year, the Smets-Kalinowski rematch is clearly the match that everyone would want to see.

And after a solid performance from the Smasher, we will be getting that rematch.

Smets defeated Saul by TKO. There were some questions that Saul struggled with as it seemed as if he knew the answer and just could not pull it or just missed. He answered Travis “Wyatt” for the director of Bumblebee instead of Travis Knight. I am sure Saul knew the answer, but just lost it in the moment.

While Saul was respectable in his game, Kevin Smets looked like his old self. He was powerful and even survived the dreaded “opponent’s choice” spin under a Wild Card.

Smets dedicated the match to a Schmoedown fan, J.J. Singleton, who has been fighting his own battle against cancer since 2015. Smets, of course, had a year of cancer treatment and “Smashed cancer” but he wanted to continue to shine the light on those heroes who battle the horrid disease every day. Prayers to J.J. Singleton as the entire Schmoedown community wishes him the best.

In the opening contest of the show, the Wildberries defeated Jay Washington in a teams match. Yes, I said a teams match as Jay had to compete 2 on 1. In storyline, Kristian Harloff, who is in charge of the show, was punishing Jay for his involvement in last season’s attempt to oust him. Jay was commissioner last season, but now has been reinstated as a player and Harloff is going to put him through the ringer. The handicap match was the first step.

Being fair, first round questions for Jay counted as 2-points instead of one, which definitely helped him out. In fact, he was ahead at the end of round one. Sadly, the lack of a partner hurt Jay in round two when he got a category that was not in his wheelhouse.

Of course the Wildberries were out there loud and proud and promoting t-shirts. They always bring amazing charisma and an unmatched energy.

The end of the show featured a recorded message from the current Star Wars Champion Thomas “The Major” Harper who announced that, in order to spend time with his family, he was retiring from the Schmoedown and vacating the Star Wars Championship that he won last year. It was a surprise, but he talked about how much time the Schmoedown took away from his family, including his young children, and you could understand his eventual choice. He was a dominant force in Star Wars, but it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Firestarter (2022)

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Firestarter is a remake of a Steven King film from 1984. I have not seen the 1984 version either which starred Drew Barrymore. The 2022 version starred Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong.

Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) is a young girl, the daughter of two people with psychic powers. Charlie has pyrokinetic powers, which means she can set things on fire with her mind. Her family has been on the run as the group that experimented on her parents was looking for them.

Charlie’s father (Zac Efron) wants her to keep her powers hidden while Charlie’s mother (Sydney Lemmon) wanted her trained. When Charlie had a fire incident at school, the secret government entity known as The Shop, sent the dangerous Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes) after them with the mission to bring Charlie in alive.

This movie was bad. I had some initial thoughts that this could be a surprise, but, sadly, it was not. It was boring, among other issues.

One of the things that jumped out at me immediately was that the dialogue of the film was laughable. People do not really talk like this. It felt very unsophisticated. Maybe you saw it in the trailer, but the “liar, liar, pants on fire” line is an example of how bad it got.

I think young Ryan Kiera Armstrong does an adequate job with what she had to do. The story was just not very good and there was very little in character development.

The story felt rushed and things happen that made no sense. Rainbird as a character was all over the place. Why he does what he does in the third act is completely up in the air. The insanity of the third act was not a good thing. It was downright ridiculous. There were plenty of times where I had to hold back laughter or comments about why someone was doing something stupid.

Kurtwood Smith, the iconic actor, was in this movie kind of. He was in one scene. I have no idea why he appeared here for the few minutes of screen time that he got. His appearance had no effect on the story either.

Sadly enough, even the special effects of the new version was lacking. It did not look great which was a shock for a film coming out in 2022. Maybe they spent too much of the budget on Kurtwood Smith.

Was there a purpose for this movie to be remade? I don’t know, but, for whatever reason, this was just a bad film.

1.5 stars

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 2

The second week of the Do Over is here and this week we are revisiting the 1993 Nora Ephron film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, Sleepless in Seattle.

I remember watching this film for the first time on VHS and being truly bored by it. In fact, I remember being so bored that I fell asleep during part of the movie. Despite enjoying the work of Tom Hanks, I haven’t been interested in revisiting this.

However, with the Do Over series, I gave Sleepless in Seattle another chance and I found it to be much more enjoyable than the first time.

Recently widowed, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) moved with his son Jonah (Ross Malinger) away from Chicago where everything reminded him of his lost wife to Seattle for a new start. Jonah was seeing that his father was not moving on and he called into a radio show designed to help people with their love lives.

Jonah is able to get Sam on the phone to talk to the “doctor” and his story went out across the nation. Annie (Meg Ryan), engaged to a man (Bill Pullman) who was steady and kind, but who was not magical, became obsessed with Sam and Jonah, finding the pull of the pair to be irresistible.

Using the romantic movie An Affair to Remember as its backbone, Sleepless in Seattle is a romantic comedy that looks at the fantasy/magical side of love, how some loves are destined to come about despite distance or implausibility.

There is certainly a ton of implausibility inside this script. Just the idea that Jonah could get himself to the top of the Empire State Building from Seattle alone is implausible enough. There is the apparently live broadcast of “Dr. Marsha Fieldstone” on Network America that went live across the whole nation instead of being taped and recorded earlier. Not to mention that Jonah set this whole thing up because he read Annie’s letter that talked about Brooks Robinson. Oh, and there has never been a man like Bill Pullman’s character in the history of the world.

Sure, there are plenty of moments that are just not realistic, but that works in this movie. The movie depends on the unlikely to pull the viewers into the magic. We know that Annie is not a creeper and that there is some unspeakable connection between the two of them and you root for them to overcome these unlikely odds to find a way together. And the ending scene on the top of the Empire State Building is both amazingly romantic and downright weird at the same time.

Sleepless in Seattle is considered one of the greatest rom-coms of all time by many and I have a much more appreciative opinion of the film than I did before. It helps that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are exceptionally likeable actors and that Ross Malinger is as charming of a kid in the movies as you are going to find.

The Boys S2 E8

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SPOILERS

Season two came to shocking ending with some horrible scenes and some dramatic revelations.

Intriguingly, the early part of this episode seemed to set up a contradiction between Homelander and Billy Butcher as fathers for Ryan, and it was looking as if Homelander was being set up as a much better father than Billy, who wanted no part of Ryan. Billy only wanted Becca, not the kid. In the end, Billy does the right thing and Homelander shows his selfishness and evil soul.

By the way, the introduction of this episode with the school video was really disturbing.

The death of Becca was extremely well handled at the hands of Ryan. It was one of the most emotional beats of the series. Most of the time, The Boys gives us the shocking violence like heads exploding or pulling off someone’s face, but this was much more powerful.

The head exploder identity was revealed to be Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, as she blew up the head of the Church of the Collective, Alastair Adana at the end.

And they absolutely showed that “Girls Do Get It Done” with Maeve, Kimiko and Annie kicking the crap out of Stormfront. That conflict was so satisfying, but, Frenchie, why are you yelling out that the weapons are your only chance? Why give away your strength?

Homelander continues to lose his grip. He will be coming back in season three still in his role as the leader of the Seven. The final scene of Homelander pleasing himself in the air against the moon leaves us with an indelible impression of him.

Season three starts in June.

The Boys S2 E7

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SPOILERS

What an explosive episode. Hm, maybe I should avoid those puns while dealing with the penultimate episode of season two of The Boys. Named “The Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker”, this episode continued the run of solid and shocking events leading to season two finale.

The boys believed that they finally had Vought by the short-hairs, but things changed with a bloody pop of a bunch of heads. Who is doing this? Is it Cindy whom we met last episode? Personally, that does not feel right. We did not see Cindy exploding just heads last episode. She blew up the whole guard that time. Why would she specifically target just heads? And this is clearly the same person who killed Raynor in episode one this season. I hope this mystery gets resolved in the finale.

Oh, and C-SPAN.. what’s going on? You can’t go to blank screen sooner? Lots of heads exploded on live TV before you guys decided to shut it down.

RIP Lamplighter. We hardly knew ye…except that you loved porn videos.

Once Hughie talked him into going to the Tower to help try and save Starlight when Hughie was supposed to be babysitting him, it was clear he was not coming back alive. However, I did not expect it to have been by his own hand. Perhaps the same hand that Hughie cut off with a broken wine bottle. Seriously gross.

Hughie going in to rescue Annie, who had been caught thanks to her dumb-ass mother, was an awesome moment. As was Maeve force feeding Black Noir an Almond Joy (bringing that back from last season) because he had a tree nut allergy. I hope Black Noir is not dead because I love him despite his blind loyalty to Vought.

Highlander and Stormfront going to take Ryan away from his mother, by telling the kid the truth and getting him to turn on her was a despicable thing to do. Especially the line “He’ll still have a mother” coming from the O.G. Nazi, Stormfront. This makes me worried big-time for the kid. I assume that Billy Butcher will be involved in saving him, or at least, looking as if he will save him.

More machinations happening with the Church of the Collective. Apparently Eagle the Archer is now persona non grata as The Deep and A-Train are told that no Church member should communicate with Eagle any longer. Sounds as if Eagle has found a way out from his Fresca induced loyalty.

Billy Butcher and his emotional reunion with his father was tough to watch as well. I am just happy that his father did not get tossed over the railing, because I truly thought that was what was about to happen.

There are so many stories dangling around season two and I expect a crazy finale to start to build toward season three this coming June.

The Boys S2 E6

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I have not been as big of a fan of season two of The Boys as I was of season one, but last episode was a real step up for me and then episode 6, “Down the Road and Back Again” may have been my favorite episode of the entire series so far, dating back to season 1.

In the episode, we got a Frenchie flashback to the night where he was supposed to be following Lamplighter, but the fiery hero ended up burning children alive. Along the way, we meet Lamplighter in the form of Sean Ashmore (from X-Men movies and The Rookie). Once again, the show takes us in a different, unexpected path by showing us how Lamplighter was being tormented by the memories of that night, how he was not intending to kill the children, and how Frenchie fit into the narrative of the evening. It was exceptionally well done introducing this character and not just making him the evil flamethrower that a lot of series would have done. It even seems that Lamplighter is going to be with the Boys for now.

All of this happening inside the Sage Grove Center, an experimental lab where humans were being given Compound-V and were being tested on how they reacted. Some adjusted well, some were going crazy while others still were exploding. Inside here, we meet Cindy whose powers are terrifying. Cindy escapes too, providing another potential foil for either our heroes or the Seven to face eventually.

This episode also brought more of a connection between Butcher and Annie. I loved how Annie started off with a confrontation with Butcher, laying down some truth that I 100% agree with when it comes to Karl Urban’s character. It was an important scene that may help Butcher eventually be able to accept Ryan, Becca’s son.

There were some tough moments too, as when Annie killed Lt. Randy Disher (from Monk) to get his car in order to try and save Hughie, who had been injured terribly earlier in the show. It showed how Annie and Butcher had more in common than either were comfortable with and that they both have real feelings for Hughie. Hughie was bringing them together while he was unconscious.

There was perhaps the funniest moment of the entire series too as, during the riot at the Sage Grove Center, MM was attacked by the guy whose penis grew and wrapped around his neck.

Stormfront came clean with Homelander, who had been upset prior when he realized that she had been lying to him. She told him about her past as a Nazi and that she had been born in 1919. She laid out her plan to start a race war and how she wanted him to be front and center as the leader. Homelander kissed her after this, but there may still be more to this. Homelander is absolutely still deteriorating mentally. Perhaps this is the recognition his ego requires to keep from losing his mind, but we’ll have to see. He is certainly unstable.

The Deep brought a cell phone to Maeve that contained a video about the plane crash, taken aboard the plane. She planned on blackmailing Homelander to leave her and Elena alone, but Elena found the phone and it may have tainted her opinions toward Maeve.

This was a great episode and I am excited to see where this season goes.

Friday Night Titans #9

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SPOILERS

What a shocking heel turn. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it.

Ben Bateman and Kate Mulligan set up “PG” Peggy Gubbins and The Survivor for a team match with Ben and, a player he called a patreon of his. Nicknamed “Geoff” the guy came out, pretended to be really shy and was covered from head to toe.

Kate had told Peggy that after the match that she would be welcomed back into the Den, because Ben wanted the Den to head in a different, more positive direction.

If you did not see that swerve coming, you haven’t been watching wrestling.

The match was fine, but Ben and Geoff dominated, winning by TKO. And then it happened.

Geoff took off his mask and his outfit to reveal…

Dan Murrell.

The one player who I never thought would go heel and who always looked uncomfortable when Ben would make his snide remarks or use his bad behavior last year when they played together as Danger Zone had gone heel. And with this win, Danger Zone had earned a number one contenders match that had been negotiated at the beginning of the year by Kaiser in an attempt to keep Danger Zone in the Dungeon.

The show had recapped that whole early season storyline, which I thought was odd, but it was clear now why they did that.

Dan Murrell turning heel was something I thought Dan would never do. Kristian had said before that he tried to get Dan to go heel, but Dan always told him that he wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it. Times must have changed since then because he went real heel tongiht.

As they kept calling the mystery player Geoff, I was sure that it was Jeff Sneider. This would have been right up his alley, but I assume that is what the Schmoedown wanted you to think by calling him Geoff the whole match. There was just no way that this was Dan Murrell. And then it was.

Dan Murrell has been my favorite Schmoedown player by far since the Schmoedown’s early days. His match against John Campea brought me into the league to start with. I have cheered for him in every match he has played, even those with Danger Zone. I have never been a fan of the way Ben Bateman plays, but I do respect him as a player. I’m curious to see what will happen when Danger Zone plays again.

The undercard was a decent Innergeekdom match between Amaru Moses and Saul. I kind of like the way Saul has been carrying himself this year and he was inserted into the storyline with Kate Mulligan as well. Saul pulled the upset, defeating Amaru who beta Saul last year.

With this victory, Saul gets a number one contenders match in IG against “The Smasher” Kevin Smets. They had a very respectful, but intense promo confrontation with Jenn in the interview segment. Saul came up with a great line after Kevin spoke about how he had always embraced being the underdog. Saul said “You’re not the underdog anymore.”

I have to say, I enjoyed Saul’s work the last few weeks. It’s going to be difficult to knock off Kevin Smets, but, if you get the right questions, you never know.

Titans was very good this week. Two entertaining matches and a massive heel turn.

The Boys S2 E5

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SPOILERS

I feel like this episode was more like it. I was not as much of a fan of The Boys S2 E4 but I believe this one was much more enjoyable.

The emotional downturn of Homelander continued as he accidentally killed an innocent while killing one of the super-terrorist. The nation’s public opinion began to drop, causing Homelander to become even more upset than he was. So upset that he pictured himself frying a group of protesters with his laser beam eyes before he left the area. He also had a violent sexual encounter with the apparently masochistic Stormfront. Homelander’s mental status will be huge for the rest of the season, I am sure.

This episode helped with my dislike of Billy Butcher. I have not liked this character much over the first 12 episodes of this series, but the episode does a good job of making him more relatable for me. A big part of it is the bulldog and the “taffy-making” aunt.

I want more of Black Noir, and he showed up this week. This guy is something special. I want him to face off with Homelander, but it sure seems as if he is totally loyal to Vought. Still, more of Black Noir.

Vought continued to film the movie of the origin of the Seven, albeit of the current roster instead of the originals. The three women of the Seven had their share of moments.

The Boys S2 E4

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SPOILERS

Not sure how I felt about this episode.

Homelander is certainly one sick puppy.

Billy Butcher is still one big jerk. I don’t care if he is right in his opinion on Vought pursuing Ryan if Billy and Becca went on the run with the boy, he is still one big a-hole. I just do not like Billy Butcher. He only cares about himself. I hope the show changes my mind sooner or later because I love Karl Urban, but as of right now, I could not like this guy less.

Easily the best part of this episode was the “We Didn’t Start the Fire” bit in the car with Annie and Hughie singing and MM trying to put up with it. The road trip part of this story with these three characters was the most effective, character building section of the story.

Homelander is just on the edge. He’s going go on some gigantic killing spree soon. Everything in his life seems to be trying to push him over the edge… including our apparently immortal racist superhero Stormfront (or is it Liberty?).

The episode had a weird framing device talking about love that turned out to be the interviews by the Church of the Collective to find a wife for The Deep. That was all kind of creepy.

That seemed to be the theme of the episode.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues on thru its massive storytelling with the latest huge film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the sequel to Doctor Strange and the continuation of stories that have been told in WandaVision Disney + series and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

There is almost no way to give a plot synopsis of this movie without spoiling something in this movie. This entire movie is a spoiler. So I am going to do my best to try and give a plot synopsis without spoiling anything. Dr. Strange gets pulled into a multiversal struggle by the appearance of new young hero America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olson) is involved too.

There. Plot summarized.

Let’s talk about the stars of this movie. Elizabeth Olson is absolutely fantastic. She was amazing in WandaVision and she just kept killing it in MOM. She is such an asset to these films and has such a grasp on her character that she brings so much gravitas to her role. Wanda Maximoff is dominant.

Benedict Cumberbatch continues to grow into the character of Stephen Strange. Every time he played the Master of the Mystic Arts, he has gotten better. Strange has a definite character arc going on through this film and he carries it extremely well.

Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams and Xochitl Gomez all give solid performances. I liked America Chavez here actually much more than I ever liked her in the comics. Xochitl Gomez is extremely charming and you connect to her right away. Rachel McAdams’s Christine is much more important to this story than she was in the first Dr. Strange flick. And Wong is just always awesome.

When Sam Raimi stepped in to replace Scott Derrickson as director of MOM, there was a lot of excitement, but also some doubt. Excitement because Raimi could bring an aesthetic to Doctor Strange unlike any other director. Raimi’s résumé seemed to fit perfectly with the weirdness that Dr. Strange could bring to the movies. Doubt because many people wondered how much freedom Raimi would have to create something that had his flavor to it in the MCU. Never fear, the film is ripe with Raimi flavor and it is a Sam Raimi film made inside the MCU. There are so many wonderful Raimi touches from the images to the camera angles that he makes a feast for the senses.

The special effects are tremendous. It is a beautiful film and there are very few missteps in the visual creation.

However, this is also a Sam Raimi film in the sense that it is a horror movie. There are some distinctly scary scenes dealing with body horror or frightening imagery that it might be too much for some of the MCU’s younger fans. It has a really nice balance between a horror movie and the super hero film that we are accustomed to.

I will say that there were a few scenes, particularly in the middle, that I found it difficult to connect to or that I thought I should feel more than I did. I have some theories about why that was, but I can’t go into them without diving into spoiler area so I will just say that some of the emotional beats very not as emotional as I would have liked them to be.

Part of that could be the pacing of the film. It was at a rapid pace and I think I would have liked to have seen this movie get maybe 20 minutes more. That might have allowed me some more time to let certain scenes breathe. Much like the finale of Moon Knight from earlier this week, the shorter run time might have been a challenge.

Another reason may have been the expectations I had for the special cameos that were going to be in this movie…or so I thought. Again, no spoilers, but there were way fewer cameos than I thought there would be. I think it is a good thing, but my own expectations may have been playing havoc with what I watched. I plan on seeing the film again tomorrow and I will see how a second viewing does or does not change that feeling. Expectations about what COULD have been in this movie is always my fault, not the films. I should learn to just sit back and enjoy what it gives me instead of me worrying about what it doesn’t.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an insane film, with great imagery and some unbelievable story beats. Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olson are MVPs of the film and we are introduced to a great new character (another possible ‘Young Avenger’). Sam Raimi brings his directorial skill to the film that makes it feel like nothing we have seen in the MCU yet while still maintaining its connection to the ongoing story of the MCU. Some pacing issues aside, MOM is another success for Marvel Studios.

4.75 stars

Moon Knight S1 E6

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SPOILERS for FINALE

“Gods and Monsters“

Moon Knight came to a conclusion this morning with a fantastic finale episode that should have given those people complaining about a lack of Moon Knight or a lack of action just what they wanted.

For the record, I have not been complaining about this at all. I have thoroughly enjoyed following the life of Marc Specter, either as himself or his alter Steven Grant. I consider having Marc on screen the same thing as having Moon Knight on screen.

But there was plenty of Moon Knight (and Mr. Knight) in the finale as he took on Harrow in the streets of Cairo. Meanwhile, gigantic Ammit was fighting Khonshu outside the pyramids. The action was planned out well and then the blackout moment that we haven’t seen in a few episodes took me by surprise. Jake?

I’m jumping around, but the post credit scene with the official debut of Jake Lockley, still under control of Khonshu, arriving to kill off Harrow was an awesome moment. I had a sneaking suspicion that Jake would show up and be named in the post credit scene. I was not sure how that would be done, and I did not see the way they did it coming. It was great.

Leyla, the newly minted avatar of Taweret, is amazing. Her wings were stunning and looked so bad ass. I loved how they carried out her story. I was afraid that they would have her take the power of Moon Knight instead and I’m not sure how I would have felt about that. She has been a secondary character and the show has been about Marc and Steven. No one else should be finishing up a fight but them (or… I guess, Jake).

I thought the special effects were just spectacular, especially with the god fight. There was a shot of harrow walking with Khonshu and Ammit fighting behind him that was just exceptional. All three of the Egyptian deities that we got in this series (Khonshu, Ammit, Taweret) were brilliantly designed and the execution of the CGI was seamless.

I will say that this week’s finale was a bit of a step back from last week’s brilliant episode, but that is to be expected. Last week was one of the best episodes of TV that Marvel Studios have put together so far. The finale pacing did feel somewhat rushed. It would have been nice if the episode was closer to the hour mark than it was to the 40 minute mark. That would have given some of the emotional parts (such as an excellent scene with Marc and Steven in the sands) some time to breathe. I’m not sure why the finale turned out to be the shortest of the episodes, but that is what happened.

In fact, I think there was enough story here that they could have had 7 episodes instead of six. It is not a complaint that is going to ruin my love of this series, but it is more of a wish instead.

Here is my list of Marvel Studio Disney + series so far.

  1. WandaVision. This continues to be my #1. A lot of emotion and so much fun. I could not wait for the next episode to arrive every week.
  2. Loki. Very close to WandaVision. I loved the creativity and the craziness of Loki.
  3. Moon Knight. Close to Loki, but just behind. Oscar Isaac is the MVP and probably the best actor of any Marvel series (with Elizabeth Olson right there too).
  4. Hawkeye. Lots of fun and a great Christmas tone. Kingpin returned. Hailee Steinfeld and Florence Pugh were sensational both together and with anyone else who shared scenes.
  5. Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This moved up a notch because of some of the emotional moments I recently revisited. It was messed with during COVID so I give it a bit of a break.
  6. What If…?. This is a vital series for the upcoming Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The animation was astounding, but the fact that it is animation moves it back a tad.

We are about a month away from Ms. Marvel. We’ll see where that one falls.