Tag Archives: Comics

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While Aquaman is quite fun in places (the whole volcano fight), you could feel that they struggled to find the right tone, so it bounces all over the place and never settles into its rhythm. Also, it can’t escape the fact that it feels fruitless watching it because you know it is about to get hit by a big re-do button.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film.

Whales.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Review –

Oh my, look, a lot is going on with this film that is not its fault. It did not go into production knowing that it would be the final entry of the DCEU, and much like The New Mutants, it does not deserve that kind of legacy. But we can’t go into it ignoring all the stuff around it because I brought that baggage in, and I don’t think I am alone here.

So to set the scene, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is now living two lives. By day, he is the King of Atlantis with all the responsibilities and limitations that come with it. But at night, he is a father to a son they had with Mera (Amber Heard). This is not an excellent combination for a sustainable life. All it would take is one issue to torpedo everything. Enter Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who has had Dr Stephen Shin (Randall Park) search the globe for Atlantean tech so he can repair his suit when he discovers an even greater power lurking in the ice.   

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Man of Steel (2013) Review – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR –. It’s a generally sound foundation, even if it falls apart a bit at the end.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-Credit Scene.

Superman floating in the water.

Man of Steel Review –

As the DCEU came to an end, I found myself with some unfinished business. I had watched and reviewed every movie in the franchise, bar one, the film that started it all. Well, it is time to fix that oversight as we jump back into the opening salvo of the Snyderverse, a foundation that might not have ever reached its intended zenith but is still worth exploring.

So to set the scene, we open with Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) in hard labour as her husband, Jor-El (Russell Crowe), looks on. It is a healthy child, something to celebrate if it was not so dyer. For you see, Kypton is falling apart, and just when things are at their worst, Zod (Michael Shannon) makes a move on the throne. But while there is still hope, Jor-El makes his escape and makes it home just in time to launch his lifeboat and save his only son. It was a fraught trip, but the pod managed to make it to Earth and land in a little town called Smallville, Kansas, USA.

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Loki: Science/Fiction– T.V. Review

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TL;DR – A solid interlude preparing us for the chaos that will be the season/series finale.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is an audio cue at the End of the Credits.

This start to turn to spaghetti.

Loki Review –

Now Loki likes big ‘what the heck moments’ that dramatically shift everything we know. It didn’t hit as well as it could have in Season One, but I am not sure anyone particularly saw last week coming, where death came from every side. The question is: can they build upon that moment and propel everything forward or languish in possibilities?

So to set the scene, after fighting off the threat from Miss Minutes (Tara Strong), it looked like for a moment that they were actually going to stabilise the Temporal Loom and save the Multiverse. That was until Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) ran out to fix the problem and was immediately spaghetti-fied. Quite gruesomely, I should add. All Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Morbius (Owen Wilson), Sylvie (Sophia di Martino), Casey (Eugene Cordero), and O.B. (Ke Huy Quan) could do is sit and watch as the Time Loom collapsed under all the different timelines and the TVA was destroyed from within. Which makes it all the more peculiar when Loki opens his eyes to find himself still in the now empty TVA and time slipping all over the place. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Werewolf by Night in Color – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A delightful romp through times past, made with the techniques of today, Now in Color.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film.

Marvel Studios logo in color.

Werewolf by Night in Color Review –

Last year, we reviewed Werewolf by Night, an experiment and, honestly, one of the best things that the MCU put out on Disney+ … and much to my despair, no one watched it. Well, they are taking a second crack at the project by presenting it “In Color”, so on this final day of the spooky season, it feels like the perfect time to jump back in and see if the colour has changed anything. To save you searching, we will begin with the review we wrote for it the first time out and then look to see if the “In Color” changed anything.     

So to set the scene, we open on a dark night in a mansion deep in the woods where Ulysses Bloodstone’s (Richard Dixon) funeral is about to take place. All across the globe, the hunters gathered because this was both a funeral and a hunt. Whoever of the death dealers wins the ceremonial hunt gets the coveted Bloodstone, a relic of immeasurable power. But one of the hunters may actually be the hunted? 

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Loki: Heart of the TVA – TV Review

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TL;DR – It starts from 100 and then blasts ahead from there.   

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

The remins of a palace stuck in time.

Loki Review –

After a strong opening, last week’s 1893 was the first time I had pause to wonder if Season Two might not be on as firm a footing as I had first thought. But you can’t count your chickens before they hatch, and we still have half the season to go. With that in mind, let us jump into this episode before the episode starts a paradox it can’t fix.   

So to set the scene, after helping Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) escape with knowledge of the TVA because they were fighting. Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) make their way to the end of time to see the dead He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) and his crumbling palace. It is here that Miss Minutes reveals that Renslayer helped with the last war, like did most of it themselves, and well, maybe they don’t need another He Who Remains to run the TVA. Which is when Victor Timely arrives in a TVA and might be the only one who can save the world. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: 1893 – TV Review

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TL;DR – An episode of two halves, one fascinating and the other frustrating.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

Chicago

Loki Review –

This season of Loki has been delightfully refreshing, as it is clear that they have learned from their mistakes on the first time out. However, after setting up the narrative drive for the season, it is time to get into the meat of things, and that is when things could go awry.

So to set the scene, we opened in 1868 in Chicago, Illinois. After fleeing the TVA at the end of the last season, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) jumped back to find Miss Minutes (Tara Strong). But the unpaved streets of Chicago were not where she expected to end up. Even more so when she discovers Miss Minutes’ plan. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Breaking Brad – TV Review

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TL;DR – A follow-up that plays with intensity and emotions.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

The Temporal Loom.

Loki Review –

Last week, we dived into the first episode of Loki’s second season with Ouroboros, and to be clear, we came in with a bit of trepidation. But after a solid first episode, it made me a touch more assured, even more so as we end the follow-up today.  

So to set the scene, the TVA is barely holding on by the seams as timeline after timeline branches off. At the same time, OB (Ke Huy Quan) is trying to find a way to help the temporal loom handle all the new branching timelines. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are desperately trying to find Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) before it all falls apart. They have one hint: a temp pad used by Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe (Rafael Casal). But when they return to 1977, London, they find that Hunter X-5 has become Brad Wolfe, actor extraordinaire. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Ouroboros – TV Review

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Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a Mid-Credit Scene.

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Statue of Kang.

Loki Review –

Well, we have finally hit sequel territory with the MCU’s television shows on Disney+, and the first cab off the rack is Loki. I may have been excited about this had this been back in 2021, before the first season and then the follow-up Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Now, there is just trepidation. But a solid trailer teased that this might be the season where everything falls into place. But we will see.

So to set the scene, at the end of Season One, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was kicked through a time door by Sylvie (Sophia di Martino), who proceeded to stab He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). This has the effect of smashing the primacy of the one timeline, as branches pop up everywhere. Loki is desperate to warn everyone of what is happening, but no one remembers him, and there are statues of Kang everywhere. Now Loki is on the run and might be able to do something about it if he stops time slipping all over the place. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Secret Invasion: Home and Full Season – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a series that felt like it could be something spectacular, but it never came together, leaving a frustrating mess.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film.

Nick Fury.

Secret Invasion Review –

I know many people that have struggled with the MCU post-Endgame, and I can see where they are coming from. I have pretty much liked or at least found fine everything bar the miss that was Ant-Man, but as I sat down to watch Secret Invasion, I had concerns, which turned out to be justified. In today’s review, we will first look at the series finale and then a broader look at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) continues to push the world’s nations into all-out war, wanting it as a prelude to the extermination of the Human Race. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is on the run with very few pieces he can play, but one of them is the one thing Gravik wants, the Harvest. Here is the DNA of all the superhuman/alien/Norse gods etc., in one place, the thing needed for the Super-Skrull technology. But can Nick Fury stop Gravik before he starts his war with a replaced Rhodes (Don Cheadle) whispering in the president’s (Dermot Mulroney) ear. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Secret Invasion: Promises – TV Review

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TL;DR – This episode felt like it was just moving things around to get them ready for the rest of the season

Rating: 3 out of 5.
Gravik stares down the Skrull Council

Secret Invasion Review –

Well, I was not sure how people would take the first episode of Secret Invasion, and wow, did the internet rip them apart. I think part of that was justifiable with those awful AI opening titles, and others less so, given I feel like a lot of it was just a significant tone shift than what people were used to. But after being much stronger on it last week, the follow-up was a bit more disappointing.  

So to set the scene, in 1997, in Brixton, London, two years after the events of Captain Marvel, the Skrulls are back on Earth after finding no home. Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) promises those who had made the trip that if they help him on Earth, he will find them a new home. Thirty years later, we see the aftermath of that broken promise, forgotten in the time of the Snap. As people, including Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), lies dying in the square after the successful terrorist attack in Moscow and Fury is bundled into an FSB car as the Russians start arresting all those they think carried out the attack. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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