Like The Movie - Thor In Disneyland, Less Than Impressed

 

Thor: The Dark World movie props in Tomorrowland - Yawn

So as mentioned earlier, I fell asleep during Thor: The Dark World, a picture which failed to capture even slightest bit of interest from me. Down in Disneyland, we decided to walk over to Innoventions building to see Thor - Treasure of Asgard exhibit. When we arrived, we were told it was a 30 minute wait to see the big guy with a hammer. If I couldn't stay awake for 30 minutes to watch his movie, I wasn't about to wait 30 minutes to get inside of a meet and greet. So I took a few pictures of the movie props Disney had put in display cases and moved on.

The neighboring exhibit of Iron Man suits still brings a little more super-heroness to the party even after being on display for several months now.

The Un-Marveling Of Marvel

As you can tell by now, quite sadly I might add, I am not a fan of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. highly anticipated TV series. It's not that its bad, just disappointing. For every two minutes of genuine entertainment, there is about 15 minutes of sleep inducing dialog from characters I can barely give a lick about.

Fast forward to this past Monday and Thor:The Dark World. I slept through half of it. What's going on here? Then Avengers was great; Iron Man 3 was decent; Agents disappoining; Thor - zzzzzzzzz. 

At least the preview of Captain America: The Winter Soldier was quite solid and promising and the Marvel One Shot short film of Captain A's main squeeze Agent Carter was fantastic. Leave it to Captain America to save the world again.

It Must Have Been A Dark World - I Fell Asleep In Thor

I was looking forward to seeing Thor: The Dark World - honestly I was. I'm a blog writer after all. But truth be told, Thor is my least favorite of the Disney controlled Marvel superheroes and once the theater lights were dimmed, so was I. I just told Mrs. DisneylandTraveler that I probably slept through half the movie and we now need to buy the blu-ray just so I can figure out what went on.

I know what the problem is. More than any of the other action superhero movie characters, Thor dabbles in the world of Fantasy - Lord if the Rings or The Hobbit type of stuff (none if which I have seen either).  I'm a man who mostly works in a earthly plane so the other worldly stuff goes beyond my simpleton mentality.

Maybe my next viewing of Thor: The Dark World will take place shortly after have breakfast and a half of potcoffee.

Thor vs, Brad Pitt

Needless to say my baby sister is far to busy of a person to be considered a movie buff but she did manage to pull of the funniest line of the week. When we told here we planning to see Thor: The Dark World Monday on the IMAX she politely declined saying she wasn't much of a Brad Pitt fan. I would agree. Not much of a Pitt fan myself except Brad Pitt has nothing to do with Thor. Chris Hemsworth, the movie Thior is about 6 inches taller than Pitt, outweights him by a good 50 lbs of muscle mass, is about 20 years younger, and is an Australian. Other than that. Not much difference between the two actors

Needless to say that compared to Chis Hemsworth, Brad Pitt is pretty much of a squirrel (but truth be told, Pitt is a much better actor).

I Want To Like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D - But I Just Don't

I tried. I really wanted to like Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but I don't. Take the other night for instance. I fired it up on the DVR, watched the first couple of minutes, then picked up my laptop and starting looking at other things while the show played. What the show was about or how it ended, I have no idea because I didn't care. Crap! I wanted to care but can't.

Clark Gregg is fine as agent Coulson but was more of a clever scene stealer when he had bit parts in the big Marvel movies. He's not a large enough personality to be a TV shows biggest star. And I really like Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May because she really is able to bring mystery, depth, and sensuality in a part that is severely underwritten. Wikipedia has her at about 50 years old which is amazing.

But the rest of the cast - yikes! - gawd awful, especially Chloe Bennett and the two scientists that speak with Irish accents. If ever a show could use a retooling, it is this one. 

The show is set to record new episodes on the DVR but I am running out of patience. It's not hard to delete a timer. 

Actually, The Goldbergs, the comedy following Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is a far, far better show.

Marvel One Shot - Agent Carter - A 14 Minute Lesson in Superior Female Butt Whipping

Perhaps the true jewel of the Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray set is the inclusion of Marvel One Shot's Agent Carter. Following his supposed death in a plane crash, Captain America's love interest has moved on with her life and become a field agent in the origins of Howard Stark's S.H.I.E.L.D. Constantly put in her place by the male dominate agency, Carter picks up a phone call one night that prompts her into action. And its action she delivers.

There is more action and interest in the 14 minutes of Agent Carter than the last 60 minutes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Perhaps Marvel may need to rethink this thing out.

Iron Man 3 - A Mixed Bag

Iron Man 3 was a big step up from Iron Man 2, perhaps the worst film in Marvel's Cinematic Universe, it kind of runs head and head with Thor at the bottom of the barrel. While Robert Downey Jr., probably out of shear boredom with the character, reaches and stretches his Tony Stark character in the new situations - now suffering from pannick attacks and severe anxiety. It's a bit over dramatic for this character and story the plot would be better served as a direct line ass whooping (see Iron Man 1).

Did we need to see 42 remote control iron men at the film's climax when one real would with Stark in ti would do? Do we need Don Cheadle's Iron Patriot / War Machine? No.... not really.

What we do need is more of Gwenyth Paltrow who become the real focal point of these movies. She shines while the rest of the movie throws in everything but the kitchen sink.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Bogs Down

So I watched the second episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D a few days ago. I've already forgotten about it except the appearance of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury at the end. Forgetting about a show a within a day or two of watching it is a sign of I'm getting old or the show just was very memorable. Well... both could be true....but in this case, the second S.H.I.E.L.D installment just didn't do much for me. It was just king of plodding. Here is my big criticism of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D - too big of a cast requiring air time to develop uninteresting characters. I'd lop at least 2 off right now.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Check In

So the much hyped Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television show hit the ABC airwaves last night and the gang is now officially in action. From what I gather, Marvel has their superheroes to take care of epic battles that may lead to world destruction with the next up to bat being Thor: The Dark World coming to theaters in November. The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seem to be in place to take care of the next level of bad guys that threaten human existence in weird ways - the more day to day type stuff.

 

Leading the crew is the return of Nick Fury's right hand man Phil Coulson who last saw in The Avengers slumped to the ground - dead. Hard to die in comics so he was just artificially killed off to rally the dysfunctional Avengers team. The back story has Phil's phony death as something more, something even Phil doesn't know. The plot of Phil thickens. Anyway, Gregg Clark's sly, stoic portrayal of Phil Coulson has been a highlight of the Marvel Universe films. Though he seems completely one dimensional, he is often working from a completely different and surprising level. There's a lot behind that sly grin and off the cuff comments.

 

Anyway, the debut show was really good. Great? No.... but then again this is TV. Greatness is difficult to sustain but we can live with a really good and entertaining show from Marvel and producer Joss Whedon. And it also allows a regular connection with an organization that would only show up about once (or twice now) a year at the theaters. This is now a world where S.H.I.E.L.D is now among us.

 

 

 

 

Cool Marvel Posters - Wrong Place, Wrong Time

This Tuesday, September 24, is a big day for Disney, Marvel, and Disney owned ABC Television. First up, Iron Man 3 comes out on video. Not the best of the Iron Man trilogy (not including The Avengers) but not the worst either. I guess that puts it right in the middle but it should be gobbled up for home video collections in huge quantities. Then, on Tuesday night, the network premiere of the first Marvel TV series - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and the reappearance of agent Phil Coulsen who, if you remember, was killed off in Marvel's The Avengers with his last remembrance as a pack of Captain America blood stained trading cards. But its the comics. People are allowed to die and come back to life.

Well, Disneyland is kicking of this big day by passing out free promotional posters this weekend of Iron Man 3 and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  And since I'm 450 miles away, I'm basically in the wrong place at the wrong time for some nice Disney/Marvel freebies. Getting something free from Disney is extremely rare probably making these posters something that will be sold in mass quantities on eBay. Oh well....

On The Flip Side Of Greatness Comes Iron Man 2

Right after watching the original Iron Man (see posting below) and taking a bathroom break, we decided to keep going and put in Iron Man 2 into blu-ray player. For all the great things I can say about the original Iron Man, I can say negative things about Iron Man 2. It's simply not as good of a movie as its predecessor and falls prey to sequel-itis where second films in a series tends to get lazy and unfocused. Neither Mickey Rourke or Sam Rockwell are very compelling as villains, being more caricatures than true characters. The story is wildly unsteady with very good scenes butted up against incredibly bad scenes (who can forget a falling down drunk Iron Man trying to fight his best friend to the death?). 

But mostly putting up the grounded grittiness of the original Iron Man up against Iron Man 2, the second installment comes off as simply comic book material and not a good comic book at that. Whereas an Iron Man was, for most people, a memorable movie, Iron Man 2 is sadly a forgettable one. So much opportunity to do better, so much time and resources wasted on what was delivered to the audience. 

Iron Man 2 isn't the worst superhero movie ever, just not a very good one.

The Original Iron Man - It's Still Probably The Best

I spent last Sunday with Iron Man. My father-in-law, mentioned below in my look at Captain America The First Avenger, is an old school movie guy. He likes cowboy movies, war movies. He's a John Wayne kind of guy that probably would be confused as hell if his son-in-law, now in his 50's, told him that he has never seen a John Wayne movie from beginning to end. True, I have only seen fragments of John Wayne movies, never a whole one. I find Wayne to be unappealing for a number of reasons, always have. Anyway, thinking about what my father-in-law might want to watch I thought about the original Iron Man movie from 2003. 

Like Captain America, when you strip Iron Man down to its most basic level, its a war movie and Iron Man is the cowboy in the white hat (or Iron Mask in this case). Instead of flights of superhero fancy, Iron Man fights a war on terror and the corporate arms machine. In that respect Iron Man the movie is more grounded, gritty, and realistic than most superhero movies. It also has great writing and superb performances by all the main players headed by Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and a very creepy and menacing Jeff Bridges. 

I go back and forth on what is the best of the Marvel superhero movie of the ones that now fall under Disney control. The Avengers and Iron Man 1 run neck and neck as far as I'm concerned and which one is best may only depend on how I feel that day. (If I could take Sony's Spider Man 2 - that movie would also jump into the mix as well) For today, I will say that Iron Man is the best of them from its tight, rocking, explosive, AC/DC beginning to an ending that simply says "The truth is... I am Iron Man:" it's a movie that not once loses its focus on the story of the narcissistic Tony Stark and his Iron Man creation.

The best of Marvel? The original Iron Man may just be one of the best movies ever in my book. Certainly, its in the Top Ten. And yes....my father-in-law thoroughly enjoyed the movie as well.

A New Look At Captain America: The First Avenger

On a warm July afternoon, I fired up my copy of Captain America: The First Avenger in the blu-ray player. My 80 year old father-in-law was watching TV with me and I thought to myself  "Captain America might work and just may be something he'd enjoy watching. After all, beneath it all, it's a World War II movie." I was right and even someone 80 years old enjoyed Captain America. (I'll the drop the First Avenger part of the title- that was added to help placate foreign audiences who aren't necessarily fans of America)

This was probably my fourth or fifth viewing of Captain America - directed by Joe Johnston and my feelings toward the film have remained consistent. It is one of Marvel Studios best efforts with maybe only the original Iron Man and The Avengers better films (and that's debatable depending on how I feel). Captain America is superior comic book story telling in live action setting. The story never lags a bit from beginning to end and you have to give a great deal of credit to the sensational cast put together for Captain America, especially Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, and Dominic Cooper. And while I knew nothing of Chris Evans acting before Captain America, I have to admit, he fit right into to the role of a comic book hero who many find difficult to take seriously - the earnest hero who is also kind of a joke.

Captain America is a throwback movie in the superhero age and that is exactly what it should be. It pays homage to the WW II films of decades past while remaining on the cutting edge the current trend superhero films. It's an honest movie with a heart of gold and that's why an 80 year old man struggling with memory and health issues thoroughly enjoyed it right along with me.

The next installment of Captain America comes out in the spring of 2014 and as of now, it's the film I most look forward to seeing next year (now with Robert Redford in the cast). Joe Johnston left a strong foundation with Captain America that carried right through with The Avengers. One could only hope the character continues to build in the next installment (and not fall all over itself like with what happened with Iron Man 2).