Ant-Man spoiler free movie review

Behold, in the year of our lord 2015 a hero will emerge that may at first go unnoticed because of his stature.  Word will spread of his deeds and his renown will grow!


Saw Ant-Man this weekend.  Let me tell you, it was great.  I think I enjoyed it more than age of Ultron.  It just hit the right note.  I am not a huge Ant-Man comics fan.  I did read the Scott Lang origin story and an issue where he gets a job working for Tony Stark.  Classic Ant-Man was never really my thing, though.  I worried about Marvel's ability to put up a hero that would be believable in a battle against super-powered opponents.  I saw the movie because I trust Marvel.  They have not abused that trust to this point. 


This movie should have come out on Father's Day weekend as Fatherhood is a huge theme in this movie.  It covers absent fathers, distant fathers, step fathers, father figures, and redemption.  I think it handles the relationships pretty realistically, even in the context of and separated from realism, comic book universe. 


The action was amazing. They really surprised me with how they handled the fight choreography and the use of Ant-Man's powers.  They managed to make the combatants in the fight completely serious and still infuse humor into the fight scenes.  In the climactic fight scene you don't get the Spider-man, I am not really taking this seriously, banter (that is fine for Spidey, it his thing).  The characters are fighting and it feels like a fight,  hate on one side, and a defensive attitude on the other, lightened up by secondary scenes and plays on setting.  This created the perfect tone. 


Go see this movie, heck, take your dad to see this movie, you both will enjoy it immensely.  If you don't have a dad, take someone else's.  My girls took me, and the movie was all the better for it. 

Thor 2 spoiler free review

Took the family to see Thor this weekend and had a blast. My 9 and 12 year old love Thor because he is so pretty and when I made it known that I was going, they made it known that I wasn't going without them.

Script- Just trust them, the bad guys are trying to destroy the world or worlds. The how is very complicated science-magic. So, just go with it and have fun. It is a popcorn movie to be sure. Don't try to understand it. I said, STOP!

Acting- The acting was great, I mean you have serious hard hitting actors in this movie and that wasn't going to be a problem. Natalie Portman has way more chemistry with Thor than she did Vader. I just wondered if she told Thor that she wasn't at the battle of New York because she was having another man's baby at the time. I am sure it will come out in the sequel. Also a remarkable performance was put in by Kat Denning's boobs.

Overall- A fun popcorn movie. It wasn't The Avengers and I think it was better than the first Thor. The character is changing and becoming more heroic. They are writing him with a bit of depth. I would list it as fun for the whole family. Marvel has another winner here. Will DC ever respond.

Marvel Zombies- NCCW

Before there were black lanterns or even red lanterns, before there was Zombie Land, there was Marvel Zombies.  It wasn't riding the coat tails of the zombie craze, it was at the forefront.  This one is old enough that I am going to throw out spoilers.

The basic premise is simple; what if zombies infected superheroes.  The answer provided by the comic is super zombies causing global devastation in their quest for ever more food.  Most companies would have went safe here and infected some lesser heroes to have the big names come in and safe the day.  Marvel infected the big names and just when you thought the next big name would save the day, he/she is infected as well.  It looks as Reed Richards' scientific mind is the only hope. While researching the virus, Reed falls in love with the beauty and simplicity of it and infects himself.  The series ends on a familiar note.  The heroes of the marvel Universe teaming up to face Galactus, to make him a zombie as well.

Naturally, I had some questions.  Wouldn't Wolverine's healing factor stave off infection?  Couldn't Colossus just stay in his steel form to prevent infection?  How can you bite something that intangible like Kitty Pryde?  The comic obviously works around these issues as it infects everyone.  If you want to know what your favorite marvel character looks like undead, this is the place to go.  

Wizard Magazine has Folded-An Era has Ended

Topless Robot is reporting the demise of Wizard Magazine.  If you have ever collected comics, then you are likely familiar with it.  If not, this magazine pretty much was comics in the 90's.  It was your go to resource for news and prices. 

I started getting wizards in about 1992.  Then around 94 I started getting them for free as I knew someone who worked for the printing and binding company.  He would give me a cast off copy.  I eventually subscribed and received the mag for about 4 years and got some cool limited edition 1/2 comics. 

I grew up reading Marvel, so a lot of my vast knowledge of DC characters and golden/silver age titles came from reading this magazine.  Like I said, it was a great resource.  I don't know if this will affect their web site or their convention circuit, but the magazine did mean something to me once.  I still have a couple of boxes full of them.  The magazine's quality did decline in recent years, but you hate to see something like this go.

Goodbye Wizard Magazine, thanks for the Memories. 

Marvel VS DC the Calendar Edition

I was in the book store browsing 2011 calendars when I noticed that both Marvel and DC have "Women of" calendars.  I quickly compared the two and I think you will agree that Marvel is the clear winner here. 

The marvel calendar has lots of interesting art and great poses.  The graphic actually goes below the fold to allow the graphic to be larger.

The DC calendar is basically just using a bust shot, the art while not bad, is kind of boring with patterned backgrounds that don't really add anything.  The image continues through a transparent  calendar. 

Neither is bad, but Marvel clearly wins this battle.  If I could only buy one of the too, I would make mine Marvel.