Category: My Favorite Franchises

Cast Photos

Character Posters

25 – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

This was a really great movie that introduced a whole bunch of awesome new characters and brought back a few old ones.  It was based off the comic book character of the same name, but was modernized for the MCU.  It was great to have a mostly Asian cast, the only non-Asian actors being Ben Kingsley, returning as Trevor Slattery, and Florien Munteanu as Razor Fist.  Shang-Chi absolutely lived up the high standards of the MCU.  It had a big epic story with a lot of intense fast paced action.  There was a bit of light humor, and drama that resulted in self-discovery and empowerment.  Very Disney, actually.

First of all we get Simu Liu as our lead character, Shang Chi.  He is handsome, obviously very fit, and clearly trained in martial arts, which is this movie’s main mode of action.  I remember during the 80s when old foreign Kung-Fu movies had a resurgence in popularity.  My brothers couldn’t get enough of them.  Then there was another renaissance for the genre when Jackie Chan was discovered by American audiences.  Chan had a style that was all his own, making prodigious use of the set and whatever physical props happen to be at hand to create a new kind of Martial Arts film action that had some inherent humor and a bit of whimsy.  Liu was up to the challenge and was exciting to watch.  The fight on the speeding bus is a perfect example of this.

But here, we are given a modern, big budget, high profile film that combines both styles, creating some great fantasy actions sequences.  It has become the standard for the MCU to rely heavily on CGI for its visual effects, and this movie is no exception.  But as I’ve said before, when the effects have this level of realism, I don’t mind.  It looks great on the big screen.  There were a number of fantastical creatures that were completely animated, from the cute little faceless animal, Morris, to the giant evil dragon, The Dweller in Darkness, a soul-consuming demon.  And of course, there was the beautiful white Great Protector Dragon 

And there were several members of the cast, besides the lead, who I really loved.  First of all there was Michelle Yeoh, who I have loved ever since I first saw her in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  She is always awesome, no matter what film or TV show I see her in.  But I also really loved the main bad guy-Shang-Chi’s father, Tony Leung, who I would swear, I’ve seen in some other film, though, I can’t remember which, even after reviewing his filmography.  He did a great job with the drama as well as the action.  Now, I have to admit, the first time I watched this movie, I couldn’t stand the character of Katy, played by the actress/rapper, Awkwafina.  I felt she was annoying, and I couldn’t stand her voice, which always sounded like she was on the verge of laryngitis.  But I have since warmed to both the character and the actress.  Meng’er Zhang played Chang-Chi’s sister, Xu Xialing, a young girl who was the victim of misogyny from her father, but who rose to create an empire of her own, eventually taking over the crime-based Ten Rings Organization from him.  Never-mind that Shang-Chi ended up with the actual rings.

One thing in the movie that I always roll my eyes at is the part where Michelle Yeoh is telling Shang-Chi and his friends the history of Ta Lo, and there is an elaborate wooden diorama depicting the story.  Really?  Someone spent all that time in-universe, carving all that, just so the audience would have something to look at while Ying-Nan offered up a monologue of exposition.  That was silly.  They did the same thing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 on Ego.  But other than that, the visuals in this movie made full use of that beautiful Chinese aesthetic that is both spiritual and dramatic, that has a sense of history, of fantasy, and of mysticism that are just captivating.  It is apparent in their architecture, their clothing, their movements, in their fighting, and in their attitudes.  I love watching this movie.  It is lush and colorful in such a gorgeous way.  And what fantasy lover doesn’t get excited over a battle between two dragons?

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. The friendly skirmish where Xu Wenwu and Ying Li meet and fall in love.  Beautifully filmed.
2. The fight on the bus, and the introduction of Razor Fist
3. The cage matches between Wong and The Abomination, and between Shang-Chi and Xu Xialing
4. The fight on the bamboo scaffolding.
5. The whole scene with the water-map.  Great visual effects.
6. The race through the bamboo forest to reach Ta Lo
7. The double flashback sequence of the death of Ying Li and Xu Wenwu’s revenge on the assassins.
8. The thrilling battle between Shang-Chi and his father in front of the interdimensional Gate, and the dramatic death of Xu Wenwu.
9. The final fight between Shang-Chi and the Dweller in Darkness, and how Katy enables Shang-Chi’s victory with a perfectly aimed arrow.
10. Shang-Chi and Katy return home and are summoned by Wong to join the bigger MCU roster of heroes.

Cast Photos

Character Posters

24 – Black Widow

I remember the first time I saw Black Widow.  It was in the theater, and it was one of the first movie’s I’d seen after the end of my self-isolation because of the Pandemic.  It was really exciting to be able to go back out in public again.  It was a great action-packed movie, but it felt like it was a bit of a let-down.  It was not as fantastically super-powered as the previous entries in the franchise.  There were no gods from Asgard, and no magic wielding monks who could teleport across the globe.  And because they dialed the story back to a more down-to-earth narrative, it felt separate from the main tapestry of the MCU, like it didn’t quite fit with what had come before.  It definitely felt like a transition into a new era.  It was a whole new tapestry that was still somehow connected to the big tapestry of the previous twenty-three movies.

Black Widow was an awesome character who had made the ultimate sacrifice to save the entire universe in Endgame.  She had no super-human powers beyond her kick-ass fighting skills and a few tech gadgets like a face-changing espionage device, or a surprise miniature grappling hook.  And for her character, that had always been enough.  That, and her brains.  She was super intelligent.  The story was a prequel that took place just after the events of Captain America: Civil War, meaning that she was still an Avenger, though she was on the run from the law.

The more times I see this movie, the better I like it.  The story was cool, and we are introduced to several great characters, some of whom are still prominent in the MCU today.  We got great characters like Natasha Romanoff’s sister, Yelena Belova, awesomely played by Florence Pugh.  Though they were not blood related, they were siblings in a family of Russian undercover agents who were stealing intel from S.H.I.E.L.D.  Their mother was a Red Room Black Widow assassin, and the father was the Russian attempt to replicate the super-soldier abilities of Captain America, the Red Guardian.  Dreykov was a good enough villain, though he didn’t do much.  Same with Taskmaster, though she looked good in her costume and mask.  I liked her powers of fighting mimicry, though, I wish they would have developed her more.

I particularly loved David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov.  He has obvious super strength and durability, but is not big on brains.  He is just so charismatic.  And I really loved Yelena Belova.  There was definitely a bond between her and Natasha, though there is also a certain amount of sibling rivalry that was explored in a sensitive way.  And she is just as skilled a fighter as her Avenger sister.  And who am I kidding?  I also loved Rachel Weisz as the mother, Melina Vostokoff.  She was intelligent and kicked ass with the best of them. 

And as usual, the action sequences were thrilling and over-the-top.  There were fantastic fight scenes, and the idea of impossible technology that we’ve already seen in the MCU, things like the flying fortress, the Red Room, where all the Black Widow assassins are trained.  There was a secret serum in gaseous form that could release a Widow from the mind control of Dreykov, the master of the Red Room, and engineered pheromones that could prevent any Widow from harming him.  All stuff that only exists in the comic book world that is the MCU. 

But if I had a single complaint, it’s that the whole point of the Black Widow assassins is that they are not endowed with super-powers.  The Red Guardian, yes, but not the Widows.  Then someone tell me how Natasha can fall from the top of a seven or eight story building, banging into fire-escape railings and AC ducts on the way down, and land in a crumpled heap on the ground without dying?  Natasha seems to be able to take a ridiculous amount of serious, life threatening injury, and then shrug it all off without little more than bruises.  So maybe she does have a bit of superpower, that of unearthly durability.  I always have to roll my eye at that one.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. The family’s daring escape from the US.  I loved when the dad jumped on the wing of the plane as it took off, and was still firing his gun at the pursuers.
2. Natasha’s first fight with Taskmaster on the bridge
3. Natasha and Yelena are reunited.  I loved their sibling banter… and their fast-paced fight.
4. The girls’ daring escape through the streets of Budapest.
5. Alexei’s arm-wrestling scene in the prison.  “Oh no!  Hahaha.  That guy think he going to beat me.”  Also, the entire prison-break sequence!  The avalanche! 
6. Natasha, Yelena, and Alexei are reunited with Melina. and the family banter around the table.
7. The family infiltrates the Red Room and the reveal that Melina and Natasha had switched places.
8. Melina finds a way to destroy the Red Room fortress making it blow up and fall from the sky.
9. Yelena kills Dreykov by destroying his aircraft and sacrificing herself in the process, but Black Widow saves her as they fall.
10. Natasha reconciles with Yelena and the rest of the family in the aftermath of the destruction of the Red Room.

Cast Photos

Character Posters

23 – Spider-Man: Far From Home

This was a fun movie, but not one of my favorites in the MCU franchise.  And as I think about it, I have to admit that it isn’t about the film itself.  It’s that it feels a little superfluous.  That doesn’t mean I don’t like the movie.  I really do.  But the first three phases of the MCU were all gearing up to the climax of Endgame.  And Endgame was so good that what else was there to say before moving on to Phase IV?  But apparently, Kevin Feige thought there was one more story to tell to close out the Infinity Saga.  But to me, it feels too much like an afterthought.

There was a brief scene that dealt with the return of the general populace after The Hulk’s snap, and then we were off to the races with a new story that didn’t seem to have much to do with the Saga at all.  I mean, what did it do except tell a cool Spider-man story that was mostly self-contained.  Yes, the whole premise of the story takes its cue from the death of Tony Stark, so maybe it is like a coda to the larger tapestry to date.   I guess my point is that I think it might have fit better as a great opening to the Multiverse Saga rather than an end to the Infinity Saga.

Anyway, Tom Holland, who is absolutely my favorite Spider-Man, did a fantastic job.  The narrative is about Peter Parker just trying to be a normal teenager, going on a trip to Europe with his classmates, and trying to tell MJ how he feels about her.  The conflict comes when Nick Fury gives Peter a pair of super-tech-AI sunglasses, left to him by Stark, that give him, and only him, complete control over very powerful weapons and intelligence technology, something a child should really not have.  Peter just wants to be a teenager.  And I found that I was just as interested in those mundane parts of the narrative as I was in the superhero aspects of the story.

But there were a few things I noticed that supports my assertion that this should have been a Phase IV movie.  For example, they talked about the concept of a multiverse.  In several scenes, they explored the possibility of Peter Parker becoming the new Iron-Man, before settling on the fact that he should just be himself, and use the powers that already belong to him.  Sure, Happy Hogan is still there to provide Parker with Stark technology for new and personalized Spider-suits, but Peter finds that he is stronger when he’s not trying to be something he is not.

Of course, once again, Marvel knows how to give us great actions sequences.  They are big and fast-paced, flashy and intense.  Yes, maybe they are a little heavy on the CGI, but when it’s this good and hyper realistic, who cares?  Everything looked incredible.  There is one mind-bending scene that comes to mind where Spider-Man is trapped inside Mysterio’s illusions and the scenes and environments change so rapidly, even the viewer begins to lose track of what is real and what isn’t.  And Beck nearly kills Peter, getting him hit by a speeding train.  The only two elementals we spend any time with are fire and water, but both the battle scenes were incredible to watch.  Holland did such a great job and apparently did many of his own stunts.

Jon Favreau is always great as Happy Hogan, and I liked his relationship with Peter’s Aunt May.  But I also really liked the actors who played Peter’s classmates, MJ, Ned, and even Flash Thompson.  And I have to give a big shout out to Martin Starr as Roger Harrington.  He was funny in just about every scene in which he appeared.  I also liked the teenage romance between Ned and Betty Brant.  But the best teenage romance was the one between Peter and MJ, played by Zendaya.  And lastly, Samuel L. Jackson was still fantastic as Nick Fury, even though a post-credit scene revealed that it was really Talos, the Skrull operative we met in Captain Marvel.  So there were plenty of ties to the rest of the MCU, but I don’t know.  I still think it would have been a better beginning to the Multiverse Saga, then an ending to the Infinity Saga.  But that’s just me, and what do I know?  Clearly, Feige knows what he’s doing without my input.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. Peter finds out something is going on between Happy and Aunt May.  And “You do not ghost Nick Fury!”
2. The fight with the water elemental. And the arrival of Mysterio
3. Nick Fury tranquilizes Ned and Peter’s meeting with S.H.I.E.L.D.
4. The appearance of Night Monkey and the fight with the fire elemental.
5. The reveal that Mysterio is actually a bad guy and the meeting of the disgruntled ex-Stark employees.
6. Peter tells MJ that he is Spider-Man
7. Spider-Man has to fight the illusions of Mysterio.
8. Happy talks with Peter and helps him build a new Spider-Man suit.
9. Beck’s drone strike against London, and Spider-Man’s battle to save the city and his friends.  Also, when Spider-Man takes down Quinten Beck.
10. The ending where Peter confronts Happy and May about their relationship.  Also, Spider-Man gives MJ a wild ride through the city.