Category: My Favorite Franchises

Cast Photos

Character Posters

18 – Black Panther

Ever since Prince T’Challa was introduced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, fans have really been looking forward to a solo movie for Black Panther.  The one we got knocked it out of the park.  We got a host of new characters that were just as awesome as the title character.  The casting was incredible, the acting was commendable, the set and costume design were top-notch, the visual effects were amazing, the script was smart, and the action was exciting.

If I had any complaints, it would be a complaint I have with most Marvel movies – the villain.  The MCU has a built in problem with its bad guys.  They often craft a super-villain that roughly matches the abilities and power-levels of the heroes.  Just look at other Marvel films.  Iron Man had Iron Monger.  The Hulk had The Abomination.  Yes, Thor was a little different, he had his brother Loki, kind-of, and his own arrogance.  But then we went back to Captain America and The Winter Soldier.  Ant-Man had Yellowjacket.  Dr. Strange had Kaecilius.  The list goes on and on.  And here we have Black Panther matched against Killmonger.

But that being said, Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan, was pretty bad-ass.  He had an emotional stake in the story, and he, like most Marvel bad guys, was really under-developed, which I also kind-of don’t have a problem with.  Yes, we care more when the hero wins if we know more about the bad guy.  But we’re here to see the good guy win.  We don’t need to know too much about the bad guy because we know he isn’t going to last beyond this movie.  The back story we really need is that of the good guy.  And Chadwick Boseman really did such a fantastic job as T’Challa.  The character had to deal with his father’s death and replacing him as King of a powerful nation.  Boseman really played that balance between grief and responsibility well.  We fell in love with him, which just made the actor’s death in 2020 so much more tragic.

We also met some other great characters like T’Challa’s sister, super scientist Shuri, his love interest, Nakia, the head of his personal guard, Okoye, the chief of a rival tribe, M’Baku, his mother, Ramonda, and one of the elders of his tribe, Zuri.  We also meet an American CIA agent, Everett Ross, and the criminal his is pursuing, Ulysses Klaue.  And the got some pretty big names to fill these roles like Angela Bassett, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman, and Lupita Nyong’o.  I particularly loved Winston Duke as M’Baku. 

But this film also did a great job of tying into the larger MCU tapestry.  In delving into the history of Wakanda, their attitudes and policies regarding vibranium and the secret of the heart-shaped herb, and how they interact with the rest of the world.  Also, they used Klaue, one of the criminals from The Avengers: Age of Ultron.  And I know that Martin Freeman’s Agent Ross, goes on to be used in future MCU projects, as well.  And of course, in this film’s post-credit scene, we see a bit of Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barns.

And as all MCU films, the action sequences were thrilling to watch.  There was the sequence in which Klaue is tracked and apprehended, the big battle in the fields outside T’Challa’s palace, and the short climactic fight between Black Panther and Killmonger in the vibranium mine.  Not to mention the ritual combat scenes when a new King is appointed.  The use of CGI was flawless, and the super-futuristic tech of all the Wakandan warriors was so cool!  Their cloak shields were great!  I also loved the armored battle rhinos.

And as a final thought, I have to mention how much I love Angela Bassett.  I have never seen her do a bad job in any movie.  She is a very good actress, the kind that really draws my attention every time she is on the screen.  She has a kind of intensity, a nobility, and a confidence to her that comes across in the way she carries herself and the way she interacts with her fellow actors.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. The Ritual combat between T’Challa and M’Baku.
2. T’Challa’s visit to the Ancestral Plains.
3. The entire South Korea sequence – The casino fight and the car chase where Shuri remote controls a car.
4. Agent Ross is healed by Shuri
5. Killmonger brings Klaue’s dead body to Wakanda and confronts the council and the royal family.
6. T’Challa and Killmonger fight the ritual combat for Kingship.
7. Killmonger’s visit to the Ancestral Plain.
8. Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Ross go to the Jabari Tribe for help, and find that T’Challa is still alive.
9. Okoye and the Palace guard fight with Killmonger while Agent Ross remote-controls a Wakandan ship to prevent vibranium from leaving Wakanda.
10. The final fight between Black Panther and Killmonger in the vibranium mine.

Cast Photos

16 – Spider-Man Homecoming

So Spider-Man finally gets his own movie.  Finally.  Spider-Man has always been a fan favorite, and I think Tom Holland is an incredible version of the character.  Not only is he more age-appropriate than earlier versions like Toby Maguire or Andrew Garfield, but he does a great job as the unmasked hero, Peter Parker.  He has an air of innocence and teenage realism that the other actors often missed.  And of course, it’s always special when Robert Downey Jr. shows up as Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man.

And of course, we have to mention the awesome villain, Adrian Toomes, the Vulture, expertly played by Michael Keaton.  Keaton is one of those actors who has been around for a long time, and pretty much everything he does is good.  He seems to throw himself into his roles and this is no exception.  And we are used to seeing him as the hero, Beetlejuice notwithstanding.  But here, he plays the bad guy, and it is so good!  He is even frightening in the way he treats Parker, once he makes the connection to Spider-Man. 

The visual effects for this movie were, as you might expect from an MCU movie, were incredible.  All you have to see is the whole Staten Island Ferry scene to know that.  When the Ferry gets cut in half, length-wise, and Both Spider-Man and Iron-Man pull it back together, it was so cool to watch on the screen.  It was epic, and this is only the first of the MCU Spider-Man films!  The action was exciting, and the story was fantastic.  Add to that the perfect cast and their phenomenal acting, and you have yourself a great movie!

But there was so much more to it than even that.  In Captain America: Civil War, we got a great introduction to the character within the franchise.  We all loved him there, but here they expanded on the character.  We didn’t need to see the origin story again, it’s been done before, more than once.  We all know what happened.  Here, the filmmakers concentrated on what it means for a teenager to deal with being a high-school student and a superhero at the same time.  Even Parker’s approach to being a crime-fighting hero came from a realistically immature perspective, which was smart.  Even the emotional angle of Parker overcoming his teenage insecurities to find his strength and beat the bad guy was great to watch in the exciting climax.

But more than that, the movie firmly established Spider-Man in the overall tapestry of the MCU, cementing his place, his role.  They tied things into the bigger picture with how the Vulture acquired the technology to become a super-villain.  It was the alien Chitauri tech recovered from the Battle of New York in the first Avengers film.  And they showed pieces of the Airport battle from Civil War from Parker’s perspective.  Such a cleverly-written script!

I also really liked how the narrative stepped back and changed the role of Mary Jane into the new character of Michelle, who is called MJ.  She payed homage to Mary Jane, but was a completely different character.  Zendaya was great.  She was not even portrayed as Peter’s love interest, though it did leave it open to that potential in the future.  And I can’t forget another made-up character, Ned, Spider-Man’s funny side-kick, played by Jacob Batalon.  He was funny, but not stupid.  Again, he was a believable teenager, which was the point.  And there were a few other smaller parts that were important to the story, like Liz, Parker’s actual love interest, who just happened to be Toome’s daughter, played by Laura Harrier.  We also had Jon Favreau, coming back as Happy Hogan, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Donald Glover, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Michael Chernus, Martin Starr, and Tyne Daly coming in to fill out the cast.  It was a really good and smart venture into the character of Spider-Man, in his first solo film in the official MCU franchise.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. A Film by Peter Parker – The events of Civil War from a different perspective.
2. Spider-Man stops the ATM robbery
3. Peter leaves the party to chase down the first Shocker
4. Toomes kills the first Shocker by accident
5. Peter is trapped in the Damage Control Deep Storage Vault and his conversation with the suit lady.
6. Spider-Man rescues the students from the Washingtonn Monument elevator.
7. The Staten Island Ferry scene and Stark’s talk with Peter afterword. “If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.”
8. Toomes threatens Peter in the car before the Homecoming Dance. Keaton was so scary in that scene!
9. Peter finds the strength to get himself out from under the collapsed building.
10. The climactic battle between Spider-Man and the Vulture on the outside of a flying airplane!

Cast Photos

Character Posters

15 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Once again, the MCU hits another home run.  But in this particular one, there were a few things I didn’t particularly like.  My gripes are minor, but they are there.  Anyway, I’ll get to them in a bit.  There is so much to praise in this movie.  The visual effects were top notch.  The new characters were incredible.  The continuing character development of returning characters was phenomenal.  And strangely enough, the color pallet of the film was stunning, making it visually beautiful.  And as with the first Guardians film, the music was so cool!

Of course, Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, and Rocket came back.  And even though Groot died during the first film, his progeny, Baby Groot, who was simply too cute for words, joined the team.  And then, in addition, Yondu joins up, and the interesting empath, Mantis.  And we can’t forget their enemies.  Nebula, kind-of, Ego, the living planet, and Ayesha, the Golden High Priestess of the Sovreign people.  But then, Ego was really the big bad.  Nebula was just trying to beat her sister Gamora in Battle because of unresolved daddy issues, and Ayesha was justifiably upset because Rocket stole her people’s property.  They both just wanted a little revenge, and went to extremes to get it.  But Ego was an insane Celestial, bent on taking over the universe.  So I have to mention Kurt Russell, as Ego.  He was so cool!  He looked good, he acted the hell out of the part, and he looked like he was having a good time doing it.  He’s just a darn good actor.

Just like every MCU film, this movie had a lot of fantastic action.  Even the opening scene, where the opening credits were being shown, was an action sequence.  It started off fun as Baby Groot dances around, seemingly oblivious to the fierce battle going on behind him.  The Guardians are fighting a giant, multicolored-fire-breathing, blob monster with tentacles.  Then there’s a space battle with Ayesha’s remote-piloted fleet, a skirmish in the forest as Rocket single-handedly trounces Yondu’s Ravagers, until Yondu stops him with his mentally controlled arrow, another fight between Gamora and Nebula, Yondu and Rocket’s escape from Taserface, and finally, the climactic battle between the Guardians, the Sovereign’s forces, and Ego.  There were so many action sequences to love.

But there was also some pretty amazing emotional content to the film as well.  The bonding between the daughters of Thanos was touching.  Though, that seemed to pale in comparison to Yondu’s death and the Ravager funeral scene.  It is such ride.  It brings me close to tears every time I see it.  I love the way in which they burned his body with rainbow flames, and then the Ravagers put on a beautiful fireworks display in his honor.  And while that is happening, the Guardians seem to be drawn closer together as a family. 

And it was that neon rainbow color pallet that really stood out to me.  From simple fires to grand explosions, the bright pinks, purples, greens, blues, yellows, and oranges are visually captivating.  And the gorgeous fantasy design of Ego’s planet was just mesmerizing.  The iridescent bubbles, the landscapes that look like fantasy paintings, Ego’s opulent palace.  Even the dark and disturbing underground cavern with the bones of his children held a certain amount of innate beauty that cannot be overlooked.

But I can’t forget the things I didn’t like, and there were really only two.  First was Drax.  He is supposed to be a big bad-ass, but for some reason, they turned him into a laughing buffoon.  I don’t mind a funny moment once in a while, but his constant merriment and ridiculously awkward comments felt forced, and as a result, it blunted how dangerous he is supposed to be.  The other is Mantis.  While I like Pom Klementieff and the character she created, the only thing she shares with her comic book counterpart is her name.  I don’t mind the new character.  Just don’t call her Mantis.  The real Mantis is the Celestial Madonna.  This one?  Not even close.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. The opening fight with the Abilisk
2. Rocket defends his ship from the Ravagers
3. Rocket makes fun of Taserface’s name
4. Peter, Gamora, and Drax arrive on Ego’s planet and see the diorama that tells his story.
5. Star Lord bonds with his father, Ego and learns to control the Celestial energy.
6. Gamora and Nebula’s battle.
7. Rocket, Baby Groot, and Yondu excape from the Ravager ship.  Yondu shows what his arrow can really do.
8. Rocket explains how the bomb works to Baby Groot
9. Star Lord and Ego fight, creating constructs of living energy, while the guardians attempt to escape the dangerous planet.
10. Yondu’s Ravager funeral.  So Beautifully done.

Cast Photos

Character Posters

14 – Doctor Strange

Alright, new characters, new actors, new costumes, new visual effects, new sub-franchise.  Here is where we are introduced to magic in the MCU.  We are introduced to a new villain, in the form of an inter-dimensional demon named Dormamu.  And we get a fantastic new hero, Doctor Strange, brought to life by Benedict Cumberbatch.  He was so perfectly cast.  It’s like the character came right of the pages of the comic books and became a living person.  I have to say, that is one of the MCU’s biggest strengths.  They have brought together an amazing cast of actors who really do the source material justice. 

So Doctor Stephen Strange starts out as an arrogant, high-profile surgeon, an ass, even to his only real friend, fellow doctor, Christine Palmer, played by Rachel McAdams.  Then, through personal injury and struggle, finds his true calling as the Sorcerer Supreme.  He has a natural talent for the mystic arts.  He learns this skill from an order of magicians in Tibet, at a place called Kamar-Taj.  There he meets The Ancient One, perfectly played by Tilda Swinton, and fellow student, though, at the beginning, much more advanced, Karl Mordo, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Wong, played by Benedict Wong.  They teach him how to use his talent to create teleportation gates, and shields and weapons made of mystic light.  And of course we have to have a down-to-earth bad guy for him to fight.  For that, we get Mads Mikkelsen playing Kaecilius, the rogue sorcerer who serves Dormamu.  Incidentally, it was an intentional decision to have the CGI Dormamu voiced by none other than Cumberbatch, himself, like an evil reflection of the hero.

So here, the filmmakers took the visual effects to a whole new level.  They created realistic images on the screen, the likes of which the world had never seen before, except maybe a much simpler version, in the 2010 film, Inception.  They bent and warped reality so much that it was like a living, moving M. C. Escher fantasy.  The buildings turned and twisted, fractured and morphed, multiplied and shifted.  And there were live actors funning and fighting their ways through the chaotic and gravity-shifting landscapes.  And as strange as the images were, there was a beauty to them that was amazing to watch.  They really outdid themselves and I loved every minute of it.  And the astral projection stuff worked really great on the screen.

And that brings me to the exciting action.  The scene where Kaecilius attacks the New York Sanctuary was fantastic.  Doctor Strange is still only learning to use his magical powers, but he is the only man available to defend the building.  It is there that he meets the silent character in the movie, the Cloak of Levitation.  Not only does it become an ally in the battle, but it ultimately shows Strange how to win.  I particularly loved the magical fetters with which Kaecilius is captured.  So cool!  Mikkelsen was so awesome in that whole scene.  There were battles fought with glowing mandalas and ropes, and magical artifacts and portals.  It was fast-paced and thrilling to watch how creatively the film used the new dimension of sorcery to drive the story.

And what’s more, the characters had arcs.  They were developed and once again, in the short space of this one movie, we learned to love the hero, who, after all, was the focus of the plot.  But more than that, even other characters like The Ancient one and Mordo, had arcs of their own.  By the end of the movie we are questioning whether they are good or bad, whether their motives are moral or not.  Well, actually, Mordo ends the movie by really turning into a bad guy, which is a complete reversal from where he started.  And now we have a great new cast of actors joining the MCU, ready and primed to appear in more films in the future.  And boy, do they ever!  Doctor Strange is now one of the pillars of the franchise and even characters like Wong and Mordo show up later on.  I remember seeing this movie in theatres when it came out, and I knew, right away, that I wanted to own this movie.  It is always so fun to watch!

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. The car accident.  Came out of nowhere!
2. The Ancient One knocks Strange’s astral projection out of his body to show him how much he doesn’t know.
3. Strange is taken to the Mirror Dimension for practice.
4. Strange steals books out of the Kamar-Taj library behind Wong’s back.
5. Strange discovers and practices with the Time Stone
6. The fight in the New York Scnctuary.  Strange gets the Cloak, and Kaecilius is captured.
7. The fight in the hospital.
8. The Mirror Dimension fight in New York, and the death of The Ancient One.
9. The reversal of time to restore the Hong Kong Sanctuary, and the city surrounding it.
10. Strange traps Dormamu in a time loop, and Dormamu takes Kaecilius and his followers.