Category: My Favorite Franchises

Cast Photos

Character Posters

Iron Man 2

Robert Downey Jr. does it again!  I’ve already commented on how he was so perfectly cast as Tony Stark, how he was able to flawlessly embody both the man and the superhero, Iron Man.  And while I’m on the subject of casting, I’d like to mention how amazing it is that with only one notable exception, the major players in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have all stayed with their roles for the duration of the Infinity Saga and beyond.  As I write this, the MCU’s phase 4 has just ended, and phase 5 is about to begin, and the only major character that changed was Edward Norton playing the Incredible Hulk in his first appearance, but being replace with Mark Ruffalo in all forthcoming films.

Here, we have a secondary character, at least he was at the time, Rhodey, played in the first Iron Man movie by Terrence Howard, was replaced by Don Cheadle.  Personally I have always been a fan of Cheadle as an actor, and I thought the change was a good one.  Howard didn’t do a bad job.  Cheadle was just better.  And we are introduced to a major superhero and fan favorite, Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson.  She has a fighting style that to my untrained eye, looks completely unique to her character.  It is like martial arts, but with a lot more body contact like aggressive wrestling, and a healthy measure of gymnastics.  The first time we see Black Widow unleashed was something like the first time we saw Darth Vader unleashed at the end of Rogue One, except that this came first.  She was totally bad-ass, and she looked good doing it!!

We also got two new villains, one of whom was pretty cool, the other, unfortunately, not so much.  Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell, was so arrogant and so smarmy, that you couldn’t help but love him as a bad guy.  Whiplash, played by Mickey Rourke, had the potential to be a really great baddy, but I don’t think he was written well.  He just got defeated a little too easily… twice.  The first time he attacked Iron Man on the race track in Monaco, we see that his electrified whips can slice cars up like cake.  But Iron man just grabs one of them, uses it to pull himself to Whiplash, and takes him down with a couple quick punches.  Then he tears out his mini-arc-reactor, and that was it.

The second fight, Whiplash’s drones seemed like more of a threat than he, himself, was.  When he came in, the skirmish lasted a very short time, and the villain was taken down with the single super-blast from the two converging energy beams.  I don’t know.  I just wanted the bad guy to seem more powerful and harder to beat.  At least he embodied the mentally unbalanced thing pretty well.  Maybe some of his questionable decisions could be attributed to that.  Still, he looked the part.  He was physically imposing and you could tell he was no weakling.

The one thing that never sat well with me, though it was visually cool to watch on the screen, was the new way Iron Man put on his armor.  So there he is, on the race track, and Pepper and Happy arrive in the car.  Pepper has the suit that is disguised as a briefcase.  So that means that the small briefcase-sized package should weigh the same as the fully deployed suit of armor, right?  She should not have been able to lift it.  OK, suspension of disbelief.

But overall, it was a great movie.  The casting was spot-on, the action was good, the introduction of new characters, including Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, was great, the acting was good, the visuals and special effects were stunning, the connections to the larger cinematic universe were amazing, and it was just a fun ride.  It might sound like I didn’t care for the film, but I really liked it.  The good far outweighed the bad.  Now, if I had to compare it with the first Iron Man movie, I think I liked the first one better, but when a movie is that good, it is kind-of hard to top it in the sequel.  At least we got to see Tony and Pepper kiss at the end.  Let’s just admit that it was something we were all wanting to happen.  The romantic tension between them had been growing since the first movie, and the build had been slow enough to be believable.  Kudos to director Jon Favreau for another successful addition to the franchise.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. Tony’s appearance at the Senate hearing.
2. The first appearance of Black Widow, when she takes down Happy in the Boxing Ring.
3. Whiplash destroys the race in Monaco
4. Iron Man’s fight with Rhodey at Tony’s birthday party.
5. Stark’s meeting with Nick Fury.  “Sir, can you please exit the doughnut.”
6. Justin Hammer presents the weapons to Rhodey.  The Ex-Wife.
7. Tony discovers how to create a new element to power his Iron Man suit.
8. Black Widow takes out the guards at the Hammer facility.
9. Iron Man and War Machine fight the drones in the garden at the Stark Expo.
10. Tony rescues Pepper from the exploding drone, then all the drones at the Expo explode as they fly away.

Cast Photos

Captain America The First Avenger

The first Marvel film, even though it technically wasn’t the first to be released in theatres, was Captain America, the First Avenger.  I always think of it as the first one because in my mind, it starts the story.  And if you follow the MCU to the completion of the Infinity Saga, at the end of Endgame, it ends the story with Captain America.  But I know, Iron Man was actually the first MCU film, but this just seems like a better beginning to the epic.  Iron Man just seems to start in the middle of the story.

I love epics.  I love epic franchises even more.  So I am a huge MCU fan because it doesn’t get any more epic than this.  It is massive!  It is a story that spans years, distances, genres, and has a phenomenal cast of characters.  And for me, I think that’s my favorite part.  I love the characters.  The casting has been remarkably spot-on, with only a few exceptions.

But here we start the whole epic off with Chris Evans, who nailed his part.  But every good superhero has to have an equally awesome villain.  I mean, for me, the MCU villains are just as awesome as the heroes.  Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull was so cool!!  Add Tommy Lee Jones, Toby Jones, Haley Atwell Stanley Tucci, and Sebastian Stan, and you have yourself a pretty memorable cast.

The movie was fun, full of exciting action, great visual effects, an exciting soundtrack, a perfect cast, and was just an all-around fantastic film.  The perfect start to the grand adventure.  And the epic story of the MCU is still going on today.  At the time of this writing, Phase 4 is just wrapping up, and I am still just as into the story as when it first began, in the beginning of Phase 1.  This is just really great story-telling at its best!

We start off in the 1940s during WWII.  So it’s a period piece.  But it’s also a fantastical fantasy.  The design of the futuristic technologies like laser guns, computers, high-tech vehicles like the one-man submarine, and the super-soldier transformation machine, all had to be designed to fit that 1940s aesthetic, and they really did a great job.  They did a great job making it all old-timey, and yet from the future at the same time.  

And at their heart, every film in the MCU is an action/adventure movie with drama and comedy thrown in to give audiences gravitas, while keeping things light.  But through it all is the action.  And Captain America never disappoints.  And if you think about it.  His super powers aren’t that super.  Not like a man in a technologically advance iron suit, or a wizard, or even a man that turns into a giant green Hulk.  Steve Rogers is just like your average guy, only with heightened speed, strength, responsiveness, visual acuity, and accuracy.  His super power is just being a better and more powerful athlete than the rest of humanity.  And he has a kick-ass shield that can be used for both defense and offense.

But not only is he physically superior, he is also morally superior, which is a quality he had even before being given the Super-Soldier Serum.  He’s just a nice guy who always does what he believes to be the right thing.  One of the character’s defining traits is his indomitable will, his belief in his own sense of justice.  He’s sometimes been referred to as a boy-scout because he embodies all of the wholesome and upright qualities they are supposed to champion.

This is a wild and fun ride with some great actors, some first-rate directing, and an engaging story.  It’s a movie I have seen many times, and it never gets boring.  And it doesn’t hurt that Chris Evans is an incredibly handsome man… Well, after he gets his super powers.  Apparently, when Haley Atwell touched his chest, it was unscripted and the actress just couldn’t help herself.  Really, I don’t blame her.

Cast Photos

Character Posters

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Well, this is the movie that ended the Harry Potter franchise.  Of course, we still have the ongoing spin-off Wizarding World Franchise, Fantastic Beasts, which I almost consider part of the Harry Potter franchise, but I’ll be getting to those soon enough.  This movie was so well constructed.  The pacing, the action, the emotion, the drama, and the climactic resolution of a story that began ten years earlier.  It would be easy enough to say that the entire cast did a fantastic job, but I really think they did.

First I have to acknowledge what a rare and special thing it was to have, with only a few exceptions, a cast that remained the same for the entire run of the series.  There were a few minor characters that were changed, but for the most part, every actor stuck around for the entire ten years.  And this is most remarkable for the actors that started out as children.  Their skills in front of the camera just kept improving and improving from one film to the next.  And the stand out member of the cast in this final Harry Potter film, was none other than Harry, himself, Daniel Radcliffe.  He really was incredible in this movie.  The pure range of raw and difficult emotions that he embodied was nothing short of amazing.  My hat is off to him for giving the world such a wonderful character in such a fantastic way.

So all the pieces are in place.  All the plots and subplots have been laid out.  And all we have left to do is to wrap it all up with a nice bow on top.  And let me tell you, I think they really delivered.  The ending was appropriately epic, exciting, and memorable.  The visual effects were stunning.  The action sequences were chaotic and thrilling.  And though we all knew that our hero Harry was going to win in the end, there was no disappointment in how it was handled.  And it was important to note that not all our favorite characters survived until the end, which I loved.  It just made the story that much more realistic.  Heroes can die, and it is silly to think that only the bad guys die in a war.  Here, Fred Weasley dies, which was heartbreaking.  Tonks and Remus Lupin both die.  Lavender Brown dies.  And Harry dies.  Mustn’t forget that, though of course, he chose to let the remnant of Voldemort’s soul die instead of himself.  He came back, and the rest is history.

There were so many scenes that were done right, making them memorable.  The battle of Hogwarts was a major part of the film, and I’d even say its focus.  But I admit to sometimes forgetting that the first sequence of the film is the daring raid into Gringot’s.  It almost seems to belong in the previous film, and I have to remind myself which movie it actually is in.  It was really cool!  I loved how Hermione disguised herself as Bellatrix Lestrange, and Ron gave himself a beard and bushy hair, making himself really look like a Death Eater.  Also Warwick Davis as Griphook was incredibly good.  He was so properly menacing!  And the daring escape on the back of a dragon was so cool!

I also really liked the character of Aberforth Dumbledore.  The actor who played him, Ciarán Hinds, did a fantastic job.  The short scene where he questions harry about his reasons for trying to finish what Albus Dumbledore had started was a great scene.  And I also loved it when he showed up in the battle of Hogwarts to drive away the Dementors. 

And I have to mention how much I actually really enjoyed that ending scene that took place nineteen years later.  I thought it was very tastefully done, giving us a tiny bit of the aftermath of such an epic tale.  I liked that they showed us that Draco and Harry had matured into adults and had made a sort of peace with each other.  And I think they did a fine job aging the actors, and showing the audience that life goes on after such traumatic events.  It was an appropriate end to the complex and epic story about the boy who lived.  Well-done everybody.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. The Escape from Gringot’s on the back of the albino dragon.
2. Harry’s conversation with Aberforth
3. McGonagall confronting Snape and asking Harry what he needs.  I love how she offers him support without any questions, saying “Do what you have to do.”
4. Goyle losing control of the Fiend Fire spell, and his death.
5. Voldemort’s reaction after Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem is destroyed.  Fiennes was brilliant in that moment!
6. Snape’s death scene, and giving Harry his memories.
7. Harry learning that Dumbledore had planned his death at Voldemort’s hand, and knowing that it had to happen.  Radcliffe’s acting was perfect.
8. Harry meeting with the shades of his parents, Serius Black, and Lupin.  I loved how Serius says “Quicker than falling asleep”
9. Harry’s conversation with Dumbledore, and Dumbledore’s answer to Harry’s question.  “Of course it’s happening inside your head, Harry.  Why should that mean that it’s not real?”
10. Neville Longbottom killing Nagini.  Go Neville!

Cast Images

Character Posters

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

This is the movie that started them all.  The one that showed everybody, on the big screen, what they had been envisioning in their heads since reading J. K. Rawling’s fantastic series of books.  At first, I had gone into watching the films without having read the books, though I have since done that, as well.  There are so many things that the movie got right, though I’ll not say it was flawless.

First off, I loved the casting, and this was a huge part of the movie’s success.  It was the first movie in the franchise.  Can you imagine if they had cast someone other than Daniel Radcliff as Harry?  We would have gotten a completely different performance.  And bringing in Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.  What if there had been no chemistry between them and Daniel

But as it was, the three child actors, who were clearly novices to being in front of the camera, did a fantastic job.  I think Rupert Grint showed a little more natural ease in his acting than the other two, but they all did a great job  Special props to Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane, who were both perfect.  But I’m going to say it.  I know my opinion is not going to be a popular one, but… I’m sorry.  Richard Harris was wrong for the part of Dumbledore.  The character was supposed to be a strong and imposing figure, but because of Harris’s advanced age, he portrayed weakness.

One thing I didn’t care for was all the people in the Edwardian costumes.  This is supposed to take place in the modern world.  In the following films, as the three main cast members began to grow up, the period costumes were slowly phased out, but here it just came off as a little silly that EVERYONE was dressed as if they had just walked off the set of David Copperfield.  Another thing I didn’t get was why Ron, who grew up in the magical world, was constantly gasping “Woah!!” at things like moving portraits and Hagrid?  Wouldn’t those things would be commonplace to him?

And I have to make mention of the… questionable CGI.  But I get it.  It was the best they could do back in 2001.  But I’ll say it.  The troll was bad and the centaur was worse.  We have live action, live action, and suddenly… there’s a poorly rendered cartoon on the screen.  Fluffy, the three-headed dog was alright, even with his magical disappearing drool that vanished from Ron’s shirt, and the Quidditch players were actually pretty good.

But something I loved was the phenomenal score by John Williams.  It was grand and epic, and yet playful at the same time.  But then, when has Williams ever written a bad score?

But I’d have to say that the best part of the movie was how it clung to the source material.  It remained extremely faithful to the book.  So many film adaptations of books fall into the trap of changing things, for various reasons.  Either there wasn’t enough money in the budget, or someone didn’t like the plot devices, or a character’s motivations.  Maybe the special effects team thinks they can make things look cool if they add scenes that didn’t come from the author.  Maybe someone wants to instill a more family-friendly feel or make the lead seem more noble or heroic. But there was a reason the books were so popular.  When you start changing things, you are altering what made the books so well-loved.  I wish filmmakers would understand that when you remain faithful to the source material, you are making the existing fans happy, while at the same time, showing people who don’t know the books why they were so good.  And ultimately, you’ll have a better movie.

TOP 10 FAVORITE PARTS

1. Harry releases the python at the zoo.
2. Harry learns that he is a wizard.
3. Harry Arrives at Diagon Alley.
4. Harry meets Ron and Hermione.
5. The start of year feast.
6. Harry and Ron save Hermione from the troll.
7. Harry’s first Quidditch match.
8. McGonagall gives Malfoy detention.
9. Harry receives the invisibility cloak.
10. Harry fights Professor Quirrell and he dissolves into dust.