Book #123 of 2023: MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards A lengthy and informative behind-the-scenes account of the movie and TV juggernaut known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with plenty of in-depth production details that I didn’t previously know, despite my being a pretty big fan of …
Tag Archives: MCU
TV Review: Loki, season 2
TV #55 of 2023: Loki, season 2 This first second year of a Disney+ Marvel show could have easily faltered, given the production troubles that have been leaking out about the studio in general, the pivot away from their previous model of standalone miniseries events, and the recent domestic abuse allegations and arrests of major …
TV Review: Secret Invasion, season 1
TV #38 of 2023: Secret Invasion, season 1 This latest Marvel series, set in the modern-day but picking up plot threads from the 90s-set Captain Marvel movie, is a tediously dramatic and joyless affair (with Olivia Coleman’s cheerfully ruthless British intelligence commander providing the rare bright spot). It starts with a bold premise: the shapeshifting …
Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Movie #4 of 2023: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) Another rollicking cosmic thrill ride, and one that doubles as an apparent farewell to this creative corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (Never say never where comic book characters are concerned, but with visionary director James Gunn now working for the DC competition, this …
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Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Movie #3 of 2023: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) It looks like I’m out of step with the critical consensus on this one, based on the early reviews, but whatever: I really liked the latest piece in Marvel’s increasingly complex cinematic universe! Maybe I’m just riding the high of being back in a movie …
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Movie Review: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Movie #2 of 2023: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) Perhaps inevitably, this sequel is not as strong as its rather extraordinary 2018 predecessor. But it nears that level of quality at times, and might well be the best possible follow-up given the awful loss of original star Chadwick Boseman to colon cancer in the intervening …
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Movie Review: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)
Movie #19 of 2022: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) At 42 minutes from start to post-credits scene, this second Marvel Studios Special Presentation is…. fine. It’s fine. It’s in no way essential to any ongoing series plot, but it’s a decent check-in on the various Guardians of the Galaxy characters, I guess. …
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TV Review: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, season 1
TV #48 of 2022: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, season 1 Origin story. Spinoff. Legal comedy. Rom-com. Fourth-wall-breaking commentary on typical TV and comic-book tropes. Straightforward MCU entry itself. Feminist critique of chauvinism in fandom. This first season of She-Hulk is trying to be a lot of different things all at once, and they unfortunately cut …
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Movie Review: Werewolf by Night (2022)
Movie #17 of 2022: Werewolf by Night (2022) This is a weird one! Marvel Studios dropped the hour-long “special presentation” on Disney+ today with very little fanfare, but it is apparently an official Marvel Cinematic Universe release. I say apparently because, like the Moon Knight miniseries earlier this year, there are exactly zero explicit canonical …
Movie Review: Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Movie #14 of 2022: Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) Another Marvel feature that’s solidly entertaining in the moment but pretty disposable in the long-term franchise view. Leaning heavily on the space-rocker tone set by director Taika Waititi’s earlier Thor: Ragnarok, this sequel slides into the status of second-best Thor movie more or less by default. …
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