Captain Marvel

The Marvels – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2023 film The Marvels.

Story

The structure was very similar to other Marvel films, but managed to make it feel fresh. There was an almost origin story feel to it. I liked how it managed to include some heavy topics like colonialism, racism, and death, while still including the light humorous moments.

There were a few things that felt rushed or out of place. The second bangle’s fate was glossed over and a few other things that I think could have been clearer. It leaves the audience with a feeling like they missed something, even if they’ve watched all the tv shows and movies.

Score: 0.5

Characters

I think Miss Marvel is my favourite MCU character and she’s amazing in this. It was great to see the contrast between the stoic soldier of Captain Marvel and the fangirling Miss Marvel.

The only thing that really bothered me was how Miss Marvel couldn’t follow the technobabble. She’s genre savvy enough that she should have gotten it and if felt like a cheap gag and reason to explain it to the audience.

Score: 1

Dialogue

I’d love to know how much of Miss Marvel’s fan-babble was scripted and how much was just the actress. Either way, the dialogue was clear, punchy, and handled emotion well.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The special effects and space backgrounds were beautiful and the costumes were great. The real star was the choreography, which was spectacular.

The music was strong and entangled the three characters well.

Score: 1

Fun

I’ve been looking forward to this movie since they announced it and was sad I missed it in theatres (Colds and RSV stopped us). I was not disappointed; it had everything I wanted in a movie and a little extra.

The three characters are great and I look forward to seeing more of them. The rest of the family loved it too.

Score: 1

Overall

This is what a Marvel movie should be and with a lot of their recent releases, it felt like they had forgotten how to have fun. Humour, emotion, and heavy topics are handled perfectly and transitioned naturally, making for a satisfying film. If that’s not enough, the fight choreography is utterly breathtaking.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Is Marvel Mid?

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Hello movie and superhero lovers,

A friend posted this meme:

Two panels one on top of the other. First panel says, “You thinking the MCU is dead after Endgame and hating everything.” with a ninja turtle drinking a soda and looking sad. Second panel says, “Me knowing the MCU has always been mid and still enjoying it.” with the same ninja turtle looking smug.

It got me thinking, and I realized I class Marvel movies (all superhero movies really) into 5 categories: Excellent, Okay, Forgettable, Didn’t Age Well, and Bad. I’m adding Didn’t See Yet as a category too.

So here is my non-definitive ranking of Marvel MCU movies. Note that within the categories, they’re by release date not preference.

Excellent

These are the movies that balance fun, character growth, and a good story.

Fun

These movies aren’t great but they certainly are a lot of fun to watch.

Forgettable

These are the movies that didn’t do anything terrible, but didn’t do anything memorable either.

Didn’t Age Well

Both of these were in my top tier for a long time, but rewatching them made me very uncomfortable. They have some great moments, but the jokes and treatment of women and minorities is not great.

Bad

Some of these movies are good except for something that really brings down their quality, and others are hot messes all the way through.

Didn’t See Yet

Not much explanation needed. I’m not a big fan of the Guardians and haven’t seen the third. Everything I’ve heard leads me to think it’s a little too heavy and dark for my taste. The Marvels just came out, but I’m hoping to see it soon.

Obviously, tastes are subjective.

What do you think?

Éric

2019 Movie Rankings

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Hello Cinephiles,

This year was a pretty good year for movies. Some fantastic action offerings and absolutely amazing animated films.

I saw 22 movies and for the first time in a long time I didn’t see anything that I hated.

This is the fifth year that an animated film is my highest ranked and the second that it’s not a Disney movie.

This is the ranking of movies I saw in theatres (or rented) that were released in 2019. This doesn’t include Netflix originals, made for TV Movies, or straight to DVD releases.

These are ranked by how much I enjoyed them and not their quality as “Films”.

Absolutely Loved

  1. Abominable
  2. Frozen II
  3. Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
  4. Captain Marvel
  5. Spider-Man: Far From Home
  6. Spies in Disguise
  7. Shazam!
  8. Men In Black: International
  9. Pokemon Detective Pikachu
  10. Happy Death Day 2U

It was good

  1. The Kid Who Would Be King
  2. Hobbs & Shaw
  3. Jumanji: The Next Level
  4. Charlie’s Angels
  5. Knives Out
  6. Aladdin (Live Action)

Meh

  1. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
  2. How To Train Your Dragon: Hidden World
  3. Dora and the Lost City of Gold
  4. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
  5. Avengers: Endgame
  6. Toy Story 4

Looks like 2020 will be eclectic and interesting.

What was your favourite movie this year?

Éric

Ottawa Comiccon 2019

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Hello!

JenEric Designs, JenEric Coffee, The Travelling TARDIS, and Eric Desmarais will be at this weekend’s Ottawa Comiccon. We’ll be at booth 2606 and 2608 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

We have two new flavours for this years event: In Another Castle (Peach) and Unbirthday Cake (Cake Batter).

  • A medium roast with peach flavouring
  • A light roast with cake batter flavouring

We’ll also have another 16 flavours available.

  • A light roast with banana flavouring
  • A light roast with butter rum flavouring
  • A light roast with coconut flavouring
  • A light roast with peanut butter flavouring
  • A light roast with orange flavouring
  • A medium roast with green apple flavouring
  • A medium roast with chocolate flavouring
  • A medium roast with mint chocolate chip flavouring
  • A medium roast with raspberry flavouring
  • A medium roast with peppermint flavouring
  • A dark roast with cinnamon flavouring
  • A dark roast with strawberry flavouring
  • A dark roast with Canadian maple flavouring
  • A dark roast with marshmallow flavouring
  • A dark roast without flavouring
  • A medium roast without flavouring

We’ll also have new Captain Marvel crocheted awesomeness!

  • Captain Marvel Basket
  • Captain Marvel Hair Clip
  • Captain Marvel Dice Bag

Hope to see you this weekend at Ottawa Comiccon!

I’m not going to See Captain Marvel

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

Why am I not going to see Captain Marvel? My in-laws (whom I go to the movies with) are out of town. We’ll go see it, probably, the 19th. I do wish I could go see it opening weekend but it’s time to ramp up for spring (by name only in Ottawa) convention season.

Did you think I was going to talk about the Brie Larson controversy?


The actor said in an interview:

“About a year ago, I started paying attention to what my press days looked like and the critics reviewing movies, and noticed it appeared to be overwhelmingly white male. So, I spoke to Dr. Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, who put together a study to confirm that. Moving forward, I decided to make sure my press days were more inclusive. After speaking with you, the film critic Valerie Complex and a few other women of color, it sounded like across the board they weren’t getting the same opportunities as others. When I talked to the facilities that weren’t providing it, they all had different excuses.”

This has led to plenty of insecure men to call her racist and sexist and somehow means she doesn’t want white men to see the movie. I’m not sure they’ve learnt to read critically.

Even after she said:

“What I’m looking for is to bring more seats up to the table. No one is getting their chair taken away. There’s not less seats at the table, there’s just more seats at the table.”

The angry white men are still very angry.

They’ll argue that it’s just about:

  • Bad writing – she’s overpowered
  • Ethics in Journalism – she shouldn’t get to choose
  • Should be a man – they think Mar’vel was a better character
  • Ruining science fiction – Because she’s too powerful
  • Bad acting – the Oscar winner just wasn’t built to be a superhero
  • Too feminist – there are women in the movie who are in the lead roles

I’m sure I missed some sad-puppy, proud boy, kkk, incel, gamergate, bullshit in there.

Long story short, the entire controversy is just another, in a long list, of made up sexist crap.

This movie looks amazing and I can’t wait, even though I will have to, to see it.

Éric

2015 Book Ranking

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Last year I read 32 books. I try to rate and review them all on Goodreads.

I’ve read some fantastic books this year and some absolutely terrible ones.

5 Star Rating (Amazing I highly recommend)

  1. Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Crushed  by Wilson, G. Willow
  2. Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal  by Wilson, G. Willow
  3. Touched by an Alien (Katherine “Kitty” Katt, #1)  by Koch, Gini
  4. Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid, #4)  by McGuire, Seanan
  5. Human by S.M. Carrière
  6. Blood Relations (Family By Choice, #1)  by Frechette, Caroline
  7. Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why  by Wilson, G. Willow
  8. The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who  by Cornell, Paul
  9. Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur  by Russell, Gary
  10. Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More  by DeConnick, Kelly Sue
  11. Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Down  by DeConnick, Kelly Sue
  12. Avengers: The Enemy Within  by DeConnick, Kelly Sue

4 Star Rating (Great. Read if you like the genre)

  1. Abracadaver (Esther Diamond, #7)  by Resnick, Laura
  2. Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)  by Erikson, Steven
  3. Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1) by McGuire, Seanan
  4. The Hunt For Atlantis (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase, #1)  by McDermott, Andy
  5. Tempest (Tempest, #1)  by Cross, Julie
  6. Something from the Nightside (Nightside, #1)  by Green, Simon R.
  7. Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, #1)  by Andrews, Ilona
  8. Neverwhere  by Gaiman, Neil
  9. Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps, #1)  by Stine, R.L.
  10. Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, #1)  by Briggs, Patricia

3 Star Rating (Fun but not amazing)

  1. Bloodring (Rogue Mage, #1)  by Hunter, Faith
  2. Staying Dead (Retrievers, #1)  by Gilman, Laura Anne
  3. Deadly Heat (Nikki Heat, #5)  by Castle, Richard
  4. Ghost of a Chance (Ghost Finders, #1)  by Green, Simon R.
  5. The Nymphos of Rocky Flats (Felix Gomez, #1)  by Acevedo, Mario

2 Star Rating (Disappointing)

  1. Gnome Man’s Land  by Friesner, Esther M.
  2. Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales, #1)  by Black, Holly
  3. Night Child (OSI, #1)  by Battis, Jes

1 Star Rating (Terrible)

  1. A Brewing Storm (Derrick Storm, #1) by Castle, Richard
  2. Desperate Measures (Angel’s Luck #1)  by Faust, Joe Clifford

 

Do you agree or disagree with my rankings?

Éric