Today is a bit of a sad day because it's the last installment of " Into the MCU ".  It's been a heck of ride, and I can't think of a better way to end it than with a movie about one of my favorite superheroes- Spider:Man... Thanos has been defeated.  The universe has been saved... but Tony Stark is gone. Peter Parker, still dealing with the grief of losing his mentor decides he wants to take a break from super heroics by taking a school field trip of Europe.  But his plans are soon hijacked by events beyond his control ... " Spider-Man: Far From Home " is a nice little "epilogue" to the whole " Infinity Saga ", as it deals with the loss of Tony Stark, and it's affect on Peter Parker.  It is a wonderful blend of action, humour, and drama.  To be honest, it is one of the few movies that rings true as a Spider-Man movie.  The story moves at a quick, smooth pace, and is pretty coherent and tight.  There are a couple of sub-pl...

Here it is: the climax of our journey into the MCU.  The movie that 11 years of movies had been leading up to... " Avengers: Endgame "! Thanos has won.  The Avengers have been defeated, and half the universe has been wiped from existance. But wait... the random reappearance of Ant-Man offers a glimmer of hope.  Can the Avengers reverse the damage, and ultimately save the Universe from the Mad Titan? " Avengers: Endgame " is, in my opinion much more tightly written than " Avengers: Infinity War " in my opinion.  This is helped by having a pretty clear format for telling the sub-plots.  The start of the movie sets up the mood and setting of the "post-snap" world, and how the Avengers have been dealing with such a devastating loss before introducing the main plotline.  A nicely balanced story giving all of the remaining characters a chance to shine and have their moment. I was especially pleased by the growth they allowed Black Widow by g...

Today takes us to war... infinite war... Thanos is coming.  He hungers for the Infinity Stones. With them, he can bring "balance" to the universe... and it's up to The Avengers to stop him... This movie is essentially one battle scene after the other, with bits of story within it.  There are a lot of story threads to follow- possibly too many.  To be honest, I don't remember too many of them- though I do have say that Thor's story line was my favorite.  It was exciting and emotional, and fun, and intense. The characters are great... but are unfortunately diluted due to how much they're trying to pack into this movie.  Once again, the ones that stood out for me were those taking part in Thor's character arc- Thor, Loki, Hulk/Banner, Groot, Rocket.  The others... once again- I don't remember much of the others.  This is a shame since the other characters are generally just as enjoyable. Where this movie shines really, is the spectacle. ...

As Wednesday rolls around, the portal to the Marvel Cinematic Universe opens up again... beckoning me to enter a world of superheroes fantastic adventures... While under house arrest, Lang receives visions purporting to be the supposedly dead wife of Hank Pym.  Convinced she's alive in the Quantum Realm, Lang, Hank and Hope set out to rescue her... but to do so, they must race against time and a mysterious "ghost" haunting their every step... " Ant-Man and the Wasp " is a fun little story that follows in the same mold as the first " Ant-Man " movie.  It doesn't deal with a cosmic threat.  Rather this story is more ground level and character driven.  It moves along at a nice clip, and keeps you interested in what's happening. All of our favorite characters are back from the first movie- including Luis, and they use this movie as an opportunity to add depth and breadth to the characters.  The antagonists are interesting and even engaging...

Wednesday comes upon us, and the call to travel to another world comes with it- a colour world of heroes and villains... the Marvel Cinematic Universe... Odin is dead, releasing his daughter Hela from her long confinement.  She begins her conquest of Asgard, and sweeps across the planet swiftly and viciously. It is up to Thor to stop her, but he's stranded on a gladiator planet across the cosmos without his hammer.  His only hope of defeating Hela lies within an ancient prophecy about the end of Asgard... Of the Thor movies to date, " Thor: Ragnarok " is by one of the strongest ones story-wise.  It's grounded more in the characters, and moves along at a quicker pace than the others.  I loved the shift in tone from the strong operatic one in " Dark World ", to the slightly more modern and vibrant one of "Ragnarok".  A really marvelous blend of action, drama, and humour that elevated this movie about the standard fare. This movie also give...

For decades, comics have been written primarily for white men, with very little representation of other cultures and races... and when those other cultures and races were shown, they were usually shown as ridiculously derogatory stereotypes. The same can be said for movies. Fortunately, as time has gone by, things have improved... giving us movies like 2018's " Black Panther "... His father dead, T'Challa returns to Wakanda to ascend to the throne.  But his rule is threatened as a shadowy man by the name of Erik Stevens is determined to take the thrown for himself... and take Wakanda to war... While it's not the best of the MCU films, I found " Black Panther " to be an exceptionally entertaining, and emotionally satisfying film.  The story really build the history, and culture of Wakanda and the "tribes" that comprise it.  To be honest, I found the culture building to be THE best part of the movie for me- though the "palace intr...

After taking my birthday off, I'm back with this week's installment of " Into the MCU ".  This week, we try to look past the mystical illusions of movie magic, and seek the deeper meanings of 2016's " Doctor Strange "... Doctor Stephen Strange is a brilliant, but arrogant neurosurgeon.  After a car accident jeopardizes his career, he seeks medical help.  When modern science fails him, he turns to the realm of the miraculous.  The realm of magic... I must confess that I was really interested in seeing this movie.  I was quite impressed with how the plot with the "villain" was actually, secondary to the plot line detailing Strange's growth as a character.  But you don't really notice, and you don't mind.  I was fascinated by what was happening, and how well they crafted the world of magic, and laid a solid foundation for how it fits into the MCU as a whole.  While it fits into the MCU nicely, it also stood on it's ow...

Jay here taking over for Mike S as it's his birthday, and we all deserve a break on our birthdays. But our trek Into the MCU must go on, so I'm stepping in for a look back at Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was the first feature film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to focus on our Friendly Neighbourhood Wall Crawler... with a little help from Tony Stark, who surprisingly provides the movie's conscience. Robert Downey Jr. is awesome, as always. Just in case you're wondering... Although some liberties were taken with the character -- including the inclusion of special suits provided by our man Tony -- this is still the best incarnation of the character ever put on screen. This is largely due to Tom Holland stepping into the tights as Spider-Man. He is THE BEST Spider-Man ever, finding the kid inside the costume which, I admit, brought out the kid inside me. Spider-Man's adventures are supposed to be fun, and this movie is just that. There's equal measures...

This week's journey into the MCU takes us into space, as a band of misfits come together to guard the galaxy... and discover what family is... Peter Quill is a space pirate.  Gamora is an assassin.  Rocket and Groot are bounty hunters.  Drax is a man seeking death and revenge.  Their paths all come together as they seek to keep a powerful artifact out of the hands of a power seeking tyrant. Together, these outcasts and misfits will become the galaxy's last hope for survival ... " Guardians of the Galaxy " has one of the stronger team based storylines in the MCU.  Possibly stronger than the " Avengers " movies.  The threat is cosmic, but the plotlines are very personal and intimate- very character driven rather than action driven.  It moves between humour, action, drama, pathos, and back smoothly while moving you towards the climax.  An enjoyable ride you aren't aware of taking because you're just to involved in the moment. The character...

I'm swinging back into the MCU this week with the second Captain America film- 2014's " Captain America: The Winter Soldier "! After being thawed out, Captain America is now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the organization begins preparations for the implementation of its secret Project: Insight.  Voicing his reservations about the project, Captain America soon realizes that things are very "wrong" with the organization. Who can he trust? And how is the mysterious assassin with the metal arm? I have to say that the story for " Captain America: The Winter Solider " is one of the stronger ones within the MCU solo character movies.  There's action, suspense, intrigue, humour.  It's got all the elements of a great comic book movie.  It's fast paced with just enough slower moments to allow for some decent character development.  I loved the flow and the way it weaved its different plots and sub-plots together into a tightly made whole...

This week as we travel through the MCU, we stop off at the movie that changed comic book movies- and franchises in general: 2012's " The Avengers ". This movie completed the evolution of Marvel's concept of a shared movie universe that would bring multiple franchises together under one franchise.  This would lead to studios from trying to look for franchises that could potentially share a universe and interact together (like Legendary's successful incorporation of the Godzilla and King Kong franchises, or Universal's failed Dark Universe bringing the "Universal Monsters" together). But as a movie itself, it's a moderately good film.  The story is certainly interesting, and engaging.  The little twists, turns and threads coming together to the grande finale kept me watching. For me, the flaw was the characters.  I loved the development of Captain America, Black Widow, and Bruce Banner/Hulk.  I was a little disappointed in how little Thor,...

Centuries before we had comics, we had mythology- stories that created the super human stereotypes that are used by many comic book characters today. So it was only natural that the gods and goddesses of old would wind up being translated into the modern medium.  The Norse god Thor was one such god.  And not only that, he then got translated into movie form as part of the MCU's 2011 "Thor"... Arrogant, cocky, and headstrong, Thor breaks a treaty between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants.  As punishment, he is banished to Midgard- a planet inhabited by primitive creatures with potential for greatness... humans.  Soon after his arrival, Thor becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, the king Odin... I must confess that I was never a fan of Thor in the comics- though I do enjoy the old Norse stories about him.  I wasn't expecting a lot when I sat down to watch " Thor ", but wound up enjoying it. The story is simple, but well writ...

Wednesday arrives again- and with it, another installment of " Into the MCU ".  This week, we bulk up and get incredible with 2008's " The Incredible Hulk "... Mild mannered scientist Bruce Banner is part of a "super soldier" project to grant soldiers immunity to gamma radiation. But something goes wrong... and Bruce Banner is thrust into a world of anger management issues, super heroics... and trying to find pants that'll survive "leg day"... I will start off by saying that 2008's " The Incredible Hulk " is certainly better than " The Hulk " that came out in 2003. The story is  much more focused and smoother, and offers the audience more emotional depth and intensity.  It has a pretty good balance between action, drama and humor that moves along at a pretty solid speed.  I wasn't left bored by it, and found it to be quite cohesive and tightly written- with very few loose threads. The characters- o...

It's Wednesday again, and you know what that means, right? Right!  It's time for another sojourn into the Marvel Cinematic Universe!  This week's trip takes us to 2010's " Iron Man 2 "... Tony Stark discovers that the miniature arc reactor that's keeping him alive is actually slowly killing him.  Growing reckless and more morose as he contemplates dying, he searches for an alternative. Meanwhile, a ghost from his father's past comes forth with the intention of getting revenge for the sins of the father... While I wouldn't say that " Iron Man 2 " is as good as the first one, it is still a fairly solid movie for the franchise.  You can see that the actual building blocks of the MCU are starting to be put in place before the big team-up movie, " The Avengers ".  I loved that the story is much more character based than action based than many comic book movies- and deals with some pretty serious themes, such as facing our ...

This week's trip into the Marvel Cinematic Universe sees us jumping from World War Two to the 1990's via 2019's " Captain Marvel "... Vers is a Kree soldier without a past- a hazy history blocked by a traumatic incident years prior.  Fighting against the Skrull army, she finds herself crash landing on Earth in 1995, and confronted by who she really is... and what her full potential could be... This was the first MCU movie with a female lead character and performer.  It's a decent enough effort... but it has some serious flaws that weaken it greatly when compared to others in the franchise. The story isn't bad.  Not great, though.  It's actually pretty standard fare... that unfortunately relies heavily on a rather outdated- and problematic trope.  Let's see if you recognize it: A white skinned soldier is fighting in a war against a race described as being savages.  White skinned soldier finds themselves surrounded by the "savages...

One of Hollywood's biggest phenomena over the years has been the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe- a shared universe of superhero movies spanning a total of 11 years, and 23 films.  In this series, I will be covering these films in chronological order- starting with 2011's " Captain America: The First Avenger "... It is World War Two, and the allies are facing a threat that could result in the Nazis gaining world domination.  To combat the research of Johann Schmidt and his advanced weaponry, the United States creates S.H.I.E.L.D, and begins a super soldier program. This results in Steve Rogers becoming Captain America... and the Allies only hope for victory... Of the 23 MCU films created so far, I have to say that " Captain America: The First Avenger " is in my top five favourites.  The story is engaging and fun, while also allowing for some actual development of the character.  The story reflects fairly well the type of superhero origins ...

Recently, I did a list of my top five DC heroes that I felt deserved a big screen adaptation ( you can read it here ).  It's only fair that I do one for Marvel, right? Right. I have to be honest though- I'm not altogether familiar with the Marvel heroes, having grown up mostly reading DC... however, there are a few that have caught my eye over the years, and I think would make good movie entertainment.

Jason and Shawn return to the airwaves with this, the first segment created for Radio NL 610AM Kamloops! The episode broadcast earlier today, but you can hear it here again -- or for the first time -- thanks to modern podcast technology.

The dust has settled, the hype his over, and almost everyone and their dog has watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier . Which means it's my turn to weigh in on Marvel's latest follow up to The Avengers . Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from an old foe, the Soviet agent known as The Winter Soldier.

At this point, I don't think my anticipation level can get any higher for Marvel's upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy . I mean, a big budget tentpole movie directed by the guy who made Slither and Super ? How sold am I? Very! And this new clip/bit of coolness for  James Gunn 's flick just makes me want to see it even more. Check it: