Road to Superman (2025) - Kingdom Come Review

 

Alright back with another comic book review for this road to. Let's get to it.

Kingdom Come was a 1996 four part miniseries published by DC Comics under their Elseworlds imprint. The miniseries was written by Mark Waid and drawn by Alex Ross.

The story is, terrible events happened after an attack at the Daily Planet. These events caused the greatest hero of them all, Superman, to retire. Years later a new generation of heroes has emerged but their moral compass has become just as reckless as the villains. Having enough Superman returns and reforms the Justice League, but what nobody knows is this event will lead to a battle that'll define not only what true heroism is, but the future of the planet.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

I've got nothing here as well.

• Positives

One pro goes to the pacing. Now I have read this story before, but I forgotten about the pacing. So I was going into this clueless, and to my surprise it's a quick read. I breeze through this within a day and didn't miss any part of a great story.

My next praise goes to Alex Ross' art. This is gonna come out as a cop out but, my words truly don't do his work any justice. And if you don't believe me, here's a tiny snippet of what Alex Ross is capable of.

Oh yeah, this beauty right here doesn't even scratch the surface. You get tons more amazing pieces like this.

The last thing I'll praise is, the story. Let's start off with the very common praise. That being one part of the story is an old generation of superheroes vs. a new generation. Now one thing I've read from other reviews is how there's a meta commentary on how anti-heroes are no better than the villains. I don't tend to agree with that. That mainly just comes into the anti-heroes' designs. Combat boots, pouches, and awesome guns. All the big trends that were sweeping the comics industry during the 90's. To me the story was mainly about two generations colliding and their BOTH at fault. The new generation, no doubt about it, they're reckless. And yes, there are ones who shouldn't be labeled heroes, but at the same time that group did consist of people who wanted to change by the end of the story. The biggest one and essentially the spearhead of that generation [Magog] wanted to repent from his sins. What about the old generation? Superman's generation? Do they screw up? Oh yeah. At first their mission is very noble. Stop the recklessness and endangerment of innocent lives caught in the crossfire. But at some point during the story they over step and become more authority figures than heroes. So while I get the meta aspect, the story had a great gray story, it wasn't as black and white as a lot of people make it out to be. What I also praise is the growing tension. The moment were told Superman's return isn't a great return because it's the first step to heading towards the Armageddon, you're just anxiously waiting for the powder keg to blow. Another fantastic thing I loved as well as many others is this very jaded Superman's journey. When we first see him and read his dialogue, it's very clear that this isn't the usual Superman. At first he clearly wants nothing to superpowers, superheroes, etc. When he returns and notices maybe his not being the same hero he once was, he goes on a journey of what heroism truly is. It's this part of the story as to why even though it's primarily a DC Universe story (albeit set in a different universe), it's also called a great Superman story. My last praise goes to how Mark Waid brilliantly structured the story around The Bible's Book of Revelation. The symbolism is played beautifully and speaking on a stylized viewpoint, it really made the story even more mythical and grand.

Kingdom Come is a favorite of mine. I've read this at least five times, and it still, IT STILL amazes me.

My final rating is, A MUST READ!

That was a fun one. Anyways, come back on Saturday, Feb 1st, for my review of DreamWorks newest animated feature, Dog Man. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and read Kingdom Come.

Road to Karate Kids: Legends - The Karate Kid Part II Review

 

The Karate Kids Part II is the sequel to the classic 1984 film and the second movie of the franchise. Delphi V Productions worked on production with Columbia Pictures distributing. John G. Avildsen returned to direct with Robert Mark Kamen also returning to write.

The story is, six months after winning the all-valley tournament Daniel and Miyagi are enjoying not only their big win but also peace. This changes when Miyagi is given a letter saying his father is dying. The duo soon set out to Miyagi's home village on Okinawa Island, but this visit will soon reignite an old rivalry Miyagi had with a once good friend.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Now the story isn't bad, pretty obvious statement for me to make given where I've placed it but still. What the story does right is take our characters on a new adventure, give us new characters, and doesn't repeat the first one's plot. It's a pure continuation. Where it slightly dips is the balance. What I mean by that is the story is more focused on Miyagi. Which makes sense, we are going to HIS village because HIS dad is dying and so on. But Daniel is pushed to the side. Yes he still has something to do and still has a story. It's just when I was watching it it almost felt like Daniel was more supporting character and less main character.

• Positives

One positive aspect is the darker tone. Don't worry it's not full blown edgy, it's just things do get a lot more intense when compared to the original. Speaking of intense I really got a kick (does that count as a pun?) out of the final fight. Where as the first movie's fight was about winning a tournament, this one's final fight is for survival. I'm not joking. It's a literal fight to the death this time around. So while the first one is exciting because of winning, this one will make tense up because the stakes are much higher. The last thing I'll write is the chemistry between Ralph Macchio & Pat Morita, again. Despite the material not being as strong as the first, these two still deliver great performances and it's even better seeing them share the screen together.

The Karate Kid Part II has its flaws, but as far as sequels go this is an example of a pretty good one.

My final rating is, Good.

Well that was fun. Come back on Monday, Jan 27th, where I'll return to the Road to Superman (2025), with my review of the comic miniseries Kingdom Come. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Let's Not Trade One Censorship for an Old One

 

Hey guys, so initially I wasn't gonna do this because it'll get very political. And no, I'm not talking about the whole drama with TikTok. I never cared for it. No, I'm hear to talk about about people wanting to pick and chose what counts as entertainment.

What is This All About?

So, what caused me to do this? Well it all started on Dec 7, 2024 or maybe even earlier than that, internet personality going by the username of Melonie Mac commented on the video game called The First Descendant. She called it pornography among saying other ridiculous things. Now some of you are probably wondering why would she say such a thing. Well folks, here's the big "controversial" screenshot that got her panties in a bunch.

Yes, this very tamed in the grand scheme of things, this very tamed ass shot is what caused her to get all fussy (which by the way, that outfit is optional. It's not the only one the character has). So why am I along with everybody else on X making such a big deal about this? Because for weeks upon weeks now there has been a call for censorship. When Melonie Mac called this game pornography, said it was only something loser "gooners" would play, and said she doesn't want tits and ass put in her video games, when she said all of these things a rally cry was made. A rally cry that has gathered the likes of three guys I know, those being YouTubers Razorfist and The Quartering and a writer named Jon Del Arroz. They've all come together to say games like this shouldn't belong in the gaming community. And then claiming they're being attacked by gamers because they're all Christians.

So how does this relate to the title? Well folks for me to make sense of that, we're gonna have to travel back to the old days. The days of Satanic Panic all the way to now. Why? I'll explain soon.

The Satanic Panic Scare

First let me start off by saying no. I'm not gonna give you an entire history lesson. I'm just gonna give you a brief rundown so you'll have an understanding.

What Satanic Panic was is during the 80s and I do believe quite a bit of the 90s, there was a huge moral panic going around saying all of entertainment from movies to tv shows to video games to rock music and the biggest target of them all Dungeons & Dragons, were all part of the devils plan to corrupt to the youth of America. And when I mean all of entertainment, I mean all of entertainment. For crying out loud even The Smurfs weren't safe. Yes, somehow The Smurfs were also part of the occult.

The scare was one of the biggest and many well documented pro-censorship movements in America history. Unless you ask Jon Del Arroz who says things never happened but I digress. Now it seems like this has came and went but I do think it sometimes, not all the time, pops up once in awhile. Look no further than political commentator Matt Walsh calling anime satanic back in 2022.

Jack Thompson

Yeah I'm skipping ahead a bit here, but like I said before, I'm giving you a history lesson. I just want to info you about very similar forms of censorship that Melonie and her group seem to be fine with.

Now someone of probably wondering who is Jack Thompson? Jack was an activist who targeted rap music and Howard Stern but is infamous for his attack on video games. I may not have been around for Satanic Panic but I remember a lot about Jack Thompson. Thompson was so crazy against his hatred for video games that he called the violent ones "murder simulators" and even called these games "mental masturbation". They guy had such a hate boner for video games that he managed to weasel his way into two court cases. One occasion was back in 2004, when a man named Charles McCoy Jr. was charged with aggravated murder. When McCoy was captured the authorities find a copy of The Getaway. Thompson succeeded in getting search warrant where upon looking they found video games such as Max Payne. Another case that Jack felt like he had to be apart on was back in 1997. He filed a lawsuit on the behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Health High School shooting. Investigation showed that the shooter [Michael Carneal] had copies of games such as Doom, Quake, and Resident Evil.

Whatever Thompson was hoping to accomplishment failed miserably. The evidence for the McCoy case was thrown out because his [McCoy's] defense team was basing their case of paranoid schizophrenia and the evidence for the Carneal case was toss aside because it failed to present a legal recognizable claim.

There's many other cases he tried to present but the main thing was, Jack Thompson was insane and his claims were never proven. All of these murder cases was more about the person being insane then it was about violent video games.

Anita Sarkeesian

A lot of you are probably more aware of this woman so I'll keep it brief unlike what I just did with Jack Thompson.

Basically Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist activist who made a name for herself by attacking video games. She's similar to Jack Thompson because she also went after the whole violence is video games, but she was mainly about the quote unquote sexism in video games. She had main baseless claims saying female characters are just too sexualized and don't receive as much attention as their male counterparts. Which was ludicrous because 1) Okay sure the outfits could be sexy, but there are many female characters who don't wear outfits similar to the ones Mileena from Mortal Kombat would wear. 2) The female characters weren't as recognizable as their male counterparts? That's funny, cause I've heard the names of Lara Croft, Jill Valentine, Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, Tifa Lockhart, Sonya Blade, Chun-Li, and Samus Aran for my entire life.

So what she was hoping to accomplish was to take the beauty away from video games, well the female ones. The guys could look like hunks all they want, but if the female characters had to be tone down and almost look like dudes. And I dare say she got what she wanted.

Female characters don't look as good as the did years and the female characters are now "strong". I use the quotation marks because by strong I mean they've become very unlikable to the point where now when strong is used for female characters the product doesn't sell as well as it use too. Although it seems like there's been a shift since then because games like Stellar Blade and Marvel Rivals are not only getting positive reviews because of their fun gameplay, but because the female designs are going in the opposite direction of what Sarkeesian and her buddies wanted.

The Mask Comes Off

Now for the longest time the previously mentioned Melonie Mac, Razorfist, The Quartering, and Jon Del Arroz all seemed to be in favor of what gamers along with other anti-woke groups wanted. For entertainment to be fun, scantily clad women and all. But as people who I'll admit are much more smarter than I have pointed out, after Donald Trump's historic 2024 election win these four just took a turn. All of a sudden they're using insults and talking points that are very similar if not the same as the Satanic Panic groups and Anita Sarkeesian used. Sure they seem fine with the violence now, but how long before we get to Jack Thompson talking points?

To make matters worse these four exposed themselves as hypocrites. Melonie Mac is currently complaining about sexy outfits yet her favorite character, Lara Croft (the old one, not the reboot one) appeared in ads like these during the marketing for Tomb Raider III.

For any of you that are curious, that caption next to the title says "It's even better the third time".

And even if they didn't use the game model, they use real models for pretty funny stuff like this.

Now going by little Christian girl Melonie's logic, this is all porn and something only loser gooners would find enjoyment in playing.

Then we got little Christian boy Jon Del Arroz who use this artwork to promote his graphic novel The Hidden Emperor.

Hell, he loved this art so much he used it as the thumbnail for his Kickstarter and it's still being used as of writing this. Why isn't he shaming himself for this choice like he's shaming everybody else?

Then you have The Quartering who made a career about how female characters don't look as sexy as they were back in the old days, but now he's also going with "this looks like porn". But I think my favorite of all is Razorfist. Why? Because Razorfist is a WWE fan, primarily a fan of the company during in the 90s when they were in their Attitude Era. That same era where the women competed in bra and panties matches. What's a bra and panties match you might be asking? Well that's a pro wrestling match where two or more female wrestlers wrestling each other and strip their opponent down to, you guessed it, their bra and panties. I don't know about you but shouldn't Melonie and the others be shaming Razorfist? Cause that sounds very pornographic to me!

The Worst Thing About It All

Now if you been paying attention you'll noticed I used the word Christian twice and Christians twice as well. Why is that? Is it because I hate Christians? No! I just don't like these four individuals form of Christianity. It's in your face, holy then thou, and above all else just obnoxious. But if you're a Christian, Catholic, Agnostic, Buddhist, and etc. who doesn't force their beliefs down everybody's throat and demand others follow your path, I think that makes you cool. I think you'll be even cooler if your prayer is wishing good will to others whether they follow your belief system or not. Hell, you sound like a great person to me.

But this is what I found to be the worst thing. Sure those four will more than likely lose followers and such, but they'll more than likely keep a steady pace. But their actions doesn't make their belief system look good it's gonna make it look worse for it.

In Conclusion

Basically, what I'm saying is this, there's companies that are dropping their more woke policies. Thus it seems like 2025 might, might not well be the year where woke groups could possibly lose their grips on things. I'm not saying woke is gonna die, it's gonna be awhile before we get some truly real politically incorrect entertainment. But baby steps are better than no steps at all. With that being said we can't get rid of one from of censorship, in this case wokeness, and then have something as old as Bible thumping censorship take it's place. Sure TV stations can bleep or cut out words like fuck, motherfucker, and shit, but those TV stations, me, Melonie Mac, Quartering, Razorfist, Jon, and not even you get to decide what can and can't be made. It doesn't matter what it is. A movie, tv show, video game, comic book, book, or song, we not the ones who get to make that decision. Unless there was undisputed proof that the form of media itself did do harm somebody, and I don't mean the people behind the scenes, I mean the movie or video game itself did the harmful act. Then we have no reason to attack it. Until then, if there's a piece of entertainment you don't like then keep your mouth shut and move onto to something else.

Anyhow, sorry if I put you guys in a bitter mood. I just REALLY needed to get that off my chest. But don't worry, I'll get us back to more fun stuff later and it'll happen on Thursday, Jan 23rd for the next part of the Road to Karate Kid: Legends with my review of The Karate Kid Part II. Until then, enjoy Inauguration Day, Martin Luther King Day, or both. Either way, enjoy the rest of your day.

Wolf Man Review

 

Wolf Man is a horror movie and reboot of the iconic 1941 film, The Wolf Man. Blumhouse Productions and Cloak & Co. were in charged of production with Universal Pictures distributing. Leigh Whannell directed as well as wrote the story with Corbett Tuck.

The story is, after being told his father has died, Blake decides to take his wife and daughter to his childhood home in order to repair his relationship with his spouse. But as soon as they get there a bloodthirsty wolf like monster wants to devour them. Now the family must survive the night or perish.

Initial Reaction

I was excited to see this solely for Leigh Whannell. He's a tremendous director, I loved what he did with his version of The Invisible Man and I had a good feeling he could do something great with Wolf Man.

Cons

I've got nothing to say for this section.

Middle Ground

There's a lot for this section starting with the pacing. In some areas it wasn't too bad pretty good actually. But there are a lot of instances where it's slow, so slow you almost feel the runtime. Then there's the tension. There's quite a few scenes that are executed really well, there are times though where I wasn't exactly scared but I was still enjoying what was going on. For this next part I'm gonna lump dialogue and characters together. Because they were both the same thing and that was serviceable. For me, I wasn't disappointed in those aspects of the movie and at the same time I wasn't blown away either. Both of these things were just fine nothing to get completely upset about. For the last part of the middle ground portion I'll dedicate it to the Wolf Man itself. Let's start off with the good. I loved what they did with the transformation. As suppose to doing the typical thing of bite then one howl later werewolf, we're instead treated to it being more like a flesh eating disease. The guy loses his teeth, his hair falls out, his skin looks like it's decaying. It's really sick stuff and helps separate it from other wolf man transformations. However design wise...not so impressive. Sure the makeup and stuff is really good, I can't fault the artist for that it's just the final form just didn't look cool. From what I've heard Leigh Whannell was shooting for something that looked like it was wolf and man clashing. That sounds great but what we got looks like the transformation stopped at the halfway point.

Pros

Really the only thing I truly liked was Leigh Whannell's directing. While he and Corbett didn't have the strongest script, I can't say his directing sucked. He did a fantastic job directing.

While not Leigh's worst work as a filmmaker, it is one of his weakest, especially compared to the previously mentioned Invisible Man and his criminally underrated sci-fi film Upgrade. Having said that it's fine for what it is. I'm not gonna rush in to get the DVD or Blu-Ray but I'm not gonna feel like my time was wasted either.

My final rating is, Okay.

So that's all for now. Come back on Monday, Jan 20th, where I'll be stepping back from reviewing and write about censorship and how one shouldn't be traded for another. If you want to know what I'm talking about like I said before come back on Monday. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare Review

 

Yep, I'm reviewing another one of these. What can I say? Brandon Tenold is the Godzilla guy, Shady Doorags is the King of the Hill guy, AVGN is the LJN guy, and I guess I'm the childhood public domain horror movie guy...? Enough of this stupid opening let's get to it.

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare is a British indie horror movie and is the third installment of the Twisted Childhood Universe. Production was done ITN Studios and Jagged Edge Productions and distributed by Iconic Events Releasing. Scott Jeffrey both wrote and directed.

The story is, adults have been getting murdered and their children have been kidnapped. One of the kids that have been taken is Michael Darling. Now, his older sister Wendy goes on a quest to find him, but first she must survivor the killer behind all of this, Peter Pan.

Initial Reaction

Now as I've stated before, I've been reviewing these types of movies for quite awhile, so what's the point of stopping? But I also wanted to see this because Peter Pan can be a horror movie. Yeah if you read the original J.M. Barrie story it's messed up and a far cry from the Disney flick.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

We've got not one, not two, but three gray areas with this one. Starting with the pacing. It wasn't too bad but we do have moments were things are slow then speed up for the better, then slow, and then speed up. So the pacing can be a bit of a roller coaster ride. Then we have our characters. Some are okay but I think the one that got the worse was sadly Peter Pan. I get they wanted to keep things a mystery and that's perfectly fine. Not every horror villain needs e every aspect of their backstory told, but we got nothing, absolutely nothing. So it's not gonna be surprising to hear that people had a hard time understanding Peter's character cause they weren't given anything. Then there's the story. Yes, it's very typical. You're not given something groundbreaking BUT, there is some fun to be had. Whether it's because you actually like the movie or you & your buddies just riff on it like Mystery Science Theater 3000/Rifftrax, you'll have some sort of fun.

Pros

There's two things going for the flick. That's makeup and special effects and the kills. Now the kills might not go on a top ten list but they're very brutal. So don't say I didn't warn you. Then there's the special effects and makeup. After the first Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey movie it's very refreshing to see the makeup is given a huge upgrade, even if that budget is only in the hundred-thousands range. But hey, the magic of wise money management and makeup artists am I right?

Much like the previous installments, Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare isn't perfect but as long as you're entertained then you won't be bored.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Jan 18th, for yet another horror movie review only this time with Wolf Man. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Captain America: Brave New World - Captain America: Civil War Review

 

Well folks here we are, the last part of the Road to Captain America: Civil War. Let's get to it.

Captain America: Civil War is a comic book movie loosely based on the Marvel Comics' miniseries Civil War. The movie serves as a sequel to the first two flicks and is the 13th installment to the MCU. Marvel Studios produced while Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures did distributing. The Russo Brothers returned to direct and also returning to write was Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

The story is, after an explosion killed several humanitarian workers during a mission the U.N. has had enough of heroes doing their own thing. They pass the Sokovia Accords which will oversea and control the Avengers. Because of this, Captain America and Iron Man have not only gone head to head with each other, but have also started to bring in others in their war as well.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

There's quite a few slight issues, one being the use of humor. Now in some instances it's very effective and can get a laugh out of you. But there's other times when it's just not needed. Like for instance Black Widow and Hawkeye are fighting, but instead of the exchange being heated it's just them cracking jokes at each other even though this is supposed to be a war of both physicality and ideologies. So if there was ever a time when the humor factor should've been very very very low, this was one of those movies.

Then there's the villain. Yes while the heroes are fighting each other there's a villain pulling some of their own strings. And I gotta say this guy needed more development. I liked that pulling the string factor that was good, but we don't get to know a single thing about him until the third act and by that time the movie's wrapping up. I get the writers wanted to do a whole shrouded in mystery thing but we could've have gotten information sprinkled throughout. 

Lastly there's the story. Let's talk about the good. I liked how Captain America and Iron Man got great development. We get to know how they feel about the Sokovia Accords, and why Tony supports it and why Cap is against it. And much like the graphic novel the question is brought up about how much control should the government how over something like superhumans. Those parts were truly the best and I loved that stuff. However we do got two other problems. One being the structure. Now we do get a couple of moments to breath and see a debate between Iron Man & Captain America. But then in what felt like a snap of a finger we're in action scene and then another action scene. It's like they couldn't decided whether to a serious political thriller with bits of action or have an action flick with some slight slow moments. So they thought "Hey let's try the best of both worlds". Then there's character development. Now like I said before Cap & Tony great stuff, everybody else not so much. Okay not everybody everybody. Black Panther has a good revenge arc and the story between Wanda & Vision is alright. But other than Steve, Tony, Black Panther, Wanda, and Vision, others don't have much to do. Some are just standing around waiting for the next thing to happen or they'll be shoehorned into the story, *cough Spider-Man cough*.

• Positives

Alright I'll get this next part brief cause you're probably winded after my mix feelings. One positive is the Russo Brothers' directing. I mentioned in my Captain America: The Winter Soldier review I said they weren't the flashiest directors. I misworded. What I should've said was they weren't the flashiest for that movie. Here, there were a lot of good looking shots. So with this movie while not having the strongest story, I think I saw the Russos' step up, like they took the next step when it comes to style.

The last thing I'll touch on is the action. I can't deny it, I will debate about the story until the end of time, but I won't deny that the action is awesome. The airport fight and Iron Man vs. Captain America & Bucky being the biggest highlights. Especially Iron Man vs. Captain America & Bucky, that had some great, intense emotions put into along with some great fighting.

While it has flaws I still enjoyed Captain America: Civil War. It's serviceable and if somebody whether it'd be friends or family decided to watch it with me, they won't hear any arguments.

My final rating is, Okay.

So that's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Jan 16th, for my review of Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Civil War Review

 

Just wanted to say, great variant cover by the late and underrated Michael Turner.

Civil War was a 2006-2007 crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics. It consisted of seven issues but as the per usual case with these big crossovers, there were many tie-ins. Mark Millar wrote the story arc, with Steve McNiven being the penciler.

The story is, after a huge battle causes an explosive that kills more than 600 civilians, people's perspective on superhumans is changing. Soon a Superhuman Resignation Act is put into action, now heroes supporting the act and heroes rebelling it are at war with each other.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

If there's one mixed feeling I have it's with the story. First let's start off with all of the good, because there's plenty of it. For instance there's a very realistic reason for why the resignation act is put in place. It was all because of a fight that escalated. And by fight I don't mean something cosmic or anything. It was a simple heroes vs. villains. Then there's how much character work was put into this. We get to understand why Iron Man and Captain America are chose which sides they're on. And we're left debating who's side would we pick. Not to mention put we also get other points of view. Some characters we know and some we don't know. We especially dive into how Spider-Man's all conflicted, and he winds up being the heart of the matter. Then there's how we see both Iron Man and Cap get desperate and both are falling from grace. Now we get into the mix bags. One being the pacing. Sometimes the pace is good, it goes by perfectly. But then there'll be times when things do rap up quickly. The biggest example being the final fight. I don't mind the character's reason for surrendering, but it did feel like the two leaders are fighting then it's stopped, and we're wrapping up the story. I think the ending would've been better had it been eight issues. Issue seven can be the big brawl for all, then we end with a cliffhanger on the character being shocked by their actions, then issue eight can be the ending. Oh and there's also this weird cyborg clone thing with one of the original founding members of the Avengers. I bring this up because even though we get a prison from another dimension, the story was, for a majority of the time, mainly feeling very grounded. So this whole robo-clone did feel a little weird, for me anyhow.

• Positives

Now for the real praises. Let's start off with the rising tension. From back to issue one you just feel the escalation starting to build, and the more and more it builds you know this isn't gonna end pretty. I also like how this story had stakes. Usually these big crossovers are just a way for the big two [DC & Marvel] to make the comic book version of a popcorn blockbuster. Which I don't mind. Because unless it's something huge like a multiverse crisis or a big monumental invasion then yes the entire universe should feel this. However here, it's not either of those two. This story effected the Marvel universe because the resignation was such a big deal. It divided friends, co-workers, couples whether they're married or not. Hell, Civil War did what some, not all, but some crossover events don't do. It had ramifications. The last but best praise goes to Steve McNiven's art. He's phenomenal. His art makes the characters feel and look real, we see how they feel with just facial expressions, and the way he draws action can be pretty brutal. And sometimes, it can just look really cool. Just look.

And I didn't even show half of the incredible work Steve did. At best that was bare minimal and even then that's a stretch to say that's the bare minimal.

Civil War does have some issues, but honestly I just can't help but love it. Cause there is quite a lot of good in it.

My final rating is, Good.

So anyways, come back on Thursday, Jan 9th, for the last part of my Road to Captain America: Brave New World, with my review of Captain America: Civil War. Yeah, much like Winter Soldier I figured I'd review the comic story before the movie, as a way to get you interested in my review. So until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

My Most Anticipated Movies of 2025

 

Alright! New year, new movies, and new anticipation lists. Let's do this!

First up is Wolf Man. I want to see this because of one man, Leigh Whannell. I swear when he's directing you're gonna get something great. He absolutely killed it with the remake of The Invisible Man, and I think he's gonna kill it again with this one.

Next is Dog Man. Now I didn't read any of the Dog Man books, I'll make sure to do that later but, having seen the trailer and getting a few good laughs out of it, I'm gonna give it a chance.

I don't typically get excited for a movie because of a studio, but because 87North Productions is the one behind Love Hurts I just can't help but be excited. When it comes to making action flicks this studio hasn't disappointed me or anybody else. Everybody loves the John Wick films, I liked Nobody, Bullet Train was awesome, Violent Night is one of my newer Christmas movies to watch during the season, and The Fall Guy was pretty good too. So fingers crossed we get another entertaining movie.

Not counting Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Deadpool & Wolverine, lately the MCU has either just been decent or terrible. Hopefully Captain America: Brave New World is one of the better ones. The trailers have been really good and they've sparked my interest. So once again, fingers crossed.

Next we have The Gorge. Much like Wolf Man the reason for wanting to see this is because of who's behind the camera, in this instance it's Scott Derrickson. He did great with his last film [The Black Phone] so I'm very excited to see what him and his cast and crew have in store for this one.

Here's a movie I'm looking forward to because it felt like it took forever to find a distributor even though Warner Bros. themselves could've been the distributor, but I digress. Anyhow, I'm looking for to The Day The Earth Blew Up. It seems like it could be funny, it couldn't possibly be worse than Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Then there's The Electric State. I think the Russo Bros. have done a great job both with the MCU and outside the MCU. Then I saw the trailer and got even more hyped. It looks like it could get pretty crazy and I'm all for it.

The next movie is titled A Working Man (formerly called Levon's Trade). This one is packed with talent. We've got Sylvester Stallone writing, we've got David Ayer directing (by the way #ReleaseTheAyerCut), and we've got Jason Statham starring! With just those three names alone how could I not be excited?!

Moving onto The Accountant 2. I like the first movie, I think it's underrated, and it feels so good to know we're finally getting sequel after so many years of waiting.

Next is Karate Kid: Legends. I'm a fan of Karate Kid, so much so that I'm watching the old movies, then later on reviewing them, and catching up on Cobra Kai, so let's hope we got a good one.

Onto The Life of Chuck. The director for this is Mike Flanagan. He's done great work within the horror genre with movies such as Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game, and Doctor Sleep. So I'm very interested in how he'll be going out of his comfort zone with this sci-fi drama.

Then there's Ballerina. It may not have John Wick in it but I'll be interesting to explore more of the world that John Wick lives in.

Our next movie is 28 Years Later. The first two movies [28 Days Later & 28 Weeks Later] are just phenomenal, and we've been waiting for the third movie for almost eighteen years. Holy f@#k did I feel old writing that, anyways, and lastly that trailer...wow. I don't know who made that but he or she better have gotten one hell of a paycheck.

I don't know what is about racing movies but as of late then seem to be a winning formula for Hollywood. First Ford v Ferrari and then surprisingly Gran Turismo. So because of those fun flicks I'm hoping F1 will be another great time at the theater.

Now for another horror movie, that one being M3GAN 2.0. Simply put, I thought M3GAN was a fun horror flick, especially if you saw the unrated cut, so naturally I'd be excited for the sequel.

Next on the list is Jurassic World Rebirth. I want to see this because yes I love the Jurassic Park franchise, but mainly this is curiosity. Because after Dominion where else are you going to go with the story?

Yeah I bet this one totally caught you by surprise (I am of course using sarcasm). Yes I'm planning to see Superman (2025). Now I'm highly skeptical about James Gunn's DCU, I'll explain in July when we're closer to the movie being out in theaters. But, I'm a fan of this character and that trailer did give me just a tiny itty bitty piece of hope. However I'm still gonna skeptical.

Next one is The Naked Gun (2025). Now I'm primarily going to see because I suspect that Liam Neeson has done comedy before, but after the Taken movies I'm so use to seeing Neeson being a serious guy that seeing him in a full blown comedy might just be an experience.

First it was Dog Man, now we have another animated movie with The Bad Guys 2. I enjoyed the first movie, thought it was pretty fun, and I'm hoping the sequel will be that same enjoyable vibe.

There's also gonna be a sequel to Nobody. Much like The Bad Guys, I found enjoyment out of the first and became of that I'm planning to see the sequel.

Apparently Scott Derrickson thought he didn't have enough work to do, because not only is he giving us The Gorge but he's also giving us The Black Phone 2. The first Black Phone was very well done, I thought it was one of the better horror movies to come out of 2022. So hopefully the sequel can recapture that magic.

Now to move forward to Mortal Kombat 2. The first one was very much flawed but I felt like there was potential. So hopefully the filmmakers heard the constructive criticisms and deliver something good. And hopefully they gave Cole Young a personality.

Next up is Predator: Badlands. Other than Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, I haven't been fully disappointed with this franchise. Yes, some installments are better than others but for me nothing has gotten me truly mad other than the previously mentioned AvP: Requiem. So I'm looking forward to this, especially since this time around we're going to wasteland with this one's story.

2025 will also bring us a remake of The Running Man but were not gonna have just any director for this, we'll have Edgar Wright. Wright has made some great films such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, to more recently Last Night in Soho. So I think Edgar is gonna bring it.

The last one is Avatar: Fire and Ash. I thought the first two were very well done, so I'm looking forward to where James Cameron takes the story this time around, obviously a fire tribe but you get what I mean. And better yet, we didn't have to wait over a thirteen years for this 😆.

Alright so that was my list. Hopefully I can review at least half of these, but that's all for now. Come back on Monday, Jan 6th, for my review of Civil War...the Marvel comic book series not the movie that came out last year. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.