superhero

Movie Reviews 4/5: Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse

Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, scifi, superhero, Young Adult ,
I don’t own the image. It’s a general promo one meant to get suckers to the movies.

Summary:

An interesting origin story. A man is hell-bent on messing with realities so he can save his family. Miles Morales doesn’t quite fit in the prep school world he’s in. Then, he gets bit by a radioactive spider and becomes Spider-Man.

Additional Comments:

  • Cool idea. Impractical and improbable but there’s a good story inside anyway.
  • I am not particularly a Spider-Man fan, but I have seen many of the movies.
  • This movie very much embraces being a comic book franchise.
  • Stan Lee’s cameo was especially meaningful now that he’s gone.
  • I probably would have enjoyed it more if many parts didn’t give me a headache. The whole end fight looks like a bad dream.
  • Miles is a cool underdog kind of a character. The kid is just finding his way in the world, mostly poorly until he gains superpowers. Gwen Stacey, Peni and her robopal, cartoon spider-pig, Spiderman-noir, and several Peter Parkers make for an interesting team of misfit spider people.
  • End credit scene was NOT worth it, not by a long shot.
  • Seeing the different realities and permutations of the same story was kind of a nice touch.

Conclusion:

Whether you are a casual Spider-Man fan or a diehard, you can find something tolove in here. Don’t know if it’s worth going to see in costume, as the peoplenext to me did, but it’s a fun movie overall.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 ….)

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

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Movie Reviews 4.5/5: Venom

Julie Gilbert Horror, Movie Reviews, Paranormal, scifi, superhero , , ,

Movie poster

4.5/5 Venom; Surprisingly Good Comic Book Movie

*mild spoilers possible*

Summary:

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) has it all: a great job as an investigative reporter, a beautiful fiancée, and a really nice apartment. One mistake/ moral choice costs him all of that. Six months later, he’s broke, living in a run-down apartment, job hunting, and very single.  Meanwhile, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) is a very wealthy business owner trying to save mankind by getting alien and human biology to be symbiotic to each other.

Additional Comments:

  • One of my friends said he overheard some young teens chatting afterwards, saying they were bored by the first half of the movie. I am grateful there was some setup involved. You got to see the rise and fall of Eddie Brock. This same friend also mentioned that since Tom Hardy played Eddie and voiced Venom, it was basically him talking to himself the whole movie.
  • CGI and special effects worked well enough. Venom’s not exactly going to be the poster child for hero, nor it is the best comic book movie I’ve ever seen. The general vibe of the movie goes toward action/horror.
  • Humor: There’s some. Not as much as most Marvel movies, but there are some well-timed funny lines. Venom can be sentimental and deadly.
  • So why the high rating: I found it entertaining. It’s not a deep-thinker, twisty movie. A guy picks up an alien and a lot goes down soon thereafter. There’s a certain amount of logic to the plot. Sure, there are quite a few predictable things, but it should hit the fandom-pleaser mark.
  • A note about expectations: The source material for this movie is a comic book series. You have to expect a certain amount of campy split from reality.
  • Parental Warning: Not exactly family fun. This movie does come with quite a few curses and at least one f-bomb.
  • Action movie: There’s a nice motorcycle/car chase and quite a few smaller fight scenes. The two larger fight scenes near the end didn’t have much suspense but they still scored.
  • I guess you could go into the ethical debates about progress vs human life, but generally, it’s recommended you leave it as an afternoon entertainment piece.

Conclusion:

Worth watching on a big screen. Going to the movies is expensive, but if you’re going to watch something like Venom where it’s pretty much about the fights, a giant screen is recommended.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

 

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live. Some of the crazy scientists in Venom reminded me of these people.

Audiobook Reviews 4.45/5 Sensation by Kevin Hardman (A Superhero novel)

Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, Audiobooks, Fantasy, superhero , ,

Summary:

Jim wants to be a superhero. He’s got the powers, a heck of a lot of them actually. But his trials went pretty awry. Fate or whatnot draws him into a world saving/dooming conflict.

Additional Comments:

– Plot 4/5 Overall, it follows a pretty logical path while still maintaining some unique pieces of worldbuilding.

– Worldbuilding 4.5/5: It actually makes a lot of sense for a story based solely around the idea of superheroes. It doesn’t delve deeply into the why of there being powers, but where possible, it tries to explain and keep semi-true to science.

– Characters 4/5: Jim’s mostly likable.

– Cover: Very cool, but doesn’t quite fit the story. For one thing, the guy on the cover looks 30, the main character here is 16.

– Narration 4/5: I love the narrator’s voice and would definitely listen to more books by him, but his voice is a tad mature for voicing the first person pov of a 16 year old kid.

– Overall 4/5: Was completely awesome until the end where it made a distinct point of hitting nearly every one of the superhero clichés. The main character actually has a 5 minute conversation with himself over how cliché his life has become and says he’s okay with that.

– I have not heard many superhero stories, but this definitely ranks among the highest of them. It stays true to the genre without throwing in randomness. It’s YA friendly.

Conclusion:

If you like the superhero genre, this is definitely one to check out.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

 

Audible – If you’d like some free codes, please email me at [email protected] with requests for any of my works.

Try The Dark Side of Science or Ashlynn’s Dreams if you want more kid heroes. These don’t wear capes, but they still have some pretty awesome powers.


OR

Movie Reviews 3.5/5: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Julie Gilbert Movie Reviews, superhero

Don’t own the pic.

 

Summary:

Picks up after Captain America: Civil War where Ant-Man’s under house arrest.

Additional Comments:

– You can probably see it as a standalone movie, but it makes a lot more sense if you’ve watched the original Ant-Man movie.

– The father-daughter relationships shown here are pretty sweet, but I still don’t care about them as much as other Marvel characters.

– The entire movie could have happened without the criminals, but I enjoyed some of the chase scenes.

– The plot made sense but seemed needlessly complicated at times.

– Ghost made an interesting antagonist.

– I like that the Wasp’s role expanded in this movie, instead of just some vague references.

– The parts with the FBI agent seemed strained. I know they were supposed to be, but it never really landed on funny, just stayed in awkward mode.

 

Conclusion:

Not my favorite of the Marvel spinoffs, but a decent show.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

 

Audible – If you’d like some free codes, please email me at [email protected] with requests for any of my works.

Try Awakening.

 


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