Movies I’ve Watched December 2021 – January 2022

It’s been a long time (it feels) since I sat down and watched a television series or movies. The last month and a half, though, thanks to snow days and COVID quarantines, I’ve had the time to enjoy a few movies. Here’s a brief rundown.

Shang Chi – I knew nothing about this character, but I loved the movie. Perhaps the most down to earth and relatable guy, aside from Scott Lang, in the MCU.

The Eternals – Boring. No chemistry between the cast. The fight scenes were ok, but sucked when weighed down by the rest of the movie. Possibly the worst MCU movie ever.

Paw Patrol: The Movie – Watched this one with my 7 year old. Cute movie adventures with the pups.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife – Yes. All that and a bag of chips. Only complaint: not enough of the old gang.

Spider-Man No Way Home – Possibly the best movie ever in the MCU. Loved Garfield and Maguire. It was Holland’s best performance as the web slinger. Can’t wait for this to hit home video.

The Matrix Resurrections – The first 1 1/2 hours I had to fight to keep myself from turning it off. There was some good parts afterward, but a lot of horrible parts to cancel out the good. Would not watch again.

The Walking Dead, Season 11, Part One – Enjoying the Maggie/Negan dynamic, Darryl is kinda getting on my nerves. The group in the Commonwealth needs to move the story along. Most of their screen time is spent on Eugene sniveling and cowering. I’ve watched it this long, though, I’ll see it to the end.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Finally! After holding in the jealousy of knowing my oldest son has seen No Way Home THREE times, I finally got my chance to see it. Wife and 7 year old in tow, we settled in to our local Malco’s 12:05pm showing. My God, what a beautiful and amazing movie. Despite having pretty much seen everything on YouTube, I loved every second of it.

I will go out on a limb and say it was not only my favorite Spider-Man movie, ever, but also the absolute best MCU movie to date. Sure, sure, there were plot holes and issues people will nitpick to death, but this was everything. It brought generations together, it had drama, loss, love, action, special effects, a great story that tied up the last two Spidey films. It brought Tom Holland’s Spider-Man through to adulthood, rounding out a fantastic portrayal of the web slinger.

Go see this film in the theaters. It, and you, deserve as much. Especially if you are a fan of the Toby Maquire movies, you’ll love this one. Awesome movie. I can’t wait for the digital release on home video.

Endgame Deleted Scene

In my opinion, this scene should have stayed in. Very touching.

Doctor Strange

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my oldest son and I went to check out Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Let me begin by saying that I only know about Doctor Strange from what I’ve glanced over and read bits and pieces of over the years. Never read a comic, never researched the character, never really cared.

That said …

Doctor Strange is, in the opinion of me and my son, the best Marvel movie to-date. We loved it. A character that grows and develops. A film that hits the ground running and doesn’t let up until the last scene. And mid-and-after credits scenes that really mean something to the Marvel franchise and future Strange films.

The entire cast is perfect, acting top notch. Story is amazing, and from what I have heard other comic reviewers say, rips the origin story pretty much right from the comics. Awesome special effects.

When I first saw the Doctor Strange trailers on television and online, I was very doubtful of the movie. I even told my wife that I thought this might be the first MCU film I wouldn’t like, and actually considered not even seeing. Man, I’m so glad I didn’t follow my own thoughts on that.

Go see Doctor Strange, NOW.

Netflix’s Original Series, Marvel’s Daredevil

The Netflix Original series, Marvel’s Daredevil, premiered it’s entire first season Friday, April 10, 2015. That’s the good and bad thing about Netflix and their original works: the entire season is just thrown out there. Binge on it, take it in one episode at a time, or pick and choose how you swallow the tale you’ve been given. Either way, producing Marvel’s Daredevil – which is connected to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that includes Agents of SHIELD – is a win-win scenario, it would seem. Fans get a darker, grittier taste of the Marvel Universe and the Universe itself gets to expand and allow for more future cameos and storylines across their platforms of entertainment.

What I’m planning to do in celebration of this event is review each episode as I watch it, posting those reviews here as I finish each episode. My viewing patterns may be spotty, and you can certainly get the entire season reviewed for you with and without spoilers at other, more professional sites than this little blog. But I plan on doing it anyways because it’ll be fun, darn it! So if you want to play along, I’ll be watching/reviewing episodes 1 and 2 tomorrow evening (April 12, 2015). You are certainly welcome to watch them yourself and then come back here to read my review/opinion of the episodes and then post your own views.

Until Sunday evening, friends! I’ll see you then.