Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts

Saturday, May 31, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past ~ Review

X-Men: Days of Future Past ~ Review


I saw the newest Marvel Movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past last night. I will do my best to leave spoilers out of this review and apologize right now if any slip in.

X-Men is a great popcorn flick (a movie that is fun and a good excuse to sit and eat a bag of popcorn). More than that it is wonderful Thinking Man’s movie. It makes you think about what if . . . What if I had made a better choice back when . . . What choices am I making now that will affect my (and other people’s) future and how can I chose best? How should I respond to intolerance?

I saw it in a standard theater not 3D (I do hope to see it again in 3D sometime). The special effects are wonderful, per usual and the storyline well done. The characters stay true to the past movies and this installment just deepens them.

First off I suggest you see at least the movies X-Men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Wolverine before seeing this movie. This movie can stand alone as a fun popcorn flick but it helps if you have the background to make it a much fuller and more enjoyable experience.


Per usual X-Men is full of action, adventure, a touch of comedy and a good message about tolerance. The entire X-Men franchise is about teaching tolerance. If you did not know it be aware that Professor X is based on the moral teachings of Martian Luther King and Magneto is based on Malcom X. The idea Stan Lee had for this story was to teach the next generation that discrimination for any reason is wrong. The other message behind this movie is hope. Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope and faith that if given a chance people will make better choices.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. & Captain America the Winter Soldier

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. & Captain America the Winter Soldier




There will be more than a few people who watched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (AoS) will be confused by tonight’s episode of AoS. What happened? Who is Hydra and why all the spy games? Where is Director Fury? Is he dead as was mentioned in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

For those of you who have not seen Captain America the Winter Soldier you may be confused. Hang on my friends!!!!! The last few episodes of AoS were leading up to what is in the movie. The 4/8/14 episode was solidly in the timeframe of the movie.

Having seen Captain America the Winter Soldier this weekend I was happy to see the storyline continued on into the TV series that encompass the same Marvel Universe and time in that universe.

Watching the show was continuing the story and finding out what happened to some of the other people that we know about. Agent Sitwell is in both the TV show and the movie and is a problem on both. Fury’s death is mentioned in both. Captain America’s victory is mentioned as is the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were going underground and into hiding.


I highly recommend that you watch Captain America the Winter Soldier as soon as possible to fill in any holes. Believe me it will tie everything together!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Captain America the Winter Soldier ~ SPOILER ALERT ~ Review

Captain America the Winter Soldier ~ ***Spoiler Alert*** ~ Review



This is a Spoiler filled review! STOP NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT THE MOVIE SPOILED!! Go to yesterday’s post for a NON Spoiler review!

http://pixiepranks-panstinkerbell.blogspot.com/2014/04/captain-americathe-winter-soldier-no.html

Captain America the Winter Soldier is the story of a man that is lost, lost in time, lost in history, lost in his memories of a world and people he knew and loved. He feels the world had moved on in the wrong direction. Right is wrong and wrong is now somehow morally acceptable. We see him floundering and looking for direction. Grasping for a sense of belonging. In the end he decides to stick with what he knows, right is right and he will stand for it and with those that also stand with it.

Something is not right! S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents are being attacked and killed, operations are compromised! Who is at fault! Where is the leak? A S.H.I.E.L.D. ship/launch pad has been taken over by pirates with unknown demands! While Cap. and his team rescue the captives Agent Romanoff downloads the contents of the computers at the site. Rogers is angry about this because it risked the safety of his mission, the rescue of the people.

Cap is called in by Director Fury and finds there is a hidden agenda in S.H.I.E.L.D. It does not sit well with Cap. First off Cap. is angry that Fury kept Romanoff’s assignment from him. He is then further angered by finding that Fury has hidden a deeper level of S.H.I.E.L.D., Project Insight: 3 Helicarriers linked to spy satellites designed to preemptively eliminate threats.

Cap. feels uneasy about S.H.I.E.L.D. preemptively striking people before they cause a problem. He believes that people’s freedoms are at state and takes a step back to look at the situation and decided what he will do. While trying to piece it all together Cap. runs into a new friend and asks him for support. Sam Wilson becomes the Falcon and helps Cap. First Sam helps Steve to deal with being home from war. All service personal face a time of adjustment. He also goes back and finds his old love, Peggy Carter. He visits her in a nursing home where she is no longer the young beautiful woman he loved but an aged women who is losing grip on reality.

Director Fury is attacked and believed dead. Later when Cap. returns home he is chatting with his neighbor when she tells him he left his stereo on. Cap. realizes he did not and goes in through a window and finds an injured Fury in  his living room. Fury gives him the thumb drive that Romanoff had downloaded and told him to not trust anybody and hide it. Shots ring out and once again Fury is hit. Romanoff and Cap. watch him be pronounced dead in surgery after the attack.

Romanoff tells him about a threat she has encountered before who has been assonating people for 50 years. This person is a ghost and does not exist on any official records but is called The Winter Solider. The Winter Solider turns out to be Cap.’s friend Bucky that he thought died in an attack on Hydra during World War II. It seems Hydra had started “treatment” on him before Cap. rescued him. This allowed him to survive the fall from the moving train and gave him the same abilities as Cap. Sadly his memories have been erased and he does not remember who he is and he is being used as a weapon.

Cap. is summoned to the Head of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s office and told that Fury was a trader. As Cap. is leaving he is attacked by former friends and fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. companions. This is when he turns to Falcon and asks for his help and a place to hide. Soon Cap finds that Fury is still alive and planning on taking S.H.I.E.L.D. back.

When it is finally discovered that Hydra has infiltrated and taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. Cap. decides to take down both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra to stop the threat. He gathers a loyal group of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents including Romanoff and Falcon to take the battle to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He refuses to allow either side to control people’s lives. He will stand for freedom and individual rights.

Of course Cap. and the team prevail and the world is safe once again . . . or is it? Sit through the credits for hints as to what happens next! Watch a conversation between Fury (now in hiding and without his eye patch), Cap, Falcon and Romanoff. Stay to the VERY VERY end and see who comes back to visit the Captain America Museum.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Captain Americathe Winter Soldier ~ No Spoiler Review

Captain America the Winter Soldier ~ No Spoiler Review



First I’m going to say GO SEE THIS MOVIE!! It is a great movie! Second I’m going to say STAY TO THE END OF THE CREDITS! Not almost to the end but to the VERY VERY END!

I’m going to try to make this a no spoiler review. I may put up a second review with spoilers. It is a fun, action packed comic book romp! If you like action this is the movie for you!

Captain America the Winter Soldier is the story of a man that is lost, lost in time, lost in history, lost in his memories of a world and people he knew and loved. He felt the world had moved on in the wrong direction. Right was wrong and wrong was now somehow morally acceptable. We see him floundering and looking for direction. In the end he decides to stick with what he knows, right is right and he will stand for it and with those that also stand with it.

What I came away with from Captain America is a wakeup call. I’m not saying this is the purpose of the movie or that the makers of the film had this in mind. Just saying what I came away with.

Cap is lost. What is right what is wrong? Has the world changed so much that what is truly morally acceptable is different? I’m not talking cultural behavior but true right and wrong. Do all men deserve to live free and make their own choices or should “leadership/government” make the choices for them? Who has the ultimate say?

As I watched this movie unfold my mind ran to who is watching the watchers? Who is setting limits and rules for those that are enforcing and making rules for the public? When should and/or should we ever give up our freedoms for “safety”?

I will be honest. I’ve been a fan of Marvel most of my life. The reason is many of the stories make you think. The stories encourage you to look at life’s issues and simplify. For Cap it is knowing right from wrong and trying to always do right. For Spiderman it is, “With great strength comes great responsibility.” For the XMen it is the choice of how to fight discrimination and predigest. Each of them has a lesson to learn if we are open.


So I salute the “Red, White and Blue Man with the Plan” Captain America! 

Friday, October 4, 2013

MarvelOneShot Agent Carter (on Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray/DVD)

MarvelOneShot Agent Carter
Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray Combo Pack



I recently purchased our copy of Iron Man 3 as a 3D/BluRay Combo Pack with DVD and Digital Download. I must say I enjoy it! I am a huge Marvel fan and I knew this was something I was going to get when I saw the movie in the theater.

After enjoying the movie again, in the comfort of my own home I checked out the Bonus Features. Included in the list of extras was MarvelOneShot Agent Carter. This picks up not to long after the Captain America movie ended and Captain America dies/disappears. The story takes place in the post WWII era of the late 1940’s.

The show starts in a dusty, desk filled office. There are rows of office desks in perfect straight lines. A klaxon sounds and all the occupants of the desks jump up to stand at attention next to the desks. You see the room is filled with men and only one woman, Agent Peggy Carter, Girlfriend of Captain America (played by Hayley Atwell) is there. A man answers a phone and a distorted voice gives directions. Several men are picked to go out and deal with the emergency and everybody else goes back to their desk. The woman sits down obviously disappointed she was not picked for whatever mission was assigned. You get the feeling right away that this is normal. She is not picked simply because she is a woman.

It does not take long to realize that this is the beginning of SHIELD and it is an all-boys club with no girls allowed or welcomed. You also see that Agent Carter refuses to be limited by her “sex” or what others think she should be doing or not doing. She takes an opportunity to prove herself and completes a mission by herself. Her boss is not happy but she stands her ground.


I’ll not tell you more because I don’t want you to miss this wonderful MarvelOneShot short that is a worthy Bonus Feature to Iron Man 3. I don’t want to give out too many spoilers.I believe this short has the potential of being the basis of a full length feature movie or even a TV series. Internet rumor says it is going to be a TV series. I can see it doing well as either. I think Marvel/Disney has hit upon a great way to check the fans to see if a show would be welcomed!




My Christmas book, “An Angel Remembers 25 Voices of Christmas” is available!!
This is a collection of 26 short Christmas stories that together bring the amazing events of Christ’s birth alive. It is my hope that this will help encourage families to spend 10-15 minutes a day together during the busy holiday season remembering the true reason for the season.
You can find it for ALL eReader formats and PDF at:

For your Nook the link is:

It is also available at the iTunes book store and many other ebook seller sites.
The only big site not carrying my book is Amazon.

You can download a Kindle version from Smashwords.com

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD



Last night was the pilot of Marvel’s Agents of Shield. This series picks up shortly after the last Avenger’s Movie and talks about the difference in the world after the “Battle of New York”.

In this new TV series you explore a world where “normal” everyday people realize that things are not as they were. Now people “know” there are “gods and superheroes”. How will people respond? Will they accept the new normal where there are those with greater strength than the average? How will society cope with the knowledge that creatures can attack from outer space and beyond.

The pilot follows the just completed team, (they added Ward to the team) as they track down a man with superhuman strength that saved a women from a fire. They hope to get to him before others that wish to turn him to evil get to him.

The good hearted man with superhuman strength is an out of work warehouse worker who injured his back. He wants to raise his son and do right. Sadly what was done to “help him heal and be strong again” is deadly! It is deadly not only to him but anybody around him.



One of my favorite minor character comes forward into this TV series. Agent Phil Coulson, thought to have died on the SHIELD airship is alive and well, after a recuperative stay in Tahiti. What really happened? Questions still remain! Agent Coulson is still played by Clark Gregg. Agent Coulson also has Lola, his classic car that is not refurbished to original specks. Don’t touch Lola!



Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) sees the world in black and white, right and wrong. He is a no nonsense agent who will do what it takes to get the job done. He rather work along but has just been pulled into this special team. He is irritating and enduring at the same time.



The tech team of Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) are humorous and smart. They are fun to watch outsmart the bad guy and save the day.


Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) is a reluctant member of the team. She would rather stay working at a desk away from the fight. Asked to be the “bus driver” for the team she agreed as long as she did not have to fight. But, when push comes to shove she is can and will join the battle and you want her on your side.


Hacker recruited to the team is Skye (Chloe Bennet). Tech smart and having shown SHIELD she could hack their system she is caught and recruited to assist in helping find the missing superman. After being convinced SHIELD is not the evil government machine she thought it was, she assists in finding a man who shows superhuman strength before some bad people could use him for evil plans.

I found this a fun series. For those that just want an escape with little brain use this is it! I will be continuing to DVR and watch this show. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being a TV series that challenges my mind and engages my heart by delivering believable and relatable characters I give MAoS a 5/6. For just plain FUN I give it an 8. With the combined score of a 7.


I look forward to seeing what they do with this series and if they will develop the characters further. This is a great show for the entire family to watch and talk about right/wrong and situational ethics. Bravo for combining the action with discussing some ethics.





My Christmas book, “An Angel Remembers 25 Voices of Christmas” is available!!
This is a collection of 26 short Christmas stories that together bring the amazing events of Christ’s birth alive. It is my hope that this will help encourage families to spend 10-15 minutes a day together during the busy holiday season remembering the true reason for the season.
You can find it for ALL eReader formats and PDF at:

For your Nook the link is:

It is also available at the iTunes book store and many other ebook seller sites.
The only big site not carrying my book is Amazon.

You can download a Kindle version from Smashwords.com