*SPECIAL EDITION* Batman: Assault on Arkham and Son of Batman

AKA Suicide Squad the movie, AKA Harley Quinn soft core

We start with Batman (Kevin Conroy...the one true Batman) happening upon The Riddler (Matthew Gray Gruber) when he is being arrested by Amanda Waller (CCH Pounder). It turns out The Joker (Troy Baker, because Mark Hamill won't reprise his role, sadly) has planted a dirty bomb somewhere in Gotham and Batman is getting desperate to find it. During this time Amanda Waller calls in her special forces team, Task Force X, (AKA The Suicide Squad) to deal with her Riddler situation. Our team consists of highly dangerous convicts made to do Waller's bidding because of some small explosives Waller has put at the base of their necks. The team consists of Deadshot/Floyd Lawton (Neil McDonough), Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel (Hayden Walch), King Shark/Nanaue (John DiMaggio), Captain Boomerang/George Harkness (Greg Ellis), Black Spider/Eric Needham (Giancarlo Esposito), and Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln (Jennifer Hale). The team's mission is to find the Riddler's cane, which is supposed to have a thumb drive with files on the entire Suicide Squad in it. 

The story in this movie isn't what I would call the best I have seen from DC animation studios, definitely not the worst (looking at you Justice League: War) but I have seen better. The thing about this movie is that it seems to be HEAVILY influenced by the Arkham videogames. There is nothing wrong with (most) of the Arkham videogames, I find (most) of them quite enjoyable; but when it comes to storyline they fall a little flat in comparison to other classic storylines I have read. The problem with the storyline is that it lacks substance, it feels like it is just a fun ride watching some villains that the majority of people (not me) haven't heard of yet, fight there way through Arkham and try to avoid Batman in the process. I think they definitely nailed the team dynamic down, it feels a little more like watching convicts try to be a team instead of your usual Justice League story we have seen fifty times over (one of those fifty times unfortunately having to be Justice League: War, AKA The New 52 movie). There are some more subtle points that I like in this storyline, like: Deadshot's relationship with his daughter, the Joker and Harley relationship is always fun, the Black Spider being a member adds a bit of transgression, and the Killer Frost/King Shark relationship is cute. Unfortunately, they don't really do anything with that material, just keep it as a whisper in the back of the movie while you watch Harley Quinn be overly sexual and Deadshot be crazy-accurate. A missed opportunity to expand the characters into something more than villains hired by the government; but, I guess I can't blame them for not wanting this movie to be too long. 

The real winner here is the dialogue between the characters. There are some obvious points where they are trying to make characters have catchphrases, like: Harley Quinn saying "Yahtzee!" but, for the most part the dialogue comes across strong. A couple of my favorite lines are Harley telling Boomerang "someone that uses Boomerangs as a weapon has some real trouble letting go," and there is always Deadshot hurling insults at Boomerang like "you low class, C-lister." The dialogue here is fun, and deceptively good, so audiences shouldn't have a problem finding a favorite member of the team after a while. 

Let's go ahead and talk about the acting here (since I view voice acting as an unsung art form). Kevin Conroy as Batman will always be good; but, since Batman isn't in this too much I get to talk about the other people. Neal McDonough did a fine job as a more serious, less articulate Deadshot; but my heart for that role will always belong with Michael Rosenbaum. Hynden Walch is a master of her craft and she has played this character before, you may also know her from "Teen Titans" and "Adventure Time." Troy Baker isn't Mark Hamill but he does his best to fill the shoes and actually is pretty decent at it. The rest of the voice actors did well in their own rights, those are just the ones I thought required special notation. 

In the end, this isn't the greatest story you will be able to find out their, but it might be worth a look. The Suicide Squad is one of my favorite villain team ups, and it is nice to see they did the team some justice. I don't usually like talking about the animation because I am no artist; but, if you want to know, I liked it. I liked the whole anime-esque feeling it had, and it seemed to make the action scenes come through seamlessly. Not going to go down as one of my favorites, but it could be the gap that bridges some Batman fans from "Just liking the videogames/major motion pictures" too "Reading the comics," so you might want to introduce your friends to it.  

Final Verdict: Rent it A big step up from "The New 52," but still a little lazy in some areas. I could make a few more suggestions of good animated movies, but as far as this one goes it is worth a watch, but I wouldn't spend 20 bucks on it. 

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Little less sociopath, little more honorable street-punk

We start our story with The League of Assassins being led by Ras Al Ghul, while his grandson Damien (Stuart Allan) looks over the league that is soon to be his. The League is beset upon by an old member Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke (Thomas Gibson) who takes the life of the leader in his coup. Damien's mother, Talia (Morena Baccarin) fears for the life of her child and sends him to be with his father, Batman (Jason O' Mara). Batman has to reteach his son that in order to be a worthy successor to the Batman lineage he must drop his homicidal upbringing and learn to seek justice the Batman way. Batman. 

The storyline here is the major fault in the movie (again). I love Damien Wayne as a character in the comics, he was my second favorite Robin (yeah, Dick Grayson is still numero uno); but, here they make him seem like a more acceptable Jason Todd (Jason Todd is the second incarnation of Robin, more on him in another review....*wink*). It isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a little more PG13 then I remember Damien being (as opposed to R). Unfortunately, we still see Nightwing as a side character instead of part of the major plot, and my wishes for a Nightwing animated venture still go unanswered. The rest of the storyline is pretty basic as far as Batman/Robin stories go, except this time the kid doesn't really need to be trained. The disturbing part of this was the date rape arc that led to Damien's birth; but, I guess that is just DC's way of saying "Batman would always use protection unless he was drugged. Wrap your tool kid's." They even went so far as to put a line of dialogue in it that specifically has Nightwing saying "after all the lectures he gave me about protection."

The dialogue here isn't as big of winner as the movie above; but, has it's decent moments. Most of the fun dialogue was given to Damien (as it should be). You really get a sense of the kid's personality as he order's Alfred around, interrogates criminals, and talks to his father. You get even more of a sense for the kid's lifestyle before Batman, as he tells of his training under the league of assassins. He hacked in NATO when he was such and such an age, he climbed a mountain at such and such an age with a broken arm. He really makes Batman seem like he has had an easy life, but we still get the sense that Batman is the end all be all ass kicker. Somehow, his legend seems to pale in comparison to Damien, and I feel that if we got to see this arc go further down the line we would have seen Damien over take his father as a teenager. 

The acting in this is great, but we are missing Kevin Conroy as our caped crusader; which sucks but at least they brought in someone who has done it before. Jason O' Mara may have only had his chance at the voice of Batman once (and that one time was unfortunately Justice League: War); but, he does well enough without over doing the bit. Our child actor Stuart Allan is the real star here, giving the lines as Damien flawlessly and making us really think that this kid really has no moral compass. Thomas Gibson is no Ron Perlman, but I guess they were trying to go more random villain then ultimate bad guy. The rest of the cast does well as support, but they never separate themselves from that assigned role, never distinguish themselves. Instead they get lost in the ether and are easily forgotten. 

As I said before, I am no artist; but, my take on the art here is more lazy anime than anything., It really goes over the top with its call back to anime by making the Assassins in The League of Assassins look like Naruto ninjas (I have never watched Naruto, and therefore have no ill will towards that show, but the animation in this was a bit much). There are too many moments of empty space, and way too many moments where the characters are looked at from afar so we don't have to see their lips move. Aside from that this movie falls to the wayside on many different fronts. Easily forgotten, a fair attempt at trying to convey the Damien Wayne story arc, but ultimately a misstep in DC's nearly perfect lineage of animated features. I have always said that if DC keeps failing at making big budget movies, they at least have animation to fall back on; but this just seems too run of the mill for me to condone that statement (and Justice League: War was awful, you might be able to form a drinking game out of how many times I have said that). Not the best, not good, just fair enough.

Final Verdict: Netflix it Not worth your money, but good for a lazy day when you have nothing to do. Both movies I have reviewed are not necessarily intended for children, so you might want to wait before showing this to your adolescent.

Like this? Tune in tomorrow as I answer a reader request for "Dark Knight: Returns" Part 1 and 2; as well as "Batman: Under the Red Hood."

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Nine years later we get this....

We follow three different stories in this movie, much like in the first movie. The story this film is titled after follows Dwight (Josh Brolin) he is a photographer, paid to get dirt on whoever his client is asking for. His world is flipped when an old flame, Ava (Eva Green) calls him, begging for help. The second story follows the luckiest gambler in town, Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) trying to take down the most powerful man in Sin City, Senator Roark (Powers Booth) by playing a game of cards. The third story follows the aftermath with Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) from the first movie. Dealing with the death of Hartigan (Bruce Willis) the only man she loved, and trying to take vengeance.

I didn't want to go too far into the storylines , just in case anyone actually wanted to see the movie that I have been waiting nine years for. Did it live up to the wait? Was it everything I hoped for and more? In a word, no. In fact nothing could live up to the masterpiece I built in my head, but it was good. Not as good as the first movie, but good enough. I guess my main problem with it does come down to story line (and yes I know I am going to catch hell for this from the two Frank Miller fan boys that are left in the world). Look, The story this movie was titled after had the best delivery, plot, and overall appeal to me. The other two stories just seem like filler. You can tell Frank Miller and Rodriguez were putting all their eggs in that story's basket, not only because of the title; but, because most of the movie is filled with it. For some reason this movie was very Marv centered, and the bad guy had to be Senator Roark for the other two storylines. Don't get me wrong, they are both pretty awesome characters, but I could have done with more substance. We know Marv is the badass to end all badasses, we found that out in the first movie when he didn't die immediately after the first flip of the electric chair. We know Senator Roark is an asshole, we found that out in the first movie when he messed up Hartigan's life. Why am I being beaten over the head with it in this?

The real thing to talk about here is the acting, because holy crap is the acting amazing in this. Josh Brolin is a good substitute for Clive Owen from the first movie (even if I feel that role fit Joseph Gordon-Levitt more). He brings a since of power the character didn't seem to have in the first movie. Dennis Haysbert may be a poor man's Michael Clarke Duncan, but given the circumstances he does the best he can to replace the once great actor (RIP). Bruce Willis is still the same guy he played in the first, Powers Booth is still as commanding as ever, Jessica Alba still can't act her way out of paper bag (don't worry their are plenty of stripping scenes to get you boys all hot under the collar), Mickey Rourke is still the most intimidating man on screen, and Rosario Dawson....showed up. I know it sounds like I may have mixed feelings on the acting from that little bit, but the people that really pushed this over the edge were Eva Green and Joseph. Joseph seems to be stretching as much of his acting muscles as he can lately, and the result is making me think he is cinema's next chameleon. Eva Green surprised me for the second time this year (and no it is not because she was naked for the better half of the film, you all should no better). She gives the performance of femme fetale flawlessly, and that seems to be where her real talent lies (if "300: Rise of an Empire" was anything to go by). Here is hoping that if she is typecast in the years to come she is always as amazing as this.

Now, I am going to go into the cinematography (which is what seemed to catch most people's eye in the first movie). It is still powerful shots in black and white, that is a given; but it didn't deteriorate the value of it just because I had seen it before. I still love some of the shots that came through in this film; but, it still didn't have the appeal of the first movie. It seemed lazier somehow, like they were trying to coast on the success of the first movie and nothing else. Some of the shots were great, others just seemed to be trying too hard, and still others were actually bad. It is a weird feeling to go through, like the Robert Rodriguez ten years ago and the one now were fighting for control of the film.

In the end, this movie was serviceable. Not the amazing movie I thought I was going to get, not as good as the first movie, but still good. If there is one thing I can rely on it is that Robert Rodriguez will always put out the movie he is going to put out, and it will at least be okay. Frank Miller can stop putting out movies now, I have gotten everything I want from him. If you want to see a great film watch "Sin City," if you want an excuse to see naked women and one great story line, watch this. It is pretty cut and dry.

Final Verdict: Rent it Definitely worth a buck, but you'll miss nothing if you wait for the home release. "Guardians of the Galaxy" is still in theaters so you can try that, or even re-watch the first movie. I guess my new most anticipated movie is going to have to be "The Hateful Eight." Fingers crossed.

Like this? Read my review of the original "Sin City" on Thursday. That's right it has been long enough for me to call the original a throwback.

Into the Storm

The found footage, natural disaster movie nobody asked for

This movie centers around two brothers, Donnie and Trey (Max Deacon and Nathan Kress) in high school who's father Gary (Richard Armitage) is the vice principal. It also encompasses a group of storm chasers led by Pete (Matt Walsh) a movie personality and Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies) a meteorologist. The two groups intersect when the biggest tornado in recorded history touches down in the family's town. Donnie has found himself trapped in a flooding hole with Kaitlyn (Alycia Debnam Carey) the girl he has a crush on and it is up to his father and the storm chasers to go save them.

This movie didn't really have a good start for me. I'm not very fond of natural disaster films since I lived in Florida during a time where six or more hurricanes hit us and it really never effected the community (due to constant hurricane parties making light of the situation). I don't know how this movie will appeal to those who have been in natural disasters where effects ruined their livelihood; but, this movie seems to be directly centered towards the victims of Hurricane Sandy and Katrina. I am also not too fond of found footage films. The only one I have seen that I actually liked was "Chronicle," everything else just seemed lazy. The story here was a mixture between "Twister" and "The Day After Tomorrow" except somehow more preachy and patriotic. Yes, we all know that Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina were devastating and nobody can make light of those circumstances, but this just beat you over the head with pity party bullshit. There is always a difference between a movie that is trying to pay homage to victims of some tragic event, for no other reason then they wanted to tell the story artistically (like "Flight 93" or "Munich"), and a movie looking for a quick buck because people feel bad and want to see it. Of course you wouldn't know the overlaying message from watching the trailers; but, when they hit you over the head with it in the theaters it seems like a cheap shot. It is no surprise that this movie had a horrible story line, plot, and characterization, it is kind of expected from a genre like this. The only positive thing I can say is that they seemed to perfectly describe dumb rednecks that are looking for their five minutes of fame on YouTube. They also did well with how video dependent our society seems to have become. Everything else in this movie was either done before or done badly.

Another positive thing I can say about this has to be the visuals. They weren't perfect by any means, but did a good job at portraying the beauty and the horror of nature. The thing that seemed to bring it down was the lingering damage shots. They seemed to want to concentrate more on the destruction left behind during a storm rather than the storm itself, which brings me back to my overly preachy argument. Aside from all of that it was your basic found footage annoying camera angles and overly shaking camera. The weird thing is that for being a movie about storms they didn't seem to know how storms actually worked. There seemed like there were so many times a person should have been grabbed up by a tornado that didn't happen. So many times that seemed like they were trying to enhance the drama more than actually make a good movie that made sense. 

The real travesty here is that a fair amount of these actor are professionals and aren't too new to the big screen; but, you would never known that given their performance. Richard Armitage was in "The Hobbit" series and one would think that with a movie like that on your resume you would be good at conveying different levels of emotion. Instead, we are given this one note smoldering "bad ass" of a vice principal that seems more suited to a military role than a civilian one. Sarah Wayne Callies was the most redeemable actor on this list, but she was still not conveying the amount of emotion I would have expected from her days on "The Walking Dead." Matt Walsh did what he does by playing a douche-bag, but the redemption arc fell flat. The young actor with the most experience Nathan Kress seemed to forget everything he ever learned about this craft by over selling it. I felt bad for Max Deacon and Alycia Carey since this was their first role on the big screen and they had to spend it trying to sell the audience on the fact that they were really scared of drowning. 

There is a reason I hadn't heard from the natural disaster movie circuit for a while, and that is because these movies are either boring or stupid. This movie managed to be both. If I want to see glamour shots of a city devastated by weather or of CGI weather; I would either Google real pictures or rent one of the other dozen of movies out their with the same amount of CGI. This type of movie needs to die, and stay dead. We are not going to see a lot of money from them, and we are not going to see anything ground breaking or new. These films are the lowest form of entertainment next to watching YouTube videos of someone getting hurt for views. Which is weird since they portrayed those same people in this movie. 

Final Verdict: Don't do it While it isn't the worst movie I have seen this year by a long shot, it certainly isn't worth your time or money. If you want to see this movie just go ahead and rent one of the other dozens of Natural Disaster movies out there. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Nope. Nuh-uh. Not a chance of this being a good movie.

O.k.....O.k.....O.k. I'm going to do my best at writing a synopsis for this travesty that is considered to be some kind of a script for this movie. Bare with me. If I spoil something don't worry, you would have called it anyways. April O'Neil (Megan Fox) is a struggling female reporter waiting for a big story to break her away from being just another pretty news face. She has been following the activities of the foot clan, a paramilitary terrorist organization that has been terrorizing New York City. One day she realizes that their are vigilantes hindering the clan's plans, and stumbles upon them after a daring rescue. It turns out these vigilantes are "six foot tall turtles," but not just any turtles, the turtles that she kept as pets when her father was experimenting on them. It also turns out that Eric Sacks (William Fichtner) who worked with her father had plans of using these turtles to carry an antidote to a poison he created and planned on unleashing on New York.... I'm going to stop this now. I can't write anymore description on this garbage.

This movie had to be the most lazy, cliche, boring, stupid "writing" I have ever seen. I can get behind them changing the back story of the turtles for the umpteenth time, but when it looks like they didn't even attempt to make this movie interesting it is insulting. They used the same story arc from "The Amazing Spider-Man" movie right down to the end scene taking place on the top of a tower as the antagonist tries to unleash a toxic gas. The magic, special blood story arc was seen here as well, and is still as bad as when they did it in "The Amazing Spider-Man" movie. More to the point everything that they tried to make from their own ideas just fell flat. April's father is the one that created the turtles, and the turtles owe April for saving them from a laboratory fire. Splinter randomly picking up a book on Ninjutsu, deciding the boys should learn how to defend themselves (because they are going to need this knowledge due to the way they look), and becoming a master....seemingly overnight. April's father being killed by Sacks because he didn't want his work used for nefarious purposes. April being a struggling "pretty face style" reporter when she just wants to cover hard hitting stories. It has all been done, or shouldn't have been attempted. The only thing they seemed to get right was the characterization. The turtles all have the same personality we knew. Donatello is still the uber-nerd, Raphael is still angry all the time, Leonardo is still the stoic leader. The only difference is that Michelangelo is fifty times more horny then he has ever been. It is actually a bit disturbing to see him hit on April so much.

I wish I could say that the only real saving grace here were the effects, but by today's standards they were pretty bad. The turtles are done so horribly that you kind of want to avert your eyes every time they are on the screen; but, they still pale in comparison to how horrible Splinter looks. There is enough lens flare in this for it to be considered J.J. Abrams wet dream. The fighting would be cool, if we didn't see basically all of the fighting in the trailers.  They made New York not seem like New York, some how finding a way to dumb down one of the biggest cities in America. I wish I could find something positive to say about this movie but I am drawing a blank at every turn.

You know how people get on Kristen Stewart's case for having a "derp face?" Why is it that I never hear about Megan Fox's derp face, because her's is the worst I have ever seen. Yes, Megan Fox is a horrible actress that should stick to modeling and leave movies to the professionals. We already knew that; but since the entire movie is basically "Megan Fox and her turtle pals" it is hard to talk about anything else. Will Arnett was allegedly in this, don't blink though or you might miss him. The same can be said for Whoopi Goldberg and William Fichtner. The good parts of this cast are all bit characters with not a lot of dialogue and only exist to boost the character April O'Neil. I can't even talk about the turtle's voices that much because it is almost impossible to mess up a voice session this easy. The biggest question on your mind after watching this (besides what the hell did I just watch?) should be: How does Megan Fox keep getting work?

I could sit here and belittle this movie all day (seriously don't tempt me), but the fact of the matter is that this was an all around bad movie with little to no redeeming qualities. I wish that a new TMNT movie could be good, and maybe they will make one some day; but, for today this is what we were given. A bad, lazy, uninspiring, worthless, stupid, piece of garbage. Johnathon Lieberman should feel embarrassed by his direction, the three writers in charge of this should have compared notes once or twice, and Michael Bay can rest easy knowing that not only does he direct bad movies; but, he also produces bad movies.  If you have any respect for your children do not take them to see this movie, because their is a possibility they will come out of the theater minus a few brain cells. If you have any respect for yourself don't go see this movie, because you have already seen good TMNT movies and don't need to soil your plate.

Final Verdict: Don't do it Instead of going to see this, why don't you go see "Guardians of the Galaxy" again. At least then you will be privileged to seeing a movie with professionals at the helm, instead of a class of third graders' attempt at making a movie.  

Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel Studios doesn't seem to know how to do "failure"

Our story begins with a young human kid named Peter Quill having just lost his mother to cancer being abducted by aliens on a seemingly routine pick up. The aliens led by Yondo Udonta (Micheal Rooker) are a band of thieves that mold the kid into one of their own. The kid eventually grows up to become Starlord (Chris Pratt) a self proclaimed "legendary outlaw" on a routine pick up for his group. After escaping capture during the heist he is led to what seems to be the central planet of the galaxy, with his loot in hand ready to betray his colleagues. There he meets Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who is there to take the loot from him and give it too her master Ronan (Lee Pace); as well as, Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) who are there for a bounty on his head. They all get captured by the galaxy's version of police, the Nova Corps, and are sent to jail where they meet the final member of their team Drax (Dave Bautista) who has a long standing hatred against Ronan for killing his family. They all most team up to get Starlord's loot to a buyer and keep it away from Ronan.

There is a lot more to this story, but I am so ridiculously scared of someone calling "spoilers" on me that I just put the basic first act of the movie as the synopsis. None of what I said should enter into that territory because most of it can be seen in the trailers, but if you are offended by my lack of caution just know that I tried. So the story line here was simply amazing, but most all of this movie can be summarized by the same declaration. Yes, this movie was amazing. I am going to say that this story would have been a lot less had the characters not been as interesting as they were. I liked the whole theme of the story line, a bit played out but still strong. The characters are what makes this movie shine. The "raccoon" with a tragic back story of how he was created, while also being a money hungry, wise ass. The tree who can only say "I," "am," and "Groot" in that order, while also being the gentle giant...while still also being aggressive when he needs to be. Drax is the character that lost his family and is out for the blood of the man that took them (that is not the interesting part, the interesting part is...) who can't understand metaphors. So when you say " you are a tough son of a bitch" he is going to take offense at that because you just called his mother a bitch. Starlord is an earthling that holds on to random tokens from the 80's because they hold sentimental value. The "least" interesting character is Gamora, who is the adoptive daughter of the biggest tyrant in the universe, and handed off to another tyrant. When she is the least interesting character you have in your line up, I'd say your characters are pretty awesome.

Another great part of this movie was the soundtrack (I have made peace with the fact that I am going to have to talk about the music in movies sometimes). It is all music that came out before or during the eighties and they managed to make each song fit with the scene it was placed in. It was like watching a fan made Animated Music Video with a big budget. I actually found myself dancing to songs, while still watching glorious action, and hearing funny quips.

It would be a travesty not to mention the choreography in this, or the battle scenes. These are the scenes that make you jump out of your seat and say "holy crap, did you just see that?!" They put a talking raccoon on the back of a sentient tree firing a machine gun at aliens. That is a sentence I didn't ever think I would be able to type. Gamora was nimble and brought the most crazy fighting to the table. Drax was a bruiser, and most every time you saw him fight you felt bad for the person on the other end (MOST every time... don't need people telling me about the times he got his ass kicked). Starlord was just flat out fun, like watching someone have futuristic weapons in a bar brawl.

What can I say about the acting in this that I haven't said about the rest of this movie. It was great. This movie struck most people as an odd choice for Marvel, and the cast just made it all the more weird. Chris Pratt surprised no one by being funny, but surprised every one by being a good leader. Bradley Cooper made his character more that just a brilliant CGI achievement by breathing life into the character. Dave Bautista was the real shock here by being funny, terrorizing, and warm all at the same time. Vin Diesel tried to find fifty different inflections for the phrase "I am Groot," and made us laugh every time his character spoke. Zoe Saldana was par for the course, playing a bad ass female protagonist. Lee Pace made a big splash giving his character the strongest air of menace possible. Even the lesser seen actors like Glenn Close, John C. Riley, Djimon Hounson, Benicio Del Toro, and Micheal Rooker made their characters come alive.

The great part of this movie (as well as "The Avengers") is that it proves Marvel knows how to do team ups. No character overshadowed another, and I feel fans are all going to have a hard time finding a favorite. I know further down the line I am going to hear battles on the forum on who was the best in this movie, and even further down the line we will find random people that didn't like the movie (seemingly because everyone else likes it and they hate fun). Not saying that you are wrong for not liking this movie, by all means don't like it if it doesn't appeal to you; but, it always seems haters like to come out of the wood work further on down the line after people can't stop talking about it. On another topic, it really seems like I have hard time finding anything wrong with Marvel Studios movies these days. Sure there are missteps in this movie as well as every other movie, but for the most part I was having too much fun to notice the glaring faults. I hope this trend doesn't make me seem biased in the long run.

Final Verdict: Buy it I give out my highest rating very rarely for a reason, so when a movie gets it the rating means something. This will have plenty of action and comedy for the casual viewer to love the movie, as well as plenty of nerdy things for us comic readers to geek out about. See it in theaters, then buy it so you can enjoy it all the time.