Batson's Blog

Wow! Wow!! On so many levels. Unlike some Star Wars movies, unlike The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings , Avengers: Endgame is not disappointing in any way. There are maybe two very minor things I could pick at, but that's it. Maybe two minor things in an entire 3 hour movie. Without giving spoilers, the most important thing I'd say is that nobody will be disappointed in this movie. You can't be disappointed if you liked any of the other Marvel movies ... at all. Some characters got more screen time than others, so fans of one particular character may not be happy about that, but the movie made sense for every character that so there's just no legitimate complaining about it. That's probably the most impressive thing about the movie: the writing. Sure, visuals were great (though I think I was more impressed by Aquaman in that aspect). Sure, the fight scenes (one in particular) was amazing. Yeah, the music was spot on --- taking you on a rollercoaste...

What an action-packed movie this was, huh?! Marvel and Disney have been working toward this for years and it really did come of as massive team-up movie. I really liked how they kept the feel of the individual characters while telling the overall story of Thanos and his quest for the Infinity Gauntlet. The story was pretty straightforward though they really made Thanos out to be a more dynamic character than just a power-hungry villain. The backstory of Titan made him almost human — just misunderstood. Still a bad dude but you could see where he was coming from and where he went wrong. Oh, and let's talk about his costuming.  I was very skeptical when I saw the trailer and he didn't have his battle gear on or his helmet.  He does adorn that at certain parts of the movie and I got used to seeing the movie version very quickly. It was a quick adjustment if you're used to the traditional comic book version, so good on Marvel for making that decision on the c...

With 2017 all wrapped up, let's take a look back at the best movies of the year. 14. The Mummy The worst new movie I saw in 2017 was Tom Cruise's unneeded remake of The Mummy . Sure, The Mummy franchise had probably run it's course, but nobody asked for a remake -- especially one that wasn't as good as the first set of films. The movie was predictable in a lot of spots and sloppy in other spots. Russell Crowe played his part well. Tom Cruise's bank-ability as an actor just isn't there in 2017. He's not a leading man, so quit trying to cast him as one. This version of The Mummy wasn't worth the watch and certainly can't begin to compare to Brendan Fraser's The Mummy and The Mummy Returns . 13. Power Rangers What hurt this movie was the fact that the writers seemed to actively avoid doing a remake of the 1990's storyline. They had a backstory with Zordon and Rita Repulsa formerly being Rangers themselves. The whole...

Thor 2 is in theatres tonight! I’m very excited to see this movie. I’m more excited to see Thor 2 than Man of Steel actually. Thor has always been a fun super hero. He’s kind of like a mix between Superman and Hercules. It’s been impossible to completely avoid the trailers (I have been trying!), but from what I’ve seen it looks like it won’t disappoint. It also looks like there will be some cool fight scenes involving Thor’s trademark hammer. I came up with a list of the coolest super hero weapons. Thor’s hammer was one of them that made the list. Check out the rest of them below. 10. Ghost Rider’s chain When fighting demons and the dead, you need to have a few good weapons handy. Ghost Rider’s flaming chain is his go-to weapon. I’m not sure exactly how long the chain is, but it looks to be a decent length. Ghost Rider uses it like a whip sometimes. Other times he uses it as a lasso, wrapping his enemy up in it. The chain is essentially unbreakable. Once th...

Last week the 2013 Emmy nominations were announced. Leading the way was American Horror Story (there’s more than a few of my co-workers obsessed with this show) with 17 nominations. Right behind AHS was Game of Thrones with 16 nominations. I tend to watch TV shows once they are in syndication, several years after everyone has gone crazy about it. For that reason, I have yet to watch an episode of Game of Thrones, so I can’t throw in my two cents on the nominations. I may not know Game of Thrones, but I know all about throne rooms on TV and in the movies. In celebration (kind of?) of Game of Thrones’ Emmy nominations, here’s a look at some of the best throne rooms I’ve seen. The connection may be a stretch, but it’s a fun list, so take a look. The throne room in 2012's Snow White (the one with Julia Roberts as the evil queen) was decent enough. It was relatively simple, but the giant clam-like gold throne made it memorable. That thing's got to weigh a ton, lit...

Can we talk Iron Man 3 ? I was told by a friend of mine on Twitter that Iron Man 3 stopped being cool on Sunday. True, I was not one of the many people who saw it opening weekend, but better late than never right? The third installment in the Iron Man series (and the sequel to The Avengers ) was definitely very cool! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I had high hopes after the first two Iron Man movies, Thor , Captain America and The Avengers . Marvel has been on a role the past few years, so I was hoping they’d deliver a kick-ass movie in order to keep that momentum going. Based on the one trailer I saw for Iron Man 3, it seemed that Tony Stark faced a threat like never before. The preview I saw showed some of the Iron Man suits getting blown up. Iron Man 3 almost immediately started with that very same image. It wasn’t all explosions though. In fact, perhaps more than in the previous Iron Man appearances, this movie had a back-story, characters with different al...

I first saw this movie when it was released in the early 2000s. I don’t think I’ve seen it since then. I was going to start with Star Wars: Episode I and go through the entire hectlogy (trilogy x2), but Episode I was on a “Very Long Wait” status on Netflix. I had the same issue with the movie this time around as I did last time: bad acting. Hayden Christensen gave such a stoic performance . After watching the movie again I have to wonder if that’s what George Lucas was going for. Natalie Portman’s performance wasn’t much better. Ewan McGregor wasn’t much better than Christensen. Their performances were a mixture of campy and unenthused. Even Samuel L. Jackson was bland. The delivery of their lines lacked the conviction they should’ve had to make the movie truly epic. Maybe that’s how Lucas wanted it, though. Maybe it wasn’t the actors. Portman went on to win an Academy Award , so it’s hard to argue that she can’t act. She delivered a believable and enjoyable perfo...

After blogging about the best super villains come to life , I figured it only appropriate to come up with a list of the best super heroes come to life. Just like with the villains, some of my choices were made for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s the weaponry that makes a character. Other times it’s the costume. Sometimes it’s the physical Whatever the reason, the end result was successful. 10. Rachel Nichols as Scarlett ( G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra , 2010) I had to Google Rachel Nichols to write this blog post. I haven't seen her in anything before or since G.I. Joe. Turns out she's been in quite a few movies -- just nothing I've seen. She's proof that sometimes it's best to pick an actress that isn't as well known to play a role rather than going to the A-listers. She didn't set the world on fire with her portrayal, but she looked the part and captured the essence of the talented and confident (yet not arrogant) Scarlett. The only thing...