Venom (2018)

 I almost skipped this movie, but decided to watch it after Venom appeared in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Plus, I enjoyed the scenes where Venom used Peter Parker for its symbiotic relationship in Spider-Man 3. I really did not like this movie too much. The plot felt rushed. I wasn't sure who the actual bad guy was. The scientist who collected Venom is for sure bad, but is Eddie Brock bad also? He seems like a nice guy, but when infected by Venom he bites people's heads off, so are we supposed to be rooting for him to get better despite this? Who is the hero in this movie? I found Venom's voice overlay to be annoying too. At times this movie felt like a 1980s B rated horror film.

If Venom goes on to become a character in the MCU, at least this movie did a good job of introducing his character. Though, I feel like I had a good enough understanding of Venom after Spider-Man 3. I'll pass on Venom: Let There Be Carnage and catch up with the character if/when he appears in the MCU.

Daredevil: Season 1

 

At times I feel like I'm the only person in America who doesn't have access (paid or unpaid) to Netflix. I was excited when it was announced the Marvel shows from Netflix were going to be moved to Disney+. However, there are a lot of them and I wasn't sure how many would involve the MCU, so wasn't sure how many of them I would watch. Once I learned that Matt Murdock's character appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and hear rumors of a new Daredevil series in development, I decided to watch the Netflix show. It didn't hurt that the show got good ratings as well. From reading about other Marvel characters, I knew Daredevil was a major character in the Marvel universe. Much beyond that, however, I knew very little about the character since he hasn't appeared in the MCU. Luckily, the show does a good job of mingling the main plot with Matt's background, explaining why he is blind and how he got his heightened senses and fighting skills. It was a great introduction not only to the Daredevil character, but also to Wilson Fisk. Fisk is also a major Marvel character. His appearance in Hawkeye was my introduction to the character, and that appearance was another reason why I wanted to watch this show, to get better background on him as he is likely to appear again in the MCU.

This was my first non-Disney Marvel show, and it is dark. Most of the MCU shows to date on Disney+ have been light-hearted. This one is the complete opposite: violent and dark. In fact, it is often times so dark you can barely even see what is on screen. There were times when I literally asked myself why they didn't just turn on the lights. The violence can be over the top, which sometimes is a bit of a turn off for me. However, generally speaking this show was quite good. Its genre on Disney+ is listed as film noir, and is almost more of a gangster show than a superhero show. Both Charlie Cox as Murdock, and Vincent D'Onofrio as Fisk, were fantastic in their roles. While most of the superhero villains are fun, they can be a bit over the top at times. It was refreshing to see an antagonist like Fisk, who has exceptional strength but otherwise is just a normal person. It made the entire story feel more real and gritty.

Season 1 was well written, well acted, and the plot was good. It was a great introduction to some major Marvel characters, and now that they are appearing in the MCU, there is incentive to continue to watch. I'm going to take a detour to watch Moon Knight, but I'll be back for season 2.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

 

As you all know from the rave reviews and headlines about how much money this movie made, Spider-Man: No Way Home is fantastic. There are a lot of enjoyable moments in this film. This movie is like an All-Star game for Spider-Man, with all of the previous Spider-Man actors and villains appearing. At the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio reveals Spider-Man's identity. In an attempt to hide his identity, Peter consults Dr. Strange to see if he can cast a spell to reverse Mysterio's actions. While doing this, he inadvertently opens the multiverse, allowing previous villains and versions of Peter Parker to appear on the same timeline. Below are some of my favorite aspects and thoughts about the movie.

• Matt Murdock's appearance. I'm in the process of watching Daredevil, and really enjoy Charlie Cox's portrayal of the character, so the timing of this cameo was spot-on for me. Had I not seen Daredevil, his appearance would've went right over my head.
• As previously discussed, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin character is spectacular. Any opportunity to have him on screen should be taken advantage of.
• Same goes for Dr. Strange. His character is great, and I'm really looking forward to the Multiverse of Madness.
• Glad to see Zendaya have a bit more of a prominent role in this movie. I feel like in the other films she doesn't get to say much.
• I can't see Peter's friend Ned without thinking of Sandra from Superstore.
• Obviously the appearance of Tobey Maguire's and Andrew Garfield's versions of Spider-Man was great, but I particularly enjoyed the banter between the three Peter Parkers. My favorite scene was when they were questioning Tobey's ability to shoot web straight from his wrist and not rely on an external device.

Deadpool (2016 & 2018)

 

The Deadpool movies are essentially the same, so I decided to combine them into one post. Both movies were enjoyable, filled with junior high level humor and laugh out loud moments. They were more enjoyable than a sandpaper dildo. One of the cool things about Marvel movies is that they don't take themselves too seriously, and Deadpool takes that concept to the next level, constantly referring to the studio and other Marvel characters, poking fun at them. I've always enjoyed Ryan Reynolds, partly because I share a minor resemblance to him, and his performance in these movies was enjoyable as predicted. Both movies err on the side of violence, which at times can be a bit much for me.

I have a difficult time ranking these movies in terms of the larger Marvel picture. I liked the first movie better than the second, though both were enjoyable. The character feels a bit like the red-headed stepchild of Marvel. He isn't a part of the MCU and isn't afraid to remind you that he doesn't belong to a specific group. He resists invitations to join X-Men, instead forming his own group X-Force. He's completely self-centered, and the plots of both movies focus entirely on him, to the point that there really are no supporting characters. I can't even remember who the villains in the movies were. In fact, after watching the second movie, I wasn't even sure who the villain was (was it the kid? was it Juggernaut? was it Cable?). While Deadpool is an enjoyable character, he feels like he doesn't really belong in the greater Marvel picture, and isn't afraid to remind you of this.

Thrawn: Treason

 

Thrawn competes with Orson Krennic for military funding in this book. Thrawn wants additional funds for his Tie Defender ships. Krennic doesn't want funding taken from the Death Star project to support the Tie Defenders. A supply line for the Death Star is being interrupted by Grallocs attacking their ships. Thrawn and Krennic enter a wager, orchestrated by Moff Tarkin. If Thrawn can get rid of the Gralloc problem to improve delivery of supplies to the Death Star, he can get additional funding for his Tie Defender program. If not, the funding will go to Krennic and the Death Star. Thrawn takes the wager, and in the process discovers a conspiracy.

The ships had been rigged to be attacked by Grallocs by pirates, in order for them to steal the supplies. The ships were thought to be lost in space, their hyperdrives destroyed. In reality, they were taken to a trading post where their supplies were confiscated. During his investigation, Thrawn runs into his old Chiss Ascendancy partner Ar'alani. Turns out the Chiss are also investigating these disturbances. Together, they learn that the trading post had been attacked by Grysk pirates, an alien group both Thrawn and Ar'alani consider to be a threat to their respective military. In addition to attacking the post, the Grysk had kidnapped a Chiss skywalker, a child navigator capable of using the Force to help with ship navigation, a skill called third sight. 

Thrawn and Ar'alani work together to save the Chiss navigator, as well as eliminate the Grysk. After rescuing the young skywalker, they use a much older skywalker's ability to use second sight to read the mind of the young navigator, leading them to the Grysk base where they defeat the aliens. In the process, Thrawn discovers that Grand Admiral Savit was responsible for the Gralloc attacks, thus disrupting the Death Star supply chain and committing treason. Like Thrawn, he disagreed with so much funding going to the Death Star, and instead thought it was more sensible to spread the money throughout the military.

Of course, in the process of working with Ar'alani to save the Chiss skywalker, Thrawn himself also made some questionable decisions by utilizing Empire resources to aid a foreign group. In the epilogue, the Emperor encourages Thrawn to return to Lothal to deal with Ezra Bridger. Afterwards, he is to return to Coruscant to have a long talk with the Emperor. In this sense, the book ends with a bit of a cliffhanger in terms of Thrawn's future., and I don't think any additional books exist (currently) that explain what happens to him. The last time we saw him on screen, he was battling with Ezra and they get blasted off into space along an unknown vector. Ahsoka mentions him during her appearance on The Mandalorian, apparently searching for him and Ezra, so I suspect we will learn more about his story in upcoming Disney+ shows. We also learn that Thrawn's former assistant, Eli Vanto, is doing research for the Chiss on Skywalkers and second and third sight, so there may be more to their story as well. 

City Journal: London - Completion of the Outer Boroughs

 

My region continues to expand outward, away from the London city center, and with this expansion comes the completion of the outer ring of boroughs that encircles the city of London. This expansion not only includes new neighborhoods to the region, but also growth in the transportation networks that move people throughout the region. London has an extensive network of trains, and I plan on having a City Journal post in the future focusing exclusively on its train networks. Below are highlights of the outer boroughs. There are a lot of noteworthy places in the outer boroughs, and they were fun to build.

Starting on the west side of the region, Fulham includes notable sporting places like Stamford Bridge, home to the Chelsea football club, and the Queens Club tennis championships. It also contains Earl's Court Exhibition Center, which hosted events in the 2012 Olympics.

Moving a bit north, the city of Hammersmith is home to London's Heathrow airport, one of the busiest international airports in the world. In reality, Heathrow sits farther west than Hammersmith. However, on my regional map this is as far west as the map goes, so I had to place the airport a little closer to city center.

While building the outer boroughs, it became apparent that I needed to build St. Pancras train station. St. Pancras is a major international train station, connecting London to the rest of Europe via the Chunnel. It also has many regional connections to the rest of the UK. It became famous due to its appearances in the Harry Potter films. I placed the station in the borough of Islington, which is actually an inner borough. However, its rail lines run through the outer boroughs so it was important to build it now before further developing the outer boroughs.

The city of Haringey is where the Alexandra Palace is located, an amazing sports and concert venue.

Stratford is home to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the 2012 Summer Olympic games. Additionally, Stratford contains the Stratford International Station, a train station which connects to St. Pancras and was a major European hub for travelers to the Olympic games. The real Olympic Park contains a tower called the Orbit Observation Tower. I couldn't recreate this in the game, so instead I used Berlin's Fernsehturm Berlin tower, a massive 1,207 foot tall communications tower. This is the tallest structure in my version of London.

Newham is a city just north of the River Thames that contains London City Airport. South of the river in Greenwich is where the famous O2 Arena lives.

Woolwich is where the famous Royal Arsenal was located. This is where the Arsenal football club gets its name. The area played important roles in previous wars, but currently has been redeveloped as a residential zone.

Wrapping up the outer boroughs is Wimbledon, obviously famous for its All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.  Wimbledon is also an important junction for travel, with Underground trains connecting to the southern Tram lines as well as regional Thameslink trains.

Logan (2017)

 

This movie takes place in an alternate future in 2029. Xavier is old and senile. Logan is an alcoholic and ill, no longer healing as well as he used to. He learns he is a father, his DNA used without his knowledge in an experiment to create mutant child warriors. His child escaped the facility where she was created, and the bad guys are after her. Logan and Xavier are attempting to take her to North Dakota, where other mutant children have gone to escape to Canada. Along the way, the bad guys continuously catch them, and various bad things happen, including unleashing another version of a Wolverine, genetically programmed to kill. Eventually they make it to North Dakota, and his kid escapes, but not until the bad Wolverine kills Logan. I have two words for this movie: incredibly violent. It got good reviews, and was well written and acted. But generally I didn't enjoy this movie as much as other X-Men movies because of the over the top violence.