Fifteen years ago, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born with the release of Iron Man. It’s made billions of dollars. It’s had thirty-two entries released so far, another entry is up for release this year, and another nine and counting are in the pipeline.* Barring some kind of cultural cataclysm, I reckon the MCU will go on for a while yet, but a part of it is over. Jon Favreau’s Iron Man created the framework of what the modern MCU film looks like. Despite being a horror of a human being, Joss Whedon created the tone of the MCU, a union of rampaging snark and grounded mythology with The... Read More

“A thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts.” That quote comes from the under-loved Avengers: Age of Ultron. Upon its 2015 release, we were 11 films deep and there were two schools of thought about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a sprawling epic of interconnectivity. Eager nerds like myself were excited. Comic book creators and imagination machines like Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Steve Ditko used these characters, perhaps unwittingly, as a kind of modern mythology. There were lessons of tolerance, justice, decency. You could take something of real value away from the adventures of a bunch of... Read More

Now that the summer movie season is upon us, we can expect to be bombarded with think pieces about superhero fatigue. These pieces will tell us that audiences are absolutely done with superhero movies in general, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in particular. But you know what? I don’t buy it. I understand the sentiment, though. Summer movies used to be either broad comedies or action flicks about cops on the edge. Now, we’ve got people in garish costumes with goofy codenames interacting with CGI monstrosities. For people like my dear friend Devila, it can be unbearable. She’s... Read More

I know all of you who clicked on this link are desperate to know about my morning routine leading up to the writing of this review. Happy to oblige! I got out of bed wearing 1 pair of red moose-print pajama bottoms and 1 Prefontaine t-shirt. Teeth were brushed thoroughly (47.2% of Americans suffer from periodontal disease!), and I gave my dog a brisk morning walk. Next, dog and cats were fed, I made breakfast for myself (Cheat day! Woo-hoo!), and checked Facebook (Friends bought a new home in Tacoma! Congratulations!) while I ate. I hung out a bit with my wife and son (Quality time is family time!)... Read More