25 Saturday Aug 2018
Posted in Television
by Thom Yee
It’s been a while since we’ve done a review for a Marvel Netflix show, and while there are a variety of reasons for that (some of which have nothing to do with the shows themselves) there’s really only one that matters: Most of them aren’t very good.
Especially Jessica Jones. And especially Jessica Jones season two. Continue reading
14 Saturday Jul 2018
Posted in Films
by Thom Yee
Ant-Man and the Wasp images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
I was actually pretty fired up for the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp last weekend. Which was strange because the original Ant-Man was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that let me down [and that’s not even mentioning how unlikely it is for me to be excited about anything in the first place]. I think part of my excitement stemmed from how much more I’d gotten into the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the release of Avengers: Infinity War a scant two months (and change) ago, but if we’re being honest with each other, you and I, here at the end of all things (as it always feels like lately), I think the main reason for my expanded excitement for Ant-Man and the Wasp (See what I did there? Expanded? Because he grows?) was because, as much as Ant-Man let me down and as hard as I was on it in my original review, I like that first Ant-Man movie quite a bit now. Certainly more than my three (of five) star review might suggest. In retrospect, Ant-Man is a real good, solid movie. It’s got solid characters, innovative action scenes, and some pretty decent laughs.
You’ll never convince me Ant-Man is great movie though. Continue reading
26 Saturday May 2018
Posted in Weekends
by Thom Yee
Deadpool 2 images courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Deadpool’s never really been my kind of comicbook hero. He’s dangerous, unhinged from reality and doesn’t take life seriously, but not in a frightening, Joker kind of way. Deadpool’s more of an annoying, won’t-shut-up, Spider-Man type, only, unlike Spider-Man, he’s not masking his own insecurities or expressing himself in a way he can’t in real life. No, Deadpool’s just annoying, and he constantly f*cks with people because that’s who he is on the inside, and I don’t really like that kind of character (or person). For a long time that was fine too, the only type of person that liked Deadpool was a certain type of comicbook nerd, a subset of a group of people nobody in reality cared about or wanted to spend any time around anyway, but then, all of a sudden, Deadpool was, like, the biggest deal in the world, the titular lead character of his own titular action-comedy movie, and played by one of the most comically handsome and spastically charming men in the world. And by the end of all of that, I didn’t really like Deadpool much more. Continue reading
05 Saturday May 2018
Posted in Films
by Thom Yee
Avengers: Infinity War images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
This world doesn’t make sense any more. Californians are intentionally drinking untreated, unsterilized water they’re buying “off the grid” while people in Flint, Michigan still have too much lead in their taps. A ridiculous, Immortan-Joe-esque ignoramous is the President of the United States. Vaping is a thing. And Thanos is a major figure in our popular culture. Those four things might seem unrelated at first, but I’m pretty sure they all have megalomania and super-villainy at the heart of their origins. But we’re mostly here to talk about that last one, Thanos, today, because, as of April 27, 2018, people — normal people all over the world — suddenly knew who Thanos is. And the opportunity to talk about Thanos? As if he was something or someone people might know about? Someone people might actually care about? That makes almost no sense! That’s almost insane!
Continue reading
24 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted in Films
by Thom Yee
Images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Something I hear a lot around this time of year is “Happy New Year!” And not usually from Chinese people either, from people who, I think, feel a measure of personal progress when they say it to people who look like me. “Happy New Year!” they say to us. In the middle of February. Weeks later than January 1st. I’m not saying that I really mind when I hear it, I’m not trying to judge people when I hear them say it to me, almost any recognition and celebration of other cultures is a good thing, I’m just saying that when I hear Happy [Chinese] New Year, I can’t help but think to myself, “It’s not my New Year.” Sometimes with several exclamation points at the end. Continue reading
11 Saturday Nov 2017
Posted in Films
by Thom Yee
Thor: Ragnarok images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
If it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve talked about Thor here on GOO Reviews, you’re right, it has been a while, not since 2013 in fact when we published our review of Thor: The Dark World. And that’s actually a little weird because it’s not as if Marvel movies went away or became less popular in the four years since then, quite the opposite in fact. It’s just that Thor’s only managed one other movie appearance since then, 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, a paltry number in comparison to his fellow Avengers, Captain America and Iron Man, with whom Thor ostensibly shares the title of that team’s “big three”. In that same four-year timespan, as well as appearing in Age of Ultron, Captain America headlined two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest and most eventful chapters in Captain Americas Winter Soldier and Civil War and Iron Man co-starred in and often even outshone the titular characters in Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming. That’s two more movies each for Cap and ol’ Shellhead to become even more the central figures of the MCU whereas Thor’s been mostly off world, doing gods know what in adventures that either had little to do with the MCU’s main, Earth-bound stories or that we had no real interest in (like [again] Thor: The Dark World [just as an example]). Continue reading
15 Saturday Jul 2017
Posted in Films
by Thom Yee
Spider-Man: Homecoming images courtesy of Sony Pictures
How do you feel about Spider-Man? And I don’t mean “Spider-Man”, the series of movies that’s already gone through three reboots in less than 15 years because Sony, who bought the movie rights to the character from Marvel in 1999, has to rush a Spider-Man movie into production every few years or else the movie rights revert back to Marvel Studios, I mean the character — Spider-Man. If you listened to J. Jonah Jameson, publisher/editor of New York’s most infamous newspaper, The Daily Bugle, you might think he’s a public menace. If you were familiar with the comicbook lore, you’d most likely find him to be a misunderstood but friendly, neighbourhood hero, driven by guilt over the death of his uncle to responsibly use his powers for good. But whenever I hear anyone talk about Spider-Man in real life? They usually say they don’t like him. I’ve never really liked him that much either. And I think it’s all Tobey Maguire’s fault. Continue reading
13 Saturday May 2017
Posted in Films
by Thom Yee
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Honestly, it’s starting to feel a little weird that we live in a world where I can talk to my mom about Rocket Raccoon. At this point, I could probably even talk about Rocket Raccoon with your mom. We geeks are really getting spoiled right now.
So anyway, the original Guardians of the Galaxy did did very well with us here at GOO Reviews, but the farther we’ve all gotten from it, the more I’ve personally learned to… well, not to dislike it, but to not love it SO much. Guardians of the Galaxy is a movie defined by extremes, its most visible and memorable elements probably being its colourful comedy and its general wackiness, and though those extremes aren’t necessarily that surprising given that it is a comicbook movie, it still lacks some of the nuance that’s allowed the best superhero movies to endure (even as the most enduring superhero movies usually come across as far more sanctimonious and self-serious). That doesn’t mean Guardians isn’t well remembered or that it couldn’t or shouldn’t be your favourite superhero movie, but Guardians was the type of movie that left me feeling extremely satisfied at first but ultimately somewhat empty, like a really, really great fast food meal. Continue reading
