Nerd in the 'Noke

Shazam! (2019), PG-13, 2 h 12min - Shazam! has been out for a couple of weeks now (not including the early preview weekend), and after being delayed by much needed yard work, I was finally able to check it out last weekend.  I haven't had much time to work on my review, but I did want to get something written up on it so I apologize in advance for this being short and sweet. I have very little prior experience and knowledge of the character.  As a matter of fact, the only Shazam! material I had read before seeing the movie was the story arc that Geoff Johns and Gary Frank did as backup features in Justice League during DC's New 52 era, and the first couple of issues of Johns' current run on the title with Dale Eaglesham.  Which actually turned out to be fortunate, as this film takes a lot of inspiration from Johns' take on Billy Batson and family. Billy (Asher Angel) is an orphan who has bounced around from group home to foster family and back over and over as he...

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), PG, 1h 44 min - The third installment of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise has been out for a few weeks already and while I saw it myself a week or two back, I've been dragging my feet a bit in regards to getting my review together.  You see, my review for the original How to Train Your Dragon (2010)  was the first post I ever made to this blog.  That just so happened to have been nine years ago this week (April 10th to be exact).  So I couldn't help but sandbag a little and make this a 9th Anniversary post of sorts. The Hidden World continues to follow the life and adventures of the inhabitants of Berk, a viking settlement that has embraced dragons and given them a safe haven after having been feared and hunted for years.  Their outlook and appreciation for dragons has changed dramatically over the series of films.  If you have not seen the first two movies, I highly recommend that you do so befo...

Captain Marvel (2019), PG-13, 2h 4min - I saw this film a couple weeks back on opening weekend, but a crazy schedule has kept me from getting this review together and posted until now.  At this point, most everyone with any interest in it has likely seen it as it has dominated the box office over the last two weeks.  Captain Marvel is the twenty-first entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and more importantly, is the first focused on a female lead.  It also happens to be the first MCU film that acts as a prequel as opposed to continuing the current timeline. Captain Marvel is set in the late 1990's and introduces us to Vers/Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), a Kree warrior who finds herself on Earth while in pursuit of fleeing Skrulls (alien shapes-hifters) after her unit's mission - to rescue a Kree asset before it falls into the hands of the Skrulls - falls apart.  Once on Earth, she begins regaining slivers of memories, leading her to question her experie...

Aquaman (2018), PG-13, 2h 23 min - Live action DC films have had a very spotty track record over the last few years.  Previously, last year's  Wonder Woman  had really been the only one that had been well received.  I personally feel that Aquaman will be the second.  The funny thing is, it has more than a couple similarities with Wonder Woman: an outside the box director for a big, superhero film (in this case horror/thriller aficionado James Wan), a lead actor who didn't necessarily seem right when first announced (Jason Momoa), and a script/story that was allowed to stand on its own as opposed to being shoe horned into some greater, expanded universe plan.  I certainly don't mean to bash any of the other DCEU films (I probably enjoyed them more than most, even considering their downfalls), but I have always felt like WB/DC rushed the expanded universe concept in an attempt to catch up with the record breaking Marvel Cinematic Universe.  As a resul...

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), PG-13, 1h 58min - Much like its predecessor  Ant-Man (2015) , Ant-Man and the Wasp is the rare MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) film that I wasn't counting down the days to.  That's not to say that I didn't want to see it, I just wasn't nearly as stoked for it as I usually am for a Marvel Studios release (especially coming on the heels of Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War).  However, just like Ant-Man before it, I found this film to be one of the most fun MCU installments to date. Ant-Man and the Wasp follows the events of both Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War, and precedes the events of this year's Infinity War.  Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is serving his final days of house arrest after his involvement in Civil War and is trying to get his security consultant business - X-Con Security - off the ground with fellow ex-con associates Luis (Michael Peña), Dave (Tip 'T.I.' Harris), and Kurt (David Dastmalchian).  Meanw...

Incredibles 2 (2018), PG, 1h 58min - I haven't had the opportunity to get out to many movies recently, but on the Fourth of July holiday I was able to check out my most anticipated Pixar sequel to date: Incredibles 2.  The original Incredibles (2004) is probably my favorite Disney/Pixar film and the story lent itself so perfectly to a sequel that it's been a little frustrating that it has taken fourteen years for this follow up to come to fruition while other Disney/Pixar franchises have churned out multiple sequels over that same time. Incredibles 2 takes place not too long after the events of The Incredibles, with The Parr family - Bob/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner), and Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile) - trying to adapt to 'normal' family life as superhero activity is still illegal (despite the Parr's heroics at the end of the first film).  Bob and Helen are working undercover for a governme...

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), PG-13, 2h 15min - Of all of the Star Wars films to date (of which this is the tenth overall, and second anthology entry), this was easily the one that I was the least excited about (yes, that includes the prequel trilogy when they first hit theaters). I liked the premise: a Han Solo origin story, but the film encountered a number of obstacles during production (including a director change) and I wasn't terribly thrilled with the casting of Alden Ehrenreich as the younger version of the iconic character (I didn't feel like he could carry a film based on what little I had seen of him previously). On the other hand, I felt like Donald Glover was born to play a young Lando Calrissian, and after seeing the likes of Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, and Paul Bettany in the trailer I was cautiously optimistic. But even then I just didn't have the excitement and urgency that I usually do leading up to a new Star Wars film. That's the long wa...

I Kill Giants (2017), NR, 1h 46min - This film is a live action adaptation of the 2008 Image Comics series of the same name, created by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura.  It was a series that I had long heard great things about, and one which I was happy to have finally gotten the chance to read this past week.  This weekend marks the film's initial, limited, theatrical release - meaning it won't get to my area for at least another week or two - however, thanks to its simultaneously being available to rent digitally through Amazon Prime , I didn't have to wait, and I'm happy to report that this is a pretty worthy adaptation. I gave a vague overview of the story in my review of the graphic novel yesterday, and I will attempt to do the same here: I Kill Giants is the story of Barbara Thorsen (Madison Wolfe), a nerdy, sarcastic, introverted, middle school-aged girl, using her imagination to simultaneously avoid and cope with life's problems while interacting with oth...

Black Panther (2018), PG-13, 2h 14min - Until recently, I had very little working knowledge of Black Panther's comic book history.  I have always been aware of the character, but was not familiar with his non-Avengers exploits.  Considering his fifty two year history (created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby), I have still only scratched the surface.  However, the material that I read leading up to this film's release is highly regarded - Christopher Priest's run from the late '90s and the beginning of Ta-Nahesi Coates' current run on the title (review to come) - both heavily influencing what we see on the big screen.  Despite my prior lack of familiarity with T'Challa's history, this film recently topped my Most Anticipated Films of 2018 list and it didn't disappoint! We were first introduced to T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, when we learned the basics of the character: he is the King of ...

Every year, compiling this list proves to be both extremely fun and difficult.  Fun because it's a chance to get excited about the year's upcoming films and difficult because often times there hasn't even been a teaser trailer released yet for films coming out later in the year (as will become evident as you work your way through this list).  A lot of this is based purely on speculation, but that's ok (and part of the fun when looking back on it each year). What films are you most looking forward to in 2018?  Without further ado, here's my list for this year: Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):   Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6) ,  Deadpool 2 (June 1) , Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald (November 16) ,  Isle of Dogs (March 23) , Mission: Impossible - Fallout (July 27) , Pacific Rim: Uprising (March 23) ,  The Predator (August 3) , Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (November 23) , Red Sparrow (March 2) 10) Mary Poppins ...

Darkest Hour (2017), PG-13, 2hr, 5min - I was able to knock Darkest Hour off of my 'Movies from 2017 I Still Want to See' list last week, just a couple of hours after publishing my Top 10 of 2017 post.  This film has been nominated for six Oscars this year, and if I had seen it a day earlier than I had, I likely would have paired it with Dunkirk  a number nine on that list (more on that in a bit). Darkest Hour is set in the early to mid-1940's during World War II.  Nazi Germany's forces have made significant advances across Europe towards the Atlantic Ocean.  The resignation of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) is being called for as he has not provided the authority in leadership that Great Britain needs in order to fend off Germany's impending invasion attempt.  Chamberlain resigns, and Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman), who has a spotty political record but has proven to be correct in his beliefs that Adolf Hitler is a danger to e...

After skipping a Top 10 list last year because I don't think I had even seen ten films (due to the second job era), this post marks the return of this feature to nerdinthenoke.com !  I transitioned the content of the blog a bit in 2017, but even so I saw and reviewed more than enough films to compile this list which is pretty exciting.  What I didn't realize was how difficult it was actually going to be to pick out just ten films as I really enjoyed most of what I saw this past year. I've compiled such a list five of the past seven years, so those of you familiar with the blog may remember the stipulations I use when putting this list together, but for those who are not, here are a couple of quick points before we get started: The list is pulled only from the movies released in 2017  that I actually saw  (a second list comprised of the films from 2017 that I would still like to see appears after my Top 10). These are the films that I  enjoyed or appreciated...