Nerd in the 'Noke

The Punisher, TV-MA, 13 Episodes - The Punisher is the latest Marvel/Netflix collaboration, adding another chapter to the street level corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  Jon Bernthal returns to the role of Frank Castle that he so perfectly inhabited in season two of Daredevil , and takes full advantage of the opportunity the spotlight of this series provides to really flesh out a character that is oftentimes incorrectly perceived as being an emotionless killing machine.  This series is a bit of a slow burn compared to many of the earlier Marvel/Netflix installments, but this really benefits the themes that the slower pace allows the show to explore: post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), veteran affairs, gun control, and corrupt government agencies.  Make no mistakes, The Punisher may be a comic-based vehicle, but it is a political drama/thriller through and through. This series takes place after the events of Daredevil season two, and around the same...

Justice League (2017), PG-13, 2hr - The long anticipated Justice League film finally hit theaters last weekend.  And when I say long, I mean long .  Comic book fans have been hoping and waiting for a Justice League film for about ten years now (George Miller had a JL film in pre-production in the mid-late 00's).  Things fell through (the details of which can and have been summed up better than I could, so I won't go into those details here), and the world has been forced to wait for the first live action adaptation of DC's super-team ever since.  This incarnation of the project faced production issues of its own, but all in all the end result is a step in the right direction for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). As we know from the trailer, Justice League focuses on Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman's (Gal Gadot) recruitment of others with powers in an effort to combat an impending doom.  That threat arrives in the form of Steppenwolf (voiced by  Ci...

Thor: Ragnarok (2017), PG-13, 2h 10min - Of all of the characters that Marvel Studios has introduced into their cinematic universe (MCU), Thor may be the most diverse.  Thor: Ragnarok is the third Thor-centric film in the ever-expanding MCU, and each has had a very different tone to it.  Ragnarok is a sharp departure from the prevailing gloom of Thor: The Dark World , bringing a much lighter, humorous tone to the action-adventure nature of the character while he combats another end-of-the-world-level threat. The events of Thor: Ragnarok begin with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in a very precarious position: being held captive by classic Thor comics villain Surtur, (who is voiced by Clancy Brown) and talking to his long-dead cellmate about how he came to be in said tough spot.  It's an amusing way to bring us up to speed with what Thor has been up to since the events of 2015's  Avengers: Age of Ultron  (the last time we have seen either he or the Hulk).  ...

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017), R, 1h 48min - I hadn't even been aware of this film's existence until a month or so ago when I happened upon the first trailer on YouTube.  In a year that has seen Wonder Woman dominate the box office and single-handedly breath new optimism into the future of the DCEU (DC Extended Universe), we now get this film about Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston's life and its influence on the development of his most well known creation. Marston (Luke Evans) and his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston (Rebecca Hall) - highly regarded in her own right - were both psychologists, specifically studying human interactions.  William was a firm proponent of DISC theory, believing that a person's reaction in any given situation was a combination of the following components: Dominance, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance.  He was also a supporter of the feminist movement and took an actively participated in his research.  Whi...

The Snowman (2017), R, 1h 59min - After I finished reading IT a few weeks back, I set my sights on this novel by Jo Nesbø, with hopes of finishing it before the movie hit theaters.  I ended up finishing the source material this past Sunday, which kept me from catching it on opening weekend.  But honestly I ended up being even more intrigued by the film after seeing that it was receiving less than stellar reviews along with its sub-par performance at the box office.  Thanks to an odd day off from work, I was able to see Tomas Alfredson's big screen adaptation yesterday afternoon, and while I feel as though the casting of characters was pretty good, the film itself is a bit disjointed and anti-climactic. The Snowman is based on the seventh of Nesbø's series of novels focusing on the exploits of Dectective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) of the Oslo (Norway) Police Department.  Hole and Katrine Bratt (Rebecca Ferguson), a recent transfer into the department, begin ...

Blade Runner 2049 (2017), R, 2h 44min - Prior to this past week, it had been quite a while since I had sat down and watched the original Blade Runner (1982), which was really a disservice to myself, especially when compiling my  Most Anticipated Films of 2017 post earlier this year.  On that list, Blade Runner 2049 was only an honorable mention.  Had I seen the original more recently, 2049 would likely have easily cracked the Top 10.  So prior to seeing Blade Runner 2049 yesterday afternoon, I made sure that I did my due diligence and gave the original a re-watch.  And I'm glad that I did.  Not only was I reminded of how awesome the original was, it prepared me for what was to come with my theatrical experience for 2049. Blade Runner 2049 takes place in the year 2049 (surprise!), thirty years after the events of the original film (based upon the world created by Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ).  The Tyrell Corpo...

Wonder Woman Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1 : Collecting Wonder Woman: Rebirth (2016) #1, Wonder Woman (2016) #1-14 When DC originally announced their Rebirth initiative, the title that I was looking forward to the most was Wonder Woman.  Greg Rucka was making a return to the character (he had already written one one highly acclaimed Wonder Woman run in the early 2000's), and artistic duties were going to be split between Liam Sharp (whose work I had not previously been familiar with) and Nicola Scott (who like Rucka, would be dancing with Diana a second time).  Many of the Rebirth titles were implementing multiple artist teams in order to keep up with the the bi-weekly shipping schedule, but Wonder Woman differed in that Rucka was going to juggle two story arcs at once, alternating issues between 'The Lies', a story set in present day (Sharp), and a 'Year One' story set in the past (Scott).  Rucka had signed on to steer the title for the first year of the Rebirt...

IT (2017), R, 2h 15min - A month ago, just a few short days before this film arrived in theaters, soon to destroy September and R-rated horror box office records, I had little to no interest in seeing this new adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel.  I had somehow managed to overlook the fact that IT had been directed by Andy Muschietti, whose feature length film debut had been one that my wife and I both enjoyed (2013's  Mama ).  Maybe this oversight was due in part to a slight name change (Muschietti had previously been credited as Andrés), or maybe I'm just a moron.  More likely, it was a combination of the two.  In any event, I found myself suddenly very interested in the film as did my wife. We decided that we would wait to rent IT so that we could avoid obnoxious crowds that often frequent horror releases.  Since we had decided to wait, I thought that I'd take advantage of that delay and familiarize myself with King's original novel. ...

Starman Omnibus HC Vol. 1  -  Collecting Starman (1994) #0-16 Starman Omnibus HC Vol. 2  -  Collecting Starman (1994) #17-29, Annual #1, Showcase '95 (1995) #12, and Showcase '96 (1996) #4-5 Starman Omnibus HC Vol. 3  -  Collecting The Shade (1997) #1-4, Starman (1994) #30-38, Annual #2, and Starman Secret Files (1998) #1 Starman Omnibus HC Vol. 4  -  Collecting Starman (1994) #39-46, The Power of Shazam (1995) #35-36, Starman 80 Page Giant (1999) #1, Starman: The Mist (1998) #1, and Batman/Hellboy/Starman (1999) #1-2 Starman Omnibus HC Vol. 5 - Collecting Starman (1994) #47-60, 1000000, All-Star Comics 80 Page Giant (1999) #1, JSA: All Stars (2003) #4, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. (1999) #0 Starman Omnibus HC Vol. 6 - Collecting Starman (1994) #61-81 Starman (1994) by James Robinson and Tony Harris (and later Peter Snejbjerg) is a series that was recommended to me by a good friend of mine years ago when these omnibus editions were first ...