by rodvanblake | Mar 15, 2019 | Blog, Character Journey, movie review, Pacing, Storyline
For most who watched with bated breath as Earth’s mightiest heroes took a huge L in Avengers Infinity War at the hands of Thanos, the arrival of Captain Marvel was a much anticipated film. Brie Larson who stars as Captain Marvel kicked up a lot of dust with statements made at an award ceremony. Some were angered by the statements to the point of review bombing and even calling for a boycott of the latest installment to the MCU. I think it had less of an effect because people still wanted to see if there would be any bearing on Infinity War as well as influence on what is to come in End Game. Korath the Pursuer, Ronin the Accuser and Agent Colson All that aside I was going to see this film and I wasn’t alone as it raked in over 150 million opening weekend. I am also judging this film on its’ merits as a whole and not solely on political agendas as I do think they influence this movie but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy it. There were also many side characters that I knew were going to make an appearance and I was curious to see how they would fit in here. Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as a young Nick Fury. We finally get to see how he lost his eye! Don’t worry though no spoilers here. Young Nick Fury With this being Marvel’s first film starring a female lead most will want to compare it to Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot. As I stated I enjoyed Captain Marvel but had...
by rodvanblake | Feb 26, 2019 | Blog, movie review, Pacing, Storyline
I meant to see this film when it first came out and it took me a couple weeks but I am certainly glad I did finally catch it. Now I had been hearing of a lot of criticism about this film which had me apprehensive but was pleasantly surprised when I went to see it in 3D with Dolby atmos sound. Now I realize that most won’t do this but I also watched the anime episodes from 1993 and that helps my opinion of this film tremendously. Grewishka Here is what I liked about this film a lot. The action and visuals were great and Alita’s character model is one of the best uses of CGI I have seen in a minute. You know she is 100% fake and brought to life with motion capture but aside from the absurdly large anime eyes and body when they go to close to her face it looks as if it could be real. It can be off putting at times. They reset the locale from Kansas to Panama city and do a good job of building this future world for those of us not willing to dive into the anime or read the Manga which is the source material for this film. This brings me to my next point and foil to most of the criticism I see floating about the internet. depictions from the anime This film for the most part was heavily faithful to the source material. For those out there complaining about Alita’s proportions, the relationship between her and Hugo, whitewashing or the treatment of animals in a...
by rodvanblake | Jan 4, 2019 | Blog, Character Journey, movie review, Pacing, Storyline
Jason Mamoa as Aquaman Now at first I was a bit skeptical as to how Warner brothers was going to bring this character to life in his own feature film, especially after his introduction to the cinematic universe in Justice League. Jason Mamoa was an interesting and good casting choice in my opinion for a few reasons, but that did not mean the execution would go well. To begin with I like the fact that they ditched the traditional blonde haired blue eyed version we were originally given in the cartoons and comic of old. Nothing wrong with that aesthetic but we have plenty like that to choose from and having someone with Hawaiian heritage play the role has some symmetry to it. It fits. Being a marine biology major only adds to the surfer dude attitude and overall mans man vibe you get from him on screen. I was a bit worried about that when he appeared in Justice league as that was all we got to see of him. In this film he gets to do more, not much more but more nonetheless. Black Manta played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II The supporting cast is good in this film but there are some that I would have liked to see more of. Specifically one of Aquamans most known villains Black Manta could have used some more fleshing out but I think they’re saving him for a future film. The premise behind Aquaman is kind of silly and not to be taken too seriously and DC leaned into that but still had some serious moments without overdoing it. Dark...
by rodvanblake | Sep 27, 2018 | Ancient Illumination, Blog
Last month the second novel in the Ancient Illumination novel went live and now I am prepping for my second Comic con appearance here in Baltimore MD at the convention center downtown. I have been pretty busy so this is just a quick blog to let everyone know what I have been and what I will be up to. So on September 28th thru the 30th I’ll be in Baltimore at table A219. I did well last year and returning with more than one book should bode well for another great showing. Before the close of the year I will be hard at work on the third novel and mapping out the outline for the first of my fantasy series. At the end of next month I will be at the VA Comic con in Richmond Virginia at the Speedway on October 27th and 28th. Should be another fun event with lots of comic book and scifi fans dressed up as their favorite fictional characters from a variety of Geekdoms! The last time I was able to participate was in 2015 I believe at the Tidewater Comic con in Va Beach. Towards the middle of the month I will be taking another voice acting class with Melissa Leebaert if I can get in. Why? Because I am also in the process of recording the audio books to put them up on audible and iTunes so that people who don’t have time to read my stories can at least listen to them on the way to and from work. I have confidence in my voice but want to make sure...
by rodvanblake | Aug 17, 2018 | Blog, movie review, Storyline
I know, I know. I am very late to the party but I feel its fitting given the uproar this film started with its seemingly controversial ending. I figured everyone has had more than ample opportunity to go out and see the film by now. Especially since its out for home consumption now. This film was a culmination of a ten year cinematic journey which began with the first Iron Man film birthing the official MCU. With the exception of a couple notable characters everyone was in this film which was no small feat, and with the exception of a couple characters everyone had their own feature films to flesh out their individual narratives leading up to this film. Not a jab but an honest observation but DC would do well to follow this practice before releasing another comic book team up film. This film had everyone, everything and for once I think the build up was paid off in the end. I do think depending on how they go from here though, will heavily impact the intensity of their results here but I’ll discuss that later. For those of you that perpetually stay under a rock and have yet to see this film…spoiler alert. Don’t want to be that guy but you should have seen this by now…multiple times if you’re at all a comic book fan. So to begin with the action which I had assumed would be great was very well done and on a much larger scale but diced up. What I mean by that is the characters were split into multiple groups which allowed each...
by rodvanblake | Jun 25, 2018 | Blog, Character Journey, movie review
A lot has been said recently about this film and I saw it opening week end. However I had to go through copy edits for my second novel over the past few weeks to get it ready for formatting and the custom cover before publishing and that delayed my movie reviews. For that I apologize. This film had some things going for it but unfortunately in my opinion fell victim to the angst built up the wake of the Last Jedi. This film or at least the concept for it had been talked about for a long while. The Han Solo trilogy is a much beloved series of books from the now defunct EU. First off I liked the film. Was it the best? No but it was satisfactory with a few standouts, great cinematography, and good action. The biggest chink in the armor here is the story. I’ll break it down. Alden Ehrenreich plays the young Han Solo and he’s…not bad. There are moments when he seems believable and he has his moments where I can see someone saying #notmysolo. I don’t think he disrespected a much beloved character though which is a good thing. Donald Glover in my humble opinion did an awesome job. He kind of does Billy D’s voice just enough that you know what he’s going for without outright imitating him. Charisma and charm comes from the guy and he make Lando his own. If they decide to pick up the Star Wars story again I hope he is given a chance to reprise...
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