Tag / Mabel

by WetheGeek

Was Captain Marvel really that good?

Before RytheGeek reviews Endgame (which comes out next week), Mabel and RytheGeek reviewed Captain Marvel. So here we go. Spoilers in all.

Mabel-

Captain Marvel was ok.

The action was there, the plot was there, the characters were there but, that being said, there were a few things about it that bothered me as a veiwer.

Please note: I have no lore or background or previous love for Captain Marvel or any Marvel character. Everything I observe is solely based on how I felt about the movies. Everything I say is how I felt slowed the movie or made it unbelievable (go figure, a superhero movie being unbelievable).

I find that recently it is a trend, especially with female superheros, to have a scene where someone struggles with a task for a few minutes before the main character fixes it to show off their power/knowledge.

In the movie, Captain Marvel and Nick Fury are stuck in a secure room where they had to get out. For a solid 3 minutes, Fury painstakingly lifts a security guard’s fingerprint off his badge with tape and uses it to open the secure door. Later, they’re met with another door that Captain Marvel just blasts the handle off the door within seconds.

Under the time crunch they had, my question is why would a military trained officer like Captain Marvel allow precious minutes to be wasted to watch Fury struggle? You can argue that it was a funny scene but there are less time consuming ways to pull that scene off without losing it’s punch.

The movie itself is very fast paced, sometimes not even allowing the audience a chance to breath and process before sucking us back into action and information, which is something I kind of expect from an origin movie. Because of this fast paced, information packed format, there were a few things that were rushed in the interest of time.

In the movie, the Kree had been waging a war on the alien race of Skrulls. Captain Marvel had been apart of Kree’s battle for some time but, upon coming to Earth, she learns that she might be on the wrong side of the fight.

The development of Captain Marvel switching sides happened too fast. It literally only took one short scene for her to decide that the Kree were actually that bad guys. The transformation was not earned. After Captain Marvel gets her memories back, she learns that her previous commander was an alien fighting on the wrong side of a war and that her commander was shot by her new Kree commander. The reason Captain Marvel switches sides is vage at best; there are so many unanswered questions and assumptions that she had to ignore:

Which side of the war was Vell talking about?

How could she know that the man who killed Vell wasn’t actually a Skrull pretending to be him?

Why trust Vell after she lied to her about her race?

The decision was made so fast that it almost doesn’t make sense. After we get to the hidden ship, then it makes sense but Captain Marvel had already made up her mind before that.

RytheGeek-

I had trouble writing this review. For a lot of reasons. On the one hand I don’t feel this movie was for me, it’s not your typical guy superhero flick, and that’s great. I loved Wonder Woman and initially I loved Captain Marvel too. It was fun and fast and bright and shiny. But after sitting down and thinking about it I had some huge issues with it.

First I think they ruined a perfectly good villain. This is the same issue I had with Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3. All three movies took amazing comic book villains and made them lame and weak compared to their counterparts. The Skrulls has so much potential. They literally could have changed the face of Marvel and the MCU as we know it. Instead they just were refugees. While I do understand the political importance in today’s climate of discussing refugees, I don’t think it should be infused in films. Unless you are making a strictly political film. They took an amazing villain bank and made them lame. Just as they did in Iron Man 3 to the Mandarin and Ultron in Avengers 2. All had great potential and yet…

My second big issue is something Mabel touched on, the turn over. Flash back to one of the best MCU movies to date, Captain America Winter Solider. We meet the title character, the Winter Solider and discover who he really is, Bucky Barnes, Captain America’s best friend. We find out Bucky was brainwashed by Hydra to be the perfect assassin. Sound familiar?But he was brainwashed by mere mortals and not a super advanced alien race may I remind you. Bucky, just like Carol, tries to break his “programming”. The major difference between them is that he spends five years after he learns the truth breaking his programming. She spends mere hours or days. I guess Hydra could be better at brainwashing, but I really doubt it.

My last big issue is why I’ve hesitated writing this article, the worst part of the movie, which isn’t even in the movie at all!

The fans.

I’ve been part of toxic fandoms before, like Rick and Morty or Star Wars. But this is the first one that made me truest uncomfortable. If you don’t love, and I mean loooove, Captain Marvel, you’re called sexist and bigoted. I’ve seen it in the comments. I’m not hating on this movie because of females. I’m hating because of plot holes. I hate Iron Man 3 just as much and I consider myself a huge Iron Man fan. I think people can critique movies and films and not be sexist pigs.

Personally I think Brie Larson has been a large contributor to the toxic fan culture. She acts like she knows everything about comic books and is the best actress ever. Her interviews have shown as much. And quite frankly she isn’t. She even lied about doing her own stunts, which is clearly wrong. She has pictures on set with her.

That all being said I still didn’t hate Captain Marvel. I give it a solid 7/10. It could have been far worse. They had great action and I love the Fury/Danvers dynamic. Not to mention Goose. That cat is great.

Thanks for reading

-Mabel and RytheGeek

#captainmarvel #marvel #disney #moviereview #recap #wethegeekmabel #wethegeekry

by WetheGeek

The Wick Returns

I just watched the John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum trailer.

To be completely honest off the bat, I am a complete sucker for these kinds of movies: the perfect assassin faced with uncountable enemies is just thrilling to watch (bonus points if the assassin is cold hearted or is callous to death) and by no means have any background in film reviews or predictions.

I love the John Wick series as a whole so here is my two cents from the trailor-

The trailer shows us that John’s Excommunicado that was announced in the second film taking in effect, putting 40 million on his head via the High Table’s creed. John runs to two different women: one called the Director (Anjelica Huston)

who John seemingly needed a rosery to gain an audience with and another assassin Sofia (Halle Berry) who seems to assist him. There are numerous cut aways to scenes of gun fights, a motorcycle chase, a (probably) final fight in room full of glass skulls and John walking up a sand dune.

We knew from the very first film that there would be all sorts of trouble after John went out for revenge and, thus far, the director has done a good job with answering the consequences of reentering the assassin world in the second film. This third film will probably tie John’s story up in a beautiful Windsor knot as we watch him try to flee the world he forced himself back into.

My one worry while watching the trailor is how Halle Berry’s Sofia is going to do next to Keanu Reeves’ John. Mr. Reeves has done serious training to become John Wick, just take a quick Google search to find videos of Mr. Reeves training with a gun to understand what I mean. That training and dedication translates beautifully over to the big screen that every single move, though done in a less lethal way, is believable to the audience. Ms. Berry does have a whole Instagram story dedicated to her training for this movie but, thus far, it doesn’t show me the power or finality that Mr. Reeves possess in his. This may be because most of hers are martial arts while his is shooting but I will never know until I watch it when it releases in May.

The word “Parabellum” also is an interesting word choice. Not only is it the name of a Germen pistol but also is a Latin phrase that loosely translates to “Prepare for War”. Take that where you will.

Do you have any predicitons?

Feel free to comment!

-Mabel

#johnwick #johnwick3 #movietrailer #movie #keanureeves #halleberry #training #review #excited #wethegeek #wethegeekmabel

References:

https://www.instagram.com/halleberry/?hl=en

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/parabellum

by WetheGeek

A Magical Game

There are many boardgames that cause torment to its players: Monopoly with its slow decent into a cruel business owner, Munchin when the level 1 slime just HAPPENS to have a level 20 dragon as a friend, and SORRY! because NO ONE IS BELIEVING YOUR TERRIBLE APOLOGY WHEN YOU SLAM THEIR PIECE BACK TO THE BEGINNING!

I am pleased to announce that I have found a game that can be added to that coveted rank:

Magic Maze

To grossly simplify it because I’m not the game instructions: a 4+ player game where you’re 4 theifs who need to steal 4 different objects and then escape within the timelimit. You build the board as you go, discovering new parts until each are able escape.

There are THREE game mechanics that make this game a living hell:

1. Each player is in charge of one movement direction and one ability (e.g. you have the card to move up and to discover new rooms)

2. You are all incharge of each pawn. You can only move a pawn the direction that you’ve been given.

3. You can’t talk nor gesture to other players

Yeah… You read that last one right. There are different “campaigns” with a new layer of difficulty to add to the game but one of the first rules you get after the practice run is that none of the players can talk after time has started. Though there is no talking nor gesturing, there is one piece called a “DO SOMETHING” (literally what the game calls it) pawn that you can place in front of the person who needs to do an action.

I played this with my family and, normally, our form of communication during a time crunch is through yelling at each other, especially when we have to multitask. So you can imagine the pain we experience when we found out we couldn’t talk during the game. 90% of the game turned into us just aggressively tapping the “DO SOMETHING” pawn at a person and get even more frustrated when the person does the opposite of what we wanted.

It was a good way to develop a way of communication and planning inbetween the rounds, though I don’t think it did anything to help my hotheaded family members on a better form of communication.

-Mabel

#wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #boardgames #magicmaze #multiplayerboardgame #multiplayer #notalking #shhh #communication #frustration

by WetheGeek

The monster under your bed?

I just recently watched “The Babadook”

.

.

.

.

.

.

Let me say that you should never go into a movie thinking you already know the outcome of it.

I had asked the internet if they could provide me with their favorite Halloween movies for and this was the movie that one person had put up. When I think of Halloween movies, I think of Monster movies or plots about curses or something creepy happening to the main characters. So, there was a major bit of confusion on my part when going into this movie that’s about personifying depression.

Plot:

A mother and her son try to live normal lives. The mother had lost her husband to a crash when her son was born and it’s rolling to that time of the year again. One night, her son chooses a book called “The Babadook”. The book talks about the Babadook and how he enters into your life and he’ll only get stronger the more you deny he’s there. Suddenly, after reading the book, her son claims he keeps seeing the Babadook around.

Honestly, the only reason why I didn’t like the movie as much was because for the first half of the movie I was expecting monster lore, only to realize that the monster was already known to me. One of the things that I enjoyed (once I got over my confusion) was the way that they edited the music to match the mother’s thoughts: crescendoing as her thoughts become more chaotic and then suddenly crashing into silence as her reasoning puts her back into her fake normalcy. I don’t think that the movie was a really deep dive into depression but it is a good idea into how you can interpret it into a tangible monster.

I don’t think that I’ll be watching it again any time soon but I would like to rewatch it with the knowledge I have now and not the “Monster movie” idea in my head.

-Mabel

#wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #thebabadook #moviereveiw

by WetheGeek

Cells at Work makes my heart warm

Weird how the right people can make a worth while anime out of the strangest and mundane topics.

Meet the anime “Cells at Work” and it’s exactly what it’s name is.

Dive into the human body to meet the multitude of cells that make up our complex blood, immune, and digestive system. Learn about the different cells and their jobs in these systems and what they do if a bacteria att– Ok… Yeah, I know it kind of sounds like something that your high school biology teacher would put on if they didn’t want to teach but here me out.

The thing that attracted me to this anime was the fact that they stayed true to how the body works. Instead of creating different characters designs (or however “different” background characters can be) they stayed true to how cells actually are and created base character designs according to what they are. There’s room for creativity within the individuals but, once you get to know the cells a bit better, it’s kind of fun to see them in the background and be like ” YO! That’s a White Blood Cell!”. The anime does stop and talk about what the cells/bacteria do, so if you’re not a fan of explaining, not quite the best anime for you.

Idk, I’m a nerd and love collecting random bits of knowledge and this is just a way to get more information into me. AND because it’s currently only offered with subtitles, me having to read it makes the knowledge sink in even deeper into my long term memory. :3

-Mabel

#wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #anime #cellsatwork #cellsatworkanime #characters #characterdesign

by WetheGeek

Boo

I just recently watched Hocus Pocus

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I have always heard about the movie, how it is a “much watch” around the Halloween season but I never got around to watching it.

It was as I expected it to be:

A 90’s comedy film. Poor CGI and corny jokes

I’m not mad at it, though what I did do throughout almost the entire film was say “They put that in a Children’s film?!?”

I had TOTALLY forgotten that PG and G meant something different back then then it does now (in my opinion). I was just surprised when they showed the witches in actual nooses, taked about virginity, described ingrediants, and had that one witch who wanted to “play” with children, to name a few thing that made me think “Huh….”

-Mabel

#hocuspocus #wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #movie #moviereveiw

by WetheGeek

The Crow strikes again

I just recently watched The Crow.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

This movie had been on my watch list for a long time. I don’t really remember why I first santed to watch it but it was probably because of how people keep switching Heath Ledger’s death (cardic arrest via drugs) and Brandon Lee’s death (accident on set), probably because the two characters have pretty similer looks.

The Crow is about a young man who was killed when a bunch of thugs raided his house and defiled his bride-to-be. A few years later, a crow gives him the power to take revenge on the people who wronged him and his lover.

I guess you would call him a “hero”, or at the very least an antihero. He does do an awful lot of killing during this movie. It was a decent movie to watch, pretty basic in it’s plot, you could check out for a few minutes and still get a basic idea of what was happening. It is set on Halloween so if you’re looking for a Halloween movie, not a bad choice.

It is rated R for a reason:

Gore, drug usage, violence, swears, nudity, graphic content

-Mabel

#wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #moviereveiw #thecrow #thecrowreveiw #halloween #halloweenmovie

by WetheGeek

Gaming isn’t just for Nerds

“You can’t say you enjoy that videogame! You’ve never played it!”

WELL EXCUUUUUUUUUSE ME PRINCESS!

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been given a weird look or vehemently told an opinion over the fact that I like certain videogames but haven’t actually played them.

The unique thing about videogames is that they are like playable movies. Games like Legend of Zelda, Bendy and the Ink Machine, and Until Dawn have great storylines what are broken up with action and puzzles. Because of the way thay are created, these games can be enjoyed by even if you just watch an automated playthrough. And because we live in the amazing era of The Future, YouTube is full of Let’s Plays of any videogame you want to watch and those who upload the videos also give an extra layer of experience and fun depending on who you watch.

Don’t get me wrong, if I could play the game, I would. My issue is that I lack the necessary finger movement to play these games properly. And before you try to say, “You just need practice!” I have! I spent hours playing Ocarina of Time only to slowly develop a hatred for the game and my lack of gaming skills. I couldn’t look at the game for the longest amount of time even though it is my all time favorite plot of a videogame. I am not willing to do something just because someone told me I wasn’t having the full experience. I may not be able to comment about how the game feels when you play it but I can comment about everything else. It’s like watching a modern movie in black and white. Sure, you may not be able to comment about the color choices but you still experience all the good parts.

So, am I going to support these videogames by buying merch and posting about them on social media even though I haven’t rescued Zelda, hid from Bendy, or accidentally killed Ashley?

You better believe I am.

Rant Over.

-Mabel

#wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #videogames #opinion #merch #support #gamer #playthrough #letsplay

by WetheGeek

Over the Wall we go

I just watched “Over the Garden Wall”

.

.

.

.

.

.

I had actually known about this series for a long time, a girl friend of mine had sat me down to watch the first two episodes with her maybe a year back. We did plan to watch the rest together but Korean dramas soon took over and we forgot about it. It wasn’t until a recently when my sister threw a party just for the explicit reason of watching the series because, for her, this is her must watch Halloween “movie”.

The series itself is about two brothers, Wart (the worrying philosopher) and Greg (happy-go-lucky singer), who want to find their way back home. Along the way, they meet interesting creatures and people and thus insues a mini conflict and resolve for each episodes. It kind of reminds me of Gravity Falls, but with a grittier character design.

It is a series that makes you say “Wait… What…?” multiple times. Some jokes you see coming from a mile away while others Jack-in-the-box you in the face. There are random moments that happen during one episode the come back later in a different episode to make sense.

The part I really enjoyed was when my sister took the opportunity when we were done watching to look up a YouTube video on 15 facts about Over the Garden Wall. I had no idea that famous actors like Tom Curry and Elijah Wood voiced characters in it. It also was apparently in production since 2004, which is incredible dedication on such a short miniseries.

I will probably have to rewatch it again at some point, it’s one of those series that things make a bit more sense once you see the end.

-Mabel

#wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #overthegardenwall #review #halloween #halloweenmovie #series #georgewashington

by WetheGeek

Pause the Movie!

What ever happened to the intermission in movies?

There are intermissions for operas, orchestral performances, musicals, and stage productions, they’re often used to change the stage dramatically for the second half. I guess a movie doesn’t have that limitation but consider this:

If you decided to watch older movies like Ben Hur or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, you will often in the middle of the movie get a title card announcing an Intermission so it used to be a thing, why did they remove it?

The first thing I thought of was running time. Ben Hur is a whopping 3 hours and 44 minutes, it would honestly be insane to ask someone to sit that length of time, most operas are that length. Movies now aren’t as long… Right? Well, while looking up the length time of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I got curious and looked up the running time of Avengers Infinity Wars. Infinity Wars has a run time of 2 hours 40 minutes while Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is 2 hours 25 minutes including the short intermission. Even musicals have that have the same run time as movies have intermissions so length isn’t the issue.

Once I went down that rabbit hole things started confusing me about this no intermission thing. Why shouldn’t movie theaters include them? I often find myself overstimulated by the big screen and have to take a breather to process everything. Wouldn’t that be a perfect time to say “let’s all go to the lobby and get something to eat?” There is literally a 7up commercial that states just that! I’m not a business woman by a long shot but wouldn’t that increase food and drink sales?

The one major thing that I saw while diving down the Wikipedia for intermissions that made movie theaters start doing away with them was the added time.

More run time = less movie options = less money in ticket sales.

The decision is ultimately do you make more money from the tickets or the food? I, personally, would enjoy movies more if I had that intermission but that’s just me.

-Mabel

#wethegeek #wethegeekmabel #movies #intermission #breaks #theaters #letsgodowntothelobby #marketing