Is Blade Marvel's Next Oscar Movie?

     Kevin Feig, president of Marvel Studios, recently announced the Phase 4 plans for their Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Endgame at this year's Comic Con. For the next two years we are in for some great movies including a Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange movie (Wandavision), a What If movie that explores the what if scenarios in the Marvel universe that has become a popular side-series in Marvel comics, and a Thor movie which gave us a pleasant surprise with not only Natalie Portman returning from a long hiatus from the MCU as Thor's love interest Jane Foster, but she will become the new Thor.
     Again, it was like superhero movie Christmas, but that wasn't the only big news we got. As part of their Phase 5 movies, Marvel will be working on a long anticipated Blade movie along with a new Blade, Mahershala Ali. Ali being helmed as Marvel's residential vampire slayer is an interesting choice moreso than your regular news of an actor deciding to don tights for a superhero movie for Marvel and DC. This could be a inkling that Marvel could have their eye on the prize, literally. Oscar gold if you want to be technical.
     Apparently making box office billions is not enough for studios anymore as it seems like any superhero movie comes out will generate a ton of money. It seems that with Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, and now with the Oscar buzz behind the upcoming Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix, superhero movies are dipping their toes in the Oscar pool. Ali is a two time Oscar winner, grabbing two awards for Moonlight and last year's The Green Book. Is Marvel's plan is for Ali to not only slay Vampires in the Blade reboot, but to slay the Academy Awards as well? 
     I know what you're probably thinking. How could a movie about a dude slaying vampires be an Oscar contender? Well, if you read the comics you would know that there is a lot of story there and attaching the right directors and producers, along with an amazing team could open up a lot of creative and opportunity for this movie to be the comic book darling of the Oscars, a la Black Panther which got the same treatment with its ensemble in front and behind the camera. It would also be a shame to squander Ali's acting ability by having a two time Academy Award winner doing anything short of masterful work. What are your thoughts?

Avengers: Endgame and the Future of the MCU: What is Marvel Planning?

    Avengers: Endgame is only a couple of days away, this Friday, and if you haven't been paying attention Marvel has been making this the movie that all comic books fans have to see. If you haven't saw Infinity War, number one: SHAME! Number 2: Infinity War left us at a emotional cliffhanger of some sorts as we were introduced to the villain Thanos.
     Thanos was Marvel's biggest and most powerful threat yet as he not only was able to beat the Hulk and most of Marvel's most powerful heroes with no trouble, but was dead set on a mission to acquire the infinity stones six powerful gems which whoever posses them had to power of time, space, etc, but most importantly could undo half of the life in the universe in one snap. And Thanos did just that. The ending of Infinity War has put the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in a loop as we lost important heroes and characters setting up the next installment of the Avengers films to be the end all to be all which the remaining Avengers treating this a make or break mission where some will have to risk their own lives in order to defeat Thanos and undo what he did in Infinity War.
     Endgame has not only been hyped up to be the biggest challenge the Avengers have faced, but it will mark the end of one era and the beginning of another. But what will happen next in the MCU? We don't know exactly. Marvel has been very tight lipped about what they plan for the next phase, and it isn't X-Men or Fantastic Four suddenly popping up out of nowhere in a post credit scene in Endgame. But what exactly will happen after Endgame?
     With how Marvel is gearing things up we know that some heroes are not coming back. There have been speculation that some heroes might die while fighting Thanos,but who? Thor and Black Widow have upcoming movies so it won't be them. The biggest guesses would be Captain America since actor Chris Evans has basically said that he is done with the role. My guess is that if Cap's gone than Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., is gonna be killed off too. But things may not be as bad and this era may not end on a bittersweet note after all. We saw a scene in the recent trailer where Hawkeye was training his daughter, Kate Bishop. There is  possibility that we could see the next generation of new heroes taking up classic title in the MCU's future. We do know that there will be a new Hawkeye series on Disney+ where Kate will be trained to become the new Hawkeye. Iron Man may not even die and will retire from the role and become a mentor to Spider-Man or probably Riri Williams, who could come in and become the new Iron Man or Iron Heart. With Captain America Marvel could very well choose to continue the franchise with either Bucky or Falcon taking over the iconic role. Regardless of what happens we know that Endgame will mark the end of an era and will usher in a new one, and we're gonna be waiting awhile for mutants and the X-Men to come in. A LONG while. What do you think?

Spider-Man: Homecoming: Does It Suck?

     Spider-Man: Homecoming is out this weekend. It is the long awaited introduction of Spider-Man finally being in the Marvel movie universe. It is also the third reboot of Spider-Man being on the big screen as we were treated to the Sam Raimi films and the Amazing Spider-Man films with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Sam Raimi's Spider Man films were pretty much like going down a slide: fun at first but the other few times kinda are boring and the Amazing Spider-Man films were just bad. Third times a charm right? Will Homecoming be crowned king if the summer superhero box office this year or will it wind up not being so amazing like the Amazing Spider-Man films. Does it suck?
     As the title states, Spider-Man Homecoming is and feels very much like a High School movie. It's cool, hip, and fresh than your standard super hero movie. It really does smell like Teen Spirit, in a good way. You can tell that past John Waters inspired this film. They even made it obvious as they showed the Ferris Bueller chase scene while Spider-Man is chasing the bad guys in a van.
     This time around they went the comedic route with Spidey this time around. No standard Uncle Ben death. No Emma Stone dying. We just get jokes and action, with plenty of jokes. It pretty much felt like a PG-13 version of Deadpool, a Deadpool Jr. and that was a good thing. speaking of both film, I like how Marvel is kinda distancing themselves from the cookie cutter superhero films they've done in the past like Civil War and are giving us something new and changing the format of how these iconic characters are being portrayed on screen.
      The breakout star was Tom Holland who did not only a great job playing both Peter Parker and Spider-Man well. You do get the heroic quirkiness of Spider-Man who is just Peter under the mask and is has some good qualities in him as well, along with the quirkiness of being a teen as well.  Holland found a balance that the other actor who donned the red and blue tights couldn't do just well. Tobey Maguire was an amazing Peter Parker, but couldn't nail being Spider-Man quite right and Andrew Garfield who was an Amazing Spider-Man, but wasn't a really believable Peter Parker. Honorable mention to Zendaya who stole the scene she was in as Michelle. Pretty much all the actors involved were good, except the guy who played Flash Thomson who seemed like a more annoying version of early Potter films Dracoy Molfoy than a rival for Peter, or maybe that was the plan? Oh, and I'm not going to spoil anything, but the rumors about her character are true.

Final Verdict
     So, did Spider-Man Homecoming suck? Nope. It was a fun movie all around. Lot's of laughs and action without doing all the superhero movie cliches or not a lot of them to make it seem droll. Also,
      going back to John Holmes metaphor, the movie had a great deal of using the characters and Peter himself in a  way to make the movie in of itself not only be a great teen film, but using the notion of Peter wanting to be an Avenger, but helping others with his powers a great euphemism for growing up. It get's a 3.5. out of 5, unlike Aunt May who's a 10.

PG-13 vs. Rated R: Dawn of Better Superhero Movies?

   
     Deadpool is killing it at the box office. It has currently made over $600 million worldwide and is sitting at #1 for three weeks. It has been reported to be the highest grossing R-rated comic book movie of the US box office. It is making millions. What Deadpool is also doing is creating a trend of R-rated Superhero movies. The next Wolverine movie has been confirmed to be rated R and there will be a rated R version of the Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice movie for Blu-Ray. The question is does a superhero movie need to be rated R to truly be good.
    Let's not forget the fact why movies are rated as they are. Most of them have been rated PG-13 in order to get the most people to go in and see them. They want a broader audience, something they might have trouble with a rated R movie. Superhero movies are cash cows for studios. They make serious money. It is expected for a Superhero movie to make over hundreds of millions, if not billions or else it is considered to be a flop. So with that of course studios would be clamoring to try to get the broadest rating to get the broadest number of audience members to sit and watch. Now that didn't seem to be the case with Deadpool, but before its success studios might have been scared to lessen things down in order to get that PG-13 rating. But will you have a better experience with a R-rated Superhero movie than a PG-13 one? Would a little bit more blood and a tad bit of nudity, with an occasional vulgar line make the movie better.
     Not necessarily. Like all good movies it all depends on the writing. After all that's truly what makes Deadpool great. I should know, I reviewed it. Deadpool's awesomeness all has to do with its script and the people aboard than the stuff that probably gave it it's rating. It is nice to see that due to Deadpool that studios are deciding that maybe it is all right to not be scared to experiment a bit and do something diffrent, or maybe they've just decide to make it a trend and cash on it until a few films tank at the box office.

What are your thoughts?