Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Iron Man 3

 

Iron Man 3 was the 2013 sequel to the two stand-alone Iron Man movies and, of course, was a part of the larger MCU. The movie was directed by Shane Black and brought back Robert Downey Jr., Gweneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau to reprise their roles from the earlier films. The major additions to the cast for this movie are Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce, and the movie was also Jenna Ortega's first film role (albeit a minor one). 

This movie follows up both on the previous stand-alone Iron Man films and shows the "post-Avengers" Tony Stark and the toll that the events of that movie had on him. There is a lot of misdirection in this movie, which even hinting about would give away too much. Some people hated the way that turned out, but I personally did not have much problem with it. Although the effect of the big twist did make the movie in a way similar (but not the same) as the plot in the second one. This film definitely ratchets up the action even more than Iron Man I and II. There are a lot more "big" action sequences in this movie, from Stark's house being blown up and a great mid-air rescue to the final battle. A lot is going on, and the effects are blended very well with live action shots so they look more "real" than in any of the other movies. The plot is somewhat convoluted and like I said above, has twists to it. Both the characters of Pepper and Rhodes have even more expanded roles in this movie. Robert Downey Jr continues to nail the Tony Stark role and mixes humor and intensity. Ben Kingsly is excellent in his role, he was very chilling as Mandarin, and is involved in one of the plot twists. There is also the usual after the credits scene involving a cameo by one of the Avengers.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is great. As far as extras go, there is about an hour of material from making of/behind-the-scenes features, a short film that reveals events after the end of Captain America, a short look at the next Thor movie, and a gag reel. In all enough to make those who like the bonus material happy. 

While an argument can be made that the superhero franchises are becoming over saturated, they do not seem to be slowing down over time. This movie definitely left open the possibility of further stand alone Iron Man movies, but also brought a sense of closure to the Tony Stark origin story. If you are a fan of the movies that have come before this one, then you will most likely like this as well.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk

 

This is the 2008 reboot of the live-action Hulk starring Edward Norton, Tim Roth, William Hurt, and Liv Tyler. It was also the second entry into the MCU (which was not, at the point it came out, assured to be as long-lasting and prolific as it became). This is not a sequel to Ang Lee's version of The Hulk (which is pretty widely panned, and mostly for good reason). I think that Eric Bana and Jennifer Connely did a good job in their roles and were the only good things that movie had going for it, but the screenplay was weird, and the CGI Hulk looked very fake. This, thankfully, pretends that version never existed. The purpose of this movie is twofold. The first was to help establish the MCU and set up the eventual Avengers movie. The second was to bring a movie version that paid homage to the series and the comic. The movie included the requisite Lou Ferrigno cameo and a posthumous cameo of Bill Bixby via a clip played on TV.

I think Norton did a great job as Bruce Banner in this movie. It is unfortunate that he was replaced (although I do think Mark Ruffalo did a fine job as Banner in The Avengers), although if the rumors of Norton being difficult when it came to making this film are true I can see why he was. Norton did a great job portraying the conflicted nature of Banner and the frustration and fear that the character feels. I also think he has fairly good chemistry with Liv Tyler, who played Betty Ross, which was necessary given the role her character played in the story. The movie does set up a possibility of a sequel, but obviously, Marvel has put higher stock in the Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor franchises (and the Avengers team-up movies). Whether a sequel to this movie ever gets made, and if so whether it continues the story started here remains to be seen.

I think the CGI Hulk is far better in this movie than it was in the Ang Lee version. I think it was one of the things that detracted from that version of the movie, but the technological advancements in CGI have come a long way, and while the Hulk does not look totally realistic, it looked a lot better. Ferrigno has gone on record saying he thinks that Hulk should be played by a real person, but given that the Hulk is supposed to be 9 feet tall, that is just not practical. If you notice in the film, while Ferrigno is substantially bigger than Norton, he is not that much taller. And they would have had to go back to the tricks used to film the series, like cutaways and filming Ferrigno (or some other actor) from below to make him look taller. A CGI Hulk just works better. Especially for the battle scenes. There is just really no way they could have done any of the battles (especially the end battle with Abomination) without the CGI.

The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is outstanding. The special features consist of some behind-the-scenes material, making of documentaries, deleted scenes, and trailers. In all, if you are a fan of the Marvel series of movies, while this movie is not as strong as the first Iron Man or the Avengers movies, it is on par with most of the other MCU movies and is definitely worth the time to watch and adding to your physical media collection (if you have one).

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Spiderman Homecoming

 

Homecoming is the newest incarnation of Spiderman in the Marvel universe. Of course, the first live-action version of the character was played by Toby McGuire back in 2002 and arguably jumpstarted the superhero movie genre which had been on life support since Batman and Robin flopped in 1999. This version of Peter Parker/Spiderman, played by Tom Holland, was actually introduced during Captain America Civil War, fighting on the Iron Man side. This movie is mostly set after the events of Civil War, with Peter Parker going back to life as a high-school student, still being mentored by Stark (mostly from afar), and being watched over by Happy Hogan (played again by Jon Favreau). The movie also has ties to the first Avengers movie with the Chitauri technology playing a large role in the plot of the movie. Peter becomes more concerned with fighting crime than he is with school, which does not always work out well for him. The movie also sees the return of Michael Keaton to the superhero genre, this time in a much different role. The rest of the cast is very strong and includes Zendeya, Jacob Batalon, Donald Glover, and Marissa Tomei, as Aunt May.

For those who get the 4k-UHD set, there are two discs, the UHD disc, and a regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is great, and the movie looks and sounds wonderful in the format. The UHD disc has one extra, the Spidey Study Guide, that allows the movie to be played with pop-ups that have trivia and facts about the movie. The rest of the extras are on the regular blu-ray disc. Those include a short gag reel, about 16 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, eight different making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that run about 45 minutes, give or take, all totaled, a photo gallery, the movie trailer, and trailers for other Sony titles.

Overall, the movie is very good. It has a nice blend of action and humor and is a bit more light-hearted than some of the other MCU movies. Of course, Sony actually owns the rights to the Spiderman character (because of some licensing deal made years ago) and they allow the character to appear in the MCU. Holland does a great job as the lead, and you can buy him as a teenager even though he was in his early 20s when the movie was made. Robert Downey Jr. is always entertaining as Tony Stark (especially when he was hitting on Aunt May), and both Batalon (playing Peter's best friend, Ned) and Zendaya (playing Michelle/MJ) were great in the younger roles. For me, however, Keaton really stole the show and seemed to really be enjoying his return to the superhero genre. It is a great movie that is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Daredevil: The Complete First Season

 

Daredevil was the first of a series of more adult superhero shows that aired on Netflix starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdoch/Daredevil, a blind lawyer by day and vigilante by night. Murdoch, while blind has enhanced senses that basically allow him to see something akin to radar pings. The season basically serves as an origin story for Daredevil, showing how Matt transitions to the guy in the suit. The crux of the season one storyline is Daredevil versus different criminal organizations which have exploited Hell's Kitchen in NYC since "the incident" which was the Battle of New York that occurred in the first Avengers movie, and ultimately pits Daredevil versus Wilson Fisk (AKA Kingpin) played wonderfully by Vincent D'Onofrio. The rest of the cast is made up of Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Matt's best friend and law partner, Deborah Ann Woll (from True Blood) as Karen Page, a legal assistant at Matt and Foggy's firm, and Rosario Dawson as Claire, a nurse that patches up Daredevil and one of the few who know his identity.

The series is basically a serial storyline in which the events of one episode build on another. The writing and acting are both top-notch, and the show has a lot of twists. Charlie Cox does a great job as the series lead, playing Matt as a conflicted, morally grey character who is also trying to keep his loved ones safe while meeting out unsanctioned justice. The show is rated TV-MA and is much more violent than any of the MCU movies. The show generally has more adult content than the movies including some swearing and sexual content. So, it is definitely not as family-friendly as the other MCU projects.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, it is just a MOD set with the episodes but no other extras. So, the only reason to get this versus just streaming the series is to keep your MCU collection of physical media as complete as possible. That said, it is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major season two spoilers+++

The second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot going on. One of the main arcs is the fallout from the reveal (In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which occurred at the end of the first season) that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Ward was a double agent. There are a bunch of really good recurring characters in the Hydra storyline including Reed Diamond (playing Werner Reinhardt / Daniel Whitehall) and Adrian Pasdar (from the series Heroes) as major Glenn Talbot.

Then, there is a major story arc involving Skye and her father (played by Twin Peaks' Kyle MacLachlan), which ties into the Inhumans storyline (and brings in many great recurring actors such as Dichen Lachman and Luke Mitchell. Then, there are the tie-ins to the movies that were released during the second season, primarily, Avenger's Age of Ultron, and a loose tie-in with Guardians of the Galaxy, which reveals the race of the blue-skinned alien that we saw in season one and again in season two. Jamie Alexander makes another appearance as Lady Sif, and Cobie Smulders makes an appearance as Maria Hill. The two main additions to the regular cast are Nick Blood as Lance Hunter and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse. Hailey Atwell also reprises her role as Agent Carter for a cameo in the season premiere.

As far as the blu-ray set goes, it is a MOD set that is an Amazon exclusive. Thankfully, it is still priced reasonably well, so if you prefer physical media to streaming, you can get it on blu-ray. Just be aware, that after the second season, Amazon stopped the exclusive manufacturing, and to get the show on blu-ray you have to find an imported version. The final two seasons were not released on blu-ray or DVD in any mass format and so the only way to get them is to find a bootleg version (if you want one of those). So, it is not easy to keep a collection together, so if that is a big deal to you, then you may want to just stream it. The second-season blu-ray set is very light on extras. Just deleted scenes and a blooper reel.

Overall, the season is very good. While it does still have tie-ins to the MCU movies, the show really does start to stand on its own this season. Of course, as the seasons go on the show becomes less tied in with the movie, and is not "filler" to get from movie to movie as it seemed to be in season one. The acting and writing are both very good, and even though many of the cast members like Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge were still relatively new (at least in major TV roles), they do some of the best work in the show. And, Ming-Na Wen is always awesome. Of course, the Marvel Universe is basically one long (and large) intertwined story, and the show very much fits into that, but it also tells a good stand-alone story that is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Marvel's Agent Carter: Season 1

 

Agent Carter is set after the events of “Captain America: The First Avenger” and the 2013 “Agent Carter” Marvel One-Short short film. In the first season, Peggy (Hayley Atwell) works for the Strategic Scientific Reserve investigating Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper, also reprising his role from "Captain America"), who is accused of selling weapons to America’s enemies. He enlists Peggy to help prove his innocence. She teams with Stark’s butler, Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy) to track a secret organization called Leviathan that is trying to steal Stark’s more dangerous inventions. Peggy often butts heads with the other members of the SSR, especially her boss Roger (played by Shea Whigham) and agent Jack Thompson (played by Chad Michael Murray). She has to fight against the blatant misogyny at the SSR where her only real ally is another agent named Daniel Sousa (played by Dollhouse's Enver Gjokaj). Her best friend outside of the SSR is played by Lyndsy Fonseca (from the Kick-Ass movies and Nikita TV Series).

This is more like a mini-series, with the season lasting just eight episodes. It has a good blend of action and comedy, especially in the scenes between Atwell, Cooper, and D’Arcy. There are definitely some tie-ins with the Captain America movie, as you would expect, but the show really tells its own story apart from the larger MCU franchise. Atwell does a great job as the series lead, as does the entire cast. Bridget Regan plays a great foil for Peggy as a Russian sleeper agent from the program that preceded the Black Widow program.

The Blu-Ray set is a MOD Amazon exclusive. The only bonus content is a short blooper reel. Otherwise, the is no behind-the-scenes material, commentary tracks, etc. It is worth picking up if you can find the blu-ray set at a reasonable price. But, given it is just eight episodes and there is not really any extra content to speak of if you cannot get it at a reasonable price, streaming it is probably the better option.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Thor: The Dark World

 

Thor: The Dark World is a sequel to both the original Thor movie and The Avengers. It is set a couple of years after the events of the original Thor movie and sees Thor going through the nine realms cleaning up Loki's mess, which is also taking a lot longer because of the Bifrost having been destroyed in the first movie. Thor keeps track of Jane (mostly via Heimdall) but has not seen her in all that time, which makes for an awkward reunion, to say the least. Loki is imprisoned on Asgard, visited only by Frigga.

This movie sees the threat of Dark Elves, with the main antagonist being Makliketh (played by Christopher Eccleston), the leader of the Dark Elves who was defeated by Thor's grandfather. He is trying to capture a substance called The Ether which can basically undo the big bang and bring the universe back into darkness. I will not spoil the movie for the handful of people reading this by now who have not seen the movie, but the plot requires Thor to return to Earth after Jane is put in danger, and team up with Loki to take down the Dark Elves. It also sets up the concept of the Infinity Stones which, of course, play a larger role in the following movies.

For those who get the 4k Disc set, the movie looks and sounds great in UHD. Not a huge jump from the blu-ray version of the movie, but noticeable enough that if you have a 4k TV and blu-ray player, it is worth the double-dip. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then the extras are included on the second disc which is a regular blu-ray. The extras include a commentary track on the movie by the director Alan Taylor, Marvel's head honcho, Kevin Feige, and Tom Hiddleston, who of course plays Loki. The commentary track provides some good insight into the process of making the film with some good behind-the-scenes details from Hiddleston. Then there is another Marvel's One Shot titled All Hail the King, which is a documentary about Trevor Slattery, the "bad guy" from Iron Man 3, showing what is life is like in prison and setting up the 10-rings storyline. Then there are deleted and extended scenes, a handful of making-of featurettes that can be viewed one at a time or all at once, and then a gag reel. So, a lot of material if you like to look at the bonus material.

Most of the supporting cast from the original movie including Jamie Alexander, Renee Russo, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, Ray Stevenson, and Kat Dennings appear. Zachary Levi replaced Joshua Dallas as Fandral, one of the Warrior's Three in Asgard, because of a scheduling conflict. The other notable addition to the cast is Jonathan Howard who plays Ian, Darcy's intern who is basically a lacky she "hires" to do the stuff she does not want to do as Jane's intern. The movie gets ragged on, but it is definitely not as bad as some make it out to be. It is definitely a filler story, but it does set up a lot of what is to come down the line, so it is essential to what is going to play out in the later movies. The acting is great from the entire cast. I would say that the supporting characters all kind of took a back seat in this movie and were not as involved as they were in the first one, but all of them made the most of their screen time. Kat Dennings stole pretty much every scene she was in, as did Stellan Skarsgård who had to play Erik as stark raving mad (with lucid intervals) because of Loki taking over his mind in The Avengers. There are some cameos, including the usual Stan Lee cameo, but also a pretty hilarious one by Chris Evans. The movie continues the mid-credits and post-credits scene tradition. The mid-credits scene set up the Guardian's of the Galaxy, and the post-credits theme was a more humorous wrap-up of the movie. While it is not the best MCU movie, it is not as bad as some make it out to be, and is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 1

 

The first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to do much heavy lifting. First, it had to establish the characters in the TV series, including explaining how Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) survived the events of The Avengers movie in which it was assumed Loki killed him. Then, it was partly a story-of-the-week procedural in which Coulson's team would track down some superpowered individual (or sometimes someone who was just evil) and apprehend them. And then, the show played filler between the MCU movies, with this season having direct ties to Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Hydra storyline from Winter Soldier would play a huge role at the end of the season. So, the show ends up being part procedural and part serial not only with story arcs that extend throughout the season on the show, but cross over with the MCU movies (basically playing clean-up crew after the heroics shown in the movies).

The series stars the aforementioned Clark Gregg and also stars Ming Na (from ER) as Melinda May, a badass S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons expert, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward who is a SHIELD black ops agent, Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson an anti-government hacker who Coulson recruits to the team (pretty much against her will), Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz and Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons, the duo known as Fitzsimmons, who are the science and engineering experts on the team. During the first season, Fitz and Simmons mostly stay in the lab, but their roles expand as the season and the series goes on. Some of the characters from the movies, including Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders), and Lady Sif (Jamie Alexander) make appearances and Samuel L. Jackson does appear once as Nick Fury. Bill Paxton and Saffron Burrows also had large recurring roles during the season, as did J. August Richards who is probably best known for his run on the series Angel.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great. It is special effects heavy and the show did a good job making them look as seamless as they do in the movies. The extras include audio commentaries on three of the episodes, a 43-minute feature on how the MCU was built and came to fruition, a 13-minute feature on the show's first Comic-con appearance, and a 17-minute making-of feature about filming locations during the first season. There are a lot of spoilers in the extras, so you definitely want to watch the episodes first (assuming you have not already seen them).

Overall, the season is good. The show has to balance a lot, and I do think it did a good job putting the focus on the characters at hand and did not lean too much on the movies and the larger MCU. Of course, if you follow the series you know that by the end it was pretty much its own animal, and was pretty much ignoring what was going on in the movies, but that was definitely not the case in the first season. The acting was great, even with a cast that included a lot of relatively unknown (at the time) actors and the writers do a good job with all the intersecting storylines. The season ends on a couple of cliffhangers that set up what is to come in season two. So, if you are a fan of the MCU movies, this is definitely worth checking out.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Iron Man 3

 

Iron Man 3 gets unfairly (in my opinion) shit on as being one of the worst MCU movies. While I do not believe that it is as good as the original Iron Man, Avengers, Thor, or Captain America, it is definitely on par with (or even better than) movies like Iron Man 2 and Hulk (which are also not as bad as they are made out to be). It is a one-off story set after the events of The Avengers. Tony is suffering from a form of PTSD and freaked out about what he thinks is coming and what they will be up against. It does, partly, foreshadow the decisions that lead to Ultron a couple of movies down the line.

This is the eighth MCU movie (if you watch them in chronological order) and the seventh if you watch them in release order. The basic plot is that the US is being attacked by a mysterious terrorist called The Mandarin who is setting off bombs (and then hacking TV signals to brag about it). When Happy (played by Jon Favreau; not directing this time) is injured in one of the blasts, Tony challenges The Mandarin, which leads to an attack that renders Tony without a functional suit for a good chunk of the movie. The rest of the main cast includes Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper, and Don Cheadle as Rhody, each of whom has their roles expanded even more in this movie, Guy Pierce, Ben Kingsly, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, Ty Simpkins, and Miguel Ferrer (in one of his final film roles).

For those who get the 4k UHD Blu-Ray, there are two discs. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and the regular Blu-Ray has all the extras. The extras include a commentary track on the movie by the director Shane Black and the writer Drew Pearce, a 15-minute Agent Carter one-shot (basically a short movie) that shows how Peggy Carter (Hailey Atwell) becomes the director of SHIELD, 16-minutes of deleted scenes, a short gag reel, and a couple of making-of featurettes. So, not a ton, but what was included is good.

Overall, the movie is good, but not as good as some of the other MCU movies. It does further develop the characters of Tony, Pepper, and Rhody, and shows how Tony really completes the transition from selfish jackass to hero. Robert Downey Jr. is again great in his role and Ben Kingsly steals pretty much every scene he is in. Ty Simpkins also does a very good job despite being a relatively young child actor at the time. He had great chemistry with Robert Downey Jr., and the two played off each other very well. The movie is not without its flaws, but honestly, I think those are pretty minimal. There is an end-credits scene (no mid-credits scene) with Tony and Bruce Banner. It is pretty much a humorous scene, and unlike the vast majority of the MCU mid and end credits scenes, does not set up the next movie(s). I generally do think the movie is better upon a second viewing and is definitely worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Marvel's The Avengers

 

This is, if you watch the MCU movies in chronological order, the seventh, after Captain America, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Hulk, and Thor. If you are watching them in release order, it is the sixth, after Iron Man, The Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America. It is in part a sequel to both Thor and Captain America, with the Mcguffin of Captain America (the Tesseract) and the villain of Thor (Loki) being front and center in the story. Basically, Loki is tasked to use the Tesseract to open a portal through which an army of aliens called the Chitari can come through and take over Earth. The Avengers have to team up to stop him, leading to what would be referred to in the subsequent movies as "The Battle of New York" and have reverberations throughout the other movies and the tv series that the MCU would spawn.

For those who get the 4k disc, the A/V quality is excellent. I do not count myself as an A/V expert so I cannot really tell you whether the 4k UHD disc is a huge upgrade over the initial Blu-Ray release (there are certainly sites out there that can do that), but as a novice, it does look like, when watching it on a big screen 4k tv playing on a 4k Blu-Ray player, the UHD disc does look better than the Blu-Ray version. The extras include a director's commentary track on the movie, several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a Marvel One-Shot short film starring Lizzy Caplan set after the events of the movie. As is the case with many UHD releases, the UHD disc just has the movie itself and then the regular Blu-Ray has all of the extras. I listened to the commentary track years ago when I purchased the original Blu-Ray release before everything all the allegations about Joss Whedon being a raging asshole came to light. From what I remember it is a pretty standard director's commentary, but I refuse to listen to him talk about anything, but it is there if you want to listen to it.

Overall, the movie is wonderful. I think Marvel did a good job by introducing the characters in stand-alone films first and getting the origin stories for most of them (all but Black Widow and Hawkeye) out of the way and developed (at least to an extent) before they started doing the big team-up movies. It seemed like the cast had great chemistry, and worked well together. Of course, the big casting change from the prior movies was the fact that Mark Ruffalo was brought in to play Bruce Banner/Hulk, replacing Edward Norton who seemingly wore out his welcome very quickly when filming The Incredible Hulk. Even though Ruffalo was kind of shoe-horned in, given that this was the first movie in which all of the major actors worked together, it worked out well. The movie is, as you can imagine, mostly an action movie, but does have some comedy and even drama mixed in. It also started the tradition of having both a mid-credits scene that advances the storyline (this one introducing the "big bad" of the initial phases of the MCU, and a post-credits scene that is meant to be more fun or tie back into the movie you just watched. So, if you are a fan of superhero movies, this one is definitely worth watching and pays off on the prior movies quite well.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Thor

 

Thor is, if you are watching the MCU movies in release order, the fourth movie released after Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2. If you are watching the movies in chronological order, it is the sixth coming after Captain America, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and The Incredible Hulk. It tells the origin story of Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) and his brother Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston). The movie actually opens on Earth where an astrophysicist named Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) and Dr. Salvig (played by Stellan Skarsgard) are tracking astronomical anomalies (along with their work-study student worker Darcy, played wonderfully by Kat Dennings who steals nearly every scene she is in) hits Thor with their van when Thor is exiled from Asgard. Then the movie flashes back to show what led up to Thor's banishment, and when the movie comes back to Earth, what we get is in part a fish-out-of-water story, in part a love story, and in part a story of a superpowered frat boy becoming a hero.

For those who get the 4K Blu-Ray set, there are two discs, a UHD disc with just the movie itself, and then a regular Blu-Ray disc with the special features. The movie looks very good and sounds great. People who are true videophiles who really pay attention to grain and black levels probably will not find the video quality as good as it is for the later movies, but most people will find it a step up from the Blu-Ray, especially with the Asgard colors and the New Mexico landscape. The extras are all ported over from the initial DVD/Blu-Ray release, and include a great commentary track on the movie with director Kenneth Branagh and then there are several behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes that range from a couple of minutes to just under twenty minutes. Then, there is a Marvel one-shot that sets up the end scene of The Incredible Hulk and how Tony Stark was selected to go visit General Ross, the theatrical trailers, and a trailer for the new Avengers Animated movie. There is also a short look at the Avengers movie which was in production at the time Thor was released.

Overall, the movie is really good. It has a great blend of comedy, action, and drama, with a little bit of romance between Thor and Jane, mixed in (but that is kept on the backburner for the most part and does not get too over the top). The supporting cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Renee Ruso, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Jamie Alexander, and Colm Feore is great, and the movie expanded the role of Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson even more than it was expanded in Iron Man 2. The post-credits scene (this was in the days when there was not both a mid-credits and post-credits scene) set up both Captain America (which was the next movie in release order) and the storyline of The Avengers. Hemsworth did a great job in the role and got absolutely jacked for it, really looking the part of a god-like hero. It is definitely a movie worth watching and the 4k disc is worth the upgrade.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk

 

The Incredible Hulk was the second movie released in what would become the massive MCU. Iron Man had been a big hit, but it was not at all clear that the MCU would evolve into the huge franchise that it ultimately become. This movie, both in tone and in terms of the cast feels very disconnected from the rest of the MCU. This movie starred Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk and co-starred Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, William Hurt as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (who would be the only actor from the cast to be included in the rest of the MCU), and Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky a commando that General Ross brings in to capture Banner. The movie eschews that typical origin story, showing everything the audience needs to know about the set-up in the opening credits. Then we see Bruce hiding in Brazil trying to find a way to cure himself of The Hulk. I will not spoil the rest of the movie for anyone who has not seen it, but it is a good blend of action and drama and ends in a huge monster fight at the end of the movie.

For those who get the 4k disc, the movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format. It is a definite upgrade from the regular Blu-Ray version. The cinematography really pops, especially the landscape in Brazil, in the UHD format. This is a two-disc set. The UHD disc just has the movie, which can be played with the commentary track with director Louis Leterrier and Tim Roth. The commentary is pretty good, but Leterrier and Roth do tend to go off on a lot of tangents. The rest of the extras are on the regular Blu-Ray disc, and those include an alternate opening sequence, about 40-minutes worth of deleted and extended scenes, a 30-minute making-of documentary, and four other featurettes that range from just over six minutes to just under thirty minutes. There are also several u-control interactive features. So, if you like going through bonus features, this gives you a lot.

While the movie does get shit on a lot, it is much better than it gets credit for. I personally like it better than the Ang Lee version of The Hulk, which had only been released a handful of years prior to this one. The CGI had come a long way since that movie, and the CGI Hulk looked a lot more realistic. Of course, there was still a debate going on whether they should CGI The Hulk or use a real actor, a-la Lou Ferrigno from the TV series. Using a CGI Hulk works a lot better (in my opinion) because they can actually make him nine feet tall and do not have to shoot him from below or with a special lens to make the actor look bigger as they did with Ferrigno. The movie has a lot of easter eggs that reference the TV series from the Danger sign, the "lonely man" theme, a reference to David Banner, and more. Lou Ferrigno had a small cameo (as well as being able to voice The Hulk, which he did not do in the TV series), and they found a way to include Bill Bixby (who of course had passed away by the time the movie was made) for a split second. 

Marvel was definitely still finding its legs with this movie. There was not a post-credits scene, but the final scene of the movie did act to further the MCU storyline. If you watch the movies in chronological order, this is actually the fifth movie in the sequence behind, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and Iron Man 2. In release order, this was the second movie that was released later the same year as Iron Man, and it was not a foregone conclusion that The Avengers story arc would ever pan out. Personally, I like Norton's portrayal of Banner more than I like Ruffalo in the role. Not that Ruffalo is bad, but I just think Norton's version is better. Rumors have it that Norton was a huge pain in the ass during the production of the movie, including insisting on making his own re-writes, which ultimately led to him being replaced. Obviously, the MCU survived without him, but I would have liked him to stay in the role. The movie was clearly setting up a sequel that never panned out, and at this point probably never will. But, if you have seen the trailer for She-Hulk, you know Tim Roth is being brought back in some capacity, so it is possible that more characters can be brought back. It is probably the most overlooked MCU movie, but it is very good and worth watching.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: Iron Man 2

 

Iron Man 2 is, if you are watching the movies in chronological order, the fourth movie in the timeline after Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain Marvel, and the first Iron Man. In release order, it was the third movie released after the original Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. The movie is set six months down the line from Tony Stark's "I am Iron Man" revelation. We find out early in the movie that the palladium that he is using to power the arc reactor in his chest is killing him, so part of the movie is about Tony trying to find a solution to that, and the other part of the movie involves the main bad guy, Ivan Vanko, played by Mickey Rourke, whose father worked with Tony's father Howard Stark to develop the arc reactor and was fired from Stark Industries without getting credit. Vanko tries to get revenge against Tony and becomes the villain Whiplash in the process.

The big casting change in the movie was replacing Terrance Howard with Don Cheadle playing Rhody, and the addition of Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (who is introduced as Natalie, an assistant at Stark Industries). The movie also brings back Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau, both as the director and playing Happy Hogan, and brings in Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, a second-rate weapons developer who is trying to fill the void left by Stark Industries no longer developing weapons for the military. It also expands the roles of Coulson and Nick Fury from the small role for Coulson and the post-credits cameo for Fury in the first movie.

The 4k Transfer on the movie is good, but not extraordinary. It is an upgrade from the original Blu-Ray and better than the transfer that the first Iron Man film got in its 4k-UHD release, but it is not as good a transfer as other movies have gotten, which is disappointing given that the movie was shot on digital and while it is about 12 years old now, is not ancient. The extras include a commentary track on the movie by Favreau and a SHIELD data vault that can play the movie with pop-ups that will provide additional information on some of the scenes. The video clips can be watched separately as well. Then there is an interactive picture and text gallery that gives bios on characters from Iron Man and Hulk and SHEILD reports on the events from the three movies. Then there are previs and animatics that can be played in a picture-in-picture mode during the movie. NOTE that not all of the extras from the original Blu-ray release are included on this. It does not have the making-of documentary or deleted scenes. So, you will want to keep your original Blu-Ray release if you got that one if you want all of the extras.

The commentary track is one of the better DVD commentaries that touches on not only the process of making the movie but the giving hints about the larger MCU story (as much as he could divulge anyway). He also made what, at the time, was a prophetic statement about the fact that streaming would overtake DVD and that only collectors would get movies on physical discs (which is basically where things are at now).

Overall, the movie is very good. It is not as good as the original, but a worthy follow-up. Robert Downey Jr. continues to nail the role of Tony Stark, playing him with the right amount of narcissism and evolving hero. Rockwell does a great job, and Gary Shandling has an awesome extended cameo role. The movie also sets up the next movie in the sequence (especially in the post-credits scene) expanding the ever-evolving MCU.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Iron Man

 

While, by 2008, there had been other superhero movies like Spiderman and the original Fantastic Four movies made and relatively successful, this is the first movie in what would become a 20+ movie and counting franchise of movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has dominated not only the superhero movie genre but really the movie landscape as a whole for more than a decade.

The movie is the origin story of Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) and his superhero alter-ego, Iron Man. Stark is an ultra-rich, ultra-smart, and sometimes too smooth for his own good, tech genius. He is the head of Stark Industries which is basically a weapons developer that makes weapons for the military and anyone who is the highest bidder. After a demonstration of his newest missile technology for the military in a fictitious middle-eastern country, the convoy he is in is attacked and he is taken, prisoner and forced to make a missile for a group of terrorists. Instead of making them a missile, he develops the first Iron Man suit, breaks out, and upon being rescued, he determines to take the company in a new direction and develop a better suit that he can use to fight bad guys.

The movie has a great supporting cast including Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony's assistant and potential love interest, Terrance Howard as James Rhodes, Tony's friend and military liaison, Jon Favreau whom both directed the movie and played Happy Hogan, Tony's driver, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, a partner in Stark Industries, Leslie Bibb as reported Christine Everhart, Paul Bettany as the voice of Jarvis, Tony's artificially intelligent assistant, and Clark Gregg, as Phil Coulson.

For those who get the 4k Disc, the movie looks very good in the UHD format, but it does not get as good a video upgrade as some of the other movies have. It is probably not something you would likely notice unless you are a big-time A/V wonk, but it is not a giant video upgrade over the Blu-Ray disc. The audio upgrade to Dolby Atmos is wonderful and the movie sounds great even if you have a modest sound system. For extras, they are somewhat sparse. There is a Hall of Armor interactive gallery with details about the different versions of the Iron Man suits in the movie, about 23 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, and a six different featurettes under the title "The Invincible Iron Man" that can be played all together at one time, that is essentially an hour-long documentary on the history of the character in the comics. It is important to note, that when the movie was originally released on Blu-Ray, it was released in various retailer exclusives that had different bonus content. None of that exclusive content was brought over to this one, so if you have a retailer exclusive Blu-Ray then you will want to keep that one as well (if the extras are important to you).

Overall, the movie is great. Had the movie not worked, there probably never would have been an MCU, and at the time, casting Robert Downey Jr. as essentially in the lead role of not only this movie but the leader of many of the movies that would come after that was a huge risk given his history of drug abuse.. You can tell that he took the role (and the movie) very seriously, and was perfectly cast for the role of Tony Stark. But really, all of the actors did a wonderful job in their roles, whether large or small. I highly recommend the movie if you are a fan of action and/or superhero movies. Whether it is worth the double-dip to upgrade from the Blu-Ray (assuming you purchased the Blu-Ray when it was first released on disc) is hard to say. If you have a great home-theater setup (or plan to build one) then it probably is. If not, the regular Blu-Ray is probably fine.

4kUHD/Movie Review: Captain Marvel

 

Captain Marvel is a much better movie than it gets credit for. The movie is set in 1995 and serves as an origin story not only for Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, but also for Fury, to some extent Coulson, and the entire Avenger initiative. At the beginning of the movie, we see Danvers (played by Brie Larson) already with her powers believing herself to be a member of the Kree race and fighting a war with a race of beings called the Skrulls, whom she believed had her memory erased. After a battle with the Skrulls, she ends up on Earth and meets Nick Fury, played of course by ‎Samuel L. Jackson, who was de-aged using CGI, who is at that time just a grunt SHEILD officer. Then the movie is about Carol regaining her memory and figuring out how powerful she really is. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace (making a cameo appearance as Ronan), Annette Bening, and Clark Gregg (who is also de-aged using CGI).

If you watch the MCU movies in chronological order, this one is the second movie in the sequence after the first Captain America. If you watch them in release order, it was the twenty-first movie and the one that comes just before Avengers Endgame. In some ways, the storyline makes more sense if you watch them chronologically, but on the other hand, this movie was really meant to be a flashback after the storyline and characters were established to see how everything started. So, watching it second without all the other movies to set it up I do think takes something away from it. Plus, the mid-credits scene only makes sense if you have seen Infinity War first, and without seeing Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan does not have as much gravitas as he is intended to have.

For those who get the 4k set, the movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then all the other extras are on the regular Blu-Ray disc. There are about 25 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, about 10 minutes of deleted scenes, a short gag reel, and then a commentary track on the movie by the directors. What was included was okay, but it definitely does not has as many extras as some of the other movies received.

As I said above, the movie is better than it gets credit for, and a lot of the shit it gets is undeserved. It has a good mix of action and humor, with bits of drama mixed in as well. Larson and Jackson have great chemistry and really seem to enjoy working together, and the supporting cast all did a great job no matter how large or small their role is. The beginning of the movie also had great dedication to Stan Lee who passed away after the movie was shot but before it was released. And, it features a great 1990s soundtrack which will definitely give anyone who grew up in the 90s a major jolt of nostalgia. It does go a bit overboard on the girl-power thing in a couple of spots, but I don't think it is worth getting apoplectic over like some of the reviewers seem to. Those who think Larson's acting was wooden do not get that the character was written the way she played her, and why the character was written the way it was. Nor do they appreciate the dry humor, which Larson nails perfectly. While I would not say it was the best of the MCU movies, it is also do not think that it is the worst. Of course, that is totally subjective and there is a wide range of opinions on the quality. I definitely recommend it.

4kUHD/Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

 

This is the first movie in the MCU timeline if you want to watch the movies in chronological order and the fifth if you watch them in release order (after Iron Man, Hulk, Iron Man II, and Thor). It tells the story of Steve Rodgers, a short scrawny kid who wants nothing more than to enlist in the army and fight for the United States in World War II. The problem is that he is about 5'5", 100 pounds soaking wet, and has asthma. After getting rejected time after time trying to sign up, he meets a doctor (played by Stanley Tucci) who developed a super-soldier serum and is looking for a worthy candidate to test it on. After Steve proves himself to be heroic during basic training he is given the serum and transforms into a six-foot-tall muscle-bound super-powered hero.

The film sports a great ensemble cast including Tommy Lee Jones (who brings his awesome dry humor as the unit commander Chester Phillips), Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Hugo Weaving as the main villain, Red Skull, Dominic Cooper as a young Howard Stark, Sebastian Stan as Steve's best friend Bucky Barnes, and Toby Jones as Arnim Zola. Some of those characters, as anyone who has watched the movies and/or various TV series, would go on to have roles that were expanded well beyond what they are in this movie, and for other characters, this movie was a one-off. It is mostly an action movie, as you would expect, but also blends in drama, romance, and a lot of humor. Evans does a great job playing a goody-two-shoes character but giving him depth beyond just being a do-gooder. Atwell does a great job as Agent Carter, and Hugo Weaving pretty much steals every scene he is in.

For those who get the 4k UHD set, the movie looks and sounds great in the format, especially if you have a big screen to watch it on. The picture is definitely an upgrade from the regular Blu-Ray. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then the second disc is the same regular Blu-Ray disc that was released before, which has the movie and the extras. The extras include a commentary track on the film by the director and the editor, then it has several making-of featurettes, the most interesting of which was, in my opinion, how they used a blend of CGI and practical effects to make Chris Evans look five inches shorter than he is in real life and emaciated at the beginning of the movie. There is also a "one-shot" which is basically a short film that features Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) as he is on the way to the site where Thor's Hammer is discovered. Then there are some deleted scenes and trailers. So, if you like watching the bonus content, there is a lot there for you.

The movie is very good and does a great job establishing the character of Captain America who, of course, is integral to every other movie that comes after it. If you watch this movie first it will make some things in other movies, namely the stand-alone Hulk movie, make more sense, but the post-credits scene which sets up The first Avengers movie will feel out of place. The 4K disc will probably be a double-dip for a lot of people who had already purchased the Blu-Ray, but I think the upgrade is worth it.