Ballerina

Ballerina

Ana de Armas does a fine job here.  Not enough to make this a rewatchable movie for me, but I’d certainly tune in for a sequel.  There are a few scenes that did make me giggle with delight:

1. Grenade fight!  She doesn’t even pick up a firearm as a secondary weapon; she deliberately opts for a bandolier of grenades and nothing else.

2. Ice skate fight!  Specifically, there’s one shot where she swings them in the most beautiful motion I’ve ever seen.

3. FLAMETHROWER FIGHT!!!  One of those all-too-rare batshit crazy action moments that are unlike anything else I’ve ever seen before.  So effing awesome.  And special kudos to all the stunt people; I’m sure a ton of that was practical.

Things I didn’t like:

1. Ana is so less efficient than Keanu when it comes to one-shot kills.  I get that they end fights prematurely and make them less fun to watch, but there are way too many cases where I either thought, “How is that person still alive” or “She totally missed a chance to kill the person right there.”

2. There’s no way she survives against a whole town that’s out to kill her.

3. Keanu’s presence was totally unnecessary, and felt like a hedge against the filmmakers’ confidence in the film’s ability to stand on its own.  

4. Dude who fought w/ his leg on fire was a total ripoff of Tony Jaa in Ong Bak.  (And it was way cooler the first time around.)

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

New comics

New comics!

Detective Comics 1097

Batman and Bullock investigate a new super secret mysterious organization.  Nothing special so far.  Lee Garbett is on art, but he isn’t given anything that really lets him shine.  

Batman 160

Hush 2 part 3.  That’s it, I’m done.  No one’s on top of their game here, not even Jim Lee.  Jeph Loeb?  He’s nowhere close.  

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell 2

Nothing new to say, but this is still a really fun read.

Absolute Martian Manhunter 3

Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez up the psychic visions, and it makes for a gorgeous, psychedelic read.  It’s a surprisingly standard story underneath it all, but that doesn’t detract from the quality of the book.

Mr Terrific: Year One 1

I’ve actually read very few comics w/ Mr Terrific, but I’ve always loved his concept and his look.  This mini by Al Letson and Valentine De Landro isn’t spectacular, but it’s good enough for me to keep reading.

Ultimate Spider-Man 17

Stuff’s happening.  Harry’s daddy issues get worse (who in the world chooses their horrible dad to be their AI?), his wife is starting to stomp all over him, and they’re starting to make their move on Kingpin.  I wish Jonathan Hickman wrote more things like this.

Absolute Wonder Woman 8

Blah blah Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman are phenomenal blah blah.  I’m not feeling Doctor Poison so far, but it’s early.

It’s Jeff: Jeff Week 1

I’m mostly getting this for my daughter, but it’s a fun 30-second read for me as well.  That said, this only works w/ Gurihiru doing the art; the Gustavo Duarte backups aren’t nearly as good.  

Wonder Woman 21

Tom King wraps up this tidy little mystery w/out a fuss.  Bruce and Diana have some sweet, heartfelt conversations about grief.  It’s all platonic here, but I’d love to see King’s take on a romance between the two.  Heck, he got me to root for Selina/Bruce, I’m sure he’d do an even better job w/ this pairing.  

Fantastic Four 32

Valeria manages to save Ben from last issue’s idiotic screwup.  It’s amazing how much Ryan North is always able to squeeze into one issue.

New comics

Detective Comics Annual 2025

I was not happy when I found out that Tom Taylor wasn’t the writer on this.  I wouldn’t have bought it if I’d known.  But luckily, Al Ewing writes a fun little mystery here.  I wouldn’t buy it again, but it wasn’t a total waste of money.

Black Canary: Best of the Best 6

This story failed on so many levels.  This was just a very long fight scene, and Ryan Sook was not the best choice for it; I’m not a fan of his faces.  At all.  And considering Shiva and Black Canary are supposed to be the two best martial artists in the world, I would have liked fewer pro wrestling moves.  The story also lacks the mother/daughter poignancy that Tom King was probably hoping for, and while I appreciate him writing a straightforward story, I wish there was more to it than just a resurrection.  Definitely one of his weaker efforts.  (And the fight commentary!  Ugh.)

Absolute Green Lantern 2

Why does Abin Sur look exactly like Evil Boo from Dragonball Z?

There still isn’t much to go on for this title yet, but it’s still got enough potential for me to keep reading.

Absolute Batman 8

A really good fight scene between Batman and Freeze.  Also, Scott Snyder rips apart the potential for a super sweet Justice League of Batman Villains with the abduction and presumed upcoming transformation of Waylon Jones into Absolute Killer Croc.

DC vs Vampires: World War V 9

My interest in this world is waning.  It’s always tricky once the New Gods show up.  And despite all the action, this issue feels like setup.

Battle Beast 1

Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley return to the Invincible universe!  This issue is basically an extended fight scene, but only as that pair can do.  So much fun, it’s wonderful to be in this world again.

New comics

I’ve got like a month of new comics to catch up on.

Batgirl 7

The origin of Lady Shiva.  It’s nothing special, and I’m pretty sure I’m done after the arc finishes next issue.

Absolute Superman 7

The origin of Absolute Braniac.  Jason Aaron and Carmine Di Giandomenico have created something terrifying here.  This is quality stuff.  

Absolute Wonder Woman 7

I’m still not sure how The Lady and the Tiger is relevant in this story, but for all that, it’s well-written and beautifully drawn.  I need to find more things by Mattia De Iulis, I love his work.

Absolute Martian Manhunter 2

This so reminds me of another comic that’s equally dreamlike, but I can’t put my finger on it.  Maybe it’s because I recently saw Javier Rodriguez’s work in Zatanna?  Anyway, this is still a nice deviation from the usual comic book fare.

Batman 159

Hush 2 part 2.  As much as I love Jim Lee, this certainly isn’t his best work, and the story by Jeph Loeb is as unreadable as his stuff over in Last Halloween.  One more issue, I think, and then I’m done.  

One World Under Doom 3-4

In issue 3, we learn that the world’s leaders voluntarily agreed to go along w/ Doom for various reasons.  I totally saw it coming, but I still like how it was done.  In issue 4, Dormammu takes advantage of Doom’s short-sighted thinking.  (Where planetary defense from the magical world is concerned.  He’s doing a pretty good job of whupping the heroes.)

I’ve been pretty pleased with this event so far.  The main title is telling a self-contained story, and the tie-ins are exploring the tangents.  It’s how you should run something big like this.  

Batman: The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween 7

The best thing I can say is that there are only three issues left.  And I don’t even like Becky Cloonan’s art, so next month is a waste too.  Dave Johnson’s a lot better on covers than he is on interiors.

Fantastic Four 31

The FF travel to different multiverses in an attempt to bombard Ben Grimm with cosmic rays and return him to his rocky state.  Things go wrong, of course, and the FF are wiped from existence.  A very nice issue by Ryan North.

Ultimate Spider-Man 16

So my prediction from a few months ago was incorrect, Gwen Stacy does not end up as the new Green Goblin.  But she is Mysterio, and Jonathan Hickman makes that twist very nifty indeed.  I can’t get over how good this title is. 

Library comics

Some comics I borrowed from the library.

Moonbound

A retelling of the Apollo 11 mission, interspersed with a summary of humanity’s journey to the moon.  Not bad, but it didn’t add to my knowledge of the topic.

Regret reading: No

Would read again: No

Would buy: No

Rating: Fine

Something is Killing the Children 1-5

A great title for a book.  James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera have crafted a solid comic here.  Monsters that only kids can see are very real, and one of the survivors meets a Buffy-esque slayer who’s part of a bigger shadowy organization.  It’s not good enough to buy, but I’ve borrowed the rest of the trades, so it’s certainly got something going for it.  

Regret reading: No

Would read again: Yes

Would buy: No

Rating: Nice

The Nice House on the Lake 1-12

Another James Tynion IV production, drawn by Alvaro Martinez Bueno.  Once again, I was drawn in by the nifty title.  I never got around to reading this when I first borrowed it, and I was literally sitting in the car in the garage on my way to return it when I thought I’d give it a shot.  After two issues, I drove to the library and finished the series.

This is an engrossing “everyone’s trapped in one location” mystery that involves the end of the world, aliens, and a spin on The Good Place.  I was totally going to buy this until the ending, which falls off a little bit.  There’s a followup series, The Nice House by the Sea, that covers a different cohort of people.  I definitely want to give that a try when the trade is available.

Regret reading: No

Would read again: No

Would buy: No

Rating: Pretty good

Rogue Heroes, Reacher, World War 3.1

I’ve been dragging my feet on getting my thoughts down on this random smattering of media for ages.  Let’s get to it.

Surviving Black Hawk Down

A Netflix documentary series on the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the Mark Bowden book and then the Ridley Scott film.  (Both excellent.)  This didn’t add much to what I already knew, but it was good to hear the story from the people who were there.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Stalin’s Hammer

I absolutely love John Birmingham’s Axis of Time trilogy.  It’s a super fun, well written “what if a naval task force from the near future dropped into the Battle of Midway” story.  Sci-fi mixed with alternate history, Birmingham does an excellent job of mixing the micro with the macro, kind of like Tom Clancy.  Stalin’s Hammer was his first followup, a trilogy of novellas late collected into this book.  It’s not nearly as good, spending way too much time on two sides of a special ops mission.  This would have been fine as a subplot in a trilogy, it doesn’t hold up on its own.  While I care about this alternate Prince Harry and Julia Duffy, I don’t need to spend a full book on them.

Regret reading: No

Would read again: No

Would buy again: No

Rating: Fine

World War 3.1

Birmingham spins up a new trilogy following the events of Stalin’s Hammer.  This book is almost entirely prologue, setting up the start of the new war between NATO and the Soviet Union.  I love the premise, am a little disappointed by the execution.  Still looking forward to the next book.

Regret reading: No

Would read again: Yes

Would buy again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Rogue Heroes S1-2

Thank goodness for my Youtube algorithm.  I’d never even heard about this BBC show until a few scenes started popping up there.  It’s a wonderfully embellished retelling of the formation of the SAS.  Fun performances by Connor Swindells (of Sex Education fame) and Jack O’Connell lead the way.  The action is decent, and there are some truly inspirational scenes

[INSERT VID]

I’d watch a third season, for sure.  It’s no Band of Brothers, but what is?

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Rogue Heroes

The book by Ben Mcintyre that inspired the show.  I wanted to see just how far the show diverged from the truth.  It turns out not too far.  This is the birth of the world’s first special forces unit, trained (or mostly winging it at the start) to do extraordinary things with a small number of people.  It’s a testament to the ingenuity and determination of the founding members that the unit succeeded, and now there are special forces in every country in the world.     

Regret reading: No

Would read again: No

Would buy: No

Rating: Nice

Reacher S3

This is the first Reacher season where I had already read the book it’s based on.  I’m not sure that had anything to do with it, but I preferred the two previous seasons to this one.  Alan Ritchson is his usual reliable, badass, awesome self.  Maria Sten continues to impress as Neagley, and though I’m still skeptical that she can carry a show as the headliner, I’m definitely going to watch.  

It’s probably the rest of the supporting cast.  Sonya Cassidy doesn’t do much for me.  Maybe it’s the completely distracting Boston accent.  Anthony Michael Hall (the dad) and Johnny Birchold (the son) are pretty forgettable.  Olivier Richters is an amazing villain (he’s huge!), but goes a touch past the line of ridiculousness (through no fault of his own).  I could have done with more of Brian Tee as the uber villain.

I’ll still watch as many of these as Amazon will make.  They’re so much fun.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts

I genuinely liked this movie, and I wish it wasn’t such a rare occurrence in today’s MCU. 

Things I liked:

• Florence Pugh is phenomenal.  She delivers on all of the promise she flashed in Black Widow and Hawkeye, as Yelena is elevated to the headline of what’s essentially Black Widow 2.  She brings depth and emotion to a wonderfully realized character, to an extent that may not have been reached by any other MCU character.  (Maybe Scarlet Witch in WandaVision?)

• Some great action sequences.  Nothing that’s top tier, but the opening building jump, four-way incineration room fight, and futile Sentry confrontation were all well done.

• Shout out to the Bucky v Three Jeeps scene.  A great showcase for the guy who has somehow become a nostalgic fan favorite.  

• David Harbour’s bombastic Red Guardian is hit or miss for me, but he mostly hits here.  His humor works, and I laughed at the majority of it.  He also pulls off the heartfelt moments w/ Pugh.  Some serious acting that almost feels out of place in the MCU.

• Inching up the silo.

• I didn’t expect much from the Sentry, as I’m totally not a fan of him in the comic.  But Lewis Pullman does a fine job here.  His fight scene feels like a totally sanitized, watered-down Homelander scene, but still manages to show just how scary a Superman-level threat can be in the MCU.

• The Void vfx, both on the character and with his victim smearing, is fricking awesome.  Those pinpricks of light are terrifying as his eyes.

• Yelena constantly being embarrassed by her dad will always be funny.

• The Avengerz.  

• Loved both post-credits stings.  

• There’s a lot of legitimately troubling psychic trauma on display in this movie.  Tough to watch, but well executed.  

• I can not believe that the group hug ending actually worked for me.  The other instances I can think of are the “It’s not your fault” scene from Good Will Hunting and the finale of season six of Buffy.  I can’t stand either one.  It shouldn’t work here either, but the filmmakers did a surprisingly effective job of selling Yelena’s despair and her ability to fight through it, reach out, and make a human connection with a similarly lost soul.  

Things I didn’t like

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus just doesn’t fit in the MCU.  She’s plain annoying.

• I would have liked to see more of a payoff with Mel the assistant.

• I feel really bad for Olga Kurylenko.  Everyone else gets to come back and make more future Marvel money, while she’s unceremoniously disposed of.  

• It’s not Wyatt Russell’s fault, but John Walker’s a total tool, and I don’t need to see any more of him.

• Ghost has potential, but she’s nothing more than roster-filler here.

• The writers wimped out by bringing back everyone who died by Void smear.  

• Sad that Valentina didn’t get her comeuppance.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Good

Updated MCU rankings

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

5. Avengers: Infinity War

6. Shang-Chi

7. Avengers: Age of Ultron

8. Ant-Man/Wasp

9. Avengers

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

11. Captain America

12. Dr Strange 2

13. Thunderbolts

14. Thor: Love and Thunder

15. Spider-Man: Far From Home

16. Iron Man 2

17. Black Widow

18. Black Panther

19. Iron Man

20. Ant-Man

21. Dr Strange

22. Deadpool & Wolverine

23. Iron Man 3

24. Thor 3

25. Captain Marvel

26. Thor

27. Thor 2

28. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

29. Guardians of the Galaxy

30. Guardians of the Galaxy 2

31. Guardians of the Galaxy 3

32. Hulk

33. Eternals

34. Captain America: Brave New World

35. Ant-Man/Wasp: Quantumania