Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) — a movie review

When I went to college, I put my comic book collecting days firmly in the past. It was a matter of necessity, really. I had zero disposable income (after subtracting the cost of alcohol and club cover charges). My roommate and I shared a single dorm room, with no extra room for boxes of comic […]

Firewater’s Bold Statement about the MCU

Okay, this is a misleading title. Maybe you expect me to jump on that internet bandwagon. You know the one I’m talking about. “The MCU has lost its way, and, for that reason, I refuse to watch any more of the movies and television shows it keeps cranking out.” That bandwagon. Let’s be real. You […]

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — a movie review

There often seems to be an inverse relationship in critics’ movie ratings to that of the movie-watching public. For instance, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. On the Rotten Tomatoes review site, the critics—as of June 10, 2023—gave the movie a disappointing 46%, based on 393 professional reviews. Meanwhile, the audience score is an overwhelmingly positive […]

MCU: Phase 4 — thoughts and reflections

After Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was released in the theaters, I heard that it was the final movie of the MCU’s Phase 4. Final Phase 4 movie? What?!? How could this possibly be? I’ve defended Phase 4, time and again. And I’ve watched every movie and Disney + streaming series. Back in October 2022, my […]

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: Season 1 (Disney +) — a review

Way back in 1980 (maybe late 1979—you know how comic book publication dates work), I purchased The Savage She-Hulk #1, a Marvel comic book written by none other than Stan “The Man” Lee and illustrated by legendary artist John Buscema. The title lasted for twenty-five issues, but I never bought another after the first. Honestly, […]

Agent Carter: Seasons 1 & 2 — a review

I just watched the Marvel Studios series Agent Carter on Disney +. No, this wasn’t my first time watching it. I watched it the first time it aired, way back in 2015 and 2016, and was sad that it was cancelled. It has joined that list of television series that were cancelled too soon, in […]

Hawkeye: Season 1 — a review (Disney +)

My street cred as a comic book geek is mostly nonexistent. My personal slice of the space/time loaf—the timespan in which I actively purchased and collected comic books—was in the 1970s until the beginning of the ’80s. There was some Silver Age influence, especially on the DC Comics side of the equation where I cut […]

What If …?: Season 1 (Disney +) — a review

As soon as I watched the first episode of this series, “What If . . . Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” I knew that I was going to like it. Although the movie Iron Man was the official kickoff of the MCU, it was the first Captain America movie that really set the tone […]

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier: Season 1 (Disney +) — a review

I’ve written these reviews of the Disney + MCU Phase 4 series slightly out of order. I watched them in the order they were released. You can read my reviews of WandaVision and the first season of Loki here, if you’d like. At present, I’m making my way through the episodes of What If . […]

Loki: Season 1 (Disney+) — a review

You can’t fool me. All of this time travel and Sacred Timeline/Nexus Event stuff is just more magic disguised as incomprehensible technology. In this particular story, it doesn’t bother me overmuch, even though I’ve been honest about my semi-aversion to magic in past reviews. As I’ve said before, when it comes to swords & sorcery […]

WandaVision: Season 1 (and only?) — a review

The finale of this series aired back at the beginning of March 2021. I was still quarantining with my wife back then, with a lot of extra time on my hands. Still, I never watched an episode of WandaVision the same day it aired, even though I was watching them soon after, perhaps even just […]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 7 — a review

I took a brief hiatus from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after Season 5, which I think of as S.H.I.E.L.D. in Space, or, alternately, as Cracked-Egg Earth with Kree. It ended with what I think was the first live-action appearance of Graviton, who was soundly defeated by Daisy/Quake, which made the Earth future we just lived through […]

10-List: Firewater’s Top 10 MCU Movies

After I watched Captain Marvel (great movie: you should check it out), I had completed all of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In point of fact, I had watched every MCU motion picture released to date. That’s a lot of movies, over a lot of years. 23 movies, in fact, over 11 years. […]

Captain Marvel — a review (and a farewell salute to MCU Phase 3)

Yeah, yeah. I know. Captain Marvel wasn’t the last movie in Phase 3. It was, however, the last one I watched, this morning. To be perfectly honest with you (and I always am), I delayed watching this movie because I didn’t think I would like it. I’ve never been a fan of Captain Marvel in […]

Spider-Man: Far from Home — a movie review

With this movie in my rearview mirror, only Captain Marvel remains as an obstacle to my completion of Phase 3 of the MCU. As of the day I’m typing this post, I’m not sure where we’ve landed with the Sony vs. Marvel negotiations. I thought Spidey was removed from our MCU continuity, but now I’m […]

Avengers: Endgame — a movie review

I’m a little further along in Phase 3 of the MCU since I wrote my review of Avengers: Infinity War back in April 2019. Since then, I have watched Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Black Panther, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. And, now, of course, Avengers: Endgame. Since I haven’t watched Captain Marvel or […]

Jessica Jones: Season 3 — a review and a farewell

Jessica Jones goes out on a high note. Netflix cancelled this series (along with the rest of the Marvel Netflix series) even before the third season premiered. The creators and showrunners of the series didn’t pull any punches on the final season, which, in many ways, was even stronger than Season 1. These Marvel shows […]

Avengers: Infinity War — a movie review

Confession is good for the soul, they say. I’m still not current on Phase 3 of the MCU. I haven’t watched Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (at least, not all of it) or Black Panther yet (ditto). I plan to cross those off the list this month. I also haven’t watched the two MCU […]

Marvel’s Luke Cage: Season Two — a review

I’ve sat on this for a few days, to give my thoughts and feelings about the second season of this Netflix series time to marinate. Back when I was required to write performance reviews for people as part of my job responsibilities, managers were warned to watch out for the horns/halo effect. In short, […]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 5 — a review

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Gotham have a lot in common to me. I’ve watched both series from their beginnings. Both had a lot of things that appealed to me from both sides of the Marvel-DC aisle. And, both had strung me along with a lot of unspoken promises that never really managed to pay […]

Jessica Jones: Season 2 – a review

It really doesn’t seem like two years since the debut of the first season of Netflix’s Jessica Jones. Mostly it’s because I saw Jessica again in last year’s Defenders. I checked my archives to see what I might have said about the first season here on WordPress. The answer? I said nothing. The first […]

Thor: Ragnarok — a movie review [Here There Be Spoilers]

I have a confession. I’ve liked all three of the Thor movies, and for three different reasons. I enjoyed the world-building in Thor (2011). The Jack Kirby version of Asgard was brought to life on film, and director Kenneth Branagh treated the subject matter with a seriousness that it might not have even deserved. […]

Spider-Man: Homecoming – a belated review

I’ve wanted to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming even before it came out in the theaters, back when Spider-Man was just making a cameo appearance in Captain America: Civil War. I almost saw it in the theater, but on the day I intended to see it, my granddaughter Taylee talked me into watching Wonder Woman with […]

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002): watershed moment in superhero movie history

Sometime around April 30, 2002, I saw the future. Clearly. That was over 15 years ago now. And I believe my psychic abilities peak at somewhere near 0%. Nevertheless, I accurately predicted the future on that day (or perhaps a few days later). That was the day the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man, […]

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD: Season 5 Premiere “Orientation, Parts 1 & 2”

I was happy that Agents of SHIELD was picked up for a fifth season. The series has a cast of characters whom I genuinely like, which means I’m willing to watch them doing almost anything. Almost anything. The LMD story line in the middle of Season 4 was a bit on the weak side, […]

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