Movies – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Sat, 04 Mar 2023 03:28:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png Movies – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. Movies – Nerds on Earth false episodic Movies – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. Movies – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/category/movies/ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania: A Fitting Third Ant-Man Tale or MCU Filler? https://nerdsonearth.com/2023/02/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-a-fitting-third-ant-man-tale-or-mcu-filler/ Fri, 17 Feb 2023 14:48:25 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=40392

We review the latest MCU's Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania to see if it's a fitting inclusion to the Ant-Man series and the greater MCU as a whole.

The post Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania: A Fitting Third Ant-Man Tale or MCU Filler? appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

This weekend sees the release of the 31st Marvel Cinematic Universe film. The childhood nerd in me cannot believe that one of the biggest entertainment blockbusters of all time are largely based on comic books that people have been reading and loving since the mid-1960s. It is astonishing to consider. (Want to be a full on Marvel Zombie: I propose Marvel March, 1 MCU film a day for the whole month.)

And, as they have now made 31 of these films, even a true Marvel Zombie like myself has to admit that there are some of those films that aren’t good. While I will defend some films that others dislike, there are some movies that just simply aren’t the best. (Listen, Thor: Dark World is a sprawling science fiction fantasy sequel that people weren’t expecting and so it gets unfairly bashed.)

And one of the realities is that in the current wave of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, the franchise seems to be stalling out. And, unfortunately, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may go down as this phases Iron Man 2, a film that really was just a bridge to get to what is next.

The cast of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania

Pre-spoiler review between here and the next photo: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is a weird, deep delve into the subatomic Quantum Realm, the world that lives far beneath our own world. Only once the accident that sends Scott Lang, his partner the Wasp, his daughter Cassie and the Wasp’s parents into the world, things get very weird and odd.

First, this film is a stunning visual exercise, almost to its detriment. The Quantum Realm that we see feels like Disney and Kevin Feige went to all the special effects folks involved in Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar movies, took their leftovers and threw into a blender, dumped it out and said “Ladies and Gentlemen: the Quantum Realm!” Visually it has some stunning set pieces; this is one of those films that people will screengrab and make wonderful desktop backgrounds. There are several different points where it is just fascinating. But truthfully, there is almost too much of it. After 30 minutes of that kind of compelling visual background, it moves to the background and then there starts to be a glaring issue: this movie doesn’t have a core plot, other than this one particular mandate: introduce the new villain Kang and make him terrifying.

From there, things feel like they are on a rail, and that rail progresses along at the expense of this movie. Like I mentioned, Iron Man 2 had that fill early in the MCU: it just needed to get us from where we were to the Avengers film, which is really weird since there were 2 more movies after it before the Avengers assembled. Ant-Man and the characters are shortchanged to have their own story; you leave this film thinking that it didn’t do much but bridge into the next movies.

So, is it worth seeing in the theater? I would say so just because of the visual lushness of the film and the special effects in creating worlds, visuals and creatures. But that alone should be your driver; if you are expecting some of the peaks of greatness that we have gotten in the MCU before, this, sadly, isn’t the film for you.

Spoilers from this point forward: To be incredibly blunt, this film feels like was the victim of a studio going “We have a few notes.” And that is frustrating as a viewer because there are some things that I wanted to see developed and advanced.

My guess is that if we had the first draft of this film, the core concept is around family, because the core heroes of the film is what we can come to see as The Ant-Man family. Obviously, we have the titular characters but we also have the aged Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas and Janet Van Dyne, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, and Ant-Man’s daughter who seems to be a genius, with her own suit but still very raw in the superhero game. The core issue of the film is that Janet hasn’t discussed what happened to her years and years in the Quantum Realm before she was rescued, which includes the backstory of The Conqueror aka Kang, who, since she left, has completely taken over everything, destroying places and people wherever he goes. But it feels like the Marvel notes was “Wait, peel back some on the family thing; we have a Fantastic Four movie coming.” So, you get the necessary exposition scenes to set up Kang but other wise, the Wasp and her parents are sidelined until the big finale, minus some comedic scenes with Bill Murray.

Johnathan Majors gives a great performance in a less than stellar film.

And the thing is, if you are a hardcore Marvel fan, we’ve already been introduced to Kang in the fantastic Loki series, which is alluded to in one of the post credit endpoints. And the Kang in this film is ably played by Johnathan Majors. In some ways he is a frightening despot, a conqueror of various worlds across the multiverse. But his frightening, conqueror at all costs persona is offset because he is the Kang exiled by the other Kangs, who all seem to get along in the end credits scene where there was stadium full of them cheering for one another. Sure, a lot of Kangs seems scary but, if there are a lot of Kangs, there are a lot of Captain Americas and Hulks etc. as well, right? But the obvious main point of this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is this multiverse (and Kang).

But that multiverse is starting to feel like the main thing that has been talked about so much that it is anticlimactic. It is as if in all the recent Marvel films, we get a scene that is supposed to be a grand reveal of the multiverse and the audience is now firmly into two camps, one which doesn’t get it and goes “Huh?” and one that goes, “Okay, Spider-Man or Scarlet Witch or Doctor Strange or Loki or Kang, we get it; there are multiple universes.” And, that doesn’t bode well because we still have 7 movies between this one and the conclusion of this phase, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, scheduled for May 2025. My hope is that they lay low with Kang until later, where it makes sense to use him; honestly, if there was no Kang reference until the Fantastic Four movie, where a universe hopping Richards family shows up, having chased him across the multiverse would be fine by me.

But that means you have to ignore the last end credits scene, where Loki and his handler from the television show seem to find Kang in the Victorian era, where Kang is running a stage show talking about Time.

Overall, there are some seeds of good things that don’t deliver in this film. And, without a doubt, the visual effects are amazing, and the creatures allow for some real Marvel Zombie moments. (When one of the D’bari shows up and is talked about…I started scanning the sky for Dark Phoenix.) And with Cassie’s powers and suit, it makes me more and more hopeful for an excellent Young Avengers film, which would be amazing. But I hope the next few films are unburdened of Kang and trying to set-up what is still 7 films away.

The post Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania: A Fitting Third Ant-Man Tale or MCU Filler? appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
Crossing our Fingers for the Micronauts in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 🤞 https://nerdsonearth.com/2023/01/micronauts-in-ant-man/ Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=40287

The Nerds on Earth address the rumors that The Micronauts will makes an appearance in the MCU.

The post Crossing our Fingers for the Micronauts in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 🤞 appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

No fan ever got fired for expressing a bad Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) hot take on Twitter. Sadly, no one ever got fired out of a cannon for it either. So when I saw a fan pining for the appearance of the Micronauts in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, my heart sank for the poor fool.

We should be smart enough at this point to realize that it’s the lawyers who drive the stories in the MCU. Look no further than Disney buying FOX or the drama with Sony and our boy Tom Holland.

My point? Despite what us fans “demand” on Twitter and elsewhere, that’s often just uninformed wish fulfillment. The legalities of intellectual property rights determines who can appear in which films and our foot-stomps and petitions won’t change that reality. Listen, you work with what you’ve got.

Hasbro owns the rights to the Micronauts, so fuhgeddaboudem, they ain’t happening in the MCU.

But let’s pivot this article. While the above 300 words feel so restrictive, let’s use the rest of this article to both fondly recall the Micronauts, while we also speculate on what we might see in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Fondly Remembering the Micronauts Toys and Comics

Japan-based Takara created a line of science fiction action figures in 1974 and the company Mego brought them to North America in the late 70s as The Micronauts. They were vaguely-android(esque) and spindly and most had silver faces.

Meanwhile, Star Wars became the sci-fi heavyweight and The Micronauts line died in 1980 as Mego filed bankruptcy. Other toy companies dabbled with reviving the line but the Micronauts toys weren’t even the way they were best remembered, it was from their comics.

First published in 1979, the Marvel comic featured both original characters as well as characters based on the Mego toys. Written by Bill Mantlo, Marvel published the series until issue 59 (1984), long after the toy line ended. Other volumes of the series, as well as annuals and miniseries, added to the Micronauts comic mythos.

Marvel told the story of the Micronauts’ origin in the Microverse, a microscopic universe full of strange planets made up of diverse spherical cities. Lead by Arcturus Rann, the Micronauts come together to push back the threat of Baron Karza, a former academic turned murderous dictator.

What followed was an epic war across the Microverse pitting Rann and The Micronauts against Karza. Rann’s team included Princess Mari aka Marionette, who along with her brother Prince Argon, were the only survivors of the slaughtered royal family of Homeworld, a Microverse habitat.

Microtron was a R2-D2-style character who served as support. The alien gladiators Acroyear and *tik*Bug*tik* rounded out Rann’s team, the latter being a wise-cracking thief who later joined the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Some of their adventurous highlights:

  • The Micronauts briefly warped to Earth where they were enlarged to action figure size and encountered Man-Thing.
  • Karza could turn into a centaur.
  • There was an army of dog soldiers.
  • Their foes included Plantman, Mentallo, HYDRA, Molecule Man, and Nightmare, Doctor Strange’s long-time foe.
  • They even encountered the Fantastic Four when their adventures took them to the Microverse.

Yeah, it was kooky stuff, but always in the best of ways. The original arc of the comic series was glorious, to be honest. It’s no wonder the old Micronauts comics are remembered so fondly, even if they are super difficult to track down because of the ever-changing shifts in rights to the characters, which brings us to their non-appearance in the MCU.

Ant-Man 3 and the Tiny Town in the Quantum Realm

The Micronauts will not be appearing in the MCU because Hasbro owns the rights and their lawyers simply won’t allow it. That doesn’t mean there isn’t already a wink and a nod to the Micronauts in the MCU and, if you missed it, you wouldn’t be alone. During the quantum realm scenes in Ant-Man (2015), a city encased in a bubble appeared in the background.

In fact, it came through loud and clear when you realized what you were looking at. And Peyton Reed–the director of the Ant-Man movies–made a point to mention the city, so it’s intentional.

It’s of course called the Quantum Realm in the MCU because calling it the Microverse would step on Hasbro’s toes. But a tiny, spherical city is unmistakable, meaning it is entirely understandable some exurberant–yet uninformed–fans might take to Twitter to proclaim the Micronauts surely must be living in there.

Other theories – and, again, these were from 2015 – proclaimed that maybe Kang lived there. “Chronopolis” is the comic book name of the famed home of the time traveling foe, making this a theory that looks wildly prescient. But there were more:

  • Another theory posited that Reed Richards worked with Hank Pym years ago and became trapped in the Quantum Realm with his family, and it’s there where they will receive their powers and be introduced into the MCU.
  • International fans wonder if the bubble city might be a Captain Britain pocket universe that opens the door for that character’s introduction.
  • Black Knight was allegedly part of Peyton Reed’s original Ant-Man pitch, so his introduction in the Eternals movie leaves fans wondering if the Quantum Realm could be a connection point for him before an appearance in Blade.

Regardless, none of the above includes the Micronauts. So, how might the Micronauts tie into the movie? Well, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will explore the politics of a Quantum Realm ravaged by war. He’s not Kang the Duly-Elected President, he is Kang the Conqueror.

Already announced characters include the never aging Paul Rudd, of course, but the cast also includes Katy O’Brian, who plays Jantorra, and William Jackson Harper, who plays Quaz, a member of Jantorra’s band of freedom fighters who aim to reclaim their homeland from Kang the Conqueror. At least that what the trailer and media reports are pointing to thus far.

Look, there wasn’t a Micronaut character named Quaz or Jantorra, but you don’t have to squint hard to recognize the story parallels with Arcturus Rann and the Micronauts who came together as freedom fighters against Baron Karza, the murderous dictator of the Microverse.

So, will we see Micronauts characters like Princess Mari and Bug in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Nah. Remember, the lawyers are calling the shots and the best we can do is to petition a friendly Hasbro executive to either take steps to reprint the comic book or relaunch the toy line or holy heck just give us something with the Micronauts!

The movie may indeed give us the spirt of the Micronauts along with a wink here and there. And as a ride or die Micronauts fan, I’ll take anything I can get.

The post Crossing our Fingers for the Micronauts in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 🤞 appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
Why Black Adam’s Success (?) Might Hinder the DC Universe https://nerdsonearth.com/2022/10/black-adam-review-future-of-dc-movies/ Mon, 31 Oct 2022 21:36:14 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=39839

What does the Black Adam movie mean for the future of DC on the big screen?

The post Why Black Adam’s Success (?) Might Hinder the DC Universe appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

15 years ago, the people that make DC Comics booked the charismatic wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. And since then, Johnson has become one of the largest international movie stars, making massively successful four quadrant movies one after another. But, he never took on a superhero role. So with the semi-success Shazam and a little bit of a tie-on, Black Adam finally got the necessary swagger (and funding) to go forward.

Black Adam is a legacy character that was given a new history and story in DC’s The New 52.

Largely based on a re-creation of a legacy character by Geoff Johns and others, the Black Adam film has been a success commercially. But, the film has some issues that critics have pointed out.

Black Adam is built largely around Johnson’s charisma. Except that the character The Rock is portraying doesn’t lend itself into a charismatic, charming character. He is a dour, angry anti-hero that lacks any of the sense of fun that Johnson is known for. (There is a reason every time the WWE tried to turn The Rock into a heel that crowds revolted and cheered him anyways.) 

But from his introduction in the movie, Black Adam is a menace. And while that reign of terror is laregely aimed at bad guys and people strip mining his land, there is a complete lack of moral code that governs most heroes. Superman is for truth, justice and the American Way. Spider-Man reminds us that with great power must also come great responsibility.

Black Adam seems to be governed just by, well, don’t piss him off?

The roster of the Justice Society from Black Adam. Hawkman served as the leader and partnered with Cyclone, Atom Smasher and Dr. Fate.

Which isn’t to say that approach isn’t somewhat addressed. The appearance of the Justice Society of America is to confront the way that this newly appeared hero of Kahndaq is wielding his immense power. They tag him thanks to Amanda Waller, who seems to be everywhere in the DC Universe, but most notably from the Suicide Squad movies.

And the Justice Society is one of the better parts of the movie. Aldis Hodge is fantastic as Hawkman who is the erstwhile leader of the JSA, partnering with the young heroes Atom Smasher and Cyclone and the aging Dr. Fate, who is magnificently portrayed by Pierce Brosnon in one of the highlights of the movie. But where they were supposed to play the role of superhero cops, they really just exists to let Black Adam smack them around and destroy Kahndaq in the ensuing melee.

And, oh boy, Kahndaq. There is an interesting storyline there as Kahndaq is a colonialized area that is being stripped of its resources, run by mercenaries. And the ones who summoned the champion of Black Adam point that out to the JSA, mentioning that they only showed up once a powerful hero showed as well. When they were just an oppressed nation, no one cared. But that storyline is just a mist that quickly vanishes, just like the weird subplot of Black Adam having a connection with Clint Eastwood. 

All in all, Black Adam is an okay superhero movie that tries to do too much, including its mid-credit scene, where Amanda Waller threatens Black Adam and then Superman, portrayed by Henry Cavill shows up.

So what does this all mean for the DC superhero universe? Who knows?

But there are some interesting things that have happened since Black Adam’s release. First, James Gunn, who is responsible for the good Suicide Squad movie and the hit television show Peacemaker for DC, in addition to his work for Marvel, largely around the Guardians of the Galaxy. Partnering him with the producer of the Shazam movie, it will be interesting to see if they can right the ship for DC, which has such immense potential for so many stories but cannot quite seem to make those a reality.

But, if they continue with the planned releases it will be awhile before we have seen any massive impact from the new regime. Between now and then, there are movies in the can, or close to completion, including a Shazam sequel, an Aquaman film, an origin story movie for the Blue Beetle and a Flash movie that they may have to shelf because the star of it cannot seem to act like a rational human being in public. (And strangely the Joker sequel will NOT be a part of the DC Studios system but as another part of Warner Brothers.)

And my first reaction on the news that Henry Cavill was leaving the Netflix series The Witcher, being replaced by Liam Hemsworth in season 4 was that Warner Brothers got the dump truck of money to buy Cavill’s freedom to speed up that production.

In the end, I am and have always been a Marvel Zombie. But even I have respect for the DC universe and the immense potential it could have. (If someone hasn’t pitched the Russo Brothers on directing a Judas Contract movie in the vein and style of Winter Soldier, what exactly do movie executives do?!?) So here is hoping the new regime will help bring some great stories to the screen, far from the past in general and Zack Snyder specifically.

The post Why Black Adam’s Success (?) Might Hinder the DC Universe appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
A Beginner’s Guide to PHASE 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) https://nerdsonearth.com/2022/08/beginners-guide-phase-4-mcu/ Thu, 04 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=39048

Nerds on Earth gives you a short overview of every Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Phase 4 project.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to PHASE 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) celebrated the close of Phase 3 with Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019. The MCU was a mind-boggling 20+ movies strong at that point with 11 being 90%+ on Rotten Tomatoes and 9 of them doing more than a billion in the global box office. Those were absolutely astounding numbers.

So, if you want to look at those past Phase 1-3 MCU movies, go here. We lay them out for you elegantly like a cheese and wine buffet.

But if you want to peer into the future at the MCU Phase 4 movies, keep reading. We break down every confirmed Marvel Phase 4 project. Warning, between COVID reshufflings and storylines that bounce back and forth from movies to Disney+ shows faster than a pickleball match, it’s a lot. In fact, it’s a slate so expansive that it takes a master’s degree and 15 years experience as an actuary to keep track of it. Consider this Marvel Phase 4 for Dummies.

The Complete Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Phase 4

WandaVision

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprised their roles as Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch and the Vision, respectively. MCU Cosmic Deity Kevin Feige described WandaVision as “half classic sitcom, half MCU spectacular.” Paul Bettany characterized it as “definitely the oddest of all the Marvel endeavors so far.”

The Dick Van Dyke Show was the inspiration for the show. It featured a look into the love story of Wanda and Vision, showing the couple cooking together, among other things, which sounds odd until you remember Vision being quite fond of paprika in Captain America: Civil War.

It was weird with a dark look at suburban life, while also being very funny and had breakout performances that spun off future MCU shows. The week-to-week release schedule captivated fans, who chattered incessantly about theories into the many mysteries of the show.

Showrunner: Matt Shakman
Writer: Jac Schaeffer

Disney+ Release Date: January-March 2021

Key Characters: Scarlett Witch, Vision, Monica Rambeau, Agatha Harkness, Jimmy Woo, Billy and Tommy, Ralph Boner, and Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis
Mid-Credit Scenes: Multiple: Monica Rambeau is surprised by Ralph Boner as she is snooping around, then she meets a Skull. Wanda is shown in a lonely valley hideaway with the Darkhold.

91% Fresh Tomatoes
434 million Minutes Streamed

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Several Disney+ limited series centered on supporting characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films will be debuted in Phase 4. The actors who portrayed the characters in the films reprised their roles for the Disney+ series and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige took a “hands-on role” in each series’ development, allowing “continuity of story” and characterization. Translation: television now interacts with the films.

Most series are 6 to 9 episodes each and have a budget of 25 million per episode. Don’t worry, Disney will make that back on action figure sales alone.

The Falcon and Winter Soldier picks up after Avengers: Endgame when Steve Rogers bequeathed his shield and the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson aka Falcon.

The series used the same writing team from John Wick and the series’ attempted a tone similar to that of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There is speculation that the series will pave the way for the future appearance of the Thunderbolts in the MCU.

Showrunner: Kari Skogland
Writer: Derek Kolstad, Michael Kastelein, Malcolm Spellman

Disney+ Release Date: March-April 2021

Key Characters: Falcon, Winter Soldier, Baron Zemo, Agent 13, US Agent, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Mid-Credit Scenes: Sharon Carter receives a pardon from the US government and the opportunity to return to her old CIA job.

83% Fresh Tomatoes
855 million Minutes Streamed

Black Widow

Black Widow is a well-known, fan-favorite character at this point. As a result, she got a solo film.

The movie follows the events of Captain America: Civil War. Black Widow is forced to confront a dangerous conspiracy trying to bring her down. But it hits close to home, as it deals with her history as a spy and her broken relationships long before she became an Avenger.

Alas, the movie was bedeviled with delays and release strategy adjustments due to COVID, but fans were finally able to enjoy it as theater / streaming hybrid experiment that raised the ire of star Scarlett Johansson.

Director: Cate Shortland
Writer: Eric Pearson

Theater Release Date: July 9, 2021

Key Characters: Black Widow, Taskmaster, Red Guardian, Yelena Belova
Mid-Credit Scenes: Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine recruits Yelena to kill Hawkeye.

79% Fresh Tomatoes
$380 million at the Box Office

Loki

Tom Hiddleston reprised his role as Loki from the MCU, picking up from the scene in Avengers: Endgame where he was able to sneak away with the Tesseract.

Marvel storytelling is pushing hard into timeline altercation and multiverses hijinks and shenanigans and Loki was big part in establishing those story ideas. WIth Marvel is leaning in hard on timeline and reality bending, Loki will further establish that trend in the MCU because a season 2 was announced at the conclusion of season 1.

Showrunner: Kate Herron
Writer: Michael Waldron

Disney+ Release Date: June-July 2021

Key Characters: Loki, Mobius M. Mobius, Ravonna, King the Conqueror, and a whole cast of alternative Lokis.
Mid-Credit Scenes: After having seemingly been “pruned” from the sacred timeline, Loki finds himself meeting four variants of himself.

92% Fresh Tomatoes
855 million Minutes Streamed

What If…?

What If…? was an animated series that ran for 9 episodes on Disney+ from August-October 2021 and featured alternative reality versions of major MCU characters and storylines. Since Phase 4 is expansive enough as it is, we will simply give a brief placement for animated series and not write them up in their entirely.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Marvel wasn’t able to secure the rights to the television show Kung-Fu in 1972. Spurned by that, they turned to a little known author and purchased the rights to Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu. Once those rights were secured, they inserted Shang-Chi as a forgotten son of Fu Manchu. In a classic hero’s journey fashion, Shang Chi discovers that his dad is evil, rebels and becomes a hero.

With several details retconned in order to make the story more agreeable to modern audiences, that was the story we saw in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

The movie was received well, featuring a more grounded first and second act, before the third act took a fantastical turn into Chinese mythology. Further, the kung-fu background elevated the action sequences to be among the best in the MCU, second to only Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Writer: David Callaham

Theater Release Date: September 3, 2021

Key Characters: Shang-Chi, Razor Fist
Mid-Credit Scenes: Two. First, Wong introduces Shang-Chi and Katy to Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers who are researching the origin of the Ten Rings and discover that the rings are acting as a beacon. In a post-credits scene, Xialing becomes the new leader of the Ten Rings, despite having told Shang-Chi that she would disband the organization.

91% Fresh Tomatoes
$432 million at the Box Office

The Eternals

The Eternals was a comic book series brought to life by comic book legend Jack Kirby, who was obsessed with creating an alternative creation-story mythos. (More on Kirby’s comic series here.)

The characters and comic was never highly regarded, nor popular, and even the typically sure-handed Neil Gaiman couldn’t produce an Eternals hit with a 2006 miniseries.

But the comics had an impressive array of characters, a near-immortal race who hid themselves in Mount Olympus. They were created by the cosmic Celestials, who goofed on their first try, initially creating a race of Deviants who hide beneath the sea.

It’s crazy comic book stuff, but the movie lineup was an absolute star-studded cast that featured Sersi heavily, the one Eternal who had a stint on the Avengers and was romantically tied to Black Knight, who also appears in the film.

Director: ChloĂ© Zhao
Writer: Kaz and Ryan Firpo

Theater Release Date: November 5, 2021

Key Characters: Sersi, Ikaris, Dane Whitman…uh, I kind of forget the others.
Mid-Credits Scenes: Two, and both are great. The first scene occurs mid-credits and features the Eternals meeting a very special new character and his companion. The second scene shows Dane Whitman, who hears a mysterious voice when he interacts with a mysterious sword.

47% Rotten Tomatoes
$402 million at the Box Office

Hawkeye

Hawkeye is a decades-long fan-favorite character in the comics and Kate Bishop is an extremely popular newer character from the comics. The Hawkeye series on Disney+ told the story of Jeremy Renner’s Haweye passing the mantle to Kate Bishop.

Fans had been clamoring for a little more Hawkeye in the MCU and the series delivered. And it was fun! The series was released while Eternals was still in theaters and it mercifully countered as a more light-hearted story than the self-serious Eternals.

Hawkeye featured dogs, bows and arrows, track suits, and Christmas trees. It featured both the high fun the MCU became known for as well as the engaging characters and storytelling. It squeezed in a few surprises as well.

Showrunner: Jonathan Igla
Writer: Jonathan Igla

Disney+ Release Date: November-December 2021

Key Characters: Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, Swordsman, Echo, Kingpin, Track Suit Mafia, Pizza Dog, Mockingbird, Yelena
Mid-Credits Scene: A 4 1/2 minute performance of Rogers: The Musical that was hit-or-miss with fans.

92% Fresh Tomatoes
852 million Minutes Streamed

Spider-Man: No Way Home

After Marvel and Sony’s on-again-off-again nonsense regarding the rights of Spider-Man, Tom Holland reprised his role as Spider-Man one more time in the MCU. While many of the above entries in Phase 4 of the MCU were decidedly mid, Spider-Man: No Way Home was an absolute banger, not just being an incredible movie on its own, but being among the best of the entire MCU.

Tom Holland has proven to be an incredibly wonderful Peter Parker, capable of great action in addition to heart-filled emotion and legit comedy. But he was then joined by some amazing friends in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the result of a multiversal storyline concept that emerged in Phase 4 of the MCU.

Big fans got the movie of a lifetime, while casual fans still got a wonderfully emotional and action-filled good time. If the movie was indeed Tom Holland’s farewell movie as Spider-Man, it was a heck of a way to go out.

Director: Jon Watts
Writer: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers

Theater Release Date: December 17, 2021

Key Characters: Doctor Stranger, MJ, Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man
Mid-Credits Scenes: The first featured a bickering Venom. The second was a trailer for the upcoming Doctor Strange movie.

93% Fresh Tomatoes
$1.9 billion at the Box Office

Moon Knight

Moon Knight took the MCU into unknown territory. Moon Knight was a series that featured a more supernatural bent for the MCU, pulling from Egyptian mythology.

It also featured a main character – Moon Knight, played by Oscar Issac – who suffers from dissociative identity disorder and maintains at least two distinct and enduring personality states that are both accompanied by memory gaps.

Issac’s acting was wonderful and the locales and cultures were interesting and engaging, but many viewers felt like it was a difficult show to follow, as it lacked the story accessibility that the MCU was once known for but has been stretched in phase 4.

Now viewers not only had to mentally keep track of multiple movies and shows worth of characters and storylines interacting, but Moon Knight then asked them to parse through a single character that shifted between personas and behaviors. Those who enjoyed it seemed to love it, while many others simply stopped watching mid-way through because they couldn’t track with it.

Showrunner: Mohamed Diab
Writer: Jeremy Slater

Disney+ Release Date: March-May 2022

Key Characters: The personalities of Moon Knight.
Mid-Credits Scene: Arthur Harrow is shown outside a mental facility where Khonshu reveals his new avatar is Jake Lockley, the mysterious third personality of Moon Knight.

86% Fresh Tomatoes
715 million Minutes Streamed

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

It had been a while since director Scott Derrickson first brought Doctor Strange to life in his initial solo movie. But fans then saw Doctor Strange appear throughout several more movies, appearing prominently in movies like Avengers: Infinity War in Phase 3.

Phase 4 brought in director Sam Raimi to direct Doctor Strange’s 2nd solo-billed superhero movie, more than a decade since Raimi helped establish the superhero genre with the first couple Spider-Man movies.

The movie had a horror tone and vibe to it. Scarlett Witch featured heavily in the movie – Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness – and it picked after after the events of WandaVision, which kicked off Phase 4. And, it’s right there in the title, Marvel leaned in heavily to multiversal storylines in Phase 4.

Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Michael Waldron

Theater Release Date: May 6, 2022

Key Characters: Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, America Chavez
Mid-Credit Scenes: Two, the first of which introduces Clea. The second is played for laughs. It’s a callback to Bruce Campbell’s cameo.

74% Fresh Tomatoes
$678 million at the Box Office

Ms. Marvel

Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel is less than a decade old as a comic book character, yet has become one of Marvel’s most popular, largely due to her youthful optimism. In the comic books, the young superhero can bend and “embiggen” herself like Reed Richards, but that power-set was remained for the Disney+ show.

Her comic book origin is an Inhuman but Marvel has had the darnedest time trying to get anyone to care about the Inhumans, either on TV or in the comics, so her origin story was reimagined as well, going so far as to dredging up Clan Destine, a cut deeper than than even the Eternals.

It was a darling show. What it lacked in action and adventure, it made up for with a sweetness that showcased Kamala’s family and friends. It was also a show that firmly fit the family-friendly history of Disney. Ms. Marvel was a show that was good for the entire family.

Director: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
Writer: Bisha K. Ali

Disney+ Release Date: June-July 2022

Key Characters: Ms. Marvel and her wonderful family and friends. The Department of Damage Control.
Mid-Credits Scenes: Bruno tells Kamala that her powers seem to come from her genes, which “are different, like a mutation.” The post credits stinger shows Kamala being swapped with Carol Danvers.

98% Fresh Tomatoes
249 million Minutes Streamed, as of 1st episode

Thor: Love and Thunder

We should pause here to note how many Phase 4 projects have been received with much less than 90% approval, which is unthinkable given the incredible critical and fan reception given to phases 1-3.

Thor: Ragnarok was equal parts one of the most emotionally gripping MCU movies, as well as the funniest. It was certainly the most metal. Taika Waititi followed that up with Love and Thunder, a movie that showcased Natalie Portman in the mantle of Thor, an iconic storyline from the comics.

Not everyone felt the movie was worthy. While Ragnarok was among the funniest Marvel movies, Love and Thunder was downright farcical. And those intensely doltish scenes often immediately juxtaposed with what was intended to be an emotional scene that unfortunately left viewers with an underwhelming feeling of whiplash.

Director: Taika Waititi
Writer: Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Theater Release Date: July 8, 2022

Key Characters: Thor, Lady Thor, Valkyrie
Mid-Credit Scenes: The first scene teased the long-standing comic rivalry between Thor and Hercules. The next showed Jane Foster being greeted by Heimdall at the banquet table of Valhalla.

66% Fresh Tomatoes
$664 million at the Box Office

She-Hulk: Attorney of Law

Director: Kat Coiro and Anu Valia
Writer: Jessica Gao

Disney+ Release Date: August-October 2022

Key Characters: She-Hulk, Hulk

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer: Ryan Coogler

Theater Release Date: November 11, 2022

Key Characters: Shuri, Nakia, Okoye, Namor

The post A Beginner’s Guide to PHASE 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
What Happens to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man After Spider-Man No Way Home https://nerdsonearth.com/2022/01/tom-holland-future-after-spider-man-no-way-home/ Mon, 10 Jan 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37899 Spider-Man_No_Way_Home_banner_001

After Spider-Man: No Way Home, where does Spider-Man's place in the MCU lie? We propose our theories for next steps!

The post What Happens to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man After Spider-Man No Way Home appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
Spider-Man_No_Way_Home_banner_001

If you haven’t seen Spider-Man: No Way Home, my question for you is, “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!” Firstly, why would you click on a Spider-verse speculation article without having seen the most epic Spider-Man movie of all time? Secondly, close this tab and go see the movie!

Now that we got that out of the way, the internet is buzzing with Spider-Man talk, and rightfully so! Spider-Man: No Way Home: WOW.

However, the question we’re pondering now is what is next for Spider-Man?!

Given the complicated rights issues involving Spider-Man, we know that Sony and Disney have been trying to figure out how to play nice with this golden goose that is the Tom Holland and Jon Watts Spider-Man offerings. But if you aren’t aware of the complicated intellectual property rights issues regarding Spider-Man, let me give you a quick bullet-point summary.

  • Marvel Comics went bankrupt in the 90s and sold off the movies rights of certain characters in order to remind financially solvent.
  • FOX bought X-Men and Fantastic Four. Sony bought Spider-Man and associated characters, including Venom, Morbius, etc.
  • Marvel scraped together enough money in 2008 to produce Iron Man, beginning the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) into existence, where it just kept gaining momentum.
  • Disney bought Marvel providing them with unlimited funds to produce whatever movie they want. Disney also bought FOX, meaning Marvel now regains the rights to their X-Men and Fantastic Four characters.
  • Meanwhile, Sony made the Tobey and Andrew Spider-Man movies, ultimately struggling to maintain the type of quality the MCU was becoming known for.
  • Marvel wanted to use Spider-Man in the MCU, so Sony began “lending” Marvel back their own comic book character in a deal that us mere mortals would need a lawyer as good as Matt Murdock to fully understand. But that Disney / Sony is what is allowing the Tom Holland Spider-Man to exist in the MCU, although it remains murky if Tom Holland will appear in Sony-produced projects like Venom or Morbius.

OK, back to business. These movies have worked on pretty much every level and No Way Home was an epic third movie, breaking the lofty financial and audience score benchmarks of even the first two Tom Holland Spider-Man movies.

This movie also opened the door, or portal as it were, to many possible future Spider-Man projects. So, from here on out this article is a pure speculation joy ride of the Spider-verse. So hop in!

More Andrew Garfield Spider-Man

In my opinion, Andrew Garfield really benefited from this crossover to redeem his version of Amazing Spider-Man. So much so that there are plenty of rumors swirling about finally getting that third Amazing Spider-Man offering.

Specifically, the mid credits scene opens up the possibility of an Amazing Spider-man and Venom crossover! So here is where we get wild and dig for clues: Do you remember that scene where the Spiderfolk were talking about craziest villains they faced, and Holland and McGuire talked about fighting aliens and Garfield says, “I wanna fight an alien.”

Yeah, like half of the internet, I’m running with that line to make a whole movie!

Honestly, I could barely make it through either of the first two Amazing Spider-Man movies. But after No Way Home, I would line up to see Andrew Garfield get one more chance on his own, especially if they could save two failing properties by making it the Amazing Spider-Man vs Venom.

What about a Miles Morales Spider-Man?

Okay, here is the real cream of the crop: What if Sony uses this also to launch Mile Morales!?

I’m not Matt Murdock, so I have no idea about contracts and property rights. I just know what rumors I like from the internet, and I like this one…A LOT! Remember that scene when Jamie Foxx was like, “I just thought Spider-Man might be black, you know?” Yeah, we are running with that line to launch a whole property!

I can’t imagine Sony isn’t already working on how to capitalize on the success of No Way Home and the hope is maybe this can work out well for all corporations so that we, the people, can get more Spiderfolk. If Sony can give Garfield a final movie, but then hand it off to Morales, maybe, just maybe it will open the possibility for Holland’s Spider-Man to be a mainstay in the Disney MCU. A guy can dream, right?

Holland is essentially an actor in a role that is perfect to build your next wave of Avengers around. While I grew up in the decades that make Tobey my Spider-Man, Holland is clearly the best on-screen Spider-Man of all time and he is just so darn likeable!

While Wave 4 is showing some promise with characters like Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop, Disney needs to replace the gaping holes left by Iron Man and Captain America as the leaders of the Avengers. I think Holland’s Spider-Man and Anthony Mackie as Captain Sam Wilson can replace these two as the leadership of the Avengers. Add in Kate Bishop and Yelena essentially taking the roles of Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov and the team is starting to round out. Gosh, as an aside, can we talk about how good the Disney+ show Hawkeye was? No, no, we don’t have time right now, but it was so very, very good!

I know it is probably a fool’s errand to hope that Sony and Disney can play nice and make all my fanboy dreams come true, but gosh, what if… right? What we need is a bunch of wealthy powerful execs to get in a room and find a mutually beneficial deal for everyone to be satisfied with their cut to make this happen, how hard can that be?

The one thing you won’t read here is any sort of Tobey McGuire / Sam Raimi reboot, because I think that whole era is finally closed. And it was a good run!

One thing missing from this potential Spider-Verse on the live action screen is Spider Gwen. However, might want to keep that in the back pocket for right now.

What do you all think, what are some likely things we can see if the Spider-Verse going forward?

The post What Happens to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man After Spider-Man No Way Home appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
Spider-Man: No Way Home Finishes the Trilogy We Needed https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/12/spider-man-no-way-home-finishes-the-trilogy-we-needed/ Mon, 20 Dec 2021 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37746 Spider-Man_No_Way_Home_banner_001

Nerds on Earth reviews Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The post Spider-Man: No Way Home Finishes the Trilogy We Needed appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
Spider-Man_No_Way_Home_banner_001

Tom Holland returns in the third MCU Spider-Man movie, and his first of the shows in Phase 4, with Spider-Man: No Way Home. I want to break down my thoughts on the film, which does a wonderful job of addressing the perceived missteps of the latest Spider-Man reboot. As such, there will be spoilers below. So, just as a big warning:

?? SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME SPOILERS BELOW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ??

Now that we have that out of the way, Spider-Man No Way Home ended up being exactly what everyone expected: a Spidey reunion of Spider-Mans across the multi-verse, teaming up against the Sinister Six. Well, the Sinister Five if you want to get technical.

In our previous Spider-Man movie article, where we discussed the finer points of Spider-Man: Far From Home, one of the last points we mentioned was that if Sony had made its own Sinister Six movie, it wouldn’t have been nearly as well-received as the Mysterio-laden action-packed MCU film that we were blessed with in 2019. They were right to combine with the creative production of Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Jon Watts, and more.

One of the past grievances of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies is that they lacked that galvanizing moment of tragic loss. In Tobey Maguire’s origin story, we had the loss of Uncle Ben. The same goes for Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man. But so far with Tom Holland, we hadn’t seen any of that loss directly.

A core aspect of Spider-Man’s character is the whole great power, great responsibility schtick. You could certainly argue that Tony Stark served as Spider-Man’s father-figure, but the tone of the movies never really lent themselves to capitalize much on that loss. They’ve been fun. They’ve been cheeky. They’ve shown the more positive aspects of Spider-Man’s character that we all know and love.

But, as it turns out, the MCU has been playing the long-con. Instead of rehashing the origin story of Peter Parker in a single movie (for the third time in two decades), they’ve been giving us an origin trilogy with the loss of Aunt May. And, naturally, she gives Peter the iconic responsibility line to boot.

It certainly marks a turn in the tone for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, as he was suddenly filled with rage and vengeance over Norman Osborne’s actions. We saw a completely new side of Spider-Man, a darker side, especially in those final moments on the Statue of Liberty’s broken shield. And now that the world has forgotten he is Spider-Man, how will Peter Parker handle the isolation that comes with everyone you hold dear forgetting him completely?

We easily could have seen MJ or Ned take the fall and serve as Peter’s catalyst, but they went with Aunt May. In the end, though, the memory spell ended up taking all three of them, and more.

Tom Holland as Spider-Man in No Way Home
“Do it.”

Another bonus of Spider-Man: No Way Home is how fast-paced the action is. Within the first half hour, Doctor Strange is casting the spell and setting up the action that follows. Inside of the first hour, we’ve become reacquainted with Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro, and Lizard. And then it’s onto the other Spider-Men. Spider-Mans? I don’t know how the plurals work here.

The point is that the story was constantly moving and snowballing, keeping us on the edge of our seats. Even the Matt Murdock Daredevil cameo was unexpectedly exciting! How great is it that ( ?? HAWKEYE SPOILER INCOMING ??) in the SAME WEEK we got to see the reveal of Vincent D’Onofrio reprising his role as Kingpin in the Hawkeye series, AND we get to see Charlie Cox in Spider-Man: No Way Home?! Such fantastic planning!

What I really enjoyed about the movie is that Spider-Man: No Way Home wasn’t about Spider-Man fighting villains. It was about him doing what he has always tried his best to do: Save them. Spider-Man is a selfless hero, constantly putting himself into harm’s way to protect the ones that he holds dear. Even if that means protecting his enemies from other universes. It’s something that Aunt May understands, and we get that final reminder from her as Peter and Happy visited her gravestone.

Spider-Man and Doctor Strange casting a spell.
Casting the spell happens so early into the movie!

Third, it’s important to note that Spider-Man: No Way Home isn’t a movie filled with cameos. The reprisals and roles of this movie were full-blown master classes in acting. Alfred Molina’s reaction when Peter inserts in the new chip was incredible, as was the full-blown psychological madness of the Green Goblin wrestling control over Willem Dafoe.

In the first half, we get so much fan-service that I could hardly keep up with it. From classic lines like Osborne’s, “I’m something of a scientist myself”, to the introduction of Garfield and Maguire, my theater was hopping! It really followed suit with the tone of the previous two Spider-Man films.

But everytime Dafoe, Molina, or Jamie Foxx took the stage, they absolutely nailed it. Some might go so far as to say that they stole the show! It was almost as if the writers took off the training wheels and let the actors thrive in their roles the ways that they envisioned the character. After so many years, it was as if nobody even missed a step.

A final point about the villains: I really, REALLY wanted a Spider-Man Sinister Six movie, and I’m happy for what I received. We still got the awesome fight sequences of Spider-Man managing a battle on multiple fronts, but he did it with two more of his Spidey friends. That gave us the web-slinging, high-flying action that makes Spider-Man movies such a joy to watch.

I’ve heard remarks that J. Jonah Jameson served as the de facto sixth member of the Sinister Six, thanks to his role in sweeping the general public into the anti-Spider-Man hype. Although, doesn’t that kind of make Mysterio the indirect sixth member? After all, he was the one who publicly announced Spider-Man’s identity to the entire world. Jameson just ran with it.

The other obvious choice for the sixth man was Venom. The mid-credits scene with Tom Hardy gave us that nugget, but I’m not convinced that the Venom in that universe really has any beef with Spider-Man yet. However, it does set us up with future symbiote hijinx in future flicks.

And so where does this leave Spider-Man and his role in the MCU? The world knows Spider-Man, and his role in saving the universe isn’t suddenly removed from the sacred timeline. But Peter Parker is now alone, starting from scratch, watching his friends keep living life with the relative safety of not knowing he is Spider-Man.

It’s a terribly sad burden and sacrifice for Peter to make. He’s just a kid, and yet he gave up everything so that he could protect the people that he holds dear. It’s heartbreaking. He no longer has to juggle two lives, now he is just Spider-Man, regardless of what his coffee cup might say.

I highly recommend checking out Spider-Man: No Way Home. It puts a firm bit of punctuation on Tom Holland’s Spider-Man origin trilogy, and expands our insight into Peter Parker’s emotions in a brand new way. It’s a worthy addition to the Spider-Man lineup, and to the MCU as a whole.

Broken Green Goblin mask from Spider-Man No Way Home
The Green Goblin never truly leaves…

The post Spider-Man: No Way Home Finishes the Trilogy We Needed appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
A Rundown of the 7 Best Alien Invasion Films of All Time https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/10/a-rundown-of-the-7-best-alien-invasion-films-of-all-time/ Fri, 22 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37122

Nerds on Earth runs down the 7 Best Alien Invasion movies of all time.

The post A Rundown of the 7 Best Alien Invasion Films of All Time appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

We make lists of 7 here at Nerds on Earth. Here’s another:

The 7 Best Alien Invasion Films

Signs 

Signs is a great movie. Sure, the third act of this movie was a little hokey in how conveniently all the story threads were woven together to manufacture a forced M. Night Shamalamalamaalon shock. But darned if it didn’t work anyway.

And the movie was beautifully shot and built incredible tension throughout. Plus, it was wonderfully acted, featuring a pre-crazy Mel Gibson.

But the greatest strength of the movie in my opinion was that–despite featuring a global alien invasion–it was a small and personal movie, focusing on a single family.

Attack the Block 

While this British independent movie might fly under the radar, it really shouldn’t. It’s another “small” movie, in that it focuses on a single city block and what happens when aliens attack it.

It’s a character movie, featuring a young John Boyega and a pre-Doctor Who Jodie Whittaker.  Whittaker is a young nurse who is mugged by a Bodega-led group of hoodlums, yet they all band together to fight back against aliens.

And it’s wonderful!

War of the Worlds 

This is a movie that has to be thought about in its proper cinematic context. It began as a HG Wells novel, then was converted into an Orson Welles radio drama that created literal hysteria in 1938, as many listeners were convinced it was real and that aliens indeed were invading.

And although there have been five movie adaptions, including one in 2005 that was directed by Steven Speilberg and starred Tom Cruise, it is the 1953 film that makes this list. Sometimes it’s important to respect your elders, nerds, and the 1953 War of the Worlds is a legitimate treasure.

Independence Day 

Good bless Will Smith, who has saved planet Earth time and time again. Yet, Independence Day might be his most heroic effort of them all. I mean, here is the official movie synopsis: “The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind’s best weapon is the will to survive.”

The movie is Will Smith at his most charismatic and it features legitimately thrilling entertainment and the kind of chest-thumping lines that actually work. It’s the kind of movie that is enjoyable any time you watch it.

The Thing

This 1982 John Carpenter film that starred Kurt Russell and Wilfred Brimley is undoubtedly the scariest movie on this list. And it was panned upon release, as critics responded poorly when comparing it to films like E.T., which presented optimistic portrayals of aliens.

But The Thing just kept on coming. It gained a cult following and over the years has been reappraised, now being seen as not just a highlight of the horror genre, but one of the best alien invasion films ever created.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind 

This is a masterpiece of a movie and a perfect example of Steven Spielberg and so many now geriatric actors who were then in their primes, at their best. Let’s take a moment to acknowledge that in less than a decade’s time, Spielberg directed Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T., any of which would be the singular best film of any other director’s career.

And while Close Encounters of the Third Kind may not have had the commercial success as those other films, it is an absolutely brilliant movie. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, it does a story of an alien encounter that wasn’t matched until decades later with the recent release of Arrival, starring Amy Adams.

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial 

Listen, I still cry at this movie. While it might not have the lasers, fighter jets, and theatrics of the other movies, it’s the most humane alien film ever made. It’s a story of family and friendship and if you don’t cry during this movie, your heart might not be wired up right.

Plus, it established Reese’s Pieces as a candy of choice for millions of Americans.


Hollywood has produced a shocking amount of “alien invasion” films and honestly, I’m there for just about all of them. A good twenty films were considered for this list and, although it’s hardly considered a deep genre, it really is remarkable how many of these films are very much a part of the American fabric.

Plus, new ones keep bursting out of hyperspace onto the scene. Think about it, Avengers: Infinity War could be considered an alien invasion film!

The post A Rundown of the 7 Best Alien Invasion Films of All Time appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
A Very Brief and Entirely Spoiler-Free Review of Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/09/spoiler-free-shang-chi-review/ Sat, 04 Sep 2021 13:44:33 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=36777

Nerds on Earth provides a very brief and entirely spoiler-free review of Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings.

The post A Very Brief and Entirely Spoiler-Free Review of Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

I hate reviews that beat around the bush, so let’s start this with one word: Wow. That sums up my feelings around Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings.

And I won’t elaborate much more than that because I want to keep this entirely spoiler free, not because I don’t have bunches to say – I do – but but because COVID concerns continue to create hesitation around going to theaters, and many folks are preferring to wait out the 45 day release window where they can catch the movie on Disney+. And while I doubt people will be able to avoid spoilers entirely for 45 days, I want to do my part.

A Very Brief and Entirely Spoiler-Free Review of Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi is a movie that blends genres and styles beautifully. The trailers showed us that the movie would juxtapose modern sensibilities while also containing sequences that had a magical flavor. The word “legend” appears in the sub-title, after all, so a viewer would go in expecting a story that shows tales of legend. The movie delivers.

Shang-Chi does this by tapping into Chinese mythology. This is an area where I am no means an expert, so all I can say is that I really liked. Plus, I will add that a lot of intention was taken to treat the Chinese mythological elements with care, from the director down through the casting.

Those elements juxtapose with the modern elements. The area where this is most visceral is in the fight choreography. I don’t think it is hyperbolic to say that Shang-Chi has some of the best fight sequences in all of the MCU. I saw the movie with my 13-year-old daughter and we came out of the theater trying to rank our favorite fight scenes. We finally decided that several of them tied for first place!

But even though the fight sequences are all rooted in martial arts choreography, obviously, there are distinctly different styles present. One incredible sequence felt like poetry. It was fluid and graceful, the whole sequence appearing on the screen as art. And it really was beautiful.

Other fight sequences, such as the two major one teased in the trailers, exhibited a strong Jackie Chan vibe and I can’t imagine a human alive that will be disappointed with them. They were vivid, clear, action-packed, and incredibly entertaining. Overall, Shang-Chi gets a rousing A+ in terms of entertaining fight sequences for a kung-fu movie and anyone that says otherwise is just trying to grab attention by being cranky on the internet.

A Very Brief and Entirely Spoiler-Free Review of Shang-Chi

Again, there is so much I want to say but I don’t want to spoil any specifics whatsoever, so I’ll close this with some really vague bullet points:

  • Shang-Chi operates largely independently. It acknowledges its place in the MCU via cameos and callbacks but doesn’t get stuck there. This is another place where it is A+ work and the future of the MCU looks incredibly bright.
  • But one character callback in particular is an absolute delight. I’m not giving even a hint here.
  • The musical score is excellent and supports well how the movie blends tones.
  • There is one character that makes you want to shout, “Taser Face!”
  • The theater enthusiastically clapped when the film ended. Everyone was delighted, happy, and satisfied.
  • It is a very Marvel movie in that it effortlessly includes humor and action, while exploring family themes. Like most Marvel movies, there are daddy issues, plus Shang-Chi adds an additional layer of, “What does it mean to live up to my potential?”
  • There are two credits sequences. I know you know to stick around at this point, but I’m just saying.

The post A Very Brief and Entirely Spoiler-Free Review of Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
What is Marvel’s “What If…”? https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/08/what-is-marvels-what-if/ Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=36705

Nerds on Earth answers what is What if.

The post What is Marvel’s “What If…”? appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

Back in its heyday, Marvel Comics worked really hard at trying to create a continuity that worked and made sense. Today, we talk about that part of the Marvel universe has being the Marvel 616 Universe. But why is that designation even necessary? In part because of one of the fun books that Marvel used to publish back in the day: “What if…?

A classic What If look at what would have happened if Cap hadn’t gone missing…

In 1977, Marvel started to give creators the chance to play around with its history and change up its stories. It was smart for a variety of reasons. For one, it let creative people have a chance to really stretch the boundaries of its comic book world but without the danger of really messing up its carefully connected and choreographed universe.

Plus the one-shot format meant that talented folks from other arenas could come in and do one of these alternate reality books or they could let hot new promising talents test drive the characters in pursuit of their one crazy idea.

And boy howdy people out there had some interesting ideas about what and how to use the opportunity. Some of the ideas just are good for character studies. Like for instance, what it the Fantastic Four still got the powers but they were redistributed in a different way. It is a fun way to look at what makes characters tick.

Some of them hit harder than others though. For instance, the What If…? where the loss that triggers Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man isn’t of his Uncle Ben, but rather of his Aunt May.

A What if…? issue that is popular right now is What if Jane Foster had taken up Thor’s hammer. Whereas that was an alternative tale from a 70s comic, we now know that a modern day canon Thor comic picked up that idea and now the idea will appear in an upcoming movie.

Ultimately, the title was a fun way to twist parts of the Marvel Universe on its head and see what tumbles out. What if Punisher became an Agent of SHIELD? What if Captain America didn’t vanish during World War 2? What if Wolverine had killed the Hulk? (Because Wolverine began as a minor character to a Hulk plot before he joined up as an X-Man.)

Now, cut to the current Marvel Cinematic Universe. They now have built for themselves quite a bit of a continuity, even playing with its edges with their time traveling shenanigans in Avengers: Endgame and that doesn’t even mention the wild ride of the multiverse that WandaVision and Loki shows set-up. But it is time to see “What If…” again.

So this week will give us our first episode of the animated Disney+ show: What If…?

Now, understandably, Marvel is keeping a lot of details a secret as to now ruin the whole series but we do know some things.

  1. First, a great deal of the MCU actors are returning to do their voices for the animated series, which I think is a great call.
  2. Two, every episode seems to be self contained.
  3. Three, these stories will stretch across the MCU. Episode one is centered on the idea that “What if Peggy Carter had taken the Super-Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers?” Episode two is centered around the idea that “What if The Black Panther had been taken by Yondu instead of Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord.)”

What other stories do you hope this season of “What if…?” do you hope they tackle?

The post What is Marvel’s “What If…”? appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>
The Summer SCORESCOPE: Musical Morsels For Your #HotVaxSummer https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/07/the-summer-scorescope-musical-morsels-for-your-hotvaxsummer/ Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=36397

“Summertime and the livin’ is easy…” These immortal words open George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, but hopefully they encapsulate this season’s happy feelings for you, too. Summer is the perfect time for trying new hobbies, catching the latest blockbuster at your newly-reopened theater, or immersing yourself in new musical soundscapes.  To help build the perfect […]

The post The Summer SCORESCOPE: Musical Morsels For Your #HotVaxSummer appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>

“Summertime and the livin’ is easy…” These immortal words open George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, but hopefully they encapsulate this season’s happy feelings for you, too. Summer is the perfect time for trying new hobbies, catching the latest blockbuster at your newly-reopened theater, or immersing yourself in new musical soundscapes. 

To help build the perfect summer playlist, we have a special SCORESCOPE full of movie and video game soundtrack recommendations. Our SCORESCOPES usually take a deep dive into one movie or game’s soundtrack, but this edition contains five bite-size suggestions for tunes to accompany that easy summertime livin’.

Avengers: Endgame by Alan Silvestri

Many of Marvel’s movies are panned for their bland, forgettable scores. (Don’t believe me? Try to hum one piece of music from Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor: Ragnarok that isn’t a licensed song.) But the House of Stan Lee got it right when they hired famed composer Alan Silvestri.

The Back to the Future composer brings a much-needed emotional core to Infinity War and Endgame. By giving major characters their own musical styles (Thor’s bumbling, jazzy take on the main theme is a particular delight) and busting eardrums with thunderous percussion for battle scenes, Silvestri’s soundtrack can make you smile, pump your fist, or tear up in the span of a few minutes.

Luca by Dan Romer

Pixar’s latest film is a modest masterpiece, a movie about friends and summer and growing up a little. It’s the kind of film that deserves a theatrical release, if only so Dan Romer’s score reaches the broadest possible audience. The short pieces are bite-sized extensions of the movie’s bright sunshiny palette and incorporate traditional Italian guitar, mandolin, and accordion in a naturalistic manner.

Romer’s theme for the titular character soars like Luca’s fantasies, with whistling lead melody that evokes nostalgia without becoming maudlin. The movie also contains a ton of classic Italian pop standards that go well with any beach-based summertime activities. As they’d say in the movie, Pronti, partenza, via!

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim by Jeremy Soule

Skyrim has been ported to every piece of technology under the sun in the decade since it came out. Part of its universal appeal is the atmosphere conjured by Jeremy Soule’s outstanding score. Thanks to the stirring, often understated music, tromping across the vastness of northern Tamriel becomes zen for the arrow-kneed adventurer in us all.

Soule composed a number of situational pieces, meaning you play a role in selecting the music you hear as you battle giants, wander the tundra, or sneak past draugr. The location-based pieces are lovely too, evoking specific places that fans can still recall ten years later. This soundtrack is a must if you need a way to chill the summer heat. 

Little Women by Alexandre Desplat 

I’ve devoted a SCORESCOPE to Alexandre Desplat’s gorgeous Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows score, but the prolific Frenchman deserves a second helping of love for his soundtrack to 2019’s Little Women. Director Greta Gerwig told Rolling Stonethat “Alexandre’s music is beautiful…but not saccharine”, succinctly describing the score but also the film’s tone.

Desplat’s score often combines the rhythmic flow of a waltz with precise melodies, a mixture that matches the warm affection hiding under the straight-laced, sometimes dour imagery of 1860s New England. Curl up with a good book on a rainy afternoon this summer and press play on this score—you won’t regret it.

Celeste by Lena Raine

The best games are enhanced by incredible soundtracks, and Celeste’s memorable story and gameplay are bolstered by Lena Raine’s energetic score. With 21 pieces of music, Raine has a lot of room to stretch her wings. She weaves a core melodic line for Madeline, the game’s main character, through the game’s music. By shifting components of the melody—shifting a note up a half step here, dropping it from a major key to a minor one there—and combining it with a whole spectrum of chiptune stylings, Raine turns what could have been a one-trick soundtrack into one that’s perfect for your workout playlist.

The post The Summer SCORESCOPE: Musical Morsels For Your #HotVaxSummer appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

]]>