Captain Marvel Review: Somewhat Higher, Further, Faster Baby!

Presented by Gerald Glassford of Pop Culture Cosmos

2019 has not gotten off to the greatest of starts when it comes to box office returns but that is about to change with a needed jolt from Disney as Captain Marvel takes to the skies this weekend in the 21st entry of the highly successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many pundits, journalists and "YouTubers" will be paying close attention to how the film performs with audiences while others will be trying to dissect every frame and scavenge for every easter egg they can find that will provide any clue as to what might go on in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. For many fans, however, this latest release into the superhero genre comes with a lot of anticipation, excitement, and promise but it also arrives with some uncertainty and controversy as well. (We'll try to keep it here in this feature as spoiler-free as possible.)

 

Who is this version of Captain Marvel coming to theaters?

 

As Marvel has done quite often in its cinematic universe, they have taken some liberties with the backstory of Captain Marvel's origin from the comic books. Without trying to give too much away in spoilers, the movie is set in the 1990s as Carol Danvers (played by Academy Award-winner Brie Larson), an officer in the United States Air Force, accidentally becomes exposed to a powerful force that unleashes her unique abilities and has her transported far away from Earth becoming part of an elite space force tasked to defend the Kree homeworld against their bitter rivals the Skrulls while leaving her with virtually no memory of her past.

 

The battle between the two races extends itself back to Earth as Captain Marvel's return to the planet jogs up some of those memories and also brings about the Skrull's true intent as their evil plans begin to take shape. Danvers in the comics has origins dating back to as far as 1968 with an appearance in Marvel Superheroes Issue #13 in a supporting role to Captain Marvel and also extensively as Ms. Marvel. The reimagining of her character and her assuming the mantle of Captain Marvel takes place in 2012 with a series of comics penned by Kelly Sue DeConnick that helped provide some of the foundations behind the upcoming film.

 

Why is she coming now?

 

An origin story at this point in time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe may seem out of place with the turbulent times many of our heroes are now facing, but the movie serves as a dual response to what Marvel has planned for now and what they may have up their sleeves for down the road. Flashback to last year's hit Avengers: Infinity War and if you stayed long enough for Marvel's now infamous end credit scene (SPOILERS!) Nick Fury, with his last action before succumbing to the "snap" from Thanos that wiped out half of all life in the universe, set off what looks like a long-range beeper intending to signal a call for help to Captain Marvel to return and once again save the day.

 

Carol Danvers' impending return after the events of Captain Marvel, which will presumably be in Endgame, gives her the opportunity to play a key role in a possible rematch with Thanos. What the film will also do is provide the groundwork for what is to come in the next phase of movies for Marvel, with Captain Marvel likely at the forefront of much of what will be going on within the next five to ten years worth of movies. While this comes to the delight for many, Captain Marvel doesn't arrive onto screens without some controversy and some pushback from a segment of the audience that is determined to undermine the success of the film.

 

Why is there a backlash to the Captain Marvel movie?

 

Having a woman being at the forefront of a superhero movie is not something new (see 2017's summer hit Wonder Woman and if you go even further the disappointments in Elektra and Catwoman to see it has come with mixed results), but it is still a first for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that fact alone irked some who only envision females in a supporting or sideline role. Compounding this further were comments made by Larson herself in 2018 calling for more diversity among the entertainment media which only infuriated conservative groups to the point where calling out for the movie's failure, boycotts and review-bombing movie aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic gave an unfortunate platform for those carrying a misogynistic or racial bias.

 

What is the general reaction to the film?

 

It's almost impossible to get a clear picture at this point of how the general movie-going audience feels about the film. And even though many of the sites involved with the pre-opening review bombs have taken measures to rebalance their user scores it looks as if there are still more subtle, calculated efforts being made to not give the movie an accurate reflection or value that can be wholly trusted or believed.

 

Film critics have weighed in with their own observations when it comes to Captain Marvel and as of this writing, it appears the aggregate average on Metacritic is 65 with 79% of the scores being at least somewhat positive giving it that much-desired "fresh" rating. If one were to look at the scores and try to find any consistency the best that can be said is "good luck" because the reviews for the movie are all over the place and after watching it personally I can attest to why there is such a broad opinion of the film and why its long term prospects may be harder to gauge.

 

So what did I think of the film?

 

Captain Marvel has some many varying opinions because the film is very uneven in what it is trying to deliver to its audience. Directed by Anna Borden and Ryan Fleck (who have collaborated regularly, including 2010's It's Kind of a Funny Story and 2015's Mississippi Grind), the movie has some highs when it comes to establishing its relationships and conveying its humor. Other times it seems a bit incomplete with its scene placement and timeline logic, underwhelming battles and plot loopholes the film fully doesn't get itself around and its double twist the audience can see coming a mile away. As a movie, Captain Marvel works best when it sticks to the tried and true Marvel paint-by-numbers formula which it does just enough to be a satisfying experience.

 

The question that arises the most when it comes to the film undoubtedly centers around its main character and whether or not Brie Larson could handle such an important role for Marvel. Well, fear not on that end as Larson portrays Captain Marvel with a style and a brash sense of bravado not seen from a first-time Marvel superhero since Robert Downey Jr. stepped in to fill the shoes of Tony Stark in Iron Man. This gargantuan-sized chip on her shoulder serves her well for most of the film, with only a scene or two where a sense of vulnerability is needed she cannot fully convey with the audience because the story and direction didn't flesh out the support that was needed to get the job done.

 

The on-screen chemistry that she forms with S.H.I.E.L.D agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and her former best friend Maria "Photon" Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) prove to move the film forward effectively even through some varied rough patches and story plot holes. Jackson does a brilliant job on screen once again showing a side of Nick Fury audiences have never seen (and I'm not talking just about the computer graphical aka C.G. de-aging which I will speak of here in a bit). This version of Fury is decidedly upbeat, personal and much less jaded with Jackson realizing it wasn't just a "facelift" that was needed to effectively portray the future Avengers founder as he saw the world in the mid 1990s before his world (and all of ours watching the MCU) got turned around in all sorts of directions with the dawn of the modern Marvel superhero era.

 

When I first heard Mendelsohn was involved in the film playing Talos, leader of the Skrulls race and mortal enemy of the Kree I did say to myself "oh he's playing a villain once again...yay". But as the story progresses his delight in the role seems clearly evident and he takes the opportunity to embrace it with a reverence I would like to have seen in his previous performances in Ready Player One and Star Wars: Rogue One. Jude Law finds his way onto another potential blockbuster film as Yon-Rogg, leader of the Star Force, a team gathered together to protect the Kree homeworld against the Skrulls and also as a mentor to Danvers herself.

 

In addition another big Hollywood name in the mix, Annette Bening steps into the role as the Kree Supreme Intelligence that connects with Danvers telepathically to communicate the importance of the Kree's battle against the Skrulls. Although it will not go down as one of the highlights of their careers, Law and Bening do an effective enough job as a part-teacher, part-antagonist to understand what they are trying to get her to learn and what their true guidance and motivations for the film and Captain Marvel truly are.

 

Lashana Lynch acquits herself well in the role of Rambeau, to the point where the audience should be looking forward to what Marvel may have in store for her next. Unfortunately not everyone in the movie gets a fair shake like everyone else in the Star Force is treated as an afterthought with no depth to their characters and an opportunity for a potential strong connection to Guardians of the Galaxy is wasted with minimal usage of familiar faces in Korath (the usually brilliant Djimon Hounsou) and Ronan The Accuser (Lee Pace, who acts more like Lee Pace The Accuser than Ronan with his brief joyless performance which was the exact opposite of his fun turn in GotG).

 

Lest we forget Clark Gregg's return to the MCU as Agent Coulson, fresh out of the academy and unfortunately also all-too-brief performance in the film. It might at least have you catching up on all those Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes you never watched. While the CG de-aging given Jackson's Nick Fury was certifiably incredible and the best ever done to this point in cinema due to continued flawless look they created for him even with the amount of screen time he has in the film, for Gregg and his twenty years younger Coulson however the same cannot be said as his facial results seemed to be a hit or miss depending on if it was a closeup to the camera or any other length away.

 

When all is said and done, Captain Marvel should not be considered as one of the best (or worst) entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the movie gets let down in its structure and narrative, the powers that be were smart enough in allowing this to be more of a performance-driven film than something of a spectacle like we've seen with the most recent entries from Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War. Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Lashana Lynch and Ben Mendelsohn carry the film to a desired enough conclusion that I believe will have us wanting to see what Captain Marvel is up to in the future, whether it be Avengers: Endgame or in the years to come with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

7.2 Out of 10

An Interview With Pop Culture Cosmos

Pop Culture Cosmos, the maker of podcasts in all realms of the entertainment industry, was kind enough to allow us to interview them. This is a pivotal time for them, as they have now launched the brand-new popculturecosmos.com. Make sure to visit their new site and read their content/listen to their podcasts at any time.

Q: When did you first get the idea for Pop Culture Cosmos?
A: When I look more retrospectively into it, I guess I've been fascinated by the influences that pop culture has had on our society within recent years. It's possible it may stem from its iconic entertainment outlets and foundations created and developed in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Or it could be how many these pop culture elements have captured our imagination today as our technology and desire to broaden our horizons continue to shape the way we perceive elements of our society now or what we would like them to be in the future. Either way pop culture has time and again been a resource for conversation and further investigation for myself and others as we try to decipher what makes many of these elements connect (or do not connect) with audiences and how that will set up a future for many of these entertainment intellectual properties.

At the tail end of our first run with the Game Source Podcasts, I started doing shows with my fellow National University Alum Josh Pederson where our shows started to become much less contained within the video game space. And as I was doing them, I started to bounce off of Josh if we could together craft a show where it had no boundaries on what aspects of pop culture we could talk about and try to find as many outlets as we could that would want to hear it. After speaking with Josh, I sat down with my friend (Nintendo Quest and Missing Mom Director) Rob McCallum who had been a frequent guest and approached him on the prospect of marketing something like this to not only a podcast but a family-friendly form that I believed would eventually reach a wider audience. After describing how to vast we wanted the subjects to be, he came up with the name and dare I say the rest is internet history.

Q: You seem to retweet some material on Twitter. Do you have any criteria as to what you decide to retweet?

One of the first goals of Game Source was to try and get our audience up to speed on the latest news and information on the video game scene. At first, we would write the articles ourselves but in this fast-paced "gotta have it now" world we live in I found it easier to share a great deal of the information off of reputable news organizations and give the audience an idea of items in the video game space they would or should care about. As Game Source has continued on social media due to its large amount of followers and additionally added Pop Culture Cosmos the same concepts apply when searching out for informative, interesting and entertaining ideas to report on. While I do try to share the latest news and information I also try to look for and enlighten our followers with items that deal with the business and analytical side of these pop culture items and trends as well to emphasize what impact they might have on our audience. What I share to social media also has given me the basis for much of the material I need to research and investigate in order to provide our listeners with a better product when it comes to our podcasts. I think it has made for a good blend over the years with whomever I'm on these shows with as it provides an interesting look from not only a fan's perspective of the here and now but someone talking about the possible future of whatever pop culture topic we are speaking about.

Q: What was the first podcast series you made? Why did you decide to expand past that format?

Since 2007, I have been heavily involved with the video game marketplace to the point where the idea of committing to creating a service devoted to providing information on the gaming scene became a reality and Game Source, our original format was born. In 2009, we started creating regular podcasts devoted to video game information and opinion which became a success in its own right with regular contributors and a volunteer staff that grew at one time into the twenties. But as someone who has lived through so much of what has become our popular culture, I like so many others found myself regularly in life talking about what was going on with Star Wars, Marvel, Television, Sports, Science Fiction, Collectibles, E-Sports, Consumer Electronics and other items along with video games that eventually these  general conversations found their way into our Game Source Podcasts (tinyurl.com/yc2ub2zg). About one hundred plus episodes in (and over a hundred more side podcasts) it seemed inevitable to start thinking about how we could grow as podcasters and journalists and start evolving more of the aspects of pop culture we like to talk about in daily life into our shows.

The only sad part was when Pop Culture Cosmos was starting to get noticed and I made the decision to leave many aspects of Game Source behind (i.e. the podcasts, website, etc.) that was a decision that many great people I was working alongside disagreed with. I truly miss hearing their outstanding thoughts or reading and seeing the tremendous contributions they would make because of their devout love for the video game genre. But it's not like we just stopped talking about video games because we still devote a great deal of time to them on our programs. And while the complexities and time consumption of life and family have taken some into a new direction, for others I would imagine since our focus is not 100% video game-centric they decided to move on to other challenges which I have the utmost respect and wish them well on. One of the most gratifying parts of my last ten years doing this is meeting so many great people and watching them volunteer to be a part of and contribute to either Game Source then or Pop Culture Cosmos now has been an awesome experience and I will forever be grateful for their time and effort.

Upon looking back and also reflecting with Josh, we still feel that this was the best decision we could make with the direction of Pop Culture Cosmos. Josh and I still can devote time to video game focused podcasts but our work with the PCC has given us a great opportunity to meet and interview a wide amount of awesome people from all walks of life (including the great folks at the TVRG) from all around the world we probably would not have if we just had concentrated on one particular genre. And for the most part, it has worked out even more than I ever would have thought as in our early search for radio stations, we sought out The Podcast Radio Network and was fortunate enough to convince owner John Sweeney to start playing our Monday program. Two additional shows to the network, hundreds of thousands of listeners and almost two years as the #1 show on the station later and I think I am finally convinced we made the right decision to move forward with our view of the pop culture universe.

Q: Where can your podcasts be found?

We are extremely fortunate to be on fifteen radio stations (both over the air and internet) around the world in places like the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia which replay our shows seven days a week which is really cool that each day someone can hear our show on one of their favorite stations. Now, we are always looking to expand that radio audience and connect with even more listeners in the future by hopefully adding even more radio stations our audience can choose from. Additionally, our shows can be played at any time on the Pop Culture Cosmos channel on any one of over thirty (at least that was the last time I counted) different podcast networks and outlets with some familiar names being Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Anchor, Podchaser and our home base on Podbean. We even have the support of awesome groups like the ESO Network, We Be Geeks, Goona Geek and Tangent-Bound Network options that are pop culture focused to make it even cooler. It's easy to find our shows by just typing or saying "Pop Culture Cosmos" on Google or any search assistant or one can check out our pinned posted schedule with a listing and links of many of those outlets on our Pop Culture Cosmos and Game Source Facebook Page.

Q: What type of articles do you typically write, and how often do you write?

I will be the first to tell you that as a Journalism major (graduated 2017 a year after Josh) I should be writing a lot more than I am currently. The time it has taken trying to grow and provide continual quality content to the Pop Culture Cosmos channel and also be there for my incredible family has kept me from writing as much as I should because feature writing is something that I have found I truly enjoyed over the years. That will change soon however as we just launched a popculturecosmos.com site with an enhanced look and even more pop culture articles that will hopefully give those a better understanding of what we at PCC love about our entertainment world. For now, I have quite a few articles, opinions and reviews that are up at popculturecosmos.wordpress.com.

Q: Have you ever been nominated for any awards?

It's always awesome when we get positive acknowledgment out there on social media as we have on our shows and all the five-star reviews on Apple podcasts and Podchaser. To answer your question, we were humbled in 2017 when the Pop Culture Cosmos Show was nominated for the Discover Pods Awards in the Best Society and Culture Podcast and although we did not win at the very least it gave us a sense that we are doing something that is appreciated  by both the general listener and the podcast critics out there and we hope that it will be that start of a larger appreciation for our content going forward.

Q: Who are some of the guests you have had on our podcasts a lot?

When it comes to a show like ours, you're almost expected to not only be able to have hosts that can speak intelligently about a lot of pop culture topics but also have the ability to provide interviews that capture the listener's attention. In the two-plus years of the program, we have been able to speak to a tremendous array of informative people from all over the world talking about so many different pop culture topics. As always we truly appreciate anyone who takes time out of their day to talk to us and while those we are able to speak to once or occasionally are always awesome to have on our shows it's those who want to keep on coming back regularly when asked (or who even approach us) that makes us feel like being on our show is something pretty special for them to do.

Our most frequently recurring spots are occupied by Rob McCallum, who continually astounds our audience with his views of the pop culture universe. Also our fantasy football expert Tyler Baker, whose strategic and analytic acumen has helped hundreds of league owners worldwide. With both, having provided for some awesome conversations regularly ("The Cosmic Crossfire" and "Fantasy Football Paydirt Podcast") on our Monday and Friday programs. Their frequently featured spots and the interest by our audience to hear more allowed us to help produce additional podcasts which exclusively feature their work utilizing those now infamous segment names (including Tyler bringing his show over to our channel for its second season).

But our goal each year is to at the minimum provide 104 (twice each week, every Monday and Friday) high-quality programs and in order to do so there needs to be some truly interesting guests that can provide an interesting point of view each and every time they appear on the show. And while I hope to get even more guests to come on the program regularly, we are uniquely blessed to have so many already a part of the Pop Culture Cosmos experience.

I'm not sure entirely how many appearances qualifies as "a lot" but all these individuals have appeared a number of times on our program to help keep our shows fresh and always interesting to listen to:

-Our resident Television experts, Jessica Boggs and Hunter Vogt of The TV Ratings Guide (thetvratingsguide.com).
-The man in the know when it comes to the NBA, Anthony Barbarin
-Board Games specialist Salvador Villa of Mario Party Wars (Mario Party Wars on all social media outlets)
-Video Game analyst and owner of Retro City Games in Las Vegas, Nevada, Douglas Haughaboo
-Horror Movie expert and host of the Hunnicween podcast, Jason Todd Fineburgh
-Star of the documentary "Nintendo Quest" and head of A Galaxy Far, Fare Away, Jay Bartlett
-BBQ Grilling Champion from Australia and host of the Smoking Hot Confessions Podcast, Ben Arnot
-From The Walking Dead Fan Base (50,000+ members strong), Daphine Matthew
-Pro Wrestling podcasters extraordinaire, Mike Crockett and Billy Donnelly
-Sports Card and Memorabilia collector and host of That Sports Card Show, Vince Autullo
-TJ Jognson and Dutch of the Voice From The Underground: The Podcast
-Fresh Media Works founder Chris Doelle
-Hosts of the Wine, Women and Words Podcast and our resident book specialists Diana Tierney and Michele Leivas
-E-Sports competitor Cristian Daniel Zamudio

Plus we regularly play songs from independent articles Hyperschmitt, Plazma Z, and Warren Ferandez.

Now if I forgot anyone it surely was not intentional but there were just so many I tried to remember. Even though this is a lengthy list we can always find time for more regular contributors if they are interested in appearing on our programs and provide their own voice on the latest news and trends in popular culture. All they have to do is just let us know why they want to be on our show and we can go from there (popculturecosmos@yahoo.com). We're always looking to provide more unique points of view for our listeners.

Q: What does the future look like for Pop Culture Cosmos?

We invest so much time each week into developing the Pop Culture Cosmos experience and are extremely optimistic that someday the fruits of our labor will be paid off in full. Hopefully, our ongoing search for more media platforms will continue to bring in more listeners and allow us to create even better content in the coming days, months and years. I sincerely hope you get a chance to catch our shows and if you do take the time to do so it does not go unnoticed nor unappreciated by us here at the Pop Culture Cosmos. Honestly, I believe it can be a good future for us provided we stay committed to producing high-quality content that keeps everyone up to date on what's going on in pop culture. And as long as we continue to have fun doing it I see accomplishing whatever goals we here at the Pop Culture Cosmos set out to achieve.

Ready Player One Review: Reset Button

First Appeared On Pop Culture Cosmos

Pop Culture has become an embodiment of hope, enjoyment and inspiration for many searching for new and fascinating ways to expand their lives. The endless list of icons used to symbolize pop culture help us identify the parts of that universe that we can easily connect to and allow us to escape the norms of reality and find elements that can bring pleasure to us like very few things can. These items help individualize us and help set us apart in our tastes and preferences. Many of these icons of pop culture get an opportunity to shine again as part of the loving consortium that’s affectionately known as Ready Player One (Amblin/Village Roadshow/DreamWorks/Warner Bros, Running Time 140 minutes, Directed by Steven Spielberg). But will this movie be something that will inspire their inner nerd or a film that will have audience members saying “game over”. 

Based off the best-selling novel of the same name by Ernest Cline (who assisted in writing the screenplay), the film is set in the year 2045 in dystopian Columbus, Ohio which has become the center of the world due to both dramatic world wide events and its closeness with being the center of the new technological universe.  It is there we meet Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a self-professed “Gunter” (Easter Egg Hunter) who dreams of winning a magical prize left behind by eccentric game creator extraordinaire James Halliday that will transport him away from slums (known as the “Stacks”) and grant him a life away from the dreary existence he feels he has now. Wade’s predicament is not unlike most of the inhabitants in this world so as an alternative, many of them spend their lives (and money) escaping into a virtual world known as the OASIS.

It is through the OASIS we see much of Spielberg’s creative vision and Ready Player One‘s brilliance as players must pass a series of tests in order to obtain three keys and then ultimately the valued Easter Egg itself (which will grant the winner financial control of the OASIS itself). When the player (and the audience for that matter) is transported into this virtual universe, the possibilities of who you can be and who you can interact with are seemingly endless. From the design and structure of the OASIS itself to the many pop culture fixtures from the past 40+ years that are represented in it, Spielberg goes out of his way to ensure that at least that part of Cline’s novelization pays off and it does so in spades. As Wade’s OASIS avatar Parzival navigates through the universe he’ll encounter seemingly an endless line of pop culture references, characters and icons around every virtual corner. From The A-Team to Wonder Woman, the references just keep coming at the viewer but for the most part (outside of The Shining) are done so in such a creative way that just like the book it never ends up coming across as overkill.

Even though the paths to the three keys are decidedly different than what was portrayed in the book, the first and third key experiences in the film offer a visual delight unlike anything ever represented before on film. To state that it was bedazzling might be an understatement, as it was as close to having my mind blown as possible with only rare moments in the cinema before being comparable to it. Parzival’s quest to achieve victory gains him favor with a select group of friends and a love interest with rival/companion Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) but also enemies in the form of Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a high tech firm led by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelesohn)  willing to go any lengths and utilize immense resources in order to achieve victory in this ultimate virtual scavenger hunt.

Ready Player One‘s quality as a film seemingly coincides with that of the book even though how they come to their conclusion on the surface varies to a great extent.  While the film delights viewers in the OASIS, its time spent out of it is mostly spent on establishing the connection between Wade and Art3mis’ real life counterpart Samantha Cook plus the inner scheming of IOI is mostly filler that brings down the movie with cookie cutter conversations and at times even cornier acting. Add to this a horrible, unfunny turn from TJ Miller as virtual bounty hunter I-Rok and you get an uneven mix of highs and lows which keeps the movie (much like the book) from achieving its fullest potential.

Ready Player One as a film should be viewed as Steven Spielberg’s love letter to all things pop culture as his affection for what makes fandom so great undeniably oozes out of the screen in several moments which will make even the most hardened fan “geek out” with happiness. If you haven’t yet read the book however a suggestion is being made here to go see the film up front because the differences between what was written and ultimately shown on screen could be a little offsetting for those who delve in to the literary option first. But despite its uneven ride, Ready Player One still offers many cinematic moments too good to pass up and references you’ll be looking for throughout that can be recognized regardless of what decade you identify with the most.

#BingeIt: Why “The Alienist” Should Be Your Next TV Watch…

Written by Gerald Glassford of Pop Culture Cosmos

"The Alienist" just may be the best show you're not watching...(Paramount /Warner Bros./Turner Network Television)

From L to R: Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans and Daniel Bruhl star as part of a team formed to track down a serial killer in the late 19th century. (Paramount/Warner Bros./Turner Network Television)

Having had the chance to listen to Josh Pederson’s latest Topicocalypse podcast touching on what shows everyone out there may be missing out on, I felt compelled to provide my own answer on what program may be flying under your radar that’s definitely worth a binge watch sometime soon. Addressing it even further, I reached out and challenged my cohorts here at the Pop Culture Cosmos and our friends at the TV Ratings Guide (TVRG) to provide even more answers on what shows you cannot afford to miss. That being said with many shows that have been in my sights recently (Star Trek Discovery, The Orville, Timeless, Elementary, Black Mirror) all seeing a break in the action of one sort or another as this is being written a show popped in January that has become a must watch for yours truly and a welcome sight once the next episode hits the air.

The Alienist debuted on Turner Network Television (TNT) to an audience of just over two million people and while a drop was expected the series has retained a significant amount of that viewership. As of this writing six episodes in nearly 1.725 million fans of the show are still tuning into the show according to the TVRG, which has captivated audiences in what would normally be a dead point in the television schedule. But what makes The Alienist so captivating to audiences that for the most part are coming back for more week after week? On the surface, it seems like it’s a mixture on who’s on the show and how it’s being presented.

New York in 1896 provides the backdrop for the show and often provides some of the most interesting aspects of the series. (Paramount/Warner Bros./Turner Network Television)

Taken from a series of novels by Caleb Carr and set just before the turn of the 20th century, the series follows the exploits of Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Bruhl), a criminal  psychologist brought in by Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt (yes, that Theodore Roosevelt) to assist the New York Police Department in the apprehension of a serial killer that is targeting young boys. The term “alienist” derives from that time period’s apprehension and lack of understanding toward those who practiced the psychological, psychiatric and forensic medicines. Kreizler, determined to find the killer recruits his friend and occasional New York Times illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans), NYPD employee Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning) and twins Marcus and Lucius Isaacson (Douglas Smith and Matthew Shear) to assist in tracking down the murderer.

Seeing how crime and mystery often fascinates our society, The Alienist proves to be in ways a modern approach in how to hunt down a killer in a time frame that often thought and acted in a backward fashion. The realities of New York in the 1890’s with its polarizing class divisions, rampant misogyny and fervent racism, violence, perversion and corruption and even a brief glimpse of the dawn of the women’s suffrage movement are all on display as this show pulls no punches and provides viewers with a gritty, hard-hitting look at that time period only few other entertainment offerings (Gangs of New York, The Knick, Penny Dreadful, Sherlock Holmes off the top of my head) have come close to even broaching.

The show often finds strong points in its core relationships between the lead characters. Most notably that of illustrator John Moore (Evans) and Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Bruhl).

While there are some small nitpicks one can take from the first few episodes of the show (Evans not having a continually interesting role to perform, Fanning’s somewhat emotionless delivery), there are a substantial amount of compelling reasons why someone may want to check out this show before the ten episode season ends. The deep roster of seasoned character actors to rely on (Sean Young, Michael Ironside, Ted Lily for starters) and a continually intriguing story provides for not only a possible insight into how serial killers were approached (for good and bad) at that time but also lays the foundation for an interesting look at the interactions between the frayed and often morally flawed main players themselves, even while we as an audience only get teases of who the killer might be. In this case not only is the hunt itself become a reason to come back to on a weekly basis but the relationships between the hunters themselves possibly crumbling before a murderer is found.

It’s easy to see why this show has not only kept but gained an audience over the last few weeks as the lack of original programming at this point in the year not on streaming options such as Netflix or Hulu has made a show like The Alienist even more enticing for viewers to give a try. Now mind you this show is not for the week of heart as it strongly pushes the boundaries of broadcast cable and its TV-MA rating with its very adult content. But for those searching for that next great viewing binge who are in need of following that next great crime drama, look no further than The Alienist. For it’s one murder mystery you should be tracking down by any means necessary.

The Alienist is a ten episode season running new episodes until 3/28 every Monday Night at 10pm. To watch previous episodes, check local listings for replays or head over to the official TNT/The Alienist page to stream it on a web ready device. Rated TV-MA for adult language, nudity, violence and sexual situations.

Wakanda Forever: Black Panther Review

Written by Josh Pederson of Pop Culture Cosmos

Wakanda Forever: Black Panther Review

Every kid grows up wanting to be a hero. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, what your beliefs are or what kind of background you come from, everybody at some point in their life has wanted to save somebody. Comic books, Saturday morning cartoons, movies, growing up all of these things helped instill in us a sense of responsibility that if a time ever came when we have the ability to make a difference, it is our responsibility to act. Whether that means helping the elderly, standing up to a bully, telling the truth, or bringing people together as a community, we knew that the world needed good people willing to do good deeds for others. And as childhood fades into our teenage years and the luster and purity of those days slowly diminishes until we become adults and the world becomes sad and small, we look back on those days and remember them as an age of innocence and era of heroes. And while some of us resign ourselves to never look back at better days by throwing away the key to doors we locked years ago, others wear that key around their neck, looking for a door that will recall those memories to life. After all, we are living in an age of nostalgia. Marvel comics has thus far done an excellent job of bringing our childhood role models to life on the big screen – Warner Bros and DC not so much – but up until now, they’ve sort of locked themselves into a formula. Then Black Panther came along, and everything changed.

Black Panther takes place in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War. After a brief run-in with what appears to be some human traffickers, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to Wakanda and must make his claim to the throne his father left behind. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Black Panthermythos, after a meteorite fell from the sky, containing a rare mineral called vibranium, the Wakandan tribes went to war with each other to claim the power the vibranium had to offer. One day, a rare heart-shaped herb was discovered and consumed by a warrior, giving him super-human abilities. This warrior became the very first Black Panther and united the warring tribes of Wakanda, all of them except for one. Fast forward several hundred years and Wakanda is a thriving, advanced civilization with technology unlike anything the world has ever seen. Fearing the wars that would start if the rest of the world knew about this technology, they hid their civilization from the rest of the world, disguising Wakanda as a third world country. And just like in the comic books, the film has anybody who happens to know the secrets of Wakanda also looking to exploit them.

With the exception of T’Challa, two more characters carried over from previous films like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Age of Ultron, American Agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) who was part of the investigation team that went looking for Bucky Barnes and Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) who was selling vibranium and got his arm cut off by Ultron. In Black Panther, he has a new arm, and it’s because of him that Killmonger (Michael B Jordan) finds his way to Wakanda and to the throne. Before we go on, here’s a quick rundown of the film’s story without getting too far into spoiler territory.

Like I mentioned above, Black Panther takes place in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War. T’Challa returns home to claim the throne his father left behind. However, claiming a throne in Wakanda isn’t as easy as it sounds. In order for him to claim it, he must first defend it from anybody who might think that they have a better claim. Fortunately for T’Challa only one of the four Wakandan tribes challenges him. If you know the comic books, you might recognize this particular character as M’Baku the Man-Ape. For obvious reasons, they left out the second part of his title. Moving on, after nearly losing his fight against M’Baku, some cheering from the audience spurs T’Challa toward victory. It’s in the post fight scene that we get a good look at Wakanda and how advanced they are in their sciences, and it’s all thanks to vibranium.

When news reaches T’Challa that Ulysses Klaue is alive and well, he sets off in search of vengeance for past sins Klaue committed against the people of Wakanda. The only problem is that the Americans are also after Klaue, and when Everett K. Ross shows up in the same South Korean casino as T’Challa and his crew, things become interesting. There’s some fighting, a car chase, some cool shots of the Black Panther running on buildings, and Klaue has a literal hand cannon that gets ripped out of his shoulder when he’s captured. While being interrogated, he spills the beans to Ross about Wakanda not being a third world country, but before Ross can probe further, Killmonger rescues Klaue only to kill him later on and use him to gain entrance to Wakanda. What better way to get in good favor with people than by bringing them their most hated enemy in a body bag? So long story short, it turns out Erik Killmonger is cousin to T’Challa and was orphaned after T’Challa’s father killed his father several years ago. Killmonger challenges T’Challa to the throne and T’Challa, after finding out the truth about Erik Killmonger, feels obligated to fight him. He loses and gets tossed off of a cliff. Using his newfound political power, Killmonger wants to bring Wakanda out of hiding by arming the oppressed with Wakandan weapons. After that, there’s some fire, a dream sequence, a lot of fighting, and a couple of cool after credit scenes.

THE GOOD

Black Panther was a fun movie. I honestly can’t think of any better way to describe it. Everything from the writing to the way the film was shot was incredibly well done. Ryan Coogler, who also directed the Rocky spin-off Creed did a great job of taking a character whose comic book origins were steeped in the Civil Rights movements of the ‘60s and making him relevant to a modern crowd. Having worked with Michael B. Jordan before, he made Erik Killmonger one of the most tragic villains the MCU has ever had. His motives for doing what he did weren’t megalomaniac or driven by corporate greed like so many who came before him. In a way, he wanted to be a hero to people who grew up in the same kinds of communities that he did, in the same situations he faced. And in the end, you can’t really hate his motives, only the way he went about accomplishing them. But lets talk about Chadwick Boseman for a minute. His performance in Captain America: Civil War was one worthy of mention. He brought a drastic shift in perspective that he carried over into Black Panther; the mantle of responsibility. And if there’s anything that’s been overplayed in the MCU it’s irresponsible super heroes (particularly in origin stories). T’Challa not only had an obligation to his people, he had an obligation to his heritage and tradition, which is why he chose to accept Killmonger’s challenge for the throne. I can go on about the cast, but Lupita Nyong’o is also somebody who stood out in this film. As the love interest of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, she played what could be considered the “conscience” of Wakanda by the playing on the theme that those of us who have ability to make a difference have an obligation to do so. And when T’Challa decides to continue his father’s isolationist policies by not offering aid to people in need outside of their borders, her disappointment is more than apparent, which plays slightly into the pseudo romantic plotline between her and T’Challa. The entire cast of this film was brilliant, but Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis are also deserving of honorable mentions. Fun fact, they haven’t been in a film together since The Hobbit. I guess that makes them the Tolkien white guys of the film. Get it? Because J.R.R. Tolkien? Alright cool. On a serious note, Andy Serkis was a genuinely fun character to watch. There wasn’t a single one of his scenes that didn’t have my eyes glued to the screen.

While I did enjoy the themes of the film, like responsibility to our fellow humans and the emphasis on the idea that anybody of any skin color or gender can be a hero, I really don’t want to play into the idea that this film was as revolutionary as all of the critics and bloggers are making it out to be. The reason I don’t want to play into it is because whatever racially inspired messages that Ryan Coogler was trying to convey weren’t meant for me. Neither were they meant for any other white critic or blogger to be preaching. There’s a difference between empathizing with what other people go through and understanding it. And I realize by vocalizing this point of view I’m going to be called racist by those very people, but it needs to be said. Again, the themes of the movie were great, and they were inspiring, but some of them weren’t meant for me. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them being there. And as somebody who reviews films, this point of view is coming from a genuine fear that non-comic book and non-MCU fans are rushing to see this movie because of its diversity and a need to be relevant. The film’s diversity is only one of the many things that made it so great. There’s so much more to it than that.

Other great things the film had going for it was cinematography, lighting and a very unique style of editing that made everything feel like it was flowing continuously even when the scenes changed. If you notice in many of the previous Marvel films, each one has a sort of gimmick. Whether it’s Dutch angles, slow motion, or jump cuts, they often experiment with things that don’t always work. Black Panther flowed smoothly from beginning to end, and with the exception of the soundtrack, it does a great job of keeping you present for the entire film.

THE BAD 

 I’ll keep this section brief, because as I’ll state again below, I haven’t watched a Marvel film that I’ve enjoyed this much in a long time. The most noticeably bad thing about this film is something that a lot of people are probably going to disagree with me on . . . the score. Other outlets like io9 are calling the score “stunning” but Ludwig Göransson, who has collaborated with Ryan Coogler on all of his other major films gets a little too experimental. There are some parts where the use of traditional African sounds work really well, and others where they don’t. For example, near the end of the film, Martin Freeman is flying a jet around trying to blast weapons out of the sky. The music goes from epic orchestral to traditional African. That’s like playing the soundtrack to the Lion King in the middle of Gladiator. I appreciate what he was trying to do, but it sort of pulls you out of the film. My only other complaint is that we didn’t get to explore Erik Killmonger’s background a little more. While Michael B. Jordan did an excellent job playing the tragic villain, all we got to see was what he was like as a kid. All of the things he did in between childhood and becoming the film’s villain are relayed through dialogue. It seemed like there could have been some cool things to show visually.

THE VERDICT

If you haven’t had a chance to see Black Panther yet, and this review hasn’t spoiled it, I would definitely go see it. Marvel has tried several times over the years to stay “fresh.” They sort of succeeded with Captain America: Winter Soldier and Ant-Man, but other times they’ve deviated from their formula it hasn’t exactly paid off for them. Black Panther is fresh in both visuals and story-telling. The cast brings the comic book to life in a way that few other super hero film casts have ever done. Unlike films like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc. you could feel that there were actually consequences for the characters should they fail at what they were doing. And the idea of the mantle of responsibility is a theme that plays well for the characters in the film. If you were one of those kids who dreamt of being a hero, and even if you weren’t, we can all learn something from this movie. Well done Marvel. I hope you realize that Ryan Coogler’s film set a new standard for all Marvel films going forward. I hope you can rise to the occasion.

Reviewed by Josh Pederson

9/10