Superman: Secret Identity #1 (of 4)

Superman: Secret Identity #1 (of 4) is the debut of an Elseworld DC story from 2004 that looks at a version of Superman in a world more like our own. Clark Kent, a teen from Picketsville, Kansas who was named after the comic book superhero, lives every day being given Superman themed gifts from his family and often being teased by his classmates because of it. Wanting to be a writer, Clark often stays out in the woods to write out his thoughts on an old typewriter and relax from his namesake. One day, however, while sleeping out during one of his trips Clark wakes up to discover he has Superman's powers, being able to fly and the other abilities. While initially not wanting to get into heroics, that all changes when Clark saves several people during some incidents. These heroics get the attention of both the government and the media, despite Clark wanting to stay out of the public eye. Wanting someone to at least help get the word out that he means no harm and just wants to understand his powers, Clark contacts reporter Wendy Case in the shadows who publishes many of their conversations until he sees that she was recording him. Wanting to go public himself at the town's Halloween carnival, an explosion caused by Wendy that led to several people killed to expose him convinces Clark to keep his identity hidden but still save people whenever he can. Despite not focusing on the main version of Superman, this issue, and no doubt the rest of this miniseries, perfectly encapsulates what makes the character so beloved since 1938. It gives us a Clark Kent who, despite annoyed by who he was named after, does whatever he can to help as many people as he can thanks to the powers and abilities he has. Never using them for his own personal gain, get revenge against bullies, and genuinely feeling guilty when he learns about the people who died in the festival explosion. What makes the story so engaging is Kurt Busiek's writing and how it does feel like Clark's thoughts through the typewriter, also being helped by letterer Todd Klein's writing formats and coloring. Stuart Immonen, who does all of the main aspects of the artwork, does a phenomenal job with the comic's unique painting and painted over photography like style. There are many things that Superman: Secret Identity #1 (of 4) does right, but the most important is that it will make you want to read the next three issues more than any other comic book. Over all: 100%

Top list so far for 3rd set of comics:
1. Superman: Secret Identity #1 (of 4)

2. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers FCBD 2018 Shattered Grid Special

3. Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1

4. Iron Man (2020-) #1

5. Free Comic Book Day 2018: Riverdale

6. Free Comic Book Day 2018: 2000 A.D. Regened

7. DC Universe: Legacies #1

8. Free Comic Book Day 2017 I Hate Image

9. Shang-Chi (2020-2021) #1 (of 5): Brothers & Sisters Part One

10. Champions (2020-) #1

11. Infinite Frontier (2021) #0

12. Green Lantern Vol. 2 #76

13. DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The 70s #1

14. Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (2020-) #1
15. Showcase (1956-1978) #17
16. Werewolf By Night (2020-) #1 (of 4)

17. Free Comic Book Day: Bongo Comics Free For All 2018
18. Free Comic Book Day 2017: Riverdale
19. Marvel Comics (1939) #1

Malignant

Horror master James Wan's latest film, Malignant, is certainly a mix of strange, terrifying, and at times over the top that you wouldn't have expected from the trailers alone. Annabelle Wallis plays Madison Lake, a pregnant Seattle nurse with an abusive husband who after a confrontation with him he is soon murdered by a mysterious figure that attacks her and causes a miscarriage. Soon after that same figure kidnaps a woman and goes after and kills doctors, to which Madison has visions of, that links it and Madison from before she was adopted in 1993. With the help of her adopted sister and the police detectives in charge of the investigation, Madison learns about her long forgotten past and the surprising reveal of what the figure, calling himself Gabriel, actually is. Don't want to reveal way too much and not to spoil a huge reveal, but just to get one aspect out of the way, Gabriel is a living tumor that was attached to Madison's, or Emily May beforehand, back that the doctors, which Gabriel is killing, attempted to surgically remove. There are aspects to this movie that I definitely didn't expect and found to be original, but many of the same ideas are also executed in a very outlandish and over the top way. However, you can't deny how atmospheric and tense it is thanks to the cinematography, scoring, and Wan's direction. While what we later learn about Gabriel is interesting and explains some aspects, like his unique movements by contortionist Marina Mazepa or the visions Madison has, the fact that he has super strength and is able to control electricity is never explained and feels out of nowhere so as to make us think it's something else. So however you feel about Gabriel's reveal or abilities, there's no denying that Ray Chase's voice performance adds to his creepiness. Another facet to this movie that elevates it are the performances from the rest of the cast, including McKenna Grace as the younger Madison, Maddie Hasson as her adopted sister, and Susanna Thompson as Madison's adopted mother. So while Malignant has a lot of things that make it rather silly, there are far more stuff in it that still make it an engaging, fun, and tantalizing horror movie. Over all: 96%

2021 top list so far:

1. In the Heights

2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

3. The Green Knight

4. Candyman 2021

5. The Suicide Squad

6. Free Guy

7. Nobody

8. Black Widow

9. A Quiet Place Part II

10. Respect

11. Raya and the Last Dragon

12. Malignant

13. Jungle Cruise

14. Cruella

15. Wrath of Man

16. F9

17. Snake Eyes

18. Old

19. Space Jam: A New Legacy

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues on to to its fourth phase with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. With a primary focus on Asian culture, the film sees Xu Shang-Chi, a martial artist, hiding out in San Francisco so as to escape from his father, the head of the crime organization the Ten Rings. When his father, Xu Wenwu and the inspiration for Iron Man 3's Mandarin, manages to find Shang-Chi and his sister after so many years, he tries to convince them that their long departed mother is being kept hostage in her old village in another dimension. With the threat of Wenwu's criminal army as well as his use of the powerful ten rings that grant him immortality and power, the siblings have to protect the village with help from the imprisoned Trevor Slattery, the fake Mandarin, and the people of the village with their mystical weapons and creatures so as to keep a powerful evil from escaping. While WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier did focus on a post Endgame-snapped world, this is the first film in the MCU that does take place mainly after that. But the movie never makes it too clear how long it's been and doesn't use much of that throughout the whole run. Despite this, it's still a well written and directed entry that gives a compelling villain with noble, though misguided, goals. Destin Daniel Cretton's direction does an amazing job especially in how it handles flashbacks to Shang-Chi and his sister's Xialing's childhood from idyllic to after their mother is killed and their father becomes colder and trains his son to kill while neglecting his daughter. One huge issue with the writing is that it never explains what keeps Wenwu from taking over the world despite the army he amasses and the power of the rings that has kept him alive for thousands of years. But this being the MCU, one can infer that there may have been threats that challenged him as we do get cameos from Doctor Strange's Wong. The cast that includes Simu Liu playing the title character, Tony Leung as his father, Meng'er Zhang portraying Xialing, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi's best friend, and supporting characters played by Ben Kingsley, Michelle Yeoh, and Fala Chen who all provided strong, funny, and powerful performances. Similar to Black Panther and how it handled African culture, the exploration and representation towards Asian culture is not only detailed but also handled in a very respectful manner especially in the way it depicts various Chinese mythological creatures and doesn't over explains each one. Having a hero whose comic book roots lie in the kung fu craze of the early 1970s, this film's biggest strength is the use of martial arts in its action sequences. Thanks to stunt coordinator Brad Allen, who recently passed away, we not only get great fight scenes but also many that almost feel like a dance. Of course much of that is also thanks to William Pope's lush cinematography, the editing not being overdone, Joel P. West's Asian inspired scoring, and well made effects that don't interfere with the fight scenes. Between the powerful performances, strong action scenes, and compelling story with great use of Asian culture it's no wonder Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has become a box office record breaker even through the pandemic. Over all: 100%

2021 top list so far:

1. In the Heights

2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

3. The Green Knight

4. Candyman 2021

5. The Suicide Squad

6. Free Guy

7. Nobody

8. Black Widow

9. A Quiet Place Part II

10. Respect

11. Raya and the Last Dragon

12. Jungle Cruise

13. Cruella

14. Wrath of Man

15. F9

16. Snake Eyes

17. Old

18. Space Jam: A New Legacy

Candyman 2021

A direct sequel to the 1992 original, Candyman 2021 is directed by Nia DaCosta who also cowrote with Win Rosenfeld and Jordan Peele, with the two coproducing the film through their Monkeypaw Productions. The film sees Anthony McCoy, a Chicago visual artist played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Brianna, Anthony's girlfriend and the director to his art gallery played by Teyonah Parris, becoming involved in the legend of the violent mythological spirit known as Candyman. Wanting to bring something fresh to his work, Anthony ventures into Cabrini-Green, a housing project in hard times due to gentrification, where he learns about a man in the 70s who was unjustly murdered by cops after he was accused of putting razors in children's candy and how that relates to the violent urban legend. When this causes Anthony to create works of art inspired by what he learned, he inadvertently causes the curse of Candyman to be resurrected and a secret from Anthony's past to be revealed. This is a well crafted horror film that is able to balance heart pounding horror with important messages related to real life issues. Using the legend of a vengeful spirit that represents many black men who have been wronged by society and that Tony Todd's original take of the character wasn't the only one is very original. The writing and direction is done in such an original and often provocative way, all to give us something that is not easy to take in but very much needed. Though while a lot of the story and writing is good, a few things like Anthony's transformation, a flashback to Brianna's father, and the motivation of Colman Domingo's William feel like they were either rushed, not elaborated on as much, or a little wasted. Despite that, this movie has a cast that all give strong performances and you truly feel what they go through. Special mention goes to Tony Todd who, despite having such a small moment, brings such a powerful moment. Another strong aspect that adds to the tone and feel is the moody cinematography from John Guleserian and Robert A. A. Lowe's haunting score. Even if you may not be captivated by the writing, find the horror tame, or even see the messages as forced, one great thing that makes this work unique is its use of paper and shadow puppets to tell flashbacks. Much like Halloween 2018, Candyman 2021 proves that old horror franchises can still work if you have great people behind it that truly love what came before and want to expand instead of just doing the same thing. Over all: 100%

2021 top list so far:

1. In the Heights

2. The Green Knight

3. Candyman 2021

4. The Suicide Squad

5. Free Guy

6. Nobody

7. Black Widow

8. A Quiet Place Part II

9. Respect

10. Raya and the Last Dragon

11. Jungle Cruise

12. Cruella

13. Wrath of Man

14. F9

15. Snake Eyes

16. Old

17. Space Jam: A New Legacy

Respect

Jennifer Hudson plays Aretha Franklin in Respect, a biographical musical about the early life and career of  the influential and inspiring soul and gospel singer. The movie goes from Aretha's childhood as we see her singing skills grow, her baptist father's parties involving well known gospel singers, her parents' divorce, and becoming pregnant very young to then growing up befriending Martin Luther King, signing on to her first record label, dealing with her first husband's abuse, finding success with Atlantic Records, becoming an alcoholic due to being overworked, sobering up, and finally producing her 1972 gospel album which was her most successful. While the film is pretty standard for a musical biopic and the writing is nothing too spectacular, it is well written and you do get to know a lot about Aretha's life so as to understand what she went through. Even when the storytelling isn't all that great and at times standard, Hudson's performance as Aretha, and even Skye Dakota Turner as the younger version, are always shining when present. Of course that's not to say that Hudson is the only great actor in this as you do have Forest Whitaker, Marc Maron, and a surprisingly serious Marlon Wayans as Aretha's abusive first husband. Being a musical biopic, another great aspect is of course the songs from Aretha's early career as well as Kris Bowers's score. Director Liesl Tommy doesn't do anything too outstanding in her filmmaking but does manage to capture the eras of when the film is set thanks to Kramer Morgenthau's cinematography and the production design. So while Respect does nothing new, what it does do is give us a well made biopic to one of the most well loved and respected singers of the 20th century with strong performances. Over all: 98%

2021 top list so far:

1. In the Heights

2. The Green Knight

3. The Suicide Squad

4. Free Guy

5. Nobody

6. Black Widow

7. A Quiet Place Part II

8. Respect

9. Raya and the Last Dragon

10. Jungle Cruise

11. Cruella

12. Wrath of Man

13. F9

14. Snake Eyes

15. Old

16. Space Jam: A New Legacy

Iron Man (2020-) #1

In Iron Man (2020-) #1, Tony Stark has decided to restart his life after so many setbacks in his life and get back to the basics of being Iron Man. To do so, Stark distances himself from his own business, sells off his Malibu mansion for an apartment in Manhattan, and begins to use new armors reminiscent of his early stuff. While teaming up with Hellcat, the two confront the villain Unicorn who has stolen a book from the Public Library. When they see that the book is a Gutenberg Bible and Unicorn rambles about working for a god, a bolt of lightning hits Tony and although it doesn't kill him it does incinerate the book. While it may be difficult for new readers to understand much of what goes on due to needing to read past stories, this comic is still worth reading. Christopher Cantwell's storytelling does enough to not make you confused for Tony's reasonings behind his new attitude. There's still a lot of backstory that's not expanded on, but you forget about it thanks to the well written drama and a great start to a new mystery introduced at the end of this issue. CAFU's artwork and Frank D'Armata's coloring create a perfect art style that resembles less of a typical comic style and more of a series of paintings. Iron Man (2020-) #1 is the start for a new series for the Armored Avenger that sees a significant change in the title character's life and through great writing and art, gives a very memorable and well made start to a new story. Over all: 100%

Top list so far for 3rd set of comics:
1. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers FCBD 2018 Shattered Grid Special

2. Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1

3. Iron Man (2020-) #1

4. Free Comic Book Day 2018: Riverdale

5. Free Comic Book Day 2018: 2000 A.D. Regened

6. DC Universe: Legacies #1

7. Free Comic Book Day 2017 I Hate Image

8. Shang-Chi (2020-2021) #1 (of 5): Brothers & Sisters Part One

9. Champions (2020-) #1

10. Infinite Frontier (2021) #0

11. Green Lantern Vol. 2 #76

12. DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The 70s #1

13. Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (2020-) #1
14. Showcase (1956-1978) #17
15. Werewolf By Night (2020-) #1 (of 4)

16. Free Comic Book Day: Bongo Comics Free For All 2018
17. Free Comic Book Day 2017: Riverdale
18. Marvel Comics (1939) #1

Free Guy

Having a few similarities to Ready Player One, Wreck-It Ralph, and The Matrix, Free Guy stars Ryan Reynolds as a NPC named Guy in a video game based off of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Not being aware that he's just a character in a video game, Guy doesn't notice how repetitive everything in his life is specially when everything all around him is chaos due to the actions that the players are doing. That is until he notices one particular player, named Millie, who unknowingly makes him aware of the video game he's been living in. The two then team up in order to prove that the code to make this game was stolen from her from a greedy and eccentric game developer. While stories like this have been done before, this movie's mix of fast comedy, balls to the wall action scenes, and drama relaying to creating unique life towards artificial intelligence is how this film really stands out. Alongside Reynolds pulling off his usual charm but with more idealistic qualities than his other roles is Jodie Comer as Millie, Joe Keery playing the other designer of the game, Lil Rel Howery as Guy's best friend, and Taika Waititi in one of his most over the top and fun performances as greedy developer Antwan. Every single person in the cast brings a lot of energy and charisma to their characters, the same goes towards the smaller roles and even quick cameos. One thing that really makes the video game world feel so real that you're highly invested in this digital landscape is the combination of the production design and effects. There's also some of the score from Christophe Beck that perfectly compliments many scenes and the use of some memorable licensed songs that actually fit into the plot. Much like Player One, this movie has a lot of references to other video games and other forms of pop culture. But, it doesn't rely too much on those references and are done sporadically instead of filling up every frame of the shot for one to catch. One huge praise that one can give to the script is how serious and detailed it takes with the concept of video game coding and never having to over explain to the audience. If there are any faults to the script, though just a few, is that some parts of the ending have a few obvious cliches and not all of the jokes and comedic bits stick and can get too long. While Free Guy may not have one of the most original ideas, the originality comes from how it uses its comedy and story concept to create a great satire with some important messages. Over all: 100%

2021 top list so far:

1. In the Heights

2. The Green Knight

3. The Suicide Squad

4. Free Guy

5. Nobody

6. Black Widow

7. A Quiet Place Part II

8. Raya and the Last Dragon

9. Jungle Cruise

10. Cruella

11. Wrath of Man

12. F9

13. Snake Eyes

14. Old

15. Space Jam: A New Legacy