Paul and Tim do a deep dive into Marvel’s latest hit movie, Thor: Ragnarok! It’s Superhero Month at World’s Best Media, baby! Surtur The Fire Demon couldn’t stop us from recording this killer podcast! Listen here or subscribe on ITunes:
Author: theworldsbestblogwithpaulwright
Movie Review: Thor Ragnarok (NO SPOILERS)
These fuckers at Marvel, they got me REAL fucking bad! Gimme Phase 4, Phase 6, PHASE FUCKIN’ 20!!! I’ll take it all! Thor: Ragnarok marks Marvel’s 17th film with 3 more in active stages of production, with several more in the planning stage. Then there are the Netflix series, with The Punisher debuting later this month. Runaways premieres on Hulu in a few weeks and Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. comes back mid-season. I must admit there have been a few hiccups on the TV side of things (I’m glad Marvel’s first true DISASTER was an Inhumans miniseries on ABC. Because really, who gives a shit?), but otherwise Marvel has me by the balls and they are not letting go. If they keep making movies like Thor: Ragnarok, they can lovingly hold onto my balls as long as they want.
I love how the non-Avengers Marvel movies have become less about individual heroes like Marvel Phase 1 and more about team ups of a few prominent Marvel heroes under the banner of one of the big three (Cap, Iron Man, Thor). Though I love the character of Thor, what really sold me on the movie was the fact that it was going to be a team up film with the Hulk with a little side of Doctor Strange. Then when that 1st awesome, METAL trailer came out, they had me hook, line, and sinker.
The Thor films are interesting components of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I love the first one and I think the first half of that movie has some of the most creative and interesting filmmaking in the entire series on display. Kenneth Branagh was an inspired choice to direct the first Thor film and I’d love to see him come back and play in the MCU sandbox again. In my opinion the second movie is the weakest in The MCU (Fuck you, Tim! Iron Man 2 rules, baby!). So where does Thor:Ragnarok stand? Well, it’s a whole hell of a lot of fun.
It’s certainly extremely different from what’s been done before not only in other Thor films, but in MCU films in general. It’s a unique movie and once it gets started, it’s a crazy roller coaster ride that doesn’t stop until the end of the movie. The film flys by. This is largely thanks to the influence of director Taika Waititi. However, if these films don’t have some heart, some emotional center to latch onto, I feel they lose something. Fortunately, the film doesn’t forget to make you care about it’s characters. All of the best of the Marvel films have had a really strong emotional center built around strong characters, innovative filmmaking, and fun action sequences.
(“Loki listen, this is never easy to say, but it’s time we put Dad in an assisted living facility. Oh! You banished him to Earth? Problem solved, then.)
I think one of the best things about the film is the continued development of the relationship between Loki and Thor. Loki is someone that we should hate, but I found myself rooting for him to find some redemption. Which brings me to another point I enjoyed: the villains are not black-and-white, with stupid, vague goals and motivations. Hela was an interesting villain and it was fun every time Cate Blanchett was on scene as this character. She looked like she was having a blast, but her character wasn’t without depth. I wouldn’t put her in the top tier of Marvel villains like Loki or Kingpin or Ultron, but she’s certainly not a bland villain like Malekith or even Ronan The Accuser.
(Say what you want about me, but I think Cate Blanchett looks crazy hot like this)
Of course we can’t talk about this movie without talking about The Hulk. I don’t think fans of the Planet Hulk storyline will be disappointed. It would be an exaggeration to say that this is a full on adaptation of that story, but characters and elements from the story are incorporated into the movie that I was pleasantly surprised to see were included. Nothing in this movie with the Hulk quite beats the gladiator match between him and Thor that we’ve seen pieces of in the trailers (Loki’s reaction to seeing that Hulk is the reigning Champ is priceless). Personally I felt The Hulk wasn’t quite the scene stealer other reviews have made him out to be, but I love me a good Thor and Hulk team up.
(Just as this picture was taken, Stan Lee realized he had just shit his pants.)
I have a nitpick about The Hulk which is sort of the spoiler, so I’ll get into that on our podcast “The World’s Best Podcast with Paul & Tim”. We’re going to do a deep dive into the film and talk full spoilers. So keep an eye out for that and make sure you see the movie before you listen to the podcast. The are some huge, surprising, game-changing developments in this movie. No single character in the MCU has ever had such a massive status quo change.
I was surprised that the movie lived up to its title. This really is Ragnarok. Like Norse Mythology Ragnarok… well kinda. Norse Ragnarok by way of Marvel Comics. For you comic book fans, this movie borrows as much from Thor: Disassembled as much as Planet Hulk. Fans of the comics will probably be able to guess where things are going for Thor and The Asgardian part of the MCU by the end of the film.There’s a mid credits sequence that makes the future somewhat less clear. I don’t even want to vaguely speculate on the meaning of the mid-credits scene because it could be interpreted as Spoiler-y (More on all of this in our podcast). All in all I enjoyed this film a lot. I do not think it is as good as it’s being made out to be. It’s a very good movie, but not in the top tier of the Marvel films. But whether you are a Marvel fanatic or just movie fan who enjoys a good sci-fi romp, go see Thor:Ragnarok, you’re guaranteed to have a good time.
Final Grade: B
Or
8/10
Thanks for reading!
-Paul
PlayStation 4: The Last of Us 2 & Spider-Man
We rarely cover video games on this site. Mainly because we haven’t had much coming out worth covering. I certainly wouldn’t call myself a gamer. In fact, until about 5 years ago I hadn’t picked up a video game controller since highschool.
One night I was meeting some people at a friends place to go catch a movie. When I got to my friends apartment he was playing Uncharted 2. I had vaguely heard something about Uncharted, but I had no idea this was what it was like! This was fucking incredible! It wasn’t like any video game I’d ever seen. I remember thinking “This is like a movie you PLAY!”
So for that past few years, I’m always excited when story driven video games like the Uncharted series come out. The Batman Arkham games where a big deal for me and The Last Of Us… Fuck… I almost don’t even know how to describe The Last Of Us. It was more that a video game or a movie. It was almost like they created their own storytelling medium. The Last Of Us is a masterpiece of gaming and storytelling.
Today, Sony dropped trailers for two of their big 2018 releases. The Last Of Us 2, which looks like it’s going to follow a different group of characters, and Spider-Man which looks like Sony is trying to do for Spider-Man what The Arkham games did for Batman. Both look amazing in their own way and I eagerly await their release in 2018. Check the trailers out below:
Podcast: Paul Reviews “Stranger Things 2”
In the second of our 2-part Halloween Podcast Special, I review Stranger Things Season 2! The first part of the Episode is SPOILER-FREE, but at the 10 min 58 sec mark I go into SPOILER territory. It’s a great season of TV, so either watch all of Stranger Things 2 or listen to the first part of the podcast and then come back after you finished Stranger Things 2. Thanks, everyone! Listen Here or Subscribe on ITunes:
-Paul
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13157894
Mini-Podcast Movie Review: Tim Reviews “The Babysitter”
In our 2 Part Halloween Podcast Special, Tim reviews the new Netflix horror film “The Babysitter”! Listen below or Subscribe on iTunes:
TRAILER: Marvel’s Runaways (A Hulu Original Series)
Hulu dropped their most recent trailer for their attempt to thrown their hat into the Marvel Cinematic Universe ring, THE RUNAWAYS. Check out the trailer and make sure to read below to be eligible for our contest:
Runaways written by Brian K. Vaughn with art by Adrian Alphona was an excellent and wildly unique comic book series when it was first published by Marvel beginning in 2003. It followed a group a teenagers from wealthy L.A. families (who are only really friends with each other because their parents are friends) who find out their parents are actually super villains. We’re talikng mad scientists, sorcerers, kingpins of crime, evil aliens, etc.
(The cast of the show and the cast from the Comics)
One night at one of their semi -regular family get togethers, the kids accidentally witness their parents ritualistically sacrifice an innocent girl. They freak out and “Runaway” together. Their parent have the local police in their pocket. But while they’re figuring out what to do, each of them realizes that they have some kind of superpower or super weapon that their parents intended to eventually pass on to them. I wont spoil what they are because that’s part of the fun, but they’re unique and really cool.
(The Pride: The parents)
So with their new powers and super weapons in tow, they decide to go out on their own to make up for the evil their parents have done and take down their supervillain (current youth oriented colloquialism for ‘parents”), a group that calls themselves The Pride. It’s an incredible book. It’s one of Vaughn’s best creations and that’s saying something. I think the trailer looks cool. They’re definitely following pretty close to the source material. And with a few exceptions, Marvel can be counted on for some pretty solid TV. I’m definitely curious to see if Hulu can deliver a Marvel show at the same level of quality as the best of the Netflix shows. I know I’ll be watching. The show premieres on November 21st so that will be a fun binge over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
SPECIAL BONUS CONTEST!!! The first person who can tell me which of The Runaways’ evil parents has already been briefly seen in a MCU film AND which film specifically they appear in, will get a $15 AMAZON GIFT CARD (Immediately family members are not eligible and friend eligibility will be judged on case by case basis). Send me a message through the “CONTACT” link, which you can find by clicking the upper right corner of the Homepage. If you’re the winner, I’ll respond and get your info to send you the gift card. Contest ends on 11/1/17. NO CHEATING!!!!! Don’t just Google. Knowledge of the films and/or comics are the only way to win this contest. If you get the answer right, a simple follow up question will be asked to ensure that it was not simply googled before you’re eligible to claim your prize. Guesses are acceptable as long is the reason behind the guess is given. Some thought and rationale must be put in into the guess, not just a blind throw of the dart.
HINT: All of these were original characters when Vaughn created them in 2003 (So no Kingpin or Loki or Ultron), but we absolutely have seen one of the parents in a recent Marvel film. I will admit this is a tough one guys.
Star Wars Retrospective: Episode I The Phantom Menace
Hey Everybody,
It’s Paul
As you all know Star Wars is like a religion to me. It’s a sacred thing not just because of the magic of the films, but because of the incredible personal experiences I’ve had with friends and family while watching these movies. Obviously I’m counting down the days until Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi opens and I wanted to do something special in anticipation of that film. So today is the beginning of a really cool series of articles that we’ll be posting once a week, from now until Star Wars The Last Jedi opens on December 15th. Each week a different contributor from World’s Best Media (myself included) will be writing a piece on a Star Wars film starting with Episode 1 and ending with Episode VII, right before the new film opens. Some of the articles are already finished and it’s been wonderful reading each one as it comes in. We’ll all get to experience these incredible movies through someone else’s eye. That’s what each of these articles will be about: the personal and emotional experience each of our writers had with a Star Wars film. I won’t be writing a long introduction to each article, but for the first piece I felt like I needed to explain what we’re doing.
So, first up is Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace written by my co-host on The World’s Best Podcast with Paul & Tim, Tim Cuff. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “ Tim Cuff? TIM CUFF?!!! He is no Star Wars fan! Heresy! Heresy, I say!” Believe me guys, I know where you’re coming from. But as soon as I started thinking about this doing this series of articles, I immediately thought of Tim for The Phantom Menace. First of all, Tim’s a great writer and secondly Tim has always had weird love and respect for Episode I. Now, he doesn’t let the movie off easy. Nor should he, because even the most devote fans of The Saga will admit that movie is a bit of a mess. But there are pieces of brilliance sprinkled throughout the film. After reading this article, you may agree with me when I say… The Force may be with Tim after all…
EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE by Tim Cuff
Unlike most of the other writers carefully selected to write these Star Wars-related articles, I am not a Star Wars guy. Being “not a Star Wars guy,” why on earth would Paul choose me to kick this whole thing off and recap Episode I, a movie disliked by many fans and non-fans alike? Well to understand why Episode I is so special to me, let’s hop in the ole time machine and head back to 1999.
Back when the Red Sox were still cursed and Limp Bizkit was a respected musical act, a young Tim Cuff was 13. I don’t think any description from me can do justice to what a major movie event Episode I was. A Star Wars movie hadn’t come out since 1983 (yes, I understand the original trilogy was re-released in theatres in the 90s, doesn’t really count). This was going to be the first Star Wars movie with modern special effects (yes, I understand the original trilogy had some CGI added in when it was re-released in theatres in the 90s, doesn’t really count). This was going to kick off a new saga. This was going to explain where Darth Vader and Obi Wan came from. Young Tim went into this movie with the absolute highest of expectations, and unlike most fans, he was not disappointed.
Let’s start off with Qui-Gon Jinn. If you don’t like Liam Neeson, I don’t like you. Liam Neeson is a boss now, and he was a fucking boss in 1999. Obi Wan, comparatively, is pretty lame in this movie (in terms of his storyline). He spends 50% of this movie inside of a parked ship waiting for everyone to get back, he has a weird short ponytail, and an even weirder super long side-of-his-head rat tail. In fact, other than the fact that they build Qui-Gon up so you can be devastated when he (18 YEAR OLD SPOILER ALERT) dies, I don’t understand why Obi Wan didn’t just replace Qui-Gon’s part in this movie. Anyways, I digress. Qui Gon is a quiet badass, akin to John Wick or Christian Bale in Equilibrium. He is a rebel who doesn’t blindly follow orders, he often disagrees with the Jedi. Anyone who tries to push back against those pompous galactic dickheads is cool with me. Although, to be fair, he was VERY mistaken thinking Anakin was the chosen one who will bring balance to the force. I can’t really stress enough how very, very wrong he was in this thought process.
My favorite Qui-Gon moment, which epitomizes him as a character: During the final battle with Darth Maul, when the force field walls temporarily stop the action and the duelists are forced to take a short break, Qui-Gon sits on the ground and fucking mediates. How badass is that? Imagine you are in a to-the-death battle with a red and black horned demon with a laser bowstaff that can cut through metal walls, and you have a 30 second break. Could you calm yourself enough to mediate!? Well, sadly, it didn’t help much as he is shortly offed with a lightsaber to the stomach. I honestly find those force field walls brilliant, even watching it now, as it stopped Obi Wan from helping and also forced him to watch his best friend and mentor die. Young Tim was devastated by this. I truly did not see it coming, I thought Neeson was an actor I would get to see in the sequels to come (reading about this online wasn’t a thing for me at the time), and it really did hit home.
As much as I loved Qui-Gon, I think the most memorable character in this movie is his killer: Jar Jar Binks. Sorry that was a typo, I meant Darth Maul. In a universe where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad with no grey area in-between, there is no cooler bad guy than Darth Maul. I actually think it was a huge mistake to kill him off as from a purely visual standpoint he was the best character of the new trilogy. The black and red face (from my understanding the black is tattoos), the horns around the top of his head, the awesome ninja moves, and of course the fucking DOUBLE LIGHTSABER. After seeing the movie and loving Qui-Gon Jinn, when Young Tim went to Toys R Us after this movie did he reach for a green lightsaber? Nope, he went straight for the double red one. Who wouldn’t? My young mind was completely blown. There was no explanation given as to why suddenly the Jedis were ninjas that could almost fly (I guess “the force was stronger then”), but Young Tim didn’t care. I still find this 3-way swordfight to be the best in the entire series, old or new.
The podracing scene was, in many people’s opinions, the highlight of the movie. It wasn’t for me, I always liked the lightsabering more, but nonetheless the race was a truly awesome scene that inspired several great video games. If I was Anakin’s mother, I probably wouldn’t let him enter the race to help out some random strangers. The race is, after all, so dangerous that only 2 racers even made it to the finish line and it seems several of the racers died. When I asked my mother as a boy, “Can I enter a death race so some people that broke down can buy a new part for their car?” she said no, which is why I am not currently living up to my potential.
This is by no means a perfect movie, I will admit. The two biggest issues are Jar Jar and Anakin, but I will briefly tackle why they shouldn’t ruin the movie for everyone. Jar Jar is truly an awful character. Young Tim didn’t hate Jar Jar, he instead accurately thought of him as nothing. He was a nothing character. Under careful recent re-watching I realized Jar Jar could almost be entirely edited out of the movie with it making no difference. The only time Jar Jar contributes to the plot in any way is when he brings Obi Wan and Qui-Gon to the Gungan city. The only other moments he has are when he clumsily falls or has some annoying throwaway line. He was obviously included as a desperate attempt to appeal to children that miserably failed. As a child, I don’t remember any other children actually liking Jar Jar. However since he is such a minor, unimportant part of the movie you can try to just black him out and pretend he’s not there.
Jake Lloyd as Anakin to me is worse than Jar Jar, because his dialogue with other characters (especially Natalie Portman) is so important to the movie. His acting is almost always painful, and I blame Lucas for this. Lucas could have casted another actor, and also Lucas is known for providing the cast almost no direction. Someone as inexperienced as Lloyd likely needed lots and lots of direction. I in no way blame Lloyd as he was a child. My only excuse for this (to help make this aspect of the series tolerable) is even in 1999 we all knew Anakin was going to be Vader by Episode 3. Due to this, it was forgone conclusion Episode I is the only time we would be forced to hang out with Jake Lloyd. I wanted to add quickly I truly do feel bad for Jake Lloyd as Episode I clearly ruined his life. If you google his name or watch any interviews with him, you will immediately understand what I am referring to.
Episode I was quite polarizing when it came out; it received mostly mixed to negative reviews. However Lucas always said Star Wars is meant for children. Well Young Tim fucking loved it, so I guess to Lucas that is a win. Due to my contractual obligation with World’s Best Media to never speak negatively about Star Wars, I will end the review with that. After this movie we all poured some out for Qui-Gon and Maul, gone too soon, and prepared for the budding romance of Anakin and Natalie Portman. I mean, the scenes between them in the next movie can’t be as bad, right?
Podcast Bonus: A Tribute To Spike…
When Tim and I recorded our Buffy The Vampire Slayer podcast, we had A LOT to cover. It’s a dense show, with a complex mythology and fascinating cast of characters. Then there are the spinoffs and comic book continuations. Basically, it was a lot to cover.
Arguably the 3 most important characters in the entire “Buffyverse” are Buffy, Angel, and Spike. We touched on Spike, but I felt like he deserved more. So knowing that Spike is one of his favorite fictional characters of all time, I asked Tim to record a mini bonus podcast all about Spike. If you haven’t seen the show, after listening to this, you’ll hopefully understand why we find him so compelling. Tim did a great job on this one, enjoy! Don’t forget, all of our podcast are also available on iTunes:
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13115375
Podcast: Paul & Tim’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episode!
Our Halloween themed podcast series continues as Tim and I talk about one of our favorite TV series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I’ve always felt that the title keeps some people from giving Buffy a chance, but it is without a doubt one the best TV shows of all time. If you’ve ever been curious about this weird show with a hot blonde who kicks the ever loving shit out of monsters or if you’re a longtime Buffy fanatic, this is a great podcast episode to dive into. We cover Buffy, the excellent spinoff Angel, and even discuss some of the canonical comic book continuations. Below I have some cast, monster, and character photos if you’ve never seen the show. Give it a listen! Also available on iTunes!
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13101633
(Buffy cast from left to right: Xander, Cordelia, Giles, Buffy, Angel, Willow, Oz)
(Angel, who is 250 years old, creeping on 17 year old Buffy. He’s a creep!)
(Vampire bad ass and Tim’s favorite character, Spike)
(The Gentlemen: One of the most horrifying groups of monsters Buffy has faced. Christ, look at these guys. Creepy as fuck)
(The Hero, The Slayer… Buffy Summers)
Check out this cool Rick and Morty video!
I’m pretty sure Justin Roiland (The voice Rick and Morty) was drunk when he recorded this. It sounds like they were just fucking around while recording audio and decided to animate and post this as a treat to the fans
World’s Best Media 