Hopper's Season 3 Behavior: Love It or Hate It

I'd like to give a shout out to anyone who thinks a dated fantasy series needs to be woke in 2019.
Jim Hopper is a very complex character who isn't exactly known for showing his feelings to people let alone controlling them. It is a stepping stone for him to be able to confront people without getting too violent or angry. But when people, like Mike Wheeler, turns his stepping stone into a stumbling block that's when he starts to come unhinged a bit.
First of all, he shows a trait that a lot of dads, both in TV and movies and in real life, share. He feels very protective of Eleven, and this little daughter-stealer thinks he's a bumbling idiot. So he emits fear into the child and drives the two apart. Thinking that he has won, he decides to celebrate with Joyce over dinner only to be stood up himself by Joyce. She didn't mean to, but he doesn't take it lightly. What he did was not right, I admit. But the hostility he shows to Joyce, the following day, will be something that you would expect from a guy like him. It could have been a lot worse. He could throw her against the wall beat her, hit her, but he doesn't appear to be THAT kind of guy. He was just hurt and angry. Plus, he feels like he's fighting a losing battle because he doesn't want Joyce to leave Hawkins.
Joyce has probably known hostility from the opposite sex for much of her life given the relationship she has with her ex-husband, Will and Jonathan's father. So she was likely used to Hopper's behavior. Bob, in Season Two, was probably the most normal boyfriend she ever had, and his sudden demise really rattled her. She is likely not in the mood to get back into the dating game so soon. Plus, she was too interested in what would drive the main plot of the season to focus on starting a relationship with Hopper.
Now, Mike isn't exactly in the clear in this situation. If you really think about it, he's a bit of a dictator. He has considered himself the leader of the group, and he feels a little threatened when anyone tries to challenge his authority. That is shown several times throughout Season Two when Max keeps butting into the group despite him saying no to her. But it nearly destroys Mike when Eleven dumps him. And she wasn't convinced by Max either; that was her own decision. Even when Mike tells the truth about why he was distant, Eleven defends Hopper, and it scares the hell out of Mike. For the first time, the one person that depended on him for everything from food and shelter to just being a friend, the one person he cared about suddenly had a mind of her own.
Both Mike and Hopper learn to trust and respect Joyce and Eleven respectively. Hopper realizes Joyce had a reason for standing him up, and she was not going to apologize and beg him for forgiveness. Mike learns that Eleven isn't going to join him when she finds out they've been duped.
Eleven learns to be a strong independent woman, and that she isn't going to let anyone hold her back. She still loves Mike, but she needs to make sure that he can trust her and respect her. Mike, fortunately, learns that pretty quick, which may explain his behavior in the season finale, for which I hate with a burning passion. He was terrified of losing her again, and he is treading lightly. He lost her trust when he lied to her; he wouldn't want to do it again. I hope that's the reason. He could just be an a-hole for all I know.
Joyce has evolved from a stressed-out single mother to a woman who won't take no sh*t from anyone, supernatural or not. She has a soft spot for Hopper, but she needs to make sure that he knows that she isn't some floozy that he can push around. That, I think, may have helped hit Hopper's departure harder, because he trusted Joyce to do the right thing.
Were Hopper's actions justified? Probably not. But what would have if he hadn't gone this route? If he had remained calm, would Eleven still do everything Mike said? Would Joyce get on her knees and beg for Hopper's forgiveness? These are choices made by the writers, by the directors, by the actors, and by the people who represent Netflix. I gotta be honest. The show's pretty woke as it is.
Go ahead and hate all you want. I still think Steve Harrington is a d-bag for his actions in Season One, even though I see him grow and change every day.

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"Stranger Things 3"

My eighties nostalgia is starting to wear thin as I'm picking up NINETIES references. We are five years away from Twin Peaks premiering on ABC. We are seven years away from Alien 3 hitting the theaters. We are thirteen years away from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone hitting the shelves in the US.
I felt that this season had excellent momentum, filled with humor and suspense, but then it kind of fell flat at the very end, mostly because of little things I didn't like. For one, I didn't like how dumb Mike is becoming. His now rocky relationship with Eleven was hilarious throughout the season, but then he really didn't patch things up with her in my opinion. In one angry rant, he admits that he loves her, but she was out of the room. Later she asked him about that day, and he was like "Oh that was soooooo long ago." What the hell are you doing? She wants to hear you say it, you little sh*t. <Sighs> Max is right; there's more to life than just stupid boys.
I really don't think anyone saw Hopper's fate coming at all. I loved how he starts the season watching Magnum, P. I., and then he becomes Magnum, P. I. searching for clues to Mayor Kline's behavior, which includes sporting a Hawaiian shirt and commandeering a convertible. Over the course of the season, I kept thinking that he would allow Mike to take Eleven on a real date. In fact, I imagined that the entire party would like to go mini golfing. Mike would hang out with Eleven, Lucas and Max would team up, Dustin and Will would fly solo together, and then they would peak around the corner and find Joyce and Hopper making out. Well, I guess that will never happen.
Dustin and his Mormon girlfriend absolutely adorable together. I don't care if that was a nostalgia trap, that was awesome. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Dustin's love would become the new center of the story. He and Erica, Lucas' sassy little sister, really bounced off one another, especially when he discovers that she is a nerd just like the rest of them. And that My Little Pony thing? I'm not sure if it really was meant to describe fans in the eighties or fans of today, but I was like DAMN!
Seeing Billy make the ultimate sacrifice was kind of heartbreaking because we never really get to see him be a good guy. He says sorry to Max in the end but that was all that he could say. I wonder how Max was able to explain this to her parents.
Steve and his new friend Robin were actually cute, but sadly, it was never meant to be. When Robin said that she was not like any other Steve ever dated, I wondered if she had a tiny room covered wall to wall with pictures of Steve because she said she was obsessed with him. But she was obsessed because she was jealous that a girl, SHE liked, liked Steve. I felt a little sad because that was strike three for Steve Harrington getting a girl. Like many of you, I really hated Steve in Season One. Fighting the Demogorgon wasn't redeemable. He was kind of cool in Season Two, but I still haven't forgiven him for being such a douchebag. This season kind of explains everything. He represents a popular kid realizing that once high school is over you're not that popular anymore. In fact, some of the ladies were probably thinking that he was kind of a schmuck for not going to college. They're like how sad. Heehee.
The villains in this season were kind of cartoonish, and it really pisses me off. I've seen Red Dawn, which they reference, and it pisses me off that Russians think they could come into our country that easily and stay. In real life, the US military would blow Hawkins off the f*cking map. The Mind Flayer was kind of whatever, but I was kind of bummed that Nancy wasn't able to prove her worth in finishing the story about the rabid rats and missing fertilizer. That was mostly because of half the staff becomes drones for the Mind Flayer before being sucked into one massive being. You know, I'm starting to realize that this has Men in Black written all over it. The people of Hawkins don't seem to realize that they are a hub of paranormal activity. They're like "Will disappeared in the woods. That guy killed my crops. The mayor stole my job."
Overall, this season was fun, but I kind of want it to end. I want Mike and Eleven to work their crap out, I want the party to stay together like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong, I want to Joyce to find happiness, and I want people to stop interfering with the Upside Down.

I hoped you guys liked this. I've missed doing this, this was fun. I'll be back in a few weeks with more reviews, but for now, enjoy your summer. Remember to subscribe and leave a comment of what you would like for me to review next.

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Released On: July 4, 2019

Rating TV-14

Stars: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Saide Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Dacre Montgomery, Cara Buono, Maya Hawke

Directors: The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Uta Briesewitz

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90% Certified

IMDb Score: 9.1/10 (Average)

Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Drama Series - Nominated

Creative Primetime Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Interactive Extension of a Linear Program (Scoops Ahoy: Operation Scoop Snoop) - Nominated
• Outstanding Music Supervision (Nora Felder) - Nominated
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series (Dean Zimmerman and Kathryn Naranjo) - Nominated
• Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) (Craig Henighan, William Files, Ryan Cole, Kerry Dean Williams, Angelo Palazzo, Katie Halliday, David Klotz and Steve Baine) - Winner
• Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) (Michael Rayle, Mark Paterson, William Files and Craig Henighan) - Nominated
• Outstanding Special Visual Effects (Paul Graff, Gayle Busby, Tom Ford, Michael Maher Jr., Martin Pelletier, Berter Orpak, Yvon Jardel, Nathan Arbuckle and Caius Man) - Nominated
• Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie (Hiro Koda) - Nominated

(Click here to view more awards for "Stranger Things 3".)

"Stranger Things 2"

New season means new characters and new hairstyles. Hopper's police buddy went from Egon to Weird Al, Eleven sports an Ellen Ripley, and nobody puts Nancy in a corner.
This new season has started to drift from the horror and the science fiction and towards the teen drama. Nancy seems to have it figured it out with Steve, but when Will's predicament sends her on a mission with Jonathan, she isn't sure anymore. Nancy is also torn with Barb's death, and it becomes a central part of the story where the conspiracy starts to leak into Hawkins. The drama between Mike and the Party also begins to take shape from young kids to awkward teens.
Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will meet tough girl, Max, also nicknamed Mad Max, and she is everything they could dream of in a girl: she plays video games, she rides a skateboard, and she is bullied by her older stepbrother. Okay, maybe not that last part, which I thought that whole thing was kind of generic. Generic older sibling bullies younger sibling so the younger sibling's friends help find the courage to fight back. And by the way, these boys encountered a girl with psionic powers. It should be no surprise that a girl can kick their ass at Dig Dug.
There is still a lot we don't know about the relationship between Max and Billy, her stepbrother. All we know is that they hate each other. Towards the end of the season, we see that Billy is also bullied by his father, so it makes sense to see why he's hard of Max; he is taking his anger out on her. I had several theories about how Max and Billy's relationship would change once she stood up to him. I thought that Billy would be just inherently evil, and he gets eaten by the Demodogs. Or he does a Steve from Season One and fights the Demodogs. Or she establishes dominance and controls him. Wanna take a guess what was picked? Since Billy lives, there is a possibility that they may reconcile their relationship and depend on each other. There is a tease in Season Three that Billy may be involved with the bad guy, but who knows if that will happen?
I began to think about this. Billy has been antagonizing Steve throughout the series, even before he punched him out for hiding Max. There was a shower scene, after basketball practice, in which Billy got really close to Steve and says that there are plenty of fish in the sea. On the surface, he is referring to the breakup with Nancy. But below, what if Billy is interested? That's right, I think Billy is gay. It's hard to know at this point because of a lot of guys in the eighties, I'm guessing from movies, sported some kind of earrings, ass hugging jeans, and a messy mullet. And even some rubbed their genitals with cologne. But I found that last one extra weird because I've never seen it done. Suppose Billy is jealous because Steve just broke up with the hottest girl in Hawkins High, and he's not interested in Billy. Even more tragic? His dad knows he's gay. I really would like to see this explored.
Max is a great new addition to the group. It was actually hilarious that Lucas and Dustin are fascinated by Max's hobbies and demeanors. I was kind of hoping that Dustin would wind up with Max with his pearls, but they went with Lucas and Max being the couple. It was a nice development for Lucas. He went from being a skeptical kid wanting some excitement to becoming a young man that wants a relationship with Max. Dustin was bummed that Max isn't fascinated by his discovery that will turn against them later, so he develops an unlikely relationship with Steve on how to get girls, of which involves embarrassing beauty products. We all have something we use that we want to keep secret. I use whatever shampoo there is in the shower, so I'm not afraid to say that some of them were Dove, Garnier, and TRESemmé. I've used some of that manly sh*t, Dove for Men and Nivea, and it destroys my hair.
Will may be back, but he still has nightmares about the Upside Down. But then, the nightmares turn real and he becomes a host to a new baddy who threatens the safety of Hawkins. This is a good turn because we get to experience more with Will and how he adjusts to life in Hawkins. But it's short-lived because of the Mind Flayer controlling him.
Mike is lashing out because he wants to be with Eleven. Ever since her disappearance he draws into himself thinking that there is nothing left to look forward to as she remains radio silent. But when Will needs help, Mike lights back up with determination to save him.
Eleven is now seeking refuge in a distant cabin with Hopper, and she is turning into a moody teen haunted by her past and equally tormented for not being able to be with Mike. The relationship with Eleven and Hopper blossoms as Hopper adjusts to being a dad again, and Eleven adjusts to learning how to be with a parent that isn't experimenting on her. He wants to keep her safe so that she isn't taken again, but he also wants to teach her to be a part of a family. He doesn't want to lose her like he lost Sarah. She wants to go out into the world and grow up like a normal child. She discovers she is not alone with her abilities. It turns out there was another girl with the power to create illusions for people. In a stand-alone episode, Eleven meets her and her gang as they battle people who experimented on them at Hawkins Lab. But Eleven, now wanting to be called Jane, soon realizes that she belongs with Mike and the Party. She returns to help close the gate and save Hawkins. And to top the cake, a birth certificate was created, and Hopper adopted Jane.
Joyce has a new boyfriend, and now you can die knowing that a Heather dated a Goonie in a TV series set in the eighties with a plotline from Gremlins and kind of Ghostbusters, and they deal with Carter Burke from Aliens, an eighties mashup you didn't know you wanted. It is very sad that Bob the Goonie had to bite the dust, but it opens up the possibility that Joyce and Hopper may rekindle a fling they once had. If you watched Beyond Stranger Things, you may find that Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp are delighted by the possibility of becoming siblings in the show.
The finale was probably the best episode to date, and it's all because Mike got to take Jane to the Snow Ball. The last scene was just pure joy. Lucas and Max dancing together, Nancy dancing with Dustin after he fails to get a girl, even Zombie Boy Will got to dance. I thought Nancy dancing with Dustin was a nice callback to the very first episode when he offered her some pizza. It shows that likes him back, just maybe not in a dating way. But who knows?
Then the moment we've been waiting FOREVER FOR, Mike and Jane dancing. Season Three better have more Mike and Jane moments. I NEED MORE MIKE AND JANE MAGIC IN MY LIFE! I actually went to the Snow Ball when I was in high school, in Indiana now less, so this scene is very dear to me. My first year, my date refused to dance at all, so I danced with someone else. The second year I went stag and had a lot of fun. My date now has a child with her boyfriend, so I'm sad because of what Mike and Jane have and I didn't. I didn't really have a middle school/high school romance. You can probably guess that from these post.
Well, enough about me. Season Two was awesome, and I can't forget Season Three to drop tomorrow, July 4th. I probably won't get around to right away because my family has plans. I hope you do too. You're outside burning burgers and not inside burning WiFi.

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Released On: October 27, 2019
Rating: TV-14
Stars: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Dacre Montgomery, Cara Buono, Sean Astin, Paul Reiser
Directors: The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Andrew Stanton, Rebecca Thomas
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.6 (Average)

Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Drama Series - Nominated
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series David Harbour - Nominated
• Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series The Duffer Brothers - Nominated
• Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series The Duffer Brothers - Nominated
• Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series Carmen Cuba, Tara Feldstein, and Chase Paris - Nominated
• Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour) Tim Ives - Nominated
• Outstanding Music Supervision Nora Felder - Nominated
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series Kevin D. Ross - Nominated
• Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series Bradley North, Craig Henighan, Tiffany S. Griffith, Jordan B. Wilby, David Werntz, Antony Zeller, David Klotz, Zane Bruce & Lindsay Pepper - Nominated
• Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) Joe Barnett, Adam Jenkins, Michael P. Clark & Bill Higley - Nominated
• Outstanding Visual Effects Paul Graff, Christina Graff, Michael Maher, Fred Raimondi, Seth Hill, Joel Sevilla, Alex Young, Steven Michael Dinozzi & Caius Man - Nominated

Golden Globes

• Best Television Series Drama - Nominated
• Best Supporting Actor Series, Miniseries, or Television Film David Harbour - Nominated

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series - Nominated
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series David Harbour - Nominated
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Millie Bobby Brown - Nominated
• Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Drama Series - Nominated

(Click here to view awards for the series.)

Videos

Screen Junkies - The COMPLETE Stranger Things Recap | CRAM IT!

"Stranger Things"

I revisited the first season for a little refresher before diving into Season Two. Which is dumb, I know, Season Two has been out for a while. My family and I watched Season One a couple years ago, and they didn't want to continue. I did, however. I wanted to know what happens to Mike after Eleven disappears with the Demogorgon. Then Will puked up the wormy slug thing. It's like what the F? So, here we go.
I've been wondering if we are relying too much on nostalgia that we no longer can tell a compelling story as a whole. I'm not against nostalgia at all, but there's got to be a balance; subtle references instead of it being in your face. This show is a perfect example of that balance. There are plenty of references throughout this series, but they are placed where they aren't distracting. There are times when Dustin would compare the situation to something in pop culture, and it worked because they're a bunch of nerds, so it's not out of place.
The story itself is brilliantly told, blending the many threads together to keep us engaged on a number of characters.
Mike's relationship with Eleven was probably the most compelling and the most tragic. His kindness allowed her to trust him, especially when he was able to adapt to her fears, like when she was afraid of closing the bathroom door. He still gave her privacy while leaving the door partially open. When she changed the compasses' directions away from the lab, he was really mad, and we feel alongside Eleven that she has lost his trust. But it takes true friendship to keep your even if seems lost. When Mike and Dustin were trapped at the quarry, Mike trusted Eleven, who ran away, to save him.
Speaking of trust, Lucas is a kid that is always trying to fit reality in the situation. When he broke off to find the lab himself, he was still willing to radio the others and warn them about the bad men, proving that he was not okay with letting his friends get caught.
Dustin is a gift from God, and you can't change my mind. His brilliant comedic timing helps bring light into their dark situations. When everyone brought various weapons to defend themselves, Dustin brought snacks. Later, he announces to the bullies that Eleven was their friend and "she's crazy." He was also able to get them out of unimaginable situations with Mr. Clarke, the most unobservant teacher ever. It doesn't occur to him how strange it is that a mysterious girl, he's never met, could be related to the destruction of his ham radio, the boys are interested in how to travel across dimensions, and they want to build a sensory deprivation tank for "fun."
Outside the group, there is an array of teen dramas. Nancy, Mike's sister, is your average teen from the eighties. She is secretly rebelling from her parents and is caught in a like/love triangle with two boys: Steve, an equally rebellious teen with a Harry Styles wig who thinks it's okay to sexually molest young girls, which Nancy tragically enjoys, and Jonathan, a mysterious teen who thinks it's okay to watch. Nancy is internally torn between bullying Jonathan, for the spying on their secret party, and defending Jonathan when Steve and his cronies tease Jonathan over Will's disappearance.
Jonathan definitely has a strong relationship with his younger brother, Will, so we could relate the guilt he has when Will was gone. But lucky for him, their bond in music helped keep Will alive because Eleven channeled Will singing "Should I Stay or Should I Go?", and they know he's alive.
Joyce, Jonathan and Will's mother, showed growth in courage over the course of the season. She went from being delirious over Will's disappearance to facing death in the Upside Down to rescue Will. She stopped at nothing to bring Will back even if it meant turning against friends and family because she knows her son was there, and it was tearing her up that she couldn't get to him.
Lucky for her, there was Chief Hopper at her side. The bored chief of police started to take interest in the disappearance of Will Byers when it began to link with the activity at Hawkins Lab. His tragic back story was unknown throughout much of the season but seemed to coincide with Joyce's misery because he actually lost his child to cancer. Throughout the series, he kept saying his distant daughter was bright and she understood all that science crap, and the irony is that he at first was stating that Joyce was making up Will's presence to cope with her loss; he has been doing the exact same thing. Then it all comes to light as he and Joyce travel to the Upside Down to retrieve Will. The flashbacks give the audience more reason to fight for Hopper because, like him, we don't want to lose another child.
I love how this show was balanced between adventure, science fiction, horror, and traditional drama that it keeps you engaged and wanting more. I want more. I can't wait to get to Season Two.

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Released On: July 15, 2016
Rating: TV-14
Stars: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine
Directors: The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.9 (Average)

Awards
Primetime Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Drama Series - Nominated
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series David Harbour - Nominated
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Millie Bobby Brown - Nominated
• Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series The Duffer Brothers - Nominated
• Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series The Duffer Brothers - Nominated
• Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Shannon Purser - Nominated
• Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period Program (One Hour or More) Chris Trujillo, William Davis& Jess Royal - Nominated
• Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series Carmen Cuba, Tara Feldstein & Chase Paris - Nominated
• Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour) Tim Ives - Nominated
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series Dean Zimmerman - Winner
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series Kevin D. Ross - Nominated
• Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series Sarah Hindsgaul & Evelyn Roach - Nominated
• Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) Myke Michaels & Teresa Vest - Nominated
• Outstanding Music Supervision Nora Felder - Nominated
• Outstanding Sound Editing for a Drama Series Bradley North, Craig Henighan, Jordan Wilby, Jonathan Golodner, Tiffany S. Griffth, Sam Munoz, David Klotz, Noel Vought & Ginger Geary - Winner
• Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) Joe Barnett, Adam Jenkins, Chris Durfy & Bill Higley - Nominated
• Outstanding Main Title Design Michelle Dougherty, Peter Frankfurt, Arisu Kashiwagi & Eric Demeusy - Winner
• Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Michael Stein & Kyle Dixon - Winner
• Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media within a Scripted Program Stranger Things VR Experience - Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

• Best Television Series Drama - Nominated
• Best Actress in a Television Series Drama Winona Ryder - Nominated

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Main Cast - Winner
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Winona Ryder - Nominated
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Millie Bobby Brown - Nominated

(Click here to view more awards for Stranger Things, and here to view awards for the series.)

Videos
Screen Junkies - Honest Trailers - Stranger Things
TV Sins - Everything Wrong with Stranger Things Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers
TV Sins - Everything Wrong with Stranger Things Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street
Screen Junkies - The COMPLETE Stranger Things | CRAM IT!

"Avengers: Endgame"

I don't care how big a movie will be in the future. I will never sit through a three-hour movie again. The second I saw "Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo", I fled to the bathroom.
However, since it's still fresh in theaters and not everyone has seen it yet, I will try to make this as spoiler-free as I can. #DontSpoilTheEndgame
The universe is mourning for the loss of everyone. And no one is feeling it more than the Avengers. That's kind of redundant, I know. It's been like that for a year.
The Snap, even though it got rid of some lives, it brought back familiar faces. Clint Barton returns, and he's sporting a new weapon, obviously.
There were moments where I thought the movie was a little cheesy, but it was a necessary cheesy to help break the tension, stirred by Infinity War. It actually helped the audience give moral support to the Avengers even though they didn't know it.
Much like Infinity War, a lot of ground was covered. This kind of required knowledge from all the previous movies. I even had extra knowledge from watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which added some more scary assistance tension in one particular sequence.
I wondered at the end of Infinity War and I kept wondering throughout this movie what a snap sounds like through a metal glove. I still don't think they got it right. But I never heard a proper snap in a metal glove, so what do I know?
The Stan Lee cameo was probably the shortest and definitely the saddest of them all, knowing that it's his last one. You will have to br attentive to catch it. Even though he is physically no longer here, there will probably be ways where he could still be present in future movies. There are photos, archive footage; this is possibly career suicide, but what about motion capture? Someone posing as Stan Lee?
Those of you who stayed with me on this journey, you know my feelings on Tony Stark. I hate him with all my guts. I don't know if Tony's actions are justifiable. Yeah, it wound up okay, but I don't think it redeems everything he's done. It's like he destroys property on three different continents and claims millions of lives over the years, and he expects everything to be okay when he snaps his fing---Oops!
Well, I guess my time is up, I've said too much. It was great. It is worth the watch. Just maybe not in the theaters or else you may face an exploding bladder. But if you're up to the challenge, go.

Now, before I go, I have an announcement. I will be taking an indefinite break from blogging about movies. I have been spending a lot of time criticizing movies rather than enjoying them. Watching them just isn't fun anymore. I need to retrain myself on how to enjoy movies and TV shows again.
I also need to step away from the computer now that summer is approaching. A lot of beaches to hit near me. A lot of exciting movies are coming to my local drive-in, and surprise, I've never been. So that's definitely on my bucket list.
I also have been out of college for a year, and I'm looking to get back in. I have been accepted to three universities, so I will be heading to those colleges and will be making my decision.
I thank you all for staying with me these last eight months, especially since Thanksgiving. It has been a wild ride, and I to see so many movies. I was really glad to share them with you. What started as a fun idea became a part of me, and I am grateful.
I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you all once again. Have a great summer. I'll see you next time.

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Released On: April 26, 2019
Rating: PG-13
Stars: Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Don Cheadle, Bradley Cooper, Brie Larson, Josh Brolin
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.9/10

Awards
Academy Awards

• Best Visual Effects Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken & Dan Sudick - Nominated 

Videos
How It Should Have Ended - Avengers Endgame - HISHE Reviews (SPOILERS)
How It Should Have Ended - How The Avengers Endgame Trailer Should Have Ended
How It Should Have Ended - How Avengers: Endgame Should Have Ended
How It Should Have Ended - Avengers: Endgame Alternate HISHE
How It Should Have Ended - Behind the Scenes Avengers: Endgame HISHE
CinemaSins - Everything Wrong with Avengers: Endgame in Time Travel Minutes or Less
Screen Junkies - Honest Trailers | Avengers: Endgame

"Captain Marvel"

Before we begin, if you wish to see what I wrote on my other blog, Before I Go See It, you may do so at the following links below.

Before I Go See It: Captain Marvel
Before I Go See It: Captain Marvel Super Bowl Trailer

Now, on to the main event.

A FUCKING CAT CLAWED OUT FURY'S EYE??!!!

Sorry, let me rephrase that.

A FUCKING FLERKEN CLAWED OUT FURY'S EYE??!!!

Rising warrior, Vers, is about to prove herself with a mission to rescue a Kree spy when they are ambushed by the band of Skrulls, shapeshifting aliens that have been keeping the viewers on the edge since Hydra took over S.H.I.E.L.D.
She gets captured, and the Kree are tapping into her memories that are buried deep until she uses her the photon blasters in her hands to break out and get away from her captors. Unfortunately, her blasting about caused her to crash land on Earth, in a Blockbuster Video. From there, she contacts her crew and awaits their signal.
The next morning, Agent Nick Fury and Agent Phil Coulson arrive to pick up Vers when Skrulls attack. One even takes the form of Coulson, until Fury causes a car accident and kills the Skrull...and nearly losing his trademark eye.
Then the movie takes a trip down Buddy Cop Lane by having Vers and Fury team up and find the whereabouts of Dr. Lawson, a woman locked up in Vers' memories. And that's not the only thing locked up in her memories. She begins to remember that she once had a life before she was part of the Kree. She was always torn down by boys and men. They don't want her to win at racing go-carts, pool, karaoke, or making it into the Air Force.
Fury and Vers find that Maria Rambeau is the last person to see Lawson alive. They visit Rambeau and discover that Vers knows her and her daughter. But they aren't the only ones. A few members of the Skrulls have come to persuade Vers to join their cause. It turns out the Skrulls are a refugee species that the Kree are trying to eliminate. Not only did Vers know Dr. Lawson, but she helped her on a test that would set off a chain of events that involves them crashing. Lawson is actually a Kree scientist that was aiding the Skrulls. Her project was to create a lightspeed technology to aid in their journey for a new home. When they crashed, Yon-Rogg, who was her mentor, killed Lawson and was about to kill Vers, but Vers shot the engine to destroy it and absorbed the energy core inside it in the most Hulk-ifying way. So Yon-Rogg took her to train her.
In the ultimate battle, we discover that Lawson's secret lab was hovering in space, the Tesseract is what gave Vers her power, and a stowaway cat, named Goose, is actually a dangerous Flerken that can shoot tentacles out of his mouth. And for the first time ever, a hero actually let the enemy live. No, Loki does not count; he let himself go. But instead of locking Yon-Rogg, Vers, now called Carol, sends him to the Kree with a message that she will be coming for them. Carol gives Fury his pager back, since she took it from him in the beginning because he called back up, and said to use it in emergencies only.
I want to apologize for my anger towards her, wondering where she was when the world was dissolving. She was helping the Skrulls find a home.
I feel this was very bad planning by Marvel. Carol has made an appearance in the Endgame trailers; we know she's gonna be in the movie. And when she shows up in the mid-credits scene, it's like "Well, duh!"
It was cool seeing Coulson back in action after what I saw at the end of season five of S.H.I.E.L.D. It makes sense how Fury and Coulson ticked in the early days of the MCU. They worked together. And when Fury "died", he made Coulson the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. But I think something doesn't add up. Coulson's a rookie agent in this movie, set in 1995. In episode whatever the hell, of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson and Agent May were in charge of the infant Daisy to put her in an orphanage in 1989. The show and the movies failed to mention how it takes to move up a level in S.H.I.E.L.D.
I don't know whether to be excited or annoyed that the Avengers Initiative was named after Carol's callsign. It's like, "Oh, cool, the Avengers are named after Captain Marvel," while at the same time, it's like, "Really? The Avengers are named after Captain Marvel?" Then it kind of doesn't make sense. The first Captain America movie is called The First Avenger. He's never called that in the movie, so what gives?
Speaking of Captain America, a classmate of my sister thinks that this movie was sexist to underprivileged boys. <Sighs><Sits down, like I'm old> Steve Rogers is an underprivileged boy. The skinny kid from Brooklyn enlisted to the U. S. Army five times, and every time he gets turned down. Then he's given the opportunity to take part in a secret experiment that gave him his powers.
I heard that Steve doesn't like Carol, and I see why. She's him, only better. Remember, his best power is that he could never get drunk. Carol's best power? We don't f*cking know! Legend says she can time travel and go binary, which sounds like she turns into a cyborg. My point is that it was long overdue for a girl-led movie. The main leads in the solo movies are Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther, all males. Even the Guardians of the Galaxy is led by a male, even though the girl one is the most badass of the bunch.
The whole theme of the movie is "Discover what makes her a hero". Every time she falls over, gets pushed down, crashes, every time she goes down, she gets back up. That's what makes her a hero. She's strong. She's intelligent. She doesn't have to prove Jude Law anything. That is what makes her a hero.

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I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return next week with another movie. See you then.

Released On: March 8, 2019
Rating: PG-13
Stars: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 7.2/10

Videos
Screen Junkies - Which Avenger Should Be a Skrull? MOVIE FIGHTS (First twenty minutes is all you need.)
CinemaSins - Everything Wrong With Captain Marvel in 16 Minutes or Less
Screen Junkies - Honest Trailers | Captain Marvel
How It Should Have Ended - How Captain Marvel Should Have Ended

"Logan"

I'm going to make some enemies with this one.
I will admit that this movie was different from what we've seen with the character of Logan. But if you take everything off the fact that everyone got what they wanted, Wolverine yelling profanity, bloodily killing people in the way that Wolverine knows how to, you still get yet another sh*tty Wolverine movie.
In the distant future, which I guess we're now looking at three very different timelines from the first X-Men Trilogy to the reboot/sequel trilogy to the Wolverine trilogy, Logan is losing his powers, mutants are all but extinct, and he's a dad. Logan encounters a little girl with her own set of Wolverine powers to match, and she needs his help to safely cross the Canadian border. Logan halls Charles Xavier along as he is also dying. He is having seizures that could potentially kill anyone within, let's say, a half mile radius. So we get a generic running across the country movie as the bad guy, who created Laura the mutant girl, wants her back so that she can be destroyed. Apparently, the age of mutants is ending with not a single one being born in 25 years. Instead, they are being created in the lab the same way Wolverine has, and all of them are being broken out of the facility to a sanctuary in a place called Eden in Canada.
Along the way, they encounter the guy from ER and they accidentally get him killed because of the generosity he offers. Charles also gets killed in the process and Logan is left with a little mute girl. Who turns out to not be so mute after all. But she can lift him into a car, drive him to a medical facility, and even drive him out to the outpost where the other mutants are waiting to be gathered before making the trek across the border.
In the final showdown, Logan gets plunged into a tree by a mutant that's his own match and perhaps his own clone. As he lays dying, he is almost joyous that he now understands what dying feels like. And Laura buries him just minutes from Logan's home country. We never really get to know if they made it to Eden or not. We don't even know if Eden is even real. We're just left at Logan's burial site where Laurel has taken the cross and turn it on a side to where it makes an X instead.
I was not at all sad when Logan died because you guys are burned me out on that. It was everywhere for the last 2 years. I know Wolverine dies. Logan dies. Hugh Jackman has hung up the claws for the last time. So what? Who cares? And by the way, Logan was not the star of this movie; Laura was. She kicked more ass in her limited amount of screen time than Hugh Jackman ever did in 17 years of playing the role. She should have her own movie. I hope you guys are working on that maybe you should call it Laura.
Also, I thought the Johnny Cash song was weirdly placed. I know the trailer featured a Johnny Cash song, but that song was "Hurt." That mafe sense for the tone. Here, we're still getting used to the fact that Logan is dead, and now we're bopping to "When the Man Comes Around." To rub some salt into the wound, maybe you try "Cry, Cry, Cry."

Everybody knows where you go when the Wolv'rine's dead

Seeing him there will be a kick in the head

Hugh Jackman's done, now he's saying "bye, bye, bye"

When he turns around and walks away, you'll cry, cry, cry

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I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return on Friday with another movie. See you then.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.1/10

Awards
Academy Awards

• Best Adapted Screenplay Scott Frank, James Mangold & Michael Green - Nominated

Saturn Awards

• Best Comic-to-Film Motion Picture - Nominated
• Best Actor Hugh Jackman - Nominated
• Best Supporting Actor Patrick Stewart - Winner
• Best Performance by a Young Actor Dafne Keen - Nominated
• Best Writing Scott Frank, James Mangold & Michael Green - Nominated
• Best Editing - Michael McCusker & Dirk Westervelt - Nominated

(Click here to view more awards for "Logan." )

Videos
How It Should Have Ended - How Logan Should Have Ended
CinemaSins - Everything Wrong With Logan in 17 Minutes or Less
Screen Junkies - Honest Trailers - Logan (Featuring Deadpool) - 200th Episode