Captain America: Civil War - A Spoiler-Free Review

I know I'm going to upset a lot of people with these comments, so let's get it over with.

On the whole, I'd place Civil War on-par with Batman V. Superman.

Now, I see you Marvel Zombies are readying your pitchforks and torches, so let me explain why.

Basically, Civil War has the exact same over-riding problems Batman V. Superman did.

It's primarily concerned with offering fan-service and making references to the comics at the expense of a cohesive story. It requires some characters to act in a blatantly illogical fashion in order for the plot to work. The villain's evil plan is entirely dependent upon coincidences that should be entirely beyond their control that are never adequately explained. And - much like Age of Ultron before it - Civil War seemed like it was more concerned with setting up upcoming movies than it was in telling its own stories. As Batman V. Superman left us more excited about Wonder Woman, so too does Civil War leave us more excited about Black Panther and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Now with that being said, did I like the movie?

Yes!


Technically, the film is far from perfect.. The first hour drags a bit. There's some incredibly cheap CGI. And a lot of the fight scenes are filmed WAY too close and the jump-cuts went by so fast I thought for a moment the projector was running at a too-fast frame-rate.

But THE fight scene - you know the one I mean - THAT fight scene is perfect.

The acting is great across the board. Tom Holland in particular is impressive and not just because he is easily the most comics-accurate Spider-Man we've ever seen in a live-action work.

Overall, I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Good. Not great. Better than Age of Ultron. Not as good as Winter Soldier.

Oh, and one more thing - stick around through ALL the credits. There's two sequences to look out for.

Dallas Comic Con 2014 - ALL THE PICTURES! - Part One

Usually when I write a con report, I talk about the lay out, the experience, the things I did and the people I met.  Given the sheer number of pictures I took this time around, that isn't going to be very practical and I said everything I wanted to say about the con experience already in my first article about DCC 2014.

So what I'm going to do is go through all the pictures and tag as many I can per update.  I'll do five such postings per day until I get through them all.  Whenever possible, I'll link the websites of the cosplayers and other people who are involved.  Please feel free to speak up if I miss something or someone and I'll correct it ASAP.

Clear?  Good.  Now, my journey through DCC... in pictures!



A family of Browncoats as Wash, Kaylee, River and Jayne.


Green Arrow and Black Canary. 


War Machine in his Iron Patriot rig. This little hero chased me down & returned my bow when, in my haste to get through registration, I set it down and forgot it.  And they say there's no heroes...


"FEED ME!" - Seymour and Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. 


Black Widow and Doctor Strange.

Another Black Canary and Green Arrow.  You'd think there was a convention of them...


Deadpool: You know, everyone keeps confusing me with you?
Deathstroke: Ditto.



Female Scruffy from the Futurama episode Neutopia.


Wayne and Garth?  Excellent! 


Batgirl


Dr. Henry Jones Sr. was handing out discount passes for the Indiana Jones And The Adventure Of Archaeology exhibit currently at the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History until August 10th.


All the kids love Deathstroke.  It's kind of disturbing...


Yet another Black Canary and Green Arrow.  In this case, it's me with Chelphie Cosplay.

Austin Comic Con - Part Two

Cobra Commander planning strategy (i.e. playing with his dolls).

This display made possible by The Austin Toy Museum.
Abby from NCIS.
Future Finn and Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time.  
Go Go Power Rangers!

Supergirl.  
Link from The Legend of Zelda.   
Supergirl.  
War Machine.
Zombie Lara Croft!
Zombie Lara Croft and her friend hadn't had a picture together all day.
I was happy to oblige them - you don't argue with Lara Croft or a zombie!  
Green Lantern.
Emerald Allies.  Predator.
Sadly, DC declined to option a Green Arrow vs. Predator: Hunters comic.