In Theaters: Avengers: *****End Game (2019)

Avengers: End Game:  This is the most anticipated movie in some time; and it more than lives up to all the hype.  From Thanos’ “I am inevitable” to “I am Iron Man” and all the ride along the way, this movie is great.  Of course the thing about this movie is having all the characters together.  There is too much here to give a plot summary, but suffice it to say this movie entertains and appeals to Avenger fans, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy and Dr. Strange.  It has all the characters taking part in their turn.  There is a part during the major battle where all the women are going to protect the glove and it just seemed to miss as tried to make a politically correct statement.  And then of course the fumbled the glove anyway as Thanos had said, :He is inevitable.”  However that is my only complaint.  A couple of our major Avenger friends will not be coming back it appears, but there are plenty others who are ready for the continued Avenger Universe, including Peter parker and Spider man later this year.  This is a must see.  In fact it warrants going back and seeing all the Avenger movies.

Robert Downey Jr.     Tony Stark/ Iron Man
Chris Evans                Steve Rogers/ Captain America
Mark Ruffalo               Bruce Banner / Hulk
Chris Hemsworth        Thor
Scarlett Johansson     Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Jeremy Renner            Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Paul Rudd                   Scott Lang / Ant-Man
Benedict Cumberbatch  Doctor Strange
Chadwick Boseman    T'Challa / Black Panther
Brie Larson                  Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
Tom Holland                Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Karen Gillan                 Nebula
Zoe Saldana                Gamora
and many more
Marvel Universe

Movie Review: ***^ Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Jumanji is just a fun movie.  It is not a movie with any moral lessons, but just to have a good time.  Four high school kids, transport themselves from high school detention to inside the Jumanji Game, where they have to go through a series of levels, and save Jumanji.  At the same time, they have only three lives.  In real life a nerd, Spencer (Alex Wolff) becomes the hero in Jumanji (Dwayne Johnson.)  The football player, Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain) becomes the back pack holder (Kevin Hart.)  the socialite Bethany (Madison Iseman) changes gender, loses her phone and becomes a zoologist (Jack Black.)  Martha, a nerdy woman (Morgan Turner) becomes the woman in short shorts (Karen Gillam.)  Each has their own skills and weaknesses.  Spencer is a good runner and climber.  Fridge blows up when he eats cake, Martha is good at fight dancing and Bethany knows animals.  However the team is not complete until they find someone who has been in the game for 20 years, Alex (Nick Jonas.)  This movie is pretty OK throughout.  There are some cracks at humor based on the changing gender, and part of Bethany. 

Movie Review: ***^The Circle (2017)

This is a movie with an all star cast in my mind, but didn't quite hit the mark.  It stars Tom Hanks as Bailey, CEO of a mega giant computer company, and Emma Watson, as Mary, new employee.  Annie (Karen Gillan) helps recruit her, and over the course of the movie sees Mary move up while she moves down. This company is a bit different, in that the philosophy is that the company owns you, and they are able to actually do this through their cameras, and computer soft ware.  They know everything there is to know.  When this goes wrong, and Bailey's boyfriend (Ellar Coltrane) ends up driving off a bridge as a result, the tide turns.  Ty (John Boyega) is an important character.  He developed the soft ware, but is not pleased with how it is being applied.  Mary and Ty decide to do something about it.
Sheri and I went to this movie.  Sheri thought it was great, except for the ending as it didn't really end.  It has that eerie feel to it which is popular.  Sheri thought the company it was portraying may have been Apple.  It was in the Bay area, with a large circular campus.  Apple is finishing their circular building in Cupertino, and is also in the Bay area.  I was not so enthusiastic about the film.  I think these stars could have done more.

Movie Review: ****Guardians of the Galaxy Volumn 2 (2017)

Again our heroes team up to save the galaxy, this time from the father of Peter (Chris Pratt), Ego (Kurt Russell).  This movie has all our old beloved characters, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) the blue humanoid, Drax (Dave Bautista), the tattooed guardian, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper)  the raccoon looking creature and Groot (voiced by Van Diesel).  In addition to Ego, we have two other new characters, an empath named Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Gamora's sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan).  First our heroes are saved by Ego, and then betrayed by him, as he is hoping to use Peter to help him reshape the universe, destroying all life except himself and his son.  Seems pretty demented.  However, since Ego is an immortal, it makes his defeat pretty complicated.  Yondu (Michael Rooker) the individual who kidnapped Peter when he was young, and emotional abused him,  also plays an important part, that enables Peter to come to terms with his past, and understand what happened.  The two sisters finally come to an understanding, after trying to kill each other most of their lives.  Some of the funniest moments happen when the empath interprets the emotions of the others.
The think that makes this movie is the relationships between the characters.  there is platonic love, admiration, friendship and camaraderie.   In theaters now and good for a fun adventure.

T.V. Review: Doctor Who: Season Seven

I had on of those weekends.  I discovered Doctor Who season seven available on Netflix, and had to watch the whole thing right now--sixteen episodes. 
This is great stuff as the Doctor (Matt Smith) battles against the Daleks, and many other old and new enemies.  We are introduced to Oswin Oswald (Jenna Coleman) in "Asylum of the Daleks" who later becomes Doctor Who's side kick in another form.  Rory (Arthur Darville) and Amy (Karen Gillan) are also with the Doctor as they try to turn of the force field so the Daleks can destroy the planet which holds all the deranged Daleks who they fear are gong to escape.  It is with the help of Oswald that the are able to do this, but she dies in the effort.  (She had previously been turned into a Dalek, but had an imaginary life as a continued woman making a souffle.
The Doctor then saves Dinosaurs the the next episode, and fails to slave a man who committed war crimes, but does save his victim, a man told warrior through cybernetics.  This has a western theme, and our half man half robot becomes the sheriff. 
"The Power of Three" is a very interesting episode.  This episode takes place over a year.  Strange black boxes show up, and people put them everywhere.  In the end however, the all activate together; and emit an electrical pulse which kills people by stopping their hearts.  The Doctor discovers the Shakri are behind this.  They have condemned humans to extinction.  He is able to manipulate the boxes so the zap everybody back to life. 
"The Angels Take Manhattan" is the end of the road for the Ponds.  Rory gets zapped back in time, and Amy decides to join him.
We have a precreation of Clara in "The Snowmen."  In this episode we are introduced to the major nemesis for the season, the "Great Intelligence"; in this case snow with intelligence, which is wanting to take over the earth by adding snow and human DNA.  The Doctor is able to intervene,  but Clara dies in the efforts.  However the Doctor realizes this Clara, and the Oswald who previously passed away are the same person. 
The next episode the Doctor find a present day Clara.  She is a nanny, but is attacked by the Wifi.  The Doctor is able to thwart their effort, and get Clara's soul back.  The "Great Intelligence" was using peoples' souls to become stronger. 
Clara decides to join the Doctor, and the go to someplace exciting, "The Rings of Akhaten" where we see a girl, singing her way to be sacrificed by a great monster.  Singing seems to be an important part of this season.  The music is beautiful, but leads to the young girl, princess, being taken by the entity to be sacrificed to the old god, a parasite feeding off people's memories.  Clara and the Doctor team up to defeat the monster, with the help of still more singing.  
The Doctor prevents the Cold War from becoming hot be convincing a long forgotten "Ice warrior" from Mars that a researcher found in the Arctic ice, not to fire nuclear missiles.  He is rescued by the last remains of his own people. 
In "Hide" the Doctor is able to rescue a woman caught between two universes, and also help the monster who is just searching for love. 
The TARDIS is captured for salvage on "Journey to the Center of the TARDIS."  The TARDIS was damaged, and in fact exploded when captured--but this hasn't manifested as the TARDIS froze the explosion.  However then comes the attempt to find Clara who is lost in the TARDIS, confront monsters of yourself, and go back and get a do over.
In the "Crimson Terror" The Doctor needs rescuing, as he has become a rejected victim of the red plague.  Some characters Salurian, her wife, and Strax a Sontaran, help with the rescue,  They have been helping fight the "Great Intelligence."  Our evil witch, under the influence of a parasite plans to release the red plague; however the Doctor and his team intervene.
"Nightmare in Silver" the Doctor and Clara face the Cybermen.  However it is Porridge, the lowest of all it seems, who saves the day.
The season concludes with three episodes, "The Name of the Doctor," "The Day of the Doctor" and "The Time of the Doctor".  In the first we discover why Clara keeps showing up at different spots in the life of the Doctor.  In the "Day of the Doctor" we get to see three different doctors including David Tennant, and many others, although perhaps just in poster form. as he goes back reviews the decision he made to destroy his own people and the Daleks.  The result is not the same.  And finally, someone across the different Universes is asking for the Doctors name, which is a key word, and if given will lead to great war.  The Doctor lives through his live, hundreds of years, defending the people of a town called Christmas.  The Doctor eventually dies, but in that death comes new birth, which rebirth sets many things right.
Doctor Who always entertains. 

TV Review: *****Doctor Who Season Five

Doctor Who keeps getting better and better.  This is another wild ride. This season introduces Matt Smith as the Doctor who loves his bow tie, and Karen Gillam as Amy Pond.  It starts with the Doctor, newly incarnated, coming to help a girl with a crack in her wall.  The crack follows just about every episode this season.  The Doctor says he will be right back, but actually comes back a dozen years later and Amy is now a woman.
My favorite episode included Vincent van Gogh.  I admire his work, and we get to see smatterings of it in the museum, and in Vincent's flat.  Vincent can see a monster others, including the Doctor, cannot see.  The monster has been killing innocents.  It looks like a big chicken.  In the end it is defeated.  In an effort to change Van Gogh's imminent suicide, they show him his legacy.  However it does not prevent his suicide. 
The weeping angels are back in a two part episode.  Only this time there are hundreds of them, and they are out to get them.  However the angels are scared of the crack through which if anything passes they are forgotten and never existed.
Rory, played by Arthur Darvill, Amy's fiance, joins her on the Tardis.  They face off against vampires, an evil dream keeper and they have to choose between two dream sets and pick the real one so as to not die. There is a less serious one where The Doctor takes on as a human and rents a room.  He plays soccer and eats biscuits and tries to be human to fool the entity upstairs, where there really is not an upstairs, but through the powers of a space vehicle one was been created in everyone's mind. 
The show then turns serious as the Tardis blows up, and it is actually this event seeping through time and universes, which has caused the crack. The Doctor has to close the crack, leaving himself on the other side, and can only be brought back if someone remembers him.  This happens at Rory's and Amy's wedding when remembers something blue.

TV Review: *****Doctor Who Season Six

Dr Who Season 6 is now available through Netflix DVD.  The other seasons are on instant Netflix.  This is a terrific ride.  The season starts with Doctor Who's Death, then goes back and explains things on the road to this event.  There are some incredible turns in the general plot, for example we see the Doctor's marriage to River Song, discover who are her parents, and are introduced to the "Silence."  The Silence are evil creatures who you don't remember when you are not looking at them.  They are like a great conspiracy, manipulating things without anyone knowing about them.  They are still around at the end, and it is the Silence who have decided the Doctor must die.

This series has a greater use of poetry which is highly effective.  It also has a way of bringing back old characters.  In this case the characters are often old nemesis who now owe the Doctor.  This is especially true with the kidnapping of Amy and Rorie's baby girl.  She was conceived in the TARDIS which causes her to have time lord characteristics.

This is a show you have to see.  I watched Doctor Who as a youth, staying up late to watch it on PBS.  The plots and stories were fun then, but the special effects were always lacking.  That is no longer a problem, and the stories have just gotten more intriguing.  I LIKE DOCTOR WHO.