Test 2

Okay. So I'm going to try to NOT spoil anything for you. But, if the mere thought of spoilers freaks you out, then get outta here.

Late last week, The Wife texted me that she and the kids had been chatting about going to see Captain Marvel in the theater. My jaw nearly hit the floor. Then I texted her back:



The Boy? Not surprised. He's been watching these movies with me for a while. Until recently, my daughter has expressed zero interest in "superhero" movies. She enjoys CW shows like "The Flash" and "Legends of Tomorrow" (DC, blech), but hasn't been interested in full-length, comic book movies. DC or otherwise. So for her to express interest in anything Marvel-related, let alone comic related, was shocking.

So on Sunday afternoon we went to the AMC Big-D in Altoona.

Full disclosure: I was not overly familiar with the backstory of Captain Marvel prior to seeing the movie. I had a basic understanding of the character, but the movie did a great job filling in the blanks. The writers were really good at explaining the origin of the character without doing a half-hearted job of it in the first 10 minutes. Rather, it took most of the film for viewers to really understand where Vers/Carol Danvers comes from.

The whole ordeal was fantastic. The cinematic spectacle was great (I would watch any Marvel film on a really big screen). The writing was excellent. The supporting cast - particularly Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg as a young Nick Fury and Phil Coulson - also fantastic.

As someone whose formative years were in the 1990s, one of the best parts of best parts of the flick was the fact that a large portion of the movie takes place on earth in the 90s. The soundtrack was straight-up excellent. With the likes of No Doubt, TLC, Hole, Nirvana, and Salt'N'Peppa, how can you go wrong? Another fantastic bit was the fact that Kevin Smith's movie Mallrats was referenced in the movie.

Kevin Smith's reaction to being referenced in the flick  (spoiler alert coming - if you don't want to be spoiled, skip watching this video):



LOVE ME some Kevin Smith! (If you haven't seen Mallrats, go stream it now. I think that it's on Amazon Prime or Netflix...)

And I'm not the only one who liked Captain Marvel. The box office receipts tell a similar story:

Captain Marvel shattered expectations, and the hopes of hundreds of angry trolls, this past weekend. The Marvel Studios origin movie raked in a whopping $153 million at the domestic box office, making it the best-performing opening weekend of the year. The Captain Marvel box office received an even bigger push internationally, soaring past $455 million at the global box office to become the sixth-highest worldwide debut ever.

This, despite butt-hurt fanboys dissing the movie prior to its release.

Lastly, and what I think is the best part, I would describe Captain Marvel in four words: kick ass girl power. Like Black Panther before it, Captain Marvel was an homage to the idea that the individual that saves lives (nay, the world) doesn't have to be a white dude. And this is why it was a great introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for my daughter.

Bonus: after we got out of the movie theater we had to formulate a plan for my daughter to get caught-up with other MCU movies so that she would be ready to watch Avengers: Endgame when it comes out next month. This includes us watching:

• Captain America: the First Avenger
• The Avengers
• The Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Thor: Ragnarok
• The Avengers: Infinity War

So we've got our work cut out for us.