Avengers: Infinity War / ***½ (PG-13)

Marvel Studios

Tony Stark/Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr.

Thor: Chris Hemsworth

Bruce Banner/Hulk: Mark Ruffalo

Steve Rogers/Captain America: Chris Evans

Natasha Romanoff: Scarlett Johansson

James Rhodes/ War Machine: Don Cheadle

Doctor Strange: Benedict Cumberbatch

Peter Parker/Spider-Man: Tom Holland

T’Challa/ Black Panther: Chadwick Boseman

Gamora: Zoe Saldana

Nebula: Karen Gillan

Loki: Tom Hiddleston

Vision: Paul Bettany

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch: Elizabeth Olsen

Sam Wilson/Falcon: Anthony Mackie

Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Sebastian Shaw

Heimdall: Idris Elba

Okoye: Danai Gurira

Mantis: Pom Klementieff

Drax: Dave Bautista

Groot (voice): Vin Diesel

Rocket (voice): Bradley Cooper

Pepper Potts: Gwenyth Paltrow

The Collector: Benicio Del Toro

Thanos: Josh Brolin

Peter Quill/Star-Lord: Chris Pratt

Marvel Studios & Walt Disney Pictures presents a film directed by Anthony Russo & Joe Russo. Written by Christopher Markus & Stephen Feely.  Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Captain America created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Star-Lord created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan. Rocket Raccoon created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen. Thanos, Gamora & Drax created by Jim Starlin. Groot created by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby. Mantis created by Steve Englehart and Don Heck. Running time: 149 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references).

I struggle to find exactly what to discuss about Marvel’s latest epic cinematic enterprise, Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel is very good at building toward big events such as this one, and they’ve spent several movies worth over the past few years building to this movie in particular. Just look at that cast list. Don’t think I’ve listed the only faces you’ll recognize from other Marvel movies either. The subjects of those movies have their own unrelated adventures, and little details and credit cookies in them lend hints toward the greater story that they all are building toward. Now it is here. It is a good story and a fitting one considering the grandeur of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The set ups are done and the players play their part and to say any more than that would spoil everything they’ve built. So, I will leave you with this biblical verse, which in itself may be saying too much.

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

                                                                                                                        Genesis 3:19

Avengers: Age of Ultron / *** (PG-13)

Tony Stark/Iron Man: Robert Downey, Jr.

Thor: Chris Hemsworth

Steve Rogers/Captain America: Chris Evans

Bruce Banner/Hulk: Mark Ruffalo

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow: Scarlett Johansson

Clint Barton/Hawkeye: Jeremy Renner

Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver: Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch: Elizabeth Olsen

Ultron (voice): James Spader

J.A.R.V.I.S./Vision: Paul Bettany

Nick Fury: Samuel L. Jackson

Walt Disney and Marvel Studios present a film written & directed by Joss Whedon. Based on the Marvel Comis characters created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby. Running time: 141 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi action, violence and destruction, and for some suggestive comments).

POW! KRACKOOOM! KCHOW! BAMM!

These words typically associated with comic books could easily fill in for the sound effects in the opening sequence of “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, the second film in the “Avengers” franchise and eleventh overall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, these and similar words could fill the soundtrack of almost the entire nearly 2 ½ hour running time of the movie. It is wall to wall to ceiling to floor action. It even has a little bit of the science fiction themes and soap operatic elements that sold so many of the children of the 80s on comic book culture.

For those who are doing their best to consume everything MCU they possibly can, the plot picks up the moment where this past week’s TV episode of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” left off. I was disappointed not to see at least a brief cameo by Agent Coulson, however. For those of you who just want to kick off your summer with a balls-out smash blockbuster action spectacular, don’t worry, you don’t need to have seen one second of the television show to understand and enjoy what’s happening on the big screen.

Television Thoughts ‘15—Agent Carter (2015) ***

TV-PG, 8 43-min. episodes

Creators: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Directors: Stephen Cragg, Louis D’Esposito, Peter Leto, Christopher Misiano, Vincent Misiano, Joe Russo, Stephen Williams, Scott Winant

Writers: Stan Lee (characters), Jack Kirby (characters), Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Eric Pearson, Lindsey Allen, Andi Bushell, Tara Butters, Chris Dingess, Brant Englestein, Michele Fazekas, Jose Molina

Starring: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj, Shea Whigham, Lyndsy Fonseca, Bridget Regan, Ralph Brown, Meagan Fay

Guest starring: Dominic Cooper, Kyle Bornheimer, Lesley Boone, Alexander Carroll, James Frain, James Landry Hébert, Devin Ratray, James Urbaniak, Kevin Cotteleer, Patrick Robert Smith, Neal McDonough, Leonard Roberts, GlennTaranto, Jack Conley, Rick Peters, John Prosky, Pawel Szajda, Ray Wise, Ashley Hinshaw, Toby Jones, John Glover, Andre Royo, Richard Short

So I read an interview with Richard Dreyfuss the other day in which he questioned the interviewer’s use of the term “the new golden age of television”, referring to the current renaissance happening on television today. (Read the Indiewire article here.) Dreyfuss claimed that the only Golden Age of television was in the early 50s when it was the new form of entertainment in everyone’s household. While I agree that perhaps a new term other than “Golden Age” might be in order to describe an era 70 years down the line, I’m not so sure Dreyfuss quite understands what the interviewer was talking about, because he went on to describe the current television market of consisting only of police procedurals, courtroom dramas and family sitcoms. I suddenly realized that Dreyfuss’ television provider only carries CBS, ion and Nick at Nite.

Penny Thoughts ‘15—And the Oscar Goes To… (2014) ***

TV-MA, 95 min.

Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

Writers: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Sharron Wood

Featuring: Ben Burtt, Annette Benning, Ellen Burstyn, Cher, George Clooney, Billy Crystal, Benicio del Toro, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Hudson, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Janusz Kaminski, Kathleen Kennedy, Ben Kingsley, Liza Minnelli, Helen Mirren, Ve Neill, Robert Osborne, Jason Reitman, Phil Alden Robinson, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Vilanch, Jon Voight

Narrator: Anjelica Huston

Oscar fever is starting to catch for me. I feel like I’m a dying breed, however, as more and more of my peers seem to have grown bitter and critical of the Oscars. And yet, somehow each of them will find themselves tweeting their snide comments live during the Oscar ceremony this Sunday night.

American Sniper / *** (R)

Chris Kyle: Bradley Cooper

Taya: Sienna Miller

Dauber: Kevin Lacz

Biggles: Jake McDorman

Dandridge: Cory Hardict

Marc Lee: Luke Grimes

Goat-Winston: Kyle Gallner

Jeff Kyle: Keir O’Donnell

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by Clint Eastwood. Written by Jason Hall. Based on the memoir by Chris Kyle and Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice. Running time: 132 min. Rated R (for strong and disturbing war violence, and language throughout including some sexual references).

I find myself approaching my review of Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” in much the same way I think the filmmakers approached the material themselves—vey carefully. “American Sniper” has been a runaway hit with audiences and grabbed a surprise 6 Oscar nominations after an awards season where it barely made an impression elsewhere. It tells the story of real life U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who is credited as the deadliest American sniper in history. It is based on his own memoir of the same name. A veteran he was trying to help killed Kyle on a shooting range in 2013.

Turkey Thoughts ‘14—Addams Family Values (1993) ***

PG-13, 94 min.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Writers: Paul Rudnick, Charles Addams (characters)

Starring: Raul Julia, Angelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Christina Ricci, David Krumholtz, Jimmy Workman, Carol Kane, Peter MacNicol, Christine Baranski, Kaitlyn Hooper, Kristen Hooper, Carel Struycken, Christopher Hart, Dana Ivey, Mercedes McNab, Sam McMurray, Harriet Sansom Harris, Julie Halston, Barry Sonnenfeld, Nathan Lane, Cynthia Nixon, David Hyde Pierce, Peter Graves, Tony Shalhoub

I’ve never done a Thanksgiving themed review before, so it might seem strange that I’m starting with “Addams Family Values”, which could seem off topic beyond the fact that it was a Thanksgiving eve release when it was originally released in theaters. The plot actually does touch upon Thanksgiving, however.

Annabelle / ** (R)

Mia Gordon: Annabelle Wallis

John Gordon: Ward Horton

Father Perez: Tony Amendola

Evelyn: Alfre Woodard

New Line Cinema presents a film directed by John R. Leonetti. Written by Gary Dauberman. Running time: 90 min. Rated R (for intense sequences of disturbing violence and terror).

I suppose most of us have a deep-rooted fear of dolls coming to life in some way or another. Whether it’s like the clown under the bed in “Poltergeist” or just the kid’s plaything-come-to-life ala Chucky in “Child’s Play”, Hollywood is no stranger to this fact. So, when last year’s sleeper hit “The Conjuring” featured a very creepy looking doll that had supposedly been the worst case the ghost hunters in that film had ever seen, it was inevitable that we’d learn more about it in another movie.

Now, we get “Annabelle”, titled after the doll featured in “The Conjuring”. The same people who made “The Conjuring” produced this move, which makes sense. The same producers are also responsible for the two “Insidious” movies. The feel and themes of both series make their way into this prequel of sorts. It has a similar period setting as “The Conjuring”, but its horror is more deeply rooted in the sinister machinations of the “Insidious” movies. It has some very scary moments indeed, but it never quite gels together as well as those previous films, and what’s left is creepy, but messy.

Horror Thoughts ‘14—Argento’s Dracula (2013) *½

NR, 110 min.

Director: Dario Argento

Writers: Dario Argento, Enrique Cerezo, Stefano Piani, Antonio Tenori, Bram Stoker (book)

Starring: Thomas Kretschmann, Marta Gastini, Asia Argento, Unax Ugalde, Miriam Giovanelli, Rutger Hauer, Maria Cristina Heller, Augusto Zucchi, Franco Guido Ravera, Francesco Rossini, Giovanni Franzoni

Dario Argento is the Italian cinematic maestro that helped put Italian horror on the map in the 70s with such visual gore orgies as “Suspiria”, “Deep Red” and “Inferno”. His extreme visual style all but defined this particular subgenre of cult horror filmmaking. So when news came that he would be tackling Bram Stoker’s horror classic “Dracula”, it was welcomed with much anticipation. While Argento’s more recent output hasn’t matched his earlier efforts, this was a master taking on another master’s work. It had to be worth watching, right?

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Anaconda (1997) *

PG-13, 89 min.

Director: Luis Llosa

Writers: Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer, Vincent Castellanos, Danny Trejo

For a moment, I actually considered giving this a half star more for the guilty pleasure factor of the film. But, like the ridiculously successful SyFy flick “Sharknado”, bad just doesn’t make it good.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—All Night Long (1963) ***

NR, 91 min.

Director: Basil Deardon

Writers: Nel King, Peter Achilles, William Shakespeare (play “Othello”)

Starring: Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michell, Marti Stevens, Paul Harris, Betsy Blair, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Braden, Harry Towb, María Velasco, Dave Brubeck, Johnny Dankworth, Charles Mingus, Bert Courtley, Keith Christie, Ray Dempsey

So for a few days now, I’ve been searching for a way to remember actor/director Richard Attenborough, who passed away earlier this week. Attenborough was a renowned actor and director.

As an actor he was best known in his early career as a military man in such pictures as “The Great Escape” (1963), “Guns at Batasi” (1964), “The Flight of the Phoenix” (1965), and “The Sand Pebbles” (1967). He also appeared in “Doctor Doolittle” (1968), “10 Rellington Place” (1971), Satyajit Ray’s “The Chess Players” (1977), and Otto Preminger’s “The Human Factor” (1979). He was perhaps best known to modern audiences, however, for his late career rolls as John Hammond in Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” (1993) and “Jurassic Park: The Lost World” (1997), and as Kris Kringle in the 1994 holiday remake “Miracle on 34^th Street”.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—American Horror Story: Coven (2013-2014) **

TV-MA, 13 50-min. episodes

Creators: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk

Directors: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Michael Rymer, Michael Uppendahl, Jeremy Podeswa, Bradley Buecker, Howard Duetch

Writers: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Tim Minear, James Wong, Jennifer Salt, Jessica Sharzer, Douglas Petrie

Starring: Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Emma Roberts, Denis O’Hare, Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, Gabourey Sidibe, Jaimie Brewer, Angela Bassett

Guest starring: Josh Hamilton, Patti LuPone, Alexandra Breckenridge, Mare Winningham, Christine Ebersol, Alexander Dreymon, Leslie Jordan, Danny Huston, Stevie Nicks, Lance Reddick, Michael Cristofer, Mike Colter

I enjoyed the first two seasons of “American Horror Story”. They were bold experiments in long form horror. The first season took an original look at the haunted house story and season two examined a serial killer plot, with some religious and alien abduction elements thrown in. In its third season, AHS takes on the supernatural world of witches, and it just doesn’t work.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) *

UR, 102 min.

Directors: The Brothers Strause

Writers: Shane Salerno, Dan O’Bannon (“Alien” characters), Ronald Shusett (“Alien” characters), Jim Thomas (“Predator” characters), John Thomas (“Predator” characters)

Starring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade, Kristen Hager, Sam Trammell, Robert Joy, David Paetkau, Tom Woodruff Jr., Ian Whyte

I really don’t know why I torture myself with these terrible entries to franchises I love, but for some reason I seem to return to them even more often than I do the good ones. “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” is probably the worst entry of both the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises. It doesn’t speak well that even the studio didn’t feel it was worth referring to this movie with its full title and generally referred to it as “AvPR” even in its advertising. It’s like they were saying, “Why bother?” before they even released it. Fair warning, I guess.

A-Dub II iPod (2010-2014) R.I.P.

A-Dub II iPod died Thursday, July 17, 2014. He was the primary music source device for film critic, author and pest technician Andrew D. Wells.  He was an iPod classic 160G, almost big enough to hold all the music Mr. Wells wished to be available to him at all times. A-Dub died suddenly when the charging device he was attached to malfunctioned and overheated the unwitting media player.

A-Dub was a sturdy music media device born at an Apple, Inc. manufacturing facility in 2010, who performed dutifully for a music lover who holds music in the highest regard, second only to movies. Out of respect for the art form, Mr. Wells never demeaned the music on his iPod by over-crowding it with movies. Despite the insistence of the film studios to rule every media platform in a home, A-Dub was solely dedicated to providing music of every style and genre.

A-Dub was responsible for enriching Mr. Wells’ life with such classic albums as Wu-Tang Clan’s “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”, John Mellencamp’s “Scarecrow”, Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska”, Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere”, Dire Strait’s “Brothers In Arms”, and AC/DC’s “Back in Black”. A-Dub also carried more recent classics to Mr. Wells’ ears, like Kings of Leon’s “Only By the Night”, Kurt Vile’s “Wakin On a Pretty Daze”, Sharon Jones and the Dap Tones’ “Give the People What They Want”, Frank Ocean’s “Planet Orange”, Stardeath & White Dwarves’ “The Birth”, and No Joy’s “Wait to Pleasure”.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 1 (2013-2014) ***

TV-14, 22 45-min. episodes

Creators: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Stan Lee (Marvel Comics), Jack Kirby (Marvel Comics)

Directors: Joss Whedon, David Straiton, Milan Cheylov, Roxann Dawson, Jesse Bochco, Vincent Misiano, Bobby Roth, Jonathan Frakes, Billy Gierhart, Holly Dale, Kevin Hooks, Kenneth Fink, Paul Edwards, John Terlesky

Writers: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jeffery Bell, Brent Fletcher, Paul Zbyszcewski, Rafe Judkins, Lauren LeFranc, Monica Owusu Breen, Shalisha Francis, DJ Doyle

Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain DeCaestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge

Guest starring: J. August Richards, Shannon Lucio, Ron Glass, Cobie Smulders, Leonor Varela, Carlos Leal, Samuel L. Jackson, David Conrad, Ian Hart, Pascale Armand, Michael Klesic, Ruth Negga, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Cullen Douglas, Vincent Laresca, Titus Welliver, Saffron Burrows, Maximiliano Hernandez, Ilia Volok, Peter MacNicol, Michael Graziadei, Erin Way, Molly McCook, Ajani Wrighster, Paul Lacovara, Rob Huebel, Daniel Zovatto, Christine Adams, Carlo Rota, Bill Paxton, Elena Satine, Robert Belushi, B.J. Britt, Jaimie Alexander, Brad Dourif, Charles Halford, Adrian Pasdar, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Brennan, Amy Acker, Tsai Chin, Austin Lyon, Glenn Morshower, Josh Daugherty

So, my family finally got through season one of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Our delay wasn’t because we didn’t enjoy it. A little addition to the family made it difficult to find quite family TV time together. But, I’m glad I’m finally getting my chance at this one.

During the run of the season, it seemed that MAOS was the punching bag for anybody who wanted to see the Marvel/Disney deal falter. Throughout good (but not mind-blowing) ratings, it seemed that every business website that could tried to jump in the ring with Marvel on this one, posting new stories every week about “Why MAOS will fail.” The biggest culprit was a site called the Motley Fool, who based most of their facts on conjecture and seemed to conjure their conjecture from bitter resentment. Their consensus was that MAOS is only still around so they can cross promote all of the Marvel big screen ventures, not with traditional advertising but an expensive 22 episode television show that requires countless more employees and money than producing commercials from footage that has already been produced as part of each movie. Sure, that seems plausible. That’s also probably why ABC also ordered a new Marvel tie-in show, “Agent Carter”, which takes place 50 years ago, since a period piece will offer countless opportunities for tie-ins to movie that are taking place in the present. Or maybe, people liked it.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—About Time (2013) ***

R, 123 min.

Director/Writer: Richard Curtis

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Cordery, Joshua McGuire, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Will Merrick, Vanessa Kirby, Tom Hughes

“About Time” has a right dodgy premise for a British romantic comedy, but its small cast pulls it off with style and grace. It involves an eccentric and reclusive family in which, it is explained by the patriarch to his son on his 21^st birthday, all the men have the ability to travel through time. Well, back and forth from present to past, no future travel.

Penny Thoughts ’14—The Americans, season 2 (2014) ****

TV-MA, 13 50 min. episodes

Creator: Joseph Weisberg

Directors: Thomas Schlamme, Daniel Sackheim, Constantine Makris, Lodge Kerrigan, Dan Attias, Charlotte Sieling, Kevin Dowling, John Dahl, Alik Sakharov, Stefan Schwartz, Gregory Hoblit, Andrew Bernstein

Writers: Joseph Weisberg, Joel Fields, Stu Zicherman, Stephen Schiff, Angelina Burnett, Melissa James Gibson, Joshua Brand, Peter Ackerman, Tracey Scott Wilson, Oliver North

Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Noah Emmerich, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, Alison Wright, Holly Taylor, Keidrich Sellati, Richard Thomas, Lev Gorn, Costa Ronin

Guest starring: Jeremy Davidson, Natalie Gold, Tim Hopper, John Carroll Lynch, Aimee Carrero, Erik Jensen, Anthony Arkin, Kathleen Chalfant, Owen Campbell, Michael Aronov, Jefferson White, Cliff Marc Simon, Cotter Smith, John Bedford Lloyd, Wrenn Schmidt, Lee Tergesen, Nick Bailey, Jeffrey Cantor, Reg Rogers, Kelly AuCoin, Gillian Alexy, Rahul Khanna, Zeljko Ivanek, Margo Martindale

FX’s “The Americans” continues to impress in its second season. Gone are the rough patches of trying to hold together a fake marriage while working deep undercover as Russian sleeper agents in the early 80s. The parents of the Jennings household are now a unified front. The trick is becoming keeping that front for their children.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Arrow, season 2 (2013-2014) ***½

TV-14, 23 42-min. episodes

Developers: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg

Directors: John Behring, Nick Copus, Glen Winter, Eagle Egilsson, Wendy Stanzler, Guy Bee, Bethany Rooney, Michael Schultz, Rob Hardy, Larry Teng, Jesse Warn, Soug Aarniokoski

Writers: Greg Berlanti, Marc Giggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Ben Sokolowski, Beth Schwartz, Keto Shimizu, Wendy Mericle, Jake Coburn, Drew Z. Greenberg, Geoff Johns, Bryan Q. Miller, A.C. Bradley, Holly Harold

Starring: Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes, Manu Bennett, Susanna Thompson, Paul Blackthorn, Caity Lotz

Guest starring: Celina Jade, Summer Glau, Colin Salmon, Dylan Bruce, Adrian Holmes, Derek Hamilton, Kelly Hu, Michael Jai White, Kevin Alejandro, Bethany Snow, Roger Cross, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Michael Eklund, Audrey Marie Anderson, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Dylan Neal, Teryl Rothery, Navid Negahban, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Graham Shields, Seth Gabel, John Barrowman, Michael Rowe, Grant Gustin, Jesse Hutch, Colin Donnell, Olivia Cheng, Danny Dworkis, Ron Selmour, Sean Maher, Ana Mercedes, Annie Ilonzeh, Nicholas Lea, James Kidnie, Katrina Law, Alex Kingston, Robert Knepper, Curtis Caravaggio, Artine Brown, James Pizzinato, David Nykl, Ben Browder, Eugene Lipinski, Gholem Qadir, Jessica De Gouw, Jeffrey Nordling, Chelah Horsdal, Sean Rogerson, Danielle Panabaker, Doug Chapman, Michael Daingerfield, Anna Hopkins, Roark Critchlow

With all of the cinematic talk about how Marvel conquered the box office through The Avengers movies, the X-Men franchise, now a 5^th Spider-Man in theaters, even the hardly heard of superhero group Guardians of the Galaxy promises to be a smash hit later this year, DC Comics has not fared as well cinematically. However, with three new properties making their television debuts next year, including “Gotham”, “The Flash”, and “Constantine”, and with the past success of “Smallville”, it seems DC is conquering the TV set. You need not look any further than “Arrow” season 2 to know why.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Alien (1979) ****

R, 117 min.

Director: Ridley Scott

Writers: Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusset

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt, Bolaji Badejo, Helen Horton (voice)

Designer: H.R. Giger

Is it possible that “Alien” would’ve been nearly as successful were it not for the amazingly original designs of Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger? Now, that I’ve asked it, I realize it’s an absurdly stupid question. The answer is—of course not. Giger was awarded an Oscar for his work along with the visual effects team. He was remembered for the rest of his life for an art style that without the movie would’ve kept him only on the fringe of knowledge to the public, only known to those within the dark niches of the art world.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (PG-13) ***

Peter Parker/Spider-Man: Andrew Garfield

Gwen Stacy: Emma Stone

Max Dillon/Electro: Jamie Foxx

Harry Osborn: Dane DeHaan

Aunt May: Sally Field

Donald Menken: Colm Feore

Felicia: Felicity Jones

Richard Parker: Campbell Scott

Aleksei Sytsevich: Paul Giamatti

Columbia Pictures presents a film directed by Marc Webb. Written by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinker and James Vanderbilt. Based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Running time: 142 min. Rated PG-13 (for sequences of sci-fi action/violence).

Two-years ago Sony, the owner of the film rights to Marvel’s Spider-Man characters, decided to reboot the franchise after a mere five years since the very successful original trilogy. There was some legal mumbo jumbo involved about securing the film rights so they wouldn’t revert back to Marvel, which would’ve made Spider-Man a Disney film property.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Archer, season 4 (2013) ***½

TV-MA, 13 20-min. episodes

Creator: Adam Reed

Directors: Adam Reed, Brian Fordney

Writers: Adam Reed, Chris Provenzano, Tesha Condrat, Mike Arnold, Rick Cleveland

Voices: H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, Adam Reed, Lucky Yates

Guest voices: Dave Willis, Ron Leibman, John Roberts, Timothy Olyphant, George Coe, Andrew Donnelly, Bobby Ford, Neal Holman, Ona Grauer, Peter Serafinowicz, Anthony Bourdain, Dayton Callie, Carla Jiminez, Nick Searcy, Casey Willis, Chi Duong, Rene Auberjonois, Jon Hamm, Eugene Mirman, Kriten Schaal

Season 4 of FX’s animated spy spoof “Archer” is the best since season 1. During seasons 2 and 3 the very adult comedy seemed to be trying almost too hard replicate what had come before and to build some sort of mythology to the series. Season 4 seems to relax a bit and just tell some silly spy stories involving the most perverse and incompetent group of spies ever seen.