Stuck inside? Don’t know what to watch/read/play/listen to? ComingSoon.net has got you covered. In this week’s CS Recommends our staff gives you solid tips on the best media to consume during your downtime, including Thor by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection & more. Check out our picks below!
RELATED: June 30 Blu-ray, Digital and DVD Releases
MAX EVRY’S RECOMMEND: Thor by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection
Click here to purchase Volume 1!
Click here to purchase Volume 2!
I want to make a confession: I was a regular reader of the Thor comics by Jason Aaron for awhile, and was loving every issue. Then when they introduced the concept of Lady Thor I immediately reacted like the book jumped the shark and stopped buying the floppies from my homebase comic book store, Midtown Comics in NYC.
Then Taika Waititi announced he was making Thor: Love and Thunder based on this very run that I had stopped reading, so I decided to take the plunge and read it and… IT’S GREAT! The artwork by artists like Esad Ribic and Russell Dauterman (among others) is iconic, and the story of Jane Foster inheriting Mjölnir/the power of Thor while battling cancer is touching and powerful. This is Marvel Comics at its very best, with lots of great mythic detours involving Frost Giants, the Roxxon corporation, Malekith and more. Highly recommended before the new movie comes out! The Lady Thor stuff begins in Volume 2 of The Complete Collection.
KYLIE HEMMERT’S RECOMMEND: BioShock: The Collection
The BioShock franchise is probably my absolute favorite of any video game series. The collection consists of the first two games, BioShock and Bioshock 2 in the underwater city of Rapture, as well as the third game, BioShock Infinite, which takes place in 1912 in the flying city of Columbia. The original will probably always be my favorite, the one that really cemented my love of the first-person shooter with a story as unique as its characters and settings, but all three games are vastly entertaining and worth a playthrough. Between the design, story, and gameplay style including plenty of choices and hacks for the player to navigate in the FPS/RPG hybrid (with a bit of survival horror mixed in), the titles offer a lot in immersive gaming.
GRANT HERMANNS’ RECOMMEND: Rocketman
Click here to purchase the movie!
Click here to purchase the soundtrack!
As we close June and Pride Month, we also come to the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march in New York City and though there are a number of important and eye-opening dramas and documentaries audiences should go watch, I believe one of the best ways to celebrate the day is to dive into the powerful and exhilarating Elton John biopic Rocketman. The long-developed project is an unashamed look at the highs and lows of the legendary musician’s 50-plus year career and finds a beautiful way to weave his Grammy-winning catalogue of songs into the story without simply being concert performances or studio recordings. The unique structure and stellar direction from Dexter Fletcher aside, the film is carried by what should’ve been an Oscar-winning performance from Taron Egerton, who also performs every song on the soundtrack depicted in the story in such an impressive manner it’s almost impossible to distinguish between the 30-year-old star and his real-life subject. Unlike a certain other four Oscar-winning musical biopic that mishandled its portrayal of its lead character’s sexuality, Rocketman is willing to fully embrace every element of John’s struggles with whether he was bisexual or gay and even features the first gay male sex scene to come from a major film studio. In choosing to celebrate John’s life, both professional and personal, good and bad, the film is, for the most part, an honest and wonderful representation of a legend and is not only a magnificent film to visit to honor Pride Month, but one of the best music biopics to ever grace the screen, and the fact it earned one lone Oscar nomination/win while that other movie-that-shall-not-be-named earned five is criminal. And once you’ve finished the film, dive right into the soundtrack, because Egerton’s renditions of John’s iconic sings are works of art to revisit time and again.
MAGGIE DELA PAZ’S RECOMMEND: Father of the Bride (1991) and Father of the Bride Part II (1995)
Starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, Father of the Bride is a comedy film that follows the story of a successful businessman named George Banks, whose perfect and happy life gets suddenly disrupted when her 22-year-old daughter Annie announces that she is engaged to someone she had only been dating for three months. As an overprotective father, George didn’t take the news lightly and immediately disliked Annie’s fiancé Bryan for taking his daughter away from him, even though Bryan’s a nice guy and comes from a wealthy family. Throughout the film, George gets unwillingly dragged into the madness and expensiveness of wedding preparation all the while reminiscing through his and Annie’s father and daughter moments.
This 1991 film is a remake of Vincente Minnelli’s 1950 film of the same name. Overall, it is a really entertaining and heartwarming film about parents learning how to accept the reality of their children’s inevitable path towards growing up. I definitely consider Father of the Bride as one of my most favorite family comedies because it’s a feel-good classic that you can rely on a bad day.
What I love the most about the film is the scenes involving Steve Martin and Martin Short where their dynamic comedic chemistry transcends throughout their scenes together even though their characters are always at odds with each other. If you haven’t got the chance to watch Father of the Bride, I guarantee you that you won’t get disappointed with this 90s classic. However, in case you’ve already seen this film, you should also check out its 1995 sequel, which is equally fun and entertaining as the first one.
JEFF AMES’ RECOMMEND: The ‘Burbs
If you’re looking for some wacky summer fun, check out Joe Dante’s 1989 classic The ‘Burbs, starring Tom Hanks before he became Academy-Award winner Tom Hanks. The story is simple: a weird family moves onto the Universal Tour backlot block and causes the local residents to go berserk. There are crazy situations involving sardines, power lines, garbage, gas lines, infrared scopes … all told from Joe Dante’s clever, if not dark, perspective; and brought to life by Jerry Goldsmith’s terrific score and a wonderful cast that also includes Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman, and Wendy Schaal.
As a side, and this is a spoiler in case you haven’t seen the movie, the original ending revealed that Hanks’ character had lost his job, which added to his stressful state; and the finale absolved the Klopeks of any crimes, which fits the narrative a little better if you ask me. As it turns out, the Klopeks were just weird people; and it was Hanks and his buddies who were the lunatics. Another ending had Ray murdered by Dr. Klopek in the ambulance and a final shot showing trash bags being stuffed into the back of the Klopeks’ car, which would have been darkly humorous but a little too … much. In any case, the ending as is works just fine, even if it runs counter to the themes of the film.
ComingSoon.net recommends all readers comply with CDC guidelines and remain as isolated as possible during this urgent time.
