Movie Review - Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Infinity War was such a letdown, that I wasn't all that excited to see Endgame. But I've followed this story this far, I might as well see how it ends.

Avengers: Endgame is a 2019 live action science fiction superhero film. It is rated PG-13 for language  and is appropriate for most ages.

The Good

Smaller/More Personal. Infinity War was this big fight scene involving dozens of characters that all had to do something. This movie focused on the core group and how they deal with events. It was much more emotional and personal and much better story.

Story. This movie had much more story than the last. Having a smaller cast helped.

Cameos / Tie-in's to Previous Films. This movie did a great job incorporating the characters and even earlier films into this one. It all felt like it was planned from the beginning and all came together.

Appropriate Resolution. I was really concerned with how the filmmakers would resolve such a sweeping story and do it justice without taking any shortcuts or doing anything contrived. Somehow they managed to honor everything that had come before and not cheapen any of it.

The Bad

No End Credit Scenes. I was really excited waiting for the mother of all end credit scenes. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Captain America's Resolution. I did not like how Captain America's story resolved. It seemed untrue to the story.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish there had been a couple of amazing end credit scenes. I wish they had come up with something else for Captain America.

Overall

Avengers: Endgame is a fitting ending to a 10-year series. The move was much smaller and more personal focusing on the core characters instead of a universe of dozens engaged in an epic fight. The conflicts and struggles were more personal and emotional making for a much more dramatic and satisfying story. Cameos and tie-ins to previous films were plentiful and well handled. All of the stories and journeys from the past ten years were nicely resolved with nothing feeling cheated or betrayed. The only disappointments are the lack of end credit scenes and how they tied up Captain America's story. I give this film 4.5 out of 5 Boxes of Popcorn.

   

Movie Review - Ant-Man and the Wasp

When the first Marvel movies debuted (Spider-man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Captain America) I love them and couldn't wait to see the next one. Then after Captain America: Winter Soldier, the movies took a very dark turn and the fun, humorous movies that looked like comic books come to life was gone as was my enjoyment and excitement for the films.

Until now.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is a 2018 science fiction superhero movie based on Marvel Comics characters. It is rated PG-13 for mild violence and language and is appropriate for most audiences.

The Good

Fun. It's so refreshing to watch a movie that feels like a comic book come to life. It was fun, it was funny, it was exciting, there were great scenes of superhero powers, and the story was solid and stood on its own instead of being a small piece of a much larger story. This film is everything we love about Marvel movies and have been missing for the last several years.

Use of Powers. Unlike most recent Marvel films, this movie actually shows the characters using their powers, and all their powers, throughout the movie in a variety of ways so the audience never got sick of it.

Humor. It's been a long time since I've laughed this much as a Marvel movie. There were so many jokes, and they were all so funny and not clichéd.

Action. The action is awesome! And the best part is how unique it was to the characters' powers. The first movie (and most Marvel movies) have very generic action and fight scenes that would work for any character. But these action scenes could only happen for these characters.

Credits. The credits were very clever. The filmmakers staged several scenes from the movie using action figures, which is very appropriate for these characters.

The Bad

Villains. The villains were boring and weak. Neither was interesting. The filmmakers tried to give the main villain a tragic backstory to make her more sympathetic, but she was too unlikable so we didn't care.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish the villains had been likable instead of blah because the filmmakers were afraid to make them very villainous.

Overall

Ant-Man and the Wasp is everything we love about Marvel movies and have been missing for the last several years: it's fun, funny, action-packed, has awesome scenes of characters using their powers, has a complete story, and looks like a comic book come to life. This is a return to the Marvel movies that were so exciting and entertaining (like Iron Man, Captain America, Avengers, Spider-man) instead of the dark turn the films have taken where each one is little more than a depressing chapter in a long, overly drawn-out story. I give this film a solid 4.5 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.

    

Movie Review: Marvel's Ant-Man

I've been an Ant-Man fan since I first discovered the character in the pages of a reprint of The Avengers comics from the 1960s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. I thought he was a really interesting character with fun adventures, but I never imagined he could carry his own movie. And I was sort of right.

Marvel's Ant-Man is a 2015 sci-fi, action, adventure, comedy, superhero, heist film based on the Henry Pym and Scott Lang versions of Ant-Man. It's rated PG-13 for language and few intense scenes. It's appropriate for most ages.

The Good

Comedy. I think what makes Marvel movies stand out from every other movie is the intelligent humor they pack each film with. This movie is no exception. There are original jokes from the beginning to the end that add to the story and character development and aren't the same old jokes we've heard a million times.

Characters. The characters are all really interesting (minus the main villain) and well developed. I genuinely cared for all of them and wanted to know what happened to them. Even the cameos that appeared on screen for just a minute or two had character and personality. Well done, Marvel. Well done.

Action/Special Effects. The action was fun, and the use of the shrinking power was handled really well. The shrinking power was used in a clever way that made Ant-Man a unique hero. The special effects were not just another Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but had their own style and flair. There was lots of action, but it didn't take over the film like in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Cameos. It was nice seeing Howard Stark and Peggy Carter at the beginning of the film to tie this into Marvel's history and put Henry Pym in his proper place as a key figure and brilliant scientist. And the fight with Falcon was fun.

The Bad

Villain. The main villain is little more than a bad caricature of Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com. He might as well of had a thin mustache to stroke while tying young women to train tracks. Usually Marvel villains are misunderstood and genuinely believe they are the good guys, but in this film the bad guy revelled in how bad he was.

The Heist. This film is little more than a heist film, and it's a pretty typical, predictable heist. From Marvel I was really expecting a fresh take, and I didn't get that.

Twists. One of the interesting things about heist films is how things don't go as planned and unexpected twists come up. Maybe I've just read too many comic books or watched too many movies, but the twists in this film I saw from a mile away. Nothing was a surprise, not even the two codas during and after the credits or what happened to the original Wasp.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish this had been more than a heist movie. There so much more that could have been done. There have been several characters who have worn the suit and called themselves Ant-Man, but Henry Pym in the 60s battling spies was by far the most interesting, and that's really what I was hoping this film would be. The heist approach was fine if it had had some really intriguing twists or a wholly original take, but it didn't.

Overall

Marvel's Ant-Man is  a solid, entertaining flick. It has the heart and humor we've come to expect from Marvel films. I highly recommend this film and give it a solid 4 out of 5 popcorn boxes.