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 - Avengers: Infinity War

I loved Phase One of the Marvel Universe movies, but have been less impressed with the follow up films. They seem to be getting darker and moving away from the classic Marvel stories that made the first half dozen movies so amazing and so fun. I was hoping Avengers: Infinity War would break that streak.

Avengers: Infinity War is a 2018 superhero, science fiction, action film based on the characters appearing in Marvel Comics. It is rated PG-13 for violence and deaths and is appropriate for tweens and up.

The Good

Thor vs. Star Lord. I think the best part of the film was the fight between Thor and Star Lord. It was classic Marvel movie, and I wanted more. It was funny, clever, original, and so unexpected.

Juggling Heroes. This film has a huge cast of characters, and everyone deserves his moment in the spotlight. And this film succeeds marvelously (see what I did there?) in giving everyone a few moments to shine. I was impressed.

Story. With so much action and so many characters, I was concerned this movie would be nothing more than a slug fest, but there is a story, there is a plot, and there is character development.

Surprise Cameo. I'm amazed the producers were able to keep the appearance of a certain character from a previous movie a secret, but they did and I was genuinely surprised by his appearance, as was most of the theater.

Thanos. So often the big bad guy of major movies is little more than a two-dimensional bad guy who is completely evil and just wants to kill and destroy (see Steppenwolf in Justice League for an example). But Thanos was an actual, developed character that showed a lot of development and motive. While he never became likable, he is a credible threat. His motivation is misguided and obviously ridiculous (overpopulation), but there are a lot of people in this world who have proposed the same measures for the same misguided reasons.

The Bad

Dark and Gritty. One of the things that made the Phase One movies of the Marvel Studios so much fun is their bright colors and humor that made them look like and feel like the classic comics. This movie lacked both. It felt more like the grim and gritty Justice League movie than a Marvel comic. The only humor came from Thor, and there wasn't nearly enough of it.

Video Game Action and Effects. The special effects and movies in the Iron Man movies, Captain America: Winter Solider, Avengers, and others were amazing, well choreographed, and things I hadn't seen before. This movie looks like a video game. The action felt like a video game instead of the beautiful choreographed action of earlier films.

Deaths. There have been rumors and speculation about who would die. I was a little surprised by the deaths, but the way it happened and the ones chosen make me think none of them are going to stick, so I didn't really feel anything for them. I can see most, if not all, being undone easily. This is a comic book movie after all.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish this had adapted a classic Marvel story instead of just using the name of one and creating a completely original story. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. I also wish the fight scenes had been unique and well choreographed instead of the same ole slug fests we've seen in so many movies.

Overall

Avengers: Infinity War feels more like Justice League than the first Avengers film with its dark, grim & gritty feel. The juggling of multiple heroes is very well done, and there is a solid story with real development of Thanos' character. The action is little more than one slug fest followed by another and the special effects look like a video game. There is little humor and few character movements that make Marvel movies so unique and fun (although the Thor vs. Star Lord fight is amazing!). This movie did not have the classic feel of the Phase One films choosing to go a much more traditional route. It was entertaining, but not as good as the first Avengers film. I give this film 4 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.

   

Movie Review - Spider-man: Homecoming

I love Spider-man. I've loved the character for as long as I can remember. I loved the live-action 70s series with Nicholas Hammond, the live-action Spidey Super Stories on The Electric Company, the first live-action Sam Raimi film, and the reboot with Andrew Garfield. I was excited to hear he would finally join the cinematic Marvel Universe, but was a little nervous about the new approach the powers that be were planning.

Spider-man: Homecoming is a 2017 superhero, action, comedy from Sony and Marvel Studios. It's rated PG-13 for mild violence, strong language, and inappropriate jokes and is appropriate for teens and up.

The Good

Comedy. This is the funniest film Marvel has put out. There were jokes from start to finish, and each one was so funny and so unexpected. The comedy is by far the strongest aspect of this film.

Michael Keaton. Michael Keaton is a brilliant actor that can play anything from funny to series to creepy to scary. While I didn't like the version of the Vulture chosen for this film, I loved Michael's performance. He completely sold the character.

Peril. This film actually had a real sense of peril. You felt like Spider-man was actually in danger and might not make it, even though you knew he would. That's hard to do in a superhero film.

Cameos and Nods. This film had so many cameos and nods to other films, especially Spidey's appearance in Captain America: Civil War showing the fight from a different perspective. And it was so cleverly done. I also appreciated the remix of the 1967 Spider-man theme at the beginning.

The Bad

Not Classic. This movie was basically Spider-man's appearance from Captain America: Civil War for two hours. While a lot of characters from the comic appeared in this film (Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, MJ, Aunt May, Peter Parker, The Vulture, The Shocker, The Tinkerer), not a single one of them was true to their comic book version. They each felt like a modern reimagination that was a pale shadows of the original.

Not Epic. The Sam Raimi films were epic. The first Andrew Garfield film was epic. This movie felt like a filler episode of an Avengers TV show that showed a day in the live of a superhero when he wasn't on a mission. It was funny. It was entertaining. But it wasn't memorable.

CGI Effects. I was really disappointed in many of the special effects. They were competent, but they weren't amazing or spectacular (see what I did there?). They looked very cgi, very computer game like.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

Now that Sony is working with Marvel Studios, the Sam Raimi films could be considered cannon and retroconned into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They were so well done and so classic. I wish they had taken that route instead of the teenager with a super suit. While the movie was fun and entertaining, it wasn't epic, it wasn't classic, and it wasn't memorable. Spider-man really works best as a struggling college student, not an inexperienced high school kid. Saying the first two Sam Raimi films happened and then continuing that series would have been awesome and still allowed room to explore new territory.

Overall

Spider-man: Homecoming is an extremely funny film that focuses on Peter Parker as much as Spider-man. While very entertaining, it lacks the classic and epic feel of the previous films and feels more like a filler episode of an Avengers TV show than the beginning of a film franchise. I give it 4 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.

    

Movie Review - Avengers: Age of Ultron

From the day I saw the first trailer for Iron Man, I've been a big fan of Marvel movies. For a while each movie was a classic, but I knew that couldn't last and the day would come where they started to get old. That day has come.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a 2015 live-action, action, comedy, science fiction, superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters. It's rated PG-13 for language and violence. It's appropriate for most audiences.

The Good

The Cast. This movie features the characters we've grown to love including Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, the Incredible Hulk, Hawkeye, and a few characters we don't care so much about. I appreciated how most of the characters from previous films were included such as Falcon, War Hammer, and the like.

Comedy. This movie cracks jokes from the first scene to the last, and they are funny, witty, and make reference to the things we've seen and loved about previous films. Fanboys will be thrilled. The humor is a perfect 10.

Contest to Lift Thor's Hammer. This was the best scene of the whole movie. I won't spoil it for you, but Captain America shows he really is worthy.

The Bad

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. I'm not sure why these characters were included, because they weren't that interesting and could have easily been cut out of the movie. The portrayal of Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past was so cool I was really excited to see him in this movie. Unfortunately they went a completely different direction with the character turning him into a boring, unlikable, generic blah. He and his sister weren't even mutants but genetic experiments. And they didn't appear long enough to see any real development. Considering how unlikable they were, that is probably a good thing.

Lack of Iconic Scenes. Marvel Comics has a rich history of cool scenes and iconic moments, and the Marvel movies so far have done an excellent job of capturing those and reinterpreting them. This one had no such memorable moments or scenes aside from the Thor's Hammer lifting contest.

Action. The action in this movie looked like a video game, and not the latest and greatest game. The scenes were shot from strange angles a physical camera would never see with characters moving in very unnatural and awkward ways like they were cgi rigs. Up until now, I've been impressed with how realistic and believable the action scenes were in the movies. I believed they could actually happen. I didn't with the action and stunts in this movie.

Story. The story was pretty thin and basically an excuse to travel around the world and have a lot of fight scenes, which gets old fast.

Pacing. This movie drags in several places. I actually found myself getting bored and checking my watch. The first movie was so tight that I was really disappointed that this one wasn't.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I really wish they would have chosen a stronger story. The characters are so cool, so memorable, so likable that I really want to see them do something other than fight. I love a good fight scene, but that's not enough to hold my interest for an entire movie. Where is the drama? Where is the character interaction? Aside from a few jokes during the first half hour we just don't see their personalities coming out. Where is the development? The characters are basically the same at the end of the movie as they are at the beginning. So many missed opportunities.

Overall

Overall, Avengers: Age of Ultron is your typical, over-the-top action movie lacking the classic scenes of other Marvel movies. The one highlight was the dialogue and humor which was clever, funny, and directed towards the hardcore fans. Otherwise it is just another action movie that will look very dated in a few years. I give it 3 boxes of popcorn out of 5.

Movie Review - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

While I"m a huge superhero fan, I was never a big Captain America fan until I saw the first Captain America movie. After that I fell in love with the character. So when the sequel hit theaters, I was a little worried it wouldn't live up to the high expectations set up by the first movie. I had nothing to worry about.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a 2014 live-action action adventure scifi film rated PG-13 and is appropriate for most ages. There is intense action and some killing so you may want to leave the very little ones at home. It is the second Captain America movie in this franchise.

The Good

The Story. The movie has a solid story and tight plot that perfectly picked up where the first movie and The Avengers left off. Everything that happened had a reason and tied into the film. At the same time, this was a very different movie so while it felt like it was part of the same story and universe, it did not feel like we were watching a remake of the first for even a second, something that almost never happens in sequels.

The Themes. This movie had two major themes -- 1) what does a soldier do after the war is over and he comes home, and 2) when does protection become oppression -- and both were fully developed and integral to the plot and the action and very appropriate for the characters and larger story.

The Cast. I was a little nervous when I heard Chris Evans was cast as Captain America thinking he was too much of a goof off to pull off the role, but for the third time he's proven he is the perfect choice for the role. I can't imagine anyone else playing it. Scarlett Johanson as Black Widow was brilliant as usual. Robert Redford did an excellent job as the Director playing it both as a friendly guy you can trust and evil madman bent on taking over the world without missing a beat. The only character that wasn't excellent was Samuel Jackson's portrayal of Nick Fury. He played him like he plays every character -- over the top and angry. Sam could use a few acting lessons.

Falcon. Marvel is well known for their racism such as creating uninteresting, two-dimensional cardboard cutout ripoffs of established heroes that happen to be black and act as stereotypical as possible so everyone knows it (such as Falcon and War Machine in the comics) and putting existing characters in black face (such as Nick Fury in Iron Man, or Heimdall in Thor, or Spider-man in the Ultimate Spider-man comics). So when I saw Falcon in the previews, I naturally thought, "Oh, boy, the racists at Marvel have struck again." But unlike almost every previous "diversity hire" stunt, Falcon was a real character who was well developed. The actor they chose was very likeable, and the character added to and helped develop the theme of a soldier coming home after war. I believed he was someone Cap would confide in. But they didn't stop there. Falcon was an integral part of the action to preserve freedom without pulling a Super Friends "look, I just magically saved everyone by my simple act after everyone else uncharacteristically failed" plot twist. The movie wouldn't have worked without him.

The Action. I was so impressed with the level of action and how I never got bored of it. The fight scenes were carefully choreographed to match the look and feel of the fights in the comic book without becoming silly.

The Visuals. This movie was big and visually stunning. The cinematography stepped back enough to really showed off the environments, something most modern films eschew in favor of trying to make the viewer feel like he's getting punched in the face.

The Bad

There were only two small parts that weren't absolute perfection.

The first was upon finding Zola in the computer, Zola spills the whole plot for apparently no reason. For the viewer this was great, because it tied everything up quickly and neatly, but it seemed unbelievable, because it gave Captain America the information he needed to thwart Hydra. No genius scientist would willingly do that no matter how large his ego.

The second was the final action scene where Captain America and Winter Soldier are fighting on the helicarrier to put the McGuffin in its place. The action looked over the top and unbelievable it took me out of the move, which is a shame because everything else was so carefully done and so believable.

But these are minor complaints and too insignificant to ruin the overall movie.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

Honestly, I saw everything I wanted to see and more. I was left wanting for nothing.

Except for another sequel.

Overall

Overall this was a thoroughly entertaining movie that had me at the edge of my seat from start to finish. It succeeded on every level a movie can from story to casting to acting to script to action to theme to message to pure enjoyment. It had action, it had drama, it had romance, it had friendship, it had philosophical meanderings, and it had brilliant visuals. It's no surprise this movie has been number one for three weeks in a row. I highly recommend Captain America: The Winter Soldier to everyone. It is well worth your time. I give it a solid 5 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.