Father-Son Bonding (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, 2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy was a bit of a risk for Marvel Studios. It was really their first film that had little name recognition. It also was their first film not closely tied to the Avengers. And yet, under the guidance of James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy succeeded with a healthy dose of humor and action. Towards the end of the film, Yondu mentions knowing who Starlord’s father is. In this sequel, we meet dear old dad.

While fighting an inter-dimensional beast, Rocket steals some batteries from the Sovereign. This results in a chase through space that culminates in Starlord meeting his father Ego. Ego is a “living” planet. He has a human avatar who sired Starlord. In the meantime, they are being hunted by Yondu and the Ravagers to collect a bounty for the Guardian set by the Sovereign.

Volume 2 carries forward with the same tone and attitude of the first film, making it a lot of fun to watch. The opening credits are a blast to watch. Easily one of the best opening sequences for a comic book film. The cast has really come together and it shows in their performances.

The new cast adds to the fun, with Kurt Russell being a high point for…well being Kurt Russell. He is one of those actors you hire because you want a “type” that is specific to a particular actor. Call it the Goldblum Effect if you will. You hire Jeff Goldblum for a movie because you want a “Jeff Goldblum Type”.

In addition, Sylvester Stallone, Ving Rhames and Michelle Yoeh have small but pivotal roles (obviously setting up Volume 3). The film is full of blink and you might miss it fan service, but with James Gunn, it is not distracting (for the most part) and for people unfamiliar with the comics will be unnoticed.

Of course, the soundtrack is integral to this film, each song clearly chosen carefully by Gunn. Marvel was wise to stick with Gunn for the Guardians brand because he has a very specific vision that allows these films to stand out from the Marvel Pack.

A lot of the humor this time around is coming from Drax (Dave Bautista) and Baby Groot. Some of the more surprising emotion comes from Michael Rooker’s Yondu.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 can be pretty intense and it is not really for young kids. But teens and adults alike will find a lot to enjoy here. Personally, I found Volume 2 to be a very fun film-going experience and find myself anticipating the next outing.

Oh, and by the way…there are five mid to post credit scenes. So do not get up and head for the door right away.

May 11, 2017 0

Lost to An Alternate Universe?

So, the day Sony and Disney drop the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer (which was met with a pretty positive response) producer Amy Pascal drops the bomb.

One of the things that I think is so amazing about this experience is that you don’t have studios deciding to work together to make a film very often.

In fact, it may never happen again–after we do the sequel.

It appears Sony is hoping to pull Peter back into their fold-out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We probably should have seen this coming, after Sony announced plans for their own Spider-Verse, starting with an ‘R’ rated Venom movie. Sony and Pascal seem to be misreading this situation.

Sony had some success in 2002 and 2004 with the Spider-Man franchise when it was headed by Sam Raimi. But after the mess of Spider-Man 3 and then a somewhat lackluster reboot…Sony was floundering. They made the deal with Disney after the big hack two years ago humiliated the studio.

Marvel Studios, on the other hand, won praise for Peter Parker’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War. The previous incarnations of Spider-Man tended to get aspects right, but Marvel’s team pretty much got it all right.

And I suspect that everything that looks so good about Spider-Man: Homecoming is from the Marvel Studio’s side. Backing out and taking him out after the next sequel and Avengers: Infinity War would be a mistake. Sony will, no doubt, mess up their progress. To remove him from the MCU just to start their own Marvel Universe? Not a wise decision.

If Sony insists on starting their own Spider-Verse. I propose the following…

Leave Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. Let Marvel continue to handle him. Instead, create your Sony MCU around Miles Morales from Ultimate Spider-Man. Sony can double their money and have their alternate Spider-Man themed MCU. And fans get to see Spider-Man remain in the MCU.

March 29, 2017 0

Something Strange Going On That Wasn’t Here Before (Doctor Strange, 2016)

Every now and then, Marvel Studios opts for a riskier venture for their tent-pole pictures. In some cases, such as Thor, the risk is levied by the Avenger’s Connection. But sometimes, that connection is much thinner. Guardians of the Galaxy and now Doctor Strange.

And what we have here is another Guardians of the Galaxy result. Doctor Strange is an exciting, emotional, funny trip of a film. Benedict Cumberbatch carries an arrogance early on in the film. Stephen Strange is a truly prideful man, but he has very carefully crafted an image. When that is all taken away, at the end of his rope, he finds a man that had, similarly faced bodily destruction and appeared to have fully recovered. He is pointed towards Katmandu and a place called Kamar-Taj. There he encounters the Ancient One who, with her followers Mordo and Wong, begin to train Strange.

Meanwhile, the rebel Kaecilius and his disciples are trying to for ever alter reality. Doctor Strange finds himself in the “New York Branch” which leads to battles with Kaecilius and his minions. With Strange Mordo and Wong coming to a final fight with Kaecilius.

The movie manages to skirt the line of seriousness, but an undercurrent of humor. The humor is dryer than other Marvel films, but it works, as often Strange finds his attempts at humor falling flat with Wong. There is a fun payoff with that one.

It is hard to ignore the impressive visuals. Early trailers made things look like it was ripping off Inception. But Derrickson and his team actually gave us much more. The film brings to life those trippy multidimensional visuals that Steve Ditko drew in the 60’s with a beautiful and lush feel.

There has been a lot of controversy over the issue of Tilda Swinton playing the Asian One. In the comics the character was Asian. And yeah, it was a pretty blatant “Mystical Asian” stereotype. Which is what resulted in the choice to cast Swinton. The film does overcome this. But as written? They easily could have cast and Asian actor in the role. There are not a ton of major roles for Asian actors. Avoiding stereotypes is done in the script and performance. And I believe this film would have successfully avoided the stereotype, without making one less role for Asian actors. I do not believe racism was at Derrickson and his casting teams heart. I suspect it was an attempt to avoid the very issue of racism. I think they made a choice I would not. But Swinton is entertaining in the film.

Doctor Strange is one of Marvel’s strongest entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is certainly yet another origin story, but it is handled so very well. It also has no requirement that you be familiar with the character. You can enter the film with zero knowledge of the character and fully enjoy this film.

November 5, 2016 0

Rebellious Teens (Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015)

As with every sequel, things must get bigger and louder. Unlike the first film, the danger really comes from within. Tony is obsessed with changing the way things are done by building a peace keeping for that will put an end to the need for the Avengers. He has been working on an A.I. to watch over the world and prevent tragedy. Even as the Avengers are in action, he has Iron Man like robots trying to do crowd control. But the people are not as confident.

When Tony gets access to some Asgardian technology, he recklessly uses it to try and jump a hurdle with his A.I.’s processing power. Of course it goes wrong, resulting in a mad child called Ultron. Ultron constantly works to better himself. And one goal is to put an end to the Avengers. Not quite in the way Tony anticipated…he was thinking retirement. Ultron is thinking annihilation. To better reach those ends, he brings brother and sister Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. The orphans consented to Hydra experiments that have given them super-powers. Pietro is the super-fast Quicksilver and Wanda has reality warping powers.

In a confrontation with Ultron, the Scarlet Witch manipulates several Avengers, including the Hulk who goes on a rampage. Eventually the reveal of Ultron’s plans (including wiping out the human race) horrifies his cohorts. His continuing evolution actually leads to the introduction of a new character for the MCU. The Vision is introduced when the Mind Stone and lightening (along with the Jarvis AI) are combined to create the Vision.

Age of Ultron tries to be the Empire Strikes back, and is certainly loaded with darker themes than the previous films. The performances are strong, and when the Scarlet Witch exposes Iron, Cap, Black Widow, Thor and the Hulk to their greatest fears of their past or potential futures, it threatens to break their bond apart.

The action is top notch. There are several excellent and memorable fight sequences. The jokes mostly land (but who thought it was a good idea for Tony to suggest if he can lift Thor’s hammer that he would reinstate the practice of kings sleeping with new brides on their wedding night). There are a couple running jokes that can be particularly entertain. The running gag about lifting Thor’s Hammer (which has a very good payoff) is especially fun.

The movie gives more attention to Hawkeye. There was talk that Renner was very frustrated with the path the character took in the first Avengers. This may be Whedon’s way of saying “sorry” to Renner. It also establishes firmly the friendship with Natasha.

The effects are very good. Vision looks very close to his comic book counterpart, without looking to fake. Yet he is slightly unnatural. Which is kind of the point. Bettany gives life to the role. It only took his seven years to be more than a voice-over (now he is a motion capture voice-over).

The film faced some criticism over Natasha calling herself a monster to Bruce Banner. Some viewers felt the takeaway was that Natasha saw herself as a monster due to being sterilized. I don’t know that I accept it was that clear cut. Because the film is quite direct that it is the idea that she was a cold and efficient killer, and the folks who sterilized her believed this would make her that cold and efficient killer. But I will agree it was somewhat clumsy in the writing, and Whedon deserves the credit for that.

In the end, I enjoyed this second outing with the Avengers. It has some weak points, but nothing that ruined the overall enjoyment.

September 30, 2016 0

I Will Avenge Thee (the Avengers, 2012)

The Avengers was the culmination of four years of effort on the part of Marvel Studios. They worked to establish their interconnected Universe building up to this. People were excited and the Marvel Machine had primarily seen success with their films leading up to this. The first hiccup was losing Edward Norton. Ed and Marvel could not come to an agreement for the Avengers. So Marvel brought in the likable Mark Ruffalo. The other big announcement was that Joss Whedon would direct. He did not have that many movies under his belt, but he did have a few beloved television series, so as an overseer for the Cinematic Universe, he seemed well suited.

Loki is the central villain of the film, working with an alien race called the Chitari. The film moves quickly to introduce the core members to each other, with a brief but exciting “Heroes meet, misunderstand the situation and fight” sequence. This is an old comic book trope, and Whedon makes it work, and does not drag it out.

Once the heroes are brought together, they capture Loki who has a devious plan. His escape leaves the team in shambles and a supporting character dead (but don’t worry, he got better for the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series). This, of course, encourages the heroes to band together and defeat Loki and stop the alien invasion.

Whedon proves himself to be quite skilled with both small moments and spectacle. The final battle is exciting and full of grand heroics as Captain America takes charge. We see him as a wise strategist. When a police officer questions why they should listen to his instruction, he takes out an alien assault, no questions as the officer starts telling his men to implement Cap’s plan.

The introduction of Black Widow is pretty classic. It is one of those “damsel in Distress” sequences where you realize the bad guys never had a chance. The cast has an amazing amount of chemistry. Even their bickering is engaging. The film has the rapid quippy dialog Whedon is known for in shows like Buffy and Firefly. Ruffalo fits in to the crew seamlessly. As much as I like Norton and his Bruce Banner, Ruffalo manages to make the character all his own. It is all quite engaging.

I feel the biggest lapse in judgement is having Hawkeye spend the first half of the film as a possessed lackey of Loki. It just feels like the character deserves better than that.

While there is weight of imminent destruction, the film never gets too dark. You have lighter moments to even it all out. The Avengers was overall a great success that is a lot of fun to watch.

September 29, 2016 0

Hooked On a Feelin’ (Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014)

When Marvel announced Guardians of the Galaxy, it was met with a pretty collective “huh?” The announcement of director James Gunn was not much help. Gunn had directed 2 films prior. The Sci-Fi comedy Slither and the dark super-hero satire Super. His writing credits were a bit more substantial. While comic fans knew who the Guardians of the Galaxy were, the masses did not. And this did not bode well for early anticipation.

And yet…James Gunn managed to deliver one of Marvel’s best films to date. A traditional “Mismatched Crew Saves the Day” tale, the writing and performances make the most of the weirdness to carve a very fun film.

The film opens with young Peter Quill at the bedside of his dying mother. When he runs off, he is abducted by aliens. Because in Marvel’s world, that is just the kind of stuff that happens. After a heavy-hearted beginning, we are introduced to grown up Quill. In what seems like a serious sci-fi moment, Quill walks the landscape of a dead planet. He pauses and puts on earphones and the booming sound of Come and Get Your Love. This sets up a tone for the film that is highly effective.

We learn that Quill is not the brightest and gets by on luck. As he tries to pawn off the magical McGuffin he steals from an old temple, he finds himself dealing with the green skinned Gamora who is after the McGuffin. At the same time, Rocket (a talking raccoon) and Groot (a talking tree) are bounty hunters pursuing Quill. This leads to all of them being imprisoned. They are forced into a team, getting a late addition of Drax (Also green skinned and also tattooed). Drax wants to kill Gamora, because she is an associate of the mad Kree Warrior and religious zealot Ronan. Ronan killed Drax’s family and he is seeking his vengeance. Quill talks the other four into a prison escape, as Gamora knows someone who is interested in the McGuffin.

The prison escape is both action packed and highly entertaining. Gunn keeps everything moving, and even when the film slows down? It has momentum. Gunn makes sure not to ignore the development of the Guardians. They have opportunities to grow and Gunn (along with initial screen writer Nicole Pearlman) and overcome their situations. Vin Diesel has one line, yet manages to imbue different emotions every time he says it. When Drax discovers that Ronan does not appear to remember him or his family…he is lost and beaten. He was entirely of no consequence to Ronan. It causes him to alter his perspective. He also starts to get the value of his friends. Even if he does not understand how to talk to them.

The film focuses on the Guardians as David’s to Ronan’s Goliath, and it really works. The cast is effective, Probably the biggest flaw of the film is Ronan. This has not been uncommon, a lot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films seem to be thin on their villains (usually expecting to be overcome by good casting). Otherwise the film is full of humor and excitement. Gunn took an unknown group of characters and made a strong tale of friendship and misfits overcoming adversity.

September 18, 2016 1

Comic Book Movies Are The End of Movies

I will be honest…I find this claim a bit dubious. Not because there is zero truth to it. But the headline lays the lack of staying power. Hollywood has relied heavy on genre before and movies survived. For one, westerns did not kill the industry. And they ruled for a long time.

But as the article notes, lots of movies from multiple genres are facing massive declines in their second and third weeks. The continued reliance on blaming comic book movies (or more specifically Super-Hero movies…after all, Road to Perdition and a History of Violence are comic book movies) for Hollywood’s ills is a bit overstating things.

There are less than ten super-hero films a year (usually less than five, but there is a year coming up with eight or nine on the slate). There are over a hundred films released every year. Super-hero films are not even ten percent of the films released each year. I have mentioned all this before. I think the article is right in the reference to all the choices cannibalizing each other.

I confess, there is one thing I wish Marvel Studios would do. Marvel has a large catalog of material. They are saturating their own market with such big movies, they are not planning for what will happen when super-hero films just won’t make money. Marvel Studios has a real concern there than DC does not have. DC is just part of the WB…they have other options.

Marvel’s sole option right now is their cinematic universe. Marvel Studios can, and should start considering making smaller movies…films not aimed at the blockbuster. Both in their cinematic universe and outside of it.

Marvel needs to look to the future if they want to succeed past 2020. They need to look into stuff they own that is not super-heroes. Fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, adventures,espionage, comedy, family fare. Marvel has all sorts of options beyond their Cinematic Universe. They need to take the risk and see if they can succeed without the MCU. They took risks with Ant-Man and Guardians and now Doctor Strange. Now Kevin Feige and his team need to see if they can work their magic beyond super-heroes.

September 10, 2016 1

Blog Themes

So, August had Comic Book movie as it’s theme. I had not intended it, I kind just of fell into it. I started because I thought it might be nice to get the rest of the X-Men films as to go along with the Apocalypse review. And then I though, why not the Superman movies, as I have reviewed Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. And it snowballed from there to focus on DC properties.

So, for September, I will be looking at several films from the Marvel Franchise, including some that were outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We will cover the good and the bad. Except George Lucas’ Howard the Duck.

And next month? Halloween, Baby. Scary movies and nothing but. Including a look at the films of John Carpenter.

September 4, 2016 0

Marvelous

So, I recently wrote about how some feared what the success of Deadpool meant for the future of comic book and superhero films. And it looked like we were getting a glimpse of those fears being realized. There was first the announcement that the Superman vs Batman Blu-Ray would have an ‘R-Rated’ edition. Then they announced a go for the third Wolverine as an ‘R’.

There are reasons I think those were possible before Deadpool, but I think it did play at least a minor role.

However, proving that this may not be the trend it appeared to be, Marvel has announced they will not be making their Cinematic Universe a haven of ‘R-Rated’ super-hero films. This is welcome news. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has skewed comfortably PG-13. They are not little kid safe…but older kids on up have been able to enjoy them. Parents have been able to take older kids and teens and enjoy the films. They were not to risqué (Guardians of the Galaxy pushed that envelope the most).

I am glad to see Marvel sticking to the plan, rather than being distracted by Deadpool dollars.

March 5, 2016 0

The Danger of Deadpool’s Victory

So, since the last time I talked about Deadpool, I was proven very wrong. Deadpool was a hit with critics and audiences, receiving a lot of praise. There are people who did not care for it, but the movie broke records nobody expected.

I am happy to be wrong here. I am glad it has succeeded. And I think there is room for both family friendly super hero films and ‘R-Rated’ super-hero films.

On Twitter a week or so back, I got involved briefly in a discussion that was inspired by a tweet that stated that “Nothing Good Can Come From Deadpool’s Success.” I took the opposite side, arguing I do not think it means all super-hero films are suddenly going to go hard ‘R’.

Then in a couple days time, we saw announcements of the next Wolverine film will be ‘R’ and there will be an ‘R’ rated “super cut” of Superman vs Batman. And I do get the concern, though I am not ready to admit defeat. The Wolverine is not surprising, and they have skirted the violence of the character for over a decade.

Going back to X-2 we were being given pitches that we were about to see the Wolverine the last film did not deliver. We got a more violent cut of the second Wolverine film. At best, the success of Deadpool let them know that the ‘R’ is not the kiss of death.

In regards to Superman and Batman…Warner Brothers has always seen dark and gritty as the key to success. When Superman Returns did not succeed quite as big as the WB had hoped? They cited that it was not Dark Enough. When the Dark Knight succeeded they felt vindicated and even suggested that this is how they would fix Superman. When Green Lantern failed Warner Brothers blamed the film for not being dark enough.

Yet Man of Steel was dark and grim. And it seems the DC Universe was already on this path, well before Deadpool.

What is sad, is there is a lesson to be learned from Deadpool’s success. Deadpool was not a dark and grim take on super-heroes. It was a fun and bizarre ride. It had dark humor, and lot of it. But it was funny and intentionally so. The creators (from the writers to the director to the stars on) got the character. They knew and were faithful to their source.

Deadpool proves taking a big risk is worth doing. Films that know who they are? They are what studios should take a chance on. Truth their creatives, don’t micro manage. Letting the creators be free often produces positive results. Micro-Managing everything gives us studio vision and less interesting films.

February 26, 2016 3