Movie Reviews

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Director:

Taika Waititi

Writers:

Eric Pearson

Craig Kyle

Christopher L. Yost

Starring:

Chris Hemsworth

Tom Hiddleston

Cate Blanchett

Tessa Thompson

Mark Ruffalo

Anthony Hopkins

Jeff Goldblum

Plot:

Thor is imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, and must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.

Review:

Thor, Chris Hemsworth, is having nightmares. Asgard ending nightmares. So he searches for the cause, ends up adding a new item to the Asgard collection, and then finally learns that his brother isn’t dead, but his father is missing, and oh yeah he’s got a sister that’s the goddess of death. Oh the life of a Norse god.

When confronted with impossible odds Loki, Tom Hiddleston, runs away calling a bridge, which allows their sister access to Asgard. Thor and Loki are both kicked off the bridge and wind up on Sakaar, where time is funky. Then the real fun begins.

Actually, the movie is fun from the minute it starts with Thor in a cage talking to some bones, it just gets better from there. The 80s feel, the humor, the story this movie takes all the previous Marvel movies and perfects them. It’s got the great music, excellent humor, shirtless SHORT HAIRED Thor, and two amazing female characters.

Some more female representation! Valkyrie, Tessa Thompson, is, well she deserves to have at least her own TV show where she bums through the galaxy trying to move on with her life after finally getting out of her drunken stupor. Her rapport with Thor and Hulk, Mark Ruffalo, are great. She’s much more serious than Thor, but doesn’t go too hard into it like Black Widow. She does have a tragic backstory, but that just means she deserves to find her own happily ever after.

Hela, Cate Blanchet, is terrifyingly beautiful as the Goddess of Death. She is pure evil but I don’t feel like they pushed her over the top into comic book villain (lol). She’s crazy, but not deranged, she is pissed the fuck off more than anything. She’s been locked up, erased from history by her father, and she’s back to finish the job he wouldn’t let her.

The buddy comedy feel of Hulk and Thor is something I desperately hope we get more of. Hulk and Iron Man has nothing on a Hulk and Thor team up. We also seem to be back at Bruce Banner changing into the Hulk when he’s stressed, not just angry. There’s also the added element of Hulk sticking around for two years instead of receding and letting Banner take over. The two personalities seem to be becoming more separate.

I’m honestly having a hard time thinking of anything negative to say about Thor: Ragnarok. It’s a nice balance between serious and funny, it has representation from women and POC though it could use more, the story is interesting, and it ties into the overarching plot but is still complete on its own. It is easily one of my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, if not my favorite.

Original Review

5/5

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

spider-man-homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Director:

Jon Watts

Writers:

Jonathan Goldstein

John Francis Daley

Jon Watts

Christopher Ford

Chris McKenna

Erik Sommers

Starring:

Tom Holland

Michael Keaton

Jon Favreau

Marisa Tomei

Zendaya

Jacob Batalon

Laura Harrier

Plot:

Peter Parker balances his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens with his superhero alter-ego Spider-Man, and finds himself on the trail of a new menace prowling the skies of New York City.

Review:

Peter Parker, Tom Holland, is not technically an Avenger, but maybe. If Tony Stark would just give him a chance he knows he could succeed. It’s not like he hasn’t already proven himself in battle against Earth’s mightiest superheroes. Of course, Tony couldn’t even give him that telling him that Cap would have beat him if he wanted too. I’m really glad that Peter has Aunt May, Marisa Tomei, she is a much better parental figure than Tony.

Using his new suit Peter fights crime, discovers weapons being made with alien tech, and tracks down the people responsible. When he botches a sting operation put in place to take the bad guys down Tony takes his suit away. Probably the best and most hypocritical move that Tony could have done since it’s easy to forget that Peter is only 15.

Without his suit, but desperate to do good with his abilities, Peter finds himself in a dangerous position, he calls all the people he can, is ignored, and so does what heroes do. He pushes himself, learns his limits, and pushes himself past them to save people. He is a hero, but by not taking Tony up on his offer he proves that he’s also very self-aware. Honestly, having never enjoyed Spider-Man, this movie made me excited for the character. It is easily the second best Spider-Man movie (Into the Spiderverse is first).

As much as I enjoyed the Spider-Man character, the movie wouldn’t have been nearly as good without his villain The Vulture, Michael Keaton. Awarded a huge clean up job by the city of NY Keaton takes out loans, hires people, and is looking at a bright professional future, when Tony Stark swoops in and takes it all away. Honestly, it’s kind of disheartening that in a universe with superheroes the politicians still manage to fuck shit up. Who in their right mind awards a clean-up project to the very person that made the mess? Did he give them an amazing deal? Should it have mattered? He better be doing it for free, but I doubt it.

I would be right on board with The Vulture if he’d just not had to go and kill people. That one little step is my step too far. I could have probably forgiven killing his flunky, but trying to kill a teenager? A teenager that you know saved your daughter from death? Nope, can’t root for you. I was happy that he didn’t give Peter up at the end though, it showed that he wasn’t completely evil, maybe.

As to the impact on the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, Peter gets a new fancy suit, but I think that’s pretty much it. It’s a nice suit…

Spider-Man: Homecoming was a great superhero movie, but it was lacking in a couple areas. First, and the one that impacts my rating the least, it’s ties to the overarching plot. It builds the character and relationships, but, so far, it doesn’t seem to mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Second, and actually impacting my rating, the lack of female characters and representation, both in front of and behind the screen. Aunt May was awesome, what little Zendaya was in the movie she was great, the only other significant female character was Liz, Laura Harrier, and she was really just there as a romantic interest for Peter and didn’t even speak in a lot of her time on screen. Everyone was a dude and I’ve just watched, how many movies, where it’s the same way, and it’s really starting to weigh me down. It’s one thing when it’s spread out a couple times a year, it’s another thing when it’s every day. I’m just a bit…tired.

Side note: sorry for the little break in reviews, I moved and that is time consuming.

Original Review

4/5

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Director:

James Gunn

Writer:

James Gunn

Dan Abnett

Starring:

Chris Pratt

Zoe Saldana

Dave Bautista

Vin Diesel

Bradley Cooper

Michael Rooker

Karen Gillan

Pom Klementieff

Kurt Russell

Plot:

The Guardians struggle to keep together as a team while dealing with their personal family issues, notably Star-Lord’s encounter with his father the ambitious celestial being Ego.

Review:

We find the Guardians of the Galaxy fighting a giant alien as hired mercenaries for a race of snooty gold people. Rocket, Bradley Cooper, steals something he shouldn’t because he’s seemingly testing the boundaries and strength of his new relationships. Things don’t go well for the Guardians, but it’s okay Star Lord’s, Chris Pratt, father shows up and saves the day.

Yeah, so apparently Star Lord’s father, Kurt Russell, is an immortal planet, or something. He has spread his seed far and wide in the hopes of creating a prodigy that can help him destroy the universe, well create it in his own image.

Each of his children have failed, but when he learns Star Lord has held an infinity stone and lived he has hope. Unfortunately for him, being a being alive for millennia, he doesn’t understand that killing your child’s loving mother is like the worst thing you can do.

This movie was about Star Lord and Rocket’s stories. There were some dashes of Gamora, Zoe Saldana, and Nebula, Karen Gillan, they started to work out their issues, but probably not. We also got little doses of the odd relationship between Drax, Dave Bautista, and Mantis, Pom Klementieff. For the most part, though, it was Star Lord. We saw more of his backstory, more of his family, and the ending was mostly about him as well. The movie is called Guardians of the Galaxy, it would have been nice if it had more of an ensemble feel, like Avengers. Star Lord had 11 more minutes of screen time than the next person, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but even when he was not on the screen a fair amount of the story revolved around him.

Part of why I enjoyed the first movie was the other characters and by far my favorite parts of this movie had almost nothing to do with Star Lord. Basically, anything with Groot and Rocket was awesome. I really liked Gamora and Nebula working on their shit too. The weakest part of the story, in my opinion, was Star Lord’s.

Overall, I’m not sure what impact this movie had on the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. We now have Mantis, who plays her part with trying to distract Thanos in Infinity War. There are some allusions to a future Guardians plot, but no idea if that will impact anyone else.

The movie was a step down from the original. Oddly enough, I loved it on my first viewing. So what’s changed? Is it because I watched it so closely to the first? Is it because this is the first time I’ve watched it since Black Panther, Thor Ragnarok, and Captain Marvel? I don’t know. I still enjoyed the humor at least.

Original Review

3/5

Doctor Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange (2016)

Director:

Scott Derrickson

Starring:

Benedict Cumberbatch

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rachel McAdams

Benedict Wong

Mads Mikkelsen

Tilda Swinton

Plot:

While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts.

Review:

Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch, is a world renowned neurosurgeon. He is the best at what he does, he makes a ton of money, and has a massive ego to go with it. One night, on his way to a benefit, he’s driving his expensive car at unsafe speeds on windy wet roads and takes his eyes off the road. For possibly the first time in the man’s life, the worst case scenario happens to him and he’s not able to fix it. He careens off the side of the mountain and his hands are damaged beyond full repair. His entire life is now over.

Dr. Christine Palmer, Rachel McAdams, is a good doctor in her own right, and considers herself his friend, and tries to help him. He lashes out at her, after months of her helping, and he says some truly heinous things. She walks away and then he’s free to wallow in his miserableness. Except, he does continue to try and find a way to fix his hands. Using his last dime he travels to Nepal and searches for the Ancient One.

Doctor Strange continues the white male egomaniac tropes with the superheroes, but unlike Tony Strange actually grows by the end of the movie. We don’t know yet if that growth will stay or if he’ll backslide into thinking he’s the most amazing thing ever created, but I have high hopes. He actually gives Dr. Palmer a legitimate and good apology.

Dr. Palmer is one of only two women with significant speaking parts in the movie, that I remember. She at one point dated Strange, but apart from trying to help him get better and being a doctor is given no kind of backstory.

The other woman in the movie is The Ancient One, Tilda Swinton, she is ancient and powerful, and steals her long life from the dark one, Dormammu. She trains Strange and puts him in his place in several instances, which is very fun to watch. She pushes him. She recognizes that there is more than just a light and dark side, which ultimately is what creates what I guess will be the next Strange villain, Mordo, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

I liked Doctor Strange more than I remember, but clearly there are some troubling issues with it, though, that probably has a lot to do with the source material too. My hope is that there will be more female characters in the next one, because at this point it’s a glaringly obvious problem with the franchise.

Original Review

4/5

Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man.jpg

Ant-Man (2015)

Director:

Peyton Reed

Starring:

Paul Rudd

Michael Douglas

Evangeline Lily

Corey Stoll

Michael Peña

Plot:

Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

Review:

Scott Lang, Paul Rudd, is a real life Robin Hood. He stole from a rich ISP and gave the money back to the consumers. He is the hero we deserve. Sadly, much like the real world, he was put in jail and is only now getting out. Optimistic that he’ll be able to find a new job fast, he’s shocked to learn that even as a really smart white man being an ex-convict closes a lot of doors, especially the Baskin Robins door. Broke and desperate to see his daughter he returns to a life of crime.

In perhaps one of the most realistic parts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Dr. Hank Pym, Michael Douglas, is yet another white man with a galactic size ego. He picks Scott out to carry on the mantel of Ant-Man, though, conveniently leaves out the damage the suit has done to him that makes it so he’s unable to continue using it. He also is adamant that the Avengers not be contacted even though the world is in danger.

Alright, we’re like eleven movies into this re-watch and it’s clearly starting to get to me. I love the movies, I really do, but watching them back to back like this is really, really, highlighting their flaws. Namely, the fact that almost everyone is a freaking white man; they’ve got their little things that make them different from each other, but still… Also, most of the female characters are bad asses with a large portion of them having a tragic past.

Wasp, badass with a tragic past, mother died and her father was a dick.

Black Widow, badass with a tragic past, raised to be an assassin from a very young age.

Scarlett Witch, badass with a tragic past, though, personally badass is kind of a stretch her powers are impressive.

Maria Hill, badass.

Peggy Carter, resourceful, intelligent, badass.

Pepper Potts, rich secretary who is briefly a badass, past unknown.

Betty Ross, scientist, not a badass, father’s a dick, only in the universe one movie before never really brought up again.

Jane Foster, science badass, but mainly science. Backstory unknown and disappears after two movies.

Lady Sif, badass, past unknown, disappears after two movies is in a couple episodes of SHIELD.

Gamora, badass with a tragic backstory.

Nebula, badass with a tragic backstory.

Valkyrie, badass with a tragic backstory.

It’s not until we get to Black Panther that we get a character that’s a bit more with Shuri and she’s been in two movies so far, so hopefully she’s not disappeared. Also, I could be forgetting someone and I didn’t include Captain Marvel because she’s got her own movie, and I don’t consider her backstory tragic, it’s a pretty normal backstory for a woman of her age.

It’s just…it’s really obvious and it really shows how much the series has changed, but I hope it continues to grow. I want more. They’re superhero movies so every main character or supporting character is going to be some level of badass, for the most part, but I want some diversity in their backgrounds. I’d like them to not just be forgotten or never mentioned again. I love the universe, I hope it continues to do better, and be like the heroes they’re telling stories about.

Here is my original review of Ant-Man, after further consideration I think I’ll actually bump it up rating wise. Ant-Man is a good character, but the movie is fun because of Michael Peña.

3.75/5