Okay it's not really a review, just a big slobbery sopping wet kiss to this amazing conclusion of 11 years and 22 films - I LOVED THIS MOVIE!
Yes, I've said it many times on this blog - I'm an unapologetic fanboy, I'm not a critic, I desperately want every super-hero movie to succeed and I'm very good at overlooking problems because to me, when I compare comic book flicks today with what I had to work with when I was a kid - there ARE NO PROBLEMS of any real concern in the modern superhero big screen world.
I mean seriously, this is what I had to watch when I was 10 years old.
Watch about 30 seconds, if you can stand it. Yeah, and this was one of the better adaptations out there. And who could forget this?
Sure, it's a dope motorcycle - but that's about it really.
And then now we have this -
Absolutely this is THE best time to be alive for action/adventure/sci-fi/superhero goodness up on the big screen. THIS IS IT!!!
And it's why I was so so excited to finally see Endgame last Sunday with my wife and kid. I had managed to avoid spoilers despite the film being out for three days - and thus, like most folks, I was completely surprised and blown away by the last 3/4 of the movie because the Russo brothers (in all of their brilliance) had deliberately withheld all but the first 20 minutes of the 3 hour epic for use in the trailers.
I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen from beginning to end, but from 20 minutes onward every frame was a complete surprise and an unexpected delight.
Okay - so here we go. I'm going to recap and expound on what I loved, which was pretty much the entire frickin' movie (and really I don't want to use 'frickin').
So be fairly warned thee says I - THAR' BE SPOILERS AHEAD MATEY! (Not sure why but I just typed that with a pirate voice inside my head).
Doing this by memory after seeing the movie only once - so forgive any errors in sequence or detail.
My favorite moments (yes, most of them)...
The cold open with Hawkeye -
Interesting side note: Not once has Clint Barton ever been called Hawkeye in the MCU, the closest was 'The Hawk" in Avengers one. Here in the cold open of AE he calls his oldest daughter by that moniker.
I felt a punch to the gut as soon as the film faded up from black. Quiet scene, no music, which was a perfect choice. I didn't know what precisely was going to happen or how it was going to unfold, but I felt dread in the pit of my stomach for this entire scene.
Thankfully we are spared the sight of Clint's children and wife disintegrating before our eyes, their disappearance happens super quick - when his back is turned - and somehow this is both a relief but also more devastating in it's own way. Our brains fill in the detail and anguish as we leave the farm and head into the Marvel logo.
Tony and Nebula Adrift -
Let me just say, my favorite character by far in this film, and one of my all time favorites in the MCU, is Nebula. The way her character has grown and changed exemplifies precisely what is so great and amazing about the MCU...
Yes, the special effects in these movies are top notch. Yes, the humor is always a fun kick in the pants and often makes us giddy. Yes, the killer app is that it's FREAKIN' IRON MAN and FREAKIN' CAPTAIN AMERICA, etc. etc. coming to life on the big screen...
But what makes these movies GREAT, what makes them truly stories for the ages; is the deference and determination by the filmmakers to keep these characters as grounded and as real as possible. And over multiple movies we are allowed to get to know them, and watch them grow and change before our eyes.
I think Nebula is perhaps the very best example of this emphasis on realism and growth in the characters.
It is very powerful and moving to see how far she has come. The moment when she gently lifts a sleeping (unconscious?) Tony Stark and puts him in the captain's chair, had me welling up with tears for the second time in about 10 minutes into the movie.
She started out as a ruthless killer, desperate to please her maniac father. She has since fled from her tormentor, made peace with her sister, and has started to come around to the possibility of opening herself up to being kind and even tender with others. It is a remarkable and 100% genuine character arc from anger/pain into willing vulnerability.
Later in this scene, I loved the moment when Carol Danvers shows up outside the cockpit window. Very cool, and I was also very glad that the 'tag' in Captain Marvel was a self-contained scene that stayed in that movie and it wasn't a preview of a scene we would have to sit through in Endgame ala' Bucky's arm in a vice at the end of Ant-Man. This was a 3 hour movie, glad they weren't wasting our time with a replay of something we had already seen. Of course my wife and kid who didn't see Captain Marvel might have been a mite confused.
Nebula's reunion with Rocket was the third tears welling, lump in throat, moment for me. Very uncharacteristic of both of them up until the snap, now it makes perfect sense. We've been along with both of them and we get it.
Scott Returns -
Okay if there was one MASSIVE contrivance in this whole movie (and I understand there's actually about 50 small to medium ones) it's when the rat stumbles across the mini-quantum tunnel's control panel in the La Cucaracha van.
I can't help but wonder, in the 14 million + scenarios Dr. Strange looked at, were there several hundred thousand that had the rat taking a different route over the panel and so Scott never got out? If so, how did Stephen know that this reality in particular would have the exact right kind of clumsy rodent? (The internet is already abuzz with folks saying it was Splinter from Ninja Turtles).
Anyways, I digress a tad. I love how this movie took it's time to spend time with the characters in the first hour and I'm most grateful for the time we got with Scott Lange.
From his desperate search among the stone slabs at the San Francisco snap memorial, to his heart wrenching (in a good way) reunion with his now 15 year old daughter (who looks 20) - I'm so so happy that Ant-Man plays such a large role in this film.
Professor Hulk -
After striking out with Tony Stark, a lovely scene with Tony and his daughter in-between as well, Cap, Natasha and Scott hunt down Banner and he's Professor Hulk!
I never read any Professor Hulk comics, but I was well aware of what was going on with this character through the 90's - now I wish I had read some of these comics, maybe I still will!
Smart Hulk is hilarious! Love how he's a combination of not only Banner and Hulk's bodies, but their personalities as well.
Thankfully Endgame has the trademark MCU humor in abundance throughout. As usual, the filmmakers are ingenious about weaving jokes in and out seamlessly with the rest of the story. Nobody wants a selfie with Ant-Man!
So Tony can't sleep and figures out time travel and says "Ok" - so for the next half hour it's the Blues Brothers, we're getting the band back together!
Natasha returns the favor...
After a bad ass mini-fight scene that involves a dozen dead Yokuza gangsters, the Black Widow shows up to rescue her friend from a rain filled life of deadly justice. The interaction between the two actors is the real meat here, they both bring their A-game acting chops and the result is a very touching scene.
Thicc Thor -
Biggest laugh/gasp in the theater - Thor with a beer gut! The Dude Abides.
Love this development, a LOT. I know there's got to be a bunch of in-Cel neck beards out there who don't like Thor "turning into a joke" but I think Chris Hemsworth is so good and so dialed into the character, he's able to play for big laughs but also portray Thor as deeply troubled and struggling with the path to redemption. Cheers to the writers and directors for taking the unpredictable route with Thor, that also happens to make a lot of sense.
BTW, very excited to see Korg, he's my spirit animal. I've said it in earlier reviews, I want to BE Korg!
And so after Scott gets his taco blown away by the Benatar, and Hawkeye tests the time travel and agonizingly misses seeing his family - we are off to time travel, or rather, time heist.
They do try to explain it, in hilarious fashion by referencing every time travel movie ever made, but it's still a bit confusing. Somehow they are going to go back into the past and change things and they somehow won't effect their own past - I think that was the gist of it.
And so we come to that electric moment, when they drop into the time vortex and end up in New York in the First Avengers Movie! Wow!
I have to say, I was pleasantly bowled over at this story telling approach - what an amazing tribute to the MCU and an absolute love letter to the fans. Yes, it is fan service, but in the very best of ways.
New York, one city, three stones...
Loved Professor Hulk's half assed imitation of his old self.
Nice to see the Ancient One again, a fascinating concept that she (and who knows how many others) was also battling aliens just out of camera range. Very Back to the Future 2ish, bullshit though it may be.
Speaking of asses, America's ass is in fine form. LOVED Cap whispering "Hail Hydra" to avoid a direct callback to Winter Soldier. Genius!
Stark and Lang screwing up and allowing Loki's escape with the tesseract, how conveeeenient - but at least it gave us a great scene with Tony and his dad. Very emotional, once again. I really can't understand the film snobs who insist that these movies are corporate and soulless. Well, they may be corporate - but they absolutely are created by people who love these characters and scene after scene brings all the good kind of feels.
Also can't fail to mention what may be Stan the Man's last cameo - just lovely! I'd like to think they shot another 50 or so generic cameos in front of green screen so we'll keep seeing Stan for a long time, but you never know - this might have been it.
Also can't forget, Cap longingly looking at Peggy. Great to see Ms. Atwell back in the MCU. Also very much appreciated Kevin Fiege's relenquishing TV Marvel characters being banned from the movies (except for Coulson) by showing us the original Jarvis from Agent Carter. Loved that show! (Especially the first season...)
Rody and Nebula and an idiot...
Seeing Peter Quill do his dance from a different perspective... I don't know... yeah, I guess he's kind of a goofball!
Here's the mission of real consequence - when old Nebula and old Gamora are still baddies and set things in motion. Loved seeing Karen Gillan's remarkable work here, playing the same character at two vastly different times in her life. Also great to see Gamora again, even if it was one that effectively was Gamora rebooted.
Return of the most underrated Marvel movie ever!
Of 21 films, the filmmakers looked long and hard at which films they should return to - Guardians of the Galaxy, the original Avengers, and of course... Thor: The Dark World! Huh?
I confess, I really like, borderline love, TTDW. I think it is easily the most underrated film in the MCU. Natalie Portman is great, her friend is hilarious, the film never gets boring (though the Either and the Dark Elves are a bit convoluted.). The best part is the third act, with all the different portals and dimensions - expertly directed, shot and cut together. Dark World rules!
Here, fat Thor goes from a joke to an anguished hero in the blink of an eye. Renee' Russo gets a big juicy scene with Hemsworth, nearly 5 times as many lines as she had in both of her Thor movies combined.
It all works - yes, once again it's lump in the throat time. What wouldn't any of us do to have another chance at a conversation with a parent who has passed away? Thanks to Endgame, we get two of these great scenes.
Also, great seeing Natalie Portman, though I suspect that her shot is unused footage from Dark World.
What We Love the Most
Easily the most difficult and least fun, though emotionally enthralling, sequence in this time travel heist is Natasha and Clint's return to Vormir for the Soul Stone.
The Red Skull gets to do his thing, and then we get our hearts ripped out as BW and Hawkeye duke it out trying to kill - themselves, so the other one can get the stone.
I have to say, I was kind of shocked at the final choice. But we know that both of them are the kind that would not hesitate to lay down their life for each other, let alone half the universe. Yes, it's perfectly within character for both of them.
Natasha's death is shocking and sad, and now after the movie has finished it's even more so because it appears it might be permanent. That would be an amazingly sad, but super strong, choice.
Hulk Straps it On
So they all get back (except for my girl new Nebula) and Tony Stark of course figures out how to build an Iron Man-ish Infinity Gauntlet.
Hulk straps it on and does his thing - burns half of his body - but it appears that it worked. When Clint's wife calls, it is tear inducing moment #73 in this movie.
And then the walls come crashing down when 2014 Thanos (along with back in the day Gamora and new flavor Nebula who's a prisoner) and his big ass ship come through the time portal and rain hellfire down on the Avenger's compound.
Lovely touch with the birds in the courtyard before it all goes to shit. Yes, the snap has been undone, and as our heroes dig out from underneath the rubble, the big moment we've all been waiting for is coming.
Nebula literally killing her old self is a very powerful and emotionally resonant moment - it was also very gratifying for me and cemented Nebs as my favorite character of the movie and perhaps of the whole MCU saga.
But First, this movie's version of Thor and Rocket and Groot touching down on Wakanda
All of these movies have that singular moment - that one electrifying instant where you want to throw your arms up and cheer and scream at the top of your lungs.
In Infinity War it was when Thor/Rocket/Groot landed and the Silvestri score hit - hard.
In this movie, it's when Thor is about to get killed by Thanos, and SOMEONE ELSE wields Mjolnir!
That's right, they've been hinting at it since Age of Ultron, but it's true - Captain America can lift the hammer! "I knew it!" screams Thor with glee, and the audience roars.
And then, the ultimate comic book movie geek-gasm!
With the crackling of static in Cap's ear, we hear it "Cap, it's me Sam... on your left"
Yet another absolutely electric moment and what follows is simply the greatest super-hero comic book movie splash page to ever come to life on the silver screen. So amazing it's hard to put into words - it literally makes the giant fight in Civil War seem quaint in comparison.
Yes, they dragged everyone and their mother out to fight this fight.
I got the chills, over and over and over as every super-hero you could ever imagine tumbled out of Dr. Strange's portals to join in. Black Panther! Wasp! Spider-Man! This was it - 11 years and 22 movies all leading to this moment!
Loved how much time and care was spent to give just about every fighter their moment in the spotlight.
Greatly enjoyed Carol Danvers return to the fray, though it would've been nice if she'd taken out Thanos' ship BEFORE it unloaded all the bad guys right?
This is the scene that I will have to watch again and again when it comes out on home video - I know I missed a ton of cool stuff in the background. Reminded me very much of another one of my favorite movies Ready Player One, in it's scope and attention to detail.
Tony's death is handled well, and yes, I once again got a little misty. But the real waterworks started at the funeral...
Return of the Marvel King (or How many endings can we cram into this?)
The funeral scene was awesome, the Happy and Morgan scene devastating. This was my first true blubbery cry, though there had been plenty of occasional manly tear streaks up until that point.
My wife was a little perturbed that Natasha didn't get a full funeral - but I thought the scene with Clint and Wanda was a lovely way to pay proper respect to both BW and the Vision.
Thor joining the (As)Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty hilarious, and also will be delightful to watch if Thor stays in James Gunn's future movie.
And finally, Cap heading off to put the stones back - which insures that everyone gets to keep their reality, right? This is pretty convoluted and confusing, but I guess I'm ok with it. Cap goes back to be with Peggy (which is a beautiful last scene of the film, very touching and sweet) but somehow everything that happened in the MCU doesn't change right?
In other words, the snap did happen - five years did pass (though why is Peter Parker's friend still in high school?) and all the strong story choices (Gamora's death, Natasha's death, etc.) - none of that gets undone, right?
That was my takeaway, so I hope that stays true. I admit it is a teeny tiny bit annoying (I guess it's in my nerd DNA to nitpick a little bit) that Cap gets to go off and take a life for himself, not that I blame him, and yet somehow he still lives in the same reality as the original MCU and we see him as an old man? So there were two Captain America's, one that we know that got frozen and unfrozen and was in the Avengers - and another one who showed up out of the blue on Peggy Carter's front doorstep and (presumably) prevented her from marrying that other guy, or having kids for that matter. Kind of strange.
Oh well, this is such a minor nitpick for me, truly it is. Avengers Endgame was absolutely wonderful, and somehow exceeded my expectations even though there were already sky-high to begin with!
I can't wait to get back to the theater and see this one again, and again!
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Okay, one final quibble - appreciate that they gave all the characters a shout out in the credits - but I HATED the wobbly mirror-like visages that floated and bobbed about the screen. Do it correct guys! I hate to say it, but easily the best credits sequence at the end of a franchise finale is the one they did for the Twilight movies. Beautifully shot and artfully crafted - these credits in Endgame, I hate to say it, looked like ass.
Don't want to leave on a down note, I did indeed LOOOOOVE this movie, so much that as of this moment it easily sits on top of my MCU rankings. I will have to wait a month or two before I finalize it's position on my list, I will be sure to update this post when I do!
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Movies 2018
This list is a bit late, as I've had a tough time getting to see all the movies in 2018 that I figured might make my top ten. Life has been busy and that's good, but I know there are literally several of you out there who are desperate to find out which movies floated my boat the last year.
If there is anyone new here, know that I'm all about the big budget blockbuster movie - I like shit that blows up real good, loads of profanity, pointless nudity and traveling to other worlds. In other words, I like my entertainment to be entertaining and not remind me of real life. There's enough bleak nonsense in the real world, I don't need it in my movies.
That's not to say I don't strive for truth in my movies - I want characters that feel real, dialogue that crackles and a production design that feels 100% believable. Most of all, I want a great story that has emotional resonance and let's me lose myself for a couple of hours. That's not too much to ask, right?
Also, and I've said this many many times before on this blog and to anyone who will listen. I am deep down a massive fan of all of this stuff. I WANT movies to succeed, I don't go in with a super critical eye, because I wouldn't be wasting my time or money on stuff that I thought might be lousy. I'm rooting very hard from the get go for all of these massive budget busting movies to kick lots of ass, so I'm not disappointed very often. I'm for sure not a critic, I'm an unapologetic fanboy who is deliberately steering this boat to the land of joy. There are plenty of nerds my age who seem to be doing the opposite, most of the time.
Here first is the traditional list of flicks that I really liked a lot, and maybe didn't love, but movies that I would watch again on tv.
Venom - What a blast! Way funnier than I thought it would be. A fun comic book film that meanders a bit too much and doesn't pack the emotional wallop I would've hoped for - but it still wildly exceeded my expectations.
Incredibles 2 - Wanted to love this so badly. It's full of GREAT action sequences and humor, but ultimately it doesn't crack my top ten because it's got the impossible task of living up to the first movie which is a magnificent libertarian manifest of individual exceptionalism. This movie is about family or something, and it's all good - but not great.
RBG - Super enjoyable puff piece documentary about an extraordinary woman and her remarkable life. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has long been a hero of mine - not for her politics, which I pretty much universally disagree with, but for her incredible journey and the way she lives her life. She did some great work with civil rights that is detailed beautifully here. Her best friend in the world, outside of her husband, was Antonin Scalia - who is also a hero of mine and deserves his own slobbering documentary (not holding my breath). I marvel at these two and their friendship. Frequent trips to the opera, out to dinner every week with each other and their spouses. How great is that? We all need to be like Ruth and Antonin.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout - A massive improvement after the enjoyable but somewhat derivative part 5. The action sequences here are stellar, and Tom Cruise I guess never ages and does all of his own stunts. Crazy. Loved the story and the humor and was wrapped up from beginning to end. Just misses my top ten.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Went in wanting to love this, and liked it very very very much. The animation is incredible, and the story is pretty awesome with the whole multi-verse thing coming to life. Wish I hadn't learned about the story before I saw it. Wish it wasn't quite so heavy handed with it's preachiness.
Christopher Robin - I was enthralled with this movie until the very end, where they stumbled just a bit in the payoff. Through watching most of CR, I figured it was a top 10 entry for sure, but it just didn't quite work at the very end. Clumsy mumbo jumbo nonsense shoe-horned into an awkward boardroom scene where every bad dialogue cliche is thrown at the villain and suddenly the villain's dad has a heart of gold. Huh? Did indeed LOVE the rest of the movie though. Ewan McGregor is fantastic and it's great seeing Peggy Carter again. I will definitely be watching this again and maybe the end will play better next time.
12 Strong - So glad there are production companies still making movies that show radical extremists as the truly bad guys that they are. Fascinating true story here, moves along well and is superbly acted and shot. Does not suffer from what many military movies do in that all the characters are readily distinguishable from each other. Nice to see normally wacky Michael Shannon inadvertently work on a pro-military, pro-USA flick. Hopefully it rattled his brain a bit and he's got more common sense now.
The Nun - Saw this with my 14 year old and it was a lot of fun. Apparently there's a whole bunch of these kind of movies made by the same production company and they all exist in the same cinematic universe. I need to see them all! I greatly enjoy horror movies that push the idea of good and evil (and God and the devil) existing as very real things. Good stuff!
The Meg - Wife and I got a big kick out of this one, saw it in the theater for a discount matinee. A pretty weak opening aside, this one fires on all cylinders of fun and outrageousness. Jaws with massive doses of adrenaline and silliness - a great popcorn flick not meant to be taken too seriously.
Ballad of Buster Scruggs - This is maybe the ultimate Cohen brothers movie, as it manages to elicit all the emotions we all get when watching their stuff. It's hilarious, it's exhilarating and it's infuriating. I loved loved LOVED the first two stories of six. Then the third story was pretty dreadful and dreadfully slow. The Jack London story picked things back up again, and might be the best of all of them. The fifth story, the endless wagon train melodrama, didn't do it for me at all. Eye rolling conclusion, despite a great action sequence to close it out. And finally, the final story just flat out pissed me off for it's pretentous meandering and pointlessness. Though I must say, it's the one story I still think about the most. Darn you Cohen brothers! Why do you challenge your audience so much!
Bohemian Rhapsody - My kid took me to see this one in the theater, it was her second time seeing it. Highly enjoyable and entertaining, and 100% a love letter to Freddie which is all good as I don't much care for depressing films. Still, I do feel that they might have missed out by making Mr. Mercury always sympathetic through the entire movie. After all, this is a man who made some really really bad life choices - it doesn't do anyone any favors to kind of gloss over them.
All the same, there's some really nice emotional resonance here in spite of the filmmakers wish to not sully the band. Yes, I laughed, I cried, I didn't mind kissing my $15.50 goodbye. It also gave me a great excuse to look up Queen on youtube and marvel at just how fucking incredible they were. The Live-Aid performance, the real one (as good as the film version is) is absolutely astonishing and stands right up to the very best live acts today, exceeds them really.
TOP TEN. - here we are, these are the golden children of 2018 for me!
10. Black Panther - It's Marvel, what's not to love?! Here's an excerpt from my more lengthy review earlier in this blog.
"The movie's greatest strength is for sure it's emotional power - seeing a prospering African country is very moving. When the King is "killed" it is a heartbreaking sequence. It all works. I also especially love Michael B. Jordon, up until Infinity War he was easily the best MCU villain of all time, he is outstanding in every way. My favorite scene in the entire movie is when Killmonger visits his late father and it's in the old Oakland apartment. Powerful stuff."
As for why this isn't higher on my year end countdown, after all it's the 2nd biggest Marvel film ever in terms of box office and THE biggest in the US, I thought this movie was bordering on great but didn't quite have the highest of highs like some of the other MCU chapters - Guardians, Avengers 1, Winter Soldier, etc. I think there is likely a large Hollywood contingent that has this fantasy about BP being the end all be all in intersectional identity politics, thankfully the truth is that this is a very good movie about a great character that has positive things to say about personal responsibility, masculinity and family. Definitely a worthwhile chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but not especially deserving of the insanely over the top praise and awards when it's in the company of Infinity War and other better Marvel movies.
9. Aquaman - This one is a hoot and a holler! I was pleasantly bowled over by Aquaman's frenetic fun and an outstanding lead actor whose passion and enthusiasm for being Aquaman in the Aquaman movie shines brightly through every frame of his performance.
There are some great action sequences, very dynamic camera movement, and also some nice emotional heft thanks to a story that while silly at times (massive seahorses!) manages to stick to what matters; love, family and justice in the face of entitlement, betrayal and anger. Can't wait to get this on video and watch it again and again!
8. Free Solo - Documentaries rarely make it onto my top ten because I'm looking for movies that entertain more than they inform, but this is one of those special docs that has massive amounts of both qualities. It will also make you a nervous wreck! I had to go onto the iPad while watching this to make sure that (spoiler alert) the climber in the movie wasn't dead! We have a good family friend who went to a screening of this where the climber himself was in attendance - she said "I'm literally sitting in the theater with this guy, and I'm still nervous that he's going to fall in the movie!"
Though I saw this at home, the visuals are still incredibly powerful and gave me that 'fight or flight' queasy feeling throughout. This is truly a remarkable achievement in documentary filmmaking and it's obvious why it won the Oscar.
7. Solo: A Star Wars Story - Another movie with 'Solo' in the title! I was wanting to hate this, for the first time in the history of my life I didn't show up on opening night for a Star Wars movie. I had little to zero interest in seeing a story that I already had in my imagination being spoon fed into my eyeballs. But I'm happy to say, I was wrong and this movie is a heck of a lot of fun and holds up extremely well to repeat viewings.
I'm a little bit bummed that this movie "bombed" making only 392 million worldwide, it's unlikely we will get to see the story play out, which is a real shame because it certainly ended on an intriguing note - though the big reveal of the big baddie was kind of lame.
6. Deadpool 2 - Many have said this one falls flat after the first installment; I could not disagree more! This one has more laughs and more heart than the first installment, by quite a bit. Love the X-Force, love what happens to them - that is some EFFED UP STUFF! Pool is wickedly funny, and Cable is a great nemesis and begrudging friend. Loved it!
5. A Quiet Place- My first truly great movie theatergoing experience of 2018. Saw this on a bro-date with my good poker playing buddy, it was AWESOME! I will never forget how quiet the theater was, how it felt that any teeny tiny noise was going to be irrevocably damaging to the movie watching experience. We dare not eat a snack or sip a drink, heck I didn't even want to breathe - absolutely enthralling! Love the cast, love the story, love the heartbreak and the triumph. And I have no doubt that this movie wouldn't be half as powerful watching it at home sitting on the couch. Movies like this are why we still go to the movie theater!
4. Ant Man & The Wasp - We really are living in the best time ever to be a fan of comic books. I absolutely loved this movie and have watched it over and over again at home on Amazon. Some in the nerd community said that this one was "Just ok" - absolutely could not disagree more. It's fun, it has heart, crackling good action sequences - it's Ant Man and The Wasp! A long overdue adventure with one of the original giants in the Avengers, yes, that would be The Wasp. Even though it's Hope and not Janet, this movie still brings all the feels; and that mid-credits tag, what a gut punch!
3. Avengers: Infinity War - I did an exhaustive full length review on this movie that you can read by clicking here, but if you don't want to wade through that wall of text here's the cliffs: Great Marvel movie, superb action, lots of funny and powerful emotional stuff. This is a giant payoff for over a decade of Marvel movies. So grateful we have this incredible franchise of films and I can't wait for Endgame in April!
2. Ralph Breaks the Internet - I"m a bit surprised that this one finished so high on my list; higher than the original did in 2012. This is a continuation of where we left off, that feels natural and actually necessary - a feat that I didn't necessarily think was possible. The original was so great and so fun, it didn't feel at the end that there was more to tell, but now that RBTI is out, I can't imagine the story without this second chapter. Yes, it's that great.
This time it's just as much about Vanellope as it is about Ralph, and her dreams and aspirations. There is a surprising emotional punch to the choices she makes and to Ralph's reaction at her growing up. It ties directly of course to a dad and his daughter and what they go through when the little girl grows up. So yeah, it made me blubber quite a bit. Plus there is all this cool Easter egg shit that is dope AF. Another movie I watch over and over.
1. Ready Player One- The Beard has still got it! This one for me gets to all the feels because it is an utter celebration of popular culture, i.e. all the stuff in life that I'm interested in. There is a big contingent of fans who disparage the movie because it is so different than the book, for me this is never really a concern as long as the spirit of the original material is still there, and thankfully the book's author was heavily involved in seeing that his intentions (if not the details) of the story were preserved.
I watched this movie for the 4th time this last weekend, and I was crying throughout because it's just so darn awesome; that's what puts it on the top of this list. If I can still mine that emotional well fully after repeated viewings, I know I have something great on my hands.
Love the actors and their performances, love the cultural references, love the production design and most of all love the story that works from top to bottom. This is the ultimate geek movie for geeks made by the king of geeks. It really doesn't get any better!
Disappointments - Thankfully the list this year is short.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Saw this in the theater and like all of these big tent pole action adventure movies, I was rooting for it to succeed wildly. I wanted more than anything to love it. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure I like this movie, which is really tough to do with me.
Almost all of the action, we've seen done before and done better. The characters are entirely forgettable. Bryce Dallas Howard's character is so badly mishandled here, by what I suspect is more unfortunate Hollyweird nonsense, that I found myself actively rooting for her to be eaten; which sucks because I really loved her in Jurassic World. Chris Pratt is shockingly almost entirely forgettable, and this stems from the filmmakers commitment to telling a story that we don't really need to see. I guess this was Colin Trevarow's idea for a trilogy, and of course he left after he got "Me Too"'ed, so now we have a jumbled mess. Too bad.
Tomb Raider (remake)- Don't even know if this one is worth mentioning, as the movie sucks so bad, but really it kind of breaks my heart to see a franchise that has oodles of potential fail miserably for the second time. The Angelina Jolie movies sucked, and this one incredibly is even worse. Flat production design, no emotional component to Lara and her dad's relationship (which is tough to do) and a villain that is remarkable in his pointlessness. Give this one a hard pass.
Hard PASS - New for this year, a category of movies that I will be purposefully avoiding, for all of the reasons you probably expect.
Ocean's 8- See it's good and worthwhile because it's all women, see? Blech. How many times do I have to say it - Good movie first, diversity/inclusion/fairness/other bullshit second.
Mama Mia 2- Still infuriated over the first mess of a movie that managed to take spectacularly fun music and turn it into a terrible celebration of actual white privilege featuring people who couldn't sing even after autotune. Thankfully apparently Meryl Streep is dead in this one. Still not seeing it.
Vice - Cool, a political hit piece! Nothing better in movies. Um, no.
A Wrinkle in Time- Truly terrified to see this, as the book is one of my all time favorites as a kid. Heard a couple of the story changes, and no, can't do it, can't deal with it. The story is about God, okay? Not some mysterious force, not some cosmic energy - it's about God. You can't F with that, you can't change it and you certainly can't package it into some new age intersectional nonsense. HARD PASS.
WANT TO SEE - One of the reasons this list is so late is that I was hoping to catch all of these movies before hammering out a top ten list. Oh well, I will return and make edits if I need to. I especially am anxious to see the Mary Poppins sequel and find out if it's a worthy successor or a waste of time. I reeeeeally hope it's the former.
A Star is Born (Not because I think this was necessary in any way, but Mr. Bradley and Ms. GaGa are two performers I greatly admire)
Sicario 2 - (LOVED the first one, hope this is a worthy sequel)
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald. (Bad reviews aside, am anxious to catch up with these characters)
Stan & Ollie (Looks amazing)
Mary Poppins Returns
Widows. (Heard nothing but great things)
Bumblebee (Heard this is shockingly good!)
So there you have it - another year, another batch of movies in the books! Looking forward to seeing the rest of them! If you read this be sure to let me know on social media or the next time you see me if I missed any great ones from 2018.
Peace!
If there is anyone new here, know that I'm all about the big budget blockbuster movie - I like shit that blows up real good, loads of profanity, pointless nudity and traveling to other worlds. In other words, I like my entertainment to be entertaining and not remind me of real life. There's enough bleak nonsense in the real world, I don't need it in my movies.
That's not to say I don't strive for truth in my movies - I want characters that feel real, dialogue that crackles and a production design that feels 100% believable. Most of all, I want a great story that has emotional resonance and let's me lose myself for a couple of hours. That's not too much to ask, right?
Also, and I've said this many many times before on this blog and to anyone who will listen. I am deep down a massive fan of all of this stuff. I WANT movies to succeed, I don't go in with a super critical eye, because I wouldn't be wasting my time or money on stuff that I thought might be lousy. I'm rooting very hard from the get go for all of these massive budget busting movies to kick lots of ass, so I'm not disappointed very often. I'm for sure not a critic, I'm an unapologetic fanboy who is deliberately steering this boat to the land of joy. There are plenty of nerds my age who seem to be doing the opposite, most of the time.
Here first is the traditional list of flicks that I really liked a lot, and maybe didn't love, but movies that I would watch again on tv.
Venom - What a blast! Way funnier than I thought it would be. A fun comic book film that meanders a bit too much and doesn't pack the emotional wallop I would've hoped for - but it still wildly exceeded my expectations.
Incredibles 2 - Wanted to love this so badly. It's full of GREAT action sequences and humor, but ultimately it doesn't crack my top ten because it's got the impossible task of living up to the first movie which is a magnificent libertarian manifest of individual exceptionalism. This movie is about family or something, and it's all good - but not great.
RBG - Super enjoyable puff piece documentary about an extraordinary woman and her remarkable life. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has long been a hero of mine - not for her politics, which I pretty much universally disagree with, but for her incredible journey and the way she lives her life. She did some great work with civil rights that is detailed beautifully here. Her best friend in the world, outside of her husband, was Antonin Scalia - who is also a hero of mine and deserves his own slobbering documentary (not holding my breath). I marvel at these two and their friendship. Frequent trips to the opera, out to dinner every week with each other and their spouses. How great is that? We all need to be like Ruth and Antonin.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout - A massive improvement after the enjoyable but somewhat derivative part 5. The action sequences here are stellar, and Tom Cruise I guess never ages and does all of his own stunts. Crazy. Loved the story and the humor and was wrapped up from beginning to end. Just misses my top ten.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Went in wanting to love this, and liked it very very very much. The animation is incredible, and the story is pretty awesome with the whole multi-verse thing coming to life. Wish I hadn't learned about the story before I saw it. Wish it wasn't quite so heavy handed with it's preachiness.
Christopher Robin - I was enthralled with this movie until the very end, where they stumbled just a bit in the payoff. Through watching most of CR, I figured it was a top 10 entry for sure, but it just didn't quite work at the very end. Clumsy mumbo jumbo nonsense shoe-horned into an awkward boardroom scene where every bad dialogue cliche is thrown at the villain and suddenly the villain's dad has a heart of gold. Huh? Did indeed LOVE the rest of the movie though. Ewan McGregor is fantastic and it's great seeing Peggy Carter again. I will definitely be watching this again and maybe the end will play better next time.
12 Strong - So glad there are production companies still making movies that show radical extremists as the truly bad guys that they are. Fascinating true story here, moves along well and is superbly acted and shot. Does not suffer from what many military movies do in that all the characters are readily distinguishable from each other. Nice to see normally wacky Michael Shannon inadvertently work on a pro-military, pro-USA flick. Hopefully it rattled his brain a bit and he's got more common sense now.
The Nun - Saw this with my 14 year old and it was a lot of fun. Apparently there's a whole bunch of these kind of movies made by the same production company and they all exist in the same cinematic universe. I need to see them all! I greatly enjoy horror movies that push the idea of good and evil (and God and the devil) existing as very real things. Good stuff!
The Meg - Wife and I got a big kick out of this one, saw it in the theater for a discount matinee. A pretty weak opening aside, this one fires on all cylinders of fun and outrageousness. Jaws with massive doses of adrenaline and silliness - a great popcorn flick not meant to be taken too seriously.
Ballad of Buster Scruggs - This is maybe the ultimate Cohen brothers movie, as it manages to elicit all the emotions we all get when watching their stuff. It's hilarious, it's exhilarating and it's infuriating. I loved loved LOVED the first two stories of six. Then the third story was pretty dreadful and dreadfully slow. The Jack London story picked things back up again, and might be the best of all of them. The fifth story, the endless wagon train melodrama, didn't do it for me at all. Eye rolling conclusion, despite a great action sequence to close it out. And finally, the final story just flat out pissed me off for it's pretentous meandering and pointlessness. Though I must say, it's the one story I still think about the most. Darn you Cohen brothers! Why do you challenge your audience so much!
Bohemian Rhapsody - My kid took me to see this one in the theater, it was her second time seeing it. Highly enjoyable and entertaining, and 100% a love letter to Freddie which is all good as I don't much care for depressing films. Still, I do feel that they might have missed out by making Mr. Mercury always sympathetic through the entire movie. After all, this is a man who made some really really bad life choices - it doesn't do anyone any favors to kind of gloss over them.
All the same, there's some really nice emotional resonance here in spite of the filmmakers wish to not sully the band. Yes, I laughed, I cried, I didn't mind kissing my $15.50 goodbye. It also gave me a great excuse to look up Queen on youtube and marvel at just how fucking incredible they were. The Live-Aid performance, the real one (as good as the film version is) is absolutely astonishing and stands right up to the very best live acts today, exceeds them really.
TOP TEN. - here we are, these are the golden children of 2018 for me!
10. Black Panther - It's Marvel, what's not to love?! Here's an excerpt from my more lengthy review earlier in this blog.
"The movie's greatest strength is for sure it's emotional power - seeing a prospering African country is very moving. When the King is "killed" it is a heartbreaking sequence. It all works. I also especially love Michael B. Jordon, up until Infinity War he was easily the best MCU villain of all time, he is outstanding in every way. My favorite scene in the entire movie is when Killmonger visits his late father and it's in the old Oakland apartment. Powerful stuff."
As for why this isn't higher on my year end countdown, after all it's the 2nd biggest Marvel film ever in terms of box office and THE biggest in the US, I thought this movie was bordering on great but didn't quite have the highest of highs like some of the other MCU chapters - Guardians, Avengers 1, Winter Soldier, etc. I think there is likely a large Hollywood contingent that has this fantasy about BP being the end all be all in intersectional identity politics, thankfully the truth is that this is a very good movie about a great character that has positive things to say about personal responsibility, masculinity and family. Definitely a worthwhile chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but not especially deserving of the insanely over the top praise and awards when it's in the company of Infinity War and other better Marvel movies.
9. Aquaman - This one is a hoot and a holler! I was pleasantly bowled over by Aquaman's frenetic fun and an outstanding lead actor whose passion and enthusiasm for being Aquaman in the Aquaman movie shines brightly through every frame of his performance.
There are some great action sequences, very dynamic camera movement, and also some nice emotional heft thanks to a story that while silly at times (massive seahorses!) manages to stick to what matters; love, family and justice in the face of entitlement, betrayal and anger. Can't wait to get this on video and watch it again and again!
8. Free Solo - Documentaries rarely make it onto my top ten because I'm looking for movies that entertain more than they inform, but this is one of those special docs that has massive amounts of both qualities. It will also make you a nervous wreck! I had to go onto the iPad while watching this to make sure that (spoiler alert) the climber in the movie wasn't dead! We have a good family friend who went to a screening of this where the climber himself was in attendance - she said "I'm literally sitting in the theater with this guy, and I'm still nervous that he's going to fall in the movie!"
Though I saw this at home, the visuals are still incredibly powerful and gave me that 'fight or flight' queasy feeling throughout. This is truly a remarkable achievement in documentary filmmaking and it's obvious why it won the Oscar.
7. Solo: A Star Wars Story - Another movie with 'Solo' in the title! I was wanting to hate this, for the first time in the history of my life I didn't show up on opening night for a Star Wars movie. I had little to zero interest in seeing a story that I already had in my imagination being spoon fed into my eyeballs. But I'm happy to say, I was wrong and this movie is a heck of a lot of fun and holds up extremely well to repeat viewings.
I'm a little bit bummed that this movie "bombed" making only 392 million worldwide, it's unlikely we will get to see the story play out, which is a real shame because it certainly ended on an intriguing note - though the big reveal of the big baddie was kind of lame.
6. Deadpool 2 - Many have said this one falls flat after the first installment; I could not disagree more! This one has more laughs and more heart than the first installment, by quite a bit. Love the X-Force, love what happens to them - that is some EFFED UP STUFF! Pool is wickedly funny, and Cable is a great nemesis and begrudging friend. Loved it!
5. A Quiet Place- My first truly great movie theatergoing experience of 2018. Saw this on a bro-date with my good poker playing buddy, it was AWESOME! I will never forget how quiet the theater was, how it felt that any teeny tiny noise was going to be irrevocably damaging to the movie watching experience. We dare not eat a snack or sip a drink, heck I didn't even want to breathe - absolutely enthralling! Love the cast, love the story, love the heartbreak and the triumph. And I have no doubt that this movie wouldn't be half as powerful watching it at home sitting on the couch. Movies like this are why we still go to the movie theater!
4. Ant Man & The Wasp - We really are living in the best time ever to be a fan of comic books. I absolutely loved this movie and have watched it over and over again at home on Amazon. Some in the nerd community said that this one was "Just ok" - absolutely could not disagree more. It's fun, it has heart, crackling good action sequences - it's Ant Man and The Wasp! A long overdue adventure with one of the original giants in the Avengers, yes, that would be The Wasp. Even though it's Hope and not Janet, this movie still brings all the feels; and that mid-credits tag, what a gut punch!
3. Avengers: Infinity War - I did an exhaustive full length review on this movie that you can read by clicking here, but if you don't want to wade through that wall of text here's the cliffs: Great Marvel movie, superb action, lots of funny and powerful emotional stuff. This is a giant payoff for over a decade of Marvel movies. So grateful we have this incredible franchise of films and I can't wait for Endgame in April!
2. Ralph Breaks the Internet - I"m a bit surprised that this one finished so high on my list; higher than the original did in 2012. This is a continuation of where we left off, that feels natural and actually necessary - a feat that I didn't necessarily think was possible. The original was so great and so fun, it didn't feel at the end that there was more to tell, but now that RBTI is out, I can't imagine the story without this second chapter. Yes, it's that great.
This time it's just as much about Vanellope as it is about Ralph, and her dreams and aspirations. There is a surprising emotional punch to the choices she makes and to Ralph's reaction at her growing up. It ties directly of course to a dad and his daughter and what they go through when the little girl grows up. So yeah, it made me blubber quite a bit. Plus there is all this cool Easter egg shit that is dope AF. Another movie I watch over and over.
1. Ready Player One- The Beard has still got it! This one for me gets to all the feels because it is an utter celebration of popular culture, i.e. all the stuff in life that I'm interested in. There is a big contingent of fans who disparage the movie because it is so different than the book, for me this is never really a concern as long as the spirit of the original material is still there, and thankfully the book's author was heavily involved in seeing that his intentions (if not the details) of the story were preserved.
I watched this movie for the 4th time this last weekend, and I was crying throughout because it's just so darn awesome; that's what puts it on the top of this list. If I can still mine that emotional well fully after repeated viewings, I know I have something great on my hands.
Love the actors and their performances, love the cultural references, love the production design and most of all love the story that works from top to bottom. This is the ultimate geek movie for geeks made by the king of geeks. It really doesn't get any better!
Disappointments - Thankfully the list this year is short.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Saw this in the theater and like all of these big tent pole action adventure movies, I was rooting for it to succeed wildly. I wanted more than anything to love it. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure I like this movie, which is really tough to do with me.
Almost all of the action, we've seen done before and done better. The characters are entirely forgettable. Bryce Dallas Howard's character is so badly mishandled here, by what I suspect is more unfortunate Hollyweird nonsense, that I found myself actively rooting for her to be eaten; which sucks because I really loved her in Jurassic World. Chris Pratt is shockingly almost entirely forgettable, and this stems from the filmmakers commitment to telling a story that we don't really need to see. I guess this was Colin Trevarow's idea for a trilogy, and of course he left after he got "Me Too"'ed, so now we have a jumbled mess. Too bad.
Tomb Raider (remake)- Don't even know if this one is worth mentioning, as the movie sucks so bad, but really it kind of breaks my heart to see a franchise that has oodles of potential fail miserably for the second time. The Angelina Jolie movies sucked, and this one incredibly is even worse. Flat production design, no emotional component to Lara and her dad's relationship (which is tough to do) and a villain that is remarkable in his pointlessness. Give this one a hard pass.
Hard PASS - New for this year, a category of movies that I will be purposefully avoiding, for all of the reasons you probably expect.
Ocean's 8- See it's good and worthwhile because it's all women, see? Blech. How many times do I have to say it - Good movie first, diversity/inclusion/fairness/other bullshit second.
Mama Mia 2- Still infuriated over the first mess of a movie that managed to take spectacularly fun music and turn it into a terrible celebration of actual white privilege featuring people who couldn't sing even after autotune. Thankfully apparently Meryl Streep is dead in this one. Still not seeing it.
Vice - Cool, a political hit piece! Nothing better in movies. Um, no.
A Wrinkle in Time- Truly terrified to see this, as the book is one of my all time favorites as a kid. Heard a couple of the story changes, and no, can't do it, can't deal with it. The story is about God, okay? Not some mysterious force, not some cosmic energy - it's about God. You can't F with that, you can't change it and you certainly can't package it into some new age intersectional nonsense. HARD PASS.
WANT TO SEE - One of the reasons this list is so late is that I was hoping to catch all of these movies before hammering out a top ten list. Oh well, I will return and make edits if I need to. I especially am anxious to see the Mary Poppins sequel and find out if it's a worthy successor or a waste of time. I reeeeeally hope it's the former.
A Star is Born (Not because I think this was necessary in any way, but Mr. Bradley and Ms. GaGa are two performers I greatly admire)
Sicario 2 - (LOVED the first one, hope this is a worthy sequel)
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald. (Bad reviews aside, am anxious to catch up with these characters)
Stan & Ollie (Looks amazing)
Mary Poppins Returns
Widows. (Heard nothing but great things)
Bumblebee (Heard this is shockingly good!)
So there you have it - another year, another batch of movies in the books! Looking forward to seeing the rest of them! If you read this be sure to let me know on social media or the next time you see me if I missed any great ones from 2018.
Peace!
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