Monthly Archives: July 2015

Movie Review: Ant-Man

The Marvel Cinematic Universe moves into Phase III with Ant-Man. (Phase I ended with The Avengers, Phase II with Avengers: The Age of Ultron and Phase III will culminate with Avengers: Infinity War Part 1.)

AntmanAnt-man is a film with a  troubled history. Numerous re-writes and replaced directors rarely yield a classic movie. While that trouble it evident in a somewhat schizophrenic storyline, this film is not a failure. The characters are likable, the action interesting and different, and the intersection with the Marvel Cinematic Universe consistent and  on point. There are nice call-backs to the earlier films with appearances from characters such as Agent Peggy Carter and Howard Stark. The digital process pioneered in Tron: Legacy that allows older actors to portray younger versions of themselves has matured  allowing Michael Douglas to play troubled genius Dr. Hank Pym across a span of ages. The film also pays tribute to the twisted history of the Ant-Man character, paying respect to both the Hank Pym Ant-Man and the new Ant-Man Scott Lang.

In the movie Dr. Hank Pym, decades after being forced out of his own company and from the international security organization S.H.I.E.L.D. is forced into action, replaying upon his daughter and an idealistic ex-con, Scott Lang, to prevent devastating technology from fallen into evil, insane hands. Scott Lang, played in a fairly likable comedic tone by talented actor Paul Rudd, struggles to find himself and a way back into his family’s good graces while dealing with becoming the newest hero in the expanding MCU.  In the end, it is friendship and ingenuity that save the day.

The film is serviceable and I enjoyed the two hours watching it, however, more than once it falls into formula. There is a cliche, well worn in genre films, where an experience or warning that occurs early in the film establishes the method for the hero’s final victory. This was subverted nicely in 2008’s Iron Man when the ‘icing problem’ Tony encounters during his first flight as Iron Man is only part of the climax’s resolution and not the totality of it, In Ant-Man the telegraphed information, plays straight into the hero’s victory in an unoriginal manner typical of the cliche. that said this is a problem that is likely only to be visible to those already deconstructing plots and stories.  Over all I think most people who enjoy the popcorn fun of summertime superheroes will enjoy Ant-Man.

 

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A lovely image

After a more than nine-year transit the spacecraft New Horizon this week achieved a historic fly-by of Pluto.  Pluto, planet or dwarf planet depending on your passion, has been a mystery for decades. Seen through the Hubble Space Telescope as barely more than a smudge, this world has been a favorite and an unknown lurking at the edge of the solar system.

Now we have wonderful images taken by the spacecraft and in my opinion Pluto is one of the loveliest worlds in our system. The scientific data continues to pour in and understanding it will take years, but this week it is all beauty and excitement.

pluto FULLFRAME_COLOR

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New Theme

So, I decided to experiment again with a theme for my blog. This time I wanted something simple and direct. Go ahead and let me know what you think.

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Quickie Movie Review: The Big Combo

My current novel in progress is a science-fiction noir and to put myself in the right mental head-space for plotting it out I am watching a lot of noir films. This week I discovered one that is apparently a favorite of Joss Whedon, The Big Combo. Whedon nods to this movie in his feature film Serenity by naming  twins character duo after a two-man button team from this film, Fanty and Mingo.

Big ComboThis film follows a straight-laced police detective, Leonard Diamond as he tries to bring down an underworld Boss, Mr. Brown. Brown is played with oily smoothness by Richard Conte who played another slick underworld boss in the classic film The Godfather.

For most of this film, I was engaged, but not enthralled. The characters were likable enough and the writing and the production competent enough to make for a watchable experience before bed. (I like to watch 20-30 minutes of stuff to unwind after writing and editing and then go to sleep.)

I didn’t understand why someone of Joss’ talents might have a special place for this film until about an hour in and then the plot twisted into a new and novel shape. Most movies I can see their ‘surprises’ long before the actual reveal. It goes with plotting your own, but not this time. This one, and clearly I am not going to tell you what it comes out of the blue and yet was not forced or gimmicky.

The film has fallen into the public domain so you can likely find it in all sorts of places. I streamed it from Hulu. It’s less than 90 minutes and worth at least one viewing if this genre interests you.

 

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Movie Review: Jurassic World

Friday Night my plans for the night fell through and after a pleasant evening spent with my jurassic worldsweetie-wife I went to the theater and watched the newest installment in the ‘Jurassic‘ franchise. Of the previous three films I have seen two of them in the theater and Jurassic Park III I watched on blu-ray when I picked up the boxed set at a decent price. So I am a fan but not a particularly hard core one. I was not determined the watch this installment on the big screen, but the chance arose and I do believe that a film is best viewed in a proper theater.

Short review: I enjoyed it but I did not love it.

The film is set twenty years after the original Jurassic Park. Jurassic World is a going concern having made real Hammond’s vision of a zoo/theme park with living biological attractions. The story borrows and lifts from previous franchise themes and characters, but in a simplified manner reducing all the people to stock characters with little to inject life into them. Protagonists Corporate characters are cold business people who have a change of heart learning what is really important in life. Child characters are siblings living under the threat of a family dissolution. Scientist characters are haughty in their arrogance in the face of nature and disrespectful of their creations. (There’s an argument to be made that the I-Rex is really a new version of the Frankenstein tale.) Villainous military characters see only the potential for war and death, though the concept of V. Raptors replacing soldiers or drones ranks for stupidity right up their with the company’s weapons division obsession w the Zeta Reticulian parasite in Alien. Chris Pratt’s character is the wise uber-competent hero who is rarely wrong and needs no life lessons to learn.

All that said, and these are real flaws, the films was fun in a theme park kind of way. (I was also amused just how much the set of Jurassic World looked like the theme park Universal Studios.) the film pretty much jumps to action with just minimal set-up and once the action starts, it runs at full speed, pausing occasionally for nods and camera-winks to the original film, and then right back to the scientifically implausible I-Rex and her need for violence.

If you like films with lots of action, and you can tune down your disbelief enough this film is enjoyable, but not one worthy of repeated viewings.

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