Ant-Man & The Wasp

Official Australian release date: 5/7/18. Viewed: 4/7/18.

Director: Peyton Reed

Actors: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Hannah John-Kamen

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: PG

   

‘Ant-Man & The Wasp’ is the third Marvel film in the last five months – but importantly, it’s the first since ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and the last for eight months. Definitely recommend seeing Infinity War before this. This sequel sticks to the winning formula of the first – Scott/Ant-Man (Rudd)’s charm/humour, Hope/Wasp (Lilly)’s resolve/smarts and Hank (Douglas)’s mentorship/atonement. Less of a heist focus this time, though – more of a rescue mission.

Excellent support cast again, most notably Luis (Pena), who has plenty of great lines and laughs. His two offsiders, Dave (TI) and Kurt (Dastmalchian) also get some screen time, as does Cassie (Forston) – Scott’s daughter. There’s also FBI agent Jimmy (Park), Bill (Fishburne), Janet (Pfeiffer) and Burch (Goggins), all having something to add. The film starts a little slow, trying to establish where we are (after ‘Captain America: Civil War’, just before ‘Avengers: Infinity War’).

The film picks up with the introduction of Ghost (John-Kamen), who’s an interesting antagonist, with her phasing powers. Plenty of good action scenes, balanced (mostly) with humour. Once again, the most stunning scenes are the sub-atomic/quantum realm shrinkages, with exceptional and trippy visuals. As always, stay for the end credits. Not better than the first film, but no worse either.

Overall: Another fun & slightly off-kilter ‘superhero’ film.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Official Australian release date: 21/6/18. Viewed: 20/6/18.

Director: Juan Bayona

Actors: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Rafe Spall, Isabella Sermon

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

   

‘Jurassic Park 5’ starts pretty well, with the giant crocodile thing & sense of foreboding doom, as we’re reintroduced to Isla Nublar and what’s happened to the abandoned park in the last three years. Both Claire (Dallas Howard) & Owen (Pratt) are brought back in to help rescue the dinosaurs – basically it’s a mash up of the plots of JP2 & JP3. My only wish for the film – we see dinosaurs kill over five humans…

They try to bring back Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), but he’s given far too little screen time, as are the new sidekicks – Franklin (Smith), Zia (Pineda) & Maisie (Sermon). You sort of get to know them, and then they’re hardly used. The same could almost be said of Pratt, who almost seems a passenger in the film, basically phoning it in. Cromwell and Jones are likewise great actors underutilised. The only one who plays his part with relish is Eli (Spall), the profiteer.

There’s some good scenes – and a few frights done well where I had to clap – but overall, I’m left feeling that the film didn’t really add anything to the franchise or story. Sure, we get to see plenty of dinosaurs (including a stegosaurus, yay!) for a few minutes, but mostly its’s spent in a weird CGI-castle. The “bad guy” is another genetically-improved raptor (didn’t that happen last film?) and there’s plenty of what I’m sure the director hopes are call-backs, but just seem lazy. I don’t like how they only pull out the T. Rex when convenient. Still, there was at least 10 people eaten by dinosaurs, so it’s not all bad…

Overall: Starting to overstay it’s welcome, but still – dinosaurs!

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Incredibles 2

Official Australian release date: 14/6/18. Viewed: 14/6/18.

Director: Brad Bird

Actors: Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Vowell, Bob Odenkirk

Genre: Action / Adventure

Rating: PG

   

‘Incredibles 2’ is the long-awaited (14 years!) sequel to one of Disney-Pixar’s best films. Bucking the norm, this film is actually better than the original – it’s more assured, the CGI is fantastic, the action scenes almost flawless and there’s plenty of humour and life-like family interaction. That being said – it’s almost worth the entry fee to see the short film at the start, ‘Bao’ – it’s also hilarious, and poignant.

It’s like putting on an old shirt – it’s familiar, but comforting and not tired. Mr Incredible/Bob (Nelson), Elastigirl/Helen (Hunter), their kids – Violet (Vowell), Dash (Milner) & Jack-Jack (Fucile) – are back as the super-powered family, along with Frozone/Lucius (Jackson). This time, after a ‘Civil War’-like ban on superheroes is implemented, philanthropists/siblings Winston (Odenkirk) & Evelyn (Keener) campaign to have superheroes made legal again by putting them – well, Elastigirl – back in the spotlight. Odenkirk’s voice is so recognisable and his character even looks like a young Saul Goodman!

As well as being a bit of a pastiche of comic book films – you basically have Superman, Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Flash and Iceman – ‘Incredibles 2’ transcends the parody, and plays as an exceptional superhero film in it’s own right, with the set-up, early victory, apparent loss and inevitable triumph due to teamwork. What makes it all work is how they interact and make it feel like a real family. Jack-Jack being cute and having hilarious giggles also helps! Great for all ages.

Overall: Another excellent, fun animated superhero outing.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Solo

Official Australian release date: 24/5/18. Viewed: 25/5/18.

Director: Ron Howard

Actors: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover

Genre: Action / Adventure

Rating: M

   

‘Solo’ is the second ‘Star Wars’ spin-off film – after ‘Rogue One’ – and like that film, does a good job of filling in backstory and providing an entertaining film, without become essential ‘Star Wars’ viewing. ‘Solo’ is set about halfway between ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘A New Hope’, meaning we get Han (Ehrenreich) in his mid-20s. I think Ehrenreich does a good job of some of Harrison Ford’s mannerisms and is a passable younger version. The film starts excellently, with a great car chase – well, land-speeders to be exact – on Han’s home-world of Corellia.

We meet Qi’ra (“Kira”, Clarke – always good to see Daenerys) and establish how Han winds up in the Empire, trying to get back to her. There’s lots of great connections/throw-backs – we see how Han meets and frees Chewbacca from slavery; how they become smugglers, with mentoring from Beckett (Harrelson - excellent); how they meet Lando (Glover) & the Millennium Falcon; and how they “made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs”. The support cast are good, but Val (Newton), Dryden Voss (Bettany), L3 (Waller-Bridge) & Rio (Favreau) don’t really get that much screen time – and I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more of Chewie’s backstory too.

The film does a good job of setting the stakes in their need to rob some hyperspace fuel and how they go about it. It doesn’t always feel ‘Star Wars’-y, since there’s no Jedi or big space battles, but when you start to forget, the aliens & John Williams’ typically great score bring you back in and remind you. I’m sure some people won’t like it, and it does lack a little bit of heart, but there’s plenty to like throughout.

Overall: An above-average addition to Star Wars cannon.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Deadpool 2

Official Australian release date: 16/5/18. Viewed: 16/5/18.

Director: David Leitch

Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: MA

   

‘Deadpool 2’ comes only two years after the original and has just as many wisecracks, deaths, action scenes, pop-culture jokes and swear words as the first. Deadpool/Wade (Reynolds) is back as the “merc with a mouth” and the film kicks plenty of action as he takes down a syndicate, but also sets up the plot with something he has to atone for – and why he wants to try to save Russell (Dennison). Also, the Bond-rip off titles are excellent.

The support cast is excellent, with Vanessa (Baccarin), Dopinder (Soni), Colossus (Kapicic), Negasonic (Hildebrand), Weasel (Miller) and Blind Al (Uggams) all back. The additions of X-Force are pretty hilarious – especially Peter (Delaney) – but Domino (Beetz) steals the show, with her “lucky” superpower. There’s some great cameos, which I won’t spoil, but they all bring laughs of recognition. Cable (Brolin) is a great tough guy, who’s motivations are slowly revealed, but not in any great detail.

While still a very fun film with plenty of laughs throughout, sometimes it’s hard to keep up, since the pace is unrelenting. There does also seem to be a bit more darkness underneath (which is also poked fun at) which is why it maybe doesn’t quite reach the heights of the first film. It’s probably slightly too long & tries to fit a bit too much in. Stay for the credits scenes – some excellent call-backs/”alterations”!

Overall: More fun, fights & comic book jests.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Avengers: Infinity War

Official Australian release date: 25/4/18. Viewed: 25/4/18.

Directors: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

   

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is the third Avengers film and the 19^th Marvel Cinematic Universe film overall, serving as a culmination of the last 10 years. While not a full-stop (Avengers 4 comes out next year), it does a great job of bringing the much-teased infinity stones/Thanos storyline together. Lots of knowledge of the previous MCU films is assumed, especially the two most recent films which lead directly in to this film – ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Black Panther’. It might make some sense if you haven’t seen the others, but probably not too much.

The stakes are certainly high, with a number of deaths of key characters throughout (no spoilers) and the opening scene literally taking no prisoners. The vital part of this film is the villain, Thanos (Brolin) who – despite being large, ugly & purple – gets enough backstory and shows adequate ethos to almost empathise with his reasoning for wanting to destroy half the universe (via the infinity stones). While there’s some deaths and plenty of tension/darkness in parts, there’s still lots of laughs, mostly thanks to Thor (Hemsworth), Starlord (Pratt), Rocket (Cooper) and Drax (Bautista).

The CGI is fantastic the entire film, with plenty of scenes in space and on new planets, which is always great to see – as is Iron Man (Downey Jr.)’s inevitable new suit. The way the team-ups are handled is done really well, with Dr Strange (Cumberbatch), the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man (Holland), Black Panther (Boseman) and the Avengers all split up, so there’s always different scenes moving things along at a good pace. The third act battle is not predictable and the ending is hugely shocking – certainly no cop-out.

Overall: Near-flawless action/space epic.

Gav's Rating: 4.5 stars.

I Feel Pretty

Official Australian release date: 19/4/18. Viewed: 18/4/18.

Directors: Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein

Actors: Amy Schumer, Rory Scovel, Busy Phillips, Aidy Bryant

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M

   

‘I Feel Pretty’ is a mostly-straightforward romantic comedy from the writers of ‘Never Been Kissed’, ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ and ‘How To Be Single’, so it’s safe to assume you know pretty much what to expect. There’s also a nice twist on the tried-and-tested body-switch plot – Renee (Schumer) hits her head and believes she has achieved her dream of becoming beautiful.

Renee believing she’s the hottest woman alive is where a lot of the humour comes from, but also some of the missteps – since Renee and her two friends, Jane (Phillips) and Vivian (Bryant), are not actually ugly. It’s also where most of the sincere moments come from – it’s not all about what you look like, but the confidence you have in yourself, highlighted in a rousing speech by Schumer near the end. She’s (mostly) not too over-the-top and is (mostly) easy to cheer for.

While not focusing solely on girl-meets-boy/falls-in-love/separate/get-back-together, it still manages to fit that all in, with Ethan (Scovel) a decent foil to Schumer. It’s annoying that the backdrop to a film that’s actually about not worrying about looks is centered around a make-up company, run by Avery (Williams) and Grant (Hopper) – both mostly pointless. Overall, it’s not as good as ‘Trainwreck’, but nor is it a totally vapid “chick flick”.

Overall: Slightly above-average romantic comedy.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.