Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

Cassie: [to Scott] You can do it. You can do anything. You're the world's greatest grandma.

I'm not really going to bother "reviewing" Ant-man and The Wasp.  It was fine. It lives up to all the other Marvel movies. It made me laugh. It me my expectations which were vaguely positive.

3.4 out of 5 stars.

Done.

But what I want to talk about is something stranger. How do you go about power down a series without making people hate it? I talked about this before in a post about Jurassic World: Power Creep. The next biggest, baddest, scariest thing has to be out done by the next next biggest, baddest, scariest thing. Monster movies that induced vomiting in audience in the 1950s look like laughable children's toys to modern viewers.

Referencing a different medium entirely: When Magic: The Gathering (MTG) released a block of 3 sets that basically broke their game -Urza Block in 1998-1999, it was a problem. It was fun to have the power of the gods, but it was unsustainable. The sets to be release in 1999-2000 could not get more powerful with being ridiculous and destroying their very business. So, their solution was to radically power-down the following sets in an attempt to restore balance.  Basically, they made 3 pretty bad sets on purpose. And it worked. -sort of.  MTG survived 1999-2000 and continues today. But those 3 sets are considered today to be so terrible that the cards are worth basically no money to collectors and no one plays them.

The above was MTG's solution to the same problem facing the MCU. How do you power down the expectations of the audience after Infinity Wars?  We just came from a movie that ended on the powerful note of half the universe was destroyed. What universe+1 issue can you find to carry on being impressive?  Marvel's answer seems to be Ant-Man: smaller budget, smaller cast, tiny terror, no sense of mass destruction, but with big dose of size-based comedy.

Will it work?  I think the film stands on its own, just fine. But it remains to be seen if it worked to reset audience baselines before going back to Infinity War II

The Incredibles 2 (2018)

"It means fire, Robert." -Edna Mode

Yeah, I watched another sequel. I know better. I do. But..."this is how they get ya". Honestly, I do feel better about The Incredibles 2 than most sequels. There were 14 years between releases. The length of time between some how makes me feel better. It just does. It makes me think that the sequel was not hastily made or pushed out to capitalize on buzz, but created, at the very least, with intention.

As such, I would say Incredibles 2 was a qualified success. It was markedly different from its predecessor and yet stayed within the boundaries of its world and believability. It was not as good as the original -it just wasn't.

But there were many things to love, if not adore.

1. Competent Voice Acting and a good script
1. Brad Bird as Edna Mode should narrate audio books. Or have a podcast.
2. It was Funny -I would think funnier than the original. I certainly laughed more. 
1. Reflux ---perfect
1. “Name's Reflux. Medical condition or super power, you decide.”
2. Jack-Jack's fight with the Racoon
1. Better than many real fights. 
3. Dedication to the details
1. What makes PIXAR movies special to me is that, while they do not use the most detailed or technologically sophisticated imagery in their styling. They always ALWAYS have the character behave and emote so that the audience is ensorceled.  
1. Exhibit A for me was Violet milking out her nose. They went the extra mile. 
1. 1

One thing I will say is that I was a little confused as to the underlying "uber-man" esque quality of being a Super within the world of the Incredibles. I don't think that there's necessarily anything wrong with stories about certain people being blessed with abilities and others not- as a general. Yet, the cultural structures come undone when you start working real-world issues like law and equality into the mix.

3.73 out of 5 stars. 

Dunkirk (2017)

Commander Bolton: The tide's turning now.

Captain Winnant: How can you tell?

Commander Bolton: The bodies are coming back.

Dunkirk was for me a masterclass in cinematography and the proper use of Handheld vs. Stationary vs. Steadycam work. I think Christopher Nolan hit just the right tone with his selection of which camera type fit his needs. I think that his was a necessity for the film because of the four basic level on which it took place: the sky, the boats, the beach, and the water. Each distinct area was best served by different camera work.  -Brilliant.  Honestly, this is probably the best camera work done for planes and arial combat I'v seen in years. 

Now, on a story element, I couldn't help but feel a little like Charlie Brown with the football being pulled away over and over. The main characters just had to go through all the steps and all the setbacks and all the terror to make it compelling. But it is a credit to the film that at each juncture I logically believed that the characters had made it -only to have it all pulled away..again. 

3.8 out of 5 stars. 

The Death of Stalin (2017)

Nikita Khrushchev: This is how people get killed, when your stories don't fit.

The Death of Stalin is the darkest, most absurd, hilarious, film I have seen this year that I didn't laugh out loud at.  Sure, the entire morbid theater of the communist ethos is almost debilitating funny, but none once did any of it break through in an uncontrolled physical outburst from me.  This is a British farce soup set on high simmer that never boils.

As to the cast: I will basically watch anything with Michael Palin, Jason Isaacs, and Steve Buscemi... so hats to those that signed off on pros. Yet, -and I say this with knowledge of his current troubles, and having never really watched Arrested Development- Jeffery Tambor was a disappointment in the role of Gregory Malenkov. There was something about his deadpan and somber voice that did not carry over into the spirit of the character.

3.1 out of 5

Ocean's 8 (2018)

"There are barely any Russians that aren't hackers." -Lou


Heist movies are fun. They just are. I like them. I enjoyed Ocean's 8. Others probably will too. Yet that is extent of the uniquely positive things I have to say. (and I may be have been influenced by The Solo movie here...) Having good materials and technique does a masterpiece not make. It just means it was set up as best it could for success.  And to use a painting metaphor, I think heist movies in particular need to hide their brush strokes. Knowing how it is all done, ruins the con on the audience. Ocean's 8 was a lot more paint by numbers.

So given that Ocean's 8 had a mildly positive outcome despite its promising set up, here are somethings I already knew. Sandra Bullock can act and is pretty funny. Assembling a team of misfits is probably the most satisfying element of any heist movie. If you hire good actors you will get generally good results. (No one in the cast was outstanding, but no one was terrible either.) And, to have an impactful twist, one first must set up the impossibility of success. (Ocean's 8 kinda failed on this one.)

2.8 out of 5

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Han Solo: I heard a story about you. I was wondering if it's true.

Lando Calrissian: Everything you've heard about me is true.

So in the long tradition of Disney cash grabs comes Solo: A Star Wars story. A well-meaning if benign take on the origins of Han Solo. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but also not a lot right. I personally felt that it lacked soul. It was a well-constructed, visually entertaining, bit of camp with a good cast that appears to have emerged fully formed from the product strategy group of Disney. I understand there were some issues with the Director position, hence the need to bring in Ron Howard, but even he can't mask the paucity of passion that meh'd throughout the film.

While I understand the good intentions of having the droid be a radical for droid rights and I am in favor of the obvious corollaries to current social trends of the past 10 years, I hated the execution. It all played to me like when a Jostens representative told me that the "dazzle" tassel was really "bling bling".

To all you business folks out there, remember that bringing together Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water is not enough to make Captain Planet. You need Heart.  So does Solo: A Star Wars story. 

3 out of 5 stars. 

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Peter Quill: I'm gonna ask you this one time: where is Gamora?

Tony Stark: Yeah, I'll do you one better. *Who* is Gamora?

Drax: I'll do *you* one better. *Why* is Gamora?
_________________________________________________________________________________
Gamora: [scoffs] Really? Tears?

Red Skull (Stonekeeper): They are not for him.


*SPOILERS*

What a strange yet, engaging, emotional, debilitating movie.  The last time I saw a film where the bad guy was the protagonist and wins was "Manos and the Hands of Fate".  If we as the audience didn't know 100% for certain that there was more coming...Infinity Wars would be considered one of the great failures of all time.  It was as if a dark depressing juggernaut just smashed all that it took 10 years to make.  If that was all she wrote, we, the audience would be crushed, and angry. This is a new tactic and a story telling power that only large scale franchises can exploit.  Will it become passe? Will it lose effectiveness if done every 10 years? Will 1-off stories end on a nadir with greater frequency in the future?

I agree with several other writers that the main theme of Infinity Wars was "Sacrifice". Each character was generally presented with an opportunity to sacrifice -physically, mentally, or emotionally. (Spoilers, I think the Soul Stone has greater power than we know and will be critical to part 2.) Yet what disturbed in terms of the sacrifices was how often the torture of another was used as the impetus for action. I know that it is a movie cliche...but the ubiquity of this situation for the characters was over the top. My own preference would be for the writers to not use torture in this way. A. It normalizes torture. B. It makes people think that torture works, which it doesn't. C. It's a little lazy. I can understand that the source material of the comics uses pain and anguish as motivators...but this is something we as a society need to work on.

On the other had, Infinity Wars basically achieves the impossible, it made a 2.5 hour movie compelling across 4-5 major plots and like 20 characters. It was emotionally wrenching and delivered on explosions/magic destruction what have you. I would suggest everyone see it.

3.798 out of 5 stars. THANOS WILL RETURN