Ant-man and the Wasp and Sorry to Bother You Reviews


Ant-man and the Wasp
3 ½ stars
I enjoyed the first Ant-man a surprisingly amount. I thought the small-scale adventure was a perfect response to high-stakes, world-ending superhero movies. This movie works in a similar way, providing a lighter story after the harrowing epic that was Avengers: Infinity War. The stakes are still relatively low, Paul Rudd is charming, and the action scenes are quite inventive. However, it didn’t have the same wow factor as the first one. I thought the villains and side characters had potential but were mostly underused. I was interested in the ghost character and I liked the effect but ultimately she was not well fleshed out and a little underwhelming. The only villain with clear motivations was Walton Goggins as a black market arms/tech dealer. What I was most disappointed in the film was how long they dwelled on the Janet Van Dyne rescue mission. From the press material and the beginning of the film, we know that Michelle Pfeiffer is in the film and there wasn’t really a big payoff when she gets rescued. And while the action sequences were fun, I thought a lot of them had been spoiled by the trailers and weren’t as fresh as the first film or the ant-man scenes in civil war. I did think the movie was funny; Michael Pena and Randall Park were hilarious side characters with great comic timing and interaction with Rudd. Still a highly enjoyable film, you just won’t find any surprises.


Sorry to Bother You
2 ½ stars
This movie is pretty indescribable but it is something to see. It’s part surreal satire and part experimental filmmaking. While this movie didn’t completely work for me, I’m glad that this type of film exists in the mainstream media. Boots Riley clearly had a personal vision of what this was and it did touch on some interesting issues of race and pop culture in today’s America, even if it felt a little disconnected at times. The costumes and sets are great and the cast, including Armie Hammer, Tessa Thompson, and Steven Yuen, are all in for this vision.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

American Vampire Timeline

Image
American Vampire Timeline I just got into the American Vampire graphic novels by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque and I love them, but I had trouble keeping the multiple narratives straight. For that reason I created this timeline graphic. I hope you enjoy it and check out the series if you've never read it! *warning, the timeline does contain key plot spoilers* 
Read more

Aliens Attack!

Image
I just watched Battle: Los Angeles, and even with low expectations I was disappointed. The movie was almost as bad as Battleship. Why can't Hollywood do aliens right anymore? How did we go from Independence Day to Battleship: Los Angeles (not a typo). The last few have been pretty terrible. Recent Alien Attack Movies: Best: District 9 So maybe District 9 doesn't actually count as an Alien "attack" movie, but it's definitely the best and most original and intelligent alien movie to come along in recent years. Transformers In general, movies probably shouldn't be based off of Hasbro toys, but the first Transformers movie pulls it of. The actual transforming effects were done amazingly on film. From the first scene when the chopper transforms into a badass decepticon, with all the parts moving around and weapons popping out, it's a visual feast. The plot and dialogue of the movie is silly, but likable underdog Shia Labeouf holds (Shia!...
Read more

Summer Plans 09

I have my summer worked out and I'm excited about it. First I am going to Anderson Ranch in Snowmass Village, Colorado to attend a ceramics workshop where I'll hopefully make some sweet artwork and meet some cool people. After a week and a half or intense ceramification, I'll be heading out to Naples, Maine. Yes Maine, as far from southern California as possible within the continental US, the state of Maine. I imagine Maine to be only inhabited by Swordfish Fishermen and Yeti monsters but it's possible this may not be the case. Anyway I will be working at Takajo Summer Camp as the counselor in charge of Ceramics. This should be alot of fun, it's an all boys camp by a lake in flippin Maine. Apparently this will be like all the summer camp movies, complete with dances at a neighboring girls camp. A crazy unreal world I can't yet imagine. I plan to focus on creating more ceramic work and to expand my teaching skills at camp. I'm sure it will be fun too.
Read more