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ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA – Review

(L-R): Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

So, has it been three months already? A few days more, actually, since we took our last trip into the magnificent Marvel Cinematic Universe with BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. And as its (most likely) Oscar win looms, we’re taking another trek to that magical place, with a hero we’ve not visited in four years. Oh, and the actual locale is not a foreign land as with the previous flick and last year’s Thor, or the maddening multiverse of Doctor Strange and Spidey. In a few more months we’ll be blasting back to outer space with those Guardians, which leaves us the “opposite destination journey”: inner space. This “area” was a big ‘factor” in the ENDGAME, but it was more of a travel “hub” or station. Luckily we’ve got the perfect pair (along with their family) of tour guides in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. As Steve Martin used to say, “Let’s get small”.

This new adventure begins with a look back many years to the survival story of Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), who’s trapped in the Quantum Realm. But she’s not alone as she encounters strange “beasties”, creatures, and a somber alien explorer we later learn is Kang (Johnathan Majors). The story abruptly shifts to the present day as Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) basks in the glories and “perks” of being part of the Avengers team that “took out” Thanos. Unfortunately, his day of selfies, high-fives, free lattes, and a book reading/signing is interrupted by a call from jail. His now-teenaged daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has been taken into lock-up with several social protesters. After bailing her out, the two quarrel on the way to Pym labs to visit Hope (Evangeline Lilly), now the head of the company, and her parents Janet and Hank (Michael Douglas). The shocks keep coming at Scott as he learns that Hank has made a “shrink suit” for Cassie and that she’s made a device that will send messages to the Quantum Realm. The latter news horrifies Janet who tries to shut the machine down. Ah, but something has taken control of it and the quintet is “sucked into” the micro-universe. The Pyms and the Langs are separated as the weird beings and gnarly natives converge on them. We soon learn that they are fighting a long battle with the forces of Janet’s old pal Kang. Our tiny troupe must stop him, along with an old foe, from acquiring a power source that will make Kang the conqueror of this and all realms.

Naturally Rudd brings his always engaging everyman persona to the role of Scott, though we’re treated to a few more “shades’ of the character. In ENDGAME he explored the tragedy of Scott being denied the experience of his daughter’s pre-teen years, which is touched on here as Scott feels he has to “make up” with surprise birthday events. In the Realm Rudd subtly conveys Scott’s repressed panic as he believes that he’s “out of his pay grade” in dealing with the unpredictable denizens and an intimidating master villain. And Majors is truly menacing and compelling as Kang, who treats Scott and his team as though they were indeed insects he must swat aside in order to complete his destiny. His near-robotic line delivery enhances his threats with an aura of banal evil, making his later enraged outburst even more volatile. Once again Lilly proves to be a terrific partner for Rudd as they come together in battle and scientific strategy to forge an inspired MCU team. Almost matching them are Pfieffer and Douglas as “point one” of the duo, who truly “come through” during the darkest moments. Douglas is still the blunt, but lovable mentor while Pfieffer’s Janet seems to be haunted as the Realm triggers her past despair. Newton, a new addition to the series, pushes past the “annoyed teen” cliches to become a pupil of her pop’s (they bond over times “in the joint”) and a valued ally. Speaking of allies, a couple of the Realm’s freedom fighters shine, namely William Jackson Harper (TV’s “The Good Place”) as an alien whose “enhanced ability” is more of an annoyance at times, and the dynamic Katy M. O’Brian as warrior queen Jentorra, who’s often irritated but always hyper-focused and fiercely formidable (like an entire squad of Wakandan elite guards). I won’t spoil the entertaining returnee to the series, but, since he’s in the trailer, I can attest that Murray almost steals the show in an extended cameo role.

Many folks complain that franchises begin to repeat themselves as they spawn new installments. Now that’s something that Mr. Feige and the MCU have dodged by upping the stakes and the action in this third outing. I’m not sure if this completely works for the devoted fanbase of what had been called a minor Marvel character. Mind you, the 2015 and 2018 were basically “caper flicks’ with Scott and his motley crew trying to pull off a “heist” while dealing with enhanced adversaries (plus the necessary “origin” in the first). While there’s a great rapport with the expanded family in this, I missed the “Lang crew” of T.I. ‘s Dave, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, and especially Michael Pena’s Luis (can you imagine him describing the Realm’s critters). Ditto for Scott’s ex Maggie (Judy Greer) and her new beau Paxton (Bobby Cannavale). Though the hero’s powers seem sillier than other Marvel heroes, Scott’s seemed the most human and “grounded”. But things are more “cosmic” here, reportedly at the request of veteran director Peyton Reed, so after an endearing and funny opening of Scott enjoying his celebrity perks, we’re plunged literally, into the furious fray. There’s still lots of humor (love that “pink goo” guy), though the shifting backdrops and hordes can be disorienting. That’s not to say that it’s done poorly, since this adventure seems even stranger than last year’s STRANGE WORLD. Plus there are lots of cool visuals riffs with multiplying clones and towering golden cities (overrun with Kang’s blue “fishbowl-head” armies). Still, the final showdown feels a bit truncated and the pre-end titles fadeout gag lands with a thud (on average first-time feature screenwriter Jeff Loveless “nails” the landings). As usual, the bonus scenes are fun, particularly the final. Sure this one’s more visually dazzling, but it’s at the cost of the light-hearted hijinks of the first two. Luckily there’s still plenty of wit and charm with “the little guys (and ladies)” of ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA.

3 Out of 4

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA is now playing in theatres everywhere.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. © 2023 MARVEL.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS Blu-ray Review

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS

Wow. Just the sound of it rolling off the tongue… Who would have thought this would happen? We all dreamt about the possibility of the saga being taken further than six episodes, even if as secretly closeted fans, but did we ever truly believe it would happen? Now it has and I do not feel I am alone in saying it’s been worth the wait. Even those who found the film little more than average have to admit, this is something truly special, even generational, for some.

I’ve admired J.J. Abrams as an all-around, fully immersed filmmaker for some time now. From his original content on television and the big screen to revamping STAR TREK and now STAR WARS, he’s a special kind of movie geek. No one can argue that his heart and soul isn’t in every fiber of making a fantastic movie and doing it right. This, more than anything else, is why I personally have looked forward to being able to revisit this film at home, in depth and experience it on a more intimate level, separate from but equally thrilling as the experience of seeing it in a packed theater.

For some of us, the Saga took a heartbreaking turn to the dark side with the “prequelogy,” a time of lost hope and shattered dreams. An era we yearned for so deeply that, for many of us, ended up stabbing us so cruelly, so heartlessly in the backs. We had our strong moments, our proud moments in that clouded age of anger and disappointment, but the journey was long and wrought with banality and shame. One word… midichlorians. One name… Jar Jar Binks. Oh, the sounds still send shivers down my spine.

If Star Wars were a religion, one could make the argument that Abrams is the messiah. That’s not my outlook, but I can see the case taking a solid foothold with a segment of the fandom. Every epic yarn has it’s peaks and valleys, a dark age followed by a renewed renaissance. Who better to usher up the new enlightened period than Abrams?

Wait… I can hear them now. I hear the groans and poorly annunciated digs on THE FORCE AWAKENS as simply being A NEW HOPE recycled. Fair enough. There is some merit in that argument, on the surface. I encourage those that feed on this, however, to look within the ancient lore that has so heavily influenced this and so many other modern fables and make a case that this is, at it’s core, a traditional and proven method of storytelling. The Buddhists believe in reincarnations. The Christians believe in the resurrected savior. Why not, then, can we not have our Jedi come in familiar cycles of discovery and enlightenment?

On with the story… darkness reigns and the secretive, ruthless Sith influence once again threatens freedom and peace throughout the galaxy. Once again, the bad guys have a nasty toy, only this time it’s way bigger and meaner. They call themselves the First Order, are eerily reminiscent of the Nazi Third Reich, and are led by a psychotic, ill-tempered sociopath who blames others’ for his own shortcomings. Kylo Ren has daddy issues as well as anger management issues, struggling to fit into grandaddy Vader’s big black boots. Meanwhile, a spunky young loner girl named Rey scrapes out a meager existence on a desert planet as an under-appreciated scavenger while the force lies dormant within her.

Yoda, Qui gon and Obi-wan are dead, Luke has gone AWOL and there seems no hope of a Jedi resurgence to save the day. Instead, Princess Leia leads her rag tag resistance against unsurmountable odds until a cowardly storm trooper gets cold feet on his first day, helping the best pilot in the resistance escape captivity in the process of defecting and thus begins the dawn of a renewed fight.

All of this is shot in breathtakingly beautiful, larger than life scope and accompanied by yet another impressively iconic score from the legendary John Williams. Much to Abrams’ credit, the film utilizes as much practical special effects as possible and it pays off. The detail and immense realism, placing the audience amidst the action and eerily familiar foreign landscapes allows us the immerse ourselves deeper into the childlike fantasy of the Star Wars saga. Abrams understands this and succeeds in rekindling that youthful flame whereas the prequels were more focused on attracting the fresh young flickers while greatly ignoring the long-glowing embers.

Rich in color, design and detail, the sets and the locations alike are painstakingly evident when taking the time to study the blu-ray edition of THE FORCE AWAKENS. The initial home release of the film, which included both the blu-ray, the DVD and the digital copy, opens up the new chapter to fans in all it’s unencumbered theatrical glory. We need not be concerns about which version or re-edit we’re stumbled upon. It’s the one, the only, the intended version.

New creatures and characters, a fresh young cast, reminiscent of what we were given in the original trilogy, whereas these relative unknowns prove two things: first, that Abrams is a casting genius, and second, that these “rookies” nailed it, especially Daisy Ridley as Rey. Giving a jaw-dropping, fully convincing performance of emotion, physical ability and adaptiveness shows me we are in for a real treat as certainly she will pursue her connection with the force and train to become Jedi. When it comes to girl power, Rey is right up there with Weaver’s Ripley and Theron’s Furiosa. Converse to this is Finn’s unheroic reluctance to anything noble or courageous, but in contrast to Rey is strangely fitting and the two rub off an one another, leading Finn to have a change of heart and mind.

THE FORCE AWAKENS is, in many ways familiar, but is in just as many ways fresh and invigorating as well. While this initial home release does contain some worthwhile extras, by the current modern standards is fairly basic. Certainly, future editions will reveal existing golden nuggets being held back in secrecy and new ones to be mined from the archives, a la Special Limited Anniversary Collectors’ Editions, et al. With that said, this one is far from bare-boned and has merit amidst it’s menus.

My own experience, having revisited the film at home on blu-ray with my boys, 11 and 8 years old, was a wealth of revelatory glory. Glued to the events unfolding on hi-def, these three pairs of eyes were, and as the film ended, I found myself not forsaken, but accompanied during my quest to conquer the bonus features by my 8-year old, equally glued to the documentarian escapades as myself, when he turned to me and said “we’re just a couple of movie geeks.” I wipes a tear from my eye and realized all is well in the world and Star Wars has returned in a way with which we can all be proud.

Bonus Features:

Secrets of the Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey — Having originally premiered at SXSW to help promote the film, this documentary is as much a marketing tool as it is an engaging, light-hearted glance behind the scenes of the film. This documentary s longer than most made for home release, is not so long as to intimidate a viewer. The film also unveils some lesser realized casting choices that non-die hard fans may not have otherwise known. A good chunk of the film does feel a bit like collected junkets, but one ting that certainly was not lost on me while watching this was how grateful and humbled the cast and crew involved with this filmmaking experience are to the fact that this is a story of meteoric cultural significance and should be treated as such.
The Story Awakens: The Table Read — A rather truncated, brief but revealing feature that gives the audience a fascinating insight into the actors’ journey of discovering, adapting and becoming a role as part of a larger story.
Building BB-8 — Perhaps my favorite bonus feature of this release, the research, time and skill that went into bringing this little guy to life in awe-inspiring. Not since No,5 from SHORT CIRCUIT have a connected so fully with the cuteness of a self-aware robot.
Crafting Creatures — What’s a Star Wars film without the obligatory featurette about how they created the monster/creature makeup and effects? Nonetheless, well worth viewing as a standard option available on most similar genre films.
Blueprint of a Battle: The Snow Fight — Kylo Ren, Rey and Finn, and how they made this fight look so darn good! It takes a lot of practice time and hard work to perform a convincing, realistic, emotionally-charged, thrilling light saber fight and this helps to explain.
John Williams: The Seventh Symphony — Basically, a short, but well-deserved tribute to a living legend.
ILM: The Visual Magic of the Force — A short, but insightful glimpse into what ILM does and what puts them at the top of their game.
Deleted Scenes — There are only a handful of relatively short deleted scenes, but undoubtedly there are many more that may likely reveal themselves in future releases. With that said, these are some interesting omissions and are curious to consider.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS will be available on a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo Pack on Tuesday, April 5th, 2016

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

THE DIABOLICAL – The Review

An original idea is not necessarily enough on its own to ensure a successful film, but it certainly is a good start. Let’s call this half the battle, while the other half is the execution. This is where THE DIABOLICAL falls short. Despite this unfortunate set back, this debut film from writer-director Alistair Legrand has some commendable elements that make experiencing the film a worthwhile endeavor.

Aside from having a super cool name to plaster onto the title sequence of his film, Legrand also has some intriguing ideas. THE DIABOLICAL is, for lack of a more refined terminology, a mash-up of genres, namely horror and science-fiction. This is certainly not the first time these two genres have collided, but never quite like this.

THE DIABOLICAL stars Ali Larter (from TV’s HEROES) as Madison, a single mother raising two adolescent children while struggling to make ends meet. Her son Jacob, played by Max Rose, is trying to cope with some aggression issues, while their house seemingly is haunted by some pretty grotesque entities that come and go sporadically. She’s tried everything from the police to doctors and paranormal experts, but no one believes her story.

The audience, on the other hand, does get the pleasure of being thrown head first into Madison’s dilemma as Legrand wastes no time in establishing empathy in the viewer. In the first 5 minutes of the film, Legrand puts us face-to-face with a far from pretty apparition and we immediately expect to have a wild, terrifying ride. Shortly thereafter, the pace slows and the heavy burden of developing the mystery without giving away its golden cherry too soon begins.

Before we get started, let me clarify one thing… I hate the title of this film. Sadly, it’s yet another example of a title that not only has nothing to do with the film, but also presents the film in a false light. Granted, there’s a surprise twist to the ending that needs to be protected [no spoilers here] and perhaps the filmmakers chose the title to be typical of the haunted horror genre as to not give anything away.

THE DIABOLICAL is a film that suffers from its own setup. The first two acts are slow to develop. There is little of any significant interest in the first two-thirds of the film, while we watch and wait for some glimmer of hope that something cool and unusual will unfold… and it does, but you need to be patient for the payoff. In short, its like waiting in an hour-long line for that burger everyone is talking about, then once you finally get to eat the thing you realize its far from the best you’ve had, but still pretty good.

One of the biggest downfalls of THE DIABOLICAL is that the character development is weak. Legrand had such a cool concept for a story that he seems to have forgotten that a story needs good characters, even if the plot is spectacular. On the flip side, Legrand manages to start out with a fairly straight-forward, standard modern haunted house template and injects it with a wonderfully creepy, science-fiction undertone that builds gradually toward the final act.

THE DIABOLICAL has some decent jump scares and does build some baseline tension, but I would not go so far as to say the film is “scary” by horror fan standards. The most deliberate and readily available terror comes from piecing together the mystery and discovering the truth of what’s happening, not unlike watching an 86-minute long episode of THE X-FILES. Sure, Madison and her family are being terrorized by something unexplained, but that’s almost occurring in the background as we look past the primal fear factor and looker deeper into the clues and the curious differences in how the entities present themselves. That is key to getting the most out of this film.

The special effects in the film are pretty good, not spectacular, but well-done for what this film is and becomes. At first, the effects may seem confusing or misplaced at times, but stick with it and it all makes sense. I found myself frequently reminded of past classics throughout the film, from Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME to Wes Craven’s SHOCKER and even Geroge Lucas’ THX-1138, but they’re all small winks and nods, nothing major or heavy handed in how much is borrowed. Viewers will undoubtedly find other influences, but I’m purposefully refraining from revealing these as not to leak any of the film’s fragile leverage on the first-time viewer.

There is so much I want to discuss with you about this film, that while not flawless, is certainly a film I think will have people talking, especially genre fans. THE DIABOLICAL is the kind of film presents ideas that engage certain overactive, creative minds to discuss and speculate. As a first film, I admire what Legrand has accomplished in concept and shows me that, with more experience under his belt, could become a filmmaker to watch out for in the future.

THE DIABOLICAL releases in Theaters, on VOD and iTunes
on Friday, October 16th, 2015

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Review: ‘Pandorum’

Boy oh boy, sci-fi geeks are going to have a field day with this weekend. They have 2 offerings in the sci-fi genre to choose from when they enter the cineplexs. After reading Travis’ review of ‘Surrogates’ I realized that ‘Pandorum’ leans more into the darker spectrum of sci-fi. In fact, it is sci-fi horror and I don’t think anyone thought it would be anything different.

I would suggest that before we proceed, if you are interested in seeing this film or you have plans to see this film, you might want to tread with caution as I think to fully experience this film, you want to go into it knowning that it is a sci-fi/horror blend and that is it. I believe that going into this film with the visual education of what the trailer and tv spots have shown us is your best bet.

Ok, now that you are ready…let us begin.

The film starts with two space crew members Bower (Ben Foster) and Payton (Dennis Quaid) waking up from a multi-year hyper-sleep to discover that the ship they are on is dying in power resources. Neither of them can remember the mission due to the fact that they have been sleeping for so long which has the side effect of mild to severe memory loss. Bower volunteers to try to get to the ship’s core reactor up and running as it comes on and off to give the ship spurts of power. Bower and Payton both realize that this must be done to get anywhere as their doesn’t seem to be anyone answering their lines of communication. Through his discovery of the ship on his trip to the reactor, Bower realizes that he is not alone. There are creatures that are hunting for human flesh and Bower is forced to not only proceed with the dyer mission, but to hide in every nook & cranny of the ship to survive. Throughout the journey, while guided through radio communication between Payton, Bower encounters survivers that seem like they have been awake for awhile and seem to know what is going on.

I will stop there because to give anymore away would take away from some of the mystery that the audience is deeply shrouded in. The Cast is adequate. Ben Foster, who usually excels in the smaller bit roles he is given, does a decent job of leading the film but it seems like he still needs a couple of more roles to chew up if he plans on being a lead actor. Don’t get me wrong, I believe he can do it. The problem is seeing him in something like ’30 Days of Night’ or ‘3:10 to Yuma’ or even ‘The Punisher’ is that even though is roles are smaller, they are so damn memorable. So seeing him in something where he is front and center and playing a role that doesn’t disguise him and lets him cut loose with the character almost puts more pressure on him to knock the role out of the park. While I didn’t feel for any of the characters of the film personally, I did understand and sympathise with the position they were in. Bower seems to be the only motor in a dark and grim machine that will fight and move forward to try to save everyone on the ship. The production design and creature design (headed by Stan Winston Studio) is one thing that stands out throughout the film. It is simply amazing. The creatures will remind you of ‘The Descent’ at first, and trust me you will hear ‘Pandorum’ being associated to that film in probably every review, more on that in a minute, but definitely develop their on their own and they are trully frightening.

While ‘Pandorum’ may borrow from other films like ‘Alien’ with it’s dark and wet corridors and definitely take a page from ‘The Descent’ with a claustrobic scene where Bower worms his way through the skeleton of a ventilation system that seems to be stuffed with rubber tubing, the film still stays fresh and has some very tense scenes. However, the film does have it’s flaws. The middle portion of the film moves at a snail’s pace and I thought I was already invested in the film for 2 hours yet it was only an hour into it. The last half just seems to rush through and eventually starts to lose grasp on what was making the film frightening and tends to dip it’s thoughtful head in a pool of sub-standard sci-fi/horror/action films.

‘Pandorum’ being the head puzzle that it is has a lot of great ideas that hints at religion, mythology and even an environmental warning(come on, what recent sci-fi film hasn’t though) yet still struggles to stitch everything together. I think the film will be enjoyed by sci-fi and horror movie geeks out there, but the mainstream will hate it.

While I think most of you will see this film at home after reading this review, I implore you to check it out in the theatres where you can be more immersed in the nightmarish environment that ‘Pandorum’ presents.

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Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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