Movies

Skyscraper

PG-13 take on Die Hard. Less killing. More Duct Tape. No surprises – just a popcorn movie to get you through the summer heat.

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, McKenna Roberts, Noah Cottrell, Roland Møller, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, Hannah Quinlivan

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Ant-Man and the Wasp

I loved Ant-Man and the Wasp. I think it is better than the original – especially villain-wise. Ghost turns out to be a somewhat sympathetic villain. I like sympathetic villains. Villains that have more depth than a cookie-cutter villain.

Like Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp brings some laughs and fun back into the MCU.

We see Scott Lang almost finished with his house arrest he has been under for 2 years since Cap: Civil War. (This movie does take place right before the end of Avengers 3.) He’s playing with his daughter, doing work with his friends from the first movie. They have built a security company named X-Cons. Then he gets a weird dream/vision of Janet van Dyne playing hide and seek with a young Hope. He gives them a call and it becomes a race to rescue Janet.

This is where Ghost comes in. She needs the tech the Pyms are using for the Quantum Realm for her own ends. We also have a shady tech/arms dealer in the mix as well.

You do need the mid credits sequence. But the after credits sequence has no narrative impact – and it is in the trailers.

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tip TI Harris, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Douglas, David Dastmalchian

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Incredibles 2

Incredibles 2



Worth the 14 year wait. It may have a lot of Comic tropes in it, but they were done exceedingly well.

The sequel focuses on Elastigirl in a similar manner as the first focused on Mr. Incredible. Of course, it takes the family coming together to solve the crisis at hand. :)

The movie starts out with the Underminer incident that began at the end of the first movie. The fallout from this causes the government program overseeing former Supers to be closed down. A pair of siblings come in to offer a way for Supers to be made legal again. The brother runs their fathers company while the sister invents tech for it. They sponsor Elastigirl with a new bike and suit (Edna was really not a fan) for her to fight crime to help get support for Supers back.

The scene where they tell Elastigirl, Mr. Incredible and Frozone why they chose her to be the inital face of the movement was perfect. The cost-analysis of all the property damage that occurred during a Mr. Incredible incident was the icing on the cake.

While Elastigirl is fighting crime, we see Mr. Incredible being the stay at home parent. Taking care of the baby. Helping with Math homework. “Helping” with relationship problems.

The Big Bad’s major plan to deal with Supers comes along and it takes all of the Incredibles, Frozone, and some new Supers to fight it.

Warning for the short preceding this movie, Bao. You will need tissues.

Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Catherine Keener, Eli Fucile, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L. Jackson

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom



Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is an entertaining, emotional film.

Children in the theater were scared at some points. Adults and kids were tearing up at others (myself included). This movie was an excellent follow-up to Jurassic World and it leaves it open for sequels or side story movies as well.

After the events of Jurassic World, the island has been deserted and the dinosaurs left to live. But the volcano at the center of the island has recently become active and threatens to re-extinct the dinosaurs.

We see some congressional hearings on the rights of engineered animals. We see activist groups lobbying. Claire is actually running on such group. She gets a call form someone working for a Mr. Lockhart – a former partner of John Hammond.

They have a geographically isolated island ready to evacuate the dinosaurs to. They just need Claire’s help to get into the system at the park and Owen’s help to wrangle Blue.

Unfortunately, the operation is not as innocent as it seemed. Claire and Owen’s team get double-crossed and left on the island as the volcano pops its top. Turns out the dinosaurs are going to auction – not the Sanctuary island.

They just barely make it off the island and to the Lockhart estate in time to throw monkey wrenches in the auction.

There is a new engineered dino on the loose. Cloning ethics. Murder for money.

I’m not sure where the franchise goes from here, but I am looking forward to it. This was definitely the darker toned middle chapter of a trilogy – like Empire Strikes Back.

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Isabella Sermon, BD Wong, Jeff Goldblum

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman