AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR REVIEW

Here's a helpful tip.  If you are the least bit interested in the movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom that comes out in June, do not watch the trailer.  I saw it in front of the Avengers movie and I now feel like I have seen the whole film.  I don't know why studios continue to release these spoiler laden trailers but as long as they do I will keep giving a heads up every time I see one.

The Avengers: Infinity War is the third official Avengers film and the latest in the ever expanding Marvel cinematic universe. This film boasts the largest cast of comic book heroes ever brought to the big screen.  It also has quiet possibly the highest stakes of any Marvel movie to date as the mighty Thanos threatens to alter the course of reality as we know it.  To do this, he needs to recover the six lost infinity stones, two of which are under the protection of the Avengers. 

Right off the bat, here is my number one problem with this film.  I don't understand what they have done to my personal favorite Marvel character Captain America.  He looked so different from the traditional version of Cap that I forgot who he was throughout the movie.  He wore an all black suit with no mask, I'm assuming so Chris Evens can show off his new beard, and he didn't have his trademark shield.  Apparently I missed what happened to the shield somewhere along the line but please bring it back. 

Having this many heroes in one movie was a daunting task and directors The Russo Brothers as well as screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely should be commended for how smoothly they were able to service all the larger than life characters in the film.  The different characters stories are intertwined very well.  The transitions between all the different scenes playing out at the same time are seamless and perfectly timed.  This movie was not nearly as confusing as it should have been.  Also surprising, every hero got adequate screen time as far as I'm concerned. 

I thought the villain Thanos in this movie was terrific.  I would call him easily the best MCU villain to date.  He had a presence on screen and a desperate motivation that made him feel dangerous in a way that many comic book villains do not.  Josh Brolin did a great job in the role.  His work made Thanos feel real and all the more menacing.  Congratulations Marvel, you finally got the villain right. 

This movie has an ending that a lot of people are going to hate.  That being said, the emotional impact was real and the ending really did work for me.  I personally thought that it was the only way the movie could have ended to make the whole thing seem worthwhile. 

This is a very good comic book movie with very few problems in my opinion.  It's probably not in the top tier of comic book movies all time, but I think it was close to that.  I missed a few characters who weren't there like Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and the more traditional Captain America.  Aside from that, however, the film is focused, not nearly as convoluted as it should be, and the stakes feel high enough that the plot has weight to it.  THE MOVIE MAN GIVES IT 4 OUT OF 5 STARS.

RAMPAGE REVIEW

Normally I would start out one of these reviews with a hopefully clever joke, observation about society, or some type of abstract idea that the film made me think of.  This time is different.  This time I have a video game movie to review .  If I'm being honest, this time I just want to jump into it and get it over with.  So without further ado, let's review the stupid video game movie. 

Rampage, starring Dwayne Johnson (San Andreas) and Naomi Harris (Moonlight, Skyfall),  is an adaptation of an old 1980's arcade game in which you play as a monster and smash up cities and kill massive amounts of people with no consequences.  Yes, you read that right.  That is pretty much it. 

This was not the worst movie I've ever seen or anything like that.  In fact, a good bit of it is perfectly fine for what it is.  The problem here is that there was too much movie in this video game.  The people who go to see this are wanting to see cool monsters smashing things.  That's it.  The movie  has some of that but it tries to weave in a bunch of poorly executed movie drama and it takes away from where the focus of the movie should have been; massive amounts of CGI destruction.  The kind of thing I usually hate but I will give it a pass this time considering the source material. 

I always enjoy watching The Rock, or Dwayne I guess now, doing whatever he is doing.  The guy is just extremely likable and entertaining.  That being said, I thought he was out of place in this film.  The human characters were not going to be the stars here and trying to make Johnson one of the stars is something that hurt this movie.  Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead) plays an FBI agent in this movie and he is really annoying.  He basically played a cartoon version of Negan and it does not come off well.  His dialogue was the worst in a film full of bad dialogue.  Every line he spoke had to include some kind of sarcastic joke.  It got real old real fast. 

The worst thing about this movie to me was the way over the top generic antagonist and her beta-male sidekick.  They were watching everything happen on monitors from an office building and it was some of the worst cheese I have seen in quite some time.  It was basically Rita Repulsa from the Power Rangers show back in the 90's. 

Overall, this movie wasn't absolutely terrible and I think the target audience will enjoy parts of it.  However, it falls short of what it should have been doing and has no real redeeming qualities that would allow me to call it anything close to a good film.  THE MOVIE MAN GIVES IT 2 OUT OF 5 STARS.  

A QUIET PLACE REVIEW

It is rare that an actor can overcome the dreaded typecasting of a beloved TV character.  That is a problem that has plagued many great talents throughout history.  I can honestly say; however, that John Krasinski has put Jim from The Office firmly in his rear view with his stellar performance in A Quiet Place. 

The film is set at a time in the near future when the world has been overrun by an alien race that is completely blind and uses their ultra-heightened hearing ability to hunt.  The rules are simple; make a sound, you die.  The movie focuses on one particular family as they try to survive a world that requires constant silence. 

For starters, I have to make it clear that this film is not for everybody.  A good portion of casual moviegoers are going to hate this film and think that it is totally boring.  This is a VERY quiet film.  I felt almost like I was watching a silent movie.  It was even uncomfortable at times to sit and watch because every little sound in the theater was so noticeable; every cough, every rustle of clothing or paper.  There are even parts of the film that are completely silent with no sound at all.  With that being said, the tension that this movie builds is real.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.  I just feel like the lack of sound is going to bother a lot of people.

The movie starts with a tremendous opening sequence that does a great job of establishing the rules right off the bat.  It sets the pace very well and shows you what you are in for.  The movie had me right from the very first scene and didn't let up until it ended. 

The star of this film is undoubtedly John Krasinski.  He did a wonderful job directing here and shows that he has considerable talent in that area.  The acting is all great.  As a character story masquerading as a monster movie, the film required top notch performances from everybody and that is exactly what was delivered here.  Not only Krasinski himself, but Emily Blount (Edge of Tomorrow) and two unusually good child performances from Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe (Wonder) anchor this character driven narrative.  The lack of dialogue makes the performances that much more impressive. 

If I'm really nitpicking this film, and I have to if I want to talk about any flaws, I would say that there are certain plot elements that relate to the ending that nobody is going to catch on the first viewing.  I disliked the ending at first, but after I went home and did a little research, I actually liked it quite a bit.  There are key elements to the film that are going to absolutely require second or third viewing to pick up on.  I wouldn't normally consider this a flaw, but since it totally changed my perspective of the ending, I think I have to. 

This is a film that had me thinking about it long after it had ended.  That is a big plus for me.  I like movies that do that.  The more I think about it, the more I like it.  Great tension, an impressive directorial job by John Kasinski, and all around great acting make this a movie that I am really excited to see again.  The Movie Man gives A Quiet Place 4 out of 5 stars.