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.

NOW YOU SEE ME MOVIE REVIEW

Do you believe in magic? Are you a skeptic? When you see a great illusionist perform their feats of mysticism, do you accept it for what it is, or are you always looking for the trick up their sleeve? Watch closely, but not too closely. For the closer you look, the less you see.

 At its core, Now You See Me is a heist movie; a heist movie with magic. What could possibly go... wrong, right? It all begins with four very talented street magicians, all with their own special talents. They each receive a mysterious message to come to this bombed out apartment building, where they meet each other for the first time. The next thing we see, they are on the big stage in Las Vegas performing as The Four Horsemen. Their big finale is something never before seen in the world of magic. They rob a bank. But did they really, or was it just typical slight of hand?

It's funny that this movie is about illusions, because, to me, it was kind of an illusion of a good movie. It was entertaining and fun, but just too silly to actually be good.

I liked the Four Horsemen themselves. Jesse Eisenberg is J. Daniel Atlas and plays pretty much the same character he played in The Social Network. Woody Harrelson stole the show as Merritt McKinney, the mentalist. Isla Fisher and Dave Franco are....adequate. The four of them together are captivating to watch, and make the first half of the movie really enjoyable, if a bit far fetched. 

 It's in the second half that the movie really falls apart. The FBI involvement was interesting at first because they had the issue of, if they really robbed a bank while they were onstage, it had to be magic. That was an interesting concept. Once it was decided that they really had robbed a bank, then it just became your average heist movie chase with the FBI looking really inept and the agent (Mark Ruffalo) looking like an incompetent fool. Somehow, this group goes from a quartet of cocky magicians to a collection of goofy Batman villains.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Michael Cain was in the movie. He was great as always, just wasn't there enough for my taste. Speaking of great actors, Morgan Freeman played Thaddeus Bradley, who was probably my favorite character in the movie. He was a former magician who now makes a series of videos debunking magicians. The FBI enlists him to help figure out how the Horsemen pulled off these robberies, that may or may not have been robberies in the first place. Freeman was great and I actually liked the character. Along with Harrelson, he was one of the best things in the movie. I would have liked to see them do more with him, but.......

 The ending was really, REALLY stupid. It looks like it's headed toward a certain ending, which would have been bad and predictable, but the actual ending they used was even worse. It had a twist, but it made no sense and just felt really cheap.

Now You See Me is pretty entertaining throughout. The acting is very good. There are funny parts and suspenseful parts. In the end however, it's just too nonsensical to amount to much. The lemon of an ending left me feeling taken advantage of. I won't say this is a bad movie exactly, but it is certainly not a good movie either.  The Movie Man gives it 3 out of 5 stars. 

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STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON MOVIE REVIEW

This film was similar to Walk the Line from 2005 and Notorious from 2009.  The movies were similar because the stories are similar.  They are all three about artists who, not only broke ground in music, but also changed things socially.  This is a story that I personally find fascinating.  If you liked these two previous movies, there is a good chance you will like this one as well. 

 

                This movie is about the NWA.  A very influential rap group from the 1980’s and 90’s.  The story focuses on the three founding members of the group; Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell).  The movie begins with the formation of the group and goes all the way through Eazy-E’s death in 1995. 

                The first thing that sticks out about this movie is the cast.  Simply put, it is perfect.  All three of the main actors do a terrific job in this film.  They all look strikingly like the character they are playing, especially Jackson Jr. who plays his father.  Even the supporting actors who are only in the movie for a short time were good.  This could be the most well cast movie I have seen this year. 

                Two of the main characters portrayed in this film were producers on it.  You might think this would help with the accuracy of the movie, but in this case I think it hurt.  The story is told in a very one-sided way which detracts from the emotional impact of the film in my opinion.  This movie fails to show both sides of the moral issues it presents which minimizes it’s effect to some degree.  I understand that Ice Cube and Dr. Dre didn’t want to make themselves look bad, but there were several real life events that were conveniently left out of the film. 

 

                I thoroughly enjoyed the music in the film.  The live performances sound very good and the movie provides a wide sampling of NWA’s catalogue.  The lyrics are very rough though, so if you are the type that is offended by this, you probably will not enjoy this movie very much. 

                The movie is generally well made by director F. Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian Job).  There are written introductions on screen for all the main characters early in the film which I found slightly annoying and unnecessary.  The movie is paced very well and manages to stay fairly interesting all the way through a run time that was probably a little too long.  The movie is sort of in two halves with the first half easily being the best.  The second half loses a lot of the passion and energy of the first half and becomes too much about business deals and petty bickering.  The movie drags just a little toward the end but it was never boring or hard to watch. 

 

                This is a movie I am glad I watched.  It has it’s problems but I enjoyed it quite a bit.  If you can get past a little glossing over of events and hang with it for a relatively long run time, the film certainly has a lot going for it.  The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5 stars.      

 

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NO ESCAPE MOVIE REVIEW

Ordinary people in extraordinary situations.  It is a simple premise, but one that has been used successfully many times in films over the years.  Alfred Hitchcock used this simple formula expertly throughout his career.  No Escape is very much that type of story. 

 

                This movie is about Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) who moves his family to an unnamed Asian country because of his work.  While they are getting settled in, a revolution breaks out.  Jack must figure out a way to evade the massive rebel force and get his family out of the country. 

                Writer/director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, Devil) did a good job with exposition in this movie.  In the opening scenes, we learn just enough about the situation to understand and care about it.  The trick is to explain the situation without getting wordy and boring with it and that is accomplished here.  In fact, the more we know about the situation, the easier it is to nitpick little problems with it.  In this story, the whys of the situation are not that important.  It is a simple story and Dowdle was smart to tell it as simply as possible.  As for the characters, Jack is established very well.  I wish a little more had been done to establish his wife (Lake Bell) as a character however. 

 

                The best thing I can say for this movie is that it does provide real suspense.  There are several very intense moments in the film.  There are even scenes where I was not exactly sure that everybody was going to get out unscathed.  The best and most intense scene in the movie is the one from the trailer in which they are trying to get from one building to another.  Trust me, the trailer does not show enough to spoil it.  The scene is done very well and it totally works in every way. 

                The acting in the movie is pretty good.  Owen Wilson does a good job in an unusual role.  Lake Bell is good as well and the two have believable chemistry together.  The kids are ok, not quite as annoying as they could have been.  The show stealing performance is provided by Pierce Brosnan.  He is not in the movie all that much but when he is there, he is the best thing going.  His character is quite mysterious, but if you are familiar with Roger Ebert’s theory of the economy of characters you will know what purpose he serves immediately. 

                Way too much shaky cam was used in this movie.  I understand that a lot of it is meant to be confusing and disorienting, but when it is making me dizzy, it is too much.  There was also quite a bit of overproduction in some of the action sequences, like music and slow motion, that took me out of it a little bit.  Most of the action in the movie is not filmed as well as I would have liked.  Enough said about that. 

 

                This film at times falls into the trap that a lot of movies of this type fall into.  There are too many conveniences.  There are a couple of scenes that are obviously contrived as a device to put the family in a more suspenseful situation.  Also the ending goes about one step too far.  There is a very uncomfortable scene at the end that is totally unnecessary. 

                I wouldn’t normally say this but one big positive this movie has is a very relevant political message.  Like with the earlier exposition, they talked just enough about it without revealing too much.  It’s not at all preachy but does get the point across and allows you to make a little more sense of what is going on. 

                This was a pretty decent film.  It provided more real and believable suspense than I have seen in a movie in a while.  With a few tweeks (less shaky cam antics for instance) it could have been a great movie.  Even so, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  It’s a high intensity film with very little downtime that mostly works.  The Movie Man gives it 3 out of 5 stars. 

 

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AMERICAN ULTRA MOVIE REVIEW

American Ultra had one factor going for it that made me really excited about this film.  That factor was Max Landis.  Landis, a relatively new screenwriter, wrote the 2012 film Chronicle, a movie I really liked, and made one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time entitled Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling.  Landis seems to be very creative and does well with material that is unorthodox or unique.  That’s why I had a pretty good bit of anticipation for this movie. 

 

                The movie is about a stoner named Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg).  He sees himself as a total failure and worries that he is holding back his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart).  By the looks of things, it is hard to argue with Mike’s concerns and critical opinions of himself.  Then one night he encounters a couple of guys doing something to his car, and all that is changed. 

                Jesse Eisenberg is fantastic in this movie.  This was a great role for him and he fit into it very well.  It was a challenging role because he had to sell a lot of reactions to crazy things that are happening to him.  His reactions is what really makes the film work as well as it does.  He makes it possible to buy the absurdity of the situations he finds himself in.  My biggest concern going into this film was Kristen Stewart.  This seemed like quite an odd role for her.  She plays a very likeable and sympathetic character here, which is something I have never seen her pull off before in her career.  After seeing the movie, I have to give her a lot of credit.  She did a very good job in a role that was as challenging, if not more so, than the lead.  Topher Grace is very good in a supporting role.  He is over the top, but the film calls for that in my opinion.  There are also some very good supporting performances by Connie Britton, John Leguizamo, and Walton Goggins.  The acting is a high point for this film. 

 

                The film establishes itself early as being totally absurd and audacious, almost to the point of films like Kick Ass or Kill Bill.  A lot of what happens in the movie is clearly impossible and ridiculous, but it kind of works because of how the movie is presented.  This is more of a fun action/comedy than a nail biting thriller.  I actually really enjoyed the tone of this film. 

                The biggest problem I had with the movie was that there is too much government drama, especially early in the film.  I actually think they revealed too much too quickly.  We didn’t need all the government stuff in the first act of the film, and I got a little bogged down in it. 

                I wasn’t too impressed with director Nima Nourizadeh (Project X) here.  Most of the film is directed adequately enough, but the action sequences are horrible.  The movie moves pretty fast in general, which is fine, but when the action sequences are cut and edited in this type of choppy fashion in which you can’t tell what is going on, that is a problem. 

 

                For the most part, I really liked the climax of this movie.  Without giving anything away, it reminded me a lot of the climax of the movie The Equalizer, except it actually worked in this film.  I think they missed just a little bit on the way the scene played out but overall it was a very fitting climax. 

                I had a lot of fun with American Ultra.  It is an absurd film in the very best ways.  I loved the way the movie ended and this is one film that I really want to see a sequel to because of the way everything played out.  I think that could really work.  American Ultra is one of the most purely fun films I have seen this year.  The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5 stars.      

 

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