Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Note: This review was a special request by Marianne Brody. 

Peyton Reed's Ant-Man and the Wasp is the continuation of both Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War. With a lot of catching up to do, and very little that could just be swept under the rug, Ant-Man and the Wasp writes itself into corners. As quickly as the title characters grow and shrink, the movie impressively writes itself out of those corners, and apart from the original.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has been under house arrest since helping Captain America and Falcon in Germany, and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) have cut ties with Scott and have been laying low because the FBI sees them and their tech as national security threats. All three have to come out in the open when they discover a way into the Quantum Realm to save the original Wasp, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). Once they're exposed, everyone comes after them. FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), Ava Starr/ Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Hank's old partner Bill Foster/Ghost (Laurence Fishburne), and a black market tech dealer named Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins), form a busy, but dynamic, rogues gallery.

Behind the Scenes: Peyton Reed, Paul Rudd, and Evangeline Lily | Copyright 2019 Marvel/Disney

Ant-Man and The Wasp acknowledges what's come before in the MCU, giving the universe real weight and consequences. However, it also starts the movie out on the wrong foot. There's a mean-spiritedness to the trio's early scenes together, and it's made worse when considering that Scott at least was fighting against Tony and Sokovia Accords, something they'd support on principle. Hank and Hope take every possible jab they can at Scott, joking about his (lack of a) relationship with "Cap," his lack of knowledge about the Quantum Realm, even a bit about his house arrest, until they can't anymore When it starts feeling old, the original Ant-Man humor and chemistry opens back up like a window. 

There's one joke in Cassie's, Scott's daughter, (Abby Ryder Fortson) school to bring the band back together. It's because of something that could've happened to any of them (even Hank who gets his hands dirty this time), is temporary, and just works as a great gag in general. The movie really gets moving after this, and is even able to pull it off one more time during one of the last action scenes. 

This is not an action-heavy movie, but the fights are pretty fun and, once five noticeable seconds of car manufacturer product placement is out of the way, the chases are even better. A lot of time is spent with the heroes instead. Yellowjacket, from last time, may have been the bald boardroom member to break the camel's back for corporate MCU villains, even though he may have been one of the underrated ones. This time, every bad guy except Sonny Burch is empathetic and just trying to do their best with given circumstances. Goggins' character actually feels pretty unnecessary compared to the others, but he gives a good performance.

Both movies have had a greedy jerk escape and/or survive at the end. If the MCU wants to take a stab at the Sinister Six, just with Ant-Man and his rogues, they're setting it up well. Here and now though, there's no disgustingly evil villain, there's (mostly) just people trying to get by or, in Ava's case, survive. It's reflected in the trio as well, and in Scott's other cronies, who have now gone legit. Yes, Michael Peña is back as Luis, cranked up to eleven, and he's cranking everyone else up with him. 

The best parts of the fights are when characters are caught off guard. The best and the worst parts of Ant-Man and the Wasp are when the audience is caught off guard. Hang in there for those best parts. 

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Marvel's Runaways: "Reunion" (Pilot)

Does Marvel's Cinematic Universe really need another show that will the expand the world, but actually only mention the Avengers in passing, if at all? Probably not, but after binging the Netflix shows, the variety from this one on Hulu is incredibly refreshing. Mix the MCU, The Breakfast Club, and some identity politics (because that sounds better than saying "woke"), and what pops out is surprisingly a well-crafted episode of what's most likely a well-crafted show.

Runaways is about "six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other, but who must unite against a common foe - their parents." That summary is a little misleading, these are former friends who drifted apart for years after the death of one of their other friends, and this is their last chance to stay in each others' lives before college and the real drifting starts. It's not typically how these stories go, timeline wise, and it's the first part of Runaways to stick out. Next was the characters themselves.

It's a pretty busy episode, but luckily an exposition-light one. Runaways is primarily character-driven, or at the very least "Reunion" is. They've all become loners in their own way, but also there are glimpses of that reaching out shown. Going out to parties, trying out for sports, offering/requesting tutoring. Indirect ways of saying, "talk to me." "Reunion's" director made sure to emphasize how social media and tech can make this so much more difficult, when used improperly. The selfie, it's ripe for mocking, but a personal attack is still a personal attack.

What hit hard was one of the characters, Gert (Ariela Barer), a social activist, passing out flyers for the club she's starting. It's probably the toughest way, especially in high school, to get back out there, but also the most rewarding.

So one character's a social activist, there's also a reclusive gamer named Alex (Rhenzy Feliz), the sister of the deceased friend whose name is Nico (Lyrica Okano), a church-going girl seeking rebellion called Karolina (Virginia Gardner), a jock going by Chase (Gregg Sulkin), and last but not least, the coming of age Molly (Allegra Acosta).

It sounds stocky because these things always start out that way. It's helped by a cast that has great chemistry with each other, and with the actors playing their parents, and by a warmer feel than these kind of scenarios usually create. Typically these shows or movies start out with a real uphill battle for friendship, and every second is devoted to making that work. Instead "Reunion" was able to spend time on individuals and then bring them together properly. You can bet that it'll go a long way when they start kicking butt together.

Runaways starts slow on the superhero aspects of the show, as it is an origin story. From what's been shown so far, the show has a pretty good visual effects budget and knows how to use it. Feats of super-strength are easy to film, but because of how it's shot,  it's still fun to see someone, in this case Molly, stop a moving van and feel that excitement run through her veins. Even if it didn't, Runaways looks to be putting intrigue before spectacle. In the closing minutes a mystery begins, and when it's a mystery involving parents wearing red robes and standing in a circle, it's a mystery worth checking out.

I'm not one to do season/series long reviews, but wanted to get this one out there because I highly recommend people try it, or at least something like it. If you love it, or if you're looking for something a tiny bit different, I recommend CW's Black Lightning too. It's also set in high school, but if the principal had powers, and it's a mix of The Incredibles, DC, and Luke Cage.

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Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018)

The Dark Knight Returns introduced the theory that Batman riding a horse is the mark of a good movie. Director Sam Liu's Gotham by Gaslight is compelling evidence and a great movie in its own right anyway.

Gotham by Gaslight is an alternative universe story where a 19th century Batman (Bruce Greenwood) must catch Jack the Ripper. At 78 minutes, that sounds like a streamlined story, but Liu and screenwriter Jim Kreig fit a lot into their runtime. This new setting includes a reestablished origin for Gotham.

Don't worry, Bruce Wayne's parents aren't featured in the movie, but the Monarch Theatre plays a central role, as Jack attacks women who perform there. First up, is a de-powered Poison Ivy (Kari Wuhrer) who starts things off on the wrong foot. The movie opens with her performance, and the animation feels noticeably rigid. While not wanting Poison Ivy to dance to provocatively is a good thing, there are ways to give her a creative, well-animated performance that's clean. She just kind of moves left and right a little. Luckily, once Batman tries to intervene the animation picks up considerably. The fight scenes are choreographed and sound similar to the ones in The Dark Knight Returns. Batman and Jack are fast, but their blows feel heavy and satisfying.

After their first meeting, a lot of time is spent on Bruce Wayne and the locals of Victorian Gotham, and Gotham by Gaslight becomes its own film. The setting and characters are well-developed and set up in a way that suggests Liu and Kreig will return them. Characters featured include Harvey Dent (Yuri Lowenthal), Catwoman (Jennifer Carpenter), and, interestingly, multiple pre-Robin Robins who already know each other. There's no telling how this could evolve, and Gotham by Gaslight encourages second-guessing of ideas.

Similar to the opening of the movie, animation, unfortunately, isn't the only thing that's occasionally rushed. Harvey, also unfortunately, isn't that well written as the links between Jack the Ripper and Two Face are clear to anyone old enough to watch the movie. It's handled in a very upfront matter, and how annoying the audience finds it will vary. At the very least, all the lines are delivered well by the cast, especially Batman's.

Also, is there any correlation between a distinctive cowl and a well-portrayed Batman, or a good Batman movie? | Copyright 2018 Warner Brothers

Bruce Greenwood returns to the booth, after voicing Batman in Under the Red Hood and Young Justice. He's fantastic, and like Kevin Conroy and Roger Craig Smith (Batman: Arkham Origins), he understands what makes Bruce Wayne compelling with and without the cowl. Working with Jennifer's Carpenter's Catwoman and an extended amount of time as Gotham's socialite adds new dimensions to a role he already had down to a science.

Occasionally rushed writing and animation hold back a would-be perfect addition to the DC Animated Universe, but these moments are in a world as well-realized as the one in The Dark Knight Returns. That one, technically, got a sequel, so maybe this one should too?

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The Amazing Spider-Man | Homecoming Style (Fan Made Trailer)

I reviewed The Amazing Spider-Man the day it came out, and I really liked it. The review is full of grammatical errors, but I wouldn't change a thing about the original post. I've thought a lot about expanding that review and writing about the sequel and Homecoming, but the bias is...strong.

The objectivity is there, and I can talk about it all day, but I couldn't write the scathing review Amazing Spider-Man 2 earned or the 4/5 Homecoming gets simply because the filmmakers were burdened by not repeating what audiences have seen before and ties to the MCU. We kicked and screamed for this, but it had drawbacks. It's acknowledged, but then everything else about this latest iteration is given an extra boost.

So, what should be done when there's more to say, but movie magic must be maintained?

Fan trailers are a way to go, and Homecoming paved the way for me to (re)learn editing, after one course on it in college.

The editing process was rough, especially audio, but it's a learning curve and future projects should come out better

The same goes for this post and Spider-Man reviews as well. There's just always something to revisit with this franchise, whether it's requested or not.

This video, and others are collected, on-site, here.

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Uncle Sam (1997) | Graphic Novel

Uncle Sam is by Steve Darnall, Alex Ross, and Todd Klein

During times when confidence in the U.S government is steadily declining, the people tend to zero-in on the potential causes and jump to a conclusion. At the end of the day, they’re right when they say that modern corporations and politicians are to blame. At the same time, that’s a vague generalization that leads to very little change. Uncle Sam seeks to find the root of the problem, and it may have accomplished its goal thanks to one brief scene.

Uncle Sam #1 & #2 (collected in a 2009 reprint) tells the story of a homeless man named Sam who is “clad in star-spangled rags” (Uncle Sam), and speaking in “presidential sound-bites” (Greil Marcus) as a way to make sense of where he is and the state of the nation. His dementia-caused wandering takes him through a (mostly) chronological journey of America’s rough patches, while his real one has a back-drop of the end of an average political campaign.

Darnall takes readers behind the curtain of the political process, while still keeping an appropriate, spectators distance from it. He doesn’t take readers into a political headquarters because this deception shouldn’t be considered privileged information. It still may be shocking to some. It is for Sam. As he wades through history, the dichotomy of the nation takes shape. Darnall draws a realistic, but optimistic picture, the nation has made progress, but the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Copyright 2009 DC Comics/Vertigo

Ross, who co-plotted Uncle Sam, paints the picture beautifully. Having said that, I only have Kingdom Come to compare Uncle Sam to, and Kingdom Come just looks better. Maybe it’s by the necessity of the story, or maybe it’s personally easier to find little DC superhero details than little American history details. Objectively though, there’s a certain lack of physical depth to the environments and backgrounds in Uncle Sam, but that shouldn’t deter anyone because every panel still looks like a gorgeous cover, and they’re almost worthy of becoming a full-size poster. Sam is nearly life-like, and if he wasn’t the book would fall apart.

America is a tough country to root for, and it always has been. That’s Uncle Sam’s key revelation. America didn’t go downhill a century, or even decades after being established, but as it was being established. Specifically, cleaning up Shay’s rebellion (remember Shay’s Rebellion?)

Copyright 2009 DC Comics/Vertigo

Darnall and Ross create a clear line between where we are, where we’ve been, and where America will always return to. While “America” has a certain “comfort zone,” they’re proud of the progress the country has made and are simply asking for vigilance.

Sam’s journey reminds us that the citizen makes all the difference.

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