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Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Another decent Star Wars spin-off
Everyone's favorite space pirate in the Star Wars series has finally gotten his own origin story film from the brilliant directors of The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, and 22 Jump...oh...right. I mean, from Ron Howard, the director of...um...well...a lot of stuff that I've never seen. I guess you could say, from the director who simply asks that you each go and see this movie 1100 more times so Disney doesn't have to write off more than a $50 million dollar loss for this box office dog.
The story overall is fairly decent. Like Rogue One, and unlike other prequels (cough...Wolverine...cough...X-Men: Apocalypse...cough) it manages to tie everything together pretty well in terms of stuff like how Han met Chewbacca and Lando, and how he acquired the Millennium Falcon. To some extent, the story manages to show some slight character development to help it work out as a good standalone film, such as Han learning how to find a balance between being a criminal and doing the right thing. And they don't hesitate to include some clever jokes as well. Plus, I like how a chunk of the film tells the story of how Han has the Millennium Falcon become "the ship that made the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs" which according to Family Guy and Wookieepedia is actually a unit of distance, not time, equal to 3.26 light years, which in this case is 39.12 light years. I will say though that as far as story goes, I had little to no expectations to be met. It only met my expectation of a good story, but nothing more, which is sort of both an okay thing and a thing that makes you feel kinda "meh" towards the film. But on the bright side, at least this isn't a sequel to a preceding film that paved the way to all kinds of interesting subplots with potential revelations only for them all to be thrown away like garbage (cough...Last Jedi...cough...probably shoulda stuck with one director and the same team of writers...cough...cough!)
The cast is terrific. Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover both prove to be good fits for Han and Lando respectively by managing to capture the same charms and charisma unique to Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams (the latter of whom needs to make a comeback in the new ones!). Little hard to judge Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca since he has minimal expressions and all of his lines are roars and grunts. Still, Chewie's always awesome no matter what, and as per usual what little we get out of him combined with how he interacts with the other characters is enough to make him an interesting character. My only major complaint about Chewie for this film is that I just wish we get to see him shoot a lot more people. Also like Woody Harrelson as Han's mentor Beckett. He also has his own sense of charisma. Can't say a whole lot about Emilia Clarke's role as Han's girlfriend. She's good as the character, but that's pretty much it. Definitely can't say much about Paul Bettany as her sadistic, psychopathic mob boss. Lastly, while no major droid character will ever match C-3PO, R2-D2, and especially K2-SO, Lando's female droid sidekick L-3 still proves to be a fascinating addition to the cast. What I like about her is that as a comic relief character she's supposed to act as a very liberal droid who detests ill-treatment towards droids, even female beings for that matter, so to me she represents all the Star Wars fans who complain about the original films' accidentally limited sense of diversity that Disney has been trying to remedy which I think is hilarious.
The action scenes are pretty good. The best ones for me mostly come from the middle of the film onwards. We get a pretty great shootout scene, a cool space chase with the Millennium Falcon that sort of reminisces towards the asteroid chase from Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, and a conclusion with some interesting complexities mixed with some western film elements. But like I said before, Chewie doesn't shoot many people which sucks.
The VFX, set design, and choices of locations are used to spectacular effect, creating backgrounds and environments that are fun to look at and are fitting. I especially love the design of the Millennium Falcon for this film both inside and out, especially the inside with all the nice cool-colored lighting and white interior. It actually looks better at this point in time, but then again, it's the old days, it's supposed to look new, so obviously it has to look like it hasn't been through much yet, especially before Han and Chewie use it as their smuggler's bachelor pad or whatever.
So, despite me having limited expectations, despite this film only meeting some of those expectations but failed to go way beyond, despite Chewie's limited shooting time, and despite the fact that as a spin-off, it can't match the cinematic masterpiece that is Rogue One, this movie is pretty great, all thanks to a great cast, great visuals, and great action scenes. So, all in all, Ron Howard did a terrific job, enough to renew some HOPE that Rian Johnson kinda took away from us fans. NOW GIVE US A YODA ORIGIN STORY!!! AND A BOBA FETT SPIN-OFF (after the Sarlacc)!!!!
Deadpool 2 (2018)
The perfect sequel for Deadpool
Two years ago, I was introduced to Deadpool, the most amazingly unconventional anti-hero of all time, where his ability to break the fourth-wall and deliver the crudest of jokes was finally displayed on the silver screen in an X-Men spin-off film made partly to make up for that crummy Wolverine film from 2009. And now the sequel has arisen.
The story for this one is perfect for a sequel. It actually manages finds a way to develop the character of the wisecracking merc-with-a-mouth and a bit further from the last film. This story is also a lot more emotional than the previous one in the perfect way. Plus, one thing that makes the plot for this one a tad more superior to the first film is how the events are presented in a much more linear and sequential order, whereas the first film jumped around different points in time, which is one of the few little things that bothered me before.
The humor is about as funny as the first film's. But the most monumental laughs result from these scenes during the credits. I can't tell you why, but these scenes made me laugh 10x as hard as the time when I first saw Drax try to master the art of invisibility by standing incredibly still.
The cast is terrific. Ryan Reynolds proved in the first film that he was born for this role, and he still proves it today. He continues to perfectly portray the funniest and most bloodthirsty Marvel anti-hero ever. Josh Brolin does a good job playing the battle-hardened Cable while playing Thanos around the same time during production for this movie. The rest of the cast still carry the charm they delivered from before like T.J. Miller as Weasel, Karan Soni as Dopinder the cab driver, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, and Brianna Hildebrand as the "moody (mutant) teen" with "the coolest name ever." I also really enjoyed Domino, played by Zazie Beetz, and how she and Deadpool are constantly bickering about her abilities. And Julian Dennison is also great as tough mutant urchin Russel/Firefist.
There's not a whole lot to say about the action scenes. All I can say is that the film has action scenes that are awesome to watch, and they each find a few good jokes to mix in. In fact, the final battle has music that works great for the sake of humor. Listen very hard for any dramatic-chorus theme. Plus, speaking of music, I loved the Celine Dion song.
This film is definitely the best sequel possible for Deadpool. It does everything a sequel should do, with some unique traits of its own. So in conclusion...WAKANDA FOREV...I mean...X-FORCE!!!
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Infinity War is One of the Best
After ten years, 18 movies, and the introduction of over 20 great heroes like the Avengers (which includes Black Panther and Spider-Man), the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange, time has come for everyone to get together for the ultimate battle. The end has finally come... and then we'll have more sequels and introductions to more heroes because apparently we live in a country obsessed with sequels and dragging franchises for more money. But seriously the biggest moment for the MCU has come, and it is something.
This film just goes to show that the Russos, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely could direct and write a well-balanced story for a movie with 23 heroes and five main villains with about four storylines. It is also shown that they were especially able to make this film be incredibly dark and serious with huge twists yet still keep the humor that has always brought the charm in the series. But keep in mind the huge twists. I will tell you, the ending is a JAW...DROP!
As always, the actors and characters we already know are great in the movie. The Avengers (again, includes Black Panther and Spider-Man), the Guardians, and Doctor Strange, have always been great. But for this film, they all have decent chemistry as characters meeting each other for the first time. All the different heroes mix in well together by either driving each other nuts at first, try to work well as teams, and even find ways to develop the perfect match ups. My favorite match ups in this film would be Thor, Rocket, and Teen-Groot, and Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and some of the other Guardians. Josh Brolin perfectly portrays the long awaited alien warlord Thanos as the most ambitious villain in the series who is the right amount of evil, condescending, but also somewhat respectful, and even tortured. His children/henchman, the Black Order are also an interesting bunch, even though we don't see a whole lot of them. However, I will admit that these goons and their boss do a lot of horrendous stuff in this film from beginning to end, which is why it's a little hard not to hate their guts for it all. They're the sorts of film villains you end up both loving and hating.
Now...the action scenes tho! They...are...wait for it...PHENOMINAL!!!! All the different heroes fighting together in exotic locations are done in the most ambitious and incredible way in the series. To me, the best parts are this huge battle in Wakanda and a smaller yet just as major and extremely ambitious battle on an alien planet between Iron Man's team and Thanos.
This movie is definitely worth the decade (or maybe six year) long wait to see the Avengers take on their worst enemy. It will make you laugh, cry, put you on the edge of your seat, cry, make your jaw drop, cry, want to re-watch it over and over, and cry over and over. I think you get the idea. In fact, it is THE BEST AVENGERS FILM and THE, ... or one of THE... dare I say it... BEST FILMS IN THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE!!!
Oh, and P.S.: It'll make you cry. Oh, wait. I said that. It'll make you cry.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Dead Men Tell Fairly Decent Tales
So is this movie as dead as the critics are saying? No. Is it better than the original three? Sadly no. Is it better than the 4th? HELL YEAH!!! Here is my critique. Be prepared for some SPOILERS.
First of all, I just want to quickly say that the overall direction for this movie was thought out pretty well. Of course, the execution and final result are a bit different.
The overall story about Captain Jack Sparrow hitting hard times and is then pursued by an army of blood thirsty Spanish Navy ghosts, lead by their psychopathic captain on a quest for revenge, which leads to him going on another adventure where he teams up with two young adults, one of whom being the son of his old comrades Will and Elizabeth, was a great idea. It also has a slightly darker tone that I thought was great. I especially liked how the film has a look and feel that calls back to the original three films, or just the first one, in terms of, again, the tone, as well as in terms of characters and ships. The film could've been a lot deeper and more emotional, especially on Jack's side of the story. It could've been more like Logan where he's lost his way, and everything that goes on makes him emotionally whole again. I especially would've preferred, as always in these sequels, that the story would be more centered on him, but it ends up being spread a bit, which is unfortunate because Jack is generally the only guy I care about in these movies (minus a few exceptional characters). The story may also not be super original since it involves another undead villain with a grudge against Jack of all people, but it still makes the story fun, especially since the villains for this one are ghosts who are already dead.
Now, let's nitpick on acting. I will admit that Johnny Depp isn't at his best in this one. For whatever reason, the level of seriousness for his character went from 90% down to 50%. But honestly, at the end of the day, I'm just glad Johnny Depp is in this film as the legendary Captain Jack Sparrow to begin with, especially with a sword to fight with for that matter, plus Depp still carries some of the iconic quirky charm and clever wit that has made such a great character. The biggest sin for a Pirates sequel would be to not have him and his sword at all. So, yeah... yay Johnny Depp! Javier Bardem is great as the villain, Capitán Salazar. I just loved seeing him be so tortured and psychopathic. Sure, he's not that scary, but he is an entertainingly terrifying villain. And of course, always love Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa. Can't say a whole lot about Brenton Thwaites as Henry Turner. I liked that they decided to give Jack another morally-straight partner who happens to be the son of Will and Elizabeth, but kinda like Orlando Bloom as Will (mostly in the sequels) Brenton isn't really that interesting as the goody-two shoes guy, especially since he apparently has almost the majority of the focus in this story. Kaya Scoldelario was a little more okay than him as a stubborn and adamant young woman fighting for her rights to pursue astronomy in a time of 18th century sexism. I'm also glad that this film brings back a few likable supporting characters like Gibbs, Scrum, Marty, Murtogg and Mullroy (the two British soldiers who keep bickering), and some of the new crewmen were an interesting bunch too, but man do I miss Pintel and Ragetti (the short fat guy and his skinny buddy with the wooden eye).
Now for another big part of the movie: the action. (SPOILER) In regard to the one scene I was anticipating the most in this film, let's just say that the eventual Sparrow vs. Salazar sword duel is a lot shorter than I had hoped and preferred, but what little there is in the film is enough to make it even remotely awesome. In fact, overall, all the action scenes combined make the movie pretty awesome, especially this one bit with these ghost sharks, so cool!
Another thing to consider would be the VFX. The VFX is used to terrific effect. The film has so much cinematic beauty. Even the set design is visually pleasing. The VFX definitely helps make the best villains we've seen since Barbossa and his skeleton crew and Davy Jones and his fish men crew. Not like Blackbeard and his zombies, or should I say, a bunch of dudes between 30-60 years old with weird tats and piercings who say their "zombies." And again, ghost sharks are awesome!
If I had to critique on one last thing, it would be the ending. It may not be the ideal ending, but it comes pretty close since it resolves certain issues that the last two movies left unsettled, and is done to beautiful effect visually and emotionally. Definitely a worthy enough ending for the series. But then came this particular scene after the credits. Without giving too much away, the post-credits scene at the end features a vague but huge surprise. It's both awesome, but at the same time shows that they're hoping to make a sequel, that I personally don't need or want, with an idea that they scraped from under the barrel.
Another last thing, I love the music. Geoff Zanelli was a terrific replacement for someone as talented as Hans Zimmer.
So overall, this movie may have a few disappointing moments, but it's still a fun film to watch, and one of the best films of the year. If you're as devoted a fan to Pirates as I am, then I highly recommend that you go see it. Pirate's Life!!!