'Ant-Man' Gives the Marvel Cinematic Universe a Tiny Hero with Giant Contributions

Stepping down from the epic scale of its previous two offerings – Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron – Marvel’s newest movie is Ant-Man, the studio’s first solo superhero origin movie since 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger.  However, Ant-Man’s heist element, sense of fun, captivating cast performances, and dynamic storytelling elevates it from being merely a typical superhero origin movie.  And as far as being a superhero origin movie is concerned, Ant-Man is Marvel’s best since Iron Man.

Ant-Man introduces us to Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a former engineer and burglar, who has just been recently released from prison.  He is recruited by Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the original Ant-Man, to succeed him as well as aid him in stopping his former protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), from his desire to perfect and use the same shrinking technology of Ant-Man for his own evil purposes.  As Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) train him in becoming a proper Ant-Man, Scott embraces the opportunity for redemption and rises up to the challenge of being a hero.

I enjoyed Ant-Man a lot.  It has a lot of clever ideas, and carries them out rather well.  It has an ample amount of funny moments.  The execution and shots of its actions scenes are beautiful.  Its connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s major components work really, really well; they turn out to be sensible instead of just being needless servicing.  The adorability, heart, and depth that it attempts to generate resonate with sincerity and appeal.  And the excitement I got from its mid-credits scene was the greatest I’ve ever had from a Marvel mid-/post-credits scene since Tony Stark showed up in The Incredible Hulk.

I love the cast of this movie.  Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, and Evangeline Lilly are phenomenal.  It’s apparent from Rudd’s performance that he is living in the moment and loves every second of being a superhero in the MCU.  He is so into his character.  The charisma and likability of Paul Rudd as Scott Lang are comparable to that of Robert Downey, Jr.’s first outing as Tony Stark in Iron Man.  (I really like his portrayal as Scott Lang/Ant-Man that I now think the character should move up in my list for size-manipulators in fiction.)

Michael Douglas played the heck out of Hank Pym; every scene he’s in has been thoroughly compelling.  And Ant-Manis the movie that made an Evangeline Lilly fan out of me.  Can’t wait to see her as (SPOILERS?) the MCU’s version of the Wasp.  Moreover, the trio of Michael Peña, David Dastmalchian , and Tip “T.I.” Harris – playing the members of Lang’s heist team – who I initially thought out of place and unnecessary to the movie, have surprisingly enjoyable presence (especially Peña).

Ant-Man does have its share of bumps.  But considering the fact that it has to deal with the problem of having initial director Edgar Wright leaving mid-production (due to creative differences with Marvel), this movie not turning to be worse is a fine achievement.  Replacement director Peyton Reed did a fantastic job in molding the project into the delightful finished product it has become.

It’s intriguing to wonder how the movie could have turned out in the hands of Wright.  But it’s not as if this movie is devoid of Edgar Wright.  His fingerprints are still apparent in this movie.

Ant-Man is definitely one of this year’s best.  I think, at this point, it’s sitting within the top 4.  Not only that, but Ant-Man could probably be within my top 6 most favorite Marvel Studios films of all time.  That’s how great I think this movie is.

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"The Rogue Cut" Is An Enjoyable But Unessential Supplement to 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'

I like director’s cut/extended versions of movies.  Yes, half of the time, the director’s cut merely pads the movie and doesn’t add substance.  However, the other half of the time, a director’s cut allows a movie to make more sense, have more thrills, and have more depth.  The best example of an extended version doing some considerable enhancement was on the Lord of the Rings, and I personally like the alternate ending version of I Am Legend more than the original one.   So when an alternate, extended version of X-Men: Days of Future Past was announced to be released this year, I was intrigued.  X-Men: DOFP was one of 2014’s best movies, for not only was it a surprisingly good film by itself, but it also pulled off a successful continuity clean-up to revitalize the franchise moving forward.  I was hoping that this extended version would further elevate this movie.

X-Men: DOFP’s extended edition is named “The Rogue Cut.”  It’s called such for a subplot centered on a rescue mission for Rogue takes much of the additional extra minutes.  Some of the additional scenes are minor clips on the future X-Men team and a subplot on Beast and Mystique.  Unfortunately, though these provide interesting moments to explore the characters, they don’t contribute much in improving the movie.  And despite being called “The Rogue Cut”, the character Rogue doesn’t really do much in it.  Seriously, I long for a more comics-accurate, badass Rogue adaptation in film.  Anna Paquin’s version has never done justice to the character.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching “The Rogue Cut.”  DOFP is essentially a good film already, so watching “The Rogue Cut” is basically just re-watching the movie again.  The additional subplots and action scenes are superfluous, but I still welcome them – they don’t improve the movie much, but they don’t diminish it as well.  Watching the “The Rogue Cut” isn’t really an imperative, but it’s just something necessary to do as a fan.

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'Ted 2' Reminds Me That I'm Not Really a Fan of Seth McFarlane's Humor

Though I occasionally watched Family Guy and find Stewie Griffen an interesting character, I’ve never been a fan of the show nor of Seth McFarlane.  Yes, some of McFarlane’s jokes were funny.  But in every five jokes delivered, only one made me burst out laughing, one induces just a chuckle, two I find distasteful, and one was quite unfunny.  However, I enjoyed the first Ted movie.  I considered it as the most hilarious movie of 2012.  There’s something about Seth McFarlane’s brand of humor embodied in an adorable stuffed teddy bear that worked very, very well.  So Ted 2 is one of the 2015 movies I was looking forward to.  I was curious if McFarlane can pull it off again.

In Ted 2, John Bennet (Mark Wahlberg) has been divorced for six months from Lori, whom he had married at the end of the first movie.  On the other hand, Ted (Seth McFarlane) marries his girlfriend Tami-Lyn (Jessica Barth) and they decide to have a baby.  However, a serious complication arises when the couple attempts to adopt and it is revealed that it won’t be possible since, in the eyes of the law, Ted is not a person but mere property.  Pissed, Ted and John seek the help of rookie lawyer Samantha Leslie Jackson (Amanda Seyfried) to establish Ted’s personhood on court.

I find the first Ted movie much funnier.  Ted 2’s comedy completely relied on being stupid, offensive, and disgusting.  To be fair, that was to be expected.  Still, the first Ted movie really has more clever comedic content, better comedic timing, and better comedic delivery overall.  Ted 2 just decided to go with the infamous McFarlane brand of humor without trying to be creative about it.

That said, there were still parts that made me laugh robustly.  The jokes that worked really worked well.  My most favorite scene was when John and Ted went to watch an improv comedy show and yelled out awesomely inappropriate suggestions.  That was a comedic masterwork.  However, most of the time it’s all stoner and crude humor, or jokes that I didn’t get, like that part with Liam Neeson and a Trix cereal.

Yep, Liam Neeson.  Sorry, if that’s a spoiler.  But this movie has a surprising number of cameos.  Liam Neeson is just one of them.  Seriously, there was a lot.  I guess many Hollywood people like Seth McFarlane that he got them to appear in this movie.

Another surprising detail in this movie was the decision to add musical numbers in this movie.  They felt okay at first, but as these songs progressed, they felt out of place in the end.

As for the story – well, I never really expect that this movie to be smart.  Still, the whole “Ted fighting for personhood” aspect actually gave the movie a chance to have some depth.  Unfortunately, the story failed to tap into this.  The resolution of the conflict was anti-climactic, the narrative was lazy, and the plot lacked common sense.

Ted 2’s only upgrade from the first movie is Amanda Seyfried, who is hands down better than Mila Kunis.  Aside from that, Ted 2 fails to top or even match its predecessor.  This simply shows that the first Ted movie is just a manifestation of McFarlane’s 1:4 odds of succeeding in comedy.

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In 'Home', Half-Expecting A "Bazinga!" to Happen Can't Be Helped

Throughout this movie, I was involuntary half-expecting that the expression “Bazinga!” was going to be uttered in this movie.  Well, the word wasn’t expressed.  But it still felt like that this movie – for better and worse – is one big “Bazinga!” happening.  It’s just quite hard separating Sheldon Cooper from the character Oh.  Actor Jim Parsons really has a distinguishable voice, which has already been thoroughly associated with his The Big Bang Theorycharacter.  I like Sheldon Cooper, but I believe Jim Parsons only appeals when he’s Sheldon Cooper, and he’s cringe-worthy as a voice actor.  Oh eventually grew on me as a character, but this aspect was a one of this movie’s distractions.

I guess you can perceive already where this review is going.

Anyway, Home is based on the better titled book (in my opinion) The True Meaning of Smekday.  The movie tells the story of a cowardly alien race called the Boov who are on the run from an alien race called the Gorg.  Believing that the Earth is the best place for them to be safe from the Gorg, they relocated all humans into Australia and took the rest of the world for themselves.  The focus of the story is on Oh (Jim Parsons), an enthusiastic and free-thinking Boov, who is being hunted by the other Boovs for accidentally informing the Gorg where the Boov’s current location is.  While on the run, he comes across a human tweener named Gratuity “Tip” Tucci (Rihanna), and her cat, Pig (ridiculous cat name).  Forced by circumstance, Oh and Tip begin a globe-spanning adventure together and eventually learn that friendship between Human and Boov is possible.

Aside from the colorful, vibrant animation, what I like most about Home is it having a couple of clever, adorable, and funny science fiction ideas, especially with regards to the Boov race – their behavior, their physiology, their technology, how they treat human-made objects, and the way they “invaded” earth.  The humor and wackiness work at most parts, and the narrative has a sense of fun.  However, there is also a significant amount of stupidity in its plot that I find too distracting and which no amount of fun and clever details can make up for properly.

It also has this vague sense of artificiality.  It felt that particular elements were only added to the movie because they were proven to work for test audiences.  The story actually has this heartfelt message, but, again, having an awareness for this “vague sense of artificiality” kind of dilutes it.  The attempts to create drama and tension felt forced, and the adorability is obviously forced.  The artificiality also required the story to have familiar plot points, which make the narrative generally predictable.

But since Home is a movie for kids, I could choose to let off the stupidity and even the artificiality to an extent.  However, what I hated about this movie was how it has a lot of Rihanna in it.  Rihanna’s character, Tip, is pretty generic but is kind of okay.  What extremely annoyed me was the feeling that her music was being shoved down my throat.

Home is one of DreamWorks Animation’s weaker works.  It doesn’t offer anything that can match a Disney/Pixar level of quality – which DreamWorks proved to have been capable of doing in the past (e.g. How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2, Megamind, Shrek, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2, etc.) – and it has its share of blandness and bothersome aspects.  But it’s not at all a trainwreck.  There is still an overall enjoyment to be had in this movie.  It’s just that Home is the kind of animated feature in which it’s required for an adult viewer to find his inner child so that he can go through this movie enjoying himself – he just have to consciously remind himself that, though it fails to satisfy his adult sensibilities, Home totally works as a cute kids movie.  Only once that is settled – and a degree of tolerance for Rihanna songs is developed – that Home can be enjoyed.  

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'Spring' Is an Enchanting Genre-Bending Love Story

Spring is a delightfully bizarre romantic film with science fiction and horror elements about a directionless young man named Evan who takes an unplanned trip to Italy where he meets and falls in love with a young geneticist named Louise.  Louise is intelligent, beautiful, and warm – seemingly the perfect woman in Evan’s eyes.  But as their relationship deepens, Evan learns that, not only is Louise way out of his league, but she keeps a dark secret about her true identity.

As far as a love story goes, I found no romantic spark between Evan and Louise.  But I’m okay with that, because the premise is really thoughtful and interesting, and the storytelling effectively piques one’s investment to their story.  The two leads are relatively unknown, but their dedicated performances – especially by the actress playing Louise – kept me engage.  Thus, I was completely intrigued on where the characters’ relationship will go and end up.

The secret that Louise is harboring about herself is pretty awesome.  It’s not mindlowing, but it’s still a fresh and smart concept.  The special effects used on it don’t look cheap but quite fine-looking.

This movie does have flaws, but I’ll let them go.  There’s enough good and smart in this movie to easily forgive the bad and the dumb.  The only negative point I’ll raise in this review is the bad editing at some parts.  If it’s intentional, I didn’t get what it’s trying to accomplish.

Lastly, I also need to commend the lovely setting of this movie.  There are a couple of great shots in this movie which give justice to the romantic and pleasant atmosphere of the small Italian coastal town featured in the story.  It’s a prime example of how a charming setting helps in enhancing a movie narrative.

While not fully fabulous and powerful, Spring has true depth, beauty, and a lingering sense of satisfaction.  It’s an enchanting and original movie that needs to be rewarded by having more people go see it.

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Top 10 Fictional Thieves

Stealing is always wrong.  But in the context of fiction, talented and cool thieves appeal to us greatly.  We are won over by their calculated planning, amazing skill sets, graceful athleticism, and inherent charm.  So we root for them and the success of their endeavors.

For this list, it’s not enough for a character to be just identified as a “thief.”  He or she should also have spent significant time being a thief during the run of the story that he or she is in.  Hence, though I like Gambit and Fantomex a lot, they are involved in more “superhero” stuff than actual “thief” stuff.  It’s the same thing with Inception’s Dom Cobb; he’s a unique thief-character because he steals information by infiltrating his targets’ dreams, but the plot of the movie had him implanting ideas instead of doing actual stealing.

So now, unto the list --

10.) THOMAS CROWN

I think 1999 was when I first got interested in heist stories and fictional thieves, thanks to two interesting heist movies that came out that year: Entrapment and The Thomas Crown Affair.  However, I liked the latter’s story and featured thief, Thomas Crown, more.

Bored of his life’s status quo, wealthy financier Thomas Crown successfully stole an expensive painting from a museum in the cover of the confusion of a failed burglary (which he arranged).  He then developed romantic feelings for the insurance investigator that was going after him, Catherine Banning; to show that his love for her was genuine, he conducted a well-planned and well-executed operation full of misdirection that enabled him to return the painting hanging in the museum and to steal another one (a painting that Banning was interested in) amidst a building full of police officers.

9.) BLACK CAT

Some may consider Black Cat as a Marvel rip-off of DC’s Catwoman (who is going to appear later in this list).  But there is enough substance and unique characteristics in this character to make her stand out.  She is functioning as a supervillain now, but for most of her character history, she was more of an anti-heroine that regularly sided with the good guys (especially with Spider-Man, with whom she even had a fling with) even though she’s a career thief.  And that’s what’s I liked most about her character.  She might team up with superheroes when the occasion calls for it, but she is – first and foremost – a thief, and never had any intention of stopping.

8.) ROBIN HOOD

Robin Hood is the embodiment of archery, but he still definitely deserves a spot in this list.  He’s the “Prince of Thieves” after all.  In addition, the popular “steal from the rich, and give to the poor” trope started with him.

7.) FUJIKO MINE

Fujiko constantly uses her allure to con targets.  But she’s not all sex appeal.  She’s a legitimately proficient thief, a daredevil biker, a badass martial artist, and a deadly weapons expert.

Though she isn’t an official part of Lupin’s crew, she has found herself working with them time and time again.  However, once the job is done, Fujiko would usually double-cross Lupin and take sole possession of the benefit that arose from the collaboration.  But Lupin, who is greatly smitten with Fujiko, doesn’t mind at all.

6.) KAITOU KID

I haven’t followed the Magic Kaito anime in which Kaito Karaba a.k.a. Kaitou Kid is the main character.  I only get to encounter him due to his recurring appearances in Detective Conan(this one I followed for years).  But those few appearances – on which he either clashes or allies with Detective Shinichi Kudo/Conan Edogawa – were enough to make me like the character.

Kaito Kuraba is just a normal high school student, but he also keeps a secret alter ego, the magician-thief Kaitou Kid.  He has a genius level intellect (that’s why his match of wits against Shinichi/Conan usually ends in a draw) and has proven to excel in a variety of things.  He loves to show off his skills as a magician, and incorporates magic tricks in his heists as Kaitou Kid.  And just like the number one of this list, he is also a master of disguise.  Moreover, unlike the others in this list, there’s a fan base that roots for Kaitou Kid in his escapades; a crowd of fans often shows up in the place where he is spotted or expected to show up, and they cheer him as he goes after the item he intends to steal while the police attempt to catch him.

5.) OCEAN’S ELEVEN

I greatly enjoyed the Ocean movie trilogy and love Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) and his crew.  I love how each member has something different to contribute for the job.  I love their chemistry.  And I love how they were able to successfully pull off these awesomely complicated, twist-filled, and very entertaining heists (which only the number 3 of this list was able to match).

4.) CATWOMAN

Catwoman is one of DC’s most iconic characters.  Initially, she was purely portrayed as a Batman supervillain.  However, later on, she would eventually develop into something more of an anti-heroine and even become a member of the New 52 incarnation of the Justice League of America.  She maintains an on-off, love-hate romantic relationship with Batman, and has been one of his most constant allies.  However, despite her alignment with good, her reputation remains that of a proficient thief and continues to dabble with high-end burglary and other underworld-related pursuits.

3.) LEVERAGE CONSULTING & ASSOCIATES

The terrific Leverage TV series featured fiction’s most entertaining ensemble of thieves.  The team is made up of extremely talented criminals – Nathan Ford (“The Mastermind”/”The Brains”), Sophie Devereaux (“The Grifter”), Alec Hardison (“The Hacker”), Parker (“The Thief”), and Eliot Spence (“The Hitter”) – that have decided to band together and use their skills to target powerful and greedy corporations and individuals that oppresses or steals from ordinary people that are unable to defend themselves.  The team carries out elaborate cons on their targets in order to get back what they stole and bring them to justice.

2.) CARMEN SANDIEGO

Carmen is one of my most favorite female fictional characters ever, and playing her games had this deep impact on me that she has become the definitive femme fatale master thief on whom I compare other such kind of characters on.

1.) ARSÈNE LUPIN III

There is no other thief that charmed me most than Lupin the 3rd.  According to the anime’s mythology, Lupin is supposedly the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the popular literary gentleman thief created by French writer Maurice Leblanc.  He is acknowledged in the anime’s universe as the top thief in the world.

Lupin has a goofy and playful demeanor with a weakness for attractive women.  But under an outside appearance that seemingly can’t be taken seriously is an extremely versatile and intelligent individual.  He is a brilliant strategist, a creative schemer, and can think well under pressure.  He is knowledgeable of using and is in possession of a variety of high-tech gadgetries as well as possesses traditional thief skills like pickpocketing and cracking safes.  He is flexible, unpredictable, an adept driver, and can effortlessly think on his feet – which allow him to escape pursuers easily.  Even if caught, he is also a master escape artist, so jails and cuffs won’t hold him for long.  He is a capable close-combatant and shooter when the need arises, but he prefers to run away from trouble rather than engaged in it.  He’s all of these and more, but his most defining characteristic is his ability to flawlessly take on other people’s appearances.   He is as much as a master of disguise as he is a master thief.

He usually works with master samurai Goemon, master gunman Jigen, and femme fatale Fujiko, and together they form a formidable, unstoppable – and delightfully fun – crew. 

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'Advantageous' Could Be the Most Thought-Provoking Movie of 2015

Advantageous was originally a 2013 short film that has been expanded into this full-length feature film.  This movie premiered in Sundance earlier this 2015, and is currently being distributed by Netflix.  It is probably the most thought-provoking science fiction movie I’ve seen this year so far.  And considering the fact that I’ve already seen Ex Machina, that’s saying something.

The film’s setting is on a near-future that is seemingly utopian in nature at first glance.  But as the story progresses, we see that this world – despite its advancements – is closer to a dystopia than a utopia.  Opportunities are given to those that know the right people rather than what one is capable of.  Employment is rampant, and education is extremely expensive.  Women – regardless of competence and intelligence – struggle the most in getting and keeping careers (since the popular thought is it’s preferable to keep women away from the job-market than “putting millions of desperate men on the streets”).  Terrorist bombings are occasionally happening.  And, as expected, the elite class is shielded from economic difficulties and holds an advantage in accessing privileges.

The story focuses on the lives of Gwen and her daughter, Jules.  As a single parent, Gwen works hard in order to keep Jules well-educated and for her to develop plenty of skills and talents so that she’ll be prepared for the tough future ahead of her.  Thus, Jules grew up to be a brilliant and well-rounded 13-year-old.  However, Jules was not able to qualify for a scholarship for the next stage of her education, for this world has plenty of other brilliant and well-rounded kids (and, again, capability isn’t enough; one must also have connections) and slots are limited.  The only option is to send Jules to a private school, which Gwen can’t afford (again, as mentioned before, education is very expensive).  And to make matters worse, Gwen is laid off from her job.  So with time running out, driven with love and desperation, Gwen has to make a difficult choice in order to give her daughter a chance (just that: a chance!) of securing her future.

I haven’t seen the original short, so I can’t correctly tell if it’s better off as that, or making it into a full-length film indeed improved it.  But based on the lagging feeling I got from watching the full-length film – I felt that the full-length film has some needless padding in its storytelling – I think that the same impact could had been provided when it was just a short.

I really can’t blame if people will find this movie boring since the movie did nearly lose me at one point.  Again, there were stretches of this movie which I felt dragged a bit.  But after I got through its first act – once the characters grew on me, and the slow-paced world-building did its work of providing a general idea on how this world works – I was fully invested on the movie.

The science fiction conveniences used in this story aren’t new.  Any intention of a plot twist didn’t have a tinge of unpredictability and mindblowingness in it.  But I still think that it’s a terrific, well-told, and thought-provoking science fiction tale.  The great acting (comedian Ken Jeong especially surprised me with a genuinely heartfelt performance) and well-executed drama definitely helped in keeping me engrossed, but what appealed to me most was the smart integration to the storytelling of the important themes and message it was trying to deliver.  It really made me reflect.

I acknowledge that Advantageous is the kind of movie that not everyone will enjoy.  And there are flaws that can be found if one will consciously nitpick.  That said, I think more people should watch it – or, at least, just try watching it.  If you still find it uninteresting at its 1/3 mark, then stop.  But there’s this chance you would eventually be intrigued at that point, continue watching, and conclude that it was a rewarding movie… like I did.

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