My Own Little World

Infinity War is the Empire Strikes Back of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is a comparison made quite often – not just for this film, but for nearly every franchise. At some point, every gritty sequel will be likened to the practical perfection of Empire and its usurping of its predecessor’s formula. Whether this is deserved or not is a contentious subject with the fans of whatever franchise falls prey to the discussion. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though, Infinity War fits the mold perfectly. For the first time in these nineteen films, the stakes are real and not contrived by an incompetent villain. For the first time, the villain is a true psychopathic terror that gets true sympathy that can even approach empathy. For the first time (at least in an Avengers film), this group of god-like beings feels truly threatened by the antagonist, incapable of stopping them. There’s other parallels to be made for sure – like how both Infinity War and Empire split up ...

By this point, there has been an established formula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s a reason they are so successful at the box office: people see them as a reliable option for being entertained at the movies. That’s not a bad thing by any means – I thoroughly enjoy every single one of these movies and plan to for the foreseeable future – but it does mean that each successive film in the franchise needs to stand out at least a little bit from the rest to keep interest high. This year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 partially failed at that with its convoluted plot and somewhat rehashed humor; on the contrary, Spider-Man: Homecoming successfully rebooted a character that has had problems in past in film, giving me a film that I really enjoyed. Thor: Ragnarok does something I didn’t expect in trying to change up the formula from the previous two films focusing on the character: it cranks the humor up to 11. OK, there’s more to it than that, like the way the film ...

I was going to write this review a few days earlier than I did. I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming  last Tuesday, and afterwards I left the theater feeling slightly underwhelmed. I knew what I had just seen was good, but I was most definitely not wowed by what I saw. To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of Spider-Man in the first place, and I have never thoroughly enjoyed a film starring the character. It has nothing to do with cinematic quality but entirely with tone. The Raimi trilogy often felt too campy, while the Andrew Garfield films felt like they veered too much into conventional comic book film territory. Homecoming  definitely felt more in my wheelhouse than any prior Spider-Man film, but I still didn't love it. Two days later, I was watching the trailers prior to Dunkirk , Christopher Nolan's latest film (which I'll have a review of very soon), and suddenly something clicked. Spider-Man: Homecoming  is actually really, really, really good.  This might be...

I've taken a little more time in prepping my year-end wrap-up this year, mostly because I was making sure I had seen everything I wanted to in theaters before publishing. Like last year, I've written mini-reviews on all the films that I either saw too far into their theatrical run to do a full review on or after their home video release. Tomorrowland  - Watch it, but only if it's free.  There's something to be said for making an original film in today's industry. Too bad this one didn't quite pan out. Tomorrowland is able to highlight a couple good performances from George Clooney and Britt Robertson, but Hugh Laurie's villain seems a little thin. Brad Bird's direction is great too, but the third act makes the plot and characters of the first two acts seem incredibly thin. There's such a good build-up to the film's climax that when it fizzles out, it feels like a huge letdown. Grade: 59 Cinderella  - Watch it.  Cinderella succeeds sol...