Ant Man

A launching of yet another franchise in the Marvel world, and yet, totally different. The tone for The Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America) is decidedly serious. This is not a comic, but a world saving endeavor and organization. Ant Man on the other hand plays as almost slapstick comedy in comparison. This is all about Paul Rudd and his irreverence and ability to cheese up any scene just with his personality. And it is brilliant. Rudd is an ex-con recruited by Michael Douglas to be the Ant Man. Douglass invented the suit and his protege is about to invent his own and sell it to HYDRA. So Douglas needs someone to stop that development. I love Rudd and I love his crew. This is definitely one of the best of the Marvel films.
4 stars (out of 5)

Iron Man 2

I was at the theater early for this film and was enjoying the pre-film ads when the voiceover stated "We will be right back after this message". Really? They interrupted an advertisement to show an advertisement?

Iron Man 2 is a fun movie. A good guy who struggles, a really mean bad guy, sexy sidekicks who really kick ass, and the obligatory lead in to the next film. Tony Stark is ensconsed as the creator of world peace, having apparently eliminated all bad guys between the end of the first film and the beginning of the second. He is so good at his job that he is not apparently just bored (not enough bad guys to fight). Boredom cannot last long in an action movie, so enter the Pentagon (who wants his weapon) and a nemesis (with a family grudge to right). In the end [spoiler alert] everything works out [end spoiler alert]. Like I said, good fun. I had heard a lot about how Robert Downey Jr. does an excellent job of embracing the narcissistic side of Tony Stark, placing him (strangely enough) in a realistic role and attitude that doesn't come off as too over the top. While this is true, I noticed too that Favreau allows us a few glimpses into Stark's struggle to accept his inevitable mortality and to somehow make that mesh with his massive ego. It was just enough of a glimpse to keep the film grounded, or at least keep it from jumping the shark. And therefore enjoyable throughout.
3 stars (out of 5)

Dr Strange

Another marvel superhero. I didn't have any background on this guy, so it was very similar to Deadpool, or the first Iron Man. The hero in this case is a super arrogant neurosurgeon who sees himself as God's gift to humanity. When his arrogance threatens his career, he seeks out help from a group of (what we learn later to be) sorcerers. He gets in touch with his ability to draw energy from parallel universes, and of course, since he is so smart and so good at everything, he is also very good at this. Dr Strange becomes the guy who is smart and good enough to save the world from annihilation. Relatively fun, with some inception like CG and some crazy self-actualization a la Wanted. But I must say that being able to tap into energy from a parallel universe and being able to reverse time to fix anything that you missed the first time puts you in a different league than all the other guys. As a stand alone movie, pretty good. As part of a larger universe, is there room for anyone else?
3 stars (out of 5)

Chef

Jon Favreau (of Iron Man and Avengers directorship fame, and Cowboys and Aliens which I have taken heat for liking) wrote and directed this father-son, road trip, food film. Favreau play El Jefe, a hip restaurant chef in LA who find himself creatively stifled. When he blows up and loses his job, he takes his son back to his roots in Miami, picks up and rehabs an old food truck, and embarks on a journey back to LA. What makes this film good is the outstanding Cuban/Latin soundtrack and the few moments of genuine connection between father and son as they traverse this journey of self discovery. What prevents this film from being great is editing. Cut 20 minutes out (probably most of it in the LA chef setup) and the pacing keeps me from checking my watch and getting bored.

3 stars (out of 5)

Captain America: Civil War

The Avengers are now the global police, independent hunters of criminals. To start out, they are chasing a bad guy, and bad things happen, and a few innocent bystanders are killed. The governments of the world step in to put some bureaucratic controls and checks/balances on the Avengers. However, only some of the Avengers are willing to submit to this. So we get Iron Man going legitimate and Captain America going rogue. When the Winter Soldier (Bucky) is reactivated by a bad guy, the two sides disagree about how to handle the situation. And it breaks the Avengers unity forever. A fun introduction of Black Panther and Spiderman, and of course, epic battle scenes make this well worth the time I spent watching it.
3 stars (out of 5)

Iron Man 3

One nice thing about franchise films is that you know exactly what to expect. This is of course what eventually causes franchise films to die. In this case, we get the continuing story of Tony Stark's coming of age story. The fact that he is 40-something is one of those suspend dis-belief things we do when we go to movies. Stark realizes that his past arrogance is causing his current troubles and this provides the plot motivation for the entire film. We get a little diversion with Don Cheadle's Rhodes character, and regular reminders of The Avengers films from last year. Good fun, solid story, plenty of action, nothing new. My one big disappointment with this film (or Oblivion for example) is the necessary voice-over to tell me everything I need to know and think. What ever happened to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, where you didn't really know what was going on half the film and it made the whole thing better? Does nobody trust the audience to be intelligent and figure things out?

3 stars (out of 5)

The Avengers

Finally, all the Avengers come together for a common cause. Thor, the Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, the Black Widow and Hawkeye are all needed to save the world. In this case, since there are 6 of them, it takes about an hour to get them all into the film and running full steam with the plot. But it seemed like an appropriate amount of time. Not just all dumped in, assuming you know everything, and not spread out into a 2 hour intro. So well done. For the plot, Thor's brother Loki comes back to Earth to prepare a portal and bring in a conquering army. He is a egomaniac who's only goal is to be king of something. And he has some big power behind him. It takes all of the Avengers strengths together to put the universe back on track. I appreciated the level of humor (comic book cheesy, but not groaners) and found myself alternating between laughing out loud and saying "Oh, cool...". Well done writer/director Josh Whedon.
4 stars (out of 5)