MOVIE REVIEW: AVENGERS END GAME (2019)

Avengers: End Game had big shoes to fill. Following up from Infinity War (which I regarded as the best Marvel Cinematic Universe movie at the time), End Game had the task of wrapping up Phase 3 of the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, rather than continuing Infinity War and taking any risks, End Game feels like a corporate paint-by-numbers movie.

End Game starts a little after the end of Infinity War. The trailers built up several mysteries (such as how Tony Stark is saved), but these are quickly resolved. The Avengers than go about the task of trying to undo the damage caused by Thanos and his snap. What follows next is an underwhelming, self-indulgent movie that the 'nothing matters' superhero movie criticisms can be applied to.

The main problems I have with it isn't that it is mediocre (which it definitely is). It is (like Captain Marvel before it) how it retroactively makes some of the best lines and scenes of the previous movies worse. Thor getting Stormbreaker and his nobility are thrown away into making him the comic relief. Hulk becomes Hulk again with just a quick handwave. The Soul Stone no longer requires sacrificing that which you love the most. They give an out for Loki to reappear. And the list goes on as they want to have their cake and eat it for future merchandising.

It all ends in a largely inconsequential fight at the end. You know the ending. The ending has been rumored since before Infinity War. It is very predictable. All you need to do is look at the upcoming movie releases and the most popular movies to know how it is going to resolve itself. No risks were taken and some of the big risks of previous movies were undone. However, the worst is done to Thanos and his fearsome and formidable Black Order, who are reduced to a generic villain and cannon fodder.

Infinity War took allot of risks for a superhero movie and is one of my favorite movies of all time. It also ended perfectly and would've have been a suitably epic end for the Marvel movies. Unfortunately, End Game fails and instead gets stuck in corporate mediocrity. I wonder when the dust settles on the hype if this movie will be fondly remembered. For me, I always prefer the twisted father-figure that was Infinity War Thanos and suspect that, like Transformers, it won't be remembered too fondly in the future.

2 out of 5 ending stars.

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: TWELVE (MARVEL)

Twelve is a comic where twelve World War 2 heroes get frozen to sleep and wake up in the modern day. Here, they have to adjust to modern life while the government hopes they act as heroes and show the world what heroes are meant to be. This is following events such as Civil War where heroes fight each other. 

So it pretty much ends up being about a bunch of Captain America's but the issue is are they all as "good" as Captain America just because they come from the same era? Spoilers follow.

Tonally, I am not sure what this book is trying to say. The heroes come out, some come out and try to be heroes quite successfully. But then they just end up arguing amongst themselves. This isn't helped by the bad guy being one of them (in fact the best of them, the Superman stand-in). And in order to drag out this mystery, a pretty weak deus-ex machine plot device is used.

Even the scenes of them trying to fit into the modern world, despite filling a big slot of the book, are not well handled. It is effective, however, in showing that there were things not always black-and-white even with the heroes of old. The rest is just the usual of change in police procedures, life on the wrong side of the road vs idealism, etc.

This book would have been better if there was a villain, perhaps a similar frozen villain. After criticising (in-story) all the hero vs hero stuff at the beginning, it is just another story that devolves into a hero vs hero finale at the end.

1.5 out of 5 Frozen Waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: SPIDERMAN INTO THE SPIDERVERSE (2018)

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is a Spiderman movie that seems to be set outside the main Marvel cinematic universe. It is an animated movie that follows a new Spiderman, one Miles Morales, as he gets bitten by a special spider.

The movie is very good. The animation is slick and the storyline is great. It has a couple of twists and turns, particularly towards the beginning, that shake up the normal superhero movie formula. It also has allot of quips and banter during fighting.

Despite the quips and twists, it doesn't actually lose sight of what it is setting out to do. Despite how fast paced the action and plot beats feel, it isn't afraid to slow down or have quieter moments. And despite how predictable some things feel, the excellent build up work means that when the big heroic moments happen, it still makes you feel like cheering.

It goes without saying that the sound and visuals are also very slick. The match and reinforce the story that they are trying to tell. The whole package just comes together very smoothly. Overall, this is one of the best superhero movies that has come out, and is heartily recommended.

5 out of 5 universal waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: ANTMAN AND THE WASP (2018)

Antman and the Wasp is a sequel to the superhero-heist movie that was Antman. Antman originally caught some lightning in a bottle (essentially), being a pretty good movie despite the constant chopping and changing behind the scenes.

That may actually be the main problem with Antman and the Wasp. It is essentially trying to feel like the original movie. It constantly seems to be trying a little bit too hard in landing its jokes or getting to its set pieces to feel like its own thing. There are also some puzzling story choices made throughout the movie. 

The plot is pretty easy. After Civil War, Dr Pym and his daughter Janet/Wasp are on the run while Scott is under house arrest. However, a few days before his 2 year house arrest ends, he has a dream of Janets mum. This leads them to trying to go to the quantum realm to free her while evading the police, some mobsters, and a mysterious ghost.

The movie is serviceable. However, it is also dissapointing. Any semblance of pseudo-science is lost as Quantum becomes synomonous with magic. Several promising plot threads are also resolved quietly without any sort of repercussions. For example, Antman being tricked into helping Captain America, Ghost's background and reasons for revenge, etc. are all dropped. Similar, the mobsters aren't there to be threatening, and should've been replaced by just the cops. Except that having an action scene involving cop cars getting totalled and the occupants killed would've involved real consequences.

This is a serviceable Disney/Marvel movie. Underneath the surface I could feel hints of a slightly darker story akin to Winter Soldier that didn't make it through the cutting room. However, most the jokes hit and the action scenes are nice. An average Marvel movie (at this point) is still a good movie. It just should've been better.

3 out of 5 shrunken waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: INFINITY WAR

Infinity War is the latest Marvel movie in their cinematic universe. It was also the most secretive, with very late review embargoes on everything. Luckily, it might also be their best movie. 

The movie is an ensemble. Everyone is in it as they face off against Thanos and his chosen warriors. Inspired by the comics, Thanos is trying to complete his goal of killing half the universe. His tools- 6 infinity stones. 

This movie is very well done. It never feels jarring or too spread thin. All major characters get good chances to shine. All the characters are given a spot or two to show why the marvel cinematic universe is so loved. This is definitely a movie that you need to be at least familiar with the characters, though.

There are very few downpoints. There are a couple of jarring moments. One is when Black Panthers talks to another character, as if the filmmakers were trying to prove she is smarter than the resident named brains of the universe. This felt jarring instead of just getting the job done. Other characters are also required to take some small steps backward to get everyone back on the same page, but nothing that breaks the movie flow as bad as this. 

The other weaker point is Thanos himself. In he comics, he is a very cerebral villain (when done well), using brains over brawn. Here, he is much more a bruiser. Also, his power, despite seeming vast, seems to be inconsistent. He seems to struggle in some situations, which is a head scratcher considering how he is introduced. This is similar for Thanos’ chosen guard, Thor, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and others. The power scaling is a bit off. 

Thanos is still one of the better villains. He has depth similar to Killmonger or Loki (although not quite as strong or compelling as them), and is given time to be fleshed out. Considering that the two pillars this movie was resting on were Thanos and the balance of having so many characters, I think Marvel can hang their hats up on this as a success and how the cinematic universe is letting them push forward more and more. 

5 out of 5 infinite waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: THOR RAGNAROK

Major marvel movie releases have a baseline level of quality (ignoring their television shows) that seems hard to break. When your biggest criticism of a movie is that it is too fun in some minor places or the trailers may have revealed a bit too much, then you know that it has been a real winner. 

Thor Ragnarok follows the story of Thor after the end Avengers: Age of Ultron. He is out searching for the infinity stones and along the way has to fight Hela, the goddess of death. In all fairness, the infinity stone plot doesn’t really feature too much in the movie with the main focus being on saving Asgard. 

Thor feels allot like Guardians of the Galaxy or Iron Man. It is a movie that doesn’t take itself overly seriously with each character having a stack of wit and personality about them. Yet there is an underlying seriousness about it that when things are thought about, you realise they make sense. 

I thought the trailers may have given away too much and, in some parts they have. Some of the best surprises have been tarnished by the trailers, although things don’t resolve the way you think for allot of them. There is definitely a bit of misdirection in the trailers. 

The only other criticism is that occasionally the movie doesn’t take itself seriously enough. However this is a minor complain int and only really relevant in one or two scenes. Otherwise the story is great, the movie looks great, and the characters are awesome. This is definitely a movie to go see. 

5 our of 5 Sparking Waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: SPIDERMAN HOMECOMING (2017)

Spiderman: Homecoming is a Spiderman film set in the Marvel Universe. In case you missed the promotional posters, Iron Man is present in the movie. Or if the posters are anything to go by, it may be Iron Man starring Spiderman.

Those fears are unfounded. Spiderman is very much his own movie. Tony Stark is there as a mentor to Peter Parker and someone he is trying to impress as he tries to go through life after Civil War. This story really focuses on Peter Parker and having to juggle responsibilities, including doing the right thing with his powers even if it hurts him.

Tom Holland plays a really good Spiderman. He is younger looking and more naive-sounding than Tobey MacGuire, and they own that by casting him as younger. The rest of the supporting cast is kind-of a miss. Liz (the love interest) is one dimensional, there new Flash (an Indian nerd who resents Peter's intellect) doesn't really have any pay-off, and Ned (the computer geek friend) is also grating. Michelle is the only hit out of them and probably the only one they should give a big part to in the next movie.

Where this movie really shines are the villains. It seems that they finally put a bit of time investment into establishing the villains and there motivations. It also helped that they brought the villains motivations back from taking over the world/killing the president/etc. which worked well in Civil War. Here, the Vulture specifically wants to stay below the radar of the big guys (because Vulture can fly; Iron Man can fly and has Tank Missiles) and so it leads him to mostly selling salvaged weapons and heisting them without people finding out.

All in all, this movie is a definite hit. The hero is good, the villains are good and the action is good. One complaint is allot of the big action beats are ruined by the trailers so it would've been good to have a bigger sense of wonder and the supporting cast doesn't really hit as well as it should (which, for a movie that spends allot of time with Peter Parker in school, should be a bit better). Despite that, it is a very hearty recommendation.

4 out of 5 web-swinging waffles

MOVIE REVIEW: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy. Based in the Marvel cinematic universe, it picks up where Guardians of the Galaxy left off in following the adventures of Starlord and company through the Galaxy.

This time around, the plot centers around how the Guardians are going to stay together when half the galaxy has a bounty of there head. They don't help matters when they make some new enemies. They get a break when they meet Starlord's dad.

This time around Guardians feels like a very chilled ride. For approximately two and a half hours, we follow along with them as they interact with old and new characters and their various adventures. Although it is pretty obvious who the big bad will end up being, it takes its time getting there and never feels like it needs to get somewhere.

And that is what makes it so great. It never feels like it needs to rush or shove in some action to keep people interested. It is definitely more a character piece, despite being a blockbuster super-hero movie. The opening is also great, looking like it will be a bait-and-switch and then not being.

The only criticism is that it falls into the trap of trying have too much humor in some stages. One or two jokes less in the movie would've gone along way. It feels like the writers saw how much people liked the Guardians humour, so they tried to force humour where it doesn't belong. While Guardians felt a very natural, here it feels a bit forced. 

I do have another criticism. Gamora's acting sometimes comes across as a whiny sitcom teenager. This is a very small issue in a couple of scenes, but it stands out as the rest of the acting is really good.

At the end of the day, this was an awesome time. The small criticisms are just that- small. The action is awesome, the story is chilled and yet ramps up nicely. The new and old characters are well done, even adding some new wrinkles to old characters. Definitely worth checking out.

4 our of 4 Living Waffles

MOVIE REVIEW: DR STRANGE (2016)

As (I believe) the last major sueprhero movie release of 2016 and touted Marvel's most ambitious project to date (although I think that is arguable at best), Dr Strange ends up being a pretty good way to finish the superhero year. However, the movie is marred by some of the imperfections which have started to become common in the Disney Marvel cinematic stable.

Dr Strange follows the story of, well, Dr Strange. This feels like a step back in the Marvel universe, but a good one at that. This feels more like an Iron Man origin story than a galaxy-threatening story. Dr Strange is an arrogant surgeon, he can't do surgery anymore and instead becomes a sorcerer after learning some lessons which lead to him stopping the bad guy. Al

In fact, the story is very simple. However, it seems to be in such a rush to get to the big set-piece battles that Dr Strange's education and character development seem a little rushed. I am not sure if they cut some scenes out but I could have done with less big battles and more introspective moments of him learning magic and humility.

If they cut out one or two battles (no spoilers but I have two definitely in mind) for some more learning time, I think this would have been one of the best movies Marvel has produced. As it stands, it is just really good and I am looking forward to exploring the Sorcerer's universe more.

4 out of 5 Strange Looking Waffles

Guardians of the Galaxy

Do you remember pop-rocks- the colorful candy rocks that exploded in your mouth? If you didn’t, you have no childhood. But all you really need to know is that they are awesome. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is like eating a bunch of pop-rocks at once while listening to all your dad’s favorite hits. The resulting sugar-high leaves you riding a cotton candy unicorn over a rainbow in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars 7- You are on notice.

Guardians follows a human named Peter Quill who is abducted by aliens just after his mother dies of cancer.  Quill, or Starlord  as he wants to be known, spends his time giving alien floozies the Captain Kirk treatment while going all Indiana Jones on ancient alien artifacts. Starlord’s archaeology hunting escapades eventually lead him into some serious trouble after he swipes an unlikely doomsday device. Similar to Thor: The Dark World, it’s a mystical orb of great power that every bad guys wants. Also a bunch of other important things are happening in the universe that just gets glazed over.

Guardians requires no previous knowledge of Marvel-cinematic universe events, so you’ll never feel like you're out of the loop. It knows it is just the bastard child of the long forgotten tongue-in-cheek space opera. It mixes all the best things about Star Wars and Firefly by taking a bunch of misfits and turning them into a surrogate family. It then adds all these conflicting personalities into a tiny spaceship, then sits back with a bag of pop-rocks to watch the fireworks.

The brisk plot wastes no time teaming-up Quill his new rag-tag frenemies. The Guardians include Gamora, the assassin with a heart and adopted daughter of the super villain Thanos. She is played by Zoe Saldana,who making a career of playing rainbow coloured aliens. Next is man mountain of muscle Drax (Dave Bautista), who holds a grudge towards Gamora. Drax’s lack of understanding humor becomes its own source of humor throughout the movie, with him having some of the best lines. Rounding out this B-grade super-team are Rocket, the wise-cracking raccoon, voiced with enthusiasm by Bradley Cooper, and Groot,  a sentient tree, who can only say one sentence (“I am Groot”). Huge props have to go to Vin Diesel and the visual effects wizard that live in the computer as to making it look effortless to bring this fearsome creature with a gentle soul and a gift for slapstick to life.

Together, they have to stop another supervillain,Ronan the Accuser, who is only slightly more one note then that dark elf from Thor. This is mostly due to Lee Pace’s performance as he seemed to have fun hamming it up. The villains really seem there to more properly introduce the audience to Thanos, who actually gets a speaking part this time.

Where Guardians soars is in its world building, which fully trusts the audience to either take notice or ignore it depending on their preference. Guardians has you hyper jumping all around this colourful galaxy, with each new world you visit being populated by seedy alien hustlers and weird, swaggering creatures. There a character that has a deadly flute arrow. Let me repeat- a flute arrow. That sounds totally ridiculous, until you see it in action. Now I want one.

I love how director James Gunn’s overlays the film with some great pieces of music. These are mostly snippets of classic rock and golden oldies. Like a Quentin Tarantino movie, this all adds extra layers of coolness to the movie. Of course, now I am addicted to listening to that darn soundtrack, which makes me want to watch the movie again, which will make me want to listen to the soundtrack some more. It is a perpetual loop.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a movie that is just a fun romp through the galaxy. It is a rag-tag team getting together to combat a threat and learning to be a family. Like pop-rocks, the further you get into the movie the more awesome it becomes.

5 out of 5 intergalactic cotton candy waffles. Pew-pew. Laser beams. Pop-rocks. Go watch it.

P.S. DC take note. We don't want dark and gritty disaster porn masquerading as a superhero movie, we want want fun.

CAPTAIN AMERICA- THE WINTER SOLDIER

Look- You have probably already seen Captain America. You have probably already read all the reviews about it from a bunch of other sources. So, to add to all the other stuff that you know about The Winter Soldier, here is something awesome that you should watch.

“Captain America- F&*k Yeah.”

So The Winter Soldier completes the Avengers trinity of sequels, following on from Iron Man and Thor movies. In it, Liberty himself is in a moral quandary based on SHIELD’s new method of enforcing their laws based of pre-emptive strikes. There is the obligatory bad business-guy and also the return of fellow Avengers Nick Fury and Black Widow. And there is also the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when the movie remembers he exists.

The Winter Soldier has plenty of action scenes. And it is a good thing that these are among some of the best action scenes I have seen this year. Taking a break from repulsor beams and lightning bolts, the action in Winter Soldier feels allot grittier and visceral as the good and bad guys engage in hand-to-hand fighting or shoot-outs. But amongst all this fighting, there is also a pretty good spy-style thriller filled with espionage and double crosses as Captain America and co. Try to figure out what is going on.

Captain America does feel like it tries to fit allot of things in. There is the corruption of SHIELD, an expositing 60’s style super-computer, Captain America returning to the world, Black Widow having more of a personality and some epic shield throwing scenes. However, it never feels too bloated as it does a good job balancing most things. 

Unfortunately, a couple of things do fall flat. Falcon feels very emotionless. It sometimes felt like watching a brick holding emoticon faces in front of it and switching them between scenes. The Winter Soldier also doesn’t feel like he has too much to do in his own movie. He has his big reveal of who he is, a scene showing him being brainwashed and that is it, instead being used more as a sequel hook.

Captain America- The Winter Soldier was an entertaining movie from start to finish. It has some awesome action scenes and is a very entertaining spy-thriller. It also refuses to end the movie on a giant reset button for the Marvel cinematic universe. So if you haven’t watched the video linked above, you should do that now. And if you can find a shield to throw, you should go throw a shield.

4.5 out of 5 Star-Spangled Waffles.

Thor: The Dark World

Marvel has done an excellent job of concisely summing up the vast mythology of a comic-book character who hails from Norse mythology and is armed with magical weaponry as difficult to pronounce as it is to spell. I left feeling that Marvel really should have done more of that with The Dark World.

The Dark World begins with a prologue of how Thor’s grandfather lead the Asgardian armies to defeat Armageddon-happy dark- (or possibly just emo-) elf Malekith and save the universe from certain darkness. Gramps wasn't thinking very hard that day and decided to hide the villains evil weapon where no one could find it. That is until love sick Jane Foster and, with the help of her merry science friends, happens upon a portal that leads Jane to said ancient evil called ‘The Aether’. This then awakens the villainous Malekith from his deep sleep to once again bring darkness to the universe. But you have to give full credit to the Asgardians as they at least left it in a cave as opposed to plain sight. Just imagine a world where a major character in this movie didn’t happen to stumble across this magical plot device.


The problem is that you never truly understand Malekith’s motives as they are just so plain. All he wants is to turn out the light in the universe. The movie suffers from this lack of conflict. Thor and his Scooby- gang never felt like they were in any immediate danger. Sure they lose a few battles and Asgard get its first beat down in god knows how long, but none of this felt like it had many lasting consequences. The movie did, however, succeed in making you forget to worry about this as the interpersonal relationship between Thor and his family was enjoyable to watch. Honestly the movie’s best moments are the brotherly interactions between Thor and Loki. Watching them squabble with each other brought some much needed life to the movie. I could watch a whole movie dedicated to this kind of Lethal Weapon-type buddy-cop drama set in space with magic and Vikings and Bazooka’s!.

Once again the romance between Thor and Jane never takes off. It’s rather awkward and dull, and the movie actually could have done with a love triangle between Thor,Jane and Lady Sif to spice things up. They hint at this possibility only to completely drop it in favor of keeping the chemistry-less pairing of Thor and Jane to grate on my nerves.

The action scene are competent and more visionary this time round. With new director Alan Taylor bringing a more naturalistic approach, the fight scenes have a grittiness that serve the story well. This was often achieved by positioning the camera right in the heart of battle. Thor’s charming yet slightly goofy sense of humor was used well and Jane Foster’s scientific intern Darcy, played by Kat Dennings, landed some great one liners.

 Thor is an entertaining movie. Director Alan Taylor puts together some good action sequences, which are slightly hampered by a weak story and chemistry-less coupling of Thor and Jane. The personal clashing of Thor and Loki pulls the movie forward all while delivering an amusing space adventure (with Vikings). Also the cameo from a certain "Avenger" was absolute gold.

Something 3.5 out of 5 Meow-meow Waffles