Film: Captain Marvel

GENRE: Action Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 4 minutes

STARRING: Brie Larson (Room, The Glass Castle, Kong: Skull Island)

Samuel L Jackson (The Avengers), Ben Mendelsohn (Star War 7 & 8)

DIRECTORS: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (It’s Kind of a Funny Story)

WRITERS: Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider 2018 version)

Boden & Fleck (Half Nelson)

PLOT: Carol Danvers recalls a past life when she is caught between a war between two alien races.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Knew nothing about this superhero.  

STORY STUFF: I had a hard time getting invested with the first twenty minutes of the movie as it dealt with the alien war. Once it lands on earth, the story is a lot of fun and full of action and humour. The fact that it takes place in the nineties is a bonus.

ACTING STUFF: Larson is awesome, she is engaging at all times. You can tell that Jackson is having a lot of fun playing a younger version of himself; that fun is contagious. Also enjoyed the work of Mendelsohn. I found Jude Law and Annette Benning pretty boring. I don’t think they needed big names for those roles. I’m not really a cat person but I loved Goose.

ARTISTIC STUFF: There are great special effects throughout but the highlight for me was the nineties nostalgia. Great to see Blockbuster again (I used to work there) and the soundtrack made me smile. Also, the Marvel logo intro was classy and almost choked me up a little.

VERDICT: Four and a half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You are a Marvel or a nineties fan.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Dumbo, Shazam!

Film: Lego Movie 2 - The Second Part

GENRE: Animated Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for mild action and rude humour
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 47 minutes

STARRING: Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World)

Elizabeth Banks (Hunger Games), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip)

DIRECTOR: Mike Mitchell (Trolls, Shrek Forever After)

WRITERS: Phil Lord (Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse)
Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)

PLOT: Emmet tries to save the world from Duplo invaders.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Loved the first one.  

STORY STUFF: Not quite as good as the first film. While there are a lot of fun laughs throughout, the story didn’t grab me as much. Not a fan of new character Rex Dangervest for some reason. While the first one had the fun twist of live action, the second uses it too liberally and is too obvious at times. I did enjoy the new songs though.

ACTING STUFF: Pratt still shines as the optimistic Emmet. All the returning characters have their moment. Enjoyed Haddish as the Duplo queen. The movie is very well cast.    

ARTISTIC STUFF: It has the same gonzo energy as the first film. I appreciated its consistency. Again, I enjoyed the songs; especially the Lonely Island rap during the ending credits.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You liked the first one and want more.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Captain Marvel