Film: Ant-Man & the Wasp - Quantumania

 

GENRE: Action
RATING: PG-13 for action violence and language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 5 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Paul Rudd (Ant-Man; Anchorman; Ghostbusters: Afterlife)
Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country); Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies)
DIRECTOR: Peyton Reed (Ant-Man; Yes Man; The Break-Up)
WRITER: Jeff Loveness (Rick and Morty episodes)
PLOT: Scott Lang and the gang end up in the Quantum Realm where they run into Kang who is determined to escape to the real world.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Just watching Marvel because I feel I have to now.           

STORY STUFF: This film is apparently the start of Phase 5. Too bad I found it to be meh. The action part of the story is pretty simple with the characters just trying to meet up and escape the Quantum Realm with a couple complications thrown in. Not a fan of Kang or his tiring exposition. I did like that they went the traditional trilogy route of bringing back things from the first film. The film opens with narration that is cheekily justified. The ending narration makes no lick of sense. Why is Ant-Man talking to us? This isn’t She-Hulk.   

ACTING STUFF: Luckily, Rudd is always a treat to watch. He makes the film bearable. I also enjoyed Newton as an older Cassie. Loved seeing Chidi (William Jackson Harper) is a fun role. Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer do their thing but it didn’t wow me. You probably know by now that I strongly dislike Evangeline Lilly (her short hair isn’t working either). Of the cameos, Bill Murray is just okay and I won’t spoil the other one (not counting the second end credit sequence) but he was a lot of fun though he looked awful. I do not like Majors as Kang. I just don’t find him dynamic at all. I know it is just scars but it looks like he’s forever crying. He’s a downer and makes me wish for Thanos to return.

ARTISTIC STUFF: A lot of the Quantum Realm visuals reminded me of a mix between Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars. There’s a part that looks completely lifted out of Attack of the Clones. Some of the creature designs are interesting. I enjoyed the seventies TV theme song used in the film. I wonder how much Baskin Robbins paid to be back in the thick of it; they get quite the promotion.    

VERDICT: Two stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You need to keep watching Marvel like I do.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  Creed III, Scream VI

Superbowl Commercials 2023

While in Canada, we didn’t get all the expensive American Superbowl ads, there were a few that made their way up north. I really liked the Steven Martin and Ben Stiller ads for Pepsi Zero but there is a bunch of them so I didn't include them below. I enjoyed Stiller bringing back Zoolander. After some internet research, here are thirteen other ads I thought I’d share in alphabetical order:

AVOCADOS FROM MEXICO – Make It Better
Apparently everything is better when you’re naked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w57YsiNmt90&t=30s

BUSCH LITE – Survival Skills
Nice to see Sarah McLachlan parody herself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGZRMC3S9Ic&t=30s

CROWN ROYAL – Thank You Canada
Yeah, Americans, you listen to what Dave Grohl has to say.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUGACNfgpu4

DORITOS – Jack’s New Angle
Love the new direction for Jack Harlow. Like the cowbell comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD6d5THLlUA&t=61s

DUNKIN’ DONUTS – Drive-Thru Ben
Why are J.Lo and Ben together? They don't seem to get along.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBIX9FG6kZ0&t=1s

GENERAL MOTORS/NETFLIX – Why not an EV?
Guess they shared the cost? Only works because of Will Ferrell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jymEz9xkPQ&t=60s

KIA – Binky Dad
I enjoyed the concept as everyone roots for the dad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3SHwtLa2bE&t=70s

POPCORNERS – Breaking Good
Always love Walt & Jesse united. Tuco makes it tight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMlemd6U24Y&t=60s

RAKUTEN - Clueless
Love the attention to detail but where’s Wallace Shawn?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_yGq_4xCKQ&t=60s

SAM ADAMS – Your Cousin’s Brighter Boston
Love the baseball hug and other considerate Bostonians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDo0wX1pK4c&t=60s

T-MOBILE – New Year. New Neighbor
I like Zach Braff and Donald Faison. Fun to include Travolta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSO-Whn2sCQ&t=60s

UBER – One Hit for Uber One
I just like that the “What Does the Fox Say” guys are on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnySyKAoLpI&t=60s

WORKDAY – Rockstar
I agree that I should stop using this term.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ID-1mzRAew&t=60s

There you go.

Film: You People

 

GENRE: Comedy/Romance
RATING: R for language and some sexual material and drug content
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 57 minutes
PLATFORM: Netflix
STARRING: Jonah Hill (Superbad, Wolf of Wall Street, Don’t Look Up)
Lauren London (The Game-TV show); Eddie Murphy (Coming to America)
DIRECTOR: Kenya Barris (Black-ish)
WRITERS: Barris (Black-ish, Coming 2 America, Cheaper by the Dozen)
Jonah Hill (Mid90s, stories – 21 Jump Street, Sausage Party, Why Him?)
PLOT: Race, religion and family dynamics become a barrier for an inter-racial couple that want to get married   

FULL DISCLOSURE: An interesting cast drew me in.          

STORY STUFF: With all the podcast rants and references to current pop culture and Drake personas, this is definitely a modern take on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. I will admit that I did not get a number of references as I am clueless when it comes to hip-hop anything these days. The white family trying to make connections with their new black future daughter-in-law is both funny and cringy at the same time, as is the white boyfriend trying to suck up to his future father-in-law. We get it pretty quickly but they keep giving us scene after scene with tailored uncomfortable moments.

ACTING STUFF: Hill does well falling into the fast-talking character that he developed in Superbad; except this time, he’s less crude and seems to be in love. London has some good moments but it’s all about Hill. Murphy plays the intense father well but I was hoping for some more comedic rants instead of icy stares. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (Veep, Seinfeld) nails it as Hill’s unaware mom. David Duchovny (X-Files) plays it low-key with his obsession with Xzibit. It was fun seeing Dreyfuss and Murphy together after they appeared on SNL so many years ago.

ARTISTIC STUFF: The flashy graffiti titles and the TV-ish collage scene transitions put to hip hop music did not work for me. Just not my style. An interesting idea though. It seemed like they really wanted to show a lot of LA in this film – the Capitol Records building really stood out. Not sure if I liked that or not. Was not of a fan of Jonah Hill’s hairstyle.

VERDICT: Three stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You want some cringy laughs and aren’t easily offended.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania