New Film Review: Avengers Endgame

AVENGERS ENDGAME

This will be a spoiler free review. However if you did not see the trailer then there may be spoilers. So if you did not see the trailer for this film stop now!!!

First I have to get up on my pedestal. AAAAHHH MY KNEES!!! Okay I am up. I was flooded with comments after my review of the last film Avengers..Infinity War. I said it was just okay. It had no ending and it was a a commercial for the next film. After Endgame I have to say....I rest my case. Watch the last 5 minutes of Infinity War....nothing else matters.  Now let me get down.

Endgame, Directed by the Russo brothers is fantastic!! Funny .....suspenseful ....intriguing....and sad (there are 2 deaths that are heartbreaking). All rolled up in a Marvel film. Oh and by the way many theories from the trailers were just theories...not panning out! They made you look left when you should have looked right.

I will break this down by hour, it is a 3 hour film, but surprisingly it flies by:

Hour 1
Casting Casting Casting. The first hour is all character development. It moves slow but it is very important. it works because of how great the cast is. Here finally, after all these years we get no CGI, we just let the cast shine. Highlighted by Downey Jr; Johansson; Hemsworth; and Ruffalo ( I still think Evans is a bad actor). All sooooo good!!!!!!!!! Humor mixed with sadness.

Hour 2
Hour 2 is time travel hour. This is no spoiler because you see the suits in the trailer. . Not going to tell you the plan, but I will say it gets very confusing sometimes. Like seeing 2 of the same characters at the same time and trying to figure out the point as we try to follow each hero against themselves kind of. I just went with it knowing the final goal. Then this red thing came out of no where and says someone has to die and it is not questioned?!! I often thought....How are little ones following this and it is sad often. Again; I went with it...the writing is a bit intriguing, it took chances knowing how odd of an idea it is.

Hour 3
The battle. You know it was coming,,,every Marvel movie has the final battle and this is...The Final Battle. Often choppy. Often too dark to see what is going on. Often you feel like it is being made up as they were filming it. Also sometimes the CGI lacked a bit. Still...the crowd was cheering!!!!!!! They were vested!! All in!! This is what you paid for ( Except this odd moment in the battle where all these women get together and fight, except it goes no where. It is like they threw it in at post-production to apiece a group but it went no where, it weird, the fight just stopped to show this..and then nothing happened). Then after the battle. No spoilers...but the tears. The crying in the theater. There are deaths and it is extremely sad....so note if you have little ones.

A wonderful ending to this long series.

One final quick note....Hemsworth has the best comic timing and he shows it over and over. It is underrated I think.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars for Avengers Endgame

From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Film Review: Booksmart

BOOKSMART

4 STARS OUT OF 5



Directed by Olivia Wilde this wonderful funny film comes out at the end of May. This is a very early review.
This is pretty much a modern female version of Superbad, it may be a bit better, and it definitely earns its R rating.

It follows 2 very smart high school students,,,,who want to break loose for the first time on the night before graduation.
The two students Amy and Molly are played by Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. Both actresses coming from popular TV shows are just excellent. They are the film. Wilde took a chance for 2 newbies in the lead and it worked. In fact every character in this film is perfectly cast, so kudos to Wilde for her casting choices.
As for the scrip it is funny and and sometimes cringe worthy in a good way (When you see it ...The Panda; The barbie dolls; The sex scene). Then she adds some emotion within the deep friendship between Amy and Molly.
 In fact if I had to criticize this film I would say it sometimes it is too choppy in tone (no spoilers here). Wilde Sometimes lingered too long on some scenes, which makes some scenes strange and awkward....she took chances and sometimes it just did not work.
This should not shy you away from this film. It is fun and crude yet funny!!

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Missing Link

MISSING LINK


3 STARS OUT OF 5


Missing Link follows the adventures of Sir Lionel Frost as he searches for the sasquatch...other wise known as Lucy.
The movie is odd because it has no target audience. The dry humor I think goes over the kids heads, and for animated films they need to laugh to keep their attention. In fact kids were very rammy in my screening. I am also not sure if there was enough action for them also. In a strange way this film can be more appreciated by adults. It has an Indiana Jones/Sherlock Holmes feel. Also, a nice storyline of being a part of a family or friends/and on the other hand of who to not be family or friends with.
Great voice work by:
Hugh Jackman as Frost
Zach Galifianakis as Lucy
Zoe Saldana as Ms Fortnight


Then throw in a kind of sweet story with wonderful looking stop motion animation.


It can be just a little flat so it is a little better than average at 3 stars.


May be worth a look when available for home viewing.


As always from the shadows thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Little

LITTLE
3 STARS OUT OF 5


What a strange film. Directed by Tina Gordon is starts out strong but it just oddly falls apart at the end.
We have seen this type of film many times before, most of the time a child wishing they were older. Here however, an awful boss who happens to be female gets turned back to a middle school aged child by another child's magic wand.
This film starts strong. Well acted by:
Regina Hall-In a small role here as over the top boss Jordan Sanders
Issa Rae-April Williams, Jordan's overwhelmed assistant. She is marvelous here. I looked her up because I have never seen her on the big screen. She seems to be on TV for most of her career, but I think she fits well on the big screen.
Marsai Martin- as young Jordan Sanders. The real star of this film! Again a newcomer on the big screen, she is known for the TV show Blackish, she is stunningly good here at such a young age. She owns the film.
So...like noted the film starts strong and it is really enjoyable and often funny. Then it get strange at the end where it feels rushed, the lesson seems more contrived, I just felt like the ending may have been rewritten, I cannot explain without spoilers, almost thrown together.
An example was Justin Hartley, who they highlight on the trailer, has no purpose. You think he has a storyline, but he does not. It makes me think again the ending was changed somehow.


Not a bad film...you could do worse, it is fun, just a shame it ended with a soft thud.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Post: Shazam

SHAZAM


3 out of 5 stars


Let me get right to it...


Positives:
-The performances were good:
Zachary Levi as Shazam
Asher Angel as Billy
Jack Dylan Glazer as Freddy may be the best of the bunch. Wow he is so good as a handicapped foster child. Just looking to survive in a tough school.
-I also liked the story line of these foster children, who are not misfits but feel like misfits, bonding together as a family. A family they felt like they never had.
-I thought Mark Strong was pretty good as the bad guy Dr Sivana.


Negatives:
-The story line was a convoluted mess that they seemed to make up as they went on. Often I was wondering what the point of the bad guys were. Plus...I say this often in super hero films. No police???!!
-I know every one is complimenting Levi as Shazam, and yes he is good, but I kind of did not like the character. I found him kind of a jerk. yes I know he was suppose to be mentally young, but I still felt he was not pleasant. He just bothered me.
-The marketing for this film was loose and funny. It is far from it. It is often scary for little ones with throwing people out of windows; to their death; to car crashes of involving family members, to bullies being just mean; to scary monster like characters.


So why 3 stars?
I just love that back story...of the foster home. I liked that in that realm..good vs evil....it works with the good performances.
By the way the city of Philadelphia that I love looks great!!!!!!!!!!!


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Dumbo

DUMBO


2 stars out of 5


It is a strange movie. Yes I know Tim Burton makes strange films. however it is not strange in a Tim Burton way. It is strange because it is forgettable.
It has a very cute elephant...however with no personality.
It is well acted, often over the top (Michael Keaton), often maybe a little to soft (Colin Farrell), still they are all in.
It is just the story line is forgettable, stretched out from the original animated kind of short. The story is very scattered, all over the place, not slowing down to give much character development. So the ending is suppose to be sweet....but I could care less...I did not know these people very well. I guess I was happy for them.


Then there is many parts that were overly scary for little ones. I often thought ...Who is this made for??!!


It is just flat., with a lead CGI elephant who is just scared and sad.


2 stars for the acting and, I guess, effort. The screenplay just did not help them.


From the shadows as always thanks for your help.