KAYoung – The Movie Chronicles

Avengers: Endgame

Natasha Romanoff: “It’s going to work, Steve.”

Steve Rogers: “I know it will, because I don’t know what I’m going to do if it doesn’t.”

Let’s be honest here – Avengers: Endgame doesn’t really need too much of a summary. Why? Well, it’s been a highly anticipated movie that has been eleven years in the making. It is only the epic finale to a decade long story arch. Therefore, the only summary that will be provided is that it is an emotional ride. While this should be expected, there will be spoilers throughout the review. So, if you have not seen it yet and do not want it to be spoiled for you – it is suggested that you stop reading at this point.

Also – my apologies for posting this later than other reviews. I wanted to ensure that people had ample time to watch the movie for themselves first as it has been highly anticipated by many.

Liked:

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts as parents. I absolutely loved seeing Tony as a father figure to his daughter Morgan. I do not think them having a child was something that was expected by fans, but it was welcomed warmly. Tony interacting with Morgan was a shift in his character arch as it added another side to him. It was adorable to see him tuck Morgan into bed and her saying “I love you 3000” to him. It had me smiling like crazy because he and Pepper were finally able to settle down and have a life together even after all of the destruction Thanos created. However, seeing that Tony had Pepper and Morgan as family made his death more saddening. It goes without question that it was a heartbreaking end to Iron Man’s story as he grew so much throughout his journey.

Captain America’s happy ending. I greatly appreciated that he was able to have a life with Peggy. However, the only part I am iffy on is the whole time traveling part as this would have changed his past. It was unclear as to what happened to the Captain America from the altered timeline. Additionally, I loved the scene where Captain America wields Mjolnir. It was funny and a nice nod to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Something that did bother me though was that he was willing to sacrifice Iron Man’s new family to undo the destruction that Thanes created.

People as a whole have complained on social media about Thor’s appearance in the movie. I think it is important to note that he was clearly depressed after failing to stop Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War – it cannot be forgotten that he lost his home Asgard in Thor: Ragnarök shortly before the events of Infinity War occurred. That’s a lot for someone to deal with. I thoroughly appreciated that Thor was seen as being depressed in Endgame because it is realistic and needs to be normalized more. Furthermore, the scene where Thor summons Mjolnir when he and Rocket were retrieving the Reality Stone was beautiful and inspiring. Why? Because he was able to reassure himself that he was still worthy. It shows that it is what inside that counts and that struggling with mental illness doesn’t make you any less of a person.

Conflicts:

It was tragic that both Iron Man and Black Widow died in the movie. The funeral scene was a beautiful sendoff for Tony Stark. It was well deserving, especially since he had undergone great amounts of growth throughout the eleven-year run. However, there should have been an on-screen funeral for Black Widow. Her death was just as tragic as Iron Man’s was and her last words “it’s okay” to Hawkeye had me crying. Black Widow deciding that she had to be the soul sacrificed to receive the Soul Stone instead of Hawkeye because he had a family was a powerful and emotional scene, especially since right before they got there, they said “We’ve come a long way since Budapest.” It really hit me in the feels. Both Tony and Natasha had honorable deaths in their fight to undo the destruction caused by the mad titan Thanos. There was no way to predict the outcome of the battle with Thanos. For all they know, it could have ended the same, if not worse than it did in Avengers: Infinity War. Therefore, I found Natasha’s death to be a bit sadder as she sacrificed her life to undo the destruction when there was the possibility that it would not have worked out in their favor. Her sacrifice would have ultimately been for nothing then.

I am always conflicted when time travel is used to try to change something as there are many factors to take into consideration and several things that could go wrong. There are two things that bothered me about it: Thanos from the past came to their timeline and the idea of removing an item from the past. One thing that I am questioning is what happened to the timeline past Thanos left? Do the events of it never unfold because he is defeated in the post-snap timeline? There are a number of questions and uncertainties about it. The Avengers time traveling to collect the Infinity Stones before they were stolen seemed iffy to me. Do their actions of removing the Infinity Stones from their respective timelines create alternate timelines? I know that Captain America returned the Infinity Stones to their respective timeline, but the logistics and the repercussions of it are uncertain and sort of nerve wracking.

Additionally, Hawkeye going on a murderous rampage after his family was dusted by Thanos raised some questions, uneasiness, and several red flags. Sure, it might have been a nod to whatever terrible decisions Black Widow had made in her past that he didn’t judge her on, but it was ultimately glossed over. Yeah, Rhodey did mention that he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to find him. However, it makes me wonder if Hawkeye’s actions would have been overlooked if he wasn’t a white male. It didn’t sit right with me.

Overall:

Avengers: Endgame is a solid movie despite some of the aforementioned conflicts and I highly suggest that you see it on the big screen. It was an exceptional conclusion to the eleven year long and twenty-two movie story arc. The battle scene is a bit rushed, but ultimately does it justice even though it is essentially an over glorified game of football. It will be interesting to see how exactly the events of Avengers: Endgame will be incorporated in Spider-Man Far From Home.

Us

“Therefore this is what the Lord says: I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.” – Jeremiah 11:11

Summary:

The movie Us opens on a scene in the year 1986 with a young girl and her parents at the Santa Cruz boardwalk at night. She ends up separating from her parents to walk out on the empty beach. Her eyes find an attraction that is on the beach, and she walks into what looks like an abandoned maze of mirrors. In the maze, she discovers something deeply terrifying – her doppelganger. After the opening scene, the movie shifts to the present day where the Wilson family is heading to their vacation home. The little girl from the opening scene has now grown up and a mother, Adelaide, who is nervous about returning to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Gabe, her husband, found her reaction to be overexaggerated, but ultimately tries to help her feel at ease so they can take their kids Zora and Jason to the beach to meet up with some old friends. After one small scare and a number of bizarre coincidences on the beach, the Wilson family returns home for a quiet night in. However, the quiet night in quickly turns into a night of horror as they are terrorized by some unlikely trespassers that lined up across their driveway: doppelgangers of their family.

Review:

There are a number of things that I enjoyed about this movie. First, I thoroughly appreciate that this movie allows for there to be multiple interpretations of what the movie symbolizes. Second, I thought the casting choices were superb. Jordan Peele had Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Anna Diop, and Evan Alex casted as the Wilson family members. All of them did an excellent job playing both their main character and their doppelgangers.

As pointed out, the acting in this movie is quite good. Lupita Nyong’o, who plays both Adelaide Wilson and her doppelganger Red, flawlessly sells the complex nature of both of her roles. The doubles actually maintain a lot of the character traits of the originals and all of the actors manage to convey this without speaking for the most part and in such a manner that the clones have this subtly off-kilter manner to them that is disconcerting.

The movie has plenty of humor to it, most of which ties into the great depiction of the central family unit. The Wilsons are a close and supportive family that does not get dragged down by the thinly-veiled contempt a lot of movie families have for each other. They are all quite capable, with the father managing to dispatch his double while suffering from a broken knee.

The most obvious reading of the movie is as a metaphor for the “two Americas” with the doubles representing the “forgotten” people of America such as the homeless and disenfranchised and the “originals” being people who they very well could have been. The only thing that separates them are factors outside of their control, in this the “accident of birth”. Those who live in privilege, the originals, have just a general lack of curiosity about the existence of these people. In some cases, such as the twist of the movie, there can often be this sentiment of “I can’t change this and reflecting on it causes me distressed, so I’ll just try to ignore it.” But one day, the reckoning will come.

My biggest issue with this movie arises from the nature of these doppelgangers. It is revealed that they were created decades ago as part of a government project to control people living on the surface because their souls are linked but their bodies are not. This program fell through and was abandoned with the doubles left to live an empty, tormented existence, living a mirrored life of their originals. I was confused about the logistics of it: does the copy control the original or the original control the copy? Under what circumstances, because they aren’t always moving in sync?

It’s quite likely that I will gain further insight and answers to my questions upon a re-watch. This is a smart, suspenseful, and entertaining horror movie, destined to become a classic.

Captain Marvel

“I keep having these memories. I see flashes. I think I have a life here. But I can’t tell if it’s real.” – Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel)

Summary:

On the Kree Empire’s capital planet of Hala, Starforce member Vers suffers from recurring nightmares. Her mentor, Yon-Rogg, warns her to control her abilities while the Supreme Intelligence (AI), urges her to keep her emotions in check. While working with Ronan the Accuser to rescue an undercover spy, Vers is abducted and subjected to a memory probe by a group of Skrulls. The Skrulls are alien shapeshifters with whom the Kree Empire as at war. Vers escapes from the Skrulls’ ship in an escape pod, and ultimately crash lands on Earth. Her presence quickly attracts the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury and Phil Coulson, whose investigation ends up being interrupted by a Skrull attack. A Skrull impersonates Coulson whom is killed by Fury. Fury agrees to work with Vers while Skrull commander Talos disguises himself as S.H.I.E.L.D operative Keller.

Thanks to Fury’s security clearance, Vers learns she was a pilot who is presumed to have died six years earlier while testing a light-speed engine. “Keller” confronts them but Fury and Vers get away and pilot to Louisiana, where they met Maria Rambeau and her young daughter, Monica. Monica reveals that Vers’ real name is Carol Danvers. Talos tracked them to Louisiana and asks to speak with them. He uses the black-box recorder of the plane crash that Carol was in, and she learns that an alien spaceship had taken them out. Because of the black-box recording, Carol finally remembers Yon-Rogg killing Wendy Lawson, the person she sees in her recurring nightmares, and her warning to destroy the experimental energy-core to keep it from getting into the wrong hands. Carol shot the experimental energy-core which resulted in an explosion, leading to her body absorbing the energy. Yon-Rogg brought “Vers” to Hala. Talos then explains that the Skrulls are simply refugees, and Lawson’s energy-core was to help them escape the Kree. By using the coordinates that Lawson had given her, along with Fury, Monica, and the fearless cat Goose, fly their cargo jet, which was modified by the Kree to a cloaked ship in orbit.

Once there, they find the Tesseract, which is the source of the energy-core’s power, as well as some Skrull refugees. Yon-Rogg’s Starforce tracked them down and they capture Carol. They place her before the Supreme Intelligence. Carol, enraged at the fact that they used her, fights back and discovers that the implant that was given to her by the Kree was limiting her powers instead of helping her. Now accessing her full force, Carol escapes, and gives the Tesseract to Fury for safekeeping and proceeds to battle the Starforce to give Maria, Fury, and the Skrulls time to escape. They escape, Carol quickly defeats Yon-Rogg and sends him back to Hala. Carol agrees to help the Skrulls find a new home and gives Fury a modified pager to contact her in case of an emergency. At the very end, Fury later drafts his proposal for the Avenger’s Initiative, naming it after Carol’s old call sign of “Avenger.”

Review

There are several things that I thoroughly enjoyed about Captain Marvel. For one, I really appreciated that Captain Marvel is a female superhero and that she is seen as someone who is strong. In my opinion, it is a superb example of what positive representation looks like. She did not need the help of a man to fight off the enemies. By fully using her powers, she took down the enemies within no time flat. Brie Larson was a phenomenal Captain Marvel – I cannot picture anyone else in the role. She brought her to life and made her seem real. I appreciated that the fact that emotions are powerful and can cloud judgment was present throughout the movie. Why? Because it is true. Emotions are extremely powerful and people need to be able to control their emotions to avoid doing something they may regret.

Another thing that was particularly enjoyable about Captain Marvel is Goose the Cat. Now, Goose is not your everyday house cat. He is actually Flerken. For those who do not know what a Flerken is – they are essentially a gateway to pocket dimensions. Goose definitely provided comedic relief throughout the movie, with some of the most memorable ones being when Nick Fury attempted to have Goose attack the Kree that were trying to keep them from escaping towards the end of the movie.

The third thing I enjoyed about Captain Marvel was that the twist about the Skrulls being refugees was not one that I saw coming. Solely going off of their appearance, one would assume that they are the bad guys – which is exactly what the director wants the audience to think. The Skrulls having the ability to shapeshift also made them seem like they would be the perfect villain for Captain Marvel to encounter throughout the movie. However, in war, things are rarely what they seem. The Kree had fabricated the entire story about the war they were waging with the Skrull, making them seem like the bad guys in it all. However, the Skrull are simply trying to get away from the Kree and find a home for themselves.

The fourth thing that I enjoyed about Captain Marvel is that it is a different take on an origin story. Captain Marvel has her powers right from the start of the movie, meaning that we are immediately thrown into the action, with her past being the mystery. It was a nice refresher to watching Carol’s past unfold alongside her instead of watching how she got her powers in a linear way.

The fifth thing that I really enjoyed about Captain Marvel was the decision to make the original Mar-Vell a woman instead of a man. The Marvel Cinematic Universe made the right choice by deciding to make Captain Marvel’s predecessor female, which is where Annette Bening’s character came into play. It is not only another twist on the story, but it made it, so Captain Marvel is not simply following in the footsteps of a man. I personally think that this was an excellent decision on Marvel’s part and is pointing them in the right direction. Continuing on the same topic of character choices, Jude Law was superb as Yon-Rogg. It is safe to say that Jude Law certainly has the talent to play both the good and the bad guy. He seems like the perfect fit to play the self-assured mentor-turned-adversary to Carol.

These are just some of the things that I thoroughly enjoyed about Captain Marvel. I think it goes without saying that I highly recommend that you see this movie in theaters to get the most out of your movie-watching experience. What are your thoughts on the movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The Prodigy

Talulah always knew there was something wrong with the boy. It’s part of their nature to have a nose for that sort of things. The boy’s parents are considerably slower on the revelation. To be fair, it is not their fault. Sarah (Taylor Schilling) and John (Peter Mooney) love their son, 8-year-old Miles (Jackson Robert Scott), as much as any parent would. Not many parenting books can unpack the risks of a child’s body being shared by a deceased serial killer, let alone provide a step-by-step guide to help the child in that situation. So naturally, they were not too concerned when Miles spoke Hungarian in his sleep, which they initially thought it as gibberish, or when he started asking for paprika on all of his meals. It is not their fault that a serial killer died at the same moment their baby was born.

Miles eventually beat a classmate to death with a wrench, which is more concerning to his parents. Still, nothing that a good psychologist and some loving, and caring parents can’t fix, right? Wrong.

Talulah knows better – she can sense the evil presence in Mile’s body. She consistently growls when that “other thing” is near. She stares at the boy out of suspicion. Too bad that Talulah cannot tell her parents about Miles and the evil presence. Too bad she cannot help Sarah and John see what is going on with Miles.

Too bad that Miles found that pair of garden sheers, too.

Clear direction and moody, effective cinematography cannot not quite rescue this horror movie from some confounding clichés that were present throughout the movie. The Prodigy mistakenly lead views to think that the movie will go above the genre when the parents realize relatively early on that there is something not right with their son. However, they then proceed to make nearly every bad choice to enable the horror to progress forward. The reason this is an issue is because the movie’s story is not exactly original. I would say that the movie fits into the Bad Seed horror subgenre well. It is right next to the movie Orphan, and many others, albeit with some hiccups of their own. To say that those clichés make it an original movie would be like giving credit to Vanilla Ice for the song “Under Pressure”.

Please note the movie is not terrible as the director Nicholas McCarthy and cinematographer Bridger Nielson have worked together regularly, and it is obvious throughout the movie. The movie excels at having a seamless use of imagery that establishes the tone and conveys important information. However, I would say that the opening sequence reveals too much information, which leaves the audience to sit and wait for the evil presence to emerge from Miles. The way it is presented through thoughtful matching of images, shows promises. I would say that the movie’s atmospheres are soaking in dark and poisonous shadows. The performances of all the characters are solid throughout the movie. Schilling and Mooney are a believable couple that is facing something unimaginable and truly horrible. Scott’s performance is truly outstanding in the demanding role. Unfortunately, the character’s terrible decisions seem more forced for plot purposes than anything else. The decisions also make it nearly impossible for there to be tension or surprises. The movie also relies on jump scares a lot. It does delve into darker plot lines than most horror movies due, but it still is not anything different.

However, in all fairness, the real reason I might have a worse opinion of the movie is because the dog dies.

Serenity

The movie Serenity, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, is one roller coaster of a movie from start to finish. It is a movie that grapples with the concept of right versus wrong and the concept or real and not real. Despite hearing numerous mixed reviews about the movie, I decided to go see it for myself and see what it was all about. While the movie is bizarre, I am glad that I went to see the movie for myself to form my own opinion on it – because if you like authentically unusual movies, then this one is for you.

Summary:

Baker Dill (McConaughey) is the captain of fishing boat that takes tourists out on the open see off of the peaceful island known as Plymouth Island. He appears to be living a quiet and routine lifestyle, however, that is all shattered when his ex-wife, Karen (Hathaway) manages to track him down and reaches out to him with a plea of help. She begs Baker to save her, and their son, Patrick, from her new and abusive husband named Frank by taking him out to sea for a fishing excursion and only to kill him and feed his body to the sharks. The sudden appearance of Karen forces Baker back into a life that he has gone through great lengths to put behind him and forget about, and he begins to struggle between what is right and what is wrong while his world is thrown into a reality that may not be what is seems.

Review:

The movie has a huge plot-twist midway through that ultimately destroys all of the dramatic tension that was created throughout the first half of the film once you realize that nothing that happens to the characters or within the story matters. The plot twist was that McConaughey’s character, Baker Dill died in Iraq while serving his country and that the entire plot of the movie is actually a video game that his son, Patrick created as a means of escaping the harsh reality of his and his mother’s situation with the abusive stepfather. The video game element became more evident once the dialogue from the smaller characters became more stiff, which caused them to feel more like non-playable characters (NPCs). While the plot twist is a clever variation of an old trick, it unfortunately reduces the rest of the movie into an intellectual exercise.

Contrary to the negative reviews I have heard about the movie, I rather liked it – though the plot was sort of collapsing in on itself and unnecessarily confusing to follow. The main reason I liked the movie is because it is one of those movies that you need to watch several times to catch all of the details that indicate what the plot twist is going to be. In fact, thinking back on the movie, there were a number of little moments and details that were pointing to the twist of the false reality.

Another reason I liked the movie is because it did not end how I thought it was going to. I tend to enjoy movies that do not end how you think they are going to. About one-third of the way through the movie, I began to suspect the Baker Dill was not alive but I did not expect the movie to end with Patrick stabbing his abusive stepfather in an act of self-defense for himself and his mother.

Overall, I give the movie a solid 3/5 because I appreciate what it was attempting to do with its major plot twist. The thing holding it back from a higher rating from me is because its plot twist was not executed as well as it could have been in my opinion. Instead of it being made known half way through the movie that the reality the characters are in is not real, it should have been saved for closer to the end of the movie.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Miles: How am I supposed to save the world?
Spider-Man: You can’t think about saving the world. You have to think about saving one person.

Summary

Everyone knows how Peter Parker got his super powers. However, this movie focuses on 14-year-old Miles Morales, who is reluctantly enrolled at an elite New York board school. After he is bitten by a radioactive spider, Miles begins to experience drastic changes that he cannot explain such as being able to stick to walls and having a weird instinct feeling. To make sense of what is happening, Miles retraces his steps to where he was bitten by the spider. While doing so, he discovers Peter Parker/Spider-Man mid-fight with the crime boss Kingpin. He was trying to keep him from opening a hole in the space-time continuum, which could potentially destroy New York. Ultimately, Kingpin kills Spider-Man, but Kingpin’s expierment results in another older Spider-Man from a parallel universe showing up and encountering Miles. Together they encounter four more spiderlings which includes Gwen Stacy, an anime-style girl from the distant future, a cartoon pig, and black-and-white 1930s noir Spider-Man. Upon getting over their shock and confusion, everyone understands that they must work together to defeat Kingpin to return to their own respective universes.

Review

The movie was incredible – from the character development to the animation style. I will admit that I was a bit hesitant at first to go see the movie, but I am glad that I did. The parallel universe concept in the movie was pulled off fantastically as it incorporated different versions of the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It was nice to see some of the different comic book variations of Spider-Man interact with each other! One thing in particular that I greatly enjoyed about the movie was Mile’s relationship with his father. Like most teenagers, he is not entirely sure what to say or how to act around his parents. His father is a member of the police force, which adds an extra layer to it. At the end of the movie, their relationship is stronger.

Another thing that I greatly enjoyed was that the movie relies on the audience’s previous comic book movies knowledge, movies, and ultimately the characters. An example of this would be the opening sequence of the movie that tells the backstory of the soon-to-be-deceased Peter Parker, which essentially shows him as being the Tobey Maguire iteration of the character from the Raimi film trilogy. It had references to each of the movies in the Raimi trilogy from the upside-down kiss with MJ from Spider-Man, the train rescue from Spider-Man 2, and the pain-inducing dance sequence from Spider-Man 3. It serves as a clean break from the other iterations of the character.

Each of the different multiverse characters portraying their own genres provided plenty of different snippets of humor to play with. For example, Nicholas Cage’s Spider-Man Noir is a parody of goofy film noir clichés while Spider-Ham serves as the comedic relief as he is an absurd character. He basically helps the other iterations of Spider-Man feel more grounded by comparison. Miles Morales is by far the most relatable character and vulnerable lead to appear in a Spider-Man movie. His desire to create his own identity from his cop father’s is admirable, his awkward teenager-ness when he meets someone he is crushing on, ad his frustrations that he is struggling with mastering his powers.

These are all themes that are present in a majority of Spider-Man origin stories. Setting them in the plot of a multiverse was the perfect way to do so as it allows Miles to learn that there are numerous interpretations of who Spider-Man is and all of them are valid.

Overall

I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. The animation style is distinct, though at times it was a little hard to look at when the colors were blurring. However, the animation style was needed to differentiate between the parallel the universes that the other spiderlings came from. I highly encourage that you see the movie in theaters!

UPDATED TO ADD 1/16/19

Hi! This is Tcyoung who decided to check this movie out after all the hype. I loved the hell out of it! I’m going to add a few quick notes of my own on the movie.

The movie does a good job constructing these different variations on Spider-man. Using a typical opening to a superhero cartoon, it has a very quick and efficient way of explaining what their deal is, especially how the two human, red-and-black suit Peters differ from each other. They also do a good job of giving you enough of each character without detracting from the movie being Miles story through-and-through.

The character-work is tremendous, especially through animation which does a great job conveying emotion. I grew attached to these characters quickly.

Like Bumblebee (which also had Hallie Steinfeld and is pretty good), the character arcs and plot beats aren’t too out of the ordinary but they are executed pretty damn well.

But, yeah. This is a pretty good movie and I recommend you see it.
–Tcyoung

Escape Room

I’d Like to Solve the Puzzle

Danny: Wow! Talk about immersive!
Amanda: What the hell is wrong with you? That was real!

Six strangers travel to a mysterious building to experience the escape room after someone they each individually knew seemingly signed them up for it. It was a game where players compete to solve a series of puzzles to win $10,000. What starts out as seemingly innocent fun quickly turns into their personal hell as the six strangers discover that each of the rooms is an elaborate trap that is part of a sadistic game of life or death. The quickly realize that you either find the clues, or you die.

While Adam Robitel’s PG-13 thriller is definitely not an original film, it is relatively entertaining and keeps you on the edge of your seat through the duration of the film. The film has all of the archetypes covered from the cutthroat businessman named Jason to the stoner burnout Ben. Additionally, there is the video game geek Danny, a blue-collar trucker named Mike (he is basically the comic relief of the film and serves no other purpose), Amanda the PTSD Iraqi veteran, and the intelligent but incredibly shy Zoey.

The movie bares striking similarities to Saw, the movie was far from predictable when it came to the death of characters. Essentially, it was easy to figure out that some of the characters were meant to die even if you did not know how they would or in what order. The six characters could not be more different from one another they had to have had one thing in common for the six to be mysteriously invited at the same time. The commonality was that they were all lone survivors – statistical improbabilities. The game master of the Mintos Escape Room wanted to figure out which one of them had what it took to survive again.

I have seen conflicting opinions on the likeability or relatability of the characters. For the most part, I found them to all be pretty relatable or likeable even if they were overexaggerated archetypical characters. The only one that I could see why people did not care for him was Jason, the businessman. He was quick to use others tragic pasts against them to better his chances of survival. A prime example of this would be when he brought up Mike’s deceased younger brother Cal. Jason said that now was Mike’s time to do what was right and sacrifice himself to save the rest of them. I personally thought that utilizing tragic pasts or tender topics against those around him to progress himself further in the game, especially since it was Jason himself who was the only one who was able to help them get out of that specific escape room.

Once they barely completed the first escape room with all six of them moving forward, I was on edge pretty much for the remainder of the film. It was solidified when Amanda, the Iraqi veteran with PTSD had a panic attack in the ventilation tunnel to the next escape room. The game master was deliberately using their tragic pasts against them to make these rooms as victimizing or terrifying as possible for them. I guess it showed that people can find out essentially anything and everything about a person due to advancements in the internet and technology.

Overall, I found the movie to be anxiety inducing and enjoyable but wouldn’t say that it is award worthy, especially compared to the remainder of the 2019 movie lineup that includes Avengers: Endgame and the IT sequel, just to name a few. I would recommend seeing it in theaters with a group of friends as it is made better by peoples’ reaction to what is happening throughout the film.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Image result for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

“You already know what books can do – something we can share – no matter how different our lives may be.” – Dawsey Adams

Summary:

This Netflix original is adapted from Cathryn McDowell’s novel with the exact title. A correspondence starts amongst author, Juliet Ashton and members of a forbidden book club called the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The book club members share their experiences and stories of their time on the Nazi-occupied Guernsey during the war. After an idea for a book sparks Juliet’s attention, she goes to visit the island where she makes lifelong friends and proceeds to take steps that change her life along the way. The book was told in a letter format where it is obvious that Juliet comes to love each of the islanders; Dawsey, Amelia, Eben, Kit, Elizabeth, and Isola. Ultimately, it is an enchanting story of love, friendship, and the sadness of friends lost.

Review:

If you are unsure of whether you want to watch this movie due to the “mouth full” of a title, don’t let it detour you. Ultimately, the movie is incredibly predictable regarding dialogue and with how the plot flows. But the predictable plot is captivating and charming. It follows a very formulaic outline where some characters experience trauma (in this case via the Nazis inhabiting the island during WWII), a higher status person, and a love triangle of sorts. There were a few times throughout the movie where I completely lost interest in it due to how predictable it was.

Naturally, Lily James put forth a stunning performance as author Juliet Ashton. She was captivated by a book club on Guernsey Island as well as the members of said book club. Her interest in knowing more about them seemed one-sided for a handful of reasons. But to be fair, if I were to be part of an obscure book club that was forbidden and someone who was clearly from a different upbringing and a more comfortable life wanted to write about us – I would view it poorly as well. When Juliet went to the book club there was an awkward and disjointed reaction between two of the book club members. The awkwardness seemed drawn out and unneeded, but completely warranted at the same time.

Problems:

Problem one I had with the movie was the lack of shattered aftermath that was missing from the movie adaptation. The war and its shattered aftermath are central to the plot of the film. Newell, the director, seemed to leave most of the real-ness and ugliness of both the war and its aftermath offscreen. A second problem I had with the movie was that one of the key players, Elizabeth, was mysteriously off the island and no one could say when she would return. Additionally, the residents of the island are unexpectedly unwilling to share their story and are not eager to be written about either. Not that that is a problem, just feel like Juliet Ashton should have seen that coming. The third and final problem I had with the movie was that the history of what happened on Guernsey during the Nazi occupation was more complex and complicated than anticipated was more of a surprise to Juliet Ashton than it was the viewers. In my opinion, it should have been a surprise to both if it is done right.

Overall, it isn’t a bad movie and if you are into love stories and older-like films than you should check it out. Just because I had mixed feelings on it doesn’t mean you will.

What did you think of the movie? Comment on this review and let me know your thoughts!

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Image result for mamma mia 2

“I don’t know what my future holds, but the world is wide, and I want to make some memories.” – Young Donna (played by Lily James).

Summary:

Sophie has finished renovating the hotel and is preparing a grand reopening in honor of her mother, Donna Sheridan’s memory. It is made known within the first half an hour of the film that Donna had been dead for a year. With the help of her step-father, Sam she was able to renovate the hotel on the fictious Greek island known as Kalokairi. Sophie, awaiting the arrival of her mother’s best friends, Rosie and Tanya, and fighting with Sky (whom I am assuming at this point is her husband) over where they should be in their lives.

Review:

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again splashed into theaters July 20. If you are like me and wondered how exactly things panned out with Donna and her daughter, Sophie, three potential fathers then this movie has some things in store for you. It does a great job of bringing the past to life through the work of the younger versions for the characters from the original Mamma Mia movie. Lily James – who plays young Donna – sets off to travel after her college graduation from Oxford in 1979, where her best friends Tanya and Rosie also graduated. Ultimately, the movie is a drama that is built on mourning that is more than expressed throughout the film. It is depicted in intricate flashbacks that serves function of showcasing Donna’s life leading up to the birth of Sophie.

The film did a great job with the transitions between past and present scenes. The transitions were seamless and set up excellent parallels that show the striking similarities between Donna and Sophie. There were obviously some things that happened that were obvious such as Sophie being pregnant or that Sky would probably go to Kalokairi to be with her.

Like the first film, Tanya (played by Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Rosie (played by Alexa Davies) were comedic relief – both the past and present variants of themselves. One scene that I quite enjoyed of these two were when they came all the way to Kalokiari after Sam “let Donna down”. Not only did it provide some humor to the situation, it showed the strong friendship the three of them had. I also enjoyed that Rosie had a thing for Bill even when they were younger. It makes it feel like things are coming full circle for all of the characters to an extent. Additionally, seeing how much they cared for Sophie leading up to the grand reopening continued to show the love they had for her mother and that it trickled down to her as well. A specific example of this was that they were trying to be strong for Sophie and not dwell on how they felt about everything (which can be both good and bad – but in this case we will say it is good because dammit they deserve it).

I thought the actors that were cast as the younger versions of Harry, Bill, and Sam were spot on (even if it wasn’t quite how I pictured them) and that the portrayals of them really made the characters more likable. Two of the three of young versions of the lovers were how I pictured them.

Hugh Skinner, who played young Harry, was spot on in my opinion. He played an awkward young Harry which is exactly how I pictured him being. Everything from the cringeworthy attempt to hold Young Donna’s hand to the painful to watch café scene where he is asking her to be his first was perfect. He was awkward and trying to figure out if he was indeed the “spontaneous” person who thought he was. I’m not entirely sure if I was digging the portrayal of Young Harry as being awkward because it is how I imagined him being or if because I consider myself to be an awkward individual, but either way it was great.

Young Bill, played by Josh Dylan, was not how I expected him to be personality wise. Nonetheless I dig it. Young Bill was essentially a player who was looking at Young Donna as his next score. He was charming and seemed to genuinely vibe with Donna, which was cool to see. I would have liked to see more of him and his relative that owned the villa that was mentioned in the first movie, but obviously not everything can be included. It might have been briefly mentioned that he had a relative on the island. The portrayal of Young Bill did live up to the reputation of Older Bill being a lone wolf – as seen with the player attitude of not settling down and going from girl-to-girl. While Young Bill being a seducer was not what I expected him to be, it was fitting and made for a good change of pace. It would have been boring otherwise if all three of the younger versions had been looking for something more permanent.

Young Sam, played by Jeremy Irvine, was relatively spot on to how I pictured him. Although I knew he was going to leave the island to go back to his fiancée from the first movie, it still was saddening to see Young Donna experience that heartbreak. The two had an instant connection and it was disappointing to see that fall apart. He clearly had real feelings for Donna, otherwise he wouldn’t have come back to the island (or marry her twenty-some-years later). I found it to be relatable that he essentially ran away from his life back home to enjoy not having everything planned out for him for a bit before committing to that life. I’m not saying that people should run away from things, but at the same time if you are focused on one thing without taking time to consider other options then it can lead to regret later.

Alright – I have been waiting for this moment. Cher, who played Ruby Sheridan, being in the film was entirely unnecessary. She didn’t really contribute anything to the overall plot and I struggle to understand why it seemed even remotely necessary to include her in the film. I understand wanting to have a character change or grow in some way. But seriously, it was stated that Sophie’s grandmother never showed up to anything and that she was basically self-absorbed. I think the film would have been better off without including Sophie’s grandmother. In my opinion, it would have shown that family doesn’t always have to be blood with Tanya and Rosie being prime examples of that and would have continued the theme from the first film.

Overall, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is a wonderful movie and I highly suggest seeing it in theaters. It has a load of catchy and upbeat songs. It also has all the familiar characters from the first movie and goes in depth into younger version’s of their lives. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (to see it in theaters).

Avengers: Infinity War

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Peter Quill: I’m gonna ask you this one time: where is Gamora?

Tony Stark: Yeah, I’ll do you one better. Who is Gamora?

Drax: I’ll do you one better. Why is Gamora?

If you have not seen Avengers: Infinity War yet I highly encourage that you back away from this review because there are spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

Summary: The Avengers and their allies continue to protect the world from threats too large for one hero to handle while a new threat appears from the shadows of space. Thanos, with the aid of his intergalactic army, have one goal: collect all six Infinity Stones. The Infinity Stones are artifacts of power that cannot be fathomed, and he wants to use them to twist all of reality to his will. Essentially, everything the Avengers have fought for have led up to this moment in time. They must protect the fate of the Earth and existence itself – even though it has never been more uncertain.

Review: The Marvel Cinematic Universe has never felt like more of a universe until this movie, which is in both good and bad ways. Infinity War is a narrative that juggles a myriad of characters and locations. The packed film includes an array of superheroes from the Avengers, to Spiderman, Black Panther, the Guardians of the Galaxy and more. To my surprise, they left out Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Valkryie, Nakia, and Everett Ross.

Thanos is by far the biggest villain we have encountered in a Marvel film. I was incredibly surprised to find that I not only liked this villain, but I also sympathized with him. I am not entirely sure why, but my guess is because he had to sacrifice Gamora, the person he loved the most, to be able to accomplish his goal of “saving the universe”. While Thanos is a good villain, he’s no Killmonger with his problematic but hard-earned racial politics. In my opinion, he is one notch below him.

Moving on with the review, I would like to highlight three problems I noticed in Infinity War.

Problem One: There are too many moving parts for one movie

I am in no way, shape, or form saying that this was a bad movie. I understand that the Avengers movie is all about the Avengers assembling and it makes sense to add a bunch of new heroes in the movie as the cast of them grow. But jumping around from Earth, to Space, to Wakanda, etc., became a bit of a clusterfuck and difficult to follow location wise. Just when the scene was going into more depth or something would happen the movie would shift gears and move to a different location with different characters. At times this became difficult (and annoying) to try to follow.

Problem Two: The movie should have ended before the ending with Thanos

I thought the most frustrating thing about Infinity War to me would be all the characters that died. It wasn’t. The most frustrating thing was how it ended. After collecting all six of the Infinity Stones, Thanos snaps his fingers and half of the universe’s population disintegrates meaning that he achieved the balance he wanted. After that we see a myriad of characters who we know can’t die, disintegrate before our eyes. It was incredibly irritating because the Guardians of the Galaxy have a third movie, a sequel to Spiderman: Homecoming is in the works, and there’s rumor of a Doctor Strange and a Black Panther sequel. Personally, I think Infinity War should have ended after Thor hit Thanos in the chest with his axe. Thanos could have said his line, “You should have aimed for the head.” Then it could have rolled to the credits. I understand that in a war there is loss, but it seemed meaningless because of the already confirmed movies that are coming out about some of the heroes that “died”.

Problem Three: Lack of backstory for Thanos prior to Infinity War

Don’t get me wrong, I thought Thanos was a great villain. However, I think Guardians of the Galaxy 3 should have been released before Infinity War. Who knows, maybe Guardians of the Galaxy 3 would have further developed Thanos’s backstory. We could have seen more of his relationship with Gamora and Nebula. It could have also introduced us to his plan earlier and see it develop across the movies.

What I liked about the movie:

There were a lot of things that I liked about the movie. I really liked seeing Vision and Scarlet Witch’s relationship brought to life on the screen. They were definitely the heard of Infinity War and seeing their relationship blossom more throughout the film made it even more devastating when Scarlet Witch had to be the one to destroy the Infinity Stone in Vision’s head. To make it even worse, Thanos brought him back to life so he could rip the stone out of his head and collect it.

Personally, I am a huge fan of the friendly neighborhood Spiderman. Therefore, I really enjoyed seeing him in this movie. His humor definitely provided comedic relief when it was needed and when he met Doctor Strange and said his line about using their made-up names was such a power move. I genuinely enjoyed seeing Peter Parker interact with Peter Quill as both make pop culture references (obviously Quill’s are a bit dated). I greatly appreciated seeing the father/son dynamic that Tony Stark and Peter Parker had as well. It has been in the works since Captain America: Civil War and it was nice to basically see it in full swing. It made it more heartbreaking to watch Peter disintegrate in Tony’s arms while he begged and apologized to Mr. Stark

I enjoyed that essentially picked up where Thor: Ragnorak left off and showed everyone on the (destroyed) ship. It showed that life does not hesitate to kick you while you’re down. Thor had already lost his home and continued to lose his people.

Overall, I highly encourage that you see this movie in theaters! It is a definitely a film that you will want to see in theaters and to see with other people. The reactions of those around me in the theater when major events took place made the film that much better.