2019 – 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.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

“You’re in love with a weirdo. That makes you a weirdo by association.”- Ted Bundy(Efron) to Liz in a more light-hearted context.

Extremely Wicked, Shocking Evil and Vile is the latest movie/documentary to tell the story of real-life serial Killer Ted Bundy, played here by former teen heart-throb Zac Efron. This incarnation draws inspiration from the memoir of Bundy’s once girlfriend, Elizabeth Kendall, played by Lilly Collins.

The movie is quite good, buoyed by strong performances but does not completely avoid questionable decisions of focal points.

Shazam!

“Say my name so that my power flow through you.”

(Spoilers ahead)

Plot: A dying wizard calls on a trouble foster boy name Billy Batson to be his champion and grant Billy his powers in order to protect the world from the deadly seven sins and their champion a Dr. Sivana, who’s tying to get the wizard’s powers so he can be all powerful. But in order to access this power, Billy must to say the wizard’s name Shazam, each letter of the wizard’s name stands for the a Greek god which where the powers come from. S for Wisdom of Solomon, H for Strength of Hercules, A for the Stamina of Atlas (near-limitless resilience), Z for the Power of Zeus (lightning control and magical resistance), A for the Courage of Achilles (and near indestructibility), finally M for the Speed of Mercury (which also provides flight). By saying Shazam, lighting is stucks down at Billy. Turning him in his avatar form a adult version of him.

Thoughts: At first I thought the movie was going to be awful to me. But I actually enjoy it very much. The tone like Aquaman was lighter then pass DCEU movies. The story was good, having Billy begin as self made lone wolf in order to protect himself from being hurt while searching for his mom who thinks he left her but in actually she abandoned him because she couldn’t take care of him and end with him accepting his new family was good. My favorite part was when Billy’s foster siblings gets the same powers as him, especially when he tells them to say his name and they scream out “Billy!” was funny and awesome as the same time. The actor who was cast as main villain was a good choice, the actor does have a history of playing villains so of course he would be good at play evil. Probably what makes it work good, it’s not tie to those dark tone movies that the DCEU had. I very much enjoy the movie and if you are looking for a great time at the silver screen. Go and see Shazam.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019)

“My whole life has been decided by fate. I think something more powerful than we are decides our fates for us. I know one thing — I’ve never planned anything that ever happened to me“- the actual Sharon Tate.

Hillary Duff stars in The Haunting of Sharon Tate where she plays the title character Sharon Tate, the most famous victim of the Manson Family’s two massacres. The movie focuses on actress Sharon Tate and her friends as she is being plagued by visions of her imminent death, which is supposedly based off an actual premonition she had. The movie has been attacked by Sharon’s surviving sister Debra as exploitative and critically lambasted.

The movie doesn’t really deserve all the flack it’s been getting. It’s a perfectly fine and serviceable movie that I’d recommend seeing if you’re curious. Spoilers below the cut.

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.

Happy Death Day: 2U

“What exactly are you always looking for under that desk?”
-Tree on the approximately 20th repeat of that morning.

Happy Death Day: 2U is the sequel to 2016’s horror-comedy Happy Death Day. Both movies feature on Tree (Jessica Rothe), a college student who finds that she had become stuck in a time loop and keeps living the same day ad nasueam while there is a killer on the loose. This movie begins minutes before the end of the first movie. Most of the cast and crew of that first movie have returned for this movie

2U is a worthy sequel to the first movie that lives up to the promise of being something unique while maintaining the same tone. For best results in terms of the humor and Tree’s character beats, one should watch the original first.

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.