Baby Driver (2017) review

Ever since he first made a name for himself in 1999 by directing the unfortunately short-lived but ultimately cult classic TV series Spaced, Edgar Wright has proven to be one of the most electrifying directors in the film industry. After Spaced ended in 2001, Wright and lead/writer Simon Pegg then went on to develop a full-blown trilogy of comedy films. While the three films (2004’s Shaun of the Dead, 2007’s Hot Fuzz, and 2013’s The World’s End) only share cosmetic similarities with each other, this collection of a zombie rom-com, a police-based action extravaganza, and a sci-fi pub crawl adventure, respectively, retroactively became known as the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. This was due to the consistent appearance of Cornetto ice cream in each of the three films, with each flavor featured tying directly into the main theme of its respective film. In other words, this simple running gag ended up becoming a homage to the famous Three Colours trilogy directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, which also based itself around themes and a color scheme that alluded to each theme. Nevertheless, the Cornetto films have gone on to become some of the most beloved comedies in recent years, establishing Wright as a fan-favorite director in the film fan community. And now, he’s back with his first film since his tumultuous departure from Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man, Baby Driver. The film was influenced by a music video that Wright had directed for the band Mint Royale back in 2003 for their track Blue Song. Said music video focused on a musically-tuned getaway driver for a gang of bank robbers. More than a decade later, Wright brings this idea to life again, this time on the big-screen, in a highly entertaining and musically-driven crime thriller.  

In the city of Atlanta, a young man named Baby (Ansel Elgort) works as a getaway driver for local kingpin Doc (Kevin Spacey). Due to an accident that he was in where his parents were killed in a car crash, Baby suffers from permanent tinnitus and often listens to music to drown out the constant humming in his ears. And while most would assume that wearing headphones and listening to music would make him a terrible driver, it ends up being the total opposite situation in Baby’s case as it allows him to have greater focus behind the wheel. Thus, he’s become Doc’s ‘lucky charm’ over the years thanks to his involvement in numerous successful heists. However, after he manages to settle all his debts with Doc, Baby intends on getting out of the crime business for good so that he can head out on the road, a passion of his that’s reinvigorated when he meets a nice young woman named Debora (Lily James) who shares a similar kind of dream. However, as Baby soon finds out, just because he settled things with Doc financially doesn’t mean that the latter will just allow him to walk away. Thus, Baby ultimately finds himself being forced back into the criminal lifestyle as he is paired with scandalous couple Buddy (Jon Hamm) and Darling (Eiza González) and impulsive gunman Bats (Jamie Foxx) on Doc’s newest planned heist; robbing a post office. But amidst all the chaos that ensues from this, Baby once again attempts to get out of the business for good so that he and his loved ones won’t be harmed any further.

There are two primary things that you’ll get out of watching Baby Driver. The first is a kick-ass soundtrack, which Baby listens to 24/7 on his various iPods. With classic tunes like ‘Brighton Rock’ by Queen and ‘Never, Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Barry White, this film is full of great songs. But the real kicker to it all is that many of them are tuned perfectly with the film’s action sequences, including a shoot-out that’s set in perfect rhythm to ‘Tequila’ by The Champs (though, in this instance, it’s a cover by The Button Down Brass). Thus, this is easily one of the most musically-driven films (no pun intended) that I’ve ever seen in my life, even more so than the Guardians of the Galaxy films. The other big thing about this film, as alluded to earlier, is its action sequences, especially its many car chases. All the car chases in this film were done practically, and they are all quite impressive and well-shot. And it’s all thanks to the always terrific direction from Edgar Wright. He truly is a genius when it comes to assembling sequences and then blending them together seamlessly through editing, while also utilizing all sorts of directorial tricks to create some truly creative (and stylish) on-screen imagery. And even though this is admittedly a more traditional story compared to Wright’s other films, he still manages to craft some genuinely suspenseful moments in the film’s second half, thanks in part to Steven Price’s foreboding score which begins to come into play during this section of the film.

Ansel Elgort immediately establishes himself as a likable main protagonist in the role of Baby. Right out the gate, it’s shown that while Baby has been involved in the world of crime for many years, he’s ultimately just an innocent kid working alongside a bunch of crooks, hence why he doesn’t spend much time conversing with his colleagues save for Doc. Thus, he fully succeeds at being a sympathetic lead to root for, and while his main love interest, Debora, is admittedly just there for the ride most of the time, Elgort does have excellent chemistry with Lily James. Meanwhile, over in the ‘criminal underworld’, Kevin Spacey is, well, Kevin Spacey but still just as memorable as always in the role of Doc, who proves to have somewhat of a ‘father-son’ relationship with Baby given their history together. And just like any Edgar Wright project, this film has its fair share of scene-stealing supporting characters. Jon Hamm is both charismatic and sinister in the role of Buddy, and he is paired excellently with general newcomer Eiza González, who shines in a breakout role as his loving partner, Darling. And then there’s Jamie Foxx, who’s full-on crazy but still completely engaging in the role of the craziest member of the gang, Bats. These characters work extremely well off each other, providing excellent backing to Wright’s trademark snappy dialogue. For the record, this isn’t a comedy like Wright’s other films but there are still plenty of humorous moments throughout this film.

Well, it’s safe to say that Edgar Wright’s got another smash hit on his hands with Baby Driver. With thrilling car chase sequences, an excellent ensemble cast, and a kick-ass soundtrack that’s tuned perfectly to everything that happens on screen, Baby Driver proves to be yet another highly entertaining entry in Wright’s steadily growing filmography. Now, of course, as I alluded to earlier, this was Wright’s first big project after his rather unceremonious departure from Ant-Man back in 2014. And as I’ve also noted before, I believe that it’s truly for the best that Wright decided to work on a project like this, where he could have full creative control over the final product, instead of one where he’d have to work under the restrictions of Marvel’s controversial (but thankfully now disbanded) Creative Committee. On that note, yes, this is very much an original film in a summer season full of sequels, remakes, reboots, etc. Thus, if you’re someone who leans more towards these kinds of films, then I’m certain that you’re going to love this film. As for me, I’m not one of those people (Don’t get me wrong, I like watching original films as much as the next person but that doesn’t mean that they’re the only films I’ll watch because I know that nothing is truly ‘original’ anymore; even Edgar Wright has admitted that this story was influenced by films like Point Break and Reservoir Dogs) but I do know a great film when I see one, and this is one of those films. And who better to bring us this electrifying thrill-ride than the guy who brought us a romantic comedy set in a zombie apocalypse and a buddy flick/pub crawl adventure built around an alien invasion?

Rating: 5/5!

Directorial Retrospective: Edgar Wright

Welcome back to another installment of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ‘Directorial Retrospective’ series. This is where I look at the filmography of any given director in the film industry. Through this series, we’ve covered an eclectic bunch of filmmakers, from blockbuster giants like Michael Bay and Tim Burton to award-winning favorites like David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino. And today, we’re looking at the filmography of a major fan favorite amongst film buffs; Edgar Wright. His newest film, Baby Driver, hits theaters this weekend and in honor of its release, today we’ll be looking at the films that have made him such a popular director. He’s best-known for his somewhat unintentional trilogy of comedy films known as the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. The reason why I say that this trilogy is ‘somewhat unintentional’ is because the primary connection between these three completely different films (the first being a zombie film, the second a buddy cop action film, and the third film being a sci-fi thriller) is the appearance of Cornetto brand ice cream. Yes, folks, these films became a trilogy because of a running gag that was brought up during the second film’s promotional tour. However, these three films have gone on to become some of the most popular comedies in recent years. And today, I’ll be reviewing all three of them plus Wright’s other major directorial effort, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Just a quick disclaimer, though; there’s one film of his that I can’t include here because it’s not easily available online. The film in question is the 1995 western parody A Fistful of Fingers, which was his directorial debut. It did have a midnight re-release a few years ago in Los Angeles, but I wasn’t there for that so I can’t review it today. But to make it up to you folks, I’ll also go over the other big thing that Wright and frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are known for; the short-lived TV series Spaced. How’s that for a slice of fried gold?

SPACED: THE TV SERIES (1999-2001)

Wright, Pegg, and Frost first became known via the short-lived, cult classic TV series Spaced. Wright directed all 14 episodes of the series, which ran for two seasons and was created by Pegg and Jessica Hynes, both of whom Wright had previously worked with on another short-lived series, Asylum. In Spaced, Pegg and Hynes star as Tim and Daisy, a pair of twenty-somethings who bond over their struggles to find new living arrangements. They manage to find a flat that’s going for a cheap price but are forced to act as a couple so that they meet the landlady’s requirements. And thus, one of the most underrated shows of all-time was born; seriously, this show is awesome. For one thing, it’s chock-full of hilarious pop culture references, from Tim’s never-ending disdain for The Phantom Menace to a zombie-fighting sequence that practically served as the genesis for Shaun of the Dead. It also served as an early showcase for Wright’s talents as a director when it came to visual comedy and tight editing (e.g. an argument between Tim and Daisy is intercut perfectly with gameplay from Tekken 2). But amidst all the great dialogue and wacky geek-related imagery, Tim and Daisy prove to be an extremely likable duo. Both Pegg and Hynes are fantastic in their respective roles, and they have terrific chemistry with each other without their characters ever getting into a fully ‘romantic’ relationship. They’re also backed by some highly memorable supporting characters, including Nick Frost (of course) as Tim’s military-loving best friend Mike and Mark Heap as Tim and Daisy’s ‘eccentric’ artist flat-mate, Brian. In conclusion, while it only lasted two seasons, Spaced proved to be an excellent show thanks to the efforts of Wright, writers/leads Pegg and Hynes, and its terrific ensemble cast. If you’re a fan of geek culture and you want to see how the Cornetto team got their start, give this show a watch; I bet you’ll love it.

Series Rating: 5/5!

SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)

While Spaced only lasted two seasons, Wright, Pegg, and Frost officially made a name for themselves in 2004 with a parody of George Romero’s classic …of the Dead franchise; Shaun of the Dead. This film is many things; obviously, it’s primarily a zombie film but at the same time, it’s also a romantic comedy/drama. A good chunk of the plot revolves around main protagonist Shaun (Pegg) attempting to rebuild the relationships that he has with his girlfriend Liz, his mum Barbara and stepdad Phil (“Don’t forget to kill Phillip!”), and so on and so forth. And it’s also a buddy film; of all the films in the Cornetto trilogy, this one arguably has Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s best overall duo (in terms of their comedic camaraderie) via Shaun and his lazy but loyal best friend, Ed. Of course, all of this is happening right around the same time… as a zombie apocalypse. Stuff like this, along with all the fun horror-based visual/dialogue cues that will require multiple viewings to truly comprehend them all, truly goes to show how well-written the screenplay by Pegg and Wright was, as was the latter’s knack for great visual humor. Now, I’ll admit that, of the three Cornetto films, this is probably my least favorite of the three. Let me be clear, though, this is in no way a criticism towards Shaun of the Dead. It’s an excellently-written comedy that serves as a loving homage to the various horror films that it parodies, while also giving us likable main characters and basing it around a simple story of a guy just trying to find meaning in his life… again, during a zombie apocalypse. At the end of the day, though, I guess it’s just because, as I’ve stated before, I’m not that big a fan of the horror genre, hence why I do prefer the other installments of this trilogy. Still, this film is a total blast from beginning to end and it’s easy to see why it became such a cult classic.

Rating: 5/5!

HOT FUZZ (2007)

After hitting it big with Shaun of the Dead, Wright, Pegg, and Frost teamed up again three years later for another hilarious comedy that paid loving homage to another genre of film. In this instance, Hot Fuzz lampoons the many classic films of the action genre, from Lethal Weapon to Point Break and even Bad Boys II. And it does so to brilliant effect, once again thanks to Wright and Pegg’s fantastic writing and their knack for a keen attention to detail. Wright even manages to make ‘non-action’ moments feel like they’re epic and intense sequences through concise editing, like when Pegg’s character, the no-nonsense Sgt. Nicholas Angel, first travels to the peaceful little town of Sandford, where he’s been re-assigned simply because he’s so good at his job that he makes all his fellow officers look bad in the process. But soon, various deaths start occurring all over town, and while initially viewed as nothing more than accidents, Nicholas figures out that there’s more to the story. And without giving it away, the big reveal surrounding this whole ordeal is brilliant and the climax is full of epically hilarious action sequences that revel in all the iconic clichés of the genre. Pegg, of course, is great as Angel alongside Nick Frost as the overly eager officer Danny Butterman, Angel’s new partner who is a big fan of all the classic action films. And, of course, there are also some great cameos as well from the likes of Jim Broadbent as Danny’s father Frank, Sandford’s Police Inspector, Timothy Dalton as the seemingly sinister grocery store owner Simon Skinner, and much, much more. Bottom line; this film is a modern-day comedy classic. If you haven’t seen it before, what the heck is wrong with you? Watch it now! Come on, it’s all for the greater good! (“The Greater Good!!”)

Rating: 5/5!

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SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010)

In between the second and third Cornetto films, Edgar Wright took on his first big ‘adaptation’ in 2010; in this instance, the source material was the best-selling graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by author Bryan Lee O’Malley. Wright and O’Malley worked closely on the adaptation, as the film was first announced after the release of the first graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, in 2004. This was right around the time that Edgar Wright was brought on to direct after he had finished work on Shaun of the Dead. This close collaboration resulted in a solidly faithful adaptation of the series, as subsequent entries were released during the film’s long development period. However, the final graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, wasn’t released until after the end of the film’s production, thus having some minor differences while also including some elements from the film itself. Sadly, upon release, the film did poorly at the box-office as it wasn’t able to make back its reported $85 million budget… which is a shame because it’s an awesome film that, like Wright’s other films, is full to the brim with great homages to various facets of pop culture. In the case of Scott Pilgrim, that mainly comes from video games. The whole plot of the film, in which the titular character finds himself having to fight his new girlfriend’s seven ‘evil ex-boyfriends’, feels exactly like something you’d see in a video game, and the film is indeed structured as such. You don’t even need to be a gamer to appreciate this film’s many references, as they lend themselves excellently to terrific bits of visual and dialogue-based humor thanks to the, as expected, excellent screenplay by Wright and Michael Bacall (who also co-wrote the Jump Street films).

Now, with that said, I’ll admit that parts of this film could come off as being rather weird to those who aren’t really part of the gaming/geek community. Even as someone who is a gamer, this film is steeped so far into geek culture that I feel that some may potentially be drawn off by it. Plus, it does take a little while to get going and Scott isn’t always a likable main character, as mainly evident through how he handles his relationship with his previous girlfriend, Knives. However, once Scott finally starts to fight the Evil Exes, the film kicks into high gear to become an awesome mix of action and comedy just like Hot Fuzz, and it features some of the best fight sequences in recent years. And it’s all backed by an entertaining ensemble cast; Michael Cera is great in the title role as is Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Scott’s new girlfriend Ramona. Ultimately, though, the real stand-outs of the film come from Ramona’s Evil Exes, including but not limited to Chris Evans as a ‘pretty good’ action film star, Brandon Routh as a bass player who also has superpowers because he’s vegan, and Jason Schwartzman as the leader of the Evil Exes. Again, there are a lot of weird things in this film, downright goofy even. Thus, it does sometimes feel like the film teeters on the edge of being more style than substance. However, I’d argue that the film is most certainly more than just a series of flashy video-game inspired action sequences. If you’re able to accept all the crazy stuff in this film, you’ll find it to be one of the most highly entertaining films in recent memory. In fact, it's arguably the best ‘video game based’ film ever made… and it isn’t even based on a video game! (well, not primarily, at least)

Rating: 4.5/5

THE WORLD’S END (2013)

As noted before, the Cornetto trilogy didn’t officially become a thing until after the release of Hot Fuzz, mainly due to an unintentional running gag. During the promotional tour for Hot Fuzz, one interviewer pointed out the appearance of Cornetto Ice Cream in both it and Shaun of the Dead. Wright, who had put it in Shaun of the Dead as an effective hangover cure for the character Ed and then used it again in Hot Fuzz as a homage to its appearance in the previous film, joked that this was the plan all along as a homage to Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy. Those films, which were released from 1993 to 1994, were named after the three colors of the French flag; Blue, White, and Red. Each film was then themed around the primary ideals of the French Republic; liberty, equality, and fraternity. But as for Wright and Pegg’s trilogy, while the Cornetto reference was initially just joked about, the two eventually decided to tie it all together. As such, the Cornettos that appear in each film tie directly into their respective themes. A red strawberry Cornetto appears in Shaun of the Dead to signify the film’s bloody horror elements while a blue ‘original’ Cornetto appears in Hot Fuzz to allude to its police themes. And in 2013, this newly designated trilogy concluded with The World’s End, featuring the green mint chocolate chip Cornetto to signify its status as a science fiction story. And while I wouldn’t say that The World’s End is the ‘funniest’ of the three films, it’s arguably the best-written. Of course, being a film written by Wright and Pegg, it’s full of great visual gags, hilarious bits of dialogue, and a sharp attention to detail. For one thing, the opening narration from Pegg’s character, Gary King, directly alludes to future events in the plot, something that also occurred in Shaun of the Dead via one of Ed’s monologues. They even connect the events of the film to the names of the pubs that the main characters visit.

But at the same time, this is arguably the most well-layered script of the entire trilogy. It’s a story about a bunch of friends who attempted to do a legendary pub crawl in their hometown known as ‘The Golden Mile’ when they were younger. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to complete it. Years later, Gary reunites them all, even though the other four have clearly all moved on in their lives, to do it again, as he plans on seeing things through this time to the bitter end (“or lager end!”). Also, did I forget to mention that during this second go-around, they learn that their hometown has been invaded by robots that they refer to as ‘blanks’ or ‘smashy-smashy egg men’? It’s just like Shaun of the Dead, where a rom-com story was based around a zombie apocalypse. In this instance, we have a tale of best friends and a hometown pub crawl that’s set during an alien invasion. Ultimately, though, the whole thing about the main characters redoing something from their past ties directly into the overarching theme of the film. Gary is a person who craves for the more free-spirited adventures of his youth despite the inevitability of growing up. Thus, when he tries to do the pub crawl again as an adult, he soon realizes that things have changed quite a bit since he was younger, both in terms of how his friends have grown compared to him and how much their town has changed since the last time they were there (i.e. invaded by robots). Meanwhile, he’s still stuck in the past and it’s clear that he’s made a mess of his life because of it. By the end of the film, he admits to his best friend, Andy Knightley (Frost), that the reason why he’s still determined to finish the Golden Mile is that, in his eyes, it’s all that he’s got at this point.

This overall theme of growth is also reflected in an effective role-reversal for Pegg and Frost. This time around, Pegg is playing the immature man-child while Frost is the sensible one that tries (and often fails) to get his former best friend to grow up, whereas in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz it was the other way around. And while their characters spend most of the film at odds with each other over an incident from their past, sort of like how Tim and Mike’s friendship from Spaced was impacted by an incident when they were younger, their comedic camaraderie is still just as great as ever, resulting in two of the best performances of their careers and arguably their best from this whole trilogy. And just like the other Cornetto films, they’re backed by an excellent supporting cast, which includes Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, and Eddie Marsan as the other friends in their group (Oliver, Steven, and Peter, respectively) and Rosamund Pike as Oliver’s sister Sam, who happens to be an old flame of Gary’s. Thus, The World’s End is an incredibly satisfying conclusion to this trilogy of films that Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost collaborated on over the course of a decade. Again, it may not be the ‘funniest’ of the three Cornetto films (that honor goes to Hot Fuzz) but it may just be my personal favorite of the bunch because it’s a perfect representation of Wright and Pegg’s overall growth as filmmakers. This results in a film that is surprisingly full of emotional depth amidst all the cheeky British humor.  

Rating: 5/5!

Now, of course, if things had turned out differently, Wright’s next film would’ve been Ant-Man, a project that he’d been working on ever since the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2006. Sadly, he ended up leaving the project in 2014 due to creative differences with Marvel Studios’ now-disbanded Creative Committee. It is indeed a shame that he had to leave on that note on a film that he’d been working on for nearly a decade. Thankfully, though, Peyton Reed managed to do an excellent job in Wright’s place and made sure that the film wasn’t going to turn out as disastrous as the internet expected it to be. And to be honest, Wright was much better off working on a ‘true Edgar Wright’ film like Baby Driver instead of a film where he was clearly going to be limited by the influence of a Creative Committee (which, again, has thankfully been disbanded). Heck, right now we’re dealing with a similar situation with the Han Solo spin-off film. Its original directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, left the project due to creative differences with Lucasfilm, and while they’ve already tapped Ron Howard to take over for Lord and Miller, the internet’s already anticipating a disaster because, of course, it’s the internet. But as I noted last time, I’m sure that it will turn out just fine given the franchise’s recent track record… and by that, I mean everything since Lucasfilm was bought by Disney. Because, after all, Disney’s other big subsidiary franchise, the MCU, managed to do just fine with Ant-Man even after all its scandalous pre-production hubbub. And on that note, if there are still people out there who haven’t gotten over Wright’s Ant-Man departure yet… just remember that everyone involved in that production has clearly moved on from the whole ordeal with little issue.

And that concludes this Directorial Retrospective on the almost-complete filmography of Edgar Wright. Thanks for following along and be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own thoughts on the Cornetto trilogy and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Also, you can expect a review of Wright’s newest film, Baby Driver, sometime this week. Until then… 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63V-ZNDPChU

Ant-Man (2015) review

7 years and 12 films in, it’s ridiculous to think that people are still doubting Marvel Studios even after all they have done in creating the Marvel Cinematic Universe and bringing us into the Golden Age of Superhero films. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Marvel has yet to make a ‘bad’ film and despite all of the talk from Marvel’s biggest critics about how the studio is very strict in terms of forcing their directors to stick to their creative demands, all of their productions have gone by pretty smoothly save for the initial trouble over the search for a director for ‘Thor: The Dark World’. But as for their newest film ‘Ant-Man’, this has easily been the studio’s most difficult production yet. For you see, while ‘Ant-Man’ is now being released as the final installment of Phase Two of the MCU (originally it was going to be the first ‘Phase Three’ film but that honor will instead go to ‘Captain America: Civil War’), it was actually one of the very first projects ever developed for Marvel Studios back in 2006 before the first ‘Iron Man’ film was even released. It was to be written and directed by Edgar Wright, who nowadays is well known as the director behind some of the greatest comedies of the last few years, namely the three films of the ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ in ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’, and ‘The World’s End’. Despite the need for some re-writes in order for the film to fit better into the canon of the MCU, everything seemed to be going well for Wright and Marvel Studios as the film began pre-production with filming set to start in the Summer of 2014.

But then, in May of that year, a major bombshell was dropped as it was announced that Wright would be leaving the project due to ‘creative differences’ with Marvel. And let me tell you folks, I have never seen a greater shift in general perception towards any film quite like what occurred with ‘Ant-Man’. Despite the fact that Marvel managed to move on from this fairly quickly and get production back on track, with director Peyton Reed (‘Bring it On’, ‘Yes Man’) taking over for Wright and Adam McKay and lead Paul Rudd both stepping in to help work on the screenplay, Wright’s departure from the project had a highly negative effect on the film in regards to the general reaction amongst film fans across the internet. Now there were many people who were starting to predict that the film would be a disaster, a first for Marvel Studios. It didn’t help that Ant-Man is generally considered to be one of the more odd characters in the Marvel Universe and keep in mind that this was all before ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ came out and proved that Marvel Studios was more than capable of producing top-quality superhero films based around some of their lesser-known characters (which for the record is pretty much what they’ve been doing since the beginning). Well now that this film has finally come out, it’s safe to say that all of that backlash towards this film solely due to Wright’s departure was completely unfounded as ‘Ant-Man’ proves to be yet another fun and exciting installment of this grand Cinematic Universe and arguably its most unique yet.    

Paul Rudd stars as Scott Lang, an ex-con who struggles to find a stable job after he is released from prison in the hopes of providing child support for his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) after his ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) re-marries. But because his criminal past continually prevents him from finding a full-time job, Scott ultimately ends up taking on another sting op with his ex-cellmate Luis (Michael Pena) and their new partners Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (‘T.I.’). However, instead of a ‘proper score’, Scott only ends up finding an ‘old motorcycle suit’ but soon learns that this suit allows him to shrink down to the size of an insect. Scott is then approached by the creator of the suit, scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who offers him ‘a chance at redemption’. Scott learns that Hank had developed this special technology through the use of subatomic particles but hid it away from the world, even resigning from S.H.I.E.L.D. when he learned that they were trying to replicate his technology, as he feared that it was too dangerous. But when he learns that his former protégé, and current head of his company, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), is on the verge of developing his own form of the Ant-Man technology in the form of the Yellowjacket suit, Hank, along with his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) recruit Scott into their plan to break into Pym Technologies and steal Cross’ technology before it is unleashed upon the world.

By now you’ve probably heard a good chunk of the unfortunately growing backlash against superhero films, with one major argument from these critics being that they’re ‘all the same’. And sure in the grand scheme of things, all of these films are fairly similar in terms of story structure and plot. But I feel that these critics are ignoring the true ‘variety’ of these films in terms of all of the unique characters that Marvel has brought to the big-screen. Ant-Man is no exception as his powers of shrinking and the ability to communicate with ants result in some very cool and unique action sequences, including arguably one of the best finales in any MCU film to date… and it all takes place in Scott’s daughter’s room. At the same time, Marvel once again delivers yet another very fun and entertaining superhero film with everything you can now come to expect from the MCU; excellent visuals (which in the case of this film given Ant-Man’s abilities are very much on display), solid pacing, exciting action sequences, and a screenplay full of hilarious bits of dialogue. And after the bigger-scale exploits of ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’, ‘Ant-Man’ proves to be a nice change of pace as a much smaller-scaled superhero flick. Like I’ve said in the past, I disagree with any of the complaints about why the Avengers weren’t called in to deal with some of the incidents that took place in these films or that films like this don’t really matter that much in the grand scheme of the MCU because that’s not true. Not every superhero film needs to be an ‘Avengers’ film. Solo-based superhero films can be just as exciting and epic as team-based superhero films and thanks to Marvel’s reliance on the former, their lead characters have been fleshed out very well because of that.

One of the other great things about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is how they’ve been able to implement different film genres into their films, from 1970s spy thrillers (‘Winter Soldier’) to ‘Star Wars’ esque sci-fi epics (‘Guardians of the Galaxy’). In the case of ‘Ant-Man’, it’s a heist film a la ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and it’s executed very well. Without saying ANYTHING at all about what this film may have been like under Edgar Wright, Peyton Reed does an excellent job in Wright’s place as he does a great job at handling the film’s humor and action sequences. It just goes to show that nowadays comedy directors can do just as great, and arguably better, jobs than most action directors when it comes to directing films like this. The same occurred last year with the Russo brothers and James Gunn for their respective MCU films. But it’s not all just about the action and visuals; this film also has a lot of heart as well, namely in the two major father-daughter relationships in this particular story, something that hasn’t really been explored that much in the MCU films. Of course there’s the touching relationship between Scott and his daughter Cassie which is the main driving force for Scott in his path of redemption. But the major father-daughter relationship in the film is between Hope and Hank. It’s established very early on that Hope could have easily taken on the mantle of ‘Ant-Man’ but the reasoning for Hank’s objection to this idea, which mainly stems from a tragedy in their lives, makes the arc of their relationship all the more powerful.   

The character of Scott Lang could’ve been a rather tough character to get right on-screen given his criminal background. But thanks to the character’s motive of turning his life around for his daughter and the fact that he’s a superhero without any actual powers compared to someone like Thor or Captain America, he manages to be a very relatable lead and Paul Rudd does a great job in exuding nothing but charisma in the role. Backing him up is Evangeline Lilly, who’s also excellent as Hope Van Dyne. She may not get to do much in terms of action compared to Rudd but that doesn’t mean her role in the film is lessened because of that. Hope’s relationship with her father and the arcs that both of them go through in the film more than make up for it. In fact, I’ve heard that her role was actually expanded on after the whole Wright incident. Speaking of Hank Pym, who better to play the role of the ‘original’ Ant-Man than a Hollywood legend like Michael Douglas? He works excellently alongside Rudd and Lilly and brings a whole bunch of class to this fun superhero adventure. And like with every MCU film, there’s definitely some major scene-stealers in this film’s stellar ensemble cast. In this case, that honor belongs to Scott Lang’s heist partners; David Dastmalchian, T.I., and most notably, Michael Pena, who’s easily the biggest scene-stealer in the entire film. Many of the film’s best comedic moments come from him and I also loved how, in the scenes in which he is talking about how he came across key pieces of information from his acquaintances, all of the characters in that scene talk in his voice.

Now let’s move onto to the one major element of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that always gets the worst rep from critics; the villains. And based on reviews, it doesn’t seem like Darren Cross is going to buck this trend. While I’m usually much more positive about most of the MCU villains than the rest of the internet, unfortunately this is one instance where I’m admittedly a bit more in line with the critics on this one. At the end of the day, Cross is a fairly one-note villain. Heck, he’s not really in the film that much to stand out anyway and he doesn’t even get into the Yellowjacket suit until the film’s finale. But does that mean he’s a ‘terrible’ villain? Actually, the answer is no. Despite his ‘one-note villain’ status, Corey Stoll manages to carry a pretty darn intimidating and villainous presence that, if anything, makes him a much memorable villain than someone like Malekith from ‘Thor: The Dark World’. And that Yellowjacket suit is still a pretty damn cool visual. It’s basically like a much more threatening version of the Iron Man suit. Again, he may not be in the film that much but I’ve always felt that this hasn’t ever been that big of an issue in the MCU films because it allows us to spend more time with our main characters. Not every MCU villain has to be as good as Loki.

At this point in time, it is completely absurd to have any shred of doubt in regards to Marvel Studios because time and time again they have proven their critics wrong and have successfully pulled off projects that many felt were major risks going in. ‘Ant-Man’ is no exception, especially after the whole incident involving Edgar Wright’s departure from the project. Yes it’s sad that Wright ultimately didn’t get the chance to direct this dream project of his and it is even sadder when considering the fact that he spent around eight years working on this film before he left. But while we ultimately didn’t get to see Wright’s take on ‘Ant-Man’, that doesn’t mean that this film is the disaster that some predicted it to be. It’s a MCU film; it’s fun, it’s light-hearted, it’s entertaining, it’s got a great cast, and it’s got awesome visuals and action sequences. It is exactly the kind of top-quality entertainment that you can always expect from Marvel Studios. Is it the absolute best MCU film to date? No, not really but that is by no means a bad thing considering all of the other great superhero films that Marvel Studios has produced since 2008. And with that, ‘Ant-Man’ concludes Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, there have been some controversy from time to time but at the end of the day, I’d argue that Phase Two actually managed to outdo Phase One and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us with Phase Three.

Rating: 4.5/5

Ant-Man: Get over Edgar Wright + Trailer Review

During the premiere of Marvel’s ‘Agent Carter’ a few weeks ago, the first trailer debuted for Marvel Studios’ upcoming finale to Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Ant-Man’, a film that’s had a fairly rough production primarily because of a crucial moment that happened during pre-production where its original director left the project. And because this director is so popular with a lot of people given his resume, pretty much almost everyone is now incredibly doubtful about this film. The Marvel character Ant-Man may not be the most popular comic book superhero in the world but a lot of people were very excited about the character’s film adaptation when it was first announced because it was going to be directed by Edgar Wright, the same man who brought us the modern comedy classics that form The Cornetto Trilogy; ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’, and ‘The World’s End’. But, as we all know, everything changed in May of last year when Wright suddenly left the project due to creative differences with Marvel over the screenplay. I tell you, folks, in all my years as a film fan, I have never seen a more drastic change in opinion towards a film than from what I saw from the aftermath of Wright’s departure with almost everyone now predicting that the film was going to be a major disappointment. Even now after the release of the first trailer for the film, there are still some people who are still mad about the whole Wright situation and I’m sorry, I hate to be rude here but people… GET THE F*** OVER IT ALREADY!!!! Seriously!

Yes, it sucks that Edgar Wright is no longer working on the film and it’s even sadder given the fact that he worked on this project for years (as far back as the early days of the MCU before the first ‘Iron Man’ film was even released) only to back out at the last minute because Marvel rewrote the screenplay behind his back. I’m certain that his take on the film would’ve been amazing because he is a great director as proven by the Cornetto Trilogy. But really, the whole idea of a director having an unrealized project has happened a lot in Hollywood over the years. The same can be said for Stanley Kubrick’s planned Napoleon film or Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film (and yes I’m aware that that film is apparently back in production; I’m just highlighting the fact that Gilliam has had a hard time getting it made). And from what I can tell, the main reason why Marvel had to do rewrites is because Wright’s version of the story wouldn’t have gelled well with the official timeline of the MCU and if you ask me, it’s arguably extremely beneficial for the film as a whole because it keeps continuity in order. And besides, it’s not like Wright’s career is going to fade now because he left the film. He’s got that action crime comedy ‘Baby Driver’ in the works so he’s fine and if you ask me, it’s probably better for him to do a movie of his own where he has full creative control over it rather than working on a Marvel movie where he wouldn’t have as much control and while some may argue that this is always the case with the MCU films, ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ have proven that this isn’t always the case.

Also, can we stop giving Peyton Reed, Wright’s replacement for the film, such a bad rep about this whole situation? I’m serious, the poor guy has quite the shoes to fill when it comes to taking over this film and yet we’re still giving him s*** about it just because his film resume isn’t as renowned as Wright’s. No, I’m not saying that he’s as good as a director as Wright but you know what? The same could be said for the Russo brothers and James Gunn before they did their own Marvel films, and of course, look how they turned out. Ultimately, at this point, why are we even doubting Marvel Studios given all that they’ve done these past few years? This is the studio that made a superhero cinematic universe actually work. They managed to take characters like Thor and Iron Man that weren’t as popular as characters like Spider-Man or the X-Men and do them justice on the big screen to the point where they don’t even need those other characters to make great films. They made a movie where we cared a lot about a frigging raccoon and a tree creature. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; after seeing ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, I now have complete faith in Marvel Studios and whatever they do from now on because they’ve managed to prove their critics wrong time and time again. And while I’m not saying that ‘Ant-Man’ is probably going to be the absolute best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’m confident that it will at least be better than what the cynics are putting it out to be.

Now that I got my necessary rant out of the way, let’s move onto the trailer itself. Now I’m not saying it’s an absolutely ‘perfect’ trailer but from what has been shown so far, it does look promising. One of the biggest things that I like about the trailer is that it shows that this film is doing something that we really haven’t seen from either the MCU or any major superhero film for that matter and that is exploring the concept of a superhero film primarily focusing on a superhero father. In this film, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a petty criminal who we see has a kid and, according to Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), he now has the chance to prove that he’s the hero that his daughter already thinks he is. I really like this plot point as I feel that it’ll add some heart to the story a la ‘Guardians’. Sure, there might not be a lot of humor in the trailer (save for the excellent closing line where Scott asks ‘if it’s too late to change the name’), which I know many were expecting given Rudd’s background in comedy and the fact that the screenplay was co-written by Rudd’s ‘Anchorman’ director Adam McKay, but I’m certain that we’ll see more of the humor in future marketing. Marvel’s already had some fun with the marketing for this movie, including the first poster where Ant-Man is so tiny you can barely see him as well as an ‘ant-sized’ trailer teaser and I don’t ‘ant-sized’ in the fact that it’s a short teaser; I mean literally it’s a super tiny trailer that thankfully got a full-sized version the following day… though seriously, Hollywood, enough of these teasers for the trailer, okay? Anyway…

So in short, I’m still supportive of ‘Ant-Man’ even after all that has happened during its production and I feel that it’s about damn time that everyone stop giving the movie crap just because Edgar Wright’s no longer working on it. Again, it sucks but it’s clear that everyone’s moved on from it. Wright’s moved on and is developing a new film of his own while Marvel has also clearly moved on from the whole Wright controversy as the film has now been shot and is now being prepped for its July 15^th release this year. Could it end up being the studio’s first critical failure (I’m 100% positive it won’t be a commercial failure given the success that Marvel Studios has had)? I’m not going to lie, it could still end up getting a mixed reaction from both critics and audiences. But at this point, it’s unfair and, if you ask me, incredibly biased to still be miffed at Marvel for this whole controversy surrounding Wright’s departure. The film isn’t even out yet so I suggest you all stop worrying about it and just wait and see how the final product turns out. And as someone who is highly supportive of Marvel Studios given all of the great films that they have made, I’m super excited to see this film, and for those who still can’t get over it, all I got to say is…

Don’t look at me, you made me do it!

Thoughts on the Marvel Studios 'Ant-Man' controversy

(UPDATE: After a few weeks, the search for Wright's successor has now come to an end. Peyton Reed ('Yes Man') has been hired to direct the film and although Adam McKay had dropped out of directing the film, he is still on as one of the screenwriters... thank god this mess is finally over!)
 

There have been plenty of films that have had a fairly nightmarish production, including ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘Cleopatra’, and ‘Waterworld’… and that’s just to name a few. As for the major reasons why a film production can run into trouble, there can be plenty of ways that could happen, like a change in director halfway through the shoot (e.g. Richard Donner with ‘Superman II’), location problems (mostly weather-related), or even some hot-headed actors. But at this moment, Marvel Studios is enduring probably one of the messiest ‘production nightmares’ of all time, or at least in recent memory… and the irony is that the film in question hasn’t even started shooting yet. I am of course referring to ‘Ant-Man’, which is currently set to be released in July 2015. However, due to some recent controversy surrounding the film, it’s starting to look like the film won’t be able to make that release date. That is mainly due to the fact that Marvel’s original choice to direct the film recently left the project recently left the project due to complications surrounding the script and right now Marvel is currently looking for someone to take over as director of the film. However, they haven’t been so lucky yet in regards to finding a successor, so much so that it’s almost like this troubled production is actually cursed in the wake of the original director’s departure.

It all started in 2006, before the Marvel Cinematic Universe even got started, when the then recently formed Marvel Studios hired Edgar Wright, fresh off of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and before he did ‘Hot Fuzz’, to write and direct a film adaptation of the character Ant-Man. Wright co-wrote the script with Joe Cornish and after going through a few re-writes, partially done in order for the film to fit into the continuity of the MCU, it seemed like things would be going smoothly. Michael Douglas and Paul Rudd were cast in the roles of the first two characters from the comics that adopted the Ant-Man persona, Hank Pym and Scott Lang, respectively. Other additions to the cast were made, including Michael Pena, Evangeline Lilly, and Patrick Wilson and soon the film was set to go into principal photography… then on May 23, 2014, a bombshell was dropped as it was revealed that Wright had left the project due to ‘creative differences’ with Marvel Studios. It was later confirmed that Marvel was unhappy with Wright’s vision for the film and had ordered rewrites done without Wright’s involvement. Obviously, Wright wasn’t too pleased with these new developments so he decided to leave the project.

Ironically, barely just 24 hours after the announcement of Wright’s departure, another key director stepped down from an upcoming MCU project; Drew Goddard, who was set to be the show-runner for the first of Marvel’s Netflix TV shows, ‘Daredevil’. However, in his case, it wasn’t due to ‘creative differences’ but because he would have had scheduling conflicts with the other superhero property he was tapped to direct, Sony’s ‘Sinister Six’ film. Almost immediately after his departure, Marvel announced that Steven S. DeKnight (‘Spartacus’) would take over Goddard’s duties as show-runner. However, in the case of ‘Ant-Man’… they’re still looking for a replacement for Wright. Adam McKay (‘Anchorman’, ‘Talladega Nights’) was reported to have entered negotiations to direct, but ending up pulling out. Then the next top candidate was Rawson Marshall Thurber (‘Dodgeball’, ‘We’re the Millers’)… he too dropped out of the running. There have been numerous names thrown out as possible contenders for the job, including Ruben Fleischer ('Zombieland'), Nicholas Stoller ('Neighbors'), and Michael Dowse ('Goon'), but there have been some reports claiming that some of these directors have either passed on the job or weren't even considered to be begin with so overall you're going to have to take these bits of news with a grain of salt.

All of this recent controversy has led to some debate in regards to the state of Phase Three of the MCU and some believe that Wright’s departure is going to result in a drop of quality for the films past ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’. Heck some are even saying the studio lost all of their good will because of this whole debacle (which for the record I think is B.S., but that’s beside the point). Really, I’m not too worried about Marvel Studios right now, and no it’s not because I’ve pretty much made it clear that I’m a big fan of their films. The point is that I feel that at this point in time, Marvel Studios has done such a good job at establishing their Cinematic Universe and to date have not made a bad film that I think that ‘Ant-Man’ is going to turn out okay, even if it will probably not turn out as good as it could have been under Wright’s direction. And yes, it does suck so much that Wright’s no longer attached to the film and the fact that all of the hard work that he put into it these past eight years is now going to waste is very, very depressing. But regardless of the sad truth, Marvel has to move on from this and I believe that they will. From the list of directors they’re pursuing to take over the film, it’s clear that they’re looking for a comedic director and that’s fine. After all, if the Russo brothers could come from a comedic background and end up making the best solo film in the MCU to date (yes, I think ‘Winter Soldier’ is even better than ‘Iron Man’), then I think that whoever takes over ‘Ant-Man’ is going to turn out a good film… but again, the film hasn’t even started shooting yet so we’re just going to have to wait and see about that.

As much as they might try to deny it, the studio is technically to blame for this as they were the ones who did the rewrites of the script behind Wright’s back. All I’m going to say about that is that I hope that this is not a sign that Marvel is trying to ‘play it safe’. Of course, this is coming after the release of ‘Iron Man 3’. Sure, the film grossed a billion dollars at the box office and got pretty solid reviews from critics but the whole controversy surrounding the infamous Mandarin twist definitely cast a dark shadow over the film, which is really sad considering that, as I’ve noted before in my review of the film, the twist actually did work. But regardless, it still pissed off a lot of fans and I have a bad feeling that this might have influenced Marvel’s recent actions. Now, I’m not saying that this influenced some of the other films in Phase Two, though ‘Thor: The Dark World’ definitely felt more like it was playing things safer. But anyway, this whole idea of Marvel ‘playing it safe’ is also part of why some fear that the quality is going to drop. Maybe it will, but I won’t be that worried about it and really, even if Marvel Studios ends up making a bad film sometime soon, so what? After all, in Hollywood nothing’s perfect and while I would hate to see it, I have the feeling that one bad MCU film will happen sometime in the future. When it does, I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal because it was bound to happen sooner or later.

But with all that has been said here, going back to the whole ‘Ant-Man’ debacle, I believe that Marvel Studios should do the following. They should postpone the film until they can get things settled. I know that’s probably not what Marvel wants to do right now but at this point I doubt that they will be able to make their proposed July 2015 release date, at least at this rate. I mean, even if they do find a director in the next few days, the film is still set to start shooting mid-2014, which is technically any day now. Whoever this new director will be should at least have some time to prepare before he starts filming it. After all, there’s no greater example of when a director had little time to prepare for a film than in 1992 when David Fincher was hired to direct ‘Alien 3’… and we all know how that one turned out. So overall, I think that Marvel should probably postpone the film at least back to their previously scheduled release date of November 6, 2015. Maybe that will give Wright’s successor enough time to prepare before the film starts shooting. But right now, Marvel is still (emphasis on ‘still’) looking for that successor. While I’m guessing that the final product won’t turn out as good as it would have been under Wright’s direction, I’m still going to stay optimistic about this whole scenario and I don’t think that this will have an extremely negative effect on the future of the MCU. I mean, at this point, just one film can't hurt this studio's incredibly good reputation that much.

The World's End (2013) review

Out of all of the film trilogies that we have seen over the years, one easily stands as the most unique trilogy ever made. That honor belongs to the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (AKA the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy or, just simply, the Cornetto Trilogy), consisting of 2004’s ‘Shaun of the Dead’, 2007’s ‘Hot Fuzz’, and finally, 2013’s ‘The World’s End’. Now, at first glance it may seem that these three films have nothing in common because aside from the fact that all three are directed by Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the lead roles (along with some recurring cast members), each film is part of a different genre. What links them together, you ask? Cornetto Ice Cream, that’s what. It makes an appearance in every one of the movies. Ok, in reality this is mainly just a joke that Wright and Pegg came up with after ‘Hot Fuzz’, but whether or not you consider these films a trilogy, one thing has been certain; these are fantastic films. The previous two films in this ‘trilogy’, ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’, are two of the greatest comedies in recent years, and ‘The World’s End’ is no different. Is it the funniest of the three? Not really, but it’s probably the smartest and a fitting conclusion to this ‘trilogy’.

When they were teenagers, five friends; Gary King (Simon Pegg), Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan), attempted ‘The Golden Mile’, an infamous pub crawl in their hometown of Newton Haven consisting of 12 pubs starting with ‘The First Post’ and ending at the fabled ‘The World’s End’. However, they never made it to ‘The World’s End’. 20 years later, Gary reassembles ‘the old team’ to attempt ‘the Mile’ once again and together the five friends head back to their hometown. When they return, though, they realize that something is different about their town and they soon learn the reason why. The residents of the town have been replaced by invading robots. As the five friends try to survive the night, completing ‘The Golden Mile’ soon becomes the least of their worries.

You have to hand it to writers Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg for these three movies because they are more than just comedies. With ‘Shaun of the Dead’, it was a zombie film, romance film, and comedy film all rolled into one; a loving homage to George A. Romero’s ‘Dead’ series. ‘Hot Fuzz’ was inspired by numerous action films from the 80’s and 90’s. As for ‘The World’s End’, it is, obviously, a sci-fi comedy, and here it seems like they’re mainly taking inspiration from ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. But how does the film fare as a comedy? Well, like with the last two ‘Cornetto’ films, it is very hilarious. Is it the funniest of the trilogy? Not really, but I’d say this film holds the honor of being the smartest written, with a good cast of fleshed-out characters and a few touching moments here and there. The film is very entertaining from beginning to end and there’s never a dull moment.

A lot of this is thanks to the great cast. As the two leads, Pegg and Frost are once again terrific. The dynamic between the two is a little different here than it was in the last two films. Here, Frost’s character Andy is actually rather pissed off at Pegg’s character Gary for an incident that happened years before. In fact, Frost is playing the ‘straight man’ compared to Pegg this time around (sort of a first in this trilogy) and, without spoiling anything, he has some badass moments in this film. But while Pegg and Frost headline the movie as they did in the last two films, the rest of the cast is terrific as well. You can definitely see the great camaraderie that the five friends have and it never feels like Pegg and Frost are overshadowing the other three. Freeman, Considine, and Marsan all have their own great moments in this film.

‘The World’s End’ is one of the most entertaining films of the year. In a year where a lot of comedies have not been that good, this is easily the best comedy of the year so far. I can’t really say that it’s the best, or even the funniest, film in the ‘Cornetto Trilogy’; even that’s up for debate as all three of these films are excellent for their own reasons. But ‘The World’s End’ is probably the smartest of the three thanks in part to its fleshed out characters and Wright and Pegg’s clever writing that has been consistent throughout the trilogy. Whether or not the ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ stands as a true ‘trilogy’ is up for debate, but in the end (no pun intended), they are three of the best comedies of the last decade. It’s just sad that, despite the fact that these are much-loved films, they never do well at the box office (the fact that this might get out grossed by ‘Grown Ups 2’ is just sad).

Rating: 5/5! (The same rating I also give to ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’)

Marvel's 'Phase 2': Part 2: Other Projects

(This is Part 2 of a look into Marvel's upcoming plans to expand their Cinematic Universe. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, I suggest you read that first. Also, like before, this is just based on what has been given so far.)



We've taken care of the next few films for Marvel's lead members of The Avengers, so the question now is what else does Marvel have planned up their sleeves? After all, now that Marvel has confirmed that 'Avengers 2' is in the works and that Joss Whedon will return to write and direct the film, fans are certainly anticipating to see what new characters will be introduced into this cinematic universe that Marvel has created. The following entry will mainly revolve around the two films that Marvel has confirmed recently to be in the works. However, there are certainly many more characters who might join the team for the sequel. Who could those heroes be? Let's not waste any more time and get the ball rolling...



At this year's San Diego Comic Con, Marvel revealed some of their plans for upcoming movies now that Avengers has come and gone with a bang (over 1 billion, to be exact). First, they showed off footage from 'Iron Man 3' and then they revealed the titles for the then-unnamed sequels to Thor and Captain America with 'The Dark World' and 'The Winter Soldier', respectively. But those weren't the only films that Marvel showed off at the event as they also revealed two other movies that were confirmed to be in production. One of these films was a solo film that had already been in the works for a long time while the other film will be about a superhero team that most people might not even know about.





The solo project was 'Ant-Man', a project that has been in development since about 2007. The film will be directed by Edgar Wright and the script will be written by both Wright and his partner Joe Cornish. According to Wright, this new film will include some humorous moments, but it will not be a comedy or a spoof, something Wright has been generally known for having directed 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Hot Fuzz', and 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'. This new movie will feature two incarnations of the character. The first will be the original 'Ant-Man' Henry Pym, who will be Ant-Man during the 1960's. The present version of Ant-Man will be the character Scott Lang, who will take up the mantle of Pym as Ant-Man. Wright has had to alter his script a couple of times in order to fit the chronology of Marvel's universe. Wright has directed test footage at this point and reports say that he will be directing the post-credits scene for 'Iron Man 3' which will feature Ant-Man. At this point, there is no confirmed release date for Edgar Wright's 'Ant-Man'.



The other film that Marvel announced, though, has a confirmed date of August 1, 2014. The characters in question are members of another Marvel superhero team, the Guardians of the Galaxy. This team of intergalactic superheroes first got its start in 1969, but the new film will be based around the 2008 version of the team. It has also been reported that this film will serve as the introduction for the character of Thanos, AKA the big-grinning purple alien from the end credits of 'The Avengers'. So far, there's been no confirmation as to the director of this project but it is likely Marvel will hire someone soon.





Like with the other big name Marvel films that are coming out in the future, we have yet to see any footage from either of these two movies to have any opinion on how they will turn out. In terms of Ant-Man, I'm certainly behind having a director like Edgar Wright helm the project. Wright has certainly proven that he's a talented director and as shown by his filmography he can do some really creative things behind the camera. But the Guardians movie is a different story. I'll be honest, when this project was first confirmed, I had no idea who the **** these guys where and I'm certain a lot of you don't know either. That's not a good sign for a new film when not a lot of people probably don't know a single thing about the characters in it. Plus, is this really the best place to introduce Thanos? I'd much rather wait until 'Avengers 2' if you ask me.



But enough of those two films. There's still the issue of what other characters Marvel might introduce into the team... Well, not being a huge comic book reader, I can't really give my opinion on what characters could join the team. That's more suited for people who have read the comics. All in all, I'm just a guy who's pumped to see what's next for our heroes and I'm eagerly awaiting 'Iron Man 3', 'Thor: The Dark World', 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' and of course, 'Avengers 2'. Sure, I'll even include 'Ant-Man' at this point. Joss Whedon certainly proved that he could deliver an awesome superhero movie with the first Avengers, so I have full faith in him that he can deliver again with the sequel. So that's about all I have to say about this. This has been a look at what Marvel has planned for their Universe now that they have successfully made it all come together. Thanks for reading.