Review: Ant-Man

Marvel movies have stopped being a must see event for me post Guardians of the Galaxy. To date I have still not watched Avengers 2 as I don't feel I need to watch a retread of the original film regardless of the fact I liked that movie. So what attracted me to seeing Ant-Man? Frankly it was Thomas the Tank Engine. That blurb from the commercials showing the hero battling the villian, Yellow Jacket, shrunk down on top of a toy Thomas evoked actual laughter from my cynical self. But past that I wasn't impressed with the movie from what I've seen so far and written it off as "Yep, it's another Marvel film". 

Choo-choo Mother F*cker!

And that isn't an exaggeration as it feels similar to the other Marvel films. It holds to the similar tropes of the MCU's other flicks within the superhero genre. And, yes, it's time to start examining these types of films, superhero films, as genre films unto themselves; that's a bigger subject for another day. So at the very least I anticipated a fun flick that might have some elements that stick with me after the house lights come back up. Surprisingly Ant-Man is now being inducted into my personal collection once it hits Blu ray. It was a damn fun film; it satisfied my craving for action and the fantastic beyond my original expectations. It also delivered in an area that I wasn't expecting from this heist flick: heart. 

"He kept his gimp suit in a vault?!?"

 

This is an area that is really a hit or miss when it comes to any movie; you can have the greatest actors in the world with the best script written and still feel cold and clinical. Usually these are best picture winners for award ceremonies. Here it feels like this cast and crew felt that even within the Marvel brand they are the underdogs and for that reason threw themselves even more into their roles to make the characters just feel real and welcoming into their niche within the bigger picture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ant-Man did this, even after all of the Edgar Wright troubles ended, and kept the initial promise of a heist flick with solid laughs. I was pleasantly surprised when watching this movie just how damn much fun I was having here. And I knew the movie was a success when it can make you feel for ants. Yes, I said ants.

D'awwwwwww.

The traditional pest became heroes in their own right in this film and I found myself thinking of the ants Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) works with as part of the team instead of just cannon fodder. Speaking of Rudd he was apparently born to be a superhero instead of a bumbling comedic actor the whole time. Who knew? He is also a father who is trying to get back into his young daughters life after serving time in prison for burglary. His kid, Cassie, is adorable by the way.

Diabetic coma inducing level cute.

 If I had a daughter like her I would put on a super suit to save the world if it means I get to be in her life again. Yeah it was kind of sappy and soft but Rudd made the exchanges between them just pleasant and moments I looked forward to seeing.

Deal with it.

I also enjoyed Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. The man has been a favorite actor of mine for decades and finally seeing him in a big budget effects flick as a hero was bliss. Evangeline Lilly as the new, film created character, Hope Van Dyne was sold to me as a wild card who's loyalties were unclear. That is bullshit. She is very clear as to her loyalties and she is a force to be reckoned with; I'm certain she will be more prominent in future Marvel films.

Gee...wanna guess who she will end up as?

In fact having Hope is a boon as now the films have an original, strong, female hero to take point. Black Widow was somewhat wasted as a second banana amongst egomaniacs, gods, giants, and war heroes as she faded into the background or was written as soft as perceived by some fans. Hope can cut loose and be a front-line personality easily. 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the action in this film some more. I found the innovative use of size and space for the battles refreshing. Yes there is lots of punching bad guys in the face, lots of gun fire too, but fluctuations in size which alter the battlefield made the movie light up in a manner that I'm afraid won't be successfully transmitted via advertisements. 

Ant-Man may not be the biggest grossing film for Marvel but do not discount its ability to make the audience transform into little kids full of awe and wonder with almost as much heart as Guardians of the Galaxy. That comparison alone makes Ant-Man a winner and it won over this jaded prick.

On the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Fundraising and awareness are wonderful things. Through them people become informed about issues that can harm people as well as raise capital to support finding solutions for the aforementioned issues.  Yet with regard to the Ice Bucket Challenge I find a few points that sour the experience and will prevent me from joining in the campaign (but not from donating towards a cure). 

The first point that I have noticed through social media and tv programs that discuss this is a shaming of those that criticize any aspect of this. Seriously. There emerges a gang level mentality of those that are pro this movement (or any popular movement) where the mass erupts in many different ways to defend itself from any and all perceived attacks. An example is one that I watched happen via social media where a person I know was shamed into doing this after previously stating they would not and gave many reasons why.

But I suppose beating down a persons resolve so they can "see the errors of their ways" and become part of the mass once more is all par for the course of being a good person, right? Hell I'm absolutely expecting the shaming, the insults, the attempts to get me to open my mind and reconsider, the attempts to get me to ask forgiveness by participation. 

Good luck with that. 

And the damnedest part is that once a person rejects the course of action of the masses the individual becomes vilified and disliked. In my case I'm used to being the villain; it comes with the territory if being a ginger.

The most pressing point I have about the Ice Bucket Challenge is it wastes a finite resource: fresh water. Yes I know that it's not much per each challenge however that usage just keeps adding to the already wasteful treatment of our fresh water reserves. This challenge adds more strain on all the water wasted from poor municipal infrastructure, leaky pipes, excessive watering of lawns, filling swimming pools, and so on. 

Now we think that this is no big deal to use our fresh, drinkable water for such a good cause. Is that a case of American Priveledge? Not really as other countries have adopted similar challenges for causes other than ALS. So then is this First World Priveledge? Quite possibly yes. First world countries have access to better living conditions and more resources than others have. In turn we are more 

Iikely to indulge in excess; especially when that excess is for a good cause.

Now am I a saint that never wastes water? No way. I know I am bad about my water usage some days but I have been trying to curb excess use as much as possible. Just do some research about the area you live in and check rain fall totals as well as drought conditions. Just some cursory research can show you that our water reserves are not as strong as we perceive them to be. 

Again bringing ALS to the collective mind and generating funding to help put down this disease is a grand, noble endeavor. My challenge to those who are advocating this is as follows:

Can we come up with another way to raise awareness and generate funding for ALS without wasting our water? 

Goings on in the world outside of Blogger.

The biggest things outside of classes going along swimmingly is I've been doing a project over at Outright Geekery called The 37 Movie Blitz where I've tasked myself to watch 37 randomly selected films and write about the experience of it all.

So far I've fallen a bit behind on the writing part mostly due to my summer class I was taking as well as the World Cup going on. The film watching is coming along well and I cannot wait to get this all out there into the interwebs for people to read.

The cool thing is the page's lord and master and I want to do something special when its all done. I'll keep you all posted about what that is when it comes to light. In the meantime check out Outright Geekery to see how this is going.

By the way if you're curious here is the list of the films being screened.