Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – Movie Review

TL;DR – While individual elements work, when you combine them with a story that feels kitbashed together from other/better narratives, you get a bit of a disappointment.     

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Kang shows his full power.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review

Sigh … okay, let’s do this. I feel before I go on that, somehow, I need to build a touch of credibility on the topic of Ant-Man. I don’t know why, but let’s just go with it. I unashamedly love Ant-Man, as well as, Ant-Man and the Wasp. The first Ant-Man was a perfect coda to Phase 2, a surprisingly fun romp through San Francisco and size. The second was a breath of fresh air in-between the dourness that was the two Avengers. I loved that we were getting a third, but something in the marketing campaign made me pause … I think I should have listened to that part of myself.

So to set the scene, after helping to save the world in Avengers Endgame, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has tried to be a better father to Cassie (Kathryn Newton) who he has years of catching up to do, and a better boyfriend to Hope (Evangeline Lilly). All while writing a best-selling book. However, that ball of calm is crushed when Cassie is arrested at a protest, and her grandparents Hank (Michael Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) might have been supporting her more rebellious side. But it is Cassie’s work in trying to chart the Quantum Realm that brings everything unstuck. Because as they knock at the door of the realm, something knocks back and sucks them all in. Now it is time for Janet’s past to catch up to her in the future.

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Movie Review – Extinction

TL;DR – This is a film with a lot of promise and an interesting hook, but it’s missing that final level of polish needed for a film like this and the ending did feel like a cop-out.

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Extinction. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review

It has been a good year for Science Fiction TV on Netflix, I mean it is only halfway through the year and we have already had such gems as Altered Carbon (see review), Lost in Space (see review), Star Trek Discovery (see review) & The Rain (see review). However, when it comes to Science Fiction films it is a bit more of a mixed bag, ranging from the excellent Annihilation (see review) to the quite disappointing TAU (see review). Today we look at the next film that Netflix has saved after having its theatrical release pulled Extinction, which has some good ideas going on but didn’t quite get there with the execution.

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Movie Review – Ant-Man and the Wasp

TL;DR – A fun self-contained romp in the MCU that has all the charm of the first film with a bit more focus and a more interesting opponent.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene

Ant-Man and the Wasp. Image Credit: Marvel/Disney

Review

Ant-Man (see review) was a bit of an odd duck of a film when it first came out. It followed on from Avengers: Age of Ultron (see review) as a kind of epilogue to Phase Two even though it didn’t kind of fit there. As well as this, it had the misfortune of being one of the two films in Phase Two where Marvel had big director missteps, with Edgar Wright stepping away from the project. It had all the makings of Marvel’s first big complete failure, yet it wasn’t. Indeed it was a fun little heist film with a lot of charm. Part of this has to be the groundwork Edgar laid down, but also the commitment of the actors to just go for it. Ant-Man was also one of those crystallising moments that showed that Marvel needed to work on a few things behind the scenes and the fruits of those decisions have been films like Black Panther (see review) and Thor: Ragnarok (see review). With this in mind, today we look at the first direct follow up which fixes one of the issues from the first film, and we see that right in the title because today we are looking at Ant-Man and the Wasp.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked from Best to Last

 

When I was putting together my map of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (see here) as a way of ignoring the fact that Infinity War is coming this week and I’m not ready, I knew that at some point that I would have had to look at the MCU as a whole. There is always trepidation when looking at lists like this because first how do you actually nail down your top five and then not want to change it moments later. As well as this, these are deeply personal films for people and my list is not going to look anything like your list, maybe, maybe not.

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Map-It – Mapping Infinity: The Cartography of the MCU

TL;DR – Today with the next Avengers release imminent we take a look at where on Earth we have visited during Phase One, Phase Two, and Phase Three

Avengers 1Article

I like I think a lot of people have been sitting around with nervous excitement/suspense for Infinity War that drops next week at the time of writing and I thought it best to funnel that nervous energy into something productive. So since I like maps and I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I thought it would be interesting to map out where the MCU has visited during its three phases up to this point.

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Explore-It: ‘Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe’ Exhibit at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) Brisbane

TL;DR – Today I explore and muse on the current Marvel Exhibit at GOMA in Brisbane
GOMA Exhibit

Article

One surprisingly warm winter day I went for a walk from the Central Business District across the River and down to Brisbane’s Cultural Precinct nestled along the river front. Among the brutalist style buildings that include the Lyric Theatre, State Library, and State Museum is GOMA or the Gallery of Modern Art. Now I am not just here because winter in the subtropics is a beautiful time of year to go for a walk, no I’m here to explore one of the exhibits they have on at the moment, ‘Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe’. Before we start just a heads up that there will be more than a few images in this article so you may want to double check that you have your phones on wifi, not mobile data.
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Countdown: My Top 10 Films for 2015

At this time of year top ten lists abound everywhere, so Who am I to disappoint, also I love a good countdown. So with that in mind here are my top ten films of 2015, though just to start here are a few Highly Commended films that fall just out of the Top 10Pitch Perfect 2, Jurassic World & Chappie

Mad Max Fury Road. Image Credit: Warner Bros./Roadshow.
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Movie Review – Ant-Man

TL;DR – A surprisingly fun little film, a good introduction to the character that make you excited for the possibilities for the future.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Ant-Man. Image Credit: Marvel/Disney.

Review

Out of all the recent Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies* Ant-Man has probably had one of the more rocky developments, it lost its director, it is also not one of Marvel’s best-known characters. So there was potential for this to be Marvel’s first big stumble, thankfully the final product really works.

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