Avengers: Infinity War – Luckily, it didn’t take me nearly as long to get to this one as it did to finally see Black Panther. Because holy cow this was probably my movie of the summer. But we’ll just have to wait and see how Solo is.
Let’s start off by saying yeah, there’s a lot going on here, and you’ve got at least a dozen movies to watch if you really want to understand what’s going on with most of these characters. But since I’ve seen them all (except Ant-Man, but he wasn’t in Infinity War) it was all good for me. To give the very most basic gist of it: you’ve got three groups of super-heroes going about their business to stop the warlord Thanos from exterminating half the life in the universe. Iron Man and friends in space out to stop Thanos at his base of operations; Captain America and friends on Earth trying to destroy Vision’s infinity gem to thwart Thanos’ plan; and Thor, Rocket, and Groot out in a different part of space on a quest to forge a weapon strong enough to defeat Thanos.
Despite having to jump back and forth between several different plot lines, Infinity War never gets muddled. A lot of characters barely get any screen time outside of fight sequences, but you expect that. I was just happy that Spider-Man and Dr. Strange got to be pretty focal characters. But speaking of focal characters, I think the most important thing to take away from this whole movie is Thanos himself. They did an amazing job of giving him a ton of personality and making him unexpectedly sympathetic even though his endgame is to exterminate 50% of all life. And it’s all in the sake of bringing “balance” to the universe, because his own home planet was destroyed by overpopulation. He’s not really evil, he’s just grossly misguided and unfortunately, has the power to achieve his goals. My knee-jerk reaction is that Thanos is probably one of my favourite movie villains of all time. Right up there with Darth Vader and Freddy Krueger.
TMNT: Out of the Shadows – I was browsing through my Netflix queue on a Friday night, and nothing there appealed to me. So instead I watched this. I think I made the right choice.
It’s the second live-action TMNT movie from Platinum Dunes, and hands down the better of the two. For one, the Turtles get a lot more screen time. Secondly, it’s got wonderful, cartoony incarnations of Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady. I also quite like Tyler Perry as Baxter Stockman. Shame they’ll never make a third movie, because I really want to see what they do with his mutated form. Anyway, this is one of those “fun summer action movies” which I guess wouldn’t grade as an Actual Good Film, but certainly I don’t regret having watched it three times now.
Deadpool – No, I hadn’t seen it until now. I know, I’m the worst. I had been meaning to forever, and only finally got around to it because a friend invited me to go to see Deadpool 2.
I liked Deadpool, but I think that too many people giving it too much praise made me go in expecting too much. Like, it was really good, but it didn’t change my life. I still think the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are the best Marvel has to offer and Thor: Ragnarok is the funniest. Also, I have no idea why being in the oxygen deprivation tube thingy made Wade’s skin all gross? Maybe I missed the line explaining it, or just don’t have the scientific knowledge, but it didn’t make any sense to me. Whatever.
I’m sorry, that’s too much complaining. Deadpool is great! Watch it!
Deadpool 2 – People seem to be pretty strongly split on it, but I am firmly in the camp that believes Deadpool 2 is highly superior to the first film. Because it is. That’s a fact.
While the first one was very good for an origin story (they’re always so formulaic), Deadpool 2 goes a long way to mix things up. …Okay, it does a few things here and there to mix things up. It still follows the typical superhero formula, but at least there are a few surprises along the way. Like how the whole X-Force thing plays out. I honestly didn’t see that one coming. And now I’ve kind of spoiled it for you by even saying that something unexpected happens. Whoops!
Anyhow, this movie obvious shines brightest through its sense of humour. The jokes are fast and furious, as expected, and there are plenty of great fourth-wall breaks. In particular, I was happy that there was finally a little payoff for DP whining about how there are never any X-Men besides Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Xavier’s mansion. And the mid-credits scenes… ah, beautiful! Yes, you may have heard some internet rumblings about some “fridging” issues, but to that I say… whatever. It’s not like it turned the movie into a clichéd quest for revenge. It broke Deadpool with guilt and pushed the plot along by making him be an even bigger jerk than usual. But that’s a whole other can of beans. For now, just know that I highly recommend Deadpool 2.
My Friend Dahmer – Somehow, Saturday evening has become a time where my mother and I watch movies together. Which is fine, except for our tastes couldn’t be any more different.
This is the story of Jeffery Dahmer, infamous serial killer and cannibal. Except it’s not really about all that stuff. It’s about how he was in high school. And, I wish I had know that ahead of time, just so that I knew nothing was really going to happen. My mom also wishes she knew, because she never would have even watched the film in the first place.
I don’t think it’s bad. It’s an interesting look at how this guy was before he was a monster. And he was still a big ol’ weirdo, though mostly in ways that wouldn’t make you think he’s someone to be afraid of. At least until later on when he starts being preoccupied with what people an animals’ insides look like. I do wonder how much of this is factual and how much was played up to make a more captivating movie. In either case, it made me wonder how Dahmer would have turned out if he’d had a more stable family life. You know, nature versus nurture and all that. But I guess that’s why it’s a debate; we’ll never really know which way the other path would have gone.
