Marvel Round-Up: The Avengers, Deadpool, and Ant-Man Sequels

Listen, I've made my love for Marvel movies quite clear on this blog. But it's also becoming increasingly clear that there are a LOT of Marvel movies to get through every year. It's only July and we've already had four movies out this year, with two more due before January. As such, I am growing wary of posting reviews of each individual film, unless of course, like Black Panther, they utterly blow my mind. So I give you my condensed reviews of the other three Marvel movies I've watched in 2018.

Avengers Infinity War: Do I remember anything about this movie? Um maybe? It was fine, OK? It has a lot of superheroes, including Spider-Man and Black Panther getting in on the action (with a whole set piece in Wakanda in case you were still suffering from Black Panther withdrawal) and Dr. Strange opening up portals all over the place, and it was all visually stunning. The Guardians of the Galaxy finally got to hang out with the rest of the cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which meant the jokes were great and the action sequences were even more out of this world than usual. The movie was also an ode to what an incredible achievement the MCU has accomplished over the past decade. It was particularly gratifying to see scenes where a bunch of women got together to kick ass, showcasing how the MCU has managed to up the estrogen levels in their movies a bit (though much work remains to be done of course). They started with Iron-Man, and now they have this entire coterie of movies and characters to draw upon. That being said, the most intriguing part of this movie was the very end, which reminded me a great deal of The Leftovers (oops, spoiler alert to those niche readers who are fans of both franchises). It definitely made me excited to see Part 2, so Marvel's still got it!

Deadpool 2: Meh. Turns out Deadpool is a bit of a one-trick pony for me. The first movie was a crazy ride and the first R-rated superhero film, and it was magnificent. But Deadpool 2 is more of the same without much more plot, and turns out I don't much care for that. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy 2, where I discovered that while I absolutely LOVED the first installment, the second was just a repetition that wasn't as entertaining once the novelty wore off. If you like foul-mouthed superheroes getting up to all sorts of shenanigans, this is the franchise for you, but if you like something with a bit more meaning and emotion, move right along. The fact that this movie stars Zazie Beetz of Atlanta fame is of course a huge plus, but oh boy, there's only so much breaking of the fourth wall and general schoolboy snark that a girl can take.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: As the movie I've seen most recently, I can say I was pleasantly surprised and refreshed. It was a light and amusing summer movie, the perfect mid-week treat, and wasn't heavy-handed or portentous in any way. Paul Rudd was his charming, effervescent self, Evangeline Lilly got to be a bad ass, and more than anything, the visual effects of this franchise continue to delight me. The chance to play around with size allows for such dazzling creativity, and while much of it was already spoiled in the trailer, I still found myself gleefully cheering along to every action sequence, delighting in how Ant-Man and the Wasp kept getting tiny, then enormous, and weaponizing everyday objects to great effect to thwart the bad guys. If you want an entertaining movie that doesn't make you think too much, this is the perfect escape. And if you stay for the post-credits sequence (the first one, don't bother to stay till the very end for the pointless second one), there's a marvelous call back to Avengers Infinity War that makes the whole MCU come together.

Ultimately, the Marvel machine is adept at tying these movies together and making you want to watch every single installment so you can pick up on all the little Easter eggs from other movies. Not every movie they make is a rollicking success, but they always provide entertainment, no matter how forgettable. You may disagree with my recap of the three sequels above, but I think the one thing we can all agree on is that these movies aren't going anywhere, and no matter how ambivalent I may get about some of them, as long as they toss in a few Black Panthers once in a while, I'll be along for the ride. 

Come Inside My Mind: Robin Williams Laid Bare

Robin Williams' death in August 2014 was devastating news to me. I had not realized what a profound influence this man's work had on my life until the obituaries started pouring in and the number of films I loved that he starred in were named one by one. Jumanji (yes, I know to many this is the silliest one on the list) is a movie I watch any time it is on TV and have loved since I was a child. But when I was older and finally saw Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society, those movies broke my heart every time. Mrs. Doubtfire is an absolute classic, natch, and Hook --oh Hook!-- yet another movie I could watch for days. But putting aside the movies, Williams was always fun to watch on a talk show. He would almost never stay still, having to jump out of his chair and start doing impressions or walk into the audience to get the big laugh. He was this big bear of a man, with a boy's smile and twinkly eyes, and I simply could not understand how he could commit suicide. Well, now we have Marina Zenovich's magnificent HBO documentary, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, to tell the tale of this man we all loved and help us understand him a little bit better.

To me, the best aspect of this documentary is getting to see Robin Williams, the comedian. I've mostly only known him as an actor and haven't watched his stand-up specials. But after this documentary, I shall have to correct that omission. A proper birth-to-death odyssey, we watch the evolution of this man's life, and what led to his education at Julliard, his comic success, and his visceral joy in making people laugh. It also demonstrates his prodigious intelligence - the movie is chock full of outtakes and behind-the-scenes banter that never made it on screen, and through it all you can see what an extraordinarily quick wit Williams had, and why he was the premier comedian of his day.

But of greater importance is his kindness. His friends talk about how he got immersed in his characters and was never quite able to shed them after the movie had wrapped. After filming The Fisher King, he had renewed sympathy for the plight of homeless men on the street. Awakenings led him to befriend a man with Tourette's, whose struggles with his disease seemed to speak to William's own struggles to contain his rapid mind. He was a firm supporter of the USO, doing multiple tours to bring American armed forces some glee when they were stationed overseas. He founded Comic Relief USA with Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal to raise money for the homeless. But all of this took a toll on his family life. His son speaks with some sadness of how his father was always away, trying to help the world, when sometimes he wishes he was just home with his family. As one of his friends said in the documentary, "he needed that little extra hug you can only get from strangers."

Ultimately, while Williams loved comedy and film, it took too much out of him. The drug and alcohol addiction all sprang from a need to cope with his intensity on stage that diminished the second he stepped out of the spotlight. He struggled and was able to maintain sobriety for many years, only to relapse when things became too overwhelming again. The Parkison's diagnosis was likely the final straw, ravaging his brain and making him increasingly paranoid, leading to his suicide at the age of 63. And when I watch that collection of performances on screen, I can't help wondering how many more brilliant movies we might have gotten if his disease hadn't claimed him so soon.

My favorite part of Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is watching the switch between Robin the comedian and Robin the man. That generosity of spirit and self-reflecting wisdom that was so often showcased in his dramatic roles was always present behind the scenes when he had gotten all the manic energy out through his gloriously sweaty stand-up specials.  Robin Williams was a man with many facets and this documentary captures the many ways in which he made his mark on the world. There was no one like him, and never will be again. 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Broadway Magic

I'll confess: when I read the script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child two years ago, I was underwhelmed. But you know what? This is why a play is something you should experience live on stage. Because two years later, I sat down at the Lyric Theater for five hours and experienced the most magical night I've ever had on Broadway. And I don't say that lightly - the special effects in this production are so magnificent that I literally texted all of my friends, "How are they doing this, it's MAGIC!"

A brief word about the logistics of this play. It consists of two parts that are designed to either be watched concurrently on the same night or one after another on consecutive days. If you watch on the same day (like I did) you'll get to see the same actors, but if you choose to break up your viewing, you might have different actors. I was puzzled as to why all the characters were wearing identical clothing throughout the play - Hermione's the Minister for Magic, does she really only own one purple robe? But this makes much more sense when you consider audiences might otherwise get confused as to who is playing what role if the actors change midway through their viewing experience.

The fact that there are two parts should also immediately alert you to the fact that there is a LOT of story to get through. You would think that having five hours would mean that the story would flow smoothly, but you will seriously experience a lot of whiplash while you try to keep up with the brisk scene changes. The stage direction is sublime, and it's little wonder director John Tiffany has been sweeping up accolades for his work, but there's quite a lot of exposition to get through and it can all get a bit overwhelming. During the intermission of Part Two, a very excited young boy and his father who were sitting behind me were discussing everything that had just transpired, and it hit me that the things they were talking about had just happened an hour ago as opposed to three hours ago in Part One. So much had happened in that one hour that it already felt like it was a long time ago. Which is appropriate for a play that deals so much with time travel that by the end of it you have no idea what time you're in.

One of the campaigns of the play is #KeepTheSecrets, i.e. don't tell anyone what you've just seen so they can experience it with fresh eyes when they enter the theater. As a lifelong Harry Potter fan, I cannot deny the wishes of J.K. Rowling, so I'm not going to spoil the plot (you can read the Wikipedia summary or buy the script anyway to get all the details). All I will say is that all of the actors are magnificent, in particular Anthony Boyle, who is considered a Featured Actor in his role as Scorpius Malfoy, but honestly is the star of the entire show, providing consistent comic relief and then sudden emotional heft. More importantly though, I don't want to spoil the details of the special effects on stage, because they need to be seen to be believed. I remember reading the play and thinking, "how on earth could any of this be depicted on stage?" Now I have seen it for myself, and still find myself thinking, "how on earth did they DO that?" It's truly a wondrous night of theater, and the production design, set, and intricate choreography to get everything just right is a marvel to behold. It's quite nerdy to say so, but the scene transitions were my favorite part of the show, because like all great sleight of hand, they keep you immersed in the world while all sorts of machinations go on behind the scenes unbeknownst to you.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a technical masterpiece and feat of wizardry. It's a 4D experience, where the audience gets wholly immersed into the action on stage. I was sitting all the way in the back in the balcony and yet I didn't lose my interest for a second. If you can afford it, splurge for tickets as close to the stage as possible, but if you cannot, don't worry, you're still going to be blown away. 

RBG: Quiet Feminism

This week, I finally got around to watching RBG, the documentary about US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, affectionately nicknamed Notorious RBG for her scathing dissents on opinions made by the increasingly conservative Court. All of my girlfriends had already seen this movie so I walked in with some trepidation that there was no way it would live up to their collective hype. Turns out, you simply cannot rave about this movie (and this woman) enough.

The first thing I noticed were the opening credits. As each name came on screen, I started to realize that every person making this film appeared to be a woman, from the music supervisor (Miriam Cutler), to the cinematographer (Claudia Raschke), to the editor (Carla Gutierrez), to the co-directors and producers (Betsy West and Julie Cohen). So right at the outset, I knew this movie was taking a stand. Believe me, as a lady who watches a lot of movies, I am NOT used to seeing this level of female engagement behind the scenes, so it already gave me a frisson of delight to begin the movie in this fashion.

And then we dive right in to the wonderful and inspirational life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a woman who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, went to Cornell, then to Harvard Law, worked with the ACLU to represent cases on sex discrimination and gradually chip away at gender inequality, until she was eventually appointed as justice on the appellate court by Jimmy Carter, and finally an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1993 by Bill Clinton. That is a whirlwind of accomplishment, but watching how she accomplished it is rather astonishing. I did not realize that Ginsburg is a small, quiet, and reserved woman, and to watch her dismantle gender inequality using her exquisite intelligence and strategic thinking is like watching the world's greatest Chess Grandmaster at play.

Behind every great woman is a man, and while this movie is emphatically about celebrating Ruth, I would be remiss if I didn't mention her shockingly feminist husband Marty, who never saw any reason not to support his wife and give her career precedence over his. He had no qualms about giving up his successful career in New York to follow her to Washington, and he lobbied like crazy on her behalf when there was a chance she could be nominated to the Supreme Court. It made me wish more men were that matter-of-fact about recognizing and championing the brilliant women in their lives, and thought nothing of stepping aside to let them have the spotlight. I have no idea what happened in Marty's life to make him such a feminist, but we need more men like him around today.

But more than Marty, we need more women like Ruth. She embraced what her mother always told her, to "be a lady" and never get angry, which is why she was such a successful lawyer. She was passionate about her cases, but she never allowed herself to get swept away by emotion or raise her voice in court. Instead, the film gives us audio recordings of Ginsburg during her most famous cases (both as laywer and judge) and listening to that cool, calm, and wickedly incisive woman delivering her intricately worded arguments or questioning foolish logic from lawyers fighting on behalf of gender discrimination is one of the greatest pleasures known to woman. She fought with words and with the law, and by doing so, she was able to grant women so many more opportunities in daily life and give them a chance to get ahead in the world.

The final part of the film is a little dismaying, because now Ginsburg is mostly famous for dissenting from her conservative colleagues and is unable to hold much sway over the court. With the resignation of Justice Kennedy, and the possibility of losing the court for another generation and even overturning Roe v Wade, it's hard to see how much we could have had if the Democrats had stayed in power and Ginsburg had more liberal colleagues to progress an agenda of social justice and fairness. But putting all that aside, this movie still made me so happy to see a woman who embodied everything that a woman should be. Intelligent, feminist, and a champion for her fellow women. Like Madeleine Albright said, "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other." After watching RBG, I'm certain that Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be going to a very special place in heaven.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? Look for the Helpers

I've been excited to see the Mr. Rogers documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor? ever since I saw the trailer months ago. In these trying times, a documentary about a kind and thoughtful man who only wanted to help children and tell everyone that they deserve to be loved is exactly what we all need. And boy, that is exactly what this film delivers.

I won't lie - is this movie a bit of a hagiography? Sure. It highlights everything that made Fred Rogers a man that a generation of adults and children relied on for care and comfort. There are some uncomfortable topics that come up, like when he told Francois Clemmons, who played Officer Clemmons on the show, that he could never let the public find out he was gay as that would ruin the image of the show. But Fred and his wife never shunned Francois, and there's an emotional moment when he talks about how Fred was like a father to him, because no man had ever really told him he loved him before.

And that's the power of Mr. Rogers. He told everyone that he loved them, that they were special, unique, and fully deserving of love from the people around them. He also didn't dismiss childish worries. He understood that children worry about things, and are scared a lot of the time, and rather than just patting them on the head and telling them everything would be OK, he encouraged them to talk about their feelings, acknowledged those feelings, and told them that it was OK to have those feelings. He never pretended those feelings would completely go away, but he sure did convince you that people around you would help you when you were blue.

This movie follows the creation of the show, the purpose of each puppet and storyline, as well as the brilliant Senate testimony Fred Rogers delivered that secured $20 million funding for public television when no one was convinced that the arts was worth a penny. His ethos and philosophy is the central tenet of this movie, and it is moving and uplifting to find a man who managed to bring so much happiness to the world around him with the simple concept of listening to people and validating their concerns.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? is a sweet and powerful film that reminds us to be kind. It's a reminder that we can never hear enough times. The final moments of the movie are particularly moving as the filmmakers ask each person they've interviewed to take a minute to think about someone that helped them in their life. You in the audience will also take a beat to think of a helper in your life, and that will bring you some melancholy joy. When my friend Katie and I walked out of the theater and back into the real world, I turned to her in despair, and said, "Katie, who are the helpers now?" And she replied, "The ACLU?" So yes, we still have helpers, whether it be the ACLU, or just the people in your daily life who make you smile, give you a shoulder to cry on, or tell you that they hear you. Don't forget the helpers, they're around you everyday.