DVD Review: Destroyer

Get some rest.

Years earlier, Detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) had an undercover operation go south and it resulted in her partner's death. When the man at the center of it all, Silas (Toby Kebbell) reappears, Bell needs to settle the score.

This film was supposed to be an Oscar vehicle for Kidman but mediocre reviews sunk her campaign, which is ridiculous because she's amazing here. I expected to feel like she was maybe trying too hard for it the way some people described this performance but I didn't get a hint of pretension anywhere. She's just damn good.

This film isn't as messy as I expected it to be either. Sure, nothing quite reaches the level that Kidman is at, but the rest of the cast including Sebastian Stan and Tatiana Maslany do well too. I think what it was lacking was a bit more character development. I would've rather the film completely removed all of the scenes with Erin's daughter and instead replaced them with ones letting us get to know Chris (Stan) more and perhaps Silas himself. I felt like there was a lot missing there.

While this may not be perfect, Kidman's performance is and this should definitely be seen for her.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B-

Memorable Quote "You know I do." - Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman)

Review: Avengers: Endgame

Whatever it takes.

After Thanos (Josh Brolin) succeeds in snapping half the universe away. The remaining Avengers, faced with the first loss must find a way to undo what has happened as they do not get to move on.

Saying I was excited for this film is a massive understatement so did this three hour epic live up to all my hours of fan girling? 

Don't worry, I'll respect the #DontSpoilTheEndgame movement and not go into too much detail but the scope of this movie is really extraordinary. While Infinity War perfectly balanced different groups and locations, Endgame plays like Avenger's greatest hits. It is three ours of complete fan service and it's a wonderful thing that this movie was made for the fans who support this universe through twenty two movies. 

The stars of this movie are most certainly Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. They're the heart and soul and they give wonderful performances. Scarlett Johansson also has her best outing as Natasha and characters like Nebula and Ant-Man get far more to do this time around.

There's some things I'm not crazy about. One of them being a huge spoiler, the other not so much, and that's Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. Pepper as a character has potential, but Paltrow plays her so insufferably. There's two scenes she's a part of in this film that are packed with so much emotion and she absolutely sucks the life out of said scenes the moment she enters them. If you don't mind Paltrow as a actress, that likely won't happen to you, but it was a massive buzzkill for me. 

Thankfully, there's so much more to love. The stakes are high, the score is beautiful, and the signature Marvel humor is still there. There's wonderfully badass moments that will require repeat viewing just to catch them all.

I'm still so over the moon about this movie I can barely string words together. (which is probably obvious by this review) I'm so glad I watched this on opening night with a crowd that clearly loves these films as much as I do. What an experience, I've never cheered so loudly in a film before. 

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A-

Memorable Quote: "That's America's ass!" - Scott Lang (Paul Rudd)

Thursday Movie Picks - TV Edition: Music/Musicals

It's another TV edition from Wandering Through The Shelves and this time we're focusing on music. Right off that bat, I'll admit I didn't watch Glee or Smash, so there go the two most popular TV musicals from recent memory, but here's what I do have for you..

1) Hairspray Live

Hairspray is probably my favorite stage musical and I enjoyed most of this. My biggest issues where the actors who played Link, Penny, and Seaweed, they weren't nearly as strong as the rest and dampened my enjoyment a bit, but it was still a solid show overall. 

2) S Club 7

Where my fellow 90's kids at? If you don't recognize the name of the show you probably couldn't escape their "Never Had A Dream Come True" single that was released in 2000. I decided to give myself a refresher and watch a clip of this and it was pretty bad, but little me enjoyed it. 

3) TRL

*stereotypical back when MTV played music voice* Ahh Total Request Live. Mostly the same songs each week but hey sometimes they had special guests. I liked watching this. 

Underrated Performances from the New Avengers

On Saturday, I focused on our original Avengers and some of their underrated performances, but today I want to focus on the new Avengers who came along during phase two and after. These are the Avengers I expect to continue carrying the torch post Endgame.

1) Don Cheadle - Manic

This may have been the movie that Joseph Gordon-Levitt started being taken seriously as a dramatic actor but Don Cheadle as a doctor in the institution where this takes place is a very quiet, understated performance.

2) Anthony Mackie - Shelter

Paul Bettany directed his fellow Avenger about a homeless man in NYC. This is the most broken down I've even seen Mackie in a film. Easily his best performance.

3) Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

I've talked about this film a lot on my blog, and I still stand by the fact that she should've gotten an Oscar nomination for this. 

4) Paul Bettany - The Da Vinci Code

Before y'all say ANYTHING about this movie, I actually liked it and Bettany was great. He was putting a lot into this performance.

5) Paul Rudd - The Oh! in Ohio

His character in this movie is kind of a sleaze, but it's really good all around and it's not something I hear discussed often when I hear people talk about Rudd.

6) Chadwick Boseman - Get On Up

Even though Boseman didn't do his own singing in this biopic, he did all the dancing and was convincing as hell. This film felt like it came and went pretty quickly. I didn't get to see it in theaters, but caught it on DVD after the fact.

7) Tom Holland - The Impossible

Holland's filmography is still growing but he made a great impression in this disaster movie. I'm still so glad I didn't see this in theaters, just to save myself the embarrassment of crying the ENTIRE TIME in front of other people

8) Benedict Cumberbatch - Wreckers

This is a little film he did with Claire Foy and they're both wonderful in it. It asks a lot of questions and keeps you guessing. It's something I'd like to watch again.

9) Evangeline Lilly - The Hurt Locker

Time for my cheat. Aside from her small part in The Hurt Locker I've only seen Lilly in Ant-Man, those dreadful Hobbit movies, and Lost. That's it. Nothing else.. I didn't want to leave her out completely, so I chose her in this since she was fine. I wouldn't call anything she did in Lost underrated since that put her on the map. 

10) Brie Larson - Short Term 12

All those "Brie can't act!" morons can take several seats and watch her in Short Term 12, a criminally underrated movie where she was tremendous along with the rest of the cast.

Underrated Performances from the OG Avengers

Ahead of Avengers: Endgame, I thought I'd look back at the past performance of our original Avengers line up. I almost went with my favorite non-Marvel performances, but then I decided I'd rather talk about some of their films that are more on the underrated side. 

Robert Downey Jr -  I've got go with his very understated performance in Fur. You don't see his face for most of the movie so it's his voice and his eyes that are conveying everything, and I think it's a wonderful performance of his. I really liked this movie although I know plenty did not. 

Chris Evans - I feel like early Chris Evans didn't take a lot of roles that let him flex his acting skills, but that changed with Puncture. This was the first film of his I saw that I felt like he stepped out of his comfort zone. It was very meaty. 

Chris Hemsworth - I have to cheat a bit here. Hemsworth does a lot of bigger budget action movies and that's essentially all I've seen from him. That said, I think his best performance is in Rush. People tend to talk about Daniel Bruhl the most in reference to that movie, but Hemsworth was good too.

Scarlett Johansson - Johansson's always had a very mature career. She never had to play a high schooler well into her 20's, she always seemed to grab interesting roles even when she was young. One that I don't think gets talked about enough is more recent, and it's her turn as a romance movie loving woman in Don Jon. I don't think she gets enough credit for how funny she was in this and her accent was absolutely perfect. 

Mark Ruffalo - Funny thing about Ruffalo, he was not an actor I liked at all until around 2010. He did the McConaughey thing for me. There just came a point where I started enjoying him and his movies more. One movie he never seems to get enough attention for is Infinitely Polar Bear. Sure, he got a Globe nomination but he should've gotten more. That was such a lovely film.

Jeremy Renner - I haven't seen a lot of Renner's movies to be honest, at least not a lot of his smaller ones. He played that pervert in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, which I saw, but a lot of his early work has escaped me. Because of that, I'm going to go with Wind River. Sure, this is recent and popular with Film Twitter but it doesn't appear to be popular anywhere else and it should've been for how important it was. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Interviews

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is about interviews. I struggled thinking of films where interviews were central to the movie, aside from one of my picks, but the two other films have very memorable interviews in them.

1) Frost/Nixon

It took me forever to watch this from start to finish and when I did I couldn't believe I sat on this for so long. It was so well done. Obviously the interview between David Frost and Richard Nixon was the main selling point of this movie.

2) Step Brothers

This is one of my all time favorite comedies and Brendan and Dale being forced to go out for job interviews was a great scene. "Are you saying Pan?" 

3) Atonement

Briony's interview at the end of this film is what reduced me to a sobbing mess. The truth hurts. 

Ranking The MCU Films

As we come upon Avengers: Endgame, the start of a next phase, what a wonderful legacy to look back on. Also, I haven't been to see a lot of new movies so might as well post what everyone else is doing too. Here's my ranking of the MCU films. I think it's slightly different than a lot of the other lists I've read, at least when it comes to the lower ranked films. 

The Best

1) Captain America: Civil War

This remains my favorite Marvel film. I absolutely love the arcs Steve and Tony get and it was a great introduction to Black Panther and the newest version of Spider-man. It also give us the first taste of a bigger team coming together.

2) Infinity War

I've re-watched this so many times within the past year and it keeps rising up on my list. I'm not sure it will ever bump Civil War from the top, but this film is so special.

3) Thor: Ragnarok

It turns out Thor, who was already a pretty great character just needed to get in touch with this ridiculous side. This was hilarious. 

4) Black Panther

Rarely does an origin story come together as well as Black Panther. The characters, the costumes, the rich villain, this has it all.

5) Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Chris Evans plays Captain America so well I can't help but love his set of films the most. This works as a wonderful spy film and I loved the rapport Steve and Natasha have in this one.

6) Avengers: Age of Ultron

Everyone hates on Age of Ultron but it's still one of my favorites. I love the introduction of Wanda, Pietro, and Vision. Ultron was one of the better villains they've had too. The scene of all of them fighting by the cradle is still one of the most stunning things they've filmed.

7) Avengers

While the original movie feels a tad dated due to Cap's suit. (Seriously, who's idea was the hood?) I still have fun with this. 

8) Iron Man 

The film that started it all. It bothers me that I don't enjoy the sequels as much because I really loved this.

9) Captain America: The First Avenger

Ugh, Cap and Peggy. I miss them.

10) Spider-man: Homecoming

I've always had a soft spot for Spider-man, and this was a great follow up to Civil War

The Rest

11) Captain Marvel
This felt like a phase one film, but one we definitely needed. I went back and forth with this and Spider-man for the #10 spot. 

12) Ant-Man & The Wasp
I thought this was even better than the first. Scott and Hope just work so well together.

13) Thor: The Dark World
This is another one that gets shit on a lot, but I dug this. Sure, the villains are kind of a mess but overall, I enjoyed the story.

14) Ant-Man
I still can't believe I almost didn't go see this in theaters. It was such a delight

15) Doctor Strange
I think Doctor Strange really shined in Infinity War more than he did in this film. I will say, until Black Panther came along this had the coolest score.

16) Guardians of the Galaxy
I knew nothing about the Guardians and it turned out so much fun. And it was before Chris Pratt turned into an annoying twat. I miss those days.

17) Thor
I actually didn't like Thor the first time I saw it, it was only after watching Avengers that I went back and appreciated it a bit more. 

18) Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Half of this movie is excellent, but the main plot with Star Lord is awful, which brings it down. 

19) Iron Man 2
I don't hate this movie as much as others do, but it does rank low. I really like Tony here and Don Cheadle picking up as Rhodey is perfect. It's just slightly lacking

20) The Incredible Hulk
This one is usually last on a lot of lists I read. Which I get, because it's very unmemorable and Ruffalo is so much better in the role. I can't even imagine Edward Norton playing Banner anymore. Especially in Ragnarok. You know he would've tried to take over that script.

21) Iron Man 3
This is the only MCU movie I flat out hate. I wanted so badly to like Iron Man 3 and I did until that annoying kid showed up and Pepper did...whatever she did. They also under utilized the great Rebecca Hall and the villain was lame. Upon first watch, I was just medicore, but on the second watch....nope. Just hatred.