CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019) – My rating: 8.7/10

Captain Marvel is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Carol Danvers. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the twenty-first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, with Geneva Robertson-Dworet also contributing to the screenplay. I was dying to see Captain Marvel but wasn’t sure I’d like Brie Larson in the lead role.  Good thing I saw the movie, she’s fantastic.

In 1995, on the Kree Empire’s capital planet of Hala, Starforce member Vers/Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) suffers from recurring nightmares involving an older woman, The Supreme Intelligence /Mar-Vell / Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Bening). Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), her mentor and commander, trains her to control her abilities while The Supreme Intelligence, an artificial intelligence and the ruler of the Kree, urges her to keep her emotions in check.

****  SPOILERS BELOW  ****

During a mission to rescue an undercover operative who is infiltrating a group of Skrulls, (alien shapeshifters with whom the Kree are at war) Vers is captured by Skrull commander Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) then taken aboard their Earth-bound vessel and subjected to a memory probe. Vers manages to escape in one of the Skrull mini vessels but crash lands in Los Angeles. Her odd attire attracts S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), whose interrogation is interrupted by a Skrull attack. In the ensuing chase, Vers recovers a crystal containing her extracted memories, while Fury kills a Skrull who is impersonating Agent Coulson, who is fairly new to S.H.I.E.L.D.  Talos, disguised as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Keller, orders Fury to work with Vers on the condition he does it alone in the event of other Skrull imposters.  Fury takes Vers to a US Air Force base and discovers she was a pilot presumed to have died in 1989 while testing an experimental engine designed by a Dr. Wendy Lawson, whom Vers recognizes as the woman from her nightmares. A S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by Talos tries to capture Vers and Agent Fury but they manage to escape in a cargo jet, with Lawson’s cat Goose.  Based on Vers’ recovered memories, they fly to Louisiana to meet Vers’ best friend and former pilot, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), the last person to see Vers and Lawson alive.  Talos arrives at Maria Rambeau’s house just as Vers discovers her real name is Carol Danvers. He reveals the Skrulls are refugees searching for a new home and Dr. Lawson was a renegade Kree scientist helping them. He then plays the recovered black box from Dr. Lawson’s crashed plane, prompting Carol Danvers to remember the 1989 plane crash.  Carol also remembers that Dr. Lawson died at the hands of Yon-Rogg before she could destroy the engine’s energy-core, forcing Danvers to do so at the cost of absorbing the energy from the ensuing explosion and losing her memories.

This is a good point to stop because I wouldn’t want to give away everything.  Captain Marvel goes into deeper accounts of how Carol Danvers becomes Captain Marvel.  I found the movie exciting, fun and quite interesting.  Considering the above information, one will have to determine if Talos is telling the truth or setting up the entire team.  I learned that Brie Larson worked out for nine months preparing for this movie. She took Judo, boxing, wrestling and sharpened her knowledge by visiting Nellis AFB and meeting with active airmen before taking on the role of Captain Marvel. This is a remake of the character as Captain Marvel was introduced in 1940 by Fawcett Comics.  His (Captain Marvel was originally a male) reign lasted through 1953 until a 1951 copyright infringement suit appeared from DC Comics and Fawcett’s trademark ostensibly lapsed. Marvel debuted its new Captain Marvel character in 1967 but it didn’t take off as expected. After many tries and undergoing many changes, it looks like a female Captain Marvel is here to stay. The movie has already taken in $215.9M. Captain Marvel is being cleverly reintroduced before the next sequel of “Avengers: Endgame” which is scheduled to be released on April 26, 2019. We now know the call that went out for help on Fury’s beacon in “Avengers: Infinity War” was to Captain Marvel. If you go to see Captain Marvel, stay beyond the credits. As I always say, Check It Out!

READY, PLAYER ONE (2018) – My rating: 8/10

Ready, Player One is a  science fiction adventure film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline, based on Cline’s 2011 novel of the same name.  Ready Player One is half real life and half virtual reality.  It’s shows what the world could look like in the future, everyone as obsessed with virtual reality as they are with Smart Phones.  This is all shown via a movie featuring a game — not my usual film preference however, this adventure is pretty good.

In 2045, many of Earth’s population centers have become slum-like cities. To escape their desolation, people engage in the virtual reality world of the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), where they can engage in numerous activities for work, education, and entertainment. Users have discovered Anorak’s Quest inside OASIS, a game programmed by the late OASIS creator, James Halliday (Mark Rylance). The first player to find the Easter egg, locked behind a gate requiring three keys within Anorak’s Quest is promised full ownership of OASIS, among other gifts. This has attracted a number of Gunters (“egg hunters”) to play the game. Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a video game conglomerate and manufacturer of most of the virtual reality equipment used to access the OASIS, also wants ownership. The new CEO of the company, Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), has amassed an army of debt-indentured players, known as “Sixers” (due to their six-digit identification), to seek the prize. However, to date, no one has managed to finish the first quest, a vehicle race across an ever-shifting version of New York City.

Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), an orphaned, 20-year-old Gunter, lives in a Columbus, Ohio, slum with his Aunt Alice (Susan Lynch). In the OASIS, Wade goes by his avatar, Parzival, and has partnered with Aech (Lena Waithe), a male avatar that serves as a virtual mechanic. He later befriends well-known player Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) after saving her from dying in-game – referred to as being “zeroed out” – which would reset her avatar’s character progression and remove all her goods. Wade decides to study the virtual OASIS library to learn about Halliday’s personal life, hoping to find a hint to finish the race. Wade learns that Halliday felt regret when he had to accept the resignation of his partner, Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg), over a personal falling-out, musing, “Why can’t we go backwards for once? Backwards really fast, as fast as we can – really put the pedal to the metal.” At the next race, Wade reverses from the start line, finding a hidden, safe path to the finish line of the race. He gains the first key and a clue to the next quest. Aech and Art3mis, as well as players Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao), follow Wade to finish the quest, and the five appear atop the global scoreboards, becoming known as the “High Five”.

IOI takes interest in them, desiring to learn their real-life identities. Bounty hunter i-R0k (T.J. Miller) overhears Wade tell Art3mis his real name, disclosing it to Sorrento, who approaches Wade in an attempt to convince him to join IOI to solve Anorak’s Quest, but Wade refuses. In retaliation, Sorrento has his assistant F’Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen) attack Wade’s slum, killing Wade’s aunt and her boyfriend. Wade is rescued by Art3mis’ real-life friends and is taken to a Gunter hideout in Columbus, where he meets Art3mis’ player, Samantha Cook (Olivia Cooke). The two discover that Halliday had once dated Kira (Perdita Weeks), who later became Morrow’s wife , and was the source of their falling-out. In the virtual OASIS archives, Wade wins a bet with its Curator regarding whether Kira’s memory remains anywhere within the archives, winning a 25-cent coin and access to Halliday’s memories of Kira, which turn out to be the entrance to the second quest. In a re-creation of The Shining, the High Five team each gain the second key and the clue that the last quest is in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom.

Ready, One Player get more intense that includes blackmail, hiding in a van, a rescue, deception, IOI, a kidnapping, and finally the winning of the company.  I found this film interesting but more for the younger folks.  You’ll stay in the game throughout the entire movie, making Ready One.. almost a total animated movie. If you like this sort of venture, you’ll love this movie but if you older and not into computer games, don’t bother.  Check it out if you dare!

 

DARKEST HOUR (2017) – My rating: 9/10

Darkest Hour is a British war drama directed by Joe Wright and written by Anthony McCarten. It is an account of the early days of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister, when Nazi Germany swept across Western Europe, threatening to defeat the United Kingdom during World War II. This threat lead to friction at the highest levels of government between those who would make a peace treaty with Hitler and Churchill who refused.

Darkest Hour starts in May of 1940 with the opposition Labour Party in Parliament demanding the resignation of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) for being too weak in the face of the Nazi onslaught. Chamberlain tells Conservative Party advisers that he wants Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane) as his successor, but Halifax does not want to become Prime Minister yet. Chamberlain must choose the only other man whom other parties will support: Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman), the First Lord of the Admiralty.

Churchill, who was not well liked, tried to dismiss his new secretary Elizabeth Layton (Lily James) for mis-hearing him, which caused his wife Clementine, (Kristin Scott Thomas) to strongly reprimand him. After Churchill’s acceptance, King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) reluctantly invited him to form a government that would include Chamberlain and Halifax.

Despite being right about the danger from Adolf Hitler, Churchill’s poor reputation remained because of his record in the Admiralty, the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, his views on India and his support for Edward VIII during the Abdication Crisis. Churchill’s first speech is aggressive, promising “Blood, toil, tears and sweat,” for which he is chastised by the King and practically ignored by Parliament. Churchill refuses to negotiate for peace, believing that the Germans are untrustworthy.  Eventually, a plan was devised to cause a vote of no confidence that would allow Halifax to replace Churchill as Prime Minister.  The British Expeditionary Force is trapped at Dunkirk and Calais. Against the advice of the War Cabinet, Churchill orders Brigadier Claude Nicholson in Calais to lead the 30th Infantry Brigade in a suicide attack to distract the enemy while the soldiers at Dunkirk evacuate.

Defeat in France causes the War Cabinet to support negotiating with Germany. George VI unexpectedly visits Churchill, the King, not wanting to rule in exile should Britain be invaded, encourages the Prime Minister to continue the war. Still uncertain of what to do, Churchill decides to ask London Underground passengers; the civilians want to continue to fight. Churchill meets with the Outer Cabinet and other members of Parliament, who also support him. The evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, Operation Dynamo, is successful.

As Churchill prepares to address Parliament, Halifax asks Chamberlain to continue with their plan to resign, but Chamberlain decides to listen to the address first. Towards the end of his speech, Churchill proclaims that “We shall fight on the beaches” should the Germans invade. Chamberlain decides to support Churchill, and Parliament applauds the Prime Minister’s defiance.

Darkest Hour is a great movie and a tells a pretty accurate history of Churchill’s appointment to Prime Minister and the extraordinary rescue of the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk.  I highly recommend this movie to all.  Check it out — this is one of Gary Oldman’s greatest performances.

[Darkest Hour is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor Cinematography, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling and Production Design]

 

 

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) – My rating: 8.5/10

Before the last Star Wars adventure, which was about finding Luke Skywalker, (who is also the last Jedi) for his help in saving his sister and the republic from being destroyed by a new device, there was a story waiting to be told.  A new Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet  was being developed by a research scientist, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) who is now hiding on the planet Lah’mu with his wife Lyra Erso (Valene Kane) and daughter Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones).  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story goes back before The Force Awakens and tells us how it all came to be. Brilliantly acted, the story is excellent and to the point. The Force lives on.

In Rogue One, Imperial weapons developer, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) arrives on planet Lah’mu to take Galen back with him to complete the unfinished Death Star. Galen refuses and his wife, Lyra is killed  during the confrontation, but their daughter Jyn escapes and is taken to safety by Rebel extremist, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Saw is a veteran of the Clone Wars and a friend of the Erso family who mentors Jyn in her later childhood years.

As usual, I don’t want to ruin an excellent story, so I will stop here but tell you a little about some of the new and different characters and about some of the old characters.  While Rogue One mainly focuses on Jyn, it has produced  characters such as:  A Zatoichi-esque blind warrior and friend  who is obsessed with the Force and believed to be one of the Guardians of the Whills, Chirrut Îmwe, (Donnie Yen).  His character brings much excitement and amazement to the story.  Jiang Wen (Baze Malbus), a Rebel warrior, mercenary and best friend of Chirrut Îmwe. I totally loved Wen and all that he brought to the story.   Bodhi Rook I (Riz Ahmed), a former Imperial cargo pilot who defects to the Rebels under the influence of Galen.  A significant character who keeps us in loads of suspense.  Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a Rebel Alliance Captain and Intelligence officer. A lovable, handsome, complicated character who is a little too soft spoken for the role.  K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a Rebel-owned Imperial enforcer droid who was reprogrammed by Cassian Andor. K-2S0 is a delight and brings much to the screen.  James Earl Jones reprises his role, lending his voice as Darth Vader and Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles from previous films as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and C-3PO, respectively.

[NOTE]:  At the time of this post, Carrie Fisher has passed.  She will be missed — RIP Princess Leia Organa!!

 

Save