Ant-man

First Hit:  Very enjoyable film that works because it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

A fun filled adventure that definitely works because of the storyline, acting, and especially of the acting by Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-man. He approaches the role with intelligence, irreverence, and honesty.

His compatriots, outside of the ants, are Luis (Michael Pena), Dave (T.I.), and Kurt (David Dastmalchian). All together they help Ant-man suit inventor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), defeat Darren Cross / Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll) who is trying to re-create Dr. Pym’s technology for evil use.

The motivation for Scott is his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) whom he doesn’t see much because he’s been in prison. The scenes of Lang as Ant-man when he’s working with the ants is priceless. As an audience member, I knew it was fantasy, yet I bought the story and film because it was so well put together – with lightheartedness.

Rudd was perfect for the role. He’s so comfortable in his body and the script’s dialogue was perfect for him. He’s great. Pena is also fantastic. He’s talkative, yet there is an air of intelligence in his storying telling. Douglas is strong as the scientist. Lilly is wonderful to watch and her backing up her intelligence with physical abilities were excellent. Stoll was really good as the strength of evil doing and the antagonist. Fortson was enjoyable as Rudd’s daughter. Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish wrote a great script. Payton Reed had a great handle on how to execute this story.

Overall:  This is a really fun and enjoyable film.

Cartel Land

First Hit:  An eye-opening timely film about the Mexico United States border drama.

This is a film about two different issues: How the drug cartels in Mexico are taking over towns and intimidating the local citizens. Then there is the story on the Arizona side of the border and how citizens are out there protecting the area from the influx of Mexicans coming across the border illegally.

In the first story citizens want to take back their town by following a group, led by an MD, that is going out and arresting drug cartel members. This story gets worse as the government gets involved and we begin to see how the more things try to change, the more they stay the same. In the other part of the story, a vet who turned his own life around believes, with this friends, that he is saving the USA from influx of drugs and illegals coming across the border. He does his best to work with the US government but in reality he’s out there doing this thing. I would have liked more integration of the two stories, or separate the stories and make two films; both are interesting.

Matthew Heineman directed this film and some of the camera work during the raids on cartel personnel was fantastic. There are no holds barred as citizens walk up and hit the captured cartel members.

Overall:  This was a very interesting film reflecting the conflicts below and above the US border.

Spy

First Hit:  It was pretty funny at times and walked a nice line between slapstick and heart.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) plays a desk-bound, behind the scenes CIA agent, who gets a chance to go out into the field. Because she is unknown by the person they are attempting to track, and her inexperience in the field, there are numerous opportunities for awkward comedic situations.

Her CIA counterparts Rick Ford (Jason Statham) and Bradley Fine (Jude Law) play their roles straight which adds to the situational and physical comedy.

McCarthy was the best I’ve seen her. Her comedy here wasn’t as pressed as it was in an earlier film, Bridesmaids, and showed more variability and vulnerability in her character. Jason Statham was like most all the roles he plays in other films – very intense and single-minded. Jude Law was fine in his James Bondish sort of way. Paul Feig wrote and directed this film and it worked.

Overall:  I liked this much better than I had thought I would because I hadn’t been much of a fan of the films McCarthy's been in.

Jurassic World (3-D)

First Hit:  Although the CGI is great, the whole film felt staged like it was a sequence of scenes strung together to make a story.

I liked Jurassic Park enough to want to see this leap forward film. This story has us, the visitors to the park (world), always wanting something new and different or else we won’t spend the enormous amount of money required to visit the amusement park and make it profitable.

This is the “why” they genetically created this new dinosaur (Indominus – Rex) as an attraction. To bring more people to fund more generic engineering. Then there is the story about the Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who works at the park but is being neglectful of her nephews Zack and Gray (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins respectively) who come to visit her at the park.

Then there is Own (Chris Pratt) who works at the park and is “training” the Velociraptors to respond to his commands. We’ve got Claire running through the jungle and the film in high heels (although there is a scene where she has flats on). There are a number of misrepresentations during the film, but the fun factor makes it rise above mediocrity, but not by a whole lot.

Pratt is fun in his best interpretation of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. He’s good in this rough and tumble role. Howard is good as the female interest of Pratt’s as well as the key female character in the story – she’s the one from which the story binds. Vincent D’Onofrio as Hoskins the quasi-military oriented guy who wants to use the dinosaurs as a weapon was very formula driven. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote this overly ambitious script. Colin Trevorrow directed this film. Unfortunately, the bigness of the task at hand was beyond his ability to rein in the ideas into a single cohesive story.

Overall:  The ambitiousness of the concept and the multitude of stories ran further than the abilities to make this film work.

San Andreas (3-D)

First Hit:  Some of the visual effects were awesome even if improbable, the rest was mediocre.

To be frank, the storyline was extremely implausible. As pointed out by the experts, the San Andreas fault would not create the type of crevasses as depicted in this film. Neither would the tsunami that picks up a large cruise ship and tosses it against, and breaks, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Despite the unreal depictions, the way they were presented was fun in 3-D. I loved the rolling ground during the earthquake. However the helicopter scenes where they fly between the falling buildings of LA were not believable.

As for the characters, they were subsets to the whole film. Although Ray (Dwayne Johnson) with his huge physic did what he could, he and the rest of the characters couldn’t compete with the visual graphics. I was also highly suspect of Ray’s ability to fly the helicopter and borrowed airplane, with his wife Emma (Carla Gugino) from LA to SF during this type of catastrophe to save their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario).

Johnson did his best to be as big and dynamic as the visual effects of the earthquakes. It just wasn’t a possible task. Paul Giamatti (Lawrence) as the scientist who figures out how to predict the huge quake came off as odd. At one point he seems unhinged and at other times clearly in-charge. Gugino as Johnson’s wife was good, but competing with the effects was just not possible. The best acting was done by Daddario because many of her scenes are more human oriented and not based solely against special effects. She showed both vulnerability and strength that worked with the two English boys she was helping. Carlton Cuse wrote an unbelievable screen play which was not based on actual science. Brad Payton did a wonderful job of putting in lots of effects, but as far as directing a believable film – it didn’t work.

Overall:  Go to watch the effects, just don’t expect much in the way of realism from the story or actors.