4k-UHD/Movie Review: Ant Man and the Wasp

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp is one of the 2018 entries in the MCU slate of movies. It was directed by Peyton Reed. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michael Pena all reprise their roles from the first movie. Walton Goggins, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hannah John-Kamen, and Randall Park are all newly added cast members for this movie. The story is mostly a sequel to Ant-Man, focusing on rescuing Hank's wife (Pfeiffer) from the quantum realm. It is set in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War with Scott being near the end of a two-year-long house arrest for his violation of the Sokovia accords. He has a dream about Hope's mother/Hank's wife the original wasp Janet Van Dyn, with Hope and Hank springing him from house arrest (in a pretty hilarious manner). I will not give too much away, but it basically becomes a game of keep-away with Hank's tech from the various people after it, including a shady tech dealer, played by Walton Goggins, and Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen. Scott also has to keep ahead of the FBI. The events of Infinity War are tied in during the mid-credits scene. I will not give away exactly what happens, but we do see the consequences of Thanos' snap play out, and it sets out where the characters are going into Avengers 4.

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format, especially if you have a large screen. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and all of the bonus content is on the regular Blu-ray. There are about 22 minutes worth of behind-the-scenes and making-of features, a short gag reel, and a few deleted scenes. The bonus features probably amount to between 30 and 40 minutes in total. Ultimately, the movie is one of more than 20 in the overall MCU story arc. It is written so you do not have to have seen the others to follow most of it, but it will definitely help if you are up to date with the overall story arc that has played out throughout the other movies. The entire cast, from the stars to the supporting characters, are all great in their roles. Evangeline Lilly does a great job as the Wasp and really seemed to be having fun with her more expanded role. As long as you do not have superhero movie fatigue, this is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Role Models

 

Role Models is a 2008 comedy starring Paul Rudd, Sean William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Elizabeth Banks, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Ken Jeong, and Jane Lynch. This movie is pretty typical of Paul Rudd's more recent comedies. Rudd ( who was co-writer on the movie) plays Danny, a guy stuck in a dead-end job, pushing energy drinks on high school students in a stay-off-drugs campaign. Seann William Scott plays yet another version of Stifler. Scott has basically become a character actor playing a version of Stifler in every movie he does. In this one, he plays Anson Wheeler, the mascot for the energy drink company who works with Danny. He is basically a slacker with no responsibility, and that is a role that Scott can play very well. When Danny and Anson end up getting in trouble with the law, they are sentenced to community service, acting as big brothers for a couple of kids (Mintz-Plasse and Thompson) at a place called Sturdy Wings, which is run by Jane Lynch's character. From there, it is a pretty formulaic, raunchy comedy with lessons about growing up, responsibility, and, to some extent, family.

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is good, but nothing to write home about. The extras include a couple of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel, and 40+ minutes of deleted scenes. There is also a commentary track on the theatrical version of the film with director David Wain that is pretty funny in parts but mostly just talks about the various aspects of production. The movie is an above-average (but not great) comedy. Rudd and Scott play their characters well, but the standouts are Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Augie Farks, who follows up his great performance in Superbad as a different kind of nerdy kid, who is into live-action role-playing D&D-like games, Bobb'e J. Thompson as Ronnie Shields a foul-mouthed 11-year-old only child of a single mother, Jane Lynch as Gayle Sweeney the director of Sturdy Wings and former cocaine addict who has no problem oversharing about her days as a junkie, and Ken Jeong as King Argotron, the leader of the role-playing group. Elizabeth Banks is also in the film as Danny's girlfriend and lawyer. She does a good job with what she has to do, but once the kids are introduced, her character is pretty much sidelined for most of the movie. 

This is definitely not a movie for everyone. The R rating, is well deserved, mostly for the language. There are a couple brief flashes of nudity and a lot of suggestive sexual dialog. There is not much in the way of actual sex, but there is a ton of swearing throughout the movie. So if that would bother you, then it is best to skip this. But if you are a fan of recent adult comedies (think most of the Apatow movies), then you will likely enjoy this. It is not deep or complex in any way and does not really try to take itself too seriously. It is not something that was ever going to compete for an Oscar or even be mentioned among the greatest comedies of all time, but if you accept it for what it is and what it is not, it is an enjoyable way to pass an hour and a half or so.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Ant Man

 

Ant-Man is one of the 2015 entries into the MCU slate of movies. It continues the MCU storyline and is set after the events of The Age of Ultron. It even ties back somewhat to the Agent Carter TV series, with Hailey Atwell and John Slattery appearing as aged versions of Peggy Carter and Howard Stark at the beginning of the movie as a setup for the rest of the plot. There are even tie-ins to the next Captain America movie (with a post-credits scene) and, ultimately, to the Avengers Infinity Wars movies (which will include Ant-Man). Without giving too much away, Michael Douglas's character Hank Prym, one of the original S.H.E. I. L.D. agents and inventor of the ant man suit, a technology that allows humans to shrink to the size of an ant, and gain the equivalent of an ant's strength to its size hires burglar Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd to break into his former company and steal a second suit being developed by Prym's one time protege now rival Darren Cross (played by House of Cards' Cory Stoll). Evangeline Lilly plays Hope van Dyne, Prym's daughter, who reluctantly helps Lang train to become Ant-Man.

There are multiple physical media releases of the movie now. The Blu-ray's A/V quality is very good, as has been the case with the other MCU movies, especially the more recent ones. For extras, the single-disc version includes a few short behind-the-scenes and making-of features, about 10 minutes worth of "news" footage that helps flesh out some of the characters' backgrounds, some deleted scenes, and a gag reel. While the extras that were included are good, they are not as extensive as the releases of some of the other movies have received.

I think those who are fans of the Marvel Universe movies and TV shows will enjoy this. The tone of the movie is different enough that if you are having superhero movie fatigue, you can find it enjoyable because it is definitely not like any of the ones that have come before it. While some of it is a bit silly, to be sure (but really, all the superhero movies are to some extent), this movie embraces and even plays on the silliness in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The acting is very good, and the movie does well staying on the fringes of the larger MCU storyline while telling its own story. At its core, the film is a heist movie wrapped up in a superhero movie. It is like Oceans 11 meets The Avengers. It does very well as the origin story for the various stand-alone characters yet blends into the existing Marvel Universe, with the biggest cross-over being the meeting between Ant-Man and Falcon about halfway into the movie. Paul Rudd does a great job of being a hero who is willing to break the rules or the law to do the right thing. He also brings an air of every man (he did not have to get ripped for the movie like Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth did for their roles) and brings the smart-ass quality that he is known for from his other work. The movie has a good blend of action and humor (probably more humor than the other MCU movies combined) and is absolutely worth the time to watch.