The Iron Giant

In honor of the new Blu-ray release of Brad Bird's The Iron Giant, I thought I'd share my thoughts on what many consider to be one of the greatest animated buried treasures of all time. In the '90s, Disney was at their peak, producing hit after hit after hit.  They teamed up with Pixar to produce fully computer-animated films like Toy Story and A Bug's Life.  By 1999, the industry was jam-packed with quality animation from both studios, and a few solid hits from Dreamworks, but the once proud Warner Bros. was waning badly.  They needed a hit to keep their animation department alive, but they sure as hell didn't get it with The Iron Giant. The movie bombed at the box office, but was a huge hit critically, with Roger Ebert comparing it to the works of Hayao Miyazaki.  It's since found a highly-devoted cult fan base, most of whom discovered the film on VHS years after its release.

Then suddenly... without warning... ATOMIC HOLOCAUST

Fair warning, but I'm about to sound like a total hipster; I was one of the few kids that actually saw this in theaters.  But it wasn't because I wanted to; in fact, I was extremely disappointed that Inspector Gadget  was sold out on the weekend my parents took me to see it, and we settled for the only other family movie playing in the theater.  I wasn't disappointed for too long; The Iron Giant engrossed me so fully that by the thrilling climax I couldn't care less what Matthew Broderick and his springy feet were up to.  I've been a fan ever since, and probably love the film more now than when I was nine.  The Cold War themes, the funny and endearing characters, and the charming-as-hell animation all come together to form a movie with so much soul.  To have a film with any soul come from the same studio that brought us the shamefully derivative Quest for Camelot only a year prior is downright incredible.

I go. You stay. No following.

The story follows Hogarth Hughes, a boy growing up in the town of Rockwell, Maine during the late 1950s; a time when Cold War paranoia was at its peak after the launch of Sputnik.  In the midst of feeling alone, between his working single mother and the bullies at school, Hogarth discovers a gigantic, metal robot in the woods.  The giant seems to be suffering memory loss, without a clue who he is or what his purpose in coming to Earth was. So he follows Hogarth like a child, learning about the world and how it works with great enthusiasm as he hunts for metal to eat.  Hogarth realizes that he can't keep the giant in his tool shed for long, so he hides him at a local junkyard with a beatnik artist named Dean, who isn't jazzed about the idea but warms up to the giant after a while.  All the while, the paranoid government agent Kent Mansley searches for the giant's whereabouts so that he can destroy it all all costs.

Souls don't die

While its story may owe a lot to Spielberg's E.T. at first glance, there's powerful depth to be found in The Iron Giant that makes all of its similarities forgivable.  I think the movie can be summed up in a scene where Hogarth consoles the grieving giant after they witness a deer being shot by a hunter in the woods.  As the scene plays out, and you realize that you're watching a little boy try to explain the concept of souls to an alien robot, the movie has proven that it's something special.  It's handled delicately, but direct enough that you surely won't find anything like it in another American animated adventure.  So many moments like that are littered throughout the film; moments where characters connect, where genuine drama is felt, and where outstanding humor has time to shine.  There's some refreshing edge to be found here too; the occasional "damn" and "hell" give us the impression that the characters don't live in a safe, kid-friendly world, and I love the movie all the more for it.

You can fly?!

The Iron Giant looks fantastic as well. I've always loved the look of Warner Bros. feature animation, with its warm, appealing character designs (that tend to have very round eyes) and fluid animation that looks just below the standard caliber for Disney movies, yet retains immense charm. The movie practically embodies the season of autumn, save for the snowy climax.  One thing Warner certainly had over other studios in 1999 was the ability to blend hand-drawn animation with CGI elements, and this is demonstrated no better than by the giant himself.  The way he blends with the elements around him is truly something of an achievement.  Not only is it not distracting that he's a CGI character, his design is crafted so he can express himself the way he needs to without breaking that design at all (in stark contrast to B.E.N. in Treasure Planet, a horribly-animated character that floats above the hand-drawn elements like he's in another dimension entirely.  And that movie came out four years later!).  It's a shame that the animation department had to shut down due to their films' repeated failures, but at least they gave us this gem before they did.

He's a weapon... a big gun that walks

The voice work is spot-on as well.  Eli Marienthol holds everything together as Hogarth, thanks (I'm sure) in part to Brad Bird's steady direction.  The script is full of emotion, comedy, and drama, and the cast (including Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., and Christopher MacDonald) captures it all with great enthusiasm.  The score is great; Michael Kamen (who scored the next year's X-Men) composes a whimsical soundtrack that evokes childhood, discovery, and wonder, which couldn't match the film more perfectly.  My favorite moment of scoring-meets-voice-acting has to come at the film's climax, when the score swells and Vin Diesel (as the giant) slowly utters "Superman."  I'm not crying... it's allergies...

You are who you chose to be

The Iron Giant is a triumph, with great animation, resonant themes, and acts as a 50s nostalgia piece while also criticizing the era.  But what makes it one of the best animated movies of all time is its story and characters, both of which have clearly been given the utmost care and attention.  Having seen the Signature Edition (in theaters and on Blu-ray) with about two minutes of additional animation, I'm not exactly floored.  One scene builds up the relationship between Dean and Hogarth's mother a bit, and the other foreshadows the giant's destructive power.  The animation syncs nicely with the rest of the movie, but it's not required viewing.  Brad Bird is one of my favorite writer/directors working today (he also directed my favorite Pixar movie, Ratatouille), because he makes sure that beneath the frame of his movies there lies a beating heart.  He's expressed interest in doing another hand-drawn feature film, but I'll believe it when I see it.  And my God, do I want to see it.

10/10

Ghostbusters (2016)

Who you gonna call... again?

It's disappointing that the new Ghostbusters movie should be as mediocre as it is.  All that internet hate and defending simply wasn't worth the energy (not that it would have anyway).  It's not the worst remake of all time, but it's not a masterpiece of feminist film making.  It's just an intermittently funny movie, filled with good actors playing well-rounded characters in a CGI-infested fantasy land.  It is not a justified remake (I still see no reason this couldn't have been in the same world as the original) and its story is boilerplate at best, but it does have entertaining moments.  I fall into the exceptionally rare camp of people who like the original Ghostbusters without loving it with all my heart, so keep that in mind while I continue to not hate this movie with every fiber of my being.

I ain't afraid of no ghosts.

In New York City, Dr. Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is just starting her career as a professor at Columbia University. When a book she'd written years earlier with her friend Abby Yates (Mesila McCarthy) pops up online, Erin seeks her out to get the book taken down before it endangers her career.  The book was about the existence of paranormal activity, which of course, includes ghosts. Abby agrees to take the book out of publication if Erin helps her and her assistant Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) with a paranormal investigation at a small museum. They discover a very real ghost in the museum, and even catch it on video, but people on the internet assume it's been doctored. With new enthusiasm for the paranormal, Erin, Abby, and Jillian start up their own company and offer a service that can capture ghosts and keep them in specialized containers.  So much for unfinished business.  Along the way, they add Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) to their group, who just days before experienced a ghost sighting in the subways, and the beefy Kevin Beckman (Chris Hemsworth), who becomes their secretary despite being too stupid to live.

"Forgot about my new toys. Let's go."

Director Paul Feig has teamed up with Melissa McCarthy on several occasions, and they usually do great work together.  This is unfortunately their weakest collaboration to date, and strangely McCarthy plays the least funny character out of the main group.  More than a few clearly improvised gags go on way too long, but that's on the editors, not the cast.  If you tell a talent like Wiig to improvise, she's going to pull out some amazing lines. But it's up to the editor to pull the best ones and make them work in the story, and editors Brent White and Melissa Bretherton needed to do a bit more chopping.  However, the cast is generally strong, with the clear standout being McKinnon, who injects a manic energy into the film when it really needs it.

"I guess he's going to Queens. He's gonna be the third scariest thing on that train."

The story is incredibly silly, just as it was in the original Ghostbusters, but the third act has some pretty egregious moments.  Each of the new Ghostbusters fighting ghosts in creative ways around New York set to the theme song? Awesome.  Slimer doing some joyriding? Hilarious.  Abby getting pulled down a portal and Erin diving in after her? No.  There are many CG effects that are overdone, and do their best to clash with the tone of the scenes that solely involve the characters. It's not all bad; there are creepy moments as well as a few good jump scares.  And while the comedy is inconsistent, it the good stuff keeps everything just barely afloat. I've just always felt that the fundamental flaw with the Ghostbusters lore in general is that no one acts like they're fighting the souls of dead people.  Is that what's even happening?  Are these just monsters? Manifestations of something?  It's just a bit muddled and doesn't really work for me as a concept.  Also, the less we talk about the film's main antagonist, the better.

"You guys, this is exactly how I pictured my death."

There are some funny cameos here from the original movies, despite the lack of Rick Moranis.  And not having Rick Moranis can only hurt your movie. But in any case, the movie is a good time with some good humor, though it also contains enough tone-clashing action scenes to make it actively bad at points.  The potential was there, and the movie wastes no time justifying its own existence (unlike many other remakes).  But there aren't enough laughs for it to rouse much excitement, and its finale is messy.  Also, that theme song.  As much as I love it, that Ghostbusters theme song has no less than FOUR GOD DAMN covers that play throughout the movie and the ending credits, and none of them are nearly as good as the original.  Overkill is overkill.  Despite all that, the cast holds everything together.  I'd even say that the movie is worth watching just for McKinnon's performance, but that might be pushing it.  This might win my coveted award for "most average movie of the year," though it faces some pretty stiff competition.

5/10

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Since beginning-less time, darkness thrives in the void, 

but always yields to purifying light...

When Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005, I couldn't have been at a worse age.  Heading into high school, I assumed it was time to grow out of stupid cartoon shows and watch REAL TV, like Family Guy and American Idol.  Hindsight's a bitch, huh? I really missed out, because Avatar is a fantastic series; its creative successes are spread between its incredibly well-developed world and its endearing characters, not to mention its stellar action scenes.  Like the best television, the show finds its footing and just keeps running to the finish line.  Mixing Eastern and Western styles of animation, creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko deliver a show filled with poignancy and genuine emotion, dealing with heavy themes like genocide and government conspiracy while being damn funny in equal measure.

Let's get acquainted with Avatar's world by way of the opening narration:

"Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an Airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world."

We are all one people, but we live as if divided...

In a world where ordinary humans (called "benders") can control the elements, a teenage girl named Katara (Mae Whitman) and her brother Sokka (Jack DeSena) live in the Inuit-like Southern Water Tribe.  One day, as they row their canoe through the icy waters, they discover a giant ball of ice containing a boy named Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), who sports a blue arrow tattoo on his bald head and arms.  Also trapped in the ice is Aang's animal companion Appa (Dee Bradley Baker), a flying bison thought to be extinct.  Katara and Sokka discover that Aang is an Airbender, also thought to be wiped out years ago.  Not only is Aang the the last Airbender, he is the Avatar, bringer of balance to the world, as he is able to control all four elements and can bridge the human world with the spiritual world.  The reason the four nations have fallen into such chaos is because Aang was frozen for a hundred years.  Discovering this broken world and attempting to mend it on a micro level is what takes up most of season one, all the while the trio makes their way to the Northern Water Tribe to find Aang a Waterbending master.  Along the way, they are endlessly pursued by Prince Zuko (Dante Bosco) and his uncle Iroh (Mako Iwamatsu) of the Fire Nation.  Banished from his homeland and heavily scarred over his face, Zuko's only hope to regain his honor is to capture the Avatar and deliver him to his father, the Fire Lord (Mark Hamill).

If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear...

Season one (Book One: Water), while good to great in many respects, is easily the weakest season of the show.  In early episodes, it struggles to balance humor with serious moments, often choosing to focus on jokes and slapstick over drama.  However, even with its flaws, the first season has loads of character development in between its awesome action scenes (seriously, what's cooler than watching people battle using the elements?) and heartfelt moments.  Aang is fun-loving but afraid of responsibility, Katara is nurturing and kind but can be arrogant, and Sokka is funny and organized but always overreacts to bad situations.  It's exciting to watch the production and writing getting better and better as the season progresses. Unsurprisingly, the best episodes are the character-building/revealing ones, including (but not limited to) The Storm, The Blue Spirit, and The Deserter.  Things come to a head with the Siege of the North two-parter, and it's here that Avatar finally comes into its own and transcends its genre.

Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source...

Season two (Book Two: Earth) is a powerhouse of a middle chapter.  It's darker, more complex, and less episodic than season one.  It builds upon the story, characters, and larger mythology already established, but takes things a step further.  On Aang's quest to learn Earthbending, he meets Toph Beifong (Jesse Flower), a spoiled rich girl who happens to be the best Earthbender around.  Did I mention she's blind?  She joins the trio on their quest, becoming Aang's Earthbending master while frequently pissing off Katara.  Meanwhile, Zuko and Uncle Iroh, after failing to capture the Avatar all this time, are on the run from the Fire Nation and Zuko's own sister, Azula (Grey DeLisle).   Team Avatar (Sokka dubs them) discovers that the Fire Nation will be extremely vulnerable when a solar eclipse hits, which is the perfect time to plan an attack and bring them down.  This is made even more urgent with the enormous Sozin's Comet on the way, which will give the Firebenders insane amounts of power and they will undoubtedly win the war.

Little soldier boy...

So many fantastic episodes pop up in season two, and the status quo is constantly shaken up.  Bad circumstances give us new insight into the characters, while continuing to expand the world and set the stage for what's still to come. Some of the best episodes include The Blind Bandit, The Library, and The City of Walls and Secrets (which won the show an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program). My favorite episode of the season has to be Zuko Alone, which not only tells its own classic American Western story featuring Zuko, but gives us much-needed flashbacks to his home life and his relationship with his family.  This is when Zuko, who at this point was simply moody with a good reason, really comes into his own and becomes sympathetic.  Toph is also a welcome addition to Team Avatar; she gives Katara a nice bit of rivalry and her edgy attitude contrasts the rest of the team's relative "good guy" mentality.  And what can I say about Azula and her posse of sidekicks? She's a fantastical villain, able to be threatening and funny all at once.  She's much more "evil to the core" than Zuko, but that doesn't mean she's not complicated.  One more character I haven't been talking about is Zuko's Uncle Iroh, the warmest presence on the show.  Bubbling beneath his eccentricities (he really loves his tea) is a powerful sadness, displayed beautifully in the episode The Tales of Ba Sing Se.  If you don't get a little choked up at the end of his segment, my condolences. It must be rough living without a soul.  The ending of season two owes more than a little to The Empire Strikes Back, but the story and emotions are strong enough to let me look past any similarities.

So now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change 

the way you feel about me...

Now we enter season three (Book Three: Fire), the season that pushes the show from being "outstanding children's television" to just plain "outstanding."  Zuko has been welcomed back home by his father, Aang seeks out a Firebending master in the Fire Nation, Sokka finds catharsis with being the only non-bender on the team, Katara learns responsibility when given access to a new level of her power in the form of Bloodbending, and Toph's "tough guy" exterior breaks away just enough to let us see the real little girl beneath it all.  This of course happens between phenomenal action scenes, climaxes (and false climaxes), gut-wrenching twists that leave the viewer speechless and heartfelt messages that are never sappy or soap-boxy.  Living among the people of the Fire Nation humanizes the team and changes the characters' perspectives on war in general.  They see firsthand the propaganda that the royal family pushes in schools and the misleading "noble cause" the nation uses as justification for their horrible, genocidal actions.

Perfection and power are overrated...

The finale is masterful; a four-part epic string of episodes that showcase Aang's final confrontation with Firelord Ozai while the rest of Team Avatar fends off airships and Azula.  However, the season isn't all action; the penultimate episode The Ember Island Players involves the team watching a Fire Nation play that reenacts their adventures leading up to this point.  Not only is this a creative way to get the audience up to speed before the big finish (much better than any money-saving clip show), but the play is freaking hilarious.  It's self-referential but never detracts from the actual drama that it pokes fun at, even forcing the characters to admit that while the play depicts them all as over-the-top caricatures, there is some truth to what they're seeing.  Other notable episodes in season three are The Beach, The Avatar and the Firelord, The Day of Black Sun, and The Boiling Rock.  One of my favorite episodes of the season is The Southern Raiders, which involves Katara confronting the man who killed her mother.  It's great stuff.

It is important to draw wisdom from different places.

If you take it from only one place it becomes rigid and stale...

What never did much more me was the romantic relationship between Aang and Katara.  While it's certainly not poorly done, it doesn't add much to the story overall and tends to feel forced in places.  I think it comes down to the characters being a bit too young to be having a romantic relationship in the first place; a kiss at the end is fine, but we don't see much "falling in love" happening.  I would have been alright if the characters had just been close friends, but as it is, it's fine.  Another gripe I have with the series as a whole is the underdevelopment of the Fire Lord as a real character.  He has a threatening presence, and getting the great Mark Hamill to voice him was a great move, but in a show filled with such fleshed-out characters, he comes across as a standard cartoon bad guy.  It's also criminal that one of the coolest and creepiest characters on the show, Koh the face-stealer, is seen only once and never even mentioned again.  As far as other flaws go though, aside from the aforementioned tonal issues in the early episodes, Avatar comes up amazingly short.

If you listen hard enough, you can hear everything breathing together...

The Avatar series was followed up by The Legend of Korra, detailing the adventure of the next Avatar, and it's a fantastic series as well.  But nothing quite matches the original series' boundless creativity and sense of joy.  The characters, with all their strengths and weaknesses, are frequently taken to unexpected places, and the world becomes more and more fascinating with every rewatch. All of this is bolstered by great music by Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn, who lend the show a cinematic sound.  I haven't even touched on the religious and spiritual aspects of the show, which are rooted in East Asian mythology and philosophies (Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.).  The show is truly an experience from beginning to end, one that's destined to be a classic.  My biggest takeaway from Avatar: The Last Airbender is that no matter how harsh life can be, what terrible things you may have done, or how hopeless the future looks, the answer always lies in finding balance.

Deadpool

"Captain Deadpool! No, just Deadpool."

I've rarely seen a movie so happy to be itself.  Deadpool is so comfortable in its own skin, so damn sure that it's hitting the mark, and is as self-mocking as it is sincere. This movie constantly reminds the viewer why it exists and knows it's place in the supersaturated superhero film genre. This might work better for more devoted superhero fanboys than the average viewer, but accoring to the box office results, pandering to a niche didn't end up being a problem.  Deadpool, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, takes a much-beloved antihero known for his ability to be uncannily self-aware while also being much more profane than the typical Marvel character.  20th Century Fox took a stab at including the character in the awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but he was reduced to a mouth-sewn zombie in the final act.  It was pretty much a disaster from a fan perspective.  Ryan Reynolds is reportedly a huge fan of the character, so to be cast once again in the role and given the chance to "get it right" was apparently a huge thrill for him.  I'll be damned if it doesn't show.

"Have you seen this man?"

After a truly inspired opening credits scene, the film begins with Deadpool (Reynolds) already in full costume and out for revenge against the man who turned him into a mutant freak.  Deadpool's power is that he cannot die, though whether or not he can feel pain is not specified (for the better).  Unfortunately, his skin has been severely deformed.  As his friend Weasel (T.J. Miller) so eloquently puts it, he looks like an avocado had sex with an older, more disgusting avocado.  While on a rampage searching for Francis a.k.a. Ajax (Ed Skrein), a few of the X-Men show up to stop him:  Colossus (a CGI character, voiced by Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), who might just have the most awesome X-Men name ever.  Colossus wants Deadpool to join the X-Men and become a hero, but Deadpool is having none of it.  Through a series of flashbacks, we are introduced to Deadpool as Wade Wilson, a former mercenary who falls in love with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin, who disappointingly gets no referential lines about playing yet another "hooker with a heart of gold").  However, just before the two can get married, Wade is diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Approached by Ajax and Angel Dust (Gina Carano), Wade accepts their offer to cure his cancer so long as they can experiment with his body and activate his dormant mutant genes.  It doesn't go well.

"Happy Lent."

In 2014, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see another superhero film as irreverent, self-aware, or funny as Guardians of the Galaxy.  I think Deadpool may have topped it.  While the GOTG is probably a better movie overall, Deadpool takes fourth wall breaking (and in some cases, sixteen wall-breaking) to the next level.   I wondered about how this would fit into the X-Men film universe, if there would be mention of Deadpool’s horrendous appearance in Origins: Wolverine, and how this would compare to Disney’s Marvel movies.  And the writers of Deadpool know this.  And they laugh at me.  I’m not at all insulted; it’s done so well, and the humor is so fast and fearless that all you care about is the good time you’re having.

"You will die alone, if you could die.  Ideally, for others' sake."

While Deadpool may not exactly rewrite the rules of cinema, it does add some much-needed life to a genre that is becoming more crowded practically every week.  The film works because of Ryan Reynolds' pitch-perfect performance and the script's unwillingness to hold back with weirdness, grotesqueness, violence, and anachronistic humor.  Deadpool himself is so gleefully crass and wonderfully repulsive; and he can’t help but be adorable through it all.  Comic book movies are a big hit with the PG-13 crowd right now, so it's great to see one that unflinchingly earns its R rating. Humor is subjective, and much of the humor in Deadpool depends on its audience knowing how terrible   The mood is fun, but there's also some genuine heart during the flashback scenes with Wade and Vanessa, and the chemistry between Reynolds and Baccarin is great during bits like their holiday sex montage.  It's no all laughs either; the torture scenes in Ajax's facility are brutal and even a little hard to watch.  The supporting cast is excellent as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if half of T.J. Miller's lines were improvised on the day.

"If there's one thing that doesn't last long here, it's a sense of humor."

The film is technically impressive as well, with some truly stunning visuals and great action set pieces.  Deadpool's animated eyes blend especially well with his mask and practical suit (which couldn't look any better). Shaky-cam and tight close-ups are pretty much a non-issue, and the film’s hyper-kinetic editing style matches Deadpool’s hyperactive mind. While the third act suffers some over-the-top CGI and the music lacks a strong theme for the character, Deadpool's song choices are outstanding. X Gon' Give it to Ya, Shoop, a Deadpool rap, and even Careless Whisper are all put to great use.  The score by Junkie XL is composed partly by very 80s-sounding synthesizers, which is more than fine by me.

"McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines are confusing..."

Where the film lacks is in its villains.  Ajax and Angel Dust are supposed to be uncaring and emotionless, and that's exactly what they are.  The problem is that not much of the story is devoted to getting to know them or how they got into their situations, and they don't leave much of an impression outside their action scenes. Well-performed? Yes, but the characterization’s just not there. This seems to be a problem in many modern superhero movies; bland, generic, and unmemorable villains.  I'd argue that the best Marvel villain put to screen is still X-Men's own Magneto, who despite being played by two actors by this point, was still first put to screen sixteen years ago.  With the wealth of comic characters to chose from, I know they can do better than this..  

"That was so awesome!"

Deadpool is not the typical comic book movie, and from what I hear, the comic is just the same.  Deadpool himself is a really fun character; unpredictable, disgusting, and is essentially a one-liner machine.  I’m so glad the comic was adapted as a hard-R, satirical comedy that benefits from Ryan Reynold’s commitment immensely.  It’s made all the more funny by Reynold’s past failures as this very same character and as the Green Lantern from 2011, with subtle (and not-so-subtle) ribbing at both.  As a fan of the genre, I absolutely loved it, and even if this film stands alone in this genre of full of shared universes and confusing continuities, it will definitely stand tall.

9/10

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Originally posted on March 20, 2015

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self."

Spy movie parodies and send-ups have been done to death ever since the Bond films came into existence, with Austin Powers and TV shows like Get Smart and Archer achieving more than a little success due to their hard-edged and hilarious jabs at (and love for) the classic spy franchise.  While Kingsman: The Secret Service is not exactly a parody of 007, it's definitely a tribute to the genre and it's very silly (in a dark sort of way).  Director Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class) delivers a twisted, over-the-top spy movie with lots of heart, charm, and action scenes that are just amazing. Looking for shaky-cam and rapid-fire cutting?  You won't find it here, and I thank God for that.

Taron Egerton plays Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, a smart but aimless young man living in a broken home in London.  He becomes involved with a secret intelligence agency that his father worked at before he died in action 17 years ago.  Eggsy is put through rigorous training along with other young, hopeful candidates all in competition to fill a spot in the agency.  He's mentored by an ass-kicking senior agent named Harry Hart (Colin Firth), and supervised by the leader of the organization, Chester King (Michael Caine).  All the while, more sinister things are being plotted by the wealthy and powerful philanthropist Valentine (a lisping Samuel Jackson) and his assistant Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), who walks around on bladed, prosthetic legs.

The film stands on its own as a very entertaining and thrilling action/comedy. However, the love and affection for Bond is what pushes it from "good" to "pretty damn good" territory.  The over-the-top nature of the action scenes and situations are fun and inventive, and the movie never shies away from ugliness, grotesquery, or cartoonish death scenes (the church scene... my God... the church scene). All of this is held up by a fantastic cast, both in the ways you expect and ways you might not have. 

Carrying the film for the majority is relative newcomer Egerton, and he adds a great deal of charisma to the role.  Colin Firth is absolutely perfect as Hart, acting as a father-figure for Eggsy and adding that old-school Bond charm the film rides on.  I wasn't sure how to feel about Jackson's lisping villain at first, but looking back, it's kind of interesting.  He's a character acting with child-like ambitions in a child-like world, so one has to question whether or not lisping like a two-year old is something he was just born with or something he does on purpose to keep himself innocent. 

Character depth might be limited to the lead characters, but the supporting actors are always fun to watch (especially blade-footed Gazelle). Kingsman's plot is intricate in ways that don't really make sense except in the film's own world, and that's about at Bondian as you get.  I won't spoil it here, but all I'll say is that I'm a sucker for sci-fi allegories that use society's obsession with technology to predict its undoing.  The script air-tight and littered with spy-movie references, dry wit, and clever plot twists that keep everything light and fast-paced without feeling rushed or sloppy (minus some spots in the first act).

Action scenes are fast and brutal, often using full bodied frames and continuous shots.  Slow motion is used to great effect to increase the impact of a punch or a bullet rather than slow the fights down like in too many other action movies.  The CGI effects are par for the course, nothing too exceptional and nothing hideous (though those chrome hot-air balloons toward the end come pretty close).  The score by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson is also nothing memorable, but it's perfectly serviceable (just like most of their work).

Kingsman, most importantly, is just a great time.  Great characters, fantastic action, spy movie references, and a finale that can only be described as explosively hilarious make it as fun as it is.  I've heard that this is the first in a series of films that could spawn a whole new franchise, and while I'm excited for more, I'm also skeptical.  A film series like this may run into the Spider-man problem: trying to outdo itself becomes impossible and so sequels become increasingly overstuffed.  Although if Vaughn were to return as director, the potential is undoubtedly huge. 

8/10

Captain America: Civil War (in 4DX)

Superheroes.  So many Superheroes.  So much fighting, so much spectacle, so much narrative mess. But also so much character, so much heart, and so much fun.  That pretty much sums up the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is thirteen movies and four television series deep.  It's an incredible accomplishment from a business standpoint; built-in marketing, constant "event" films, and oodles of fanboy-loving continuity.  There have been a few minor duds, but overall, this is a remarkably solid series.  Captain America: Civil War is a lot like the first Avengers movie from 2012; it unites legions of superheroes for a gigantic brawl, most of which we already know if we've been keeping up with all the films.  But even more so than The Avengers movies, there's unexpected character depth and fights without easy resolutions.  Not to mention it's fun as all hell.

It's been one year since Ultron nearly destroyed the world by dropping an entire city in Sokovia from the sky.  Though the Avengers stopped him, and gained new allies in the process, people fear their power and the government wants more control over how they go about performing their super-heroics.  Naturally, this doesn't sit well with Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), seeing as he's witnessed government corruption firsthand.  However, the guilt-ridden Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downy, Jr.) feels like a little regulation might be necessary.  Then tragedy strikes; a terrorist attack occurs at a conference in Vienna, and the king of Wakanda is killed.  Soon it's discovered that the bomb was planted by Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Steve's lifelong friend and only link he has to his previous life.  Steve believes Bucky is innocent, so the two go on the run and amass other superheroes to help fight for their cause, including Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and Scott Lang/Antman (Paul Rudd).  In his attempts to stop Steve and capture the Winter Soldier, Tony assembles his own team of powered-up heroes, including Natasha Rominoff/Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), the son of the assassinated king T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Vision (Paul Bettany), and some kid named Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who calls himself Spider-boy or something.

The Russo Brothers (Anthony and Joe) helm yet another great Captain America movie after their tremendous success with The Winter Soldier in 2014.   While I don't know how much the film's narrative has in common with the graphic novel of the same name, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely do an outstanding job balancing the superhero factions and making sure each character has appropriate screen time.  Downey, Jr. and Evan carry the film with excellent performances, particularly Downy in some of his most vulnerable and heartbreaking moments we've seen from him yet.  Both characters are dealing with the loss of loved ones (under vastly different circumstances) in their own character-appropriate ways, and so much is happening beneath the surface of every action they make. That's no small feat given the insane amount of other things happening.  Special mention goes to Johansen though, who's proving more and more to be the heart of the series.  A Black Widow movie totally wouldn't make any money though.  Nope.

One might assume that Civil War's biggest problem is that it's overstuffed, and it's got a lot going on for sure.  But unlike other superhero movies with tons of elements fighting for screen time (I'm looking at you, Spider-Man 3), the gears are always turning, the stories are always interlocking and moving forward, and the character interactions are nothing but entertaining.  As far as new characters go, Black Panther couldn't have been any better.  T'Challa has a great character arc, is performed wonderfully by Boseman, and might have my favorite-looking costume of the bunch.  However, with this newest incarnation of Spider-man, I'm a bit torn.  On the one hand, action scenes with Spidey are really well done, and scenes between Tony and Peter are hilarious.  But it feels like a forced inclusion nonetheless in an already jam-packed narrative, and it doesn't really fit.  Also, I'm not nuts about a major part of the new cinematic Spider-man's story being so influenced by Tony, effectively making Peter feel like "Iron Man's sidekick."  It also doesn't help that this our third cinematic Spider-man in recent memory.  I will say that the airport fight scene does its best to wipe away all the narrative complaints I could possibly conjure.

But conjure I will, and what brings the movie down a peg is a major third act contrivance involving the film's true villain.  Even though I was extremely invested in the story throughout the climax, I couldn't ignore how lazy the villain's motivations were from a screenwriting standpoint.  I'm all for eschewing world-ending nonsense (like the kind in Age of Ultron) in exchange for a personal stakes, but I just couldn't buy it.  I forgive a lot of silly crap when it comes to these movies, as do we all.  But unless you're Edgar Wright (making the funniest movies of the face of the planet), you can't throw out your plot's intricacies at the last minute and expect me to be ok with it.

That doesn't stop the climax from being truly heart-pounding though, as Steve and Tony face off for reasons that are much more compelling than expected.  I'll address the elephant in the room that is Batman V Superman, but I don't need to tell you which is the better film.  Civil War isn't dripping in Dawn of Justice's style (like most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, there's homogenized TV-esque feel to them), but it's on a whole other planet when it comes to its writing.

On the technical side of things, I was both blown away by some visual effects and stunned at how bad others are.  In a flashback, Tony Stark really looks like an aged-down Robert Downy, Jr., but some shots of him later in the Iron Man suit are so poorly-composited that he looks like a bobble-head action figure.  There are, however, copious amounts of practical effects and well-choreographed fights that, even if hacked up a bit in the editing room, still give the film weight.  The music by Henry Jackman fulfills its in-the-moment purpose and does absolutely nothing else; no calling back themes of previous heroes, no memorable themes for new ones, nothing, nothing, nothing.  Just bland and monotonous action beats.  Appropriate?  Yes.  Memorable?  Not a chance.

So like many of the films in the Avengers series, CA:CW is bolstered by an excellent cast, really well-written characters, and brightly colored fun mixed with relatable human drama.  While I'm sad to see that Joss Whedon won't be directing the next Avengers film, I'm sure the Russo Brothers will continue to deliver strong entries like this one.  This movie is a balancing act, and it keeps afloat despite its bloated runtime and overwhelming character count.  While things get messy in the finale, the emotions between the two leads reach such an engaging boiling point that it almost doesn't matter. I'm looking forward to more Marvel movies, and I'll get them.  I'll get so, so many of them.

8/10

BONUS 4DX REVIEW!

This was the first movie I've seen in 4DX, a new format that utilizes motion seats, shots of wind and water, flashing lights, and fog to create a crazy fun movie experience.  You know those theme park attractions where you watch a short video with all that stuff?  Imagine a whole movie like that. Moving through streets in chase scenes is really visceral, your chair gliding and bumping along the way, as are flying scenes in which the chair tilts up and down at the appropriate moments.  Fight scenes are intensified by the back of the chair reacting to characters getting thrown onto their back. When bullets fly onscreen, air shots blast by your ear and give you a jump.  It's some really cool stuff, and Civil War seemed absolutely tailor-made for the format.  I do wish the movie wasn't in 3D though, as it started to irritate my eyes when there were quick-cuts onscreen and my chair was shaking around.  I also could have done without the water, especially since I had to keep wiping off my 3D glasses when it splashed on my face.  Thankfully, there's an option to turn the water off, which I promptly did.  And while the experience can be a bit exhausting, dialogue scenes are motion-free, allowing you to rest up before the next big battle.  It's a great time, and even though it's a bit pricy, it's worth at least giving it a try.

What will 4DX be like?

Later this afternoon, I'll be seeing Captain America: Civil War in 4DX in the Times Square Regal theater.  With a ticket price of about $28, I can't know what to expect in terms of the immersion the format promises.  The movie will be in 3D, the seat rumbles, I might feel literal wind in my face, and there might be... uh... bubbles... but I don't know much else about it.  4DX sounds like it could be the incredibly immersive film-viewing experience I've waited for all my life, or it could be a bunch of gimmicky distractions.  Either way, Civil War is getting great buzz and I can't wait to see it.  I was a bit disappointed in Age of Ultron last year, so hopefully this is the true Avengers sequel we've all been waiting for.