Joe’s Random Movie Review: 5 Reasons “Avengers: Endgame” is the greatest MCU film (plus 2 bad things)

!!!MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!

 

1. Time Travel

By including the aspect of time travel in this newest Marvel film, not only do we get to explore a brand new facet of the MCU, but we also get to re-explore some of the more familiar tones and scenes from some of the more favorite past Marvel movies. Such as, Asgard during the time of “Thor: The Dark World”, the invasion of New York in the first Avengers film, and many other different things. It’s almost like a kind of childhood nostalgia. Going back over the past 10 years, events of the Marvel films have covered. But also kind of gets another chance for us to explore another facet though; how the  characters have changed over time. Change through character arcs, new allies made, as well as new enemies made known. This unique comparison between the past and present shows us just how far these characters have come since the beginning of the series.

2. Collective characters and multiple plotlines

Even with the ending of Infinity War, Endgame leaves us with a plethora of many recognizable Marvel characters. Including the original avengers. Ordinarily, in a film that exceeds about three hours in length, you’d think that the storyline would get a little cluttered. Plotholes would show up left and right, and the film itself would seem almost chaotic (and not in enjoyable manner.) But this is not the case in this film. The scenes involving multiple characters and multiple different story arcs throughout the film actually kind of help with the pacing. The film doesn’t nearly seem as long as one would assume it to be. This structure is near perfect in it’s pacing, and is a testament to the skills of the writers of the films.

3. Thanos’s death and (later) defeat

One of the more ingenious aspects of the story line for “Avengers: Endgame”, not only is continuing directly after the ending of Infinity War, but by killing off the main bad guy within the first 15 minutes of the film. This is something  many MCU fans probably did not see coming. Thanos is, after all, the Big Bad fans of been waiting for since his cameo at the end of the first Avengers film back in 2012. They were expecting some sort of an all out last minute fight to the death fight to save all of humanity by the conclusion. And technically, we got that at the end of Infinity War. The only difference was that Thanos won that fight. And technically speaking, in Endgame we get that final fight with a past version of Thanos, facing the Avengers by the end. Even though he is the primary antagonist of Endgame, Thanos is not the same kind of villain in Endgame as he was in Infinity War. This characteristic actually humanizes Thanos. And creates much more depth into an otherwise comic book super villain. He won, now he just wants to retire and live a simple life.

4. Perfect plend of humor in a dark film

“Avengers: Endgame” is definitely one of the darker of the marvel films, primarily because it deals with a very strong moral lesson. The reaction of being defeated. The important thing to remember about all of our heroes in this film, is that they are a team that has lost. But in spite of that all Endgame is actually still able to maintain a good sense of humor not only with how it’s  presented to the audience, but also how all the other characters react to one another. A true sense of teamwork. The comradery between the characters is a bit more palpable than Infinity War.

5. A true ending.

This film concludes with what could arguably be called the perfect ending to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The final conflict with Thanos is something that has been building up over the coarse of over 20 films. Tying up loose ends, as well as defeating the main bad guy that’s driven the plot along this entire time. The conclusion with the death of Iron Man and the “retirement” of Captain America, shows us that this could very well be both an end as well as a new beginning. Just as a good ending should be. So what will the MCU bring us next? Well maybe it shouldn’t, but making over 2 billion in the box office certainly says that they’re going to be expanding a whole lot more on this already well-established comic book film universe.

And two bad things….. on a more personal note.

Although the film is great, it’s release couldn’t have come at a worse time. As it’s release coincided within a week the release of the new “Hellboy”. I’ve been wanting to see both films for a while, and the massive release of Endgame limited the audience intake for the new Hellboy.

Also, the only negative thing to be said about Endgame was the overall message of a do-over in the event of a defeat. In life, not all defeats get a reset button. This film’s bad theme, is that you shouldn’t get over it.

All in all though, an amazing film.

8.8/10

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Joe’s Random Movie Trivia: “Life of Crime” (2013)

Although it isn’t right out stated, this film takes place in the shared Quentin Tarentino film universe. The characters Louis (John Hawkes) and Ordell (Mos Def) are younger versions of the same characters Louis and Ordell in the film “Jackie Brown”. Played by Robert De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson.

Making this film a prequel, technically.

It’s worth noting that the books that both films were based off of were both written by Elmore Leonard. “Life of Crime” was based on “The Switch” and “Jackie Brown” was based off on “Rum Punch”.

Avengers: Endgame review, coming soon!

I’m waiting out on some of the insane rush of Endgame it’s opening week. So in the next few week, I’ll post a review.

Thank you for your patience!

Joe’s Random Movie Review: “Hellboy” (2019)

While many fans of the comics in the films were disappointed when Guillermo Del Toro failed to deliver us a third film to his Hellboy franchise, a reboot was the next logical step. In 2019 that’s exactly what we got. This time, directly from Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Decent) have given us.

In this age of remakes and reboot it’s easy to be cynical about such things. But in the case of the Hellboy franchise I think it is very well defended as a reboot. Because the franchise has such a rich mythology, specially in the comics, the Del Toro simply left it alone and wasn’t going to do anything with it. It’s exact same mistake that Warren Beatty made when he made Dick Tracy in 1990.

One thing that a lot of horror movie fans might enjoy from the new Hellboy movie as oppossed to the Del Toro films is that it actually ignores the whole superhero stereotype in some of today’s films. The previous films ahead actually focus more less on the superhero motif of Hellboy. Where is this new reboot actually focuses more on the horror and mythological elements.

David Harbour flat out as awesome as red. He gets the characterization perfect. It actually does in my opinion a much better job than Ron Perlman did. And Harbour’s performance we actually see Hellboy”s internal struggle to try and find a place in the world. In that way his version is a little bit more sympathetic, more grittier, and the kind of underdog that film fans want to root for.

This film is on also much closer to Mike Mignola’s universe. Including certain characters which make appearances besides Hellboy of course, and Professor Bruttenholm (now played by Ian McShane), it also has characters such as Alice Monaghan , Ben Daimio, even an appearance by Lobster Johnson.

This film was undoubtedly made for fans of a comic book, and such fans, myself included, were rewarded. It seems the only thing that’s really holding some back from total success, is the cynicism of people who regretted not getting a third original Hellboy film.

This film dares to be something different in this modern era of superhero films. It tried to ditch the superhero motif and present Hellboy as an all out gory horror film piece with quite a bit of humor and lots of action. Such a dark tone only helps the story.

Hopefully this film delivers us a sequel or two, because the universe set up in this one, has more action, more horror, more character development, and flat out is a good, fun movie.

6.5/10

“The Fly” (1986) The Deleted “Monkey-Cat” scene

Shot, but later deleted from the film was a 6 to 7 minutes sequence in which the scientist Seth Brundle attempts to re-create the accident with his teleportation device that mutated him. He takes the surviving baboon from his earlier experiments in the film, and an alley cat that he found. Then tries to fuse the two together through his Telepods. But unlike his accident in which he in the fly were linked on a genetic level, the baboon and the cat become this hideously mutated two-headed creature. With the creature in obvious pain, Brundle picks up a pipe and proceeds to beat it to death. He then goes up to the roof of the building where he lives feels an excruciating pain in his side and attempt to climb down the wall but loses his grip. He didn’t slides down the wall and falls to the ground where a growth in his side appears. A mutated insect limb. Horrified, he tears it off.

Here are five facts about the scene:

1. Why it was cut.

Besides the fact, that it delivered to much gore too early in the film, the real reason it was cut was because test audiences could no longer sympathize with the character of Seth Brundle. At some point in this film our Protagonist becomes the Antagonist. And the problem with the film including this scene, was that you no longer cared about the suffering the main character is going through. It was pretty evident to the filmmakers as a result of the test screenings, but the movie was better off without it.

2. “Stage 4b”

This sequence features a stage in Brundle’s transformation not seen in the final film. Makeup Artist Chris Walas and his team dubbed it “stage 4b”. Walas said in interviews That was actually one of his favorite looks of Jeff Goldblum in the film. Because it had a Jekyll and Hyde quality about it. It was the halfway point between who Seth Brundle was in the beginning of the movie and into the creature Brundlefly that he later transforms into.

3. Director cameo

Besides his cameo as the gynecologist, director David Cronenberg is the one wielding the pipe that kills the creature in this shot.

4.

A large set of the warehouse wall was constructed for the shot where Brundle loses his grip and “slides” down the wall. To create this, the filmmakers made the wall slanted, like a slide so Goldblum could fall as well as give the illusion he’s sticking to it like a fly.

5. A shot from this deleted scene appears in the film’s original theatrical trailer.

Joe’s Random Movie Trivia: “Child’s Play” (1988)

In Don Mancini’s original script, back when the film was called “Blood Buddies”, the Chucky doll wasn’t possessed at all.

The original idea was that the doll was a manifestation of the little boy’s Id. And with a workaholic mother, an abusive babysitter, and other children making fun of him, all the victims in the film were going to be people that the boy had a deep, subconscious rage towards.

Joe’s Random Movie Trivia: “Dances With Wolves” (1990)

The Language spoken by the Sioux in the film is genuine Sioux Lakota, spoken by less than a thousand or so people in North America today. Very few people knew it, so a consultant  from South Dakota’s Sinte Gleska University was brought in to translate the script and teach the actors how to say the lines. The consultant for the film was Doris Leader Charge, who taught the Lakota language and culture at the university.

She has a part in the film as Ten Bears’ wife, Pretty Shield.