I really didn't get to very many movies this year, so I'm just gonna post a mini-review for everyone I saw. I don't really have a "movie of the year" this time, though I suppose, looking back, Avengers: Infinity War was the one I enjoyed the most.
Anyways, here's what I saw, and what I thought about it, in 2018.
Given how much acclaim this one has gotten, it puts me in a weird spot to say that this one was just okay. It had some neat moments, but was otherwise a fairly straight forward MCU movie, as far as I was concerned. Solid character moments, decent humor, cartoony action. Par for the MCU course.
If there were a few big differences (other than the obvious), it’s that this one was more well-structured, and it took more time to explore the villain’s perspective. However, this did make it feel a little predictable. Like, they did such a good job setting up the dominos in the beginning, that the third act was just watch them fall over, just like you expected.
For me, it was just another decent MCU movie that helped ticked down the Thanos clock.
Trying to follow up one of the greatest movies in recent history was going to be tough, and not having Del Toro in the director’s chair only made me more nervous. However, in the end, it had enough going for itself to feel like a solid sequel, but not much more.
The first problem was one of structure. It tried to have two main characters like the first one, but ended up just over-complicating things this time. Another problem was that the action felt a little too slick, if that makes sense. The first film made an effort to show how large and lumbering both the jaegers and the kaiju are. While it does make sense for the tech to get better as time goes on, I wonder if we ended up losing a sense of scale in the process.
Still, it was a fun movie, and I know they’re planning to make at least one more (if the ending is anything to go by), which I will look forward to. While it may not have quite the same magic as the first, it was a decent follow up for a movie that probably didn’t need it.
Avengers: Infinity WarFor superheroes, this was the movie to see. After so many films of build up, we finally get to see all of MCU’s heroes go toe-to-toe with Thanos. And it was worth it!
I knew going in how things would turn out, but that didn’t diminish the impact this movie had. Once people were comfortable with posting spoilers online, the internet was awash with memes and references, and for good reason. This movie had the guts to go big and be bold about it.
When I first saw it, I wasn’t sure if this movie would really hold up on its own, sort of like how Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t really stand on its own, either. However, when I watched it again, I found that it really did have a solid story arc that worked, and couldn’t help but get caught up in it all again.
Of course, with a movie this good, it only makes the hype for the follow up, Endgame, only bigger. Marvel has only got one chance to bring it all home. Here’s hoping they can pull it off.
While the first one was an irreverent riot, I was nervous about the sequel, mostly because Deadpool doesn’t necessarily feel like franchise material. Just a gimmicky character that really doesn’t have a lot of momentum for continuity.
And I was mostly right about that. The sequel does tone down some of the R-rated material, it doesn’t replace it with much. I get that the idea was to take a more serious, down-to-earth X-men style story and let the title character dump all over it, but as a consequence, the movie feels very inconsistent and suffers from some pretty serious mood whiplash. I think the problem is trying to deal with Deadpool from the perspective of other characters who also have a stake in what’s going on. The first movie succeeded in sticking mostly within Deadpool’s head and Deadpool’s stakes, but this one tries to go bigger only to fall flat.
That being said, there are some good jokes at the expense of the MCU, and the story, while very clunky, does have a strange sense of heart to it. Sort of. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.
After Thanos stole the superhero show in Infinity War, how was Ant-Man going to follow up their sleeper success from 3 years prior? By turning its set of characters into a slapstick-style roller coaster ride!
I enjoyed the heck out of Ant-Man and the Wasp, but I do recognize that it’s very different from the first one, which had more of a heist feel, overall. This one goes for more of a relentless, fight-against-the-clock vibe that manages to offer solid peaks and troughs. If there was anything really underwhelming, it would be the villain. While her motivations were clear, she didn’t really seem like much when the main characters were dealing with a lot already.
Still, the last two MCU movies were a blast, and we’ve got two more coming in 2019!
The first Equalizer was an interesting take on a classic “one man against the mob” style of action hero, going for a slower pace that focused more on the title character and his approach to his fellow human beings and to his own capabilities. Perhaps not for everyone, but for those that can groove on it’s unique, violent, detail-oriented thinking, it was a great movie.
The sequel, however, finds itself in a strange position. Retaining only the title character and his old war buddies from the first film, The Equalizer 2 tries to use the past as a way to haunt our hero in a new way, but doesn’t know quite how to pull it off.
Most of the movie’s time is spent going back and forth between two plots that seem almost unrelated to each other, and when they finally meet up, it’s almost a let down, as it comes from a double-cross that seems to make the story less interesting. We also spend a TON of time with a lot of support characters that only seem like tangents to the main story, which bogs things down further.
The action is also not quite as impressive, with a more straightforward approach that leaves less to the imagination the way the first one did. However, the final showdown does have some good moments, if only because the circumstances make it pretty insane.
Overall, it’s uneven, and really seems to struggle to justify its own existence, especially when the first one felt so solid and substantial.
Oh, look, another Tom Cruise action movie.
To be honest, I do kind of like what had become of the Mission Impossible movies. While they are quite formulaic, it does have a decent cast of supporting characters and some fun action beats, and this latest one is really just more of the same.
However, the formula is starting to look pretty worn out. This time, they’ve brought together all the story threads from the last three movies, and mostly it just feels tiring. It’s like they decided to include all the things that had happened before, but turn it all up to 11, for better AND worse.
Henry Cavill in particular feels wasted, as he does have great presence, but his character seems to shift with the plot and comes across as inconsistent. We really need to get him in a good action movie, for once!
There are some pretty good action scenes though, and I’d argue that it’s probably the most intense MI movie thus far, with the set-pieces and special effects really in your face. In the end, it’s a decent roller coaster, but I’ve seen better, even within this series.
So, I guess that's it for this year. I do plan on putting together a list of anticipated films for 2019, so keep an eye out for that. Afterwards, I'm gonna try to get more stuff on this site! Here's to the new year!
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