#ant man review

[agentnico]

Top 10 WORST Movies of 2023

For every good movie there’s always a dozen stinkers, and 2023 brought out a lot of turkeys, and I’m not referring to all the poor birds that ended up in our bellies this Christmas season. It’s become a tradition for me every year to do a top 10 best and worst movies of the year list, and I tend to leave the top 10 best list till later as I catch up will the awards potentials, however with the bad list I get right on into it. There are of course many bad movies this year I didn’t see, as I don’t actively seek out to watch the bad ones, but I have heard that these following haven’t been the best: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Marvels, Indiana Jones 5, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Expend4bles, Children of the Corn, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey…… damn, a lot of films got a bad rep this year. Yet I have 10 other ones that I’ve seen that I thought were crap. Don’t worry if a film you loved ends up on this list, it will simply mean your opinion is wrong and your have to live with that. With that in mind, here’s my humble list of the shit-fest Hollywood had to offer in 2023…

10) ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA - Everything that is wrong with the current state of Marvel is exhibited on full display here. Lacking a sense of direction and exploiting the idea of the multiverse just for the sake of it, the movie is a dud. It feels like whilst trying to focus on going bigger and bolder, the movie lost the sense of fun that elevated the earlier instalments in the tiny hero’s franchise. Paul Rudd is still as charming and likeable as ever, however the introduction of Kang as the next MCU Big Bad is pointless seeing as this big baddie can be defeated by a bunch of ants. Don’t make no difference now anyway with Jonathan Majors losing the court case, but who in the first place thought “oh yeah, Kang is a badass who killed many Avengers, but a giant head of Corey Stoll should weaken him no problem”. Look, there’s no sugarcoating it - this movie is bad. Also, Bill Murray appears in this because…?

9) THE BEANIE BUBBLE - Zack Galifianakis without any facial hair is truly a sight to behold, but that’s not enough to make this fluffy yet bland behind-the-scenes look at the famous Beanie Babies toys even remotely interesting. It’s as if this film can’t bear (thank you) to show the creepier side of these toys, as this should have been a more darker and messed up tale, especially with the lightly implied institutional sexism. Oh well, that’s that then.

8) WE HAVE A GHOST - If ever there was a movie that fit more to the phrase “Netflix & Chill” then this is it, as you will be too busy banging your partner or your sock than caring about a silent speechless David Harbour creeping about Casper-like and being all quiet and mysterious. To be fair he’s the only redeemable quality as the rest of the movie is a mishmash hodgepodge of genres that is neither funny, nor effective in its family drama dynamic. At least seeing Jennifer Coolidge jump out a window was mildly amusing. Mildly. Anyway, where’s that sock?

7) THE OLD WAY - It is truly fascinating that after starring in over 100 films, this is Nicolas Cage’s first ever western. Aside from that mind boggling revelation, this movie comes out with less than a bang. I don’t know, I was hoping for something a bit more mad, especially with Cage’s involvement. Heck, in the movie’s opening sequence Nicolas Cage is introduced with a sprawling Poirot-like moustache, and immediately I assumed that I am in for something ridiculous. However following that scene the movie cuts to 20 years later, and with that both the moustache and the hope for something exciting or weird is diminished to singular unseen atoms.

6) FOOL’S PARADISE - The directorial debut from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Charlie Day (who also writes and stars), misfiring Hollywood satire Fool’s Paradise wastes a strong ensemble cast that also includes Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Kate Beckinsale, Ken Jeong, Common, John Malkovich and the late Ray Liotta. Look, in a way I feel bad about including this film on this list, as you can tell this is a true passion project for Day and one that has good intentions by attempting to go back to the old-school slapstick Charlie Chaplin-era of comedy, with a lighthearted satire on the way the film industry works. In this case the result is neither sweet nor funny enough, and as such it’s an unfortunate misfire, but easily the most disappointing inclusion on this list.

5) GHOSTED - Adrien Brody’s crappy French accent in this movie I could have forgiven, if only I have not seen John Wick: Chapter 4 a couple of weeks prior where I experienced the most delightful Parisian mouthing of Bill Skarsgard’s villain, so now Brody’s French-ish slur sticks out like a sore thumb. What else sticks out is that Ghosted feels like a film from the early 2000s, featuring every cliche of the genre and with a romantic pairing of Chris Evans and Ana de Armas whom share zero chemistry. Their kissing scenes reminded me of that Andrew Garfield/Emma Stone SNL sketch where they don’t know how to kiss on camera, only in this case it’s unintentional. Also featuring a slew of pointless cameos, and I do mean pointless, this is a throwaway campy spy-action flick that is destined to be forgotten.

4) THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER - Billed as the true sequel to William Friedkin’s original horror masterpiece, it really shouldn’t have strived for that. Ellen Burstyn’s return is a waste. For those excited to see her, she’s only in 3 or 4 scenes total, and the creative choices made with her character are such a disservice to the original movie. Without spoiling, it’s a choice that seems to be inspired by the modern woke culture, with Burstyn’s Chris having being studying the art of exorcism ever since the events that transpired with her daughter, and then when questioned about why she herself did not partake in her daughter’s exorcism she blames the patriarchy. The choice of bringing her into this narrative and then what happens to her…it’s basically taking a classic character and making them dumb. I must say though that the only actual shocking moment in the movie comes in a scene involving her character, and though that moment itself is memorable, the build up towards it is so stupid. Also, with the return of Burstyn it comes as no surprise within the movie when a certain other character pops in for a cameo. Does it add anything to the movie’s story? No, it’s just there for cheap fan service. As for the movie itself, the horror hardly works. It’s not scary at all and you really shouldn’t believe in this one.

3) THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE - Yeah, I know, my inclusion of this film on the list will rattle some feathers, but I don’t care, as for any of you pricks out there thinking that stupid “Peaches” song deserves an Academy Award nomination, you guys are stupid and must be high on some very powerful shrooms. If so, I hope you’re having a great trip, but the fact stands that this movie is bad. Simply doing fan service for the sake of fan service don’t make for a good narrative. Me and my friend were bored throughout, as this movie is 100% for kids. There are nostalgic elements to it all, but I do believe that Illumination and Nintendo should have followed more in The Lego Movie’s footsteps and targeted the film for audiences of all ages, due to the fact that many who grew up with Mario are now adults themselves.

2) LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND - So much wasted potential. A long drawn-out slow shuffle to Nowheresville. A movie that offers so many ideas, plot points, and thread lines that are never answered or go anywhere. In Leave the World Behind things are truly happening under the motto “just because” and “why the hell not” and it makes the viewing experience immensely frustrating. Especially when the movie is nearly 2 and a half hours long and the anticlimactic abrupt ending is a slap to your face for wasting your time. Oh, and if I weren’t a fan of the Friends show before, now more so than ever.

1) 65 - Right ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to ask you all so kindly to rise up from your seats and give a humongous round of applause to 65 - the 2023 film to exhibit qualities of a top contender of the worst movie of this year. Look, I’m disappointed as you are. Adam Driver fighting dino-dinos’?! You’d be a madman to not want to see that! However here’s 65′s first mistake: there actually aren’t that many dinosaurs, let alone fights with them. I know right, I can sense the resounding aura of you, my kind audience, in unison thinking “what the f***?”. Exactly, what the fudge indeed. No, instead what we get is a couple of somewhat thrilling dinosaurs interactions, but overall the movie is just Adam Driver and this little girl walking. Just walking. Walking and whistling. Bunch of jackasses.

That’s it - we did it! Now I can happily forget I ever watched any of these and mentally prepare for what wonders of stupidity 2024 will bring to the big screen. As for my Best Movies of 2023 list, don’t worry, it’s a-coming. Still need to watch The Boy and the Heron and Poor Things and then all will be revealed…

[ifonotlnow]

ALBUM REVIEW NOBODY CARED ABOUT PART VII: SPIRIT PHONE EDITION

Lifetime Achievement Award: 7.75/10

It took me embarrassingly long to realize that the first letters of delta echo alpha delta spell out “D.E.A.D.”. Anyways, EVEN AS WE SPEAK WERE SYNTHESIZING BLOOD AND ORGANS SYNTHESIZING HEART AND SOUL. 

The slow part’s sick as hell (I’m writing this album review as i listen)

It also took me embarrassingly long to catch the Michael Jackson ref

Touch Tone Telephone: 7.75/10

Fun fact: this was the first lemon demon song I actually liked enough to listen to it repeatdly. After i stopped liking this song, i stopped listening to lemon demon, then I found cabinet man, and i started listening to lemon demon more and started liking this song again.

Caminet Man: 5/10

Ehh. I get why it’s popular cause it’s a great song. I just stopped liking it as much when I listened to the rest of the album. Also, it’s probably too late to say this, but I’m rating on how much I like it, not on how good it is.

No Eyed Girl: 7.5/10

Love how the bass Im this song is Neil with a voice effect. Great.

Also, if i’m correct the lyric is “without proof i know” but i thought it was “without proof, oh no!”

When he died: 8/10

Unfortunately, instead of listening to this on Spotify or something, I’m listening to it on audiomack, so i doubt get to hear the great transition from “no eyed girl” into “when he died” :(

Never noticed the slight echo on Neil’s voice before, sick

Sweett bod: 8/10

Don’t play this one in front of your parents!

Who else but Neil would write a song with the lyric “some sexy shaking tumors”

Sick ass guitar solo

Eighth wonder: 6/10

Don’t LOVE it, but it’s a great song.

Fun fact, this song’s only slightly younger than me.

Ancient Aliens: 7/10

I litened to it too much and now I don’t like it anymore :(

Soft fuzzy man: 8/10

One time in math class, we were listening to the class playlist and this song started playing. My math teacher immediately said “this is horrible, who requested this” and as soon as he read who made the song the whole class looked at me.

As Your Father I Expressly Forbid It: 9/10

This song sounds like the red angry bird

I Earn My Life: 9/10

:(

Reaganomics: 10/10

Hell yeah

…

With reaganomics

Baby

Baby

Baby

BABY

YEAHHHHH

Man Made Object:7/10 

I now realize how good the percussion in this album sounds.

This song has the vibes on an instrumental without being one

I love the delivery of the lines “I am an altogether different man by day / I have the influence to send that man far away”

Spiral of Ants: 8/10

The perfect ending to a perfect album

OVERALL ALBUM RATING: 9/10

FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE SONGS:

Probably sweet bod, reaganomics, or as your father i expressly forbid it (yeah i know, not at all consistent with my ratings)

For my least favorite, easily cabinet man

[californiannostalgia]

Things I Loved About Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

1. Cassie Lang: Cassie is in that teenage phase of "if I see something wrong I have to Do Something otherwise I will Explode from the injustice of it all" (especially because her dad's side of the family is incredibly encouraging of anti-authority ingenuity) and I have a feeling she'll go far, good for her

2. Ant Man: Scott Lang has that "I punched Thanos's warship in a battle for the fate of the world" Avenger-trauma lingering about him, and he just needs his daughter to be safe and his life to somewhat make sense please (kind of heartbreaking how he has his priorities in iron-solid lockdown, what with how many times he's been on this rodeo)

and once again, there's a reason why an Avenger is an Avenger--don't think I'll be forgetting that "doesn't matter what you do to me as long as it's not to anyone else, never again" mindset that is so, so fucking signature of a "punch back harder" Avenger grit

3. Wasp: Hope van Dyne has the Avenger Thing too, she's just zeroed in on Scott and her family (like Scott's zeroed in on Cassie) so once everyone else is safe, of course Hope jumps back in for Scott and makes sure the world-killer doesn't escape (seeing a bit of her mother's big-picture vision and her father's personal loyalty, in her)

4. Those Two: kind of ridiculous how Hope and Scott have found a life partner to balance their family-saving/world-saving priorities with (I mean come on, that shot of them in the black void? infinite possibilities shrinking down into one the moment they find each other? because there's only one path forward they can take, the two of them in perfect sync, anchoring the other--yeah that's drift compatibility)

5. The Grandparents are Badass: Janet is a traumatized action hero and she should probably go to therapy, but she's still a badass. She's got the rebel leader "necessary sacrifices" mindset, which I feel is balanced out by the rest of her family. Hank Pym's mad-scientist-from-Spy-Kids reenactment was honestly so epic, I loved it so much. His hearing aids being a pivotal part of his special Cavalry Call ability was awesome.

6. I enjoy giant humanoid battle movies: tl;dr Scott Lang is an Avenger and I thought he would die in this movie but he didn't so! yay me! I'll be looking forward to seeing his human jaeger fighting style on screen again (yes I love Pacific Rim, what of it)

[concise-cyan]

Watched The Marvels aka Captain Marvel 2 today and it is bad. Honestly, I'm really disappointed because I wanted it to be good because I like Brie a lot as Captain Marvel and I want to see good movies.

Reasons why it was bad:

It is disjointed. It's a 105 min runtime (thankfully) but the scenes don't really connect and it's very clear that stuff has been edited out. I'm not saying that putting the stuff back in would have made it better because fundamentally it's a writing problem in that the villain is weak, the chemistry between the three leads isn't developed enough, and the whole plot is so basic and paper thin that it's basically like a video game fetch quest.

Some of the light hearted moments/attempts at humor I found really cringe. I don't know if it's because I'm much older than I was when I watched the first marvel films (but then again, I've rewatched some lately and Tony's quips are still very fun), but the singing planet stuff makes me roll my eyes and the flerkin kittens + Memory from Cats scene makes me question - who approved this?!

Needs more character development and backstory. Why is Monica upset with Carol? Why is Dar-Benn (the villain) angry at Carol? What happened to the Kree planet? What's with the Skrull colonies? It's like a whole movie's (not giving Disney ideas but) been skipped. When Monica forgave Carol for leaving, I felt nothing. The best parts of the early Marvel movies were the character development of our heroes and the chemistry between leads and this movie had none of that.

Also, they used a lot of flashbacks that were just scenes directly taken from other movies/tv shows - like Marvel has money, why is it giving me CW network show budget episodes?

It might be time to just give up on any Marvel properties unless they start getting reviewed back in the 80s/90s again on rotten tomatoes.

Some good things I guess:

Kamala's family and Kamala

Brie Larsen is so fit (also does anyone else get lesbian vibes from Captain Marvel?)

Teyonnah (Monica's actress) is so pretty

Zawe (Dar-Benn) really hamming it up with those facial expressions as the villain (fun! too bad the writing/editing is sucking right now)

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

“Superhero movie fatigue” is the idea that, because of the recent oversaturation of the market with superhero movies combined with the increased interconnectivity of the stories and the push for elaborate narratives with movies serving as building blocks for franchises rather than standalone experiences, audiences are getting tired of superheroes and the genre is finally starting to show cracks and die off. This idea is incredibly flawed for a wide variety of reasons (Wakanda Forever’s success alone easily debunking it), but it’s kind of interesting seeing how opinions shifted towards these movies so quickly. Obviously the oversaturation thing is indisputable as the sheer volume of releases in the wake of Endgame can attest to, but when you’re releasing that much that quickly the weaker works are bound to stand out more. To really examine why people feel this way, one must single out the weakest link in the chain, and as far as critical and audience reactions go there is no weaker link than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The Ant-Man movies have always been a bit divisive among audiences, but I’ve always maintained that they are the most overlooked and underappreciated films in the MCU. They are low-stakes, lighthearted heist films with strong focus on friendship and family while making full creative use of the title character’s abilities. While by no means the greatest superhero movies ever, they were a breath of fresh air in between the bigger, “save the world/universe” films other superheroes got and were carried by a likable cast spearheaded by the charming and hilarious Paul Rudd. Maybe it was hard to want to call these films your favorite , but they’re even harder to call the worst or even really that bad.

That changed with Quantumania. Critics were pretty mixed on this one, but audiences were scathing, comparing the film unfavorably to Spy Kids 3: Game Over and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl due to the cartoonishness of the CGI and the uncanny similarities shared between Mr. Electric from the latter film and this movie’s take on M.O.D.O.K. While the movie wasn’t some massive bomb, it was fighting an uphill battle from the moment of announcement and was losing handily with fans. Between this and Shazam: Fury of the Gods, people were proclaiming “superhero fatigue” was here to stay and Marvel was going down the drain… at least until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 played that Uno Reverse card and restored people’s hope.

So with the fickleness of audiences taken into account and the lack of water the “superhero fatigue” idea holds, I decided to take a look at Quantumania and see what the fuss was all about. I mean, come on, it’s just an Ant-Man movie, right? Is it really that bad, or is the fatigue real after all?

THE GOOD

I’m absolutely elated to report that my boy M.O.D.O.K. was done justice.

Yes, they did indeed yassify him to make his ultimate redemption easier to swallow (audiences aren’t nice enough to accept a really ugly person being heroic in the eyes of executives), but for me the core appeal of M.O.D.O.K. is how absolutely goofy he looks combined with being a legitimate threat, and this take on him mostly delivers on the latter while delivering the former in spades. As soon as he revealed his face for the first time, I completely lost my shit, and every time he appeared after I was pretty overjoyed.

It helps that this reimagined version is the completely serviceable but otherwise unremarkable villain Darren Cross from the first film rebuilt as a cyborg. While the writing and comedy aren’t doing him too many favors, giving him more diverse and unique powers as opposed to just being Ant-Man, but bad is a great and inspired move, and Corey Stoll is clearly having a lot of fun hamming it up as this goofy cyborg death machine. His ridiculous heroic sacrifice coupled with his delirious dying christening as an Avenger by a confused Scott really helps cement him as the best thing in this movie. Move over, Cap! We’ve got a new perfect ass in the Avengers!

As bad as the effects can be, which we’ll get to later, there are some really fun and unique designs for the alien beings inhabiting the Quantum Realm. And despite the film’s issues utilizing Scott’s powers (again, we’ll get to it later), there is a really cool sequence involving millions of Ant-Mans working together just like real ants.

And now I must unfortunately give props to Johnathan Majors, a real-life asshole who is regrettably a good actor. He takes the generic, cookie cutter doomsday villain dialogue this film affords him and injects so much menace and intensity into him that it honestly makes him seem better written then he is. His multiple variants even get a silly, comic booky mid credits scene with a whole stadium of whooping and cheering Kangs that manages to be cheesy in a good way (aside from how shitty the Scarlet Centurion looks).

THE BAD

Unfortunately, Kang runs into the same sort of problems that plagued Gorr in Love and Thunder, but it’s exacerbated by the fact he’s meant to be the next big bad of the MCU. The film wants to sell you that this Kang is an unstoppable badass who has wiped out innumerable timelines and slaughtered countless Avengers (including Thor, a god)… and yet he ends up getting killed by the combined efforts of a swarm of ants, a goofy floating head, and fucking Ant-Man of all heroes. It is genuinely baffling that they thought the best way to hype up their next Thanos was to have him lose to the goofy heist guy who talks to bugs. It’s like if Guardians of the Galaxy debuted Thanos by having him get his ass handed to him by Howard or Cosmo.

It doesn’t help that in spite of Majors elevating the writing with his performance, he suffers like Gorr did from inconsistent characterization. We are shown in flashback that despite being evil he does have honor and is willing to keep promises… and then a few scenes later he goes back on his word to return Scott’s daughter in exchange for help. It certainly does him no favors that when he’s not inconsistent, he’s a bit too mysterious for his own good, leading to it being hard to really grasp what his personality is beyond being a generic doomsday villain.

It’s not as if the writing does anyone else well, though. Scott is still charming as ever thanks to Paul Rudd, but he’s also shockingly unfunny here. Much of this can be chalked up to his entire supporting cast being written out of the movie save for his daughter and the Pym-Van Dyne family. You could see the foreshadowing to this in Endgame, with the ending featuring Scott, Hope, and Cassie together without a hint of the rest of the family, but it takes full force here with only Jimmy Woo popping in for a non-speaking cameo. The removal of at least 80% of what made Scott grounded and relatable being dropped does nothing but hamper him and lead to him feeling incredibly generic.

It doesn’t help the Pym-Van Dyne family all end up being a bunch of assholes, aside from Hank who is now a silly old dad obsessed with ants and leads an army of hyper-advanced socialist ants into battle against Kang, which might make him the most badass character in the movie. It’s understandable the others can’t measure up to anything that cool, but just how awful they are is still pretty egregious.

Hope is bland and mostly inoffensive, but I think that just makes her worse; Evangeline Lilly is an anti-vaxxer, and if you’re gonna be anti-vaxx you need to really bring your A-game for me to overlook your moral failings for the duration of a film (like Letitia Wright in Wakanda Forever). She didn’t even bring her J-game. Then there’s Janet. Janet is a fucking horrible person. All she does in this movie is offer vague foreshadowing, conceal the truth from her family whenever possible, and reveal she once fucked Bill Murray during his awful, pointless cameo. Michelle Pfeiffer’s talents are absolutely wasted in a role where she exists seemingly to dump exposition.

Finally, there’s Cassie. Emma Fuhrmann’s portrayal of the character was one of the most praised aspects of Endgame, with her giving a very believable and emotional take on the character as a teen. For reasons beyond my understanding, they recast her with Kathryn Newton, and I’ve gotta say she is not even remotely believable as Scott’s daughter. She’s easily the worst character in the movie, to the point you have to wonder what the point of the recast was. Did they want Cassie to suck?

Then there’s the Quantum Realm itself. Aside from some cool alien designs, the Quantum Realm is unbelievably boring and does nothing to allow our heroes to use their skills in fun ways. The fact it’s rendered in really unconvincing CGI like an early 2000s Robert Rodriguez kid’s movie does nothing to beat those Spy Kid allegations. At least with those movies the cheap CGI felt like part of the charm; coming from Disney, one of the most powerful studios on earth, it’s just unforgivable.

But what ultimately kills this movie is that it is a film designed for literally no one. The story feels like an AI was prompted to generate a Marvel script written by an MCU hater, as it has every cliche associated with a mediocre superhero movie on full display. You have abysmal special effects and costumes, terrible editing, awkward humor undermining drama, and an absurdly high-stakes plot, the hallmarks of any bad superhero movie, but even then it manages to fuck that up. As high as the stakes are in the plot considering it concerns the literal annihilation of multiple alternate timelines, there’s not really a sense of thrill or urgency at play here, for instance. And every single problem is compounded by the fact they chose Ant-Man as the lead.

What makes Ant-Man’s solo films work is the low stakes and fun supporting cast, and that’s all absent here. Everything there is to like about this character is excised so he can be inserted into a plot to prop up the next big villain, which as stated above the film also fails to do. No character really develops here, there’s no personal growth at all for Scott, and it just ends up feeling like someone mashing action figures together rather than any attempt at a coherent story.

And his powers are never used in creative ways either! It’s all shrink-grow-punch, with the alien world leaving no room for things like enlarging Thomas the Tank Engine or shrinking down buildings. Nothing about this film allows the hero to be utilized properly outside of one scene; you could replace Ant-Man with almost anyone, even Hawkeye, and it would make no difference at all because in reality this movie exists to debut Kang, nothing more and nothing less. The hero never mattered at all, and in the end it just shit all over a good character for nothing.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

This is, hands down, the worst film in the MCU.

Every other bad or divisive movie in the MCU at least has some semblance of understanding for story structure, even if they go about it in stupid ways. Thor: The Dark World furthered the relationship between Thor and Loki while still being part of a larger story; Love and Thunder at least told a self-contained story that exists on its own merits without tying in to some grand storyline; Black Widow at least developed its characters and made them feel like a believable if dysfunctional family; and Eternals is trying really damn hard, and has tons of fascinating ideas and concepts. Whatever you feel about these films, they at least have some grasp on how to tell a story, however tenuous a grasp it may be.

But Quantumania just doesn’t. It’s supposed to be an Ant-Man movie, but it doesn’t understand why people like the character. It wants to hype up Kang, but it doesn’t understand what’s needed to make him feel threatening. It wants to be an epic sci-Fi comedy adventure, but it’s not utilizing the right characters in the right locations to excel in any of these genres. And most of all, it’s trying to be an important and major foot forward for the MCU, but it’s structured in a way that is generic and, most damningly, pointless. It does not feel like this movie matters at all aside from a mid-credits scene, which wouldn’t be an issue if this film wasn’t so desperately trying to feel important. It says a lot about how hard this film failed when the audiences responded more warmly to a Black Panther movie with no Chadwick Boseman than to the film introducing the overarching big bad of the next few years worth of films and shows.

It’s not even just that this is a bad movie, though; it’s also boring. I actually fell asleep for a minute while watching this because there was nothing engaging. These aren’t the characters I cared about in previous films, there’s no emotional grounding at all. If Corey Stoll’s giant goofy head isn’t onscreen, what is there to give a shit about? Why not close my eyes and dream of something better?

The fact this film is above a 5 boggles my mind. How is this rated higher than She-Hulk? How does this have the same rating as Ms. Marvel? In my eyes this movie deserves a 2, max, and that one extra star is entirely because of M.O.D.O.K. I couldn’t even recommend this in a “turn off your brain” kind of way because it’s not fun or exciting enough to hold your attention even if you don’t think about it. It frankly disturbs me there is a growing coalition of people on Twitter trying to gaslight people into thinking this movie was good, because I genuinely can’t think of a single thing this film does well enough to justify watching it over almost anything else.

With all that said, does this prove that “superhero fatigue” is real? No. If anything, this film’s failure and the success and acclaim of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 prove the exact opposite. What we have is Bad Movie Fatigue. Audiences are sick and tired of sloppily-written, lazy, overindulgent CGI spectacles meant to advance decade-long storylines and sell toys. We want films with strong emotional cores, well-crafted stories, and characters we can relate to and empathize with. We want stuff like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, The Batman, The Suicide Squad, or Peacemaker, and we’re not gonna settle for procedurally-generated cookie cutter slop that feels like it was made by someone who hates the genre. We want good movies, and if we can’t have that at least make an entertaining and stylish mess like Multiverse of Madness.

Quantumania is Marvel hitting rock bottom, but you know what they say about hitting rock bottom: There’s nowhere to go but up. The final Guardians of the Galaxy proved there’s still hope for Marvel; let’s just pray they never make anything as pointless and forgettable as Quantumania ever again.

[key158]

heres my thoughts on Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania.

tbh i think its getting way to much hate. people saying the visuals are bad, the storys bad or that its boring. but honestly, it wasnt bad. some of the visuals were super cool, the story really wasnt that bad, and it was funny without being annoying.

I think people need to just lower their expectations for marvel movies because, not every marvel movie is going to be amazing and people need to just accept that. and also, its and antman movie. its going to be cheesy.

dont get me wrong some marvel films suck ass, but i dont think this was one.

feel free to share your own opinions, i love seeing different points of view about this kinda stuff❤️❤️

[summitmach2]

new movie just dropped

SO ANYWAYS I just saw Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania and here's what I thought.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. It was fire

2. It was better than Thor: Love and Thunder (though thats not difficult)

3. I personally think it was better than Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (blasphemy, I love Dr Strange, but it must be said)

4. I ALSO think it was better than Spider-man: No Way Home (more blasphemy, but NWH was kinda mostly fan service and I didn't like that real depressing ending)

5. The visuals were amazing.

5.5. World-building wasn't all that in-depth but it certainly was interesting.

6. The “We had a deal” bit where Scott got uber huge was fantastic, he was being serious for once (cuz of his daughter :3)

7. Cassie was somewhat funny.

8. ANTS.

9. Hank Pym actually made me like him more. Bro was truly an ant-man

10. MUDOK or MUDOFK or whatever his name was was weird and I kinda thought he was unnecessary but it certainly was a twist

11. The secrecy around what Janet did and the Quantum realm made me believe she actually did something horrible but gurl actually saved a bunch of timelines like what

12. Why the shit did Janet call Hank Henry at one point. Are they versions of the same name or??? Also were my ears deceiving me or did Kang call Janet Jared around the same time?

13. Kang = Kylo Ren

14. No I will not elaborate or apologize

15. I think they managed to make Kang a scary enough villain, and I think he was portrayed well. Comic fans will probably have a bunch of criticisms, but I liked him

16. Twas a little confusing around the whole multiverse/timelines/other Kangs thing but whatever

17. ANTS.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie and I definitely recommend it.

[whatisbraincells]

A very unhinged Quantumania review(SPOILERS)

WHERE TO START

RYAN BERGARA?!?!

BILL MURRY?!?!

DAVID DASTMALCHIAN?!?!?

WILLIAM JACKSON HARPER!?!???

LOKI AND MOBIOUS?!?!?

Anyway-

Something I noticed is most of the quantum realm has a warm color scheme(reds, oranges, yellows and browns) including the landscapes and clothing and Kang and his army have cool colors(blues, greens and purples) like they’re armor and abilities which is some cool use of color to signify that Kang is a colonizer conqueror

I adore Kang’s costume design

The mask making his face blue like the comics and the realistic yet futuristic textures

Cassie>>>>>>

She’s such a realistic child of superhero.

She just wants to join in

She’s a sweetie

She also reacts very queerly to Jentorra

I adore Scott and Hope’s relationship! It’s also very grounded and realistic. They’re in love and they live together and Hope is basically Cassie’s step mom and it’s not a big deal.

CASSIE CALLS HANK AND JANET HER GRANDPARENTS

They’re a family goddamnit

Scott went to dinner with Jimmy!

Scott Lang is the best mcu dad I will not take any criticism

I like Janet’s arc, it’s so interesting to learn more about her life and her regrets

Most of the fights would’ve gone by quicker if Scott and Cassie had stingers

I know it’s not like something ants have but like they have no long range attacks

In the scene where all the Scotts make a mountain is similar to how some species of ants work

HANK PYM AUTISTIC ICON

His special interest is ANTS

The line “she wasn’t you, baby” fucking hurt

THE PARALLELS BETWEEN JANET AND HOPE AND SCOTT AND CASSIE.

Scott and Cassie are very physically affectionate and I love that

The ending felt a little clunky but I’m glad Scott didn’t die bc Paul Rudd is a sweetie

I think we could’ve spent less time on action and more on quantum realm world building but it’s a marvel movie and I’m a clown

The quantum realm world design and species designs is so fucking cool. It’s so interesting to look at

“Is that building alive?” “Your’s are dead?!?”

“STOP ASKING ABOUT HIS HOLES SOME OF US HAVE HOLES.” William your line delivery always gets me

The living buildings do kinda look likes dicks tho

“It’s not to late to not be a dick” “Look at me I’m such a dick”

MODOK being Darren took me so off guard but I loved it.

Jonathan Majors’ acting is brilliant

He made me feel kinda bad for him, or at least understand him

Michelle Pfeiffer’s line delivery felt a bit stale, but the emotions were there. She did a great job at playing someone who wasn’t able to genuinely trust others or show her feelings for 30 years.

Evangeline Lily is a darling and I adore that Hope’s character isn’t performative in her badassery

Kathryn Newton is a badass and a sweetheart as always

Michael Douglas is awesome at the old scientist who just really likes ants and his family

And Paul Rudd is amazingly loveable and soft as Scott, of course. His main motivation has always been Cassie and Paul Rudd sells the fuck outta that.

All the side actors a great(William Jackson Harper in particular but that is biased bc I’m a Chidi stan)

This is a movie about family, as many of the phase 4 projects have been. It’s about protecting your family and what you will do for those you love.

(i mean it’s no tlou but yk)

I found the pacing a bit off

But I loved the ending(anxiety icon Scott)

victorianwowkivictorianwowki victorianwowkivictorianwowki victorianwowkivictorianwowki

I’d give it an 8/10 definitely a fun watch

[secondaryartifacts]

Hot take: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may be the perfect CBM. Near perfection.

You may not agree if you don’t read comic books. This film will be very polarizing. Lots of folks don’t know what to make of it. There are lots of critics who are comparing it to other MCU films as they have recent Thor sequels but they are not paying attention to the right things. Maybe this film is not for them. Or you?

Stan Lee in his With Great Power documentary: “I want to do more. More writing. More movies. More lecturing. More everything. The problem is time. I wish there was more time.” This is the crux of Quantumania.

The dilemma of Scott Lang and Hope. Lost childhood of Cassie. Regret of Janet and Hank. Menace and banality of Kang. One supreme axiom that dogs the little guy, parent, teen, lover, super hero, and super villain alike, on all levels. Time.

Few understand this.

Least of which the critics of the 31st film in the MCU. The start of phase 5 is about time. Inevitability. Futility. Perspective. Cycle of life. Cause and effect. This is not your regular CBM. But it’s exactly like a good comic book story arc in the four color pages by Stan Lee and his peers from the early days of Marvel story telling.

Time is the ultimate currency. If you are Gen X like me, you think a lot about time, right now. The debates of boomers vs millennials and those upstart, digital native Gen Z kids are all around the fringe of a self importance debate. Gen X are the ones in charge of this story because it’s our place at the center and we are reflecting on being stuck in the middle as referees and self made protagonists who were never given recognition for our role in the first place. This is Kevin Feige. This is Scott Lang. This is Hope van Dyne.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is bizarre and strange and weird and alien – because humanity is alien here – and skewed perspective is the main foil in all of the character dev, relationships and the action itself. The commonality at play is empathy or lack thereof. Morals and best intentions vs failures and mistakes. Balanced vs imbalanced against time.

I loved this film and I’m excited for what’s next. Paul Rudd is a national treasure. Jonathan Majors is one of the most interesting actors out there. Make mine Marvel.

Excelsior!!

Did you see the latest Marvel film? What did you think?

[silveragelovechild]

Two Franchises, two sequels, two rotten scores, two second weekend box office drops

[warm-like-autumn]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

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So, I just saw the third Ant-man movie and to be honest, I found it quite enjoyable, far from the worst mcu movies, as some reviews would say.

My main criticism lies in how fast paced it was, if feel like this movie being split in two would've benefited it a lot, the first parter being more like the previous two movies, a fun heist movie where Scott, Hope and their friends take down Aim and they start to question Janet's time in the quantum realm, and only then the second parter would be Quantumania.

Man I miss Luis, David and Kurt, them not being in this movie felt weird.This movie felt more like a filler episode setting up the bigger picture instead of an Ant-Man movie, I miss when superhero movies were just about the hero's journey struggles and personal life instead of trying to set up the next Avengers Endgame(leave that to the post credit scenes)

The Quantum realm was intresting, it reminded me of the world of Star Wars, but could've had a better execution.

Kang was such a brilliant villan, he truly is a force to be reckoned with, he reminded me of Darth Vader and I can't wait to see how his story unfolds.However this movie proved to me that the loki series finale was quite useless, and the show should've had a diffrent direction, as this movie executed in a much more interesting way what the Loki show was set out to do, plus the final scene with Scot wondering if he put people in danger was so good, setting the line between hilarious and terrifying.

SPEAKING OF LOKI

The final post credit scene. Loki. And Mobius. And Ravonna.And Loki, my girl is back on the big screen. The scene gave me the idea of a Sherolck au, with Loki as Sherlock, Mobius as Watson and Kang as Moriarty, better than any idea for Loki season 2 could ever be.

Now back to Scott. I'm so glad he's alive and well, and happy. Scott Lang I could never hate you!! The final battle between Scott and Kang was so intense and good, I really thought Scott was going to die.

To conclude this, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was not a perfect movie, but it sure was a fun one. Despite it's obvious decline in quality, I'm not giving up on the Mcu yet, it's very dear to me, it introduced me to comics and inspires my art.I criticise it not because it hate it, but because I want it to be better, because I know that it can be brilliant, and because of that, I'm not giving up on it.

[simeonscott]

Does Ant-Man Need to be a Big Deal to be Great?

No, this whole video is just telling you the answer is no and why I think that.

[mac-darf]

Oh btw cocaine bear rocked. Leagues better than Ant-Man and the Ant-Man Ant-Mania.

[jisreal64]

Ranking all of the movies I saw that came out in 2023 from best to worst (in my opinion):

1. Spider-Man Across the Spiderverse (best)

2. Wish

3. Wonka

4. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

6. Blue Beetle

7. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

8. The Marvels

9. Elemental

10. The Flash

11. Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania

12. The Little Mermaid

13. The Haunted Mansion

14. Five Nights at Freddy’s

15. Barbie

16. Oppenheimer (worst)

Keep in mind that this is just my own opinion (I’m definitely gonna get death threats from people for saying that The Flash, The Little Mermaid, Ant-Man 3, and Wish were better than Barbie and Oppenheimer), let me know what you think about it? And how would you rank them?

[marvelloussynergy]

What did you think of What If…? S02E02?

Like the Facebook page. Follow on Instagram. Get the books: Phase One | Phase Two | Phase Three Listen to the podcast: Anchor | Google Podcasts | Spotify

[adamwatchesmovies]

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a disappointing 31st entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Why? I'm having difficulty pinpointing that. The setting is pretty incredible, with loads of geography and characters that look unlike anything we’ve seen before. That's saying something considering some of the places the Guardians of the Galaxy have taken us. Paul Rudd once again proves himself a charismatic everyman, the action scenes are exciting and occasionally go in some pretty wild places thanks to the shrinking/growing abilities of the lead character… but something feels off.

When Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), girlfriend Hope van Dyne/Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), her father Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) get sucked into the Quantum Realm, they discover it isn’t empty at all; it’s filled with inhabitants, all of whom live in fear of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).

The film’s issue is the story. This is a wild departure from the previous Ant-Man films. It’s closer to a space adventure than anything else, complete with crazy aliens, spaceships, armies of robots (at least I think they were robots) and talks about other dimensions & multiverses. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it just doesn’t feel Ant-Man-like. Aside from his team-ups with the Avengers, none of Scott's adventures have been world-threatening; he’s always felt like “the little guy”, complete with serious, down-to-earth problems like being an ex-con, having trouble finding a job and being estranged from his daughter. This is closer to Guardians territory. The scale of everything encountered in Quantumania should have a much bigger impact on our heroic family. They take it in such strides that there isn't much opportunity for our characters to grow or learn things - except for Cassie, who struggles with some fighting moves. This means the movie is only about two things: the adventure and the villain.

I’ve heard Kang described as a top-tier villain, the one that’s supposed to fill the hole left by Thanos. I don’t know about that. Kang is certainly powerful… but I mean, if they’re pitting him against Ant-Man (no offense), how strong can he REALLY be? I like Jonathan Majors in the role. He brings extra dimension to his character and we see enough of Kang to want more but against a guy that can grow and shrink, he's an ill-fit. It's almost like Ant-Man is a B- to C-tier character that didn't have a great rogues gallery, so they slotted in someone else for the Phase's sake…

There’s another villain in the film: the “I don’t know how we’re going to make this guy work in live-action” M.O.D.O.K. Some of what they do with the Mechanical Organism Designed Only for Killing is inventive. What ultimately happens to the character, however, just doesn’t work. Generally, the comedy in the film is amusing but it’ll give you severe emotional whiplash more than once and when director Peyton Reed and/or writer Jeff Loveness use M.O.D.O.K. humorously, it lands with a resounding "thud".

I’ve been pretty harsh on Ant-Man 3 so far, which makes me a little sad. I was never bored watching it. The climactic battle is fun and Kang's slew of powerful abilities means the stakes are high. The cast is great, with the family dynamics between the in-laws and between Scott & Cassie being the highlights. The picture teems with unique sights, which makes it fun to just watch. You’ve always got a crazy alien, some weird animal, bizarre architecture or something else moving somewhere and their designs show a lot of inventiveness.

I wasn’t crazy about Ant-Man and the Wasp. I’m not crazy about this follow-up either. Actually, this is a step up from the last one. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. This third chapter introduces important concepts and characters to the MCU. There are enough moments that work to make it worth seeing as part of a subscription package, for the price of a rental or even if a discounted ticket at the cinema. When you do, stay through the credits to see what's coming next. (August 11, 2023)