MOVIE: Paw Patrol – The Mighty Movie (2023)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie Year: 2023 Rating: PG Length: 88 minutes / 1.47 hours It was inevitable that I would eventually watch a Paw Patrol movie with my kids. And with the rise of the superhero genre over the last few decades, it makes sense that this franchise would capitalize on it with Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023). As is usually the case with movies based on shows intended for children, the rise in quality for this film is definitely noticeable, not only in the visuals but in the deeper storyline as well. I’d almost prefer watching this movie as compared to a string of Paw Patrol episodes. The basic premise of The Mighty Movie is that a strange meteor has given all the pups different superpowers that align with their core competency (i.e., Skye can fly, Chase is fast, and Marshall is a dystopian version of a firefighter a la Fahrenheit 451). These powers then allow the pups to tackle much more...
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MOVIE: DC League of Super-Pets (2022)

by benmweilertNo Comments
DC League of Super-Pets Year: 2022 Rating: PG Length: 105 minutes / 1.75 hours I’ve never been a huge pet person because of allergies. As such, I initially passed on DC League of Super-Pets (2022) because it didn’t seem interesting to me (I also wasn’t wild about Kevin Hart or Dwayne Johnson as voice actors). Of course, with kids around, I eventually had the opportunity to watch this movie with them. Overall, it’s a pretty basic superhero movie that just happens to feature animals instead of humans. It has the usual jokes that adults would get and the silly little gags that appeal to children. Mostly, it’s just…there. Because it’s telegraphed that each of the pets eventually ends up with one of the members of the Justice League, I was hoping there was slightly more synergy between the animals/powers and the heroes they’d be matched with. Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) makes sense, but he already had a connection to Superman (John Krasinski). At the very least,...
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MOVIE: The Suicide Squad (2021)

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The Suicide Squad Year: 2021 Rating: R Length: 132 minutes / 2.20 hours I don't mind superhero films. I think they're fun and flashy, and I can turn my mind off for an hour or two. What I do mind is endless reboots of franchises. The fact that I saw three separate Spider-Man reboots in 15 years accentuates my point. Now, I understand that The Suicide Squad (2021) is allegedly a sequel to Suicide Squad (2016). Still, it felt more like a reboot since Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) were the only recurring characters. And, let's be honest, they can't cast Harley Quinn with anyone other than Margot Robbie now. For those who thought that having a great director like James Gunn on board would make this film better than its predecessor, you're partly right. Sure, there's a bit of his style of humor that is on display. Still, it's essentially the same plot as the previous...
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MOVIE: Avengers – Endgame (2019)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Avengers: Endgame Year: 2019 Rating: PG-13 Length: 181 minutes / 3.02 hours With last year’s semi-cliffhanger, Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) had a lot of ground to cover to reach a satisfying conclusion of over ten years of filmmaking. It’s no wonder that it’s just a smidge over three hours since there’s a lot of ground to cover here. I’ll admit that the only instantiations of these superheroes that I’m familiar with is via the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Still, it was probably better to go into the finale this way, having no preconceived notions of how the characters should act or the lore they’re connected to in the comic books. For a three-hour movie, Endgame moves at a steady pace that accelerates toward the inevitable conclusion. Following a standard three-act structure, Endgame benefited from bringing all the heroes together in Infinity War and establishing a baseline to work from and a goal to work toward. It was nice to see how each of these characters handled such a dramatic universal event. This is...
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MOVIE: Incredibles 2 (2018)

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Incredibles 2 Year: 2018 Rating: PG Length: 118 minutes / 1.97 hours Before we start, I have to say that The Incredibles (2004) is perhaps my favorite Pixar film. Back when superhero films were starting to become successful (albeit, not nearly as lucratively successful as the Marvel Cinematic Universe), The Incredibles artfully blended a superhero film with a family/midlife crisis plot that worked on so many levels. It is then no surprise that I was truly looking forward to its sequel, Incredibles 2 (2018). In the back of my head, I knew that most of Pixar's talent had switched over to Disney about eight years ago, but I hoped enough of the original team would be around to make this sequel something special. Unfortunately, time seems to have worked against Incredibles 2. If this had come out ten years ago, it would have enjoyed some of the originality that comes with beating the Marvel behemoth out of the gate. As it is now, I'm not sure if Incredibles 2...
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MOVIE: Deadpool 2 (2018)

by benmweilert1 Comment
Deadpool 2 Year: 2018 Rating: R Length: 119 minutes / 1.98 hours At what point does the fourth wall stop? I only ask this because there’s a point where an audience member will have to know not only the plot of the film that started the franchise, but the subsequent reactions to the film, the complete history of comic books, and the entirety of the lyrics to Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Major-General’s Song” to understand the references. While Deadpool (2016) maintained that sly balance between knowing winks to the superhero genre as a whole and being an actual superhero film, Deadpool 2 (2018) almost went toward both extreme ends in order to maintain its balance. There were plenty of references and little sight gags that will leave true fans of the franchise pausing their Blu-rays for years to come, and I certainly did appreciate some of the meta-humor, but only to a point. Strangely enough, Deadpool 2 felt more like a superhero film than its predecessor, which seems odd as it...
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MOVIE: Avengers – Infinity War (2018)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Avengers: Infinity War Year: 2018 Rating: PG-13 Length: 149 minutes / 2.48 hours It’s difficult to codify something like Avengers: Infinity War (2018) without including everything that led up to it. In reality, it’s probably more along the lines of the 19th episode of a television series that’s taken ten years to realize fully. Because of the interconnected nature of these previous movies, it’s difficult to view it alone without the backstory tied to it. However, there are enough brief moments of exposition to help most people fill in the gaps as to what is happening. Still, as is the case with many finales for television shows, the epic nature of Infinity War is at a level all its own. The scale of such an endeavor is daunting, but with as little backstory as possible holding it back, Infinity War moves at a pretty good pace, jumping between a couple of groups of Avengers. Of course, we can’t just directly jump to fighting the main villain, so the “lesser” bad guys stand...
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