Tim joined Tom Barnard and the crew on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM Thursday to review the family adventure “Dolittle” and movie musical “Cats.” Click to listen below. Then on Friday, Tim reviewed “Dolittle” and “Cats” with Jordana Green on the “Paul and Jordana” show on WCCO-AM. The segments are brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC).
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC).
Tom Holland is back in his second webslinger solo film in “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” a very entertaining follow-up to “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and first chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-“Avengers: End Game.” Fans will almost instantly feel that the new “Spider-Man” movie is considerably lighter feels more comic book than the momentous “Avengers: Endgame” and its predecessor “Avengers: Infinity War.”
While “Endgame” bid farewell to some pivotal team members including Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), those team members, “Far From Home” reminds us that while they are gone, they’re definitely not forgotten. “Far From Home” picks up, naturally, after the events of “Endgame,” where “the blip,” as everyone is deeming it, brought back the half of humanity that Thanos destroyed with a snap of the fingers at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War.” Among those returning after five years in cosmic limbo is Peter (Holland), who came back in time to help defeat Thanos, but saw Tony sacrifice himself to destroy the omnipotent enemy and his dark forces.
AUDIO: Listen to Tim’s review of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on “The Paul and Jordana Show” on WCCO-AM. Segment brought to you by Mike Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Still struggling with the loss of Tony in “Far From Home,” Spider-Man learns that there are still threats in the world that need superheroes like him to defend. Peter, for the time being, though, would rather ignore those threats and enjoy a simpler life, and take a class trip to Europe instead so he can tell MJ (Zendaya) how he really feels about her. He even wants to leave his Spider-Man suit behind, but Aunt May (the always wonderful Marisa Tomei) makes sure that doesn’t happen and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), also feeling a huge hole left in his life by Tony, is just a phone call away.
Also reminding Peter that he has obligations is Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who purposefully interferes in the teen superhero’s plan to take on the destructive villains the Elementals, which appear to take shape of the natural elements to wreak havoc in different parts of the world. Fury has already joined forces with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a mysterious, crimson caped crusader from another dimension on Earth, who no doubt possesses strong capabilities, yet could use someone the caliber of Spider-Man to end the Elementals threats for good. While he reluctantly takes part with Mysterio in the battle against the Elementals’ Molten Man, Spider-Man realizes that he shouldn’t have been so lax in upholding the justice around the world the way he should have, especially since Tony willed him a powerful tech weapon that could spell disaster if it falls into the wrong hands.
If you’re steeped in the “Spider-Man” comic book lore, it shouldn’t surprise you that not everything is as it seems in “Spider-Man: Far From Home” – and to that end, the more familiar you are with the comic book franchise, the quicker you’ll catch on to which direction the film will go. On the flip side, if you’re a casual fan of the series not necessarily versed in the webslinger’s stable of characters, mostly what you see in “Far From Home” will seem status quo until some big reveals in the third act which catch you by surprise. Either way, serious and casual fans should be entertained just the same when all is said and done, it’s just that diehards have a slight advantage with their knowledge of the material going in.
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” is strong on all fronts, and while Holland is charming, Gyllenhaal is impressive as usual and Jackson is his usual, entertaining badass self, director Jon Watts can’t help but put the trio in the middle of explosive third act that’s loaded with all the CGI that the film can muster. That’s not to say the visuals aren’t incredible (they’re in fact, refreshingly trippy at some points as Spidey enters different dimensions), it just feels par for the course for a genre movie. There is a huge payoff, though, as a mid-credits scene already lays out Peter’s path for the next “Spider-Man” movie with a pair of huge surprises, to boot. After the credits, too, is another revealing scene that, while not as eventful as the mid-credits scene, gives us an inkling what other MCU characters are up to post-“Avengers: Endgame.”
Speaking of “Endgame,” while “Spider-Man: Far From Home” doesn’t come close to matching the greatness of its MCU predecessors (not that any solo MCU film could have – “Endgame” and “Infinity War” was a massive undertaking), it definitely has a life on its own and suggests that the franchise as a whole has healthy legs sans Downey moving forward. “Far From Home” reminds us that there’s still a home for Marvel superhero movies on the big screen, even though the direction of where exactly the franchise is going isn’t mapped out yet.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
VIDEO: Tim reviews “Avengers: Endgame” with Adrienne Broaddus on “KARE 11 News at 11.”
“Avengers: End Game” (PG-13)
The end is here at last for the first sprawling saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Avengers: Endgame,” an exhilarating and emotionally charged wrap-up of the 22-film saga that began with Robert Downey Jr. and “Iron Man” in 2008.
Of those 21 previous MCU films, three involved the gathering of the Marvel’s mightiest superheroes to form the Avengers – lighter films that took a deathly serious turn with “Avengers: Infinity War” last year. In it, of course, the omnipotent villain Thanos acquired all six Infinity Stones, which together gave him the power to wipe out half the universe’s population with the snap of his fingers.
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s spoiler-free review of “Avengers: Endgame” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM.
Now, avoiding spoilers at all costs, it’s safe to say Earth looks holy hell in the wake of Thanos’ purging, and the surviving members have a choice to make: To cut their losses and embrace what little life has left for them — or take a risk and act on a couple glimmers of hope that emerge that will give them a chance to turn the tables on Thanos.
While “Avengers: End Game” is 3 hours and 1 minute long, it surprisingly doesn’t feel any longer than “Infinity War,” which was 2 hours and 29 minutes. The extensive run time allows for “Endgame” a more human story than we’ve seen from “The Avengers” before, and a much larger and yes, very complicated build-up to an inevitable showdown in the film’s third act.
The great thing about “Endgame “is that it doesn’t take the obvious route I thought the film would take assessing the ending of “Infinity War.” Instead, it goes with a much more challenging route, and despite the plot’s complexities, “Endgame” still manages to be extremely entertaining from an action and comedy standpoint before it packs some serious emotional wallop to wrap up the film.
Downey saves his best performance as Iron Man for last, shuttering his wise-ass, billionaire industrialist attitude to become a broken yet grateful man humbled by events of “Infinity War.” Instead, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) are the scene-stealers this time around from a comedic standpoint, surrounded by familiar faces from the “Avengers” films who keep the story in a proper balance. The film also includes an appearance, naturally, from Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), the latest MCU member who promises to lead future films in the franchise.
Despite the overly ambitious narrative that drives the film (that will no doubt challenge its audiences as they try to unpack it all), fans will no doubt be enamored by “Endgame.” True, some tough creative decisions were made to give this chapter of “The Avengers” some emotional weight, but in the end, they were necessary to serve the story; the culmination of one of the greatest superhero franchises of all time.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Almost 10 years since the debut of “Iron Man” and the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe under the auspices of Marvel Studios, the long-awaited gathering of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and beyond are assembling for “Avengers: Infinity War,” an ambitious yet ultimately underwhelming superhero extravaganza. While the gathering of nearly two dozen Avengers worked wonders for “Captain America: Civil War” in 2016, the addition the Guardians of the Galaxy and the full reveal of the cosmic supervillain Thanos has led to an overstuffed film that is forced to water down even the most basic of a plotline as it trudges through its 2 hour, 29 minute run time.
The set-up for “Avengers: Infinity War” has been a long-time coming: Thanos (the voice of Josh Brolin), the all-powerful alien hell-bent on destruction who was first introduced in the after-credits scene in 2012’s “The Avengers,” is on a straight-forward mission. He possesses a gauntlet that has room to hold six Infinity Stones – the combination of which will give him the power to wipe out billions of beings in the universe. Some of the stones are hidden in distant worlds, but two that he is seeking are in the possession of a pair of superheroes on Earth, which means the Avengers, who were left fractured by different ideologies at the end of “Captain America: Civil War,” must regroup if they’re to thwart Thanos’ plan. That means sacrifices will undoubtedly be made, changing the makeup of humanity’s greatest guardians forever.
VIDEO: Watch Tim’s review with Zac Lashway on “KARE 11 News at 11.”
Directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, perhaps the biggest obstacle “Avengers: Infinity War” faces is trying to find a meaningful way to incorporate several iconic characters under one giant umbrella without cheating viewers of brilliance several of the superheroes showed us in their individual films. The directing duo does their best by breaking the conglomerate into smaller teams, but the problem there is, some groups and subplots far stronger than others.
While the roster of actors for the film boasts talent across the board (among the cavalcade of stars are Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana), it no doubt is a tough act to follow the always-great Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, who along with Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk) and Benedict Wong (Dr. Strange’s assistant Wong) — who provide the film a stellar action segment early on. Naturally, a film is going to suffer when all the air is let out of that balloon and we don’t hear from the group for at least another half-hour, which contributes to the film’s pacing problem.
Is “Infinity War” a disaster? Not by any means, it just feels like Marvel Studios has finally pushed its luck too far and produced an uneven film that has far too many peaks and valleys, occasionally made confusing by the introduction of new worlds that will be lost on everybody in the audience apart from the faithful readers of the original Marvel comic books. True, the visuals are spectacular as expected in “Infinity War,” but long gone are the days where audiences can merely be wowed by eye candy alone.
One sensibility “Infinity War” has maintained, fortunately, is the sense of humor that has been a benchmark for most of the Marvel movies, and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in the film. That’s a good thing considering “Infinity War” is by far the darkest Marvel Studios film to date, where the teases of major characters dying are finally realized. Thanos by far is Marvel’s most ruthless villain to date, and he doesn’t think twice about dispatching his adversaries in quick and decisive manner. In an odd sort of way, though, the quick deaths will make audiences feel cheated because after knowing some of these characters for so long, you’d expect much more fanfare in their exits than you actually end up getting.
There’s one other issue with the film, which won’t be revealed here, regarding one of the Infinity Stones and its power. It will no doubt be addressed in the untitled fourth chapter of “The Avengers” set for release a year from now, and it’s a plot detail so crucial that it could end up making “Infinity War” seem irrelevant. With any luck, Marvel Studios will hold steady and continue the path this storyline is on if they want “Infinity War” to hold a significant place in the studio’s short, but illustrious history, no matter how lesser of a film it already is compared its predecessors. Ultimately, the willingness to embrace change, no matter how dark it is, is the best thing “Infinity War” has going for it.
Lammometer: 6 (out of 10)
AUDIO: Tim reviews “Avengers: Infinity War” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” (segment begins 2:30 in).
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
