The Marvel Cinematic Universe breaks new ground with “Captain Marvel,” the first of their 21 films to feature female superhero in the sole lead role. But while the film is a solid ride as expected – there’s no question the creatives at the studio have carefully executed the shared universe concept that adds up to one giant, sprawling story – “Captain Marvel” also feels like a missed opportunity. True, the special effects are spectacular if not better than ever, the story fills in some questions left blank in other MCU films and characters for the most part are engaging — yet the film’s lead, Brie Larson, feels like she’s miscast.
Larson stars as Vers, a member of the alien Kree race and its military arm Starforce, which, led by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) is in an intergalactic battle with the shapeshifting Skrulls. Pursuing a power core that the Skrulls possess that will turn the tide in their favor in the fight for power, Vers crashes to Earth (more specifically through the roof of a Blockbuster video store – it’s 1995, after all), and soon enough the humanoid with alien blood and powers starts to sense that somehow she has a past on the planet as a former Air Force fighter pilot Carol Danvers. It’s also there where Vers encounters a younger version of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Nick Fury (a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson); a fateful meeting that will eventually lead to the formation of the Avengers Initiative.
Not surprisingly, the always-engaging Jackson is one of the highlights of “Captain Marvel,” in a role that he plays more fast and loose than his calm and cool badass Fury from the more recent MCU films. Also a standout is Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, the green, reptilian-like skinned leader of the Skrulls (who occasionally shapeshifts in to human form) who has far more dimensions than his bad guy image would suggest. Yes, he’s rough around the edges (quite literally), but Talos is also quite funny.
Annette Bening is also convincing as Larson’s mentor and Supreme Intelligence in the intergalactic realm, while Clark Gregg (killed off in “The Avengers” only to be resurrected for ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) turns up in a smaller role and also gets the de-aging treat as fan-favorite Agent Phil Coulson and faithful colleague of Fury. Law, who’s been better (he was great in the critically-maligned “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”), serves in more of a functional role but still has presence. “Crazy Rich Asians” star Gemma Chan is great as Starforce sniper Minn-Erva, but is given very little time to shine; while Carol’s Earth best friend and colleague Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) doesn’t get much more until the final act.
While the foundation of “Captain Marvel” is more than solid, it’s the heart of the film – the title character – that’s its weakest link: and that’s a big problem considering the MCU seems to be pinning a lot of hopes on the character as it moves into its next phase of films with the upcoming “The Avengers: End Game.”
There’s no question that Larson can act – she was well-deserving of her Best Actress Oscar for “Room” – it just feels like she was cast on the virtue of being an Oscar winner and shoehorned into the role with co-directors Anna Boden’s and Ryan Fleck’s hopes she could make something of it. But unlike the likes of Robert Downey Jr. , who defined his role in “Iron Man,” as did Chris Hemsworth in “Thor” and Chris Evans in “Captain America” (or on the DC side of the superhero equation, Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman”), Larson doesn’t even come close to making the role her own.
Instead, things are a hit and miss. Larson no doubt meets the physical demands of “Captain Marvel” (her encounter with a shape-shifting old woman on a commuter train is classic), yet she seems to slog through her dialogue with very little energy or enthusiasm, and instead opts to make Carol Danvers a snarky character with little emotion and forces her lines in the hopes of squeezing some laughs out of the audience.
Ultimately, while other members of the MCU seem like they were born to play their respective roles, it feels like any number of actors could have filled the shoes of Danvers/Captain Marvel with much of an inspired presence than Larson tries to put forth. Playing a character with a name that would suggest otherwise, a marvel Brie Larson is not.
Lammometer: 6 (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.
With their live-action version of Spider-Man off to new adventures with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony Pictures has spun an inventive new way to bring other Spidey tales to audiences with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Uniquely animated, the film feels fresh and exciting even though the story is heading in a direction fans will be able to predict from the very beginning.
“Into the Spider-Verse” tells the tale of two Spideys, Miles Morales (voice of Shameik Moore) and Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) – as well as others with the same unique superpowers – as they are all brought together from other dimensions after an accident involving a time-altering device belonging to the criminal mastermind Kingpin (Liev Schreiber). Assembling with decidedly different versions of Spidey, including Spider-Man Noir (Nicholas Cage), the pig-like Peter Porker (John Mulaney), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and Spider-Girl (Hailee Steinfeld), Miles and Peter must find a way to prevent Kingpin from completing his mission and drastically altering history forever.
Apart from hardcore readers of the Spider-Man comics, “Into the Spider-Verse” will feel completely fresh to movie fans in that it introduces Miles Morales, a relatively new character who was introduced to Marvel Comics universe in 2011. Like Peter, Miles was bitten by a radioactive spider, and like his frontrunner, he must awkwardly learn how to use his new powers. Fortunately, in “Into the Spider-Verse” Peter is there to help him out, as well as Peter’s resourceful Aunt May (the always great Lily Tomlin).
Marked by a form of animation that feels like it’s part hand-drawn and part computer-animated (ultimately it feels like a motion comic, which generally have three-dimensional characters amid two-dimensional background), “Into the Universe” may take a while to acclimated to for newbies, but before too long your eyes and adjust and you are drawn into the action just like any other animated film.
In a sense, it’s like you’re watching a comic book coming to life with occasional dialogue blocks and thought bubbles. Of course, being that the film is animated opens the floodgates for animators to get really creative, and at times “Into the Spider-Verse” ventures into a psychedelic time warp not for any other reason than because it can.
“Into the Spider-Verse” could best be categorized as a superhero adventure, but the film has plenty of humor and heart as it delves into such themes as the importance of family and friendship. Not surprisingly, the action overwhelms the narrative in the very busy third act, a trapping that superhero films have an incredibly hard time avoiding. That’s not to say the excessive action is a bad thing, just formulaic.
“Into the Spider-Verse” is punctuated by an especially poignant moment when the late Stan Lee turns up in a cameo during the film (the first of many Marvel fans will see following the comic book legend’s death last month at the age of 95). Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman also pay respect in the end credits to Lee with a quote from the Marvel icon, as well as a heartfelt thank you to Lee and illustrator Steve Ditko (who died in June at age 90), who together created one of pop culture’s most enduring superheroes with Spider-Man.
Lammometer: 7.5 (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.
See Tim’s review on “Black Panther” on KARE 11 (NBC) with Adrienne Broaddus in the video above.
“Black Panther” (PG-13)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to amaze with “Black Panther,” the first solo movie featuring the legendary Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966. First appearing on the big screen in “Captain America: Civil War” in 2016 with Chadwick Boseman in the title role, the “Black Panther” solo film finally gives the character of T’Challa/Black Panther the big screen real estate the character deserves, and Boseman, director Ryan Coogler and the film’s impressive supporting cast make the most of it.
“Black Panther” is set almost entirely fictional African country of Wakanda, a hidden fortress that is the most technologically advanced country in the world. At their disposal is an endless supply of an alien metal known as Vibranium, which the newly-anointed King T’Challa use for good, but if it falls into the wrong hands, could have global implications. The threat becomes real when T’Challa’s long-lost cousin Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) finds his way into the Wakanda and challenges the king to his birthright to ascend to the throne.
Following his impressive turn in “Captain America: Civil War” in 2016, Boseman proves from the beginning of “Black Panther” that he can easily carry a film on his own, something fans of the actor already knew after his memorable turns as Jackie Robinson in “42” and James Brown in “Get on Up.” Boseman is no longer one of about a dozen principal characters he’s dividing time with, and he’s able to give T’Challa/Black Panther some depth because of it.
By Black Panther having a solo film, it also allows for other characters to be introduced into the story, which are wonderfully realized by the likes of Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Forrest Whitaker, Dana Gurira, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Letita Wright and Daniel Kaluuya. The key to the film’s success is, while the action is intense, the sets are jaw-dropping and the special effects are spectacular, they never outweigh the story Coogler is telling. “Black Panther” gives more than enough room for its characters to breathe, and they create a memorable superhero film in the process.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
AUDIO: Listen to Tim’s review of “Black Panther” on “The KQ 92 Morning Show” with Tom Barnard in the audio above.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
David Dastmalchian is one of those rare performers in the film business who can stake claim to something not many of his acting counterparts can: Not only has he been a part of both the Marvel and DC movie universes, he’s effectively been preparing all his life to help bring their stories to life as a lifelong comic book fan.
“As an actor, you try to absorb and feel the tone of the material as best you can, and I’ve always found that always comes from the director and the material itself,” Dastmalchian told me in a call this week from Los Angeles. “So I think knowledge of comic book mythology and the history of it has been helpful to me as an actor. Also, the directors of these films that I’ve worked on have had very strong visions, and have been very good about communicating and setting up the tone.”
Dastmalchian’s first big-screen gig, of course, came in a small but haunting role as Joker thug Thomas Schiff in Christopher Nolan’s 2008 DC blockbuster “The Dark Knight Rises.” On Friday, though, he’s on the side of the good guys helping Paul Rudd save the world in Peyton Reed’s “Ant-Man,” the latest installment in the expansive Marvel Universe that’s led to the assemblage of the Avengers.
Dastmalchian stars in “Ant-Man” as Kurt, a Russian computer hacker sporting an Elvis Presley-inspired pompadour who, along with Luis (Michael Pena) and Dave (T.I. Harris), joins forces with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd). Scott is an ex-con who has to resort to what he thinks will be a big score when his past as a burglar limits his options outside prison walls.
As it turns out, the score was actually set up by the mark, legendary scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), as a test to see if Scott would steal a specially designed suit that decreases his size down to that of ant, yet greatly increases his strength and makes him as resilient as a bullet. Dubbed “Ant-Man,” Scott and The Crew need to devise a heist — along with Hank and his estranged daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) — to break into the corporation he’s no longer in control of to steal a similar suit dubbed “Yellow Jacket.” Ant-Man must break into an ultra-secure facility and steal the suit, designed by Hank’s protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), before the technology falls into the hands of the wrong people and puts the world in peril.
The irony for Dastmalchian in “Ant-Man” is that unlike his role in “The Dark Knight,” Kurt is not dark and twisted. It’s probably a good thing, since Dastmalchian has long been split on which comic book company has traditionally provided the best heroes and villains; and in the case of “Ant-Man,” he happens to be on the right side.
“My favorite villains were always the DC ones — I’ve said that to everybody, including Stan Lee,” Dastmalchian said. “But interestingly, my favorite superheroes were always on the Marvel side. The DC villains embody darkness — including the film that I got to be a part of — perfectly. On the other side, here in the Marvel world, Peyton has brought to life is a vibrancy and brightness in a very high-stakes adventure, which happens just the right amount of humor and irreverence. I feel like I’ve gotten the best of both worlds. In the Marvel movie I worked on, I got to be somebody playing for the hero, and in the DC one, I got to be on the side of the villain. It’s a dream.”
Dastmalchian’s involvement in “Ant-Man” has been interesting, since there was a period of time when he didn’t know if he’d be in the film despite being cast in January of 2014. The actor, who’s made indelible impressions in recent years with frightening roles on both film and television, said he was originally cast in “Ant-Man” by writer-director Edgar Wright, yet didn’t know where he stood when the filmmaker left the project and was replaced by Reed.
“My concern was that they were going to let go of me,” Dastmalchian said. “Of course, Paul was on-board, as well as Michael Douglas, and Evangline Lilly, because they’re movie stars. But when you’re an actor like me, there’s very few assurances when a situation like that comes up. When I tested during auditions, I want to say in the original script the crew had eight or nine guys, and they cast all of us.”
The uncertainty came on the heels of what Dastmalchian called a “crazy, awesome time” time for he and his wife, Eve. The couple’s son, Arlo, was born, and the actor/screenwriter’s deeply personal addiction drama, “Animals,” won a Special Jury Award at SXSW. Suddenly, Ant-Man’s Crew began undergoing some changes and Dastmalchian became a bit nervous.
“Originally, I was just going to sit around a month before ‘Ant-Man’ got started, but then I started to see that actors were leaving or being let go from the film — and they were all the guys from ‘The Crew,'” Dastmalchian recalled. “The script was being changed and I knew the crew dynamic was changing, as well as the number of people in it. But ultimately, I was very, very lucky that they kept me and Pena, and then T.I. came on board later, so we ended up with three of us.”
Once Reed started on the project, not only was Dastmalchian thrilled to discover that his new director had the same tastes as when it came to the Marvel Universe, but the sorts of filmmaking sensibilities to properly execute it.
“Peyton was made to make this movie. He’s as big if not bigger a comic book geek than I am, he loves the obscure characters like ‘Ant-Man.’ It’s a character he’s read and been devoted to for a very long time,” said Dastmalchian. “Plus, he has this real flair for bringing a good story to life, while utilizing action and comedic elements. So, as difficult as the starts and stops of the film process was, it ultimately all happened the way it was meant to be.”
One particular thing that Dastmalchian said he loved about working in the Marvel Universe was the involvement of talent on many different levels.
“Marvel is proof positive that the formula that massive kinds of collaboration can lead to effective filmmaking and really great story-telling because this is an all-hands-on-deck kind of process that the company has,” Dastmalchian observed. “The producers who have developed this sprawling cinematic universe have input on the film because they’re connecting the threads to the comic books that Stan Lee oversaw. He oversaw all of the different comic characters, even the ones he wasn’t writing or producing month to month.”
Once Dastmalchian settled into the role and was on-set, he got to experience things only a comic book-lover could dream of: hanging out with Lee, the Marvel icon and “Ant-Man’s” co-creator.
“Me, Rudd and one of our producers, Brad Winderbaum, would hang out in Stan’s trailer and just talk,” Dastmalchian marveled. “It was about 1987 when ‘Avengers’ No. 240 became the first comic book I ever bought. It was a from a spinning rack at a 7 Eleven in Kansas City, Kansas, and ultimately I’ve kept every comic book I’ve ever collected, including that one. It’s all tattered now, but I brought it to work and Stan signed it, ‘To my good friend Arlo,’ who is my son. I almost cried.”
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Another legend Dastmalchian got to encounter, of course, was Douglas, who shares some screen time with The Crew. And while Dastmalchian is a professional who’s shared the screen with some pretty impressive talent, there was something about being on-set with Douglas that made his stomach gurgle.
“We only have a couple scenes together, which are very funny, but I am the least comfortable doing comedy,” Dastmalchian said. “I’m more comfortable with doing dramatic stuff, especially with the likes of Michael Douglas or Paul Rudd, for goodness sakes. It was very nerve-wracking, but Michael and I immediately hit it off. He’s a wonderful guy and the nerves went away pretty quickly. We talked a lot about Karl Malden (Douglas’ co-star on the classic TV drama ‘Streets of San Francisco’), who was a huge mentor to him, and to me, one of my all-time favorite actors. He’s right up there with the kind of actors I aspire to become. He had a reputation for propelling scenes and his scene partners. It was amazing to talk about Karl’s legacy and Michael’s amazing history.”
The bonus for Dastmalchian in “Ant-Man,” though, is that amid all the laughter, cool special effects and engaging action, tucked within is a poignant storyline about family. In two completely different circumstances, Hank and Scott are trying to reconnect with their daughters: Hope, fully-grown and angry at Hank over her childhood; and young Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), holding out hope for Scott in the hope that he can go the straight and narrow so he can be a good dad to her.
“The thing I love about ‘Ant-Man’ is there’s a theme that runs throughout the whole movie, that even families that have been frayed, or have been through the ringer or have really been tested — ultimately love can win out,” Dastmalchian said. “That’s something that’s really special about ‘Ant-Man’ that I don’t think I’ve seen in other big superhero movies really be as intimate.”
While the fun of his experience of “Ant-Man” will soon end, you get the feeling that the warmth he got from the family angle of the film will always remain with him. After all, he’s living it every single day of his life.
“I don’t know how to properly put it. When you go home at night after being in a film like ‘Ant-Man,’ you can say, ‘It was incredibly satisfying,’ but then you’re just another guy walking down the sidewalk,” Dastmalchian said. “But then you see your wife holding your kid at the end of the block and get to go and be with the people you love. If you have someone that you can love and share the experience with, it’s all that matters, man. It really is.”
Dastmalchian will have many more film experiences to share — and very soon. He just finished filming the James Gunn-penned horror-thriller “The Belko Experiment,” and is prepping “All Creatures Here Below,” another film drama he wrote and will star in. Also coming out soon is the drama “Chronic,” in which Dastmalchian stars opposite Tim Roth.
Dastmalchian’s SXSW award-winning “Animals,” meanwhile, is streaming now and coming out on DVD Aug. 25.
Original Interviews, Reviews & More By Tim Lammers
