Twin Cities Real Estate BlogRecently posted or modified blog posts by tag - Chris Evanshttps://www.minnesotaconnected.com/blog/Copyright MinnesotaConnected.com2022-10-28T07:14:36-07:00tag:minnesotaconnected.com,2012-09-20:14224Movie Review -- 'Avengers: Endgame' is the Perfect Culmination to 11 Years of Franchise Building<a href="http://minnesotaconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/avengers-endgame.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1316369 aligncenter" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/avengers-endgame.jpg" alt="" width="702" height="369"></a>
I have no idea how other film critics are going to handle reviewing Avengers Endgame. It’s a film that’s so heavily tied not just to other Marvel films, but since it's so obvious that the film began as Avengers Infinity War, Part II, writing out the plot of the movie feels like writing out the second half of a shorter film. So with that in mind, I’m going to try something different than the standard formula where I tell you what happens and then give my thoughts. Instead, I’m going to try and impart what it feels like to watch Avengers Endgame, and also give some viewing advice. Hopefully, you already got your tickets, since I hear they’re in short supply.
Avengers Endgame is basically the Return of the King for the last ten years of Marvel movies. While their last ten years have been a mostly high-quality turnout of movies, Endgame goes to extraordinary lengths to let you know this is intended to be a monument of a film in an age where every movie has at least a thousand special effects shots. If you’re old enough to remember seeing Return of the King in theaters, with the triumphant tide-turning moments and multiple story threads playing out simultaneously, only to resolve in one final assembly of the cast, you know what I mean.
If not… Avengers Endgame is basically the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II for the last ten years of Marvel movies. In the sense that, as I said previously, it’s not a separate entity from Infinity War at all. So if you’ve got the time, maybe sit down and rewatch Infinity War before you head to the theater for this one. It’s on Netflix. I actually watched Antman and the Wasp too since the end credits of that film led me to believe it would be important. In retrospect, I probably could have just watched that last scene, but I had a good time anyway.
One thing I will say -- kudos to whoever listened to the Russo Brothers in the marketing department. The trailers have shown you almost nothing that’s in this movie. There are plot elements you can infer from them for sure, and knowing enough to be dangerous about Marvel, there were some things that didn’t come as a surprise to me when they happened on screen.
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But that’s not the sort of thing that ruins a movie-going experience, at least in my book. Knowing that you’re going to a movie about pirates tells you some things about what you’ll expect. Like boats. And water. And probably some elements of colonialism that aren’t adequately explored. But that doesn’t mean you know what they’re going to do with those elements even if you know they’re going to be included. And that’s why Avengers Endgame is basically the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End for the last ten years of Marvel movies.
I’m really grasping for what to put here. If you’re a Marvel fan or at least a fan of blockbuster action/adventure movies in the general sense, you’ve already got your tickets and you’re just reading reviews to confirm your own thoughts. If you’re in the “superhero fatigue” crowd, you’re bemoaning how people are using words like “Shakespearean” to describe a movie about a villain who was defeated in the comics because he tripped. <a href="https://i.redd.it/v0fkbqgvey001.jpg">Yeah, that happened.</a>
If you’re not in either of those camps and Endgame isn’t at all on your radar, what am I really able to say in order to give you a sense of what happens without ruining it for everyone else? It’s like, do I bother bringing up where the characters are after Infinity War? The snap became a meme, so I feel like I’m safe from the spoiler police, but if you didn’t know half the universe was evaporated at the end of the last movie, are you really going to see this one? I don’t think so. You either know what you’re getting already and want it, or you don’t and you’re not about to start now. And that’s why Avengers Endgame is basically the Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan for the last ten years of Marvel movies.
<a href="http://minnesotaconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Screen-Shot-2019-04-25-at-11.01.01-PM.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-1316371 alignnone" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Screen-Shot-2019-04-25-at-11.01.01-PM.png" alt="" width="702" height="365"></a>In all seriousness, there is some finality to Endgame. Each of Marvels’ ‘phases’ built to an Avengers movie, so in a way, Endgame serves as the end of a trilogy of the first three phases and ten years of Marvel Studios. Endgame makes as much of that history relevant as possible, which is impressive in its own right. To make ten years worth of films, many of which were written without knowing where everything would lead, feel like they were all heading to one final narrative point, is astonishing. But when everything is over, it feels like the Russos have done right by the characters we’ve spent years with, and have set up intriguing directions for the newer additions to the canon to explore in their future films.
And that’s why Avengers Endgame is a movie you’re going to have to see, so we can all talk more frankly about what happens in it.
Also, it’s a Marvel movie, so you know the drill - the Russos have saved the biggest surprise for the end of the credits.
2019-04-24T22:00:00-07:002022-10-28T07:08:06-07:00Matt Eckholmtag:minnesotaconnected.com,2012-09-20:14851Movie Review -- Go See 'Snowpiercer'<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/snowpiercer-movie-review-.jpg"><img class="wp-image-274204 aligncenter" alt="snowpiercer-movie review" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/snowpiercer-movie-review-.jpg" width="570" height="192" /></a>
I’ve had three intensely stressful but worthwhile movie experiences. When I saw The Importance of Being Earnest as a dorky twelve year-old, I was so delighted by its twists and turns and pseudo-sexual content that I distractedly drank an extra-large lemonade on my own. The inevitable battle between film and bladder began, and in my distraction, eyes glued to the screen, I gnawed on the edges of my waxy paper cup until the whole thing was nothing but a horrible white wad that took up most of my mouth. The second, a way less gross instance, was seeing Gravity on a stormy cross-continental flight. To this day I am haunted by the absolute emotional certainty that George Clooney saved my life. I love you, George.
The third time was seeing Snowpiercer, Bong Joon-ho’s post-apocalypse sci-fi thriller. I didn’t have to pee. And I was at St. Anthony Main, both feet firmly on earth. But, for the full 126 minutes, I was on the edge of my seat. It is rare that a high-budget film consistently surprises and subverts expectation. This one does.
The premise: Earth is a frozen hellscape and its few survivors exist on a self-sustaining train that runs on an endless loop around the globe. The upper class lives in luxury in the front cars, dining on Sushi and sniffing industrial waste to get high (y’know, like you do). The lower class is confined to the last car, living and treated like animals. But revolt is brewing, and the rebels, led by a likely hero (Chris Evans), claw and fight their way towards the front of the train, hoping to seize control of the engine from the 'Oz-like' Wilford (Ed Harris) the train’s inventor and caretaker. This movie is a parable that will thrill you, upset you, make you laugh, and maybe (Hollywood forbid) make you think. You can’t ask much more of art.
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It’s the supporting characters that stand out in this film. Tilda Swinton as Mason embodies a kind of bureaucratic Stalinism that is equally funny and chilling. John Hurt is heartbreaking as Gilliam, one of the film’s many Christ-figures. Chris Evans is fine as the straight-man hero: for the most part, he remains stoic and somewhat bland.
Of course there are some action-movie traps that it falls into. First, some annoying plot issues: why isn't the lower class forced to work? Joon-ho seems to stop just short of a perfect metaphor for capitalism and it's not clear why. The second trap is the use of violence. For the first forty minutes, Snowpiercer is fundamental to the message of the film and entirely without glory (a rarity in film these days). But as the casualties pile up, it loses the claustrophobic focus and becomes the cliché: a depersonalized superspeed mish-mash of gore accompanied by fruit-ninja’s juiciest effects.
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But the storytelling is clever and clear. Conventions are set and broken when least expected. Each new train car the rebels reach is a new world, a new horror or a small miracle. We are thrown from a brutal axe fight into a serene, walk-through aquarium. The film manages to stay fast paced while occasionally slamming into slow motion -- Joon-ho’s rhythms are as savage as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky" target="_blank">Stravinsky</a>’s. He does the same thing visually, snapping us in and out of very different worlds. When these two worlds, the luxurious and the terrifying, are so compressed that they’re only a train car apart, the contrast between them becomes sickening.
Go see this film. Like the best sci-fi, it shows us what our world might be tomorrow. Like the best parables, it asks us how we feel about our world today. Can a collection of humans imbued in a system of such horrifically violent hierarchy truly be called “humanity”? Is such a humanity worth saving? That’s what the film asked of me. To you, it might say something different. Let me know after you see it. And make sure you pee before it starts.
GRADE: 9/10
Photos via: Radius-TWC
2014-07-15T22:00:00-07:002022-10-28T07:12:27-07:00Nadja Leonhard-Hoopertag:minnesotaconnected.com,2012-09-20:15160Movie Review -- 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' is a Formula-Driven Action Blockbuster<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/captain-america-2-movie-review-chris-evans.png"><img class="wp-image-208114 aligncenter" alt="captain america 2 - movie review - chris evans" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/captain-america-2-movie-review-chris-evans.png" width="566" height="322" /></a>
While I have loved many Marvel movies of the past (Iron Man, Thor, <a href="http://themoviemash.com/2012/05/matts-review-the-avengers-is-the-epitome-of-summer-blockbuster-fun/" target="_blank">The Avengers</a>), the first installment of this franchise, Captain America: The First Avenger, just like this sequel, left me disappointed. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (what is it with these super long titles?) is full of action, comedic life, and a twisting and turning narrative -- but despite all this, the sum of the parts does not succeed as well as the successful components.
This chapter kicks off with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) carrying out missions for S.H.I.E.L.D., a secretive government agency hell-bent on preventing more incidents like what happened in New York (alien invasion in The Avengers). In an effort to do so, the Nick Fury-led (Samuel L. Jackson) division plans to unleash a seemingly invincible defense system, a network of airships that puts the actual United States drone system to a pitiful shame.
Soon Rogers, or "The Captain" as people call him, begins to unravel the mystery behind this big brother-type project -- he crosses paths with the fabled "Winter Soldier" and then discovers just how deep the rabbit hole really goes.
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier works as a good mystery for most of the early parts of the film -- investigations are made, alliances are questioned, and no one can be trusted. With all that said, there are times within the film when details on what is really happening become a bit murky. The audience is never lost, but the finer points are sometimes missed when characters are blandly exchanging names, dates and information crucial to the story.
This Marvel flick really tried to say a bit more than its predecessors -- it tried to address ideas much deeper than simply, action on top of action (though the last third feels that way). If this movie's theme of 'sacrificing freedom for government protection' doesn't strike fear into audiences, nothing will. Like the fear of domestic drone strikes and NSA spying, this movie has overtones of the current climate in this country.
The movie asks: should Americas sacrifice their privacy and freedom for institutional protection? I love this aspect of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, ripping themes from current events and turning them into a moral question in a popcorn blockbuster. This film shows that submitting control to one powerful entity can oftentimes lead to corruption, misuse, and institutional overreach -- sound familiar? It should, you live in America.
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Enough on that -- another huge facet to this film is obviously action, and it is dripping wet with action sequences. There are many sequences that work so well (the opening sequence is a fine example) and others that drag on and simply bombard the viewers with visual vomit, i.e., explosions, fighting, destruction, etc., etc. Unlike The Avengers, which perfectly pulls off elongated action sequences with multiple characters, Captain America: The Winter Soldier does not -- as actions sequences carried on and on I found myself wishing for the action to cease.
Within the action, the film also heavily relies on cliché, completely predictable outcomes. Sure, this is a "summer" blockbuster made by Marvel -- some predictability is expected -- but this film goes further than that and forgoes creativity in lieu of a formula for blockbuster success. I rolled my eyes far too often watching this film.
And once again, I have to ask, just like I did after seeing <a href="http://themoviemash.com/2013/05/matts-review-iron-man-3-is-filled-with-plot-holes-and-finishes-as-the-worst-tony-stark-film-to-date/" target="_blank">Iron Man 3</a>, where are The Avengers? How is there a big-time domestic threat (just like Iron Man 3) and not one mention of the other superheroes who defend this world? I get this is a standalone film, but the fact that we know these superheroes exist in this universe means you have to explain why S.H.I.E.L.D is not using them to protect the country against these nefarious forces. A reason, a line of dialogue, anything would work better than simply ignoring The Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Hawkeye! Yet these characters are never mentioned in this context, and just like Iron Man 3, I lose a lot of respect for this sequel.
Another piece I adored about this film was the chemistry and banter between Rogers and Romanoff -- they are a formidable team together and their budding friendship helps develop both their characters.
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Overall, Captain America: The Winter Soldier has many redeeming features -- it's mostly entertaining, it has a lot of memorable one-liners and funny banter between characters, it has some intense action, and a resounding narrative. But the action is overkill in stretches and most oftentimes it's so formula-driven it leaves out any tension -- in the action sequences I never thought, "Oh no, what's gonna happen?" -- it's that predictable.
It's sad there is creativity in the story, yet none in the action, or really anywhere else in the film. Many pieces work well, but when assembled, they don't really fit together perfectly.
But surely most of you will see this film anyway, especially Marvel fans -- but for those casual viewers, or those like me unimpressed with the first Captain America flick, a matinee showing or a rental should be just fine for this sequel.
Grade: 6.5 out of 10
Photos via: Marvel Studios
<a href="http://bit.ly/1b8wz7a" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone wp-image-4297" alt="FOLLOW MATTHEW DEERY" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FOLLOWMATTHEW1.jpg" width="570" height="163" /></a>2014-04-03T22:00:00-07:002022-10-28T07:14:36-07:00Matthew Deery