Dog’s Movie House: “Still Playing Catch-Up!”

Howdy Folks!  It’s The Kendog!

Evangeline Lilly as The Wasp

 

 

 

Still catching up with post vacation reviews, so we’re gonna make it short and sweet this time out.  I will let you know that I’m working on a couple of things that will make posting a little easier and more current for you patient readers.  I do appreciate that patience as I’m still fine tuning the process to let me get more entertaining information to you in a more timely manner.  Tune in to the Pat Walsh Show every Friday night to hear my up-to-date movie reviews in the meantime.  (The link is just to the right.)

Let’s start with “Ant-Man And The Wasp” a sequel to the well-received 2015 film.  In the sequel, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest after the events of “Captain America: Civil War” and is forced to risk his freedom when his old partners Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and her daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) rescue Hope’s mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the sub-atomic realm.  Along the way they have to deal with a phase shifting villain known as Ghost  (Hannah John-Kamen) who wants Janet for her own purposes.

For fans of the first film, the new “Ant-Man” is more of the same in every conceivable way.  The special effects are even more outstanding and the humor is terrific, especially during the interplay between Rudd and Michael Pena, returning as his best buddy and now fledgling entrepreneur Luis.   Lilly shares equal billing with Rudd and is outstanding as The Wasp, kicking ass and taking names as though she was born to it.  All in all, an outstanding film that serves as a more buoyant alternative to the emotional roller-coaster that was “Avengers: Infinity War.”  4 1/2 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!

 

Next we have Dwayne Johnson’s latest.  It’s called “Skyscraper” and is clearly trying to evoke a throwback vibe to the action movies of the 80’s, most notably “Die Hard.”  In this it is only partially successful.  Johnson plays Will Sawyer, a former FBI agent who loses his leg in a hostage situation gone wrong.  Ten years later he’s in Hong Kong with his family as a security consultant on The Pearl, the world’s largest building.  After completing his assessment, terrorists led by Botha (Roland Moller) break into The Pearl and set one of the floors on fire in a convoluted scheme to retrieve vital information from the building’s owner (Chin Han).   Or course Sawyer’s family is trapped above the fire line, forcing Will to break all kinds of laws (including the laws of physics) to rescue his brood and save the day.

The film is silly as hell, but very well done. Writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Dodgeball”) is very talented at staging action scenes and setting up scenarios even as the silly script threatens to tip the entire venture into laughable silliness.   Johnson is good as the straight arrow Sawyer and Neve Campbell is very welcome as Sawyers wife.   The villains are fairly one note (Moller is no Alan Rickman) but the film moves breezily along at just over ninety minutes.   It’s entertaining enough but not especially notable in the crowded summer marketplace.  3 Out of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!

 

Finally we have “Hotel Transylvania 3 :Summer Vacation.  This time a lonely Dracula (Adam Sandler) is whisked away on a Monster Cruise by his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) with the entire gang coming along.  On the ship he falls hard for Captain Ericka (Kathryn Hahn) who just happens to by the great-granddaughter of the legendary Van Helsing ( Jim Gaffigan).  Will Dracula find true love or is he destined to become monster-mash at the hands of the woman he loves?

The answer to that question is not terribly important, but the movie as directed and co-written by Genndy Tartakovsky is just as interested in sight gags as it is in telling a moving character-driven story.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing as the animation is colorful and lively and the characters are, for the most part, very cute.  (Think the big-eyed animals in Chuck Jones cartoons)  The movie doesn’t have the depth of say, the average Pixar film, but it’s not an exercise in stupidity either.  The message is sweet and the pace is nice and quick.  It’s a nice way to spend an afternoon at the movies with your family.  3 1/2 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!  So Sayeth The Kendog!

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