Ant-Man (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

Ant-Man

Marvel's "Ant-Man" directed by Peyton Reed (The Break-Up) is now in the Tropic building. Thanks to the everyman persona of Paul Rudd from Judd Apatow fame, the film has a wonderful charm which works well as a comedy as much as an adventure.

Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is a physicist and entomologist who is hard at work with a formula for miniaturization, presumably to bring the molecular realm together with our own. Pym is not supported by his selfish peers.

Darren Cross (Corey Stoll, House of Cards) is a former student of Pym's, who now (of course) is mad with power. Cross takes over Pym's beloved company with dreams of war-lust. Zounds! What can stop him?

Certainly, we have yet another good vs. evil conundrum, but the story is greatly helped by tremendous effects (which give some Disney credit to the reality of quantum physics) and healthy doses of refreshing humor.

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, the former jailbird but earnest dad, has never been better with just the right blend of self deprecation and wild sarcasm. Stoll, too, seems to have a lot of fun, mincing for the camera as a smarmy bad guy accompanied by all the fanfare of a Saturday Matinee.

The film delivers a retro feel of Kitsch and Circumstance. The suit for one, resembles the scarlet and silver days of Flash Gordon in his heyday of the 1930s.

Stoll, in his amarillo and sable alter ego, Yellow Jacket, has the danger of something vague and difficult to define, recalling the Creature Features from the 50's as well as a smattering of Lovecraft.

The action is the shade from Spielberg of old.

In one scene, Ant-Man and Yellow Jacket fight it out during a backyard party. One false move has Yellow Jacket flying into a hanging bug zapper. The combat scenes are as comic has they are entertaining. This is one film that actually feels and sounds like a comic. During such segments, the whole audience bubbled into laughter.

This is a rare thing in an explosive hero film as there have been so many.

"Ant Man" is both heartfelt and nonchalant by turns, yet full of  real surprise.

The episodic narrative moves swiftly in apprehension like a campy serial. We are not bogged down by pseudo-scientific explanations. Events merely happen as they do as in a Max Fleischer cartoon.

When Scott robs a two ton safe, there is not much fuss; it merely freezes and explodes like over-baked bread.

Silliness aside, there is also some poignance when Pym describes the sub-atomic world as a place where all that you love ceases to exist when time and space lose their finite power.

Say what you will about all of the electrifying tumbles, but for a pop art film, this touches on the profound. When our reluctant hero Lang is in that position, hearing the voice of his daughter, it is just as potent as any James Cameron thriller.

Also well done is the emphasis that the story places on the importance of ants in our natural world. Corny it may be, but whenever Lang or Pym interact with or speak of the insect world, it is with a sense of awe and respect.

As we are faced with a very real decline in our bee population, this is a very progressive and compelling awareness to have in an escapist film, especially as it is aimed for younger audiences.

Michael Pena as Lang's friend Luis provides good comedy in his own right. He's a henchman who gets so excited, he can't stop talking in long-winded bursts. Engaging as well is Abby Ryder Fortson as Lang's stereotypically cute daughter Cassie. In her role, she has genuine chemistry with Rudd and her pluck recalls the Spielberg sweeties of Drew Barrymore and Heather O' Rourke.

For added "ah-has", SNL's Garrett Morris who played Ant-Man in a seasonal sketch, has a cameo.  

The most miraculous aspect to "Ant-Man" is that it tells a conventional story with a smoothness and free whimsy that also recognizes the wonder of the natural world. Underneath all of the explosive punching is the idea that our universe is interconnected and dependent on all life, from Tony Stark to tortoise beetles.

This underlying concept is no small trifle.

Write Ian at ianfree1@yahoo.com

Mission Impossible-Rogue Nation (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation

Ethan Hunt ( Tom Cruise) is as red faced and sweaty as ever in "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation."

Here again, he gets a beating and takes it on the chin, exuding as much smirky confidence as Indiana Jones without snakes. And even though we have seen the bicep bashes and the tendon-tearing tumbles all before, it makes for some satisfying butter-crunches to go with your popcorn.

After a near torturous few moments with a sadist named the "bone doctor" Hunt goes to a vintage record store, shoulders bulging, and is given a vinyl record where he is told of  his next mission.

It seems the IMF has been informing on its members, while Hunt is persona non grata. Meanwhile there is a reptilian Syndicate baddie, Lane (Sean Harris) who has gone rogue, hence the film's title.

How or why this happened is not all that important and one doesn't need to see the previous films to enjoy this chapter. Suffice to say, our strapped and sweaty Hunt has to maneuver (or Man-euver) away from multiple baddies, that is, several men and one woman with a gun.

After a few near escapes, Hunt is on the trail of a digital disc that looks like a zip drive, but  the real fun to be had is in the cat and mouse chasing and the madcap combat scenes.

If the over confident Tom doesn't get you as he hangs off the side of a plane, in Total Cruise Mode, there is one terrific tease-tilting scene where Ethan Hunt stealthily leaps ladder after ladder while a full Puccini opera is going on below him. Absurdly, the more Hunt is punched, the more he smirks. And it is testament to the charisma of the actor Cruise that we take it all in, in enjoyable bursts and happily so.

Hunt is obsessed by a dangerous woman Ilsa, (Rebecca Ferguson) who may or may not be lethal. Though her Bond Girl type has often been seen, Ferguson has a smoky vivacious quality that equals Cruise and fills the screen.

Though the trappings of the film are pure Broccoli, it is the Hollywood ham of Cruise himself that makes this outing satisfying and meaty. Who else but Ethan Hunt / Tom Cruise is able to survive a face fracturing crash and then take off on a methamphetamine motorcycle along the roads of Morocco that turn and twist like Arabic scroll. In an earlier scene, a car crashes into the cliche of a fruit stand, but rather than a bore it comes of as Camp.

Given that the franchise has endured episodes, director Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) can dispense with explanation and logic, speeding full throttle into dizzy escape. Fortunately, "Rogue Nation" doesn't hold its punches while Tom Cruise has a fun sometimes silly and cultish charm, all the more entrancing by his self-conscious awareness.

Yes, we have seen this bunch before with co-stars Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and  Ving Rhames, and there is nothing really new. Yet the action is swift and clever and the devil-may-who-cares attitude that Cruise has perfected will have you mugging for the camera as well.

Finally, the last scene is singular perfection, a perfect "just desserts" that skirts along the edges of an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

Write Ian at ianfree1@yahoo.com

Mistress America (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

Mistress America

Noah Baumbach is best known for his melancholic indie comedies that have a glib and facile quickness. Character-wise they are usually edgy, idiosyncratic and rich in personality, almost like a graphic novel.

His latest "Mistress America" is no exception.

Tracy (Lola Kirke) has moved into a dorm at Columbia. She doesn't fit in. At her mom's urging, Tracy half-heartedly dials Brooke (Greta Gerwig), whose father is marrying Tracy's mom.

Tracy agrees to meet at Times Square.

From first impression, Brooke is a true Renaissance girl. She has seen it all and done it twice over. She is charming, chatty and only thirty. Brooke has supersonic speech faster than a multi-tasker on thirty espressos and she never allows anyone to reply.

Despite this flaw, she appears much in demand by the hipster crowd and seemingly has it all together.

Regardless of her endless chatter, Tracy likes her. Perhaps she is fascinated or lonely, but more than likely, it is a little of both.

Brooke is obsessed by her ex-fiance's new wife, Mamie-Claire (Heather Lind) believing that the woman stole her t-shirt design concept, in addition to her beau, Dylan (Michael Chernus).

Brooke leads a spontaneous confrontation with Mamie-Claire, believing it to be the key to getting her life back and starting a new restaurant. A comedy of errors ensues involving her bohemian acquaintances who are all grouped together as in a surrealist film by Luis Bunuel. There is Tony (Matthew Shear), an icy writer painfully seeking attention, his jealous girlfriend Nicolette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), and a verbally cutting lawyer (
Cindy Cheung )

Brooke oscillates in friendship from warmth to indifference and it is unclear what truly holds Brooke and Tracy together. The two are not entirely likable by themselves. Brooke is egocentric and vain. Tracy is introverted, passive and clearly a bit of a voyeur. Mixed together they make an odd absinthe, jumpy, volatile and hard to discern at bottom.

The most witty moments are the party scenes involving Dylan and Brooke. She is clearly a mess, but the more incoherent she becomes, the more Dylan becomes smitten by her, making a spoof of what is hip, meaningful and of the moment.  In his  mad ardor for Brooke, Michael Chernus as Dylan in steals the show.

Like most of Baumbach's character films, "Mistress America" works at you softly and almost lullingly around the periphery, only to make you wonder in an instant and pull you in.

Underneath Tracy's predictable Woody Allen voiceover, there is mystery. Who is using whom? What is the nature of dysfunction and its possible meaningful role in a friendship?

These questions and some vibrantly comic dialogue make solid entertainment which will poke at you in its gentleness coupled with its understated quirks.

Write Ian at ianfree1@yahoo.com

Week of Sept. 4 - 10 (Rhoades)

Tropic Overview

Tropic Cinema Gives You a Choice of Film Genres

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Film Critic, Cooke Communications

Tropic Cinema covers a wide swath of film genres this week -- dramedy, psychological thriller, musical drama, feminist comedy, superhero blockbuster, and A-list action adventure. Take your pick.

“Mistress America” is a new indie film from Noah Baumbach starring his talented girlfriend Greta Gerwig. Here gal-about-town Brooke (Gerwig) wanders around NYC with her soon-to-be stepsister

(Lola Kirke), bringing the timid college freshman out of her shell with a series of questionable misadventures. One Guy’s Opinion sees it as “a sharp, sophisticated modern screwball comedy with an underlying strain of poignancy.” And St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, “It confirms that Gerwig is among the brightest talents on the cinema scene.”

“The Gift” shows Jason Bateman in a new light, not as the comedian but as a serious actor. His character’s past catches up with him when he bumps into an old high school acquaintance known as

Gordo the Weirdo (director/co-star Joel Edgerton). 3AW says, “What starts out as a standard psycho drama soon develops into a deliciously malicious tale of deceit and secrecy, ridden with some ingenious left turns.” And MediaMikes describes it as “full of great scares and even greater performances.”

“Ricki and the Flash” proves Meryl Streep can play anything (including an electric guitar). As an aging rock singer who abandoned her family in search of fame, she must return to Indianapolis to

comfort her daughter (played by Streep’s real-life daughter Mamie Gummer) who is going through a bad divorce. The List says, “Meryl is a goddess, there are some laughs and the sing-along climax is sweetly joyous.” Herald Sun tells us, “It is another deeply immersive performance from Streep that repeatedly lifts this bittersweet comedy-drama hybrid out of the doldrums.” And Sydney Morning Herald calls it “likeable and surprisingly low-key.”

“Trainwreck” will cause you to laugh out loud (and wince a few times) watching Amy Schumer make her movie mark as a commitment-phobic magazine writer who meets a guy worth getting serious about (Bill Hader). ABC Radio says, “It's a fun, crude comedy with an outrageous central
character and plenty of great one-liners.” And En La Butaca says, “Director Judd Apatow’s newest comedy is his best work in years.”

“Ant-Man 3D” is the new comic book movie based on a little-known Marvel superhero who can shrink to the size of an ant. In this first outing, Ant-Man (Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas) must keep a mad tycoon from selling this top-secret shrinkage technology
to the bad guys. Indie London says, “It may boast the world’s smallest superhero but Marvel’s Ant-Man is big on fun and ingenuity.” And Junkee explains, “Ant-Man is entertaining because it uses big-movie tricks without big-movie hyperbole.”

“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” may be the best action movie of the year, once again starring Tom Cruise as the IMF spy who can’t be stopped. Cruise does his own stunts as usual, this time hanging off the side of an airplane and holding his breath underwater for, well, impossible lengths. GQ Magazine observes, “Director Christopher McQuarrie steps in with a thriller that mixes old-

fashioned spy movie tropes with state-of-the-art action beats and a rich helping of wit.” SF Weekly adds, “The introduction of British agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) to the mix suggests that this may be one of the only ongoing spy concerns that actually know how to use female characters.” And Cinefantastique concludes, “The ending even managed to build up a fair share of tension (though why I should have doubted that Cruise’s awesomeness would prevail…).”

What to see? Depends on your mood. But rest assured, there’s not a bad movie among them.

srhoades@aol.com

Mistress America (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

Baumbach-Gerwig Team Tailor Makes “Mistress America”

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Talk about it being hard to please your parents, movie director-screenwriter Noah Baumbach has it bad. He’s the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach.

Noah has given us “The Squid and the Whale,” “Frances Ha,” and “While We’re Young,” among other films.

His newest -- currently screening at Tropic Cinema -- is titled “Mistress America.” He co-wrote it

with actress Greta Gerwig, who also stars in the film. This is not their first waltz together. They have been in a relationship since 2011.

Here, Gerwig plays a flaky young woman who shakes up the life of her lonely college-girl almost-stepsister (Lola Kirke). Her sis-to-be says, “I'm so impressed by you and so worried for you at the same time.”

It’s a thoughtful screwball comedy.

Gerwig’s roots are in indie films, as are Noah Baumbach’s. She says, “Some of the independent movies that make money have a very specific thing that you can tell audiences they'll feel about it. ‘This will make you feel so happy.’ ‘This will make you feel something about your family’.”

What can you expect from “Mistress America”? Gerwig tells us it’s “a comedy about dream-chasing, score-settling, makeshift families, and cat-stealing.”

The characters are not so likable, but they win you over nonetheless.

Variety says, “Greta Gerwig shines in a tailor-made role …” Well, of course she does. Didn’t we tell you she co-wrote it?

She says, “So much of writing is like baking a cake. I can't tell you where the sugar is.”

Maybe her impetuous, wacky character doesn’t have much sugar, but sometimes we find lemon twist can be quite tasty.

srhoades@aol.com

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

Tom Cruise Measures Up In “Mission Impossible 5”

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Would you pay ten bucks to see Tom Cruise hanging from an airplane? You bet. Because the A-List actor does his own stunts in “Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation.”

You won’t take your eyes off the screen.

Who would have thought cute, smiley, dimpled Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, standing only 5 feet 7 tall, would become the best action star in movies today?

5 feet 7 -- that’s even shorter than Sylvester Stallone (“Rambo,” “Rocky”) who claims a lofty height of 5-10. Note: Screenwriter William Goldman swears that Stallone is really “67 inches (5-feet-7), dripping wet.”

Not that height is required for Hollywood success.

Al Pacino is only 5-6 tall. So is tough-guy Danny Trejo. As was Alan Ladd, requiring the villain to stand in a hole while filming the face-off in “Shane.”

Kung Fu star Jet Li measures a diminutive 5-5 tall. So did James Cagney. Michael J. Fox is 5-4. Kevin Hart is 5-2 if we stretch it. Of course Danny DeVito is 4-11. And Peter Dinklage is 4-4, but he is technically a dwarf.


Without the magic of movies Daniel Radcliff is a mere 5-5. So is Dustin Hoffman. Richard Dreyfuss is only 5-4. And Scarlett Johansson stands 5 foot 3 in her stocking feet.

Ralph Keyes, author of a book titled “The Height of Your Life” calls Hollywood the Land of the Lilliput, noting that many actors are vertically challenged. “Here’s the deal as I finally figured it out,” Keyes says. “Entertainment in general is a haven for smaller guys. I think you have to be able to present yourself and be expressive to be an actor, but if you grow up average size or taller, then you don’t grow up with such a need to be forceful or expressive.”

A BBC documentary about 5-foot-5 Mel Brooks is titled “I Thought I Was Taller."

As for Tom Cruise, he seems taller on the screen.

And his new film “Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation” is looking large at the box office. It’s now playing at Tropic Cinema.

In this fifth installment of the movie franchise that’s based on an old 1966 TV show, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his trusty sidekicks (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames) must thwart an international group of assassins known as The Syndicate. The IMF (Impossible Missions Force) has been disbanded (by Alex Baldwin) and so it’s up to Hunt to save the day by riding motorcycles like a deranged daredevil, racing BMWs like a death-wish demolition derby driver, busting through 12 feet of concrete and plunging into 70,000 gallons of pressurized water without an oxygen tank, fighting big guys hand-to-hand like a black-belt martial art champion, and … yes, hanging onto the side of an Airbus A400M while in flight. 5,000 feet in the air. Without a stunt double.

You’ll love it.

Action enough to leave your heart pounding for thirty minutes after you leave the theater. Or so it seemed.

Take my advice: Forget about that loony Tom Cruise who hopped up-and-down on Oprah’s couch. Forget about that fanatical Scientologist Tom Cruise. Forget about Randy Newman’s song about “Short People.” Just give 131 minutes to IMF agent Ethan Hawk and you won’t be disappointed.

Trust me, you’ll get ten bucks worth of thrills.

srhoades@aol.com

Ant Man 3D (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

Marvel’s “Ant Man” Fills the Screen

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Marvel Comics has over 5,000 characters … and the superhero movies from Marvel Studios seem determined to work their way through them one by one.

This time up it’s “Ant-Man.”

This superhero was created back in 1962 by Stan Lee and his brother Larry Lieber, along with Jack “The King” Kirby. The original story in Tales to Astonish #27 was aptly titled “The Man in the Ant Hill.”

Back when I was publisher of Marvel Comics, we used a “character wheel” to determine whether a new character was original enough to pay incentives to its creator(s). The four criteria were new name, new look, new civilian identity, and new powers. Ant-Man qualified on all four counts, of course.

Here was Dr. Hank Pym, a scientist who developed the technology to shrink himself down to the size of an ant. And as his size diminished, his strength increased. Guess that’s why a tiny ant can carry a huge twig or lump of bread many times its weight.

In typical comic book fashion, Marvel even had Ant-Man morph into Giant Man (hey, all you had to do was add a “gi” to his name), Goliath, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp. And over time Hank Pym gave way to a new Ant-Man, a thief named Scott Lang. He first appeared as the new Ant-Man in Marvel Premiere #47.

Meanwhile others assumed the roles of those spin-off insect-themed superheroes Yellowjacket and the Wasp.

In this new “Ant-Man” movie – with its larger-than-life appearance on the screens at Tropic Cinema – Michael Douglas plays an older Hank Pym. And Paul Rudd stars as current Ant-Man, Scott Lang.

Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as a follow-up to the recent “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” we find Scott and his mentor trying to protect the Ant-Man technology from falling into the wrong hands. It involves Lang pulling off a clever heist.

Along with Hank Pym (Douglas) and Scott Lang (Rudd), we have Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll), the future Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Lang’s sizeable daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), and various supporting players (Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, and Judy Greer) to keep things moving.

My ol’ pal Stan Lee is pleased to see this underutilized superhero get his own movie. He once told me he was disappointed Ant-Man had never caught on like Spider-Man.

Stan the Man later elaborated, “I loved Ant-Man, but the stories were never really successful. In order for Ant-Man to be successful, he had to be drawn this small next to big things and you would be getting pictures that were visually interesting. The artists who drew him, no matter how much I kept reminding them, they kept forgetting that fact. They would draw him standing on a tabletop and they would draw a heroic-looking guy. I would say, ‘Draw a matchbook cover next to him, so we see the difference in size.’ But they kept forgetting. So when you would look at the panels, you thought you were looking at a normal guy wearing an underwear costume like all of them. It didn’t have the interest.”

Hollywood’s Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) F/X can take care of that problem.

As for me, I always had a soft spot for Ant-Man. At one of my first Marvel editorial conferences, we put the teams of writers and artists through training exercises. In one, each of us was assigned a character (the name pinned to the back of our shirts) and we had to guess by asking questions which superhero we had. Mine? You guessed it, Ant-Man.

srhoades@aol.com