I'll discuss Ant-Man and the Wasp in a minute but there's still a handful of thoughts about my viewing of Ocean's Eight I want to relay first... When the all-female Ghostbusters came out, there was the usual "raping of childhood" complaints. Ocean's Eight sidestepped many of these issues by being a spin-off of a remake that was already done. Sandra Bullock played the sister of George Clooney's Danny Ocean. (There was mention their father was als in the business. A reference to Frank Sinatra?) Also, if you want to do a all-female action and/or comedy movie, the heist genre isn't a bad way to go.
Soundtracks are usually "just there" for me. They seem to be usually selected for their beat and tempo and not their lyrics. Lindsay Lohan's Herbie: Fully Loaded was particularly noticeable in this regard for me but I was admittedly in a bad mood that night since I had rather watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for whatever number time it was instead... Anyway, Ocean's Eight had the most thought-provoking soundtrack since from the cover of the Mary Tyler Moore theme (She'd have been so awesome in this movie!) to the playing of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made For Walking."
Don't get me wrong. There were two problems I had with the movie. (And a third I forget.) To connect to the other Ocean movies, there was two cameos. I enjoyed Elliot Gould's Reuben coming out of the shadows to try and talk Debbie out of whatever she was planning but the second cameo doesn't sit right with me. Shaobo Qin's Yen appears at the end to help them complete the "real heist." They couldn't have created a female acrobat character for this? Yes, there wouldn't have been time to properly introduce her but still... Also, seeing Marlo Thomas, Elizabeth Ashley and other older actresses appear at the end to complete the caper was cool but it would have been nice to have an older actress fill Carl Reiner's more prominent role. (Betty White is too obvious but I could see someone like Cloris Leachman…)
The first Ant-Man film was the most kid-friendly comicbook movie I had ever seen, and that included the first 5 Spider-Man movies which is mind-blowing. Ant-Man And The Wasp didn't have that same feel to me but I'd certainly still feel comfortable taking a, say, 5 year old to it as the plot isn't as complicated as the last two Marvel movies anyway... I also noted with the first that the characters drank copious amounts of tea due to Brit Edgar Wright's original script. They don't drink tea at all. Americans do drink SOME tea occasionally but whatever...
As the title suggests Evangeline Lilly was given more to do as The Wasp but it didn't feel forced at all. Maybe it was her in the Hobbit films, maybe it's the times we live in...
Though their have been more complicated villains (Even in Marvel films haters!) Hannah John-Kamen still managed to stretch her acting muscles beyond her roles in the SYFY series Killjoys. Making her the daughter of classic Ant-Man baddie Egghead was a nice touch given they'll probably never use him in a movie. (Unless a Hank Pym prequel actually does happen!)
Like Thor's first love, nurse Jane Foster, and Sue Storm (I don't even remember her original occupation), Marvel likes to change up the occupation of Janet Van Dyne. She too is a scientist now. I wouldn't have had a problem with turning her back to the businesswoman she was in the '80's and '90's. She could have run the business side of Pym Tech...
Many people say Luis was again the highlight. Michael Pena was admittedly funnier this time but Kat Dennings was still funnier in the first two Thor movies. (Yes, Ragnarok was the funniest of the three movies but that doesn't negate my point...)
Soundtracks are usually "just there" for me. They seem to be usually selected for their beat and tempo and not their lyrics. Lindsay Lohan's Herbie: Fully Loaded was particularly noticeable in this regard for me but I was admittedly in a bad mood that night since I had rather watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for whatever number time it was instead... Anyway, Ocean's Eight had the most thought-provoking soundtrack since from the cover of the Mary Tyler Moore theme (She'd have been so awesome in this movie!) to the playing of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made For Walking."
Don't get me wrong. There were two problems I had with the movie. (And a third I forget.) To connect to the other Ocean movies, there was two cameos. I enjoyed Elliot Gould's Reuben coming out of the shadows to try and talk Debbie out of whatever she was planning but the second cameo doesn't sit right with me. Shaobo Qin's Yen appears at the end to help them complete the "real heist." They couldn't have created a female acrobat character for this? Yes, there wouldn't have been time to properly introduce her but still... Also, seeing Marlo Thomas, Elizabeth Ashley and other older actresses appear at the end to complete the caper was cool but it would have been nice to have an older actress fill Carl Reiner's more prominent role. (Betty White is too obvious but I could see someone like Cloris Leachman…)
The first Ant-Man film was the most kid-friendly comicbook movie I had ever seen, and that included the first 5 Spider-Man movies which is mind-blowing. Ant-Man And The Wasp didn't have that same feel to me but I'd certainly still feel comfortable taking a, say, 5 year old to it as the plot isn't as complicated as the last two Marvel movies anyway... I also noted with the first that the characters drank copious amounts of tea due to Brit Edgar Wright's original script. They don't drink tea at all. Americans do drink SOME tea occasionally but whatever...
As the title suggests Evangeline Lilly was given more to do as The Wasp but it didn't feel forced at all. Maybe it was her in the Hobbit films, maybe it's the times we live in...
Though their have been more complicated villains (Even in Marvel films haters!) Hannah John-Kamen still managed to stretch her acting muscles beyond her roles in the SYFY series Killjoys. Making her the daughter of classic Ant-Man baddie Egghead was a nice touch given they'll probably never use him in a movie. (Unless a Hank Pym prequel actually does happen!)
Like Thor's first love, nurse Jane Foster, and Sue Storm (I don't even remember her original occupation), Marvel likes to change up the occupation of Janet Van Dyne. She too is a scientist now. I wouldn't have had a problem with turning her back to the businesswoman she was in the '80's and '90's. She could have run the business side of Pym Tech...
Many people say Luis was again the highlight. Michael Pena was admittedly funnier this time but Kat Dennings was still funnier in the first two Thor movies. (Yes, Ragnarok was the funniest of the three movies but that doesn't negate my point...)
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