Avengers: Infinity War – It’s All Led to This

In 2008, when Robert Downey Jr.’s character Tony Stark announced to the world “I am Iron Man,” he (and we as an audience) had no idea what was going to unfold. Now, ten years later, we’ve seen eighteen movies and multitudes of characters grow and develop, defeat enemies and fight amongst each other. It’s all led to this moment – the moment where the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Kings of Asgard and Wakanda come together to protect the world from the biggest threat its ever faced (as well as finally seeing all six Infinity Stones used, for good or ill). With such a large film, there were a lot of expectations that were years in the making, added to by previous team-up films and sequels that attempted to add in and build up more characters (sometimes successfully, sometimes not). You won’t be disappointed by the scale – this is a battle that takes place on entire worlds, rather than just a few blocks in New York. Heroes have pulled together because the villain really is as dangerous and terrifying as he appears to be. And, despite how much material there is to get through and how much we have to settle without, the film never feels like it’s too much. Sure, you’ll be brain-fried at the end of it, but just because that’s how the story is meant to be. As Doctor Strange says: “We’re in the end game.”

I Dare You – To See a Better Movie

After their success with Get Out (2017), I get the sense that Blumhouse wants to try and create more horror films that mean something, rather than just being scary for the sake of it. Truth or Dare is the first movie they’ve attached their name to (I think technically it’s supposed to be called Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare, but that’s long and ridiculous and I’m not going to), as well as tried to throw in an aspect of “coming clean” as you play a kid’s sleepover game. There’s also a certain sense of having their cake and eating it too – sure, they’re trying to go deeper, but they’re also marketing a movie released on Friday the 13^th (like its predecessor Happy Death Day (2017)), casting familiar “teen” faces like Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey, and hitting the technical generation hard by making sure their characters are big fans of creating YouTube and Snapchat videos. Because they hit the middle ground, however, the result is a bit of a mess – not really scary, not really deep, and not really worth the one hundred minutes you spend in the theater.

A Quiet Place: Your Stomach Will Not Unclench

As a former Hawkeye, I’m always up to see a film that is written by University of Iowa graduates. In this case, I’m happy to report that my fellow graduates have delivered a fine piece of work, as well as proved that horror films don’t need to be over the top and extravagant to terrify. All you need is a simple premise, a great cast, and the ability to capture an audience’s mind with the idea of horror they could easily face themselves. True, the way that the horror scares you is not one you’re unused to – it’s a lot of jump scares, and even the cheapest horror movie can harness those if they know when to add in a loud noise. But in a movie with very little, if any, noise at all, all scares can be jump scares, and triggering them will not relieve your tension in any way (rather than most jump scare-filled films where you almost feel ashamed of yourself for jumping, even when you know it’s coming).

I Love You, Pop Culture. Sincerely, Ready Player One.

In all honesty, I was concerned that I would not be a big enough geek to enjoy Ready Player One as it was intended to be enjoyed. My experience with video games was limited to Mario Kart, Kingdom Hearts, and Silent Hill; though I love some eighties films, there are several others that I have yet to get around to watching. So, how can a ‘noob’ (a term used in the film, by the way) enjoy this movie? Well, simply put, because it’s fun. Ready Player One is a movie for gamers, but you can also watch it just for the fun of watching a game unfold. It’s like watching someone play through a game on YouTube – the eyes of the person in charge frame how fun the story can be. It’s all a bit long, that’s true, and sometimes being fun is not enough to stop it from resorting to some textbook Young Adult novel templates, but if you need a good laugh, this is a pretty good bet to give it. And, on a separate note, I’m going to have to ask the world to stop casting T.J. Miller. He just pulls us out of the movie and he’s really not that funny. His character in Ready Player One could have been fun, but as it was, I was doing my best not to roll my eyes every time he opened his mouth.