Did I Just See What I Think I Saw in ANT-MAN? (UPDATED!)

So. Just saw ANT-MAN for a second time, just because. Hold's up - this one really works. Not GUARDIANS-level transcendent, but really good.

Anyway! Long story short: By now you've heard that there's quite a bit of Universe-building business sprinkled throughout this one - multiple cameos, two post-credits beats and a no-name name-drop. But on my second viewing, I'm reasonably certain I caught a glimpse of something that's either a sly inside-reference, the most well-hidden Easter Egg since Cap's prototype shield on the workbench in IRON MAN (the first one) ...or I'm seeing things.

Obviously, to say/show more would be a MASSIVE SPOILER even if I'm wrong, given the sequence it occurs in. So I'll put the rest of this after the jump:

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MAJOR SPOILERS FROM HERE ON:

Okay. So, ANT-MAN's version of Chekhov's Gun Finishing-Move is "going subatomic," i.e. using the Ant-Man suit's shrinking capabilities to reduce one's size down below that of the building blocks of life - useful, but super-dangerous because if you shrink too far you hit the point where physics and reality no longer matter and start slipping through the cracks in space/time, and in the film's backstory, doing so led to the death of original Ant-Man's wife Janet "The Wasp" Van Dyne (hence why he's adamant that his daughter Hope not use the suit herself, hence the conscripting of Scott Lang as the new Ant-Man.) Using this technique ultimately turns out to be the only way for Scott to defeat YellowJacket in a deadly situation, and he winds up tumbling down through the Subatomic World in nifty, possibly COSMOS-inspired sequence (there's a Tardigrade!!!) that starts out straight-science and then goes all Cosmic Marvel. 

At sub-atom size, Ant-Man continues to drift through the kind of hazy/colorful psychedelia Marvel has thus far used to represent "otherworldly" spaces like Thanos' domain, finally winding up in a fractal space where he's finally able to finagle an escape back to reality - though he can't remember anything he saw or did there. It's enough, however, for Pym to imply that he's keen to go looking for Janet again...

Anyway! At one point in the process (during both the "shrinking" and "escaping" shots), we pass through what vaugely looks like a cloudy mountain-range of some kind. In the upper right-hand corner of the frame, I'd swear you can see (partially masked by "clouds") what appears to be a gigantic humanoid figure looming over the scene. It's brief, it's not "pointed out" and it could be anything - but it sticks out to me because it's there both times.

Here's a snap from an in-theater recording I found online (I'm not linking to the original, I'm generally against phones/cameras in theaters and if there turns out to be an issue here I'll glady remove it.) Anyway:

And HERE'S a version I've highlighted to show where I'm seeing the "figure":

So. Assuming this is "something," who or what is it? Marvel overseer Kevin Feige has already confirmed that the subatomic/cosmic stuff in ANT-MAN is meant to be a really tiny tease at how "The Other Side" can look/work for DOCTOR STRANGE, so that leads me to think this could be an early sighting of either Eternity or Infinity - in the Marvel Universe, esoteric cosmic concepts (see also: Death, whom Thanos is in literal love with) have semi-physical embodiments that you can meet and talk to if you have the ability, and Stephen Strange is one of the folks most often doing that talking. Here's what they look like:

And yes, they do "present" as male and female - a couple whose "union" (all of space and all of time) encompasses the entirety of the Universe (in case you wondering - yes, there are dopplegangers of both in all the different adjacent Universes in the Marvel canon.)

On the other hand, it sort-of looks like there's a light-source coming from where the chest would be on the shape, so it could also be The Living Tribunal, the disagreement-arbiter and final authority over all cosmic entities like Eternity and Infinity. Basically, this is the on-paper powerhouse of the Marvel Cosmology - the last "guy" on the totem pole in terms of power and authority below "The One-Above-All," (aka The One True God - whose true form/identity/alignment/etc are never officially depicted.) He looks like THIS:

So. What say you, Internet? Have we seen our first Cosmic Entity in the MCU?

UPDATE: Some folks are chiming in to say it could just as easily be The Wasp, which is true enough. Meanwhile, here's director Peyton Reed saying on the record that "an object or a person" is indeed hiding within our view of subspace:

ANT-MAN Proves That Paul Rudd Can Be A Marvel Superhero Too

Opening today at a multiplex near you:



ANT-MAN (Dir. Payton Reed, 2015)

The first time I was introduced to Ant-Man it was in an old Saturday Night Live sketch from the late '70s. Margot Kidder was hosting at the height of the success of the first SUPERMAN movie so they did a sketch with her reprising Lois Lane in the premise of hosting a party with the man of steel (Bill Murray) as her new husband. Dan Aykroyd showed up as The Flash, John Belushi made quite an applause-filled entrance as The Hulk, and extras came in dressed as Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, The Thing, etc.

Then there was Garrett Morris (SNL cast member from '75-'80) as Ant-Man, who was mocked mercilessly by The Flash and The Hulk. �He has the strength of a human!� Aykroyd�s Flash joked. I honestly thought at the time that they had made up the character for the sketch - it was a while later that I found out that he'd been around since the early '60s.

The gag that Ant-Man is one of the lesser superheroes is one that still endures. Paul Rudd, who takes on the role as the tiny crime-fighter in the new comic book blockbuster wannabe opening today, said on LIVE with Kelly and Michael this week that compared to the rest of the Marvel family he felt like �cousin Oliver to the rest of the Brady bunch.�

It�s just that sort of self-deprecating comic charm that Rudd has in spades that helps elevate ANT-MAN from the all-too familiar formula makes it one of the most fun films of the summer.

The movie opens in the late �80s with Michael Douglas, who with the help of make-up and CGI looks like he did when he won the Oscar for WALL STREET, as Dr. Hank Pym storming in on a S.H.IE.L.D. meeting angry because they've been trying to reproduce his shrinking technology without his knowledge. Pym, who was the original Ant-Man in the comics, resigns from the agency and takes his formula with him.

Cut to 25 years later where we meet Paul Rudd as master thief Scott Lang as he's being released from prison. Rudd's Lang doesn't want to return to a life of crime, but a stint at Baskin Robbins gets cut short because they learn about his record. Lang is desperate to see his daughter (Abby Ryder Fortson), but his ex-wife (Judy Greer), who is now married to a cop (Bobby Cannavale), forbids it until he can pay child support so he takes on �one last job� with his old cohorts (Michael Pe�a, Tip �T.I.� Harris, and David Dastmalchian).

This involves breaking into a vault made out of the same metal as the Titanic, but all that's in there is Pym's old Ant-Man suit. Lang tries it on when he gets home, presses a button on it and is shrunken to, yep, the size of an ant. The amped-up experience, which results in a scene that comes off like HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS on acid, scares Lang into returning the suit, but this gets him arrested.

In jail, he's visited by Pym posing as his lawyer. Pym had set him up because he's chosen Lang to be the new Ant-Man, and with the help of the suit Lang breaks out. Pym's daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) isn't happy with this, but goes along with geting Lang in shape to help them pull off a major heist. 

Pym wants Lang to steal the dangerous garb duplicating his shrinking technology dubbed Yellowjacket, which was developed by his former prot�g� Darren Cross (Corey Stohl from House of Cards). 



From there it becomes the expected mix of fight scenes, surreally-tinged chases, and comic asides, which all breeze by without an instance of clunk.

As Cross, Stohl isn't the strongest villain, and the plot mechanics can feel pretty standard at times, but thanks to the wit, charm, and likability of Rudd, a
well executed origin story, and a strong supporting cast (funnily enough, it's Pe�a who gets the most laughs), ANT-MAN is a welcome, and far from lesser, addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.



Back when Edgar Wright (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SCOTT PILGRIM VS.
THE WORLD) who was originally slated to direct dropped out of the project and
was replaced by Peyton Reed (director of the definitely un-super rom coms  DOWN WITH LOVE, YES MAN, and THE BREAK UP),
it looked like it could end up a bomb, but the result is a summer superhero
movie that satisfyingly pops.



Wright is credited for co-writing the screenplay, along with Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, and Rudd, so a lot of his vision is happily intact, and with a running time of under 2 hours, it's the least bloated Marvel movies in ages. 



Rudd plays well off his fellow cast members, especially Lilly, who appears to be primed to have her own superhero character soon, The Wasp, and Douglas, who, like Robert Redford in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, has one of his juiciest parts in recent memory. There's also a cameo by one of the Avengers, but I won't tell you which one. There's maybe more that that if you stay to the stinger at the end of the credits, but, again, that's all I'm gonna say.



Rudd also plays well off his CGI-ed insect pals, which Ant-Man can communicate with, and his affection for a winged carpenter ant he names Antony is cute in a way that only Rudd can pull off.


ANT-MAN is a delightful ride through yet another franchise starter, and a fine finish to Phase Two of the MCU. All that, and it's got a cameo by Garrett Morris in it too. Coincidence?



More later...

Judd Apatow Makes Amy Schumer A Movie Star In TRAINWRECK

Opening today at a multiplex near you:

TRAINWRECK (Dir. Judd Apatow, 2015)

In his fifth feature, TRAINWRECK, Judd Apatow gives comedienne and Comedy Central star Amy Schumer her first starring role, and he let her write the movie too.

This is a first for Apatow as he wrote or co-wrote his previous films (THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, KNOCKED UP, FUNNY PEOPLE, and THIS IS 40) but his confidence in Schumer�s filthy, feminist brand of comedy shines through, maybe a little too much, as like with all of his other movies, it could�ve been edited down considerably.

Schumer plays New Yorker Amy (no last name given), a writer for S'Nuff, a snotty men�s magazine run by an eccentrically unhinged editor-in-chief hilariously portrayed by an almost unrecognizable Tilda Swinton.

In a cold opening/flashback, we learn that Amy was taught by her father (longtime comic Colin Quinn in his best screen role) that �monogamy doesn�t work,� so we learn up front why her life consists of a series of one night stands. In her voice-over narration she tells us that she is actually seeing somebody � a lughead body builder played by WWE superstar John Cena � but, of course, not exclusively.

After getting dumped by Cena when he finds out, Amy surprises herself by developing actual feelings for a sports doctor (ex-Saturday Night Live cast member Bill Hader) she�s assigned to do a story on. However, initially she treats it like just another one night stand.

Hader, in one of his most grounded in reality roles, winningly keeps up with Schumer�s wisecracks. Their courtship is convincing, even when we can see the conflicts that will have them breaking up from a mile away.

The New York setting is another first for Apatow, but as expected he fills it with a bunch of recognizable faces like Dave Attell as a homeless guy that lives outside Amy�s apartment building, SNL�s Vanessa Bayer as one of her co-workers, current indie �it� girl Brie Larson as her settled down sister , Mike Birbiglia as Larson�s husband (Schumer was in comic Birbiglia�s SLEEPWALK WITH ME), and Ezra Miller (PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER) as an eager young intern at the magazine.

But most notably there�s LeBron James as a version of himself, one of Hader�s patients, who does his amusingly droll spin on the advice giving best friend.

Schumer and Apatow embrace many rom com tropes here, mostly taken from the ANNIE HALL rulebook. The twist is that usually it�s the male who�s the commitment-phobe who has to make the climatic mad dash to win back their love when they finally realize what they want.

We know Schumer�s boozy, pot-smoking, slutty character will be redeemed by the end, but the question is are there enough laughs along the way to make it worthwhile?

The answer is yes � there are a lot of genuinely funny moments throughout TRAINWRECK, but, as I mentioned before, it�s longer than it should be. It clocks in at just over 2 hours, when this material could�ve been shaped into a tidy 90 minutes � the ideal length for a comedy imho.

It�s like they couldn�t bear to cut anything that got a laugh out. In the aforementioned mad dash, they even work in a subway cameo by SNL�s Leslie Jones. It is funny, but it�s got �deleted scene� for a latter Blu ray/DVD release written all over it. So does a lot of shtick here (most of the Cena stuff should've been cut - no offense, Mr. Wrestling Champion).

But the best stuff is comedy gold, and there�s a warm and touching undercurrent to the proceedings. Schumer�s exchanges with Hader, Larson, and especially Quinn as her ailing father help flesh out that feeling.

TRAINWRECK will make Schumer fans happy (I'm one and I left the theater smiling), while turning a lot of newcomers into fans. It�s as flawed as its protagonist, but it brings the funny again and again and that�s way more important.

More later...

The Chillingly Brilliant EX MACHINA Out This Week on Blu Ray/DVD

EX MACHINA

(Dir. Alex Garland, 2015)

It�s time to take a break from all the summer sequels and highly hyped blockbuster wannabes clogging up the multiplexes, and take note that one of the best films of the year, Alex Garland�s sleek, dark sci-fi thriller EX MACHINA drops this week on Blu ray and DVD. Despite critical acclaim, it quietly came and went in theaters early this year, but I bet it�ll build its deserved audience quickly on home video.

Domhnall Gleeson (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PARTS I & II, ABOUT TIME, FRANK) plays Caleb Smith, a programmer at the Google-esque internet search engine giant Bluebook, who wins first prize in a companywide lottery. This entitles Caleb to a week�s stay at the home of the company�s reclusive CEO, located on his vast mountain estate (location never specified, but filmed in Norway).

In another solidly intense performance, Oscar Isaac (head shaved, but sporting a bushy beard) portrays the CEO, Nathan Bateman, who tells Caleb in their first meeting that his impressive compound of glass, stone, and shiny surfaces isn�t a house, it�s a research facility. After he gets him to sign a non disclosure form, Nathan reveals to Caleb that he�s built an android with Artificial Intelligence and that he wants Caleb to be the human component in the Turing Test - �when a human interacts with a computer, and if the human doesn�t know they�re interacting with a computer � the test is passed.�

Caleb is introduced to the AI, Ava (Alicia Vikander), who via CGI has parts that are transparent, and their sessions begin. Caleb speaks to Ava through a glass wall of an observation room, and, of course, develops an attraction to her. Nathan monitors their conversations on surveillance cameras, but during a power outage (something that happens often, Nathan explains) Ava warns Caleb that �Nathan is not your friend.�

There are other red flags that Nathan, who�s constantly boozing it up, is a modernized version of the classic mad scientist character �he�s hacked into the cell phones of billions, the contest was a smokescreen for this experiment, there is footage of other AI models desperately (and destructively) trying to escape , and he may have programmed Ava to flirt with Caleb.

There is only one other cast member - Kyoko, a Japanese housemaid (Sonoya Mizuno) who speaks no English but definitely has some dance moves as we see when a yet again drunken Nathan tries to get a party going with she and Caleb.

The directorial debut of screenwriter Alex Garland (28 DAYS LATER, NEVER LET ME GO, and DREDD) EX MACHINA is sharply constructed � there�s not a misplaced line, shot, or story beat and Geoff Barrow and Glenn Salisbury�s eerie electronic score effectively connects it all together.

Gleeson�s role is similar to his part in FRANK � a smart ambitious guy who gets way in over his head trying to be a part of something grand � but his acting is more focused here. His nervous exchanges, playing off of Isaac�s rich genius cockiness, give the film its humanity. However it�s the kind of humanity that may seal our race�s doom. 

It's easy to see why Gleeson's Caleb would fall for Vikander's alluring Ava, even when he's trying to keep in mind that she's a machine, albeit sentient. Vikander tops off the trio of terrific performances, and makes the viewer go through their own personal take on the Turing Test as well.

It builds brilliantly from an intriguing think piece into a thriller, that�s both psychological and technological, with an ending that floored me then stuck around to haunt me for days. This is cerebral film making of the highest order � Stanley Kubrick, who Isaac says in one of the bonus features that he patterned his character after, would�ve loved it.



Special Features: The 5-Part Featurette �Through the Looking Glass: Creating EX MACHINA,� 8 Behind-the-Scenes vignettes, and SXSW Q & A with cast and crew that's intermittently interesting if you've got an hour to kill.



More later...

Review: ANT-MAN

Suicide Is Painless

If there's ONE reason to be excited about comic-book continuity being a "movie thing" now, outside of just "because it can be," it's that the medium is rife with great material that really only works when it has a Universe backing it up. Among the best examples of that: "Suicide Squad," a long-lived DC cult-fave whose knockout premise (an Government program that offers conditional pardons to incarcerated supervillains if they agree to use their special powers/skills for off-the-books, high-risk covert dirty-work assignments) just wouldn't be as much of a knockout if we didn't "know" these people were the assembled nemeses of a whole planet full of Batmans, Supermans, Flashes, etc.

With that in mind, just the knowledge that there is now going to be a cohesive (for good or ill) DC Movie Universe makes this already fairly kick-ass (despite being obviously comprised of very early, obviously-unfinished footage) SUICIDE SQUAD trailer feel like it's got real weight to it. Plus, David Ayer is a fascinating choice for directing this sort of material, and even Will Smith looks like he showed up to play:



Whether or not this is any good will come down to the story, execution, etc; but as "sizzle reels" go this is a good one. I'm still not really "in love" with Floridian Juggalo Joker, but I can at least see it as a "look" he'd try on and - gods help us - Jared Leto actually seems pretty into it. 

The "thrift store versions of our usual costumes" look actually makes sense and goes with the overall feel (they look like those mall kiosk t-shirts where Popeye or Marylin or whoever are all tatted-up in L.A. gang ink and bandanas); and there's a brief comics-perfect glimpse of Deadshot in his "classic" getup that at least leaves hope open that Margot Robbie (who looks nuts) will get to slip into Harley Quinn's classic latex body-stocking at least once.

Really, though, what's most interesting here is the idea that this (supposedly) R-rated, no-bullshit, grownups-only "side story" is being directly connected (and openly promoted as such) to the more PG-13 "big" DCU movies and promoted as such - you can see Ben Affleck's Batman (plus someone wearing a Batman party-mask) right there in the action wrassling with Joker's purple and green Lambo' (because David Ayer) and Amanda Waller specifically namechecks Superman. That's a bridge Marvel really has yet to cross (I'd love to see someone like Blade or Punisher spend their whole individual movie/show wading through blood only to show up in AVENGERS or whatever all "Oh, hey guys.")

RIP Saturo Iwata - 1959-2015

Tragic news. Saturo Iwata, the colorful CEO and "public face" of Nintendo since 2002, has died of an ongoing health issue at the age of 55.

Described as a "genius programmer" in his youth, Iwata begna his gaming career working at Nintendo-affiliate HAL Laboratories on classics like EARTHBOUND, the KIRBY series and BALLOON FIGHT. His elevation to CEO at Nintendo - the first man not descended from the company's founding-family to ever hold the position - was widely seen as an overdue turn toward modernity for the fiercely-traditional company, and he became a familiar and beloved presence to gamers and the gaming press for his participation in the offbeat, humorous Nintendo Direct internet presentations.

The most important thing, obviously, is sympathy and condolence to Iwata-san's friends and family, but there is no overlooking that this is an incalculable loss to the video-game world. It was an open secret that Iwata was the main business-side force pushing the last giant of the Golden Age into embracing the modern game-culture more enthusiastically - in 2013, when the company was facing a financial shortfall, he famously took a major pay-cut in lieu of firing any employees. Without him, the future direction of the company and indeed the industry feels suddenly more uncertain than it has in a long time.