Avengers: Endgame - The 2020 Summer Movie Season Kicks Off This Week

If you've read my post about the summer 2020 movie season--AKA we're basically not going to have a usual one--I suggested we build out own. I developed a list of movies that came out in years ending with five or zero, thus a nice and tidy anniversary number. Other than The Empire Strikes Back (21 May) and Back to the Future (3 July), I'm still making my own schedule, but there is one exception.

Avengers: Endgame came out a year ago this week. It, along with Infinity War in 2018, was and remains one of my favorite movie-going experiences. The crowd reaction, the anticipation, the talking about it afterwards. It truly was a unique phenomenon.

So I'll be re-watching it this Friday evening. Yeah, it'll be at home with just the family, but I want to remember just how awesome that movie was. Then I'll follow up with some of those YouTube clips of audience reactions to help remind me and everyone just how great it is to sit in a darkened theater and experience a movie with a bunch of other people.

I miss theaters and look forward to returning.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

I enjoyed most of the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies. I saw neither of the Andrew Garfield ones. But I love Tom Holland's two movies not for the super-heroics--which are, nonetheless, awesome!--but for the Peter Parker parts.

Homecoming was basically a John Hughes film if Hughes did a high school super-hero movie. Far From Home is like when your favorite sitcom blows up in the ratings and they take a trip to Europe. I'm looking at you Family Ties Goes to London (or whatever it was called).

Far From Home is a hilarious romp of a film with super-hero stuff thrown in. All the razzle dazzle stuff is what you'd expect. But its the Parker stuff that really counts and has meaning. I went with my teenager and he really enjoyed it. I suspect he sees his own high school in the scenes because I certainly saw mine.

Mysterio Walked Out of the Comics

While I'm more knowledgeable about Batman Rogues' Gallery, Spider-Man has some great ones. Most look pretty cool, but Mysterio always stood out on a large part because of the helmet. Or fish tank. Or Apollo helmet. Whatever you call that thing that serves as a mask. You knew back in the Maguire days they'd likely never attempt Mysterio for the sheer technical factor of making it look good and real.

Which is why this modern-day Marvel cinematic universe is so good. With CGI, anything is possible. And Jake Gyllenhaal as Owen Beck (AKA Mysterio) does a fantastic job. Going in, I knew Mysterio's origins, but the trailer made it appear like something else. When all is revealed, it is a great twist (although it kind of was a riff off the Vulture's origins from Homecoming).

High School Life

Coincidentally, I watched Far From Home the same weekend as I started to watch Stranger Things 3. Both deal with high school and teenagers in such an honest way, both were joys to watch. (I'm not done with Stranger Things so zero spoilers. Got it?) In Far From Home, I love how the entire movie is built around Peter's one plan for the trip to Europe: buy a gift for MJ, give it to her, and tell her how he feels. That's all a teenaged boy should have to worry about.

Spoilers....

And bravo for the writers having MJ figure out Peter's secret. C'mon. It's in the trailer. But it's great to have these major co-stars figure out heroes' secret identity. As cute as it was in the 1950s and 1960s to have Lois Lane concoct all sorts of schemes to reveal Clark Kent was Superman, it's refreshing to have them in on the secret and be a part of the team.

Stellar Cast

As with every Marvel film, the cast is fantastic. It is the secret sauce that makes this more than just your friendly neighborhood Marvel movie.

Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Peter's best friend, steals every scene he's in. I first saw Angourie Rice in Shane Black's 2016 film, The Nice Guys. Man, is she a talented actress, and so good as Ned's girlfriend. The two teachers, played by Martin Starr and J. B. Smoove, also chew the scenery as both an inept teacher (Starr) and one who doesn't want to take credit or blame when things go south (Smoove). And I called it in the theater (and confirmed later) that Peter Billingsley played one of Mysterio's henchmen. Yup. The kid from A Christmas Story is in a Marvel film. Granted, he was also in Iron Man, but I forgot.

I also appreciated how Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders realized they were in a funnier film than any of their earlier ones and adjusted. They were still Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but they played the characters with a wink and a smile.

Mid-Credits and Post-Credits Scenes

Whoa! So often, these scenes serve as in-jokes (Howard the Duck) or setups to future films (Iron Man and just about all the others). Rarely have end credits scenes basically shook the titular character's world to the core. Especially since the next Spider-Man movie isn't even on the map. Are you kidding me?

Spider-Man: Far From Home Gets It

Character, character, character. It goes a long way to grounding a film and keeping the audience invested. All the folks involved with the Tom Holland Spider-Man films understand what makes this character tick. Holland gets it, too. I know there another actor will someday play the web-slinger, but he'll have big web-shooters to fill.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a wonderful film and a great way to end Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bring on Phase 4!

Moments from Avengers: Endgame

There's a thousand memes with Sean Bean, from Fellowship of the Ring, where it's a paraphrase of "One does not simply walk into Mordor." To take that to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), one does not simply review Avengers: Endgame.

Seriously, what can anyone really say about this movie? For me, likely for most of us, Avengers: Endgame brought to a close a series of 21 movies over 11 years in an wonderfully emotional, thrilling, intimate, and beautiful way.

So I'm not really going to review the film, per se, just highlight some moments I really appreciated. The list is random and as they occurred to me.

Spoilers will be given...because how can you not?

Cap Stands Alone

In a movie full of epic scope, the image, in silhouette, of a battered Captain Ameria standing alone against the hoard of Thanos. There was a moment when I thought he'd say "I could do this all day" but it likely would have fallen flat. There will be long-lasting images taken from this movie and will become shorthand for sections of this movie. I suspect this will be one of them.

The Marvel Calvary

Immediately after, the radio in Cap's ear sparks to life with a voice. It's the Falcon.

And then...

In a movie franchise full of incredible set pieces, the arrival and re-emergence of all the heroes might rank as the best. Goosebumps rippled over my skin and the tears came. Heck, they came often in this film, but that's what I expected. That moment, when everyone returned to stand with Captain America...holy cow! If we waited 11 years and 20 movies to get Endgame, then we waited something like six hours (all of Infinity War and 2/3 of Endgame) for this moment, it was so worth it. My theater broke out in applause.

And then Captain America's call to action: "Avengers...Assemble!"

The Ladies Carve a Path

That moment, when Peter Parker relinquishes the Iron Man version of the Infinity Gauntlet and he questions how Captain Marvel will get the gauntlet to the time machine, and then all the female heroes descend and stand in one remarkable scene. If that doesn't end up a poster.... I wasn't the only one who said out loud "It's the ladies!" My theater erupted in applause as these warriors carved a path through the bad guys!

Stark's Last Words

Going in to the theater, I pretty much knew either Stark or Cap would sacrifice themselves for the greater good. I had an outside idea that it would be both of them, but having Stark basically pull a double-take on Thanos was brilliant.

And those last words: "I am...Iron Man." Again, perfection.

Stark and Parker Reunion

Months from now, when the DVD of Endgame is out, I'm hoping to learn a couple of film-making facts. One, did they purposefully edit Black Panther as the first hero to emerge as a direct nod to his groundbreaking movie? Maybe, but well deserved. But it's the second thing I'm really wondering: Did they re-shoot/add an extended version of Parker and Stark's reunion. In Infinity War, Parker's death hit really hard.

But I also liked that it was only Parker and Pepper Potts with Stark at the end. I didn't want all the heroes to line up to say good-bye. Like Stark himself said early on to Pepper, "It's always been you."

Stark Meeting His Dad

In a movie that literally had everyone in it, Stark meeting his dad was a natural. Just like Marty McFly telling his future parents about raising him, I loved that Howard asked Tony about being a father, and that he, Howard, already loved his unborn child. As a parent, I knew that sentiment as truth.

Stark's Ending Narration

More tears. Of course Robert Downey, Jr. had to have some of the final words. It was him that kicked off the MCU and he now draws the curtain closed on this incarnation of it. That he was talking to his daughter, a daughter who would grow up with him and, more importantly, that he would not be around to see grow up, was heart-wrenching.

As a dad, that really got me.

"I love you 3000." A last message to his beloved daughter.

Lang's Daughter

Speaking of daughters, the reunion of Paul Rudd's Ant-Man with his daughter, now aged five years was marvelously done. She thought him dead, and there he was on her doorstep, un-aged. He, not knowing what happened, seeing living proof in the form of his own child. And that they were there, with Hope, at the end.

The Extended Ending

Like Return of the King, a story this epic needed more than one ending. Glad to see them all.

But Steve's last scene, as an old man, having lived his life with his favorite girl, man that was the happy ending this film series deserved. A man who gave all for his country got rewarded in the most satisfying way.

And that last shot of the movie, with him and Peggy Carter, finally getting that promised dance back in 1945? Perfect ending to a magnificent movie.

A Call for More?

I rarely care about all the little details behind a franchise such as the MCU. I'm content with what I see on screen. And I'm of two minds about what I'm about to say. But how cool would an anthology of short stories and/or a comic series be just telling the six stories of Steve returning all those stones. The conversation he would have with the Ancient One. Steve in space with the Guardians. Steve in Asgard. It would be kinda cool.

But I'm also cool with each one of us making up those stories. I don't need to know everything, but this struck me.

Questions

I have a few, and they're minor.

When Steve returned the Soul Stone, does Nat return to life?

Loki, in 2012, took the tessaract...where? And is he now still alive in the MCU?

Peter Parker. Okay, so we have a five-year time jump, right? So how's he still in high school?

Also, he seemed to say something about being gone for five years. Where exactly were the heroes for five years? Like Stark faked out Thanos, did Doctor Strange somehow put a spell over all the heroes who would turn to ashes at the end of Infinity War?

Steve and his other life. So, he lived his life in our time, right? So he would have seen everything we saw in these 21 movies, right? So he'd be there to see Stark become Iron Man, or watch CNN as Captain Marvel made her presence known in the 1990s. So, he'd just let all that stuff go on without interfering because he knew all would be fine, right?

And what about kids?

Conclusion

Anyway, just a few random thoughts on what may well be the best movie of 2019.

Well, until Star Wars IX.

But that's the thing. The MCU I have consumed as an adult. I started with Star Wars as a child. There's likely going to be a push/pull dynamic between the two. Heart and head. They'll both be my #1/#2 movies of the year, but Rise of Skywalker already has a high bar to clear considering fan expectation. Now, it has competition on how to end a series.

Tune in Tomorrow...

For a different kind of New Year's Day.

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 17

Well, it turned out to be a writing-centric week, capped off by a triumvirate of awesomeness yesterday: finished a book, heard a new Springsteen song (something like 14 times), and watched the final movie a decade in the making.

Writing Tips Are Always Welcome

Four of the six posts since last week's entry of the Year of an Indie Writer series focused on learning. Dean Wesley Smith discussed how writers think they've gone the 'wrong' way with a story, but authors are often the worst judges of our own work. I experience that literally this month.

I revisited lessons from pulp fiction legend Frank Gruber, and ended the week talking about the things we can actually control (part 1 and part 2). There's only so much over which we writers have dominion and it's best not to worry about everything else. Easier said than done, sometimes, but it'll ultimately prove beneficial.

Aztec Sword is Done

I mentioned last week I finished proofing the latest Calvin Carter novel, but felt it needed another chapter. Actually, it turned into four. But the story now feels complete with an ending I like.

But it was touch and go for the first half of the week. With a "only one more chapter" mentality, I realized I couldn't fit in all I wanted in one chapter. That gave me some heartache because I was not going to change my publication date of 1 May.

And yesterday, I put the last period on the book. Whew!

But what is it about?

Aztec Sword Description

Actor turned detective Calvin Carter stands on his favorite place--a stage--when armed bandits attack. Carter and his partner, Thomas Jackson, foil the robbery, and the surviving gunman snitches the name of the mystery man who hired the gang.

Both men soon die, taking their secrets to the grave.

Turns out, the entire robbery was an elaborate distraction. In the melee, a master thief with a unique calling card swipes a prized artifact: a macuahuitl, an Aztec sword, dating back to the Spanish conquest of the New World.

But when Carter and Jackson are assigned to track down and recover the sword, those men who know about the macuahuitl start dying, one by one. If Carter and Jackson aren't careful, they will be next.

Bruce Springsteen's New Song: Hello Sunshine

Well, the contest for Favorite Song of 2019 is over.

One word review: Gorgeous.

It's been three years since I had an emotional reaction to a song on first listen. That one was joy. This one was simultaneously happy, melancholy, and nostalgic. It was like a song from my childhood, yet it's a tune my fifty-year-old self experienced for the first time. I didn't roll a tear, but they were in there. Beautiful song. Instant classic Springsteen song for me.

If this is any indication of how the rest of the new album is, then the contest for Favorite Album of 2019 is done.

Just listen.

Avengers: Endgame

Saw it.

Loved it.

Perfect ending to a decade of movies.

How's that for a spoiler-free review?

Tune in Tomorrow...

For a special post about an album that turns 50.

Avengers: Infinity War - The Re-Watch

Like all folks looking forward to the new Avengers: Endgame movie this coming Friday, I rewatched last year's Avengers: Infinity War on Netflix.

We all know how good this movie is, so I won't bother recapping the film. If you're a fan of the movie, you know the best parts. All of it? Yeah, a case can be made that's this is the culmination of ten years of movie making.

When you first watch the film, you're all into the action and the team-ups. Iron Man and Spidey fighting together in New York. The Guardians and Thor. Captain America and Black Panther standing their ground in Wakanda.

But the second viewing brings home the human factors to a much greater degree. Wanda having to sacrifice Vision. Peter Parker's death. Thanos killing Gamora. Actually, the thing that stood out last year when I saw this movie the first time--it was Thanos's movie and he wins--is even more obvious now. When we keep writing the history of CGI characters who really tug at your heartstrings, Gollum and Thanos will certainly top the list.

Josh Brolin is magnificent in this movie as the villain. And, like the best villains, you actually see why he's doing what he's doing. He's got a point. It's harsh, yeah, but you can at least understand where he's coming from. I imagine he was on set speaking the lines, stuffed into one of those motion capture suits, so he was able to interact with the other actors. I've love to hear an interview from him talking about the process.

Now that we've all see the Captain Marvel movie, the tag ending where Nick Fury calls Carol Danvers is much more meaningful.

You only have about five days before Avengers: Endgame debuts. Oh, and I still trust Doctor Strange. He told Tony--and us--that all we saw in Infinity War was the only way to win. But if the Strange told us this was the only way, Thanos also spoke the truth about the cost of the victory. It costs him everything.

How much will Thanos's defeat cost the Avengers? We only have days to wait. I'm seeing the movie Friday night...and leaving social media Thursday night. I don't want to be spoiled. I'll have a review next week, and I'll provide plenty of spoiler warnings.

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 11

This was almost Week 3 redux.

QUIET TIMES

Back in Week 3, I mentioned that there would be down weeks. It happens in just about every profession you can imagine, and it certainly happens in the writing life.

It was Spring Break here in Houston. Fewer people were actually in the office at my day job and the traffic was wonderfully light. Except for Monday when I took the day off, I woke at my usual 4:45 am (getting used to daylight saving time means no 4:30 for this week), exercised, and then wrote. It made for a quieter-than-normal week.

And it was nice.

ANTIQUING FOR RECORDS

On the day off, the family and I traveled north of Houston to Spring and the giant antique store up there. A few years ago when we last went, a book dealer with shelves was there. Well, it's not there anymore, but that was okay. There were about five dealers with hundreds of records.

And we looked through most of them.

I came away with only one LP: Chicago XI, Terry Kath's last. The wife purchased two, while our boy took home four. Yup, the teenager bought more records than his parents combined. Go figure.

It's a funny thing when you have a teenager and he wants a turntable. Now our game room/his fun room has a turntable to go with the stereo system. We can all jam to records while playing video games.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF WHERE YOUR STORY GOES

The new Ben Wade story is inching its way up to novella territory. Novelette for sure. It's up to Chapter 10 and I've got the big finale to finish with the obvious denouement afterwards. What struck me during the process of this story is that it's definitely not like the three Wade novels I've already finished. I mentioned in week 7 this novella is written in third person, not the usual first person POV. That's just a prose choice. What I'm finding interesting is the style. It's a shade darker than the three novels. Things happen that actually move Wade along in his character development.

It also means I'll have to publish Novel #3 first before this story goes out into the world.

Which means I'll need another short story ready for 1 April.

CASTLE IS NOW TEN YEARS OLD

The big news this week was one I actually missed last Saturday.

"Castle," one of my all-time favorite TV shows, turned ten on 9 March. I wrote a lengthy post about it, and received some of my best feedback. I got lots of comments from folks over on my main author blog. It was really nice to revisit all that I love about this show.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Speaking of Castle, out of the blue, a new Richard Castle novel, CRASHING HEAT, was published on Tuesday. I had pre-ordered the audio and started listening on day one. Within seconds, I was back in the groove with Niiki Heat, Jameson Rook, the prose of "Richard Castle," and the narration of Robert Petkoff. He's got a great knack of getting the nuances of Fillion's voice without actually mimicking him.

The Castle novel put APOLLO 8 on the back burner for a couple of days, but I got back to it yesterday. What I enjoy about simultaneously listening/reading both non-fiction and fiction is being able to go back and forth depending on my mood.

In the chapter I listened to yesterday, the mission of Gemini 7 was described. Can you imagine spending two weeks in space inside a capsule little bigger than a Volkswagon? Yeah, I can't either.

MOVIES OF THE WEEK

I saw both Captain Marvel and Bohemian Rhapsody this week. I reviewed them both.


How was your week?

Movie Review: Captain Marvel

If it was opening day for a super-hero movie, then you know I was there.

I saw Marvel's new film, "Captain Marvel" on Friday night. Oddly, the theater with the RPX screening--i.e., bigger screen, bigger chairs, bigger sound, and bigger price--was not full. Not by a long shot.

But the people who were there were die-hard fans. How did I know? When the "Marvel Studios" logo was run and instead of showing all the heroes in all the movies...they showed all the Stan Lee cameos with a simple "Thank you Stan" right after it. I'll admit, I got emotional. But the fans in the theater clapped and cheered. I did, too.

I know next to nothing about any of the various Captain Marvel characters. The only thing I know for sure is the original (?) one, the one named Mar-Vel, died in 1981 or so...and has stayed dead. I always admired that about Marvel Comics.

So, going into this movie, I was a super-hero fan but I was going to be shown something new. And I loved it. The movie starts in space, on a planet called Hala. Brie Larsen is a character named Vers (pronounced Veers). She's part of StarForce, and her mission is to extract one of their own from the vile, green-skinned, shape-shifting Skrulls.

Naturally, things go awry.

She's captured by the lead Skrull, Talos (played wonderfully by Ben Mendelsohn) and her memories are tapped. She escapes and lands in Los Angeles 1995. Now we get a fun fish-out-of-water story with Vers being all earnest in her mission, never telling a lie, teamed up with Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury early in his career.

And the results are pretty darn hilarious.

The odd pairing makes for a standard buddy movie where each character has to learn about the other. We get some backstory on Vers--real name Carol Danvers--meet some people in her past, and have lots and lots of things that'll make those of us who lived through the 1990s smile and point and laugh.

As I mentioned, Mendelsohn is under make-up for most of the film, but his acting chops really shine through. There are more than a few moments when you really see his talent no matter the prosthetic. Larsen is an actress I cannot say I've seen in anything else. But she is charming in her own way. She knows what she's doing is right and she's set on completing the mission. When she faces things that counteract what she knows, she has to confront them.

And, most importantly, she's having a blast being a super-hero. So refreshing.

Jackson plays Jackson so you know what you're going to get. Nothing wrong with that.

Stan Lee's cameo is so, so wonderful because, for the first time, he's actually playing himself. That he's reading the script for Kevin Smith's "Mallrats" movie now makes the professional fan/podcaster/writer/director part of the Marvel cinematic universe. I suspect he's beyond thrilled.

Captain Marvel is a fun movie with way more humor than I expected, lots of great super-hero/space battles. It seems the movies of Summer 2019 now start in March.