Movie Review: Ant-Man *Spoiler Free*

Movie Review: Ant-Man Spoiler Free

Marvel's Ant-Man is arguably one of the better movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far. Some people have said better than Avengers, Age of Ultron but I wouldn't go quite that far. Mostly because, come on, no Marvel solo movie is ever going to top an Avengers team up - though Winter soldier came close by being a mini team up film.

I'll admit I was disappointed when Edgar Wright departed as the director of this film. Up to that point, for me, it was the most interesting reason to see the film. However Peyton Reed coming in at the eleventh hour to direct, may not have produced the same movie but there's plenty of scenes that still feel a lot like what Edgar may have done.

That said, Peyton's done a sterling job of crafting a film that had a tough act to follow, being the last film in Marvel's Phase 2 and coming straight after an Avengers movie. It does have a bit of of a slow start (certainly not boring) but stick with it as Paul Rudd's transformation into Ant-Man is both fun and awesome, with the finale delivering one of the best and most original fight sequences you'll see in any superhero movie.

Ant-Man is a much smaller story than Age of Ultron and it's actually nice to not have quite so many characters to keep track of. The basic plot sees the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), needing to stop his former protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), from developing his own version of the Ant-Man technology and enlists the help of former burglar, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), to don the mantle of the Ant-Man in order to steal Darren's work.

Along the way family relationships come into play with Scott Lang trying to go straight, through regular employment, in order to pay child support and have access to his very young daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson). As well Hank Pym has a fairly strained relationship with his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who works for Darren at Hank's former company, Pym Tech.

It all sounds fairly straight forward superhero stuff, with a bit of family thrown in but I promise you, you'll see plenty of superhero action here that you haven't seen before. The one place where this movie really succeeds is convincing you that the Ant-Man is one of the coolest superheroes in the MCU thus far because he's not just a guy that shrinks down to ant size. I was skeptical that Ant-Man could be a character I'd get excited about and want to see more of but Paul Rudd is very likeable and the way his powers and abilities are implemented is exceptionally creative. It's just a joy to see him in action.

The way the film is tied into the wider MCU is really well done. The story is fairly self contained but you get enough glimpses of the past and present day MCU that you'll leave excited for what you may see in future Marvel films, starting with Captain America: Civil War, due out next year.

If you're following the MCU then this is a must see chapter that fleshes out a little more history of SHIELD. If you just want to see a good stand alone, fun superhero film this one delivers that too.
I do recommend this film very highly. There's so much good about it that I haven't even mentioned. Well worth seeing in a cinema and a great addition to the MCU. I really hope to see more of Ant-Man in upcoming films.

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Guest Post: MY SOOPER DOOPER NEW CONSERVATORY/ART STUDIO!

Today's guest post is by Artist, Writer, and Mental Health Advocate, Jo B Creative who writes for her blog, Creating My Oddessey.

You should see our (almost) brand new conservatory, half of which is my art studio. 'Lucky me!' I think to myself. Not every creative bod can boast that. It's HUGE! Like a giant greenhouse.

We first moved to our pleasant cul-de-sac house - great for raising kids - when our son, who's on the cusp of thirty-one, was four. One of the main reasons that we wanted it was that, apart from its location on the fringes of a historic market town in rural Hampshire, UK, it had a sizable conservatory looking onto the back garden. It was brown wood framed and had a corrugated transparent roof sloping down from downstairs ceiling height. On the face of it, it doesn't sound that glamourous, but we loved the idea of a conservatory. Luxury! I even liked the red brick walls which it was built against - the original exterior of the house - and the light …

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I'm certainly in that category. Never really giving skateboarding away altogether but only using a skateboard to get from A to B, when I didn't have a vehicle, for many years. In the last couple of years I've been trying to get back into the sport properly, i.e. building up my trick list and skating for fun and not just to get from A to B.

The problem is I have so many interests, projects, paid work, and more, that I would often leave skateboarding to the end of my day. Kind of as something to look forward to. Except I wouldn't be that motivated to really improve because my mind would be fried from everything …

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Who would have thought that owning one of the worlds largest, private Lego collections could take you so far. Tom Lucieer of Angaston, South Australia, not only has met the Queen (of England) but is a frequent guest of her majesty and family when they are in Australia. He's also met Prince Charles, Lady Diana and Camila Parker-Bowles. Not only that, he grew up with TV Vet, Dr Harry, and is a friend of the Irwin family (yes, that's Steve Irwin's family).

Tom will happily tell you all this as part of the guided tour of his collection, which, aside from Lego, includes much railway memorabilia and colourful anecdotes about days gone by, his achievements and more. Frequently he will finish each particular monologue with the phrase, "Have you got that?", just to check that he hasn't confused you because, as he points out, his display and the stories behind it are a lot to take in at once.

In the photo you can see Tom holding a special award, which I think is for bein…

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It's worth doing this research to find out if the art you're already creating is a good fit for that market place - which is ideal - or if you may have to consider expanding your interests to cover popular themes in order sell in a particular market.

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After seeing all 18 films in the MCU prior to this, and liking most of them, I was pretty confident this movie would not disappoint.

Other than a few minor issues - that are all my personal taste and in no way reflect on the quality of the film - it really delivers. Thanos is indeed the big, bad villain of the MCU that we've been antcipating.

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Have you been thinking about starting a side hustle to earn a bit of extra money but haven't been able to make a start because of everything you don't know about running your side hustle yet, or because of other things you think you have to do first?

If this is you then chances are, what you're really doing is making excuses not to start. I can't start anything new until I cross a few more things off my to do list. Sound familiar?

I'm too busy to start my side hustle and don't have the time to work on it just now.
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Then I started hearing all this word of mouth that this movie is really good so I thought, 'yeah, still not going, I'll wait for the home release'.

Then it won all these awards including an Oscar for Best Animated Feature... so I guess this movie must be good...right?

I rarely see animated features in the cinema because I have little faith in them to deliver enough entertainment at an adult level. Especially movies like Into the Spider-verse which you know is skewing for a younger demographic (as all Spider-man films in general do due to the popularity of the character with kids).

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TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

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