Ant-Man (2015)

I found a complimentary movie pass.  Hadn't been to a movie in the theater for a long time, so I decided to use it to see Ant-Man.  I wasn't expecting much, and good thing I wasn't.  I would have been a little ticked if I had paid to see this movie.

In my opinion, there's just too many superhero movies being made these days.  Most of the recent movies in that genre don't live up to the hype.  Ant-Man is not a bad movie, but it doesn't rank high.  The main hero, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), is one of many who throw out a lot of wise cracks and funny lines.  We meet Scott just as he's released from prison.  A friend of his, Luis (Michael Pena), who takes him in, has just as many jokes, as does Luis' friends Kurt (Dave Dalmachian) and Dave (Tip "T.I." Harris).  But I wasn't chuckling along with the audience.

Maybe I'm just tired of the superhero genre.  Maybe I'm too old to get excited about movies geared towards 12-year-old boys and grown up sci-fi/fantasy/comic book fan boys and girls.  Oh sure, there were some good points. I liked Michael Douglas in this movie, and there were times when he sounded just like his dad, movie legend Kirk Douglas.  Corey Stoll played a good villain, and Abby Ryder Fortson was adorable as the hero's daughter.  It was a nice touch having Garrett Morris do a cameo.  Morris played Ant-Man in a sketch about superheroes on "Saturday Night Live" decades ago.  And as usual, Stan "The Man" Lee, who created many Marvel superheroes, had his cameo.  The film ended with not one, but two scenes that were shown after the end credits that teased about another Ant-Man movie, as well as how he will fit in with The Avengers.

Otherwise, I was underwhelmed.  A lot of the movie was what I had seen in previous movies of this type, and it was done better.  Now it's just done to death.

"Behind the Candelabra" (2013)

My late mother would always make snide remarks about Liberace.  She would refer to the late pianist as "funny", and Ma didn't mean humorous.  This made-for-cable movie addresses what many probably already knew:  that Liberace (Michael Douglas) was gay.  It covers a relationship the pianist had with Scott Thorsen (Matt Damon).

Thorsen is introduced to Liberace by Bob Black (Scott Bakula) after one of the pianist's concerts.  The man who drives Liberace onstage in a Rolls Royce is not happy, and he has good reason for that.  It isn't long before that man is moving out of Liberace's house, and Thorsen is moved in.  Liberace's houseboy is also sent packing after he tells Thorsen that Liberace will eventually grow tired of Thorsen.

Liberace spoils Thorsen with everything money can buy.  Thorsen is even talked into getting plastic surgery to look like Liberace.  There's talk of Liberace adopting Thorsen, and the young man is placed in his will.  Thorsen is satisfied until things become so comfortable that it feels more like a prison.  Liberace begins to accuse Thorsen of not being grateful for what has been done for him.  It does not help matters when Thorsen begins to use drugs behind the plastic surgery.  The relationship begins to fall apart.

Liberace is shown as a man loved by audiences but trapped by his private lifestyle.  His manager, Seymour Heller (Dan Ackroyd) knows the pianist's secret, and is devoted to hiding it behind a carefully planned public image.  Thorsen doesn't appear to be an opportunist here, but a wide-eyed young man swept up into a glamorous lifestyle without considering what was behind the curtain.  I liked how Douglas played Liberace, using the man's speech patterns and flamboyance without it being a usual stereotype or mocking him.

Michael Douglas is the son of actor Kirk Douglas.  Mr. Douglas won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for his performance in Wall Street (1987).  Matt Damon co-wrote Good Will Hunting (1997) with his friend Ben Affleck; they won an Oscar for the screenplay.   Debbie Reynolds plays Liberace's mother; I didn't know it was her until I read the credits.  She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964).  Dan Ackroyd was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy (1989).