David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Linda Cardellini’

Avengers: Endgame

Directors: Anthony & Joe Russo

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, Josh Brolin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Chadwick Boseman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, Tom Holland, Karen Gillen, Zoe Saldana, Evangeline Lilly, Tessa Thompson, Rene Russo, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Letitia Wright, John Slattery, Jon Favreau, Hayley Atwell, Natalie Portman, Marisa Tomei, Angela Bassett, Michelle Pfeiffer, William Hurt, Cobie Smulders, Linda Cardellini, Frank Grillo, Hiroyuki Sanada, James D’Arcy, Bradley Cooper, Samuel L. Jackson, Ty Simpkins    

Marvel Cinematic Universe continues with the highly anticipated sequel to Avengers: Infinity War with Avengers: Endgame featuring all the famous superheroes that fans have grown to love including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Antman, Hawkeye and Captain Marvel as they band together to go back in time to retrieve the infinity stones to reverse the evil Thanos’s ultimate revenge at the end of Infinity War where he made half the population vanish including such beloved heroes as Spiderman, Black Panther and Doctor Strange.

As Endgame starts, Ironman is stuck in space, Thor takes to drink in the New Asgard and Captain America is despondent that the Avengers are at their lowest point ever.

Captain Marvel played by Brie Larson rallies the troops along with Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansson. Jeremy Renner returns sporting a fantastic haircut as Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye to assist the remaining Avengers as they devise a time travel device to allow them to go back in time to three separate intergalactic locations to retrieve the highly precious and powerful Infinity Stones. It’s the ultimate Time Heist as Antman points out.

What follows is a fantastic feast of Superheroes which directors Anthony and Joe Russo will have hard core Marvel fans both laughing and crying at the deluge of their cinematic idols as they all band together to destroy the evil Thanos.

While some of the plot points in this three hour long superhero extravaganza don’t all get resolved, it certainly opens up a whole lot of new possibilities such a possible separate Hawkeye film? Sequels to the hugely successful Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy are both on the cards as well as another Spiderman film. So there is no shortage of geek fan crushing that will occur in Avengers: Endgame and the subsequent films to follow. Once again Marvel knocks it out of the park judging by the lucrative response at the international box office.

Avengers: Endgame is a culmination of all the Marvel films of the last decade and hints at a new start for some of the lesser known superheroes to flesh out their story lines. Let’s face it with an overcrowded universe, audiences will battle to identify with any one superhero but rather applaud and cheer at the massive team of Avengers and all their trusted sidekicks. Audiences should look out for cameos by Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier and of course Thor’s malevolent brother Loki played by Tom Hiddleston.

Avengers: Endgame is definitely for Marvel fans and trust me everyone from the previous films are in it. It’s definitely worth seeing and gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10.

Green Book

Director: Peter Farrelly

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini, P. J. Byrne, Sebastian Maniscalco, Dimiter D. Marinov, Paul Sloan, Anthony Mangano

Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic, Eastern Promises) and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) give top notch performances as Tony “The Lip” a working class Italian American bouncer from the Bronx and a classical music pianist, the erudite Dr Don Shirley in the superb road film Green Book directed by Peter Farrelly.

When Tony the Lip, a loud mouth, aggressive and compulsive eater bouncer finds himself out of work at a New York nightclub he takes the job as a hired driver for the sophisticated and refined Dr Don Shirley who has an itinerary of classical concerts to perform in the deep South from Raleigh in North Carolina to Birmingham in Alabama in 1962 at the height of racial segregation and tensions in the American Southern States.

Mortensen gives one of his best on screen performances in a reversal of the classic Bruce Beresford film Driving Miss Daisy, as the crass chauffeur for the cool and occasionally collected Dr Shirley beautifully played by Mahershala Ali who expertly masks deeper resentments at having to play for these wealthy white audiences in Country Clubs in the deep South yet knowing that he will not be treated as an equal.

Often the managers offer him separate amenities such as change rooms or even a linen closet to utilize highlighting the hideous social repercussions of racial segregation not to mention the obvious hypocrisies inherently contained in such an absurd policy. While Tony is quick to protest this treatment, Dr Don Shirley insists that dignity must prevail and they must not lose their cool.

The title of the film, Green Book refers to an American road user’s guide for Negroes as they travel through the Deep South even offering alternative places of accommodations and what rules to comply with.

Director Peter Farrelly never overemphasizes the theme of racial segregation but rather subtly hints at it through many humorous scenes as the two men from vastly different backgrounds form an unlikely bond especially when Tony has to somehow curb Dr Shirley self-destructive streak and pluck him from some rather awkward situations.

The onscreen chemistry between Mortensen and Ali is beautiful and makes Green Book shine as a fascinating portrait of male friendship struck up through a thoroughly historical and unusual set of social circumstances in 1962.

Green Book has fantastic music, a wonderful supporting cast including a lovely performance by Linda Cardellini as Tony’s patient wife Dolores who Dr Shirley assists Tony in writing beautiful love letters to while the duo are on the road in hostile territories.

Green Book is highly recommended viewing and both Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali deserve Oscars for their brilliant performances.

Green Book gets a film rating of 9 out of 10 and is all the more relevant since it is based on a true story.