Ant-Man Rocks

By John Derby

 The movie Ant-Man has the look of a cheesy action flick in the trailers, but instead, it shines as a funny story-driven action movie.  Using characters that have been at the core of the Marvel Universe since the early 1960's, we are introduced to a likeable Paul Rudd playing Ant-Man.  With the help of a special red suit, the character shrinks to the size of ants (or smaller), grows back to normal size, and can talk to ants.

The characters turned out to be well written and well acted.  When I first heard Paul Rudd would play the title role, I was worried that he might be a bad fit.  I was wrong, and he was great (I had similar fears with Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man).   Michael Douglas is perfect as the creator of the Antman suit, and the three bumbling sidekicks were great fun and I am sure they will make the next movie.

Again, the movie is good. Some scenes will likely be remembered as classic by many (like the scene with the Thomas the Train set).  The effects on action scenes using size changes were seamless and believable.  The movie also had a great soundtrack.

My wife groans every time she hears about another superhero movie, whereas I am a fan of this genre. We both agree that this movie was good fun and we look forward to seeing it again.

11 Year Old Reviews Minions: Opens Today #minions #MadMen

Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob

Minions comes to theatres today. My family was excited to attend a screening earlier this week.

Now my, 11 year old, daughter in her first review for The LA Rambler will tell you all about it.

By Lauren Derby

I saw Minions and I thought it was very funny. I loved how they told the story of how the minions evolved. Before this movie I wondered if Gru made them or not. The movie had many ridiculous, yet funny inventions and lots of people that were quite evil. As minions, Stuart, Bob, and Kevin, travel the world at the beginning of their adventure they make lots of friends and attempt to learn how to live in our modern world. Though they struggle in the usage of most of our accessories, tools, and even words, they find a secret villain channel on TV which continues their adventure.

The three minions all have their own gifts. Stuart has his amazing smarts, Kevin can rock the ukulele, and Bob just has some amazing luck. But all of these abilities make the movie better and better as we watched it. It was better than Despicable Me 1 and 2, though those were great too. All three of these movies have their own way of being awesome, whether it’s how the characters are all so adventurous or how funny the situations can be. Universal had us all waiting but they have come out with a wonderful movie for all ages too enjoy!

Scarlett and Herb Overkill played by Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm

Note from Elise: As an added perk for this mama, Jon Hamm ( AKA Don Draper from Mad Men) voices Scarlett's inventor husband Herb! Technically, they are the bad guys but in a very endearing way.

Doctor Who starts Sept.19 And Trailer #DoctorWho @BBCAmerica #TV

Excellent good news today for all Whovian kind. Our beloved Doctor Who will return September 19th to BBC America! 

That's really all the news I have besides this lovely trailer.

BBC does have this little request however. "So as you may have noticed, the Series 9 Teaser trailer has been set free into the universe! But what’s it all about? Who was that guy? What was that thing? Why was she standing beside her?!? We need to know! But we also need to hear what you think. Tweet us your thoughts – the crazier and more creative the better! We’re at @bbcdoctorwho and would love to hear from you!"

So Enjoy!

And here's a little blurb from the press release.

Meeting monsters old and new the Doctor will come face to face with Missy (Michelle Gomez), a city of Daleks, deadly mercenaries called the Mire, terrifying ghosts and more.

Having filmed in Cardiff since January, Peter Capaldi said:

“Soaring through all of time and space, series nine sees the Doctor throw himself into life with a new hunger for adventure. The Cosmos is there for the taking, thrilling, epic and enticing, and his to play in. But he’s almost reckless in his abandon. It’s almost like he’s running from something, something that if it ever catches him will turn his life upside down.”

Previously announced and taking up a guest role in the new season will be young new talent Maisie Williams, having already achieved global success for her role as Arya Stark in the fantasy drama series Game of Thrones. Michelle Gomez (Missy) returns to plague the Doctor and Clara in the season opener, and UNIT are back with Jemma Redgrave and Ingrid Oliver (Osgood) returning to season nine following their popular entrance in season eight. Also confirmed as guest cast in the new series are Rebecca Front, Rufus Hound, Paul Kaye, Joivan Wade and Sophie Stone.