PS Picks: The Simple Joys of ‘Ant-Man’

PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine’s staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.

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The Simple Joys of Ant-Man: Ant-Man and the Wasp marks the 20 entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the shared cinematic world that’s full of evil but inept aliens and brawny men in brightly colored tights. Having seen most of these films, I’m well acquainted with what I’d call the “Marvel Wall”—that seemingly inevitable moment when logic falls by the wayside and we’re left with pure vapidity. Most often there is a singular culmination point for this Marvel Wall: The hero relies on some total fantastical science to defeat his nemesis.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is, to be clear, no exception to that rule. There’s no point trying to dissect the cockamamie cosmology that underpins the plot (the titular Ant-Man—real name Scott Lang, a.k.a. Paul Rudd—must enter into a … microscopic universe in order to … save something or other); better to indulge in the unorthodox chase scenes and the genuinely funny banter between Lang and his friends.

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