Ants In The Pantry

 

 (themoviedatabase)

ANT-MAN-2015-Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) quits the company he helped found after punching out one guy, Carson (Martin Donovan). Later Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), a balding grinning yuppie ass, who now runs the company is developing Yellow Jacket, a super small agent. Somehow, Pym sets up hacker criminal Scott Lang (Paul Rudd; also credited as one of the screenwriters) as the new Ant Man after he's fired from Haagen Daz. Pym has a love/hate relationship with his daughter Hope (the always annoying Evangeline Lilly). Lang learns to talk to different ant species and spars with Hope, who blames her dad (the original Ant Man) for the death of her mother (the original Wasp). Later, Lang meets The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) at Avengers HQ. Of course, he gets some insane unfunny ex-cons to help him. The finale sees Ant Man vs. Yellow Jacket (who looks like the super villain Scorpion turned into a Trans-former). Stan Lee has a cameo as a bartender. 

It has great sfx and action sequences but like so many “action” movies today it gets bogged down by back story bullshit. I'm not sure what qualified director Peyton Reed to helm such a project but he does hold it all together pretty well. It was followed by 2 sequels.

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Mr. Big's Ants

 

 (themoviedatabase)

EMPIRE OF THE ANTS-1977-After an introduction that says ants are as smart as men, real estate scammer Marilyn (Joan Collins) takes a bunch of prospective suckers on a yacht piloted by Capt. Stokey (Robert Lansing). Unfortunately, her swampland is overrun by ants who have been contaminated by radioactivity. Group includes John David Carson (THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE (1974), familiar TV actress Jacqueline Scott, Pamela Shoop (later in HALLOWEEN 2 (1981)), Robert Pine (who was a regular on the TV show “Chips” at the time), Irene Tedrow (another familiar TV actress), familiar TV actor Harry Holcombe and Brooke Palance (daughter of Jack). The ants grow very big and start killing. After munching and menacing, the survivors meet a weird couple who call the sheriff (Albert Salmi). It turns a nearby town has been enslaved by the ants and hypnotized by their queen. Some flares and a gasoline truck help put an end to the ant party. 

Who else but director Burt I. Gordon would have made a modern-day movie about giant ants and then say it was based on a novel by HG Wells? (he did the same thing earlier with FOOD OF THE GODS in1965) The SFX aren't so good but the strange turn the story takes is kind of surprising. Salmi was in Mr. B.I.G.'s next film BURNED AT THE STAKE in 1982. Gordon died in 2023 at the age of 100!

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Ants!

PHASE IV-1974-In a geodesic dome in the Arizona desert, two scientists Lesko (Michael Murphy) and Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) investigate the local ant population that seem to be changing their food patterns and building monoliths out of sand. They are actually developing into intelligent and poisonous ants who could be really more than a bother at the next family picnic. The duo get trapped in their lab (along with a local girl named Kendra (Lynne Frederick)) when the insects assert their power. After Hubbs gets bitten he goes crazy and hunts for the queen. He becomes ant bait. Later Kesko goes after the queen himself but fails. He and Kendra seem to become evolved “slaves” for the new invaders. 

This interesting British-American co-production is the only film directed by Saul Bass, the graphic designer known for his credit sequences in films. The exterior scenes were actually filmed in Kenya, while the interiors were done at Pinewood studios in England. Some critics found it too “vague”. It was written by Mayo Simon who'd written the screenplay for MAROONED several years earlier and later created TV's THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS.

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