Monday, April 28, 2014

2014 May Movie Preview

          This is the best time of year. Summer movie season. It lasts from May-August. 4 months of the years best movies. Lets go over them.
MAY
May 2nd: The Amazing Spider-man 2 kicks off the summer movie season. The web-slinger is played once again by Andrew Garfield to face new foes such as Electro (played by Jamie Foxx) and the Green Goblin/Harry Osborn (played by Dane DeHaan).  Click Here for a The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Trailer This is my most anticipated movie of 2014
It is rated PG-13
May 9th: Legend of Oz: Dorothy's Return is an animated sequel to the classic Wizard of Oz. It looks interesting. Click Here for a  Trailer for Legend of Oz: Dorothy's Return 
It is rated PG
May 16th: Everyone's favorite giant sized lizard returns in the movie Godzilla. This time he is fighting more terrifying monsters then ever before. The cast includes Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Andy Serkis. Click her for a Godzilla Trailer
It is rated PG-13
Also on May 16th is a movie I'm really looking forward to. It is Million Dollar Arm. John Hamm of Mad Men fame is a sporting agent who goes looking for a MLB pitcher among India's cricket players. Click Here for a Million Dollar Arm Trailer
It is rated PG
May 23rd: The biggest film in the X-Men movie series is X-Men:Days of Future Past. The younger generation meets the old generation. Patrick Stewart as Professor X, and Ian McKellen as Magneto send Wolverine back in time to try and stop a war among mutants. Click Here for a X-Men: Days of Future Past Trailer
This film has no rating at the moment
Also on May 23rd is an Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore comedy titled Blended. Adam Sandler comedies have not been great recently. This one looks like it could be watchable. I'm actually looking forward to it. Click Here for a Blended Trailer
This is rated PG-13
May 30th:I've been looking forward to this movie for a little while. It got me worried when it received a PG rating. I don't want it to turn out like the most recent Alice in Wonderland (which was also PG). To tell an origin story of a villain it needs to be dark. The film I'm talking about is Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie. The trailers just keep getting better and better so I still have faith in it. Click Here for a Maleficent Trailer 
This is rated PG

 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

           One part spy thriller, one part character journey, one part action movie and,  one part superhero film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the best comic book film to come to the big screen.
           Captain America 2 has much more depth than what he have seen previously in other comic book movies. They were able to accomplish that because the directors didn't treat this like a comic book movie. They treated it like a political/espionage thriller first, then they treated it like a comic book movie. Most comic book movies have that feel that they are there to showcase the hero and how awesome he/she is. In this they wanted to showcase the political drama. They knew they had something special with the story so they made the smart move and decided to put emphasis on that instead of putting all their attention on making great action set pieces. They needed to do that because this movie will/already has changed the future of this franchise. 
         I know I'm talking a lot about the story but that is by far the best thing about this movie and I really can't say enough about it.  The story is superior to anything else we have seen before. It's grounded in reality. There are no aliens in this movie and even better, there are no giant alien worm things coming out of holes in the sky (yes, that is a reference to the first Avengers.) The events and conflicts that happened are the kind of things you could expect to see happen today. That made it so it was easier to relate to everything that was going on. 
         The best action scenes in film history, (not just comic book movies), happen in this movie. You have the Nick Fury car chase, the Captain America vs. Winter Soldier highway battle, the beginning scene on the boat and, the elevator scene. When I was watching this I cheered out loud because these are some of the most adrenaline rushing scenes I have ever seen. They were all choreographed really well and, it was nicely edited. The scenes were very smooth shot action scenes which is particularly hard to find these days. 
          As expected Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie (The Falcon), and Samuel Jackson all do great things in the movie. The biggest surprise however was Robert Redford. Never in a million years would I have thought that Redford would sign onto a comic book movie. I didn't think Redford was the type of actor who would do well in big studio films. He was just so good. His chemistry with everyone was spot on. It seemed like he belonged in there.  I'm still kicking my self in the head because I doubted Robert Redford, You never doubt Robert Redford. 
          One thing this movie didn't have which I really wish it did was the Captain America theme used in the first movie. Even though I loved the feel of this movie, I missed a little of that Captain America charm that was there in the first movie. I believe that was due to the fact that they didn't keep the same composer which was a mistake. In all reality, that is my only nitpick with this movie. 
          Captain America: The Winter Soldier is my favorite comic book movie of all time. It balances everything out perfectly. I'm going to give Captain America: The Winter Soldier a perfect 5/5.