Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.

Well this should wrap up my week of getting caught up on reviews...for now...

The first Captain America movie was pretty good. It isn't my favorite from Phase One, but it was a very enjoyable film. Winter Soldier, on the other hand, was great. I loved it, and it is currently my second favorite film of the year so far.

Why? Well it had great visual effects, a lot of fun comedy, and awesome action sequences, but what makes this one of the best Marvel films ever is the characters. The writing, directing, and performances came together beautifully, from the mysterious father figure, the bad-ass best friends, the tragic back-stories, all wonderfully focused around the amazing Chris Evens (who just might actually be Captain America in real life.)

What is your favorite Marvel film of all time?

4 out of 5 stars.
Viewed at LOOK Cinemas Prestonwood in Dallas, TX on April 12, 2014.

July 2014 Preview!

Here is a quick look at the films I want to see in July:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (7/11/14)
"A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species." x
Directed by Matt Reeves, written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Mark Bomback, starring Gary Oldman, Judy Greer, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Boyhood (7/11/14)
"The life of a young man, Mason, from age 5 to age 18." x
Written and directed by Richard Linklater, starring Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, and Lorelei Linklater.

Mood Indigo (7/18/14)
"Wealthy, inventive bachelor endeavors to find a cure for his lover Chloe after she's diagnosed with an unusual illness caused by a flower growing in her lungs." x
Directed by Michel Gondry, written by Michel Gondry and Luc Bossi, starring Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, and Omar Sy.

Wish I Was Here (7/18/14)
"Aidan Bloom is a 35-year-old man who finds himself at major crossroads, which forces him to examine his life, his career, and his family." x
Directed by Zach Braff, written by Zach and Adam J. Braff, starring Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Joey King, and Jim Parsons.

Lucy (7/25/14)
"A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic." x
Written and Directed by Luc Besson, starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman.

Magic in the Moonlight (7/25/14)
"A romantic comedy about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle. Personal and professional complications ensue." x
Written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Marcia Gay Harden, and Jacki Weaver.

A Most Wanted Man (7/25/14)
"A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror." x
Directed by Anton Corbijn, written by Andrew Bovell, starring Robin Wright, Rachel McAdams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willem Dafoe, and Daniel Bruhl.

Which July releases are you most excited about?

30 Weeks of Oscar Intro

Transcendence

*Random side note*
This is my 100th post! Whoop! : )

Transcendence (2014)
Directed by Wally Pfister.

Only one more of these to go after this one and I'll finally be caught up for now! (yay)

So this actually wasn't a bad movie. Pretty much everybody has said it was, and even I am saying that...a little.

What caused audiences and critics to say such mean things about this film is that we expected it to be a Christopher Nolan film. And it wasn't. (For those who don't know, Wally Pfister has been Nolan's cinematographer for forever, shooting Inception [for which he won an Oscar], Nolan's Batman trilogy, and Momento.)

Was that an unrealistic expectation? Of course. And there was no way Transcendence could survive that.

Sure, it was an extremely visually intriguing film. I would even call it a beautiful film. But the performances were lackluster, the premise was pretty flimsy, and it just wasn't very well made overall.

This just goes to show that movies need more than great visual effects.

2.5 out of 5 stars.
Viewed at Cinema 6 in Mt. Pleasant, TX on April 18, 2014.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Directed by Marc Webb.

Continuing on with the really really late movie reviews...

I'm not going to say much about this one, because most of my feelings about it have been expressed by other people and I just don't feel like thinking about the movie very much.

I really like Andrew Garfield. He's a great actor and does very well portraying Peter Parker. And I love the on-screen chemistry between him and Emma Stone. I know about some of the things that happen in the comic canon (in a general sort of way), so I knew that she would die eventually, and that scene was well done and dramatic and painful just like it should have been.

But they fucked up the rest of the movie. You don't get over that kind of trauma in a five minute "seasons changing" montage. The audience doesn't. The character shouldn't. And dealing with it this way completely undermines the emotional weight of the characters death. And then to end the film with a completely back to normal Spidey? A happy, funny, sarcastic Spidey just like the one we met at the beginning of the film? Where's the character development? He should be angry, depressed, pissed-at-the-world Spidey. He should still be mourning at the beginning of the next movie so he can feel conflicted when he starts to fall for MJ and those emotions will actually feel genuine for the audience. I even think that Gwen's death should ultimately lead Peter to become a bigger risk taking Spidey. And Amazing Spider-Man 3 should end with the death of Peter Parker.

But that's just my opinion.

3 out of 5 stars.
Viewed at LOOK Cinemas Prestonwood in Dallas, TX on May 5, 2014.

Godzilla (2014)

So this review is a little late...Godzilla has been out for four weeks now, but it's the last movie I've seen (yes, I know I should be ashamed) so I thought I'd go ahead and write a quick review. Hopefully I remember well enough...

To start out with, I wasn't actually very excited about seeing this at first. One of the trailers was good, but overall I was pretty skeptical thanks to the last movie in the franchise. But I saw it anyway and I'm glad I did.

The film obviously had some problems...a lot of the acting was subpar, Ken Wantanabe was criminally underutilized, and the plot was unnecessarily convoluted.

But visually the movie was incredible. I liked the approach of showing Godzilla (i.e. glimpses here and there until the big reveal later on), the cinematography was pretty good, and I absolutely LOVED the halo jump sequence. That was just incredible.

And obviously a lot of important people liked the film because now Gareth Edwards is going to direct one of the Star Wars spin-off films. Lucky bastard.

What did you think about the king of the monsters' return to the big screen?

3.5 out of 5 stars.
Viewed at Cinema 6 in Mt. Pleasant, TX on May 17, 2014.