Monday, April 28, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Thoughts on Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Spoilers Inside)
I need to state that I love comic book movies - was not particularly thrilled with Daredevil or Thor 2 though - so my bias is evident. I am not, however, a complete comic book geek. The only one I quasi owned was my oldest brother's DC book of Superman's death. It was awesome and sad at the same time...
Having stated that, I enjoyed most of Marvel's movies. The Fantastic Four films were C-s and Eric Bana is the best Hulk. Despite that, The Winter Soldier is pretty good. It picks up after the incident in New York that formed the Avengers. Cap' is at S.H.I.E.L.D. doing work with Natasha Romanova - aka the Black Widow. Before this goes any further, I want to state how awesome of an actress Scarlett Johansson is. She nailed this role when first introduced in Iron Man 2. She is as versatile as they come. Fantastic.
To summarize the movie, Hydra was never truly vanquished and infiltrated SHIELD. It got to a senior official of SHIELD Alexander Pierce. Through a former Hydra scientist Arnim Zola, SHIELD developed an algorithm to wipe out twenty million people off the earth through three helicarriers that are linked to spy satellites. If Rogers, Romanova, and Sam Wilson - former military guy who apparently can fly with a falcon wingpack, do not stop them, Hydra wins. I am sure you can figure out how it ends.
Why is it called the Winter Soldier? The Winter Soldier is a hired assassin SHIELD executive Alexander Pierce used in an attempt to kill Director Nick Fury and Captain Steve Rogers. Turns out, Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes, Rogers' oldest and closest friend. He too was salvaged during the war but by Hydra and it turned him into brainwashed muscle. Consequently, Rogers immediately recognizes Barnes and refuses to take him out but Barnes does not reciprocate the feelings and actions with Rogers.
What was so interesting about this to me? Firstly, Rogers holds on to his WW2 mentality. After assimilating in the 21st century for a significant amount of time, his black and white perspective of the world is evident. When he found out about the helicarriers from Fury, he stated his opinion on freedom and oppression. Another instance was Rogers' refusal to end Barnes. He reflected back to their friendship and clearly was uncomfortable with confronting him. He hoped Barnes would not attack him but was mistaken.
One other interesting aspect was Rogers met Peggy. She was the woman in the first movie who was his love interest. The audience becomes aware that Peggy was a founding member of SHIELD and that is the reason Rogers stayed with the agency. Viewers are set to believe Rogers and Peggy got their closure and they often visit. Audience also sees Peggy is victim to Alzheimer's disease.
One negative aspect about the movie is its speed in developing the story. The Winter Soldier starts slow and the plot does not really thicken until forty - five minutes in. I could see those who may not care that much about the movie falling asleep.
There are two scenes - one in mid credits, the other after credits - after the movie ends. That leads the audience to believe a third Captain America movie will be made. Doesn't bother me that much.
Good acting, decent story, good action, too long. Grade: B
Has anyone else seen it?
Having stated that, I enjoyed most of Marvel's movies. The Fantastic Four films were C-s and Eric Bana is the best Hulk. Despite that, The Winter Soldier is pretty good. It picks up after the incident in New York that formed the Avengers. Cap' is at S.H.I.E.L.D. doing work with Natasha Romanova - aka the Black Widow. Before this goes any further, I want to state how awesome of an actress Scarlett Johansson is. She nailed this role when first introduced in Iron Man 2. She is as versatile as they come. Fantastic.
To summarize the movie, Hydra was never truly vanquished and infiltrated SHIELD. It got to a senior official of SHIELD Alexander Pierce. Through a former Hydra scientist Arnim Zola, SHIELD developed an algorithm to wipe out twenty million people off the earth through three helicarriers that are linked to spy satellites. If Rogers, Romanova, and Sam Wilson - former military guy who apparently can fly with a falcon wingpack, do not stop them, Hydra wins. I am sure you can figure out how it ends.
Why is it called the Winter Soldier? The Winter Soldier is a hired assassin SHIELD executive Alexander Pierce used in an attempt to kill Director Nick Fury and Captain Steve Rogers. Turns out, Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes, Rogers' oldest and closest friend. He too was salvaged during the war but by Hydra and it turned him into brainwashed muscle. Consequently, Rogers immediately recognizes Barnes and refuses to take him out but Barnes does not reciprocate the feelings and actions with Rogers.
What was so interesting about this to me? Firstly, Rogers holds on to his WW2 mentality. After assimilating in the 21st century for a significant amount of time, his black and white perspective of the world is evident. When he found out about the helicarriers from Fury, he stated his opinion on freedom and oppression. Another instance was Rogers' refusal to end Barnes. He reflected back to their friendship and clearly was uncomfortable with confronting him. He hoped Barnes would not attack him but was mistaken.
One other interesting aspect was Rogers met Peggy. She was the woman in the first movie who was his love interest. The audience becomes aware that Peggy was a founding member of SHIELD and that is the reason Rogers stayed with the agency. Viewers are set to believe Rogers and Peggy got their closure and they often visit. Audience also sees Peggy is victim to Alzheimer's disease.
One negative aspect about the movie is its speed in developing the story. The Winter Soldier starts slow and the plot does not really thicken until forty - five minutes in. I could see those who may not care that much about the movie falling asleep.
There are two scenes - one in mid credits, the other after credits - after the movie ends. That leads the audience to believe a third Captain America movie will be made. Doesn't bother me that much.
Good acting, decent story, good action, too long. Grade: B
Has anyone else seen it?
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Game of Thrones 33: Breaker of Chains
Lot of internet buzz about that Cersei rape, if it was even rape, though I'm pretty sure it was. Does it fit with the Jaime of last season? Why has Stannis completely forgot about the Wall? Really thought the Hound and Arya were going to spend some time with that farmer, but that went a different way.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Most Disappointing Movies
I was going down our movie list to see some of Phil's grades. (I'm in class, I have the time, so lay off of the Shane's a loser jokes.) Anyway, what are some of the movies that have disappointed you?
The X-Men movies:
The first one was incredibly disappointing, though Jackman and McKellen were excellent as Wolverine and Magneto. But the storyline was meh. Just couldn't get in to it. I had little hopes, but when the second one was actually good, my interest was piqued again. But then the third one just horrid. Then the Wolverine movie, which had so much promise, was crap. Ugh. If they would have only followed the one in the comic books they would have been better off than fighting Ryan Reynolds on a giant concrete thing. DUMB. The New Class was OK, but I haven't watched The Wolverine yet.
Star Wars Episode I:
Holy shit. Not good.
Godzilla:
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWFUL
The Dictator:
I actually turned this one off.
Transformers:
It was probably hard to make this a good series, but glad to see the movie industry was up to the task.
The X-Men movies:
The first one was incredibly disappointing, though Jackman and McKellen were excellent as Wolverine and Magneto. But the storyline was meh. Just couldn't get in to it. I had little hopes, but when the second one was actually good, my interest was piqued again. But then the third one just horrid. Then the Wolverine movie, which had so much promise, was crap. Ugh. If they would have only followed the one in the comic books they would have been better off than fighting Ryan Reynolds on a giant concrete thing. DUMB. The New Class was OK, but I haven't watched The Wolverine yet.
Star Wars Episode I:
Holy shit. Not good.
Godzilla:
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWFUL
The Dictator:
I actually turned this one off.
Transformers:
It was probably hard to make this a good series, but glad to see the movie industry was up to the task.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Best Basketball Movies
In honor of March Madness and Medora, how about your top basketball movies?
Here is a list from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/march-madness-best-basketball-films
The only basketball movies I've seen are Hoosiers, White Men Can't Jump, and Space Jam. Hoosiers is in my top 20 of all movies. And it's been too long since I've seen the others to comment. I have Hoop Dreams in my queue as I've never heard anything bad about it - that will be my nominee on my next go around.
Here is a list from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/march-madness-best-basketball-films
The only basketball movies I've seen are Hoosiers, White Men Can't Jump, and Space Jam. Hoosiers is in my top 20 of all movies. And it's been too long since I've seen the others to comment. I have Hoop Dreams in my queue as I've never heard anything bad about it - that will be my nominee on my next go around.
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