Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - Movie Review

Official Score = 4 Devils

Most people born before the 90s I imagine will remember Marvel not just for the movies that they have produced in the new millennium, but also for the amazing comics that they produced for decades! But at this point I suspect that more so then the comics that Marvel's movies are based on, these days people generally tend to associate Marvel with the action packed epic movies that are based on their comics!

A couple of examples of these are: X-Men (2000), a movie that was based on one of Marvel's most famous comic book series of the same name! Another examples being, The Avengers (2012) and all of it's individual movies that are based on the characters that make up the, 'Avengers'!

One such movie I just recently saw, and you know what? There is a movie that I just recently saw, that I found to be a breath of fresh air from it's sort of stale first entry... That movie being: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)!

An amazing action packed fun movie!

Joe Russo (Animal Practice). Starring: Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), Scarlett Johansson (Lucy), Sebastian Stan (Black Swan), Robert Redford (All The President's Men), Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained), Anthony Mackie (Reel Steel), Colbie Smulders (The Lego Movie) & Haley Atwell (The Sweeney).

Now this movie in my opinion is one of the few movies that I would say is not only better then the first movie, but is actually significantly better then the first one!

You see, in the first movie, it was essentially a small handful of men, with one suped up soldier going up against an entire army that is not only vastly superior physically, but is also vastly superior technological... Add in an element of fascism that the small squad is fighting against, and you get just about every bum Science Fiction movie to come out in the new millennium!

Captain America: The First Avenger... Kinda bland... Captain America: The Winter Soldier... Vastly superior!

As for the second one, well... There is some awesome special effects (to be expected from Marvel movies...) Some great talent (including seeing Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as, 'Black Widow' in this movie...) And the story... Dare I say it? AMAZING!

You see, this movie takes place after the, 'Battle Of New York' that took place in, The Avengers, during this time, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), has gone to work for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) at S.H.I.E.L.D...

Now trying to face a new world using his old fashion ideas is proving not to be particularly easy, as he is learning to not only fit in to S.H.I.E.L.D., he also has to learn to fit in to a world that no longer believes in the same rules and morals that he does...

A frustrated Steve Rogers/Captain America in the modern world, ends up going to a museum that has an exhibit dedicated to him and his crew of the 1940s, and the few relics from that era that are still around...

But things quickly change, when Nick Fury, whom after warning him not to trust anyone, ends up being mysteriously assassinated by some one that is connected to Captain America in a way that will effect him very deeply... During this time, S.H.I.E.L.D. is being taken over by Captain America's old enemies, Hydra!

Well now that Captain America is no longer trusting anyone, and being branded a traitor by S.H.I.E.L.D., it will be up to him, a friend of his, and Black Widow to stop Hydra, and the threat it is creating, before they can put their nefarious plans in to action and start thinning out the human race... And to do this, Captain America may end up facing against some one from his past that he never thought he would see again!

Captain America is about to have a battle that he won't ever forget!

In the end, rather or not you liked the first one, this movie is a total blast, and as Marvel gets more and more involved in the process of making movies, they are making these movies better and better, and this one is a great example, so check it out, I think you guys might really like it... I did!

Star Wars: - Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

Now In all truth and fairness, the original Star Wars movies that George Lucas made in the 1970s were great! I mean they had (for their time), ground breaking special effects that at the time had been not much further than a pipe dream (and I am sure since then have been a lot of the basis for a lot of modern Space Adventure movie’s special effects of similar ilk…)

Another thing that made the original Star Wars such an amazing good time, was obviously the action/stunt work that both the actors and any stunt men would have had to do in those movies (I mean who doesn't like a good, ‘explosion’ or, ‘Light Saber’ duel, you know?)

And the next thing that I wanted to say that made this original series so fantastic, was the cast in this movie! I mean this movie helped to launch Harrison Ford’s career (who would go on to do many great films, but whom in my opinion is most recognizable for the work that he did as, ‘Indiana Jones’ in another George Lucas classic of the same name, as the role he maintained as, ‘Jack Ryan’ in the classic movie series that are based around the character of, ‘Jack Ryan’ and that had originally been written by Tom Clancy (The Hunt For Red October) as well as playing Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie series!

These movies would also help make legends out of such amazing talents as, Mark Hamill (Corvette Summer), Carrie Fisher (When Harry Met Sally), as well as Billy Dee Williams (Batman) to name a few…

And lastly, I think the top person that made this great (because in all honesty, a lot of this really was his vision), is George Lucas (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)!

With all of this in mind though, the series itself was incomplete!

As great as the original series was, in all, the three original movies, had actually been (from a story stand point anyway, the final three sequels in the entire saga!) So George Lucas would embark on a journey to bring what happened that led up to a Galactic Empire seizing control of the Universe and the Rebels that will stop at nothing to try and take it back!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Before Luke Skywalker was fighting his father in the original Star Wars saga, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi were fighting Darth Maul in, 'Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace' (1999)![/caption]

The first movie, which starred Liam Neeson (Taken), Ewan McGregor (Big Fish), Natalie Portman (V For Vendetta), Jake Lloyd (Madison), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Anthony Daniels (Doctors), Kenny Baker (U.F.O.), Frank Oz (Zathura: A Space Adventure), and Ian McDiarmand (MI-5) to name a few; tells the story of how the Star Wars saga began… You see, during this time, The Republic (the pre-cursor to the Empire) is having some serious problems, and a war has broken out between the, ‘Naboo’, and the, ‘Trade Federation’… Now during this time the head of the government sends 2 Jedi’s to mediate this latest crisis, by the name of ‘Qui-Gon Jinn’ (Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor)…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] 'Qui-Gon Jinn' (Neeson) and his apprentice, 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' (McGregor) as they prepare to fight there way through the Trade Federation ship![/caption]

After they get their though, they are held captive, and the, ‘Trade Federation’ people try to have them killed, so after they escape and make it to the, ‘land based’ Naboo government, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with Queen Amidala (Portman), and eventually a spirited pre-Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker (played by: Jake Lloyd) will head out on a journey of discovery that will not only affect them, or the Naboo, or even the Trade Federation, but the will set events in motion that will affect the entire Galaxy in a way that no one will ever forget!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="381"] Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker as they prepare to fight their way in to history![/caption]

In the end, I have heard said that this movie was pretty bad, because of the Jar-Jar Binks factor (a particularly annoying Alien from the movie), and the truth is, is if that character hadn’t been in there, the movie would have been a lot better… But the truth is, is that I liked the movie, and if you can get past Jar-Jar then I think you might like it to… I did!

http://youtu.be/I6hOlI9cg4o

The Avengers (2012) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="300"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

Remember when you were a kid, the joy of collecting and trading comic books and (well if you were a kid in the 90s) trading comic book cards? I do, I used to love all that stuff!

Now I always loved comics and comic book cards that DC produced, but my favorite always had to be.... You guessed it! MARVEL!

Rather it be reading the gritty adventures of, 'Cable', or reading about the, 'X-Men' battling the latest threat to the world, or for that matter any of the other super hero's or super hero teams that fought the forces of darkness!

So it delighted me to discover a lot of my favorite costumed heroes from the Marvel Universe were being turned in to movies! Including, the X-Men series, the Spider-Man series, the Iron Man series, to name a few...

And of course the most recent Super Hero movie was great as well, The Avengers!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The Avengers as they are about to assemble![/caption]

Written by: Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), and Zack Penn (The Incredible Hulk) and Directed by: Joss Whedon. Starring: Robert Downey Jr. (Zodiac), Chris Hemsworth (The Cabin In The Woods), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), Scarlett Johansson (Eight Legged Freaks), Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island), Tom Hiddleston (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Dahmer), Samuel L. Jackson (Deep Blue Sea), and Colbie Smulders (Andromeda).

The Avengers tells the story of how, after Loki's (Hiddleston) defeat on Asgard in the movie, Thor (2011), by his brother Thor (Hemsworth). Loki retreats to the vastness of space. During this time he comes across a race that has offered to fight for Loki, when Loki decides to take over the Earth!

So after stealing an item called, 'The Tesseract' (an item that can draw power from space), from a S.H.I.E.L.D. run research facility, and taking over the free will of a Doctor, and an Agent by the name of, 'Clint Barton' (Renner), Loki takes off with his new soldiers in an effort to create a portal from Earth to the planet where his army is currently waiting on!

With the world now threatened by Loki and his minions, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Jackson) calls on: Iron Man (Downey Jr.), The Black Widow (Johansson), The Hulk (Ruffalo), Captain America (Evans), (and later Thor and Hawkeye join as well), to combat the threat posed by Loki, and save the Human Race as, 'The Avengers'!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"] 'The Avengers' assembled going to war![/caption]

Now as an interesting side note, this movie is the culmination of past super hero movies such as, Thor (2011), the Iron Man series and, The Incredible Hulk series as well!

In my opinion, with this movie being the perfect blending of, 'Science Ficition' and, 'Action' this movie may actually be the best Super Hero movie to come out since the first X-Men movie (A personal fav of mine).

Now before I get in to why I think this movie is so awesome, I should probably tell you a little bit of history and how The Avengers came to life...

The Avengers came in to being through the creative inspiration of comic book legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and had their debut in September of 1963... Since then, 'The Avengers' and the team members that make up, 'The Avengers' has become an international sensation amongst the legions of , 'Avengers' comic book fans, 'Avengers' movie aficionados and even , 'Avengers', video game fans around the world! And being a fan of, 'The Avengers' in all 3 of those categories, it kind of goes without saying that I would be a fan of this movie as well!

But besides that, the truth is, is that carry overs from their original movies, 'i,e. Tom Hiddleston as (Loki), or Robert Downey Jr. as, (Iron Man)' continue to do an amazing job portraying the characters they portrayed in the other movies... So much so that it was great to see Robert Downey Jr. reprise his role as, 'Iron Man', Chis Hemworth reprise his role as, 'Thor' as they both match pretty closely to what I would have thought the characters from the comics would have looked like in real life!

http://youtu.be/1hPpG4s3-O4