MOVIE REVIEW: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER,

Steve Rogers continues his journey as the super-powered American soldier who's grasping to find his place in a modern world after being frozen in ice since WWII with this Marvel Studios sequel. Chris Evans returns to star, with Community director/producers Joe and Anthony Russo helming. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Joe Russo, Anthony Russo 

Cast: Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson

Release Date: Apr 04, 2014

Rated: PG-13 for Gunplay, Action throughout and Intense Sequences of Violence

Runtime: 2 hr. 8 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Review:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of Marvel’s best scripted stories thus far.  That’s not to say it doesn’t have some issues but it’s a solid attempt at trying to dig a bit deeper into some complex issues with a complicated villain.  It’s rather blunt if earnest about it’s intentions.  If this all makes it sound rather dour well it is at time occasionally turning into a plodding and somewhat joyless experience that could have been trimmed by a good 15 to 20 minutes.  Personally, I might have been more impressed if I hadn’t seen a similar story line in a certain DC animated series I was fond of but I digress.  The film, when it hits its mark, delivers some excellent action set pieces and superhero action.  Evans does his best to bring some deeper layers to the Captain and he pulls it off for the most part.  Scarlett Johansson has a larger part which doesn’t require her to runaround in her catsuit and the film’s better for it as she displays some solid chemistry with Evans.  Newcomers Anthony Mackie and Robert Redford bring varying degrees of excitement to the proceedings.  Mackie is obviously having a blast throughout while Redford’s name brings some gravitas to the whole thing but he seemed as disinterested as can be.  Sebastian Stan’s Winter Solider is in the movie title but his screen time is surprisingly small in the grand scheme of things.  It’s a game changing film that does kind of blows up a lot of the establishment from the Marvel universe so it’ll be interesting to see where they from here, hopefully they’ll remember bring a bit more fun.  

B-

Cindy Prascik's Review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Dearest Blog, yesterday I chose an afternoon at the cinema over an afternoon at the office. In the common tongue, I believe that's what's known as a "gimmie." On the docket, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

Captain America finds himself at odds with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s thinking, and facing a surprising and dangerous adversary.

Well, dear Blog, first I should admit I'm not quite so much on the Marvel bandwagon as most of the world. They make good superhero movies, and I like good superhero movies, but they don't make anything that sets my world on fire like that last Batman trilogy did. A matter of personal taste, I know, but worth mentioning in the interest of full and fair disclosure.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier has many positives, so we'll start with those. It's a layered story that manages to hold your attention without becoming muddled and over-complicated. The action sequences are solid, and the CGI tricks look pretty authentic. The movie is filled with familiar names and faces, and it's as comfortable as hanging with a group of old friends when they name-check other characters from the Marvel universe. Chris Evans again serves the Captain well. If he's neither as charismatic as Robert Downey, Jr. nor as interesting as Mark Ruffalo, he IS the very picture of the all-American hero, perfect for this role. For my money, though, the actor who's really worth seeing here is Sebastian Stan. I've been a fan since his work on the short-lived NBC series Kings, and am positively delighted about his jump to the big-screen blockbuster. (I'd have been more delighted with more screen time, but since I watched Black Swan for about two minutes of him, I guess I'll live.)

On the negative side: Had the action sequences been trimmed just a bit, the movie would have been sharper and better paced; as it is, it does seem to drag a bit at times. Of more concern was the reaction in my pretty-crowded cinema, almost a total flatline. No spontaneous oohs and ahhs, almost no bursts of laughter at the comic bits, no chatter or applause at the end. For a movie that's been so well received, I found that very curious, especially as the crowd seemed mostly comprised of fanboys and kids.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier runs 136 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of violence, gunplay, and action throughout."

Some folks are saying The Winter Soldier is even better than Marvel's Avengers, seemingly the current benchmark for a great superhero movie. For my money, they're about the same: fun times that perfectly fit the lighthearted summer-blockbuster mold.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Captain America: The Winter Soldier gets seven and a half.

Until next time...

 

 

Any room for me up in there?

Cindy Prascik's reviews of Sabotage & Noah

Dearest Blog, yesterday it was off to the cinema with all the Rainy Day People for a double-feature of Sabotage and Noah.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

Arnie was first on the docket with Sabotage.

An elite, undercover DEA unit comes under suspicion when ten million dollars in drug money disappears.

Dear Blog, I'm going to tell you something you might not know: Sabotage was made JUST for me. It's Hollywood's way of saying, "Look, we're sorry for all the pretentious Oscar drivel and Easter-season religious propaganda, but you've been a good sport, so here are a couple testosterone-fueled hours of mayhem for your trouble. Well, Hollywood, apology accepted.

Sabotage is yet another attempt to thrust an aging Arnold Schwarzenegger back into the leading action hero mold. Like previous efforts, the general reception seems middling, but it's once again made me a happy action fan. If Schwarzenegger is getting a bit long in the tooth, it doesn't keep him from carrying a picture with flair, and at no time is there any doubt that this is Arnold's movie. The supporting cast is comprised of actors both very good (Terrence Howard, Mireille Enos) and pretty bad (Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello), but none really stands out either way, aside from Enos, who is ah-maz-ing.

These days most action movies have to pick a side. Either they go too vanilla to secure the coveted PG13 rating, or the gore and swearing are so extreme that shock value seems the only objective. Sabotage definitely leans toward the latter, and it suffers some laughably bad dialogue, but a well-executed, suspenseful plot saves the movie from being just a big-screen bundle of bad words and maximum carnage.

Sabotage clocks in at 109 minutes and is rated R for "strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity, and drug use."

A solid action flick with a good cast and a hero that's familiar and easy to root for, of a possible nine Weasleys, Sabotage gets seven.

Next on Saturday's agenda was the Biblical epic, Noah.

A man suffers a terrifying vision of the world destroyed by a great flood, and must battle Sauron's legions as he attempts to get the One Ring to Mount Doom. Wait, what? Sorry...wrong movie.

There's been much fuss about Noah's lack of faithfulness to the Bible story on which it's based. In the interest of full and fair disclosure, I admit that means about as much to me as a less-than-accurate adaptation of any novel or comic book. I don't say that to be offensive or provocative, merely to be clear: If the rumor is non-religious people will love this and religious people will hate it, this card-carrying heathen is here to tell ya, there's no shortage of reasons to hate this movie, whatever you believe.

Russell Crowe is one of my top three actors, and, in my opinion, the most magnetic screen presence working in movies today. Not once in his long and storied career have I seen a movie and thought, "Boy, even Russell Crowe couldn't help that." Until now, that is. Instead of a man tormented by difficult choices he feels his "Creator" has forced him to make, this Noah is a profoundly unlikable nut job who comes dead even with the movie's villain in the "I really hate that guy" sweepstakes. Then there's the bloat. Yes, that's "bloat," dear Blog, not "boat." Pared by 20-30 minutes, Noah would have been a far more bearable exercise creative license. As it stands, I had plenty of time to count ceiling tiles (I think there are 180 in theatre eight, but it was a little tricky in the dark) and ponder what I was going to eat at Olive Garden after the movie (spaghetti marinara, if you're wondering). During the interminable ark-building, I wondered why they didn't just ask Hermione to wave her wand and get it done. Hang on... Huh? Oh, sorry, there I go again. Somewhere around a halfway point that seemed to take 12 hours to reach, I wrote "TERRIBLE" on my notepad, in all caps and underlined three times, as if I'd need a reminder when I sat down to write this review.

There are positives, of course, among them some glorious cinematography and a couple time-lapsey sequences that are quite stunning...if possibly seizure inducing. The CGI procreation-ready pairs of animals look pretty great, and Emma Watson continues to be a revelation in a role that's at least half an underwater world away from the studious Miss Granger of the Harry Potter movies. There's also a sneaky pro-vegetarian message that made me think I might have had a chance of bunking with the Noah family instead of dog paddling for my life.

Noah runs 138 minutes and is rated PG13 for "violence, disturbing images, and brief suggestive content."

Whether you believe the Bible or not, Noah is a bloated mess that might as well have starred Adam Sandler for all the credibility it's got. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Noah gets two. Oh, and when someone films the book of Revelations, remind me to get high before I see it.

Until next time...

 Hands up, who's ready for that Gladiator prequel?

MOVIE REVIEW: NOAH

Darren Aronofsky brings the story of Noah's Ark to the big screen with this Paramount/New Regency religious drama. Aronofsky directs from his own script cowritten by Ari Handel and John Logan. Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, and Emma Watson head up the starring cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Release Date: Mar 28, 2014

Rated: PG-13 Disturbing Images, Brief Suggestive Content and Violence

Runtime: 2 hr. 17 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins

Religion films are always going to be a touch call because they’ll either be too faithful or they’ll deviate too far from the scripture.  Either option will result in factions of believers and non believers being turned off by the material on display.  Darren Aronofsky’s Noah isn’t a by the letter retelling of the story even though it hits all the major points.  Within 10 minutes of the film you’ll be able to tell where you stand with it, depending on your beliefs.  Personally, I found a bombastic but loving cinematic take of a very familiar tale.  Aronofsky delivers a film that’s beautiful to look at and engaging at the same time.  The film is over 2 hours long but in never really drags as the story keeps you engaged throughout.  Russell Crowe gives us one of his most earnest performances in a long while with supporting cast rounding an all around well made movie.  Jennifer Connelly in particular has a wonderful moment to shine near the end of the film but its Crowe’s film through and through.  Crowe gives us a realistic idea of what Noah would have experienced mentally while Aronofsky gives us a wonderfully dense thesis on hard line scripture vs. interpretation.  It’s a fascinating idea played out with characters that are so ingrained in most of our collective psych that is sure to upset one faction or the other.  In the end your personal enjoyment of the film will depend on your beliefs. At it’s core, it’s a wonderfully filmed, acted and produced film which deserves to be seen.

A

[Full Trailer] X-Men: Days of Future Past

The full trailer of the upcoming X-men: Days of Future Past really gives a peek at the scale of the spectacle that’s going to be on full display.  The trailer is quite impressive since it gives us a better look at the story and sentinels both past and future models along with plenty of hero shots. 

My expectations are pretty high, hopefully it delivers….

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Muppets Most Wanted & Divergent

Dearest Blog, having force-fed myself a Serious Grownup Movie last weekend, this week it was back to my usual fare with Muppets Most Wanted and Divergent.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know or have guessed from the trailers.
Since my tolerance for little kids is marginally lower than my tolerance for teenagers, I got Muppets Most Wanted out of the way first.

Fresh off their reunion show and against Kermit's better judgment, a new manager (Ricky Gervais) convinces the Muppets to go on a world tour, but a sold-out European run and a unusually agreeable Kermit may not be the good news they seem.

Dear reader(s), though I try not to read anyone else's reviews before I've written mine, living online as I do, I can't help but see the occasional headline or comment. The general consensus on Muppets Most Wanted seems to be that it's good, but not as good as 2011's The Muppets. Guess I'm once again in the minority, for as much as I loved The Muppets, I think Muppets Most Wanted is even better.
Muppets Most Wanted picks up, literally, where The Muppets left off, lingering just long enough to earn a few laughs with some obvious-but-still-funny sequel jokes. Once it gets rolling, the caper is amusing and never drags, with musical numbers staged at the Siberian gulag providing the best comic moments.

As we've come to expect, Muppets Most Wanted is littered with cameos from celebs and pseudo-celebs, and I shan't name them lest I spoil it for those who want to be surprised. Since I imagine everyone knows who stars in the movie, I can say that Gervais, Tina Fey, and Ty Burrell are in top form, though I find it a little offensive that they enjoy billing over the folks who provide Muppet voices--the movie's real stars. If I have one complaint that isn't really a complaint, it's that a little too much of Muppets Most Wanted may be aimed over the heads of the young target audience; it's undoubtedly a "kids' movie," but I think the adults might actually enjoy it more.

Muppets Most Wanted runs 112 minutes and is rated PG for "some mild action."
Like its predecessors, Muppets Most Wanted is a terrific family film full of music, laughs, and thoroughly entertaining cameos.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Muppets Most Wanted gets seven and a half.

Closing yesterday's docket was the young adult thriller Divergent.

Survivors of an apocalyptic event are divided into factions, based on their personality types. When a young girl discovers she's a Divergent--one of those who fit with no one type and who are considered a threat to the new world order--she struggles for survival within the faction she's chosen.

Dear Blog, I'm nothing if not painfully honest, so if I'm going to criticize something, I'm also going to admit when that criticism might just be due to the fact that said "something" isn't made with me in mind. Not saying it's impossible for someone outside the target audience to enjoy a movie (see: Muppets Most Wanted, above), but being almost 48 years old, I enjoyed Grudge Match a helluva lot more than I enjoyed Divergent, which may not be entirely Divergent's fault. Then again...

We'll get the obvious out of the way first: clearing the two-hour threshold by a good 20 minutes, Divergent is too damn long and easily could have been trimmed by 30 minutes without losing anything of consequence. Making the obligatory comparisons: the story is neither as good as The Hunger Games nor as painfully bad as Twilight. Shailene Woodley is no Jennifer Lawrence, either.

The supporting cast boasts some notable names--Ashley Judd, Kate Winslet, Mekhi Phifer, Maggie Q, and the always magnificent Ray Stevenson--but they seem to have neither the opportunity nor the inclination to distinguish the movie from the current glut of ho-hum young adult fiction. Divergent features broadly-drawn characters and insipid dialogue by the bucketful, and mistakes peripheral character deaths for heartbreaking plot twists.

By now, dear reader(s), you may be asking, "So why did you bother seeing this, anyway?" That question I can answer in two words: Theo James. Yep, I've been nursing a scorching crush ever since he had fatal sex with Lady Mary Crawley in the first season of Downton Abbey and I had to overturn heaven and earth to find out who he was. I hoped he'd be a big deal someday, and, if I wished it'd be in something better than this, well, he's young yet, eh? Divergent doesn't place any particular strain on his acting skills, but I can confidently say I would have been kinda bored with someone I liked less in the male lead. As it stands, James has enough screentime to make Divergent more than worth the price of admission.

Divergent clocks in at a bloated 139 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense violence and action, thematic elements, and some sensuality."

A so-so movie that would have benefitted greatly from a shorter runtime, Divergent may have teens hanging on its every minute, but the rest of us are bound to find it considerably less thrilling.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Divergent gets four and a half.

Until next time...

Oh, don't pretend like YOU wouldn't sit through a so-so movie for this!