Captain America: The Winter Soldier

[johnnygobbs]

I finally got around to seeing this today and really enjoyed it. It's a well written, well acted, well paced superhero film that continues Marvel's winning streak. It strikes a nice balance between humour and drama and makes good use of the Washington DC location. That's something that I think has been missing from the Marvel films so far: a sense of place. Batman's got Gotham, Superman's got Metropolis, but the Marvel films generally don't have memorable environments (exceptions being New York in Raimi's Spider-Man films and some of the locations in the X-Men series). I visited Washington DC back in the summer of 2008, just before the McCain-Obama election, and instantly fell in love with the city. So it was great to see the bulk of the movie take place there.

I love how each of the Marvel Universe films have used a particular location relevant to their own particular story.  It contributes to the unique sense of character each film has.  This was the MU film that best utilised its location, but I like that the 'Iron Man' films are predominantly set on the West Coast, that part of 'The Incredible Hulk' took place in 'downtown' New York and that 'The Avengers' final battle occurred in the centre of New York.

It was also nice to see Robert Redford and Jenny Agutter given decent roles. And I liked the way they developed Steve Rogers as a character. He's probably my favourite of the Avengers heroes; the one I identify with the most. I'm glad we don't have to wait long to see him on the big screen again (Age of Ultron 2015!!!). So far, I'd say this is the comic book movie to beat for 2014.

I know a lot of people like Iron Man but Captain Steve Rogers is the MU character I can most identify with too.  I can relate to his traditional but simultaneously progressive values and his integrity, and on the negative side, his occasional naivety.  And Robert Redford was indeed a highlight.  It's great that MU balances popular stars of the day like Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans with the established Hollywood stars I grew up watching like Redford, Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, William Hurt and Anthony Hopkins in significant parts.  Michael Douglas will of course feature in 'Ant-Man', Glenn Close appears in 'Guardians of the Galaxy' coming up next, and it would be great if Marvel Studios could coerce someone like Meryl Streep to do a role.

[Silver Nemesis]

[johnnygobbs]

SPOILER (kind of):


Did anyone else find it weird to see 'Larry Sanders' utter the words "Hail HYDRA!"

[riddler]

I finally got around to seeing this today and really enjoyed it. It's a well written, well acted, well paced superhero film that continues Marvel's winning streak. It strikes a nice balance between humour and drama and makes good use of the Washington DC location. That's something that I think has been missing from the Marvel films so far: a sense of place. Batman's got Gotham, Superman's got Metropolis, but the Marvel films generally don't have memorable environments (exceptions being New York in Raimi's Spider-Man films and some of the locations in the X-Men series). I visited Washington DC back in the summer of 2008, just before the McCain-Obama election, and instantly fell in love with the city. So it was great to see the bulk of the movie take place there.

It was also nice to see Robert Redford and Jenny Agutter given decent roles. And I liked the way they developed Steve Rogers as a character. He's probably my favourite of the Avengers heroes; the one I identify with the most. I'm glad we don't have to wait long to see him on the big screen again (Age of Ultron 2015!!!). So far, I'd say this is the comic book movie to beat for 2014.

Actually one main difference is the DC cities seem to be fictionalized; Gotham, metropolis, star city, Coast city, central city, atlantis. Marvel on the other hand does seem to take place in real cities while on earth. The iron man movies are the only ones which did not indicate their city (though Tony reveals his zip code in the 3rd film which would be in California). As much as DC has attempted to ground their films lately, Marvel comics are more grounded.


Other than the avengers, this one truly felt like a comic book coming to life.



Another question I have is where is the red skull? The Thor and avengers credit scene revealed he's still alive and plotting but so far he still hasn't been shown in the main part of a film since the first cap film.

[The Laughing Fish]

I saw this yesterday. It was quite good, it had a good balance between humour and drama. Do I like it more than The First Avenger? Probably not, but this movie is better than Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World (which I liked both, but the humour at times was a bit overkill, albeit moreso in IM3).

Favourite scenes include (to copy riddler - SPOILERS IN WHITE):


1) Steve Rogers visiting the elderly Peggy Carter, who now seems to suffer from dementia. A little heartbreaking, the aging special effects were almost perfect.[/li][/list]

2) Arnim Zola revealing his consciousness in that bunker - cheesy, but I love it because it was cheesy.

3) Alexander Pierce guns down his own housekeeper.

4) Pierce confronts Bucky when he begins recollecting memories of his past.

5) Cap refuses to fight Bucky in an attempt to make him remember they were friends, and Bucky saves Cap from drowning.

6) The montage towards the end as everyone gets on with their lives and Nick Fury burns every trace of his existence to stay off the grid.

So now SHIELD had been corrupted and ruined by HYDRA, I wonder what this means for Agents of SHIELD?