CAPTAIN AMERICA is another winner from Marvel Studios

I keep waiting for Marvel Studios to drop the ball and release a stinker. Well they are three for three this year with Thor, X-Men:First Class, and now Captain America. The story is set in 1942 and centers on a young man named Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) who is repeatedly rejected for enlistment in the army due to his numerous health problems and physique. But when a scientist named Dr. Erskine (played by Stanley Tucci) recruits him for his super soldier project to turn him into the perfect weapon to defeat Hitler, he accepts. Rogers is not the first person whom Erskine has tried his experiment on. Years ago Johann Schmidt (played by Hugo Weaving) was subjected to the treatment but had a dangerous side effect as his skin was mutated into a horrible red and skinless shape. And now he is power mad to rule the world, even disobeying orders from his superior Hitler himself. He calls himself The Red Skull now. Flash forward a few years and now Rogers survives the process and gains superhuman strength, speed and endurance to become a super soldier. His initial training sequences while he is still the scrawny recruit under Colonel Chester Phillips (a scene stealing performance by Tommy Lee Jones) are priceless. Rogers also catches the eye of British agent Peggy Carter (played by Hayley Atwell who shines in a great role). Also on board is Howard Stark , yes Tony Stark's dead. He is played by Dominic Cooper and like father like son, has a weakness for the ladies and drink.

The first half of the movie is structured as the origin and more plot driven before it gives way to the action packed second half. Not to say the first half doesn't have action. There is an exciting chase sequence by Rogers after some enemy agents who have destroyed the location of the super soldier research building. Rogers is at first kind of worried and unsure that he can become the hero we all know he can be. So a lot of his early scenes are him learning on the go. Very comparable to Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

When he finally dons the uniform of Captain America, awesome and indestructible shield included, you can't help but swell up inside and say here we go. His fight scenes with Hydra agents and then finally The Red Skull himself are pretty intense. But this movie is more than just about the action. The budding and tender romance between Steve and Peggy is not normally seen in a comic book movie and it is very well done. You really care and hope that these two will hook up. The finale wraps up with a slam bang aerial showdown aboard Red Skull's huge aircraft as he intends to strike multiple targets all over the world with it's destructive power.

This was pure comic book bliss and the ending sets up the forth coming Avengers movie perfectly. As Cap will be joined by fellow heroes Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye under the guidance of Nick Fury (once again played by Samuel L. Jackson). AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! But we have to wait until next year for that. In the meantime we can enjoy Captain America till our hearts content.
B+

SIN CITY is one hell of a movie...

Sin City is a superb and exciting visual treat of a movie. Based on the popular graphic novels by Frank Miller and directed by the electric Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror). The film has several connecting stories featuring an all star cast. Bruce Willis is tough cop Hartigan who is the protector of Nancy (Jessica Alba, who has a terrific dance number at the local bar). As a matter of fact, Alba's scene is a showstopper.  Nancy was abducted by the creepy kid (Nick Stahl) of a powerful man. Hartigan ends up saving her life. Another story has a hulk of a brute named Marv (played by Mickey Rourke) who gets involved with a woman named Goldie (Jaime King) who was murdered and he took the blame. On the run, Marv tears through the city to find the true killer...a young man named Kevin (Elijah Wood) with a penchant for cutting up young women and a taste for human flesh. Kevin is super quick and never says a word. The third story has Dwight (Clive Owen) who teams up with the sordid ladies of Sin City led by the wild Gail (Rosario Dawson) to take on a corrupt cop named Jackie Boy (a terrific Benicio Del Toro).





All these stories are connected and combine to make a truly imaginative film. The entire cast is rock solid with an excellent supporting turn by Carla Gugino as Marv's parole officer who likes women and sleeping in the nude. Also on hand is Michael Clarke Duncan, Rutger Hauer, Josh Hartnett, and Brittany Murphy. And one more thing Nick Stahl stands out as the whacked out Junior. The look of this movie is amazing as it was filmed in black and white but with splashes of color to signify certain characters and themes. Stahl later becomes Yellow Bastard so you can imagine what he looks like. Sin City is one awesome movie.
B+

In brightess day, in blackest night..no comic book fan shall be disappointed with GREEN LANTERN

Contrary to all the bad reviews, Green Lantern is a very enjoyable movie. I was expecting something along the lines of Batman and Robin or Catwoman. Something just god awful. But this is a pretty good movie. I don't know what movie critics saw, but I saw an entertaining one. Yes, it had some faults but it was no train wreck as we were led to believe.

Ace test pilot Hal Jordan (played by the always reliable Ryan Reynolds) works for his on-again,off-again girlfriend Carol Ferris (a surprisingly effective Blake Lively) at her dad's company. Well his reckless stunt at the film's opening gets him into trouble and shows his relentless desire to push himself ever since his dad died in a aircraft failure years ago. Cut to outer space where a Green Lantern named Abin Sur comes under threat by the returning evil of Parallax, a force that feeds on fear. Badly wounded in battle Sur manages to make it to Earth and calls upon Jordan to take his ring and become a Green Lantern too.

And we're off and running. After Sur dies and the government confiscates his body and his ship,led by Amanda Waller (played by Angela Bassett), they call in scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) to examine the body. Hammond gets infected by Parallax's residue and gains vast mental powers. He also becomes very unhinged.

In the meantime, Hal is whisked away to Oa, homeworld of The Green Lantern Corps where he gets a crash course in lantern training. To focus his mind and to be able to create constructs from nothing but his will. He meets resistance from Sinestro (superbly played by Mark Strong) who takes offense that the corps have accepted a human into their ranks.

After a bout of some soul searching, Hal returns home in full Green Lantern gear, looking very spiffy I might add and has to save the day at a celebration for Ferris Air. He gets to show off his new power and is very impressive.

Of course Hector sees him and immediately doesn't like it. Especially since both men are in love in Carol. And Parallax is headed for Earth to kill Jordan, who now has the ring of the one Lantern who imprisoned it long ago.

Things come to ahead with a cool battle between Hal and Parallax that starts on Earth and ends up near the sun.

I liked this movie. The special effects were amazing. And the cast was mostly effective with Strong and Lively being the best. Like I said earlier Lively is very convincing as the headstrong and very beautiful Carol and she deserves a lot of credit. Strong's performance of Sinestro evokes memories of Ian McKellan as Magneto from the X-Men films. Look for Sinestro to be front and center for the sequel. Reynolds was good too but he really didn't get to flex his muscle until the very end. But I'm sure he will be that much better by the time the sequel comes. The few things I didn't like was the weak film score, and the shortness of the film. It could have easily done with about a half hour more. Hal's training on Oa went by way too fast. So those are some minor things that can be fixed for the almost guaranteed sequel, which has a doozy of a setup at this film's ending.

So all in all, Green Lantern was very enjoyable. I still liked Thor and X-Men: First Class more but at least DC now has another hero in their movie stable other than Batman and Superman. Here's looking ahead to what should be a superior sequel ala X2.
B-

X2 is my favorite comic book ever....still is!

Best comic book movie ever! Terrific sequel that improves on the original in every way. In their second movie, the team must join forces with their rival Magneto to battle a covert anti-mutant operation that targets all mutants in the world. As a die hard comic book fan, X2 hits all the right notes from the opening scene at the White House, when a mind-controlled Nightcrawler (wonderfully played by Alan Cummings) tries to assasinate the president to the thrilling assault on the X-mansion, where Wolverine cuts loose against some bad guys, to the super climax where Storm turns on the cold and Jean Grey lets loose with some major firepower. Oh yeah, this movie is awesome. The entire cast is rock solid including Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, and Famke Janssen. One of my all time favorites.

Some added comments is that when Stryker's soldiers attack the X-mansion, Wolverine and Colossus go to work, especially Wolverine. You get to see why he is the best at what he does, just ripping through the soldiers like they were nothing. I was like screaming hell yeah! mess them up Logan. As he states to one soldier before he takes him out "you broke into the wrong house bub." In fact that sequence has to be one of the best scenes in film history. Also Logan has a fantastic fight with Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) for the film's climax.

Magneto gets to shine too once he gets in on the action and you can still see why he is one mutant you don't want to make mad. His breakout sequence is just awesome.

The introduction of Nightcrawler is a pure stroke of genius as his teleporting power is just so cool. And it looks amazing. And his scenes with Storm and Jean Grey are revealing and very inspiring. This is not just a comic book movie, it's a powerful film full of emotions and grand spectacle. And filled with lots of humor and inside jokes that every X-fan will get. I love the scene where Logan meets Nightcrawler for the first time and the teleporting mutant goes on proudly about his family history of circus entertainers.

X2 just delivers in every possible way, setting a new standard for comic book movies. In fact, years later after its release, it still holds better than ever. I love it more than Iron Man, and yes even more than The Dark Knight. It looks sensational on Blu-ray.
High praise indeed.

A+

Thirty-two years later Superman (1978) is still a great film

Recently watched the four disc special edition DVD of Superman and the film is still amazing after 30 plus years. One of the definitive comic book movies ever made, Superman is awesome. And looking back at the film now, I didn't remember how star studded it was. Of course you had Marlon Brando as Jor-El and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. And it introduced the world to the perfect actor to portray Superman in Christopher Reeve. But you also had Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent, Superman's adoptive father; Trevor Howard as Jor-El's council friend; Terence Stamp as the villanious Zod; Susannah York as Lara, Jor-El's wife; Valerie Perrine as Ms. Teshmacher, Lex's girlfriend; Ned Beatty as Otis, Lex's incompetent henchman; Margot Kidder as Lois Lane; and former Little Rascals star Jackie Coogan as Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet. That's a lot of star wattage there for a film based on a comic book character. And that's the thing, the producers and director Richard Donner don't treat this film just as a comic book movie. It's basically a coming of age story of a young man with amazing powers trying to win over a woman. The story works because of the terrific cast assembled especially Hackman as the nefarious and funny Luthor. But a lot of the film hinges on Reeve's performance and he knocks it out of the park. He is Superman now and forever. He perfectly captures the dual identity of Superman and his alter ego, the nerdish Clark Kent. And his chemistry with Kidder is great. Throw in the amazing visual effects and the thrilling music score by John Williams and you have one of the best films ever made. Film-makers of today's films need to take notes to see how it's done. This film has heart and wonderful storytelling. Today's films can have all the CGI they want but if they don't have a good story with characters you care about, then it's all for nothing. Superman gets it right on all counts.
A

KICK-ASS is well, uh, kick ass!

Finally watched Kick-Ass and I loved it. The film is based on the popular graphic novel by Mark Millar and while I read only a few issues of the series, I think the movie delivers on everything promised. Say unlike the Angelina Jolie misguided comic adaptation of Wanted, another Millar book. Kick-Ass takes the comic book movie and turns it on it's head. And it's a joy to behold and an awesome ride to take. The story centers on Dave Lizewski (a solid Aaron Johnson) who is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so. He proposes the question to his friends, why a regular person hasn't done the super-hero thing before. The response is that they would get their ass handed to them. Which Dave learns the hard way. He orders a suit from online complete with mask and fighting batons, takes the name Kick-Ass and promptly tries to fight crime. His initial foray nearly kills him but he becomes better at super-heroics as the movie goes along. Well, he gets a lot of help from a father and daughter team named Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (a sensational Chloe Moretz). This duo will remind you of Batman and Robin. Except for that they kill the bad guys, graphically. Hit Girl is just a whirlwind dynamo, proficient in martial arts and firearms. Did I mention she is only 11 years old. Anyway, these heroes stir up trouble for the local bad guy Frank D'Amico (played by Mark Strong), whose own son (Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse) takes on the identity of another hero called Red Mist, who tries to form a friendship with Kick-Ass.

This is one of the most fun movies I have seen in a while. But don't let the costumes fool you, this ain't no kiddie movie. The violence is graphic and brutal. Big Daddy and Hit Girl don't play around. And while the movie centers on Dave's exploits and his repeated attempts at trying to woo fellow class-mate Katie, the movie gets it's biggest kick whenever Hit Girl is onscreen. The fight scenes are incredible and the stunt work amazing. There is also a lot of humor, but this is no spoof. Things get deadly serious when the bad guys strike back at our heroes. And then you realize, these guys don't have any powers and they could die at any moment. Kick-Ass is an awesome movie. Just let me say that after only one viewing, it ranks pretty high on my favorite comic book movies list. Probably in the top 5, definitely top 10.The cast is top notch and the music score is thrilling and rivals Batman, Superman and Spider-Man in that department. I look forward to a sequel. It's rare when you can say that about a movie nowadays.
B+

Kick-Ass (2010, rated R) Stars Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Yancy Butler, Clark Duke.

Comic Book Movies All week long

In anticipation of Iron Man 2 coming to theaters this Friday, I plan to watch nothing but comic book movies all week long. The X-Men films, Spider-Man 1 & 2, Fantastic Four, the original Superman (1978), The Dark Knight and whatever else I can squeeze in. I just watched Wolverine, as a friend let me borrow his copy. I know it was not perfect, but they did get some things right and for the first hour, it was pretty good.


Spider-Man (2002) Photos