Captain America

Tearing through Nazis and Red Skull cultists and into the theatres this weekend is Captain America: The First Avenger. This is the final introductory movie of The Avengers on film series. It stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers (Cap), Hayley Atwell as Peggy, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, and Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt (Red Skull). It also includes performances by Tommy Lee Jones, Toby Jones, and Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark.

This may be my favorite of all the Avenger movies so far and my second favorite comic book movie this year (behind X Men: First Class). It tells the origin story of Captain America set nearly 75 years ago in the dark days of WWII. Steve Rogers, an undersized wannabe soldier, is a character that can be easily identified with. He wants to be something that no one will give him the chance to be. Until a certain doctor takes notice and brings him in to be a prospect in a program to create a super soldier to "personally escort Adolph Hitler to the gates of Hell."

On the flip side we soon learn of Red Skull/Johann Schmidt. A Nazi officer crazed with world domination over and above what he believes can be accomplished by Hitler. He has also been a part of a super soldier project just like Cap which resulted in his head being melted down to looking a red skull. He is played well by Weaving and is certainly a villain you don't like.

Captain America has the perfect balance of story telling and action. It gives a realistic explanation behind the suit and the whole thing feels very real.

Furthermore, Captain America ties in with the Avenger universe better and more creatively than any of the other films. It's a big plus if you see Thor before seeing this one. I kinda wish they would've gotten the Thor dvd out beforehand. It ties in so well.

That's about all I'm gonna say...GO NOW and see Cap ya commies!!!!!!

...Oh, and be extra sure to watch til the end of the credits. You see more stuff than you normally do after an Avenger film.

Transformers: Dark of The Moon

Transformers: Dark of The Moon is the third and final chapter in the Transformers trilogy. The movie begins as all Transformers movies begin, with Optimus Prime narrating. He speaks about the war on Cybertron and the last hope for the Autobots to win the great war. We see that what was supposed to end the war for Cybertron was lost and crash landed into Earth's moon. As the movie progresses we learn that once again Earth is in imminent danger. Sides are chosen and lines are drawn and crossed. As the Decepticons launch their final and most dangerous attack one question is mind. Will Earth survive......?

Dark of the Moon is the best movie in the series. The storyline is good and the subject matter is a lot more dark and serious. It doesn't bring back bad memories of Revenge of the Fallen. The CGI is as good as it has always been, and it looks even better in 3D, although some people say it isn't worth the 3D(Yes I'm talking to you, you know who you are!). All of the major players from the past two films are here and the acting on all parts was good. What I was amazed at was the amount of violence shown. For all of the worried parents out there, this film doesn't contain blood or gore. The violence that I am talking about is contained in the fight scenes with the transformers themselves. With that said the battle sequences were awesome. It really felt like an all out war between the Decepticons and the Autobots.

I don't really have anything negative to say about the film as I was very pleased with it.

Overall, Dark of The Moon is a satisfying conclusion to the current Transformers trilogy. It totally makes up for Revenge of the Fallen and "the twins". If you are a fan of the series you have to......

GO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Green Lantern

Green Lantern tells the origin story of one of the most famous members of the Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan(Ryan Reynolds). At the edges of the universe there is a dark entity Parallax who feeds on the fear of other beings and while his motives are unknown at first his presence threatens the entire universe. The strongest member of the Lantern Corps, Abin Sur was the only Green Lantern able to imprison him. Unfortunately, Parallax breaks free and attacks Abin Sur who narrowly escapes, but is mortally wounded. His ship lands on earth and in one of his final acts he tells his ring to search for his replacement. The ring chooses Hal Jordan, a less than humble test pilot who has great potential, but will he accept this great responsibility or shirk it off as he does with most everything else....

Green Lantern is one of the best superhero origin movies to date in my opinion. The story is simple and not convoluted like some of the more recent superhero films. The acting on all parts are good. The dialogue is a tad bit thin and doesn't get complex or deep, but that is forgivable. Overall, the movie itself is reserved in the way that it plays out. The tone of it reminds me of the first Sam Raimi Spiderman film. The CGI looked mostly realistic and was about as good as it could be for a movie about a member of the Green Lantern Corps. The 3D was awesome and looked good, but at this point I honestly can't see any real discernible difference between the 3D used in this film and the last 3 films I have seen within the last month that used 3D.

I don't really have anything negative to say about the film. This was a solid origin film. I will say that since this film was more reserved, if and when they make a sequel there will have to be more force added to it.

To be honest I really liked Green Lantern and if you have the chance to see it you should definitely.......

GO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SUPER 8

The highly anticipated film Super 8 has finally made it's way to us from film makers J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. It stars Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills, Riley Griffiths, and Amanda Michalka. The story focuses on 5 middle school Ohio kids filming a movie for inclusion in an amateur film making contest in Cleveland. While making their movie they pay witness to a huge train crash. After this crash weird stuff begins to take place in their small town. And it's up to the kids to try and solve it.

I think it's best not to get too heavily involved into the plot of the movie. Clearly the film makers want the audience to get into it for the first time while watching the movie. That's when you should really find out what it's about.

Let me say that this may be my favorite movie so far this year. It's superb. The acting is through the roof by all the young actors, even though this is pretty much the first thing any of them have really done.

Apart of the greatness is that Super 8 is clearly a homage throwback to classic Spielberg and other great films of the 1980s. Specifically Goonies, Stand By Me, E.T. (the greatest movie ever), and The Monster Squad among others. Adding to this is the fact that the movie seems to be taking place right about 1979/1980 (except for one thing I thought I saw that would place the time period in the late 1980s).

Finally, Super 8 has probably the best ending of the year, atleast so far. It really made me think of E.T. (the greatest movie ever).

I will say no more but to........GO NOW! ... AND GO BUY E.T. IF YOU HAVEN'T YET (IT'S THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER).

X-Men: First Class

Hello all!!! I'm back fresh from my viewing of X-Men First Class (from here on referred to as X-Men: FC).

The latest installment in the comic book based movie series finds us at the beginning of the X-Men narrative. We are first introduced to Erik/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) while he is being placed in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII. While being separated from his mother, young Erik exhibits his signature power over metal for the first time, a power that captures the attention of a certain doctor (keep this in mind). Around the same time half a world away in upstate New York we are introduced to a young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Raven/Mystique. Did I forget to mention that Erik's mother was killed right in front of him, by the same doctor who had witnessed his powers earlier. With that said we now have a revenge story running side by side Professor X's story of plowing through academia and his studies of mutation in species. Eventually the two stories converge on the same point and the two mutants make an alliance in the face of a common enemy. Along the way they manage to pick up a few mutants to join their fight(and they meet one very familiar mutant who kindly declines their offer). Through these events the X-Men are born.

X-Men: FC is possibly the best movie in the series. The acting on all parts is done very well and the performances of McAvoy and Fassbender are the best. They make the friendship that Professor X and Magneto shared feel very real. This also makes the bitter break at the end feel all the more tragic. The story was one of the better that I have seen from a comic based movie. More impressive is the fact that the film is imbedded in real historic events. The CG was well done, but at this point that is to be expected from a Marvel film. What I want to say most was that this film was more intense for me than the four preceding X-Men films. In recent reviews and on various websites I have read X-Men: FC being compared to The Dark Knight. In relation to intensity of the film I would have to agree. Overall I still think The Dark Knight is a better film but X-Men: FC gives it a run for its money. I'm interested to see if and how Marvel will expand this part of the X-Men universe by showing how it all started.

As far as the bad I really can only say that First Class didn't have the level of action that I expect from an X-Men film. Because of the great story and the overall intensity of the movie I can overlook that. I do however have a real problem with the way the movie was marketed. The trailer didn't get me interested to go see the movie and I'm afraid that may be the case with many people.

As far as I'm concerned this is an automatic.....GO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but I'm sure Allan will have his own opinion....

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The highly anticipated fourth installment of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, titled On Stranger Tides, has sailed into theatres this weekend. It of course stars Johnny Depp as *CAPTAIN*Jack Sparrow and also includes return appearances of Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Gibbs (Kevin McNally). Joining the new adventure is Penelope Cruz as Angelica and Ian McShane as the legendary pirate Blackbeard.

The basic plot revolves around the British competing in a race against the Spanish to locate the Fountain Of Youth. To accomplish this the King Of England has brought on Barbossa to lead the expedition. However, the race becomes more intriguing when Jack gets involved after a run in with a girl from his past, Angelica, which leads on board the ship of Blackbeard-who is also searching out the Fountain. And the plot thickens from there...

Allan's Take:

On Stranger Tides could be my favorite of series since the original. It's hard to say because I like all of them. It includes all the clever action sequences and humor everyone has come to expect. But what I really like is all the new ideas and creative use of new mythical things. The mermaids were awesome and quite scary at times. All the mythology surrounding the Fountain Of Youth was well thought of and presented nicely. Blackbeard was well conceived and wonderfully portrayed by McShane.

In addition to McShane all the acting was great. It doesn't get much better than having the Depp and Geoffrey Rush in the same movies. Penelope also did well.

I really enjoyed On Stranger Tides and thought it was more than worth the ticket price...GO NOW!

Jared's Take:

On Stranger Tides is possibly the best movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It rivals the first one for the best storyline of all four movies. I believe the reason for this is the fact that it is not bogged down by a love story that is dragged across three movies. Don't get me wrong though, the first three pirates movies are among my favorite movies of all time. As Allan stated the acting was top notch and what you would expect. The 3D was done very well and if you do go to see it you should go to the 3D showing.

Overall, On Stranger Tides has that sense of adventure that the first movie captured very well. Not only that, but the characters have an overall goal that they are trying to reach.

If you can't tell this is more than a ringing endorsement this is me screaming........

GO NOW!!!!!!!!

Priest

The graphic novel adaptation Priest has hit theatres this weekend. It stars Paul Bettany in the lead role as Priest. Alongside him is his partner Cam Gigandet as Hicks. They are later joined by Maggie Q as Priestess. Karl Urban plays the bad guy known as Black Hat who has arranged the kidnapping of Priest's niece Lucy, played by Lily Collins. It's this kidnapping of Lucy that forms the basis of the plot.

In this world humans and monstrous vampires have always existed together. These vamps are real monsters. They look more alien than anything in a Twilight movie. There is also a third category: the "familiars," those humans that have been infected by the vamps. They don't turn into whole vamps like what we're used to seeing in the movies. They become hybrids and look and act more like traditional movie vampires. In recent times it was discovered that priests, who could fight as warriors, were the only humans really capable of subduing the vampires. But after the war was over the church and society (the two aren't really separated) placed the priests back into regular life and they came to be treated as outcasts. But our main character Priest comes out of retirement, against the church's orders, upon news that Lucy has been taken by the vamps.

Allan's Take:

I really liked the atmosphere in Priest. It's real dark and gloomy looking all the time, although this has become more common in movies of late. I like Priest and Lucy. The performances of both Bettany and Lily were good, though we don't get to see too much of Lily. I felt indifferent to Priestess and Hicks and didn't really care for Black Hat. At first I thought it was bad acting but I came to the conclusion near the end of the movie that it was script writing for Black Hat. Everything he says sounds dumb and cheesy. So I don't think that Urban had a whole lot to work with.

There's alot of slo-mo action sequences throughout the movie that were okay. They were nothing like what we've come to see from Zack Snyder or anything. Also I don't think it was worth paying extra to see it in 3D. There wasn't a whole lot coming out at the audience.

Overall this was an okay movie. It has some really good parts but the main bad thing from me was Black Hat. He was much cooler when he wasn't saying anything

..............RENT IT.

Jared's Take:

To be honest I was disappointed in Priest. The acting was kind of dry and I did not care about the characters at all. The main place that Priest fails in is character development. This is much the same predicament that last year's Jonah Hex found itself in. I did not feel as if I knew enough about the characters to be emotionally invested in them. They could've all been eaten by vampires and I would not have cared one bit. As Allan stated the 3D was really unnecessary and underutilized. I also have a real problem with the back story of Black Hat and how he became such. It feels as if the people making the film threw that in as an afterthought. The acting of everyone involved was sub-par and what makes it painful for me to say that is that I have seen most of the cast act way better in other projects than they did in this film.

The last nitpick I have about Priest is the fact that it feels like half a movie. I cannot count how many times a movie that has a good premise falls short because the full effort was not put into it to make a good movie. As with most movies like this they always have an ending that lingers with the "promise" that more movies in the series are to follow. Priest is no exception to this and more than likely no sequel will be made. If by some miracle one is I sincerely hope it will be better than this one.

FX/TBS It