Captain America: The First Avenger

This is the first superhero film that I’ve written about and it’s only fitting because this is the one that takes place the earliest. Captain America: The First Avenger is just what you expect from the title; a Captain that is American. How he becomes this is a little different than you might think.

Steve Rogers is not the ideal soldier. He is weak and has many medical issues. Therefore, while trying to enlist in 1942 for World War II, he is rejected. However, he continues to try to enlist. A doctor allows him to enlist due to his insistence and he recruited as a part of the “super-soldier” experiment under Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci. Rogers is subjected to the experiment. He is injected with a special serum and “vita rays”. Rogers comes out of the experiment taller, muscular, and more attractive. Erskine is assassinated after the experiment and Rogers is left to tour the nation to help with the recruitment of young men for the war. He also ends up overseas on a tour providing entertainment for the servicemen, but after a chance encounter, he sets his sights on saving the world from the evil Johann Schmidt and his evil group, HYDRA.

Steve Rogers is played by Chris Evans. This is Evans first leading role in a blockbuster and he did a great job. Previously he was known for playing Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four franchise as well as Not Another Teen Movie. This has been the opportunity he has been waiting for, as well as the money. He is also in the little-seen Puncture about a lawyer that is a drug addict. Look for him next in The Avengers, which is the joining of Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Captain America, and Nick Fury. It is expected to be one of the highest grossing films of the year, but probably will not beat the immensely anticipated The Dark Knight Rises for the top spot. Expect it to be in the top three grossing films of next year. Also in the film are Tommy Lee Jones, most known for Men and Black, Hugo Weaving, for the Lord of the Rings and Matrix trilogies, and Hayley Atwell, in her breakout role.

The film was made for 140 million dollars and made about 370 million dollars in the box office worldwide during its run. There was a problem in some international markets because they didn’t want to screen the film because it said America in it, so they changed it to The First Avenger in those locations.

Overall the film is pretty solid. There are pieces that are not historically accurate, but you can’t get it all right every time. Joe Johnston did a good job directing and making this a fun superhero film, with Chris Evans as the perfect lead as Steve Rogers/ Captain America. I can’t wait for The Avengers. It was one of my favorite summer movies, right behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

4.5/5

Twilight

This is the first film review I’ve done where I am going to utterly bash a film for everything. This film is Twilight.

Twilight is a film based off of the immensely popular books series of the same title. I guess I understand that it could be popular for women because it’s about love and passion, but it also a stupid premise. The basis of Twilight is that a seventeen-year-old girl, Bella, moves to live with her father in Forks, Washington after her mother remarries a minor league baseball player. She attends school there and becomes entranced with an odd man-boy, Edward Cullen. After school one day, she is in the parking lot and a van nearly hits her, but Edward stops the car. With his hand. She then finds out that he is a vampire and falls in love with him even though he sparkles when sunlight hits him.

Does this sound like a sensible premise? Oh and one other thing, Edward is a vampire who is 108 years old. And they fall in love. This does not sound like a legal thing to do. How is this accepted by almost all of the pre-teens and teenaged women? Anyway there is also a soon-to-be werewolf that fights for Bella’s attention, but he loses to the vampire. The only good thing that happens to him is that he gets much more attractive from the first to the second movie and is now a rising action star.

The cast of the film is made up of the trio of Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson. Kristen Stewart is blowing up now due to the success of this film franchise and has landed parts in the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman as well as Akira, the live-action adaptation of the 1980’s film. She became really noticed as an actress for her film, Panic Room, starring alongside Jodie Foster in the action thriller directed by David Fincher. For Robert Pattinson, his big break was playing Cedric Diggory in the fourth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Twilight also really helped the actor, who now has multiple films waiting for him including Bel Ami and Cosmopolis. Taylor Lautner had his big break starring in this film. He was cast in multiple other films prior to that including The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D but it wasn’t until this film that he hit the big time. As of 2010 he was considered to be the highest-paid teen actor in Hollywood.

Anyway, the director Catherine Hardwicke has since moved on since doing the first film and directed an extremely similar film in Red Riding Hood that maintained the same audience of Twilight and was also critically panned for being bad.

If you’re a woman and want to see a weird romance film, here you go. If you’re a guy, don’t see it, unless you have a girlfriend and are forced to. It’s not worth it. There is still one more film left, so be wary gentlemen. Also there aren’t really any attractive women to watch, so you won’t even get that benefit if forced to see it. Sorry guys.

1/5 stars. Needs improvement on content as well as just about everything.

Garden State

Let’s start by saying that the movie I’m reviewing this week is not exactly normal. It has a great cast, great story, great direction, and a fantastic soundtrack, but it is one of the quirkiest films I’ve ever seen. The storytelling is fun and elaborate, but absolutely nothing you’d think of when you think that Natalie Portman co-starred in it. Let’s get to the plot so you know what I’m talking about.

The film is about Andrew Largeman, played by Zach Braff, who is an aspiring actor/ waiter in California that has to go back to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies. He attends the funeral and meets up with some friends who invite him to a party that night. At the party he smokes marijuana and takes ecstasy. He goes to a doctor’s appointment the following day for headaches he has been having, and in the waiting room he meets a girl named Sam, played by Natalie Portman. The film becomes enveloped on the relationship between Sam and Andrew, as well as his feelings for his mother.

Garden State was written and directed by Zach Braff, the star of the movie, who was born in New Jersey. He is probably most well known for his role in the television show Scrubs, in which he is the main character J.D. This was Braff’s feature film directing and writing debut. He filmed the movie on a budget of $2.5 million and it was mainly filmed in parts of New Jersey as well as Los Angeles and New York City.

What is nice about this little independent film is the cast the Braff was able to get for the film on the strict budget. Braff played the lead, Andrew Largeman, but also had some great supporting characters. Natalie Portman, playing Sam, was the first choice by Braff for the role and their chemistry made the movie something special. She is most known for her work in the Star Wars prequel trilogy as Princess Amidala, V for Vendetta, and Black Swan, for which she won an Oscar. Peter Sarsgaard, who plays as Andrew Largeman’s best friend Mark, is an actor well known for his range of films, and is most well known for Shattered Glass, Green Lantern, and Boys Don’t Cry.

One of the great things about this film is the soundtrack. It was all handpicked by Braff himself and because he had such a small budget to work with and the soundtrack was integral to the story, he sent a copy of the soundtrack list with the script to the different production studios. The music features namely indie-rock artists and contains such artists as Coldplay, The Shins, Simon & Garfunkel, Frou Frou, and Remy Zero. The soundtrack eventually won a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

As said before, the film was made for $2.5 million, but made over $35 million during its run at the Sundance Film Festival and in theaters. It was released in 2004 nationally and has been critically acclaimed. Empire placed the film as number 393 on their list of the ‘500 Greatest Films of All Time’.

I would give this film a 4.5/5 because I think that the relationship between Andrew and Sam is fantastic, the soundtrack is great, and it’s just a nice film all around. You can feel the emotion that Braff wants, and sometimes that is not easy to show in a film.

Law Abiding Citizen

The next installment of movie reviews is about the thriller Law Abiding Citizen. For those that want a smart, revenge thriller where no one is safe, this might be the film for you. If you don’t want gore, or mature content, just stop reading and don’t consider the film. It is not a children’s movie in any means, but if these things don’t bother you, continue on and hopefully see it.

Gerard Butler stars as Clyde Shelton, who during a violent home invasion, witnesses the death of his daughter and wife. His lawyer, Nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx, tells Clyde that due to botched forensic evidence, and the fact that Clyde’s testimony alone is not enough for a conviction. Nick, against his own will, makes a plea agreement with the killers. One killer, Darby, will testify against his accomplice for a sentence of three years, while his accomplice, Ames, will be sentenced to the death penalty. Shelton knows that Darby is the real killer and he feels betrayed by the justice system and Nick. The film jumps ahead ten years to the execution of Ames, who during the lethal injection becomes tortured with a concoction of chemicals that make his death long and painful, rather than quick and pain free. Shelton then goes after Darby and kills him and sends a tape of the action to Nick Rice. The film follows the standoff between the two men and the cunning that Shelton has for what he believes is the right thing.

As stated the main stars of the film are Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. Butler is most well known for the title role in 300 and Phantom of the Opera. Lately he has been mixing it up with either action films or romantic comedies. Jamie Foxx started out acting in films in 1992, but didn’t break big until roles in Any Given Sunday and Collateral. His biggest project, Ray, projected him to star status for his role as Ray Charles. That role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor.

The director of the film is F. Gary Gray. He also began his career in 1992, by directing Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day” music video. When he was just 24 he directed his first feature film, Friday, which also starred Ice Cube. He has also directed the films The Negotiator, The Italian Job, and Be Cool. He is expected to direct the sequel of The Italian Job, The Brazilian Job, if it ever gets going again. It has been in development hell for about three years.

This film is an adaptation of the “classic revenge” story that tells of anger and loss. When upset with the system, why not set it back to zero? I personally didn’t like this film at first, maybe because I watched it on an airplane, but the second time I saw it, it grew on me because of the unique story and strong acting from the leads.

4/5 stars.

Source Code

The latest update from your friendly, neighborhood movie critic is Source Code.

Source Code is about an army helicopter pilot, Colter Stevens, who wakes up on a commuter train traveling to Chicago, although the last thing he remembers is a mission in Afghanistan. He finds out that he appears as Sean Fentriss, a school teacher. As he begins to understand that he is Sean Fentriss, the train explodes, kills everyone on board, and derails and runs into a train going the other direction. He wakes up in an unknown area. Through a screen he sees Air Force Captain Colleen Goodwin who explains that he is in an experimental unit known as “Source Code”. It allows its user to go back and experience another well-suited person’s life within a past alternate timeline. He is also told that the train explosion cannot be changed, but if he can find the bomber, he can save millions of innocent lives. Stevens goes back into the “Source Code” and tries to identify the bomber, but in the process thinks he can change the past alternate timeline. The film focuses on the struggle between Stevens and finding the bomber, as well as trying to change the explosion although he is told he cannot.

The film is directed by Duncan Jones, David Bowie’s son, who has directed Source Code and Moon. He is known for his two science-fiction films and is understanding of science and the research he puts into the projects. His first film, Moon, was released in 2009 and is regarded as one of the best science-fiction films of 2009. He is currently working on an untitled project which could possibly be a sequel to Moon.

The actors in this film are phenomenal. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the role of Colter Stevens/ Sean Fentriss, in one of his better performances recently (mainly because I am comparing it to Prince of Persia). Michelle Monaghan plays Christina Warren, Sean Fentriss’s travelling partner, in her best role since Gone Baby Gone. Accompanying these two are Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright. Vera Farmiga plays the role of Air Force Captain Colleen Goodwin, and plays it extremely well. I think she is one of the most underappreciated actresses working now. She always brings her A game and I haven’t seen her in a bad role yet. Jeffrey Wright, probably most well-known for his roles as Felix Leiter in the last two James Bond films, is also a phenomenal actor on the stage as well as in front of the screen.

Filming took approximately two months to do in Montreal, Canada and Chicago, Illinois. Editing took place in Los Angeles and the soundtrack was to be done by Clint Mansell, who did the soundtrack for Moon, but due to time constraints, Chris P. Bacon replaced him.

Critics and fans alike both like this film. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 92 percent, Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+, and Metacritic gave it a 74/100. My rating for this film is a 4 out of 5 stars. It was extremely well done and the acting was great, but some of the plot was confusing and needed further explanation. Loved the ending though, so if you want a smart science-fiction thriller with Jake Gyllenhaal, this is your movie. You will not see the ending coming.