Daily Archives: June 14, 2020

Jun 14 2020

Chris Evans Weekend – Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Writer: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (Screenplay) Joe Simon, Jack Kirby (Comics)

Starring: Chris Evans, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders

 

Plot: As Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world, he teams up with a fellow Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Black Widow, to battle a new threat from history: an assassin known as the Winter Soldier.


Tagline – In heroes we trust.

Runtime: 2 Hours 16 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Best Pure Action Comic Book Movie

 

Story: Captain America: The Winter Soldier starts as Steve Rogers (Evans) is recruited to help Natasha Romanoff (Johansson) on her latest mission, he being a soldier will help any civilian in danger, which does seem him cross paths with Nick Fury (Jackson) who he feels is using him for the dirty work to clean up SHIELD’s secrets.

When Nick is killed by the Winter Soldier (Stan), Steve must learn who he can trust as he looks for answers as SHIELD has become compromised, Steve is joined by Natasha and starts investigating SHIELD’s connection including Nick’s friend Alexander Pierce (Redford).

 

Thoughts on Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 

Characters – Steve Rogers is still learning to adapt to the modern world, he hasn’t been able to make any friends yet and is starting to deal with his own guilt from his time at war, he is getting used to help save people in need for Fury. He must investigate the murder of Fury only for to need to learn ho to trust and clashing with a friend from his own past. Nick Fury has been pushing the SHIELD’s latest plan to be pushed back, this sees him having the attention drawn to him and turning to the only person he knows he could trust, Steve. Natasha Romanoff has been working with Steve on mission, she still keeps to herself and is the only one that Steve can trust while searching for answers. Alexander Pierce is Nick’s connection to the world committee being the old friends, he has been going against the Nick’s wishes looking to use his own place of power for control. Winter Soldier is a new deadly assassin, one that even Steve can’t fight against, he does have a connection to his past too. Sam Wilson is a former soldier that Steve meets, he has been running groups for soldiers who have been struggle since returning from war and can related to where Steve is, while dealing with a friend’s loss.

Performances – Chris Evans gives his best performance in this leading role here, he gives us a character we believe is trying to do the right thing throughout the film. Samuel L Jackson continues to be the inspiration leader of the group. Scarlett Johansson shows us once against that she is wonderful in the Black Widow role. Robert Redford steps into becoming the villainous figure in the film which is unexpected and he delivers in it. Sebastian Stan returns, this time in a more prominent role and as a threat. Anthony Mackie is a welcome addition to the cast never looking out of place.

Story – The story here follows Steve Rogers as he looks to learn about the modern world, unlock the truth about who to trust and investigate who has been working from within SHIELD to create more problems than they are meant to be solving, while dealing with an old friend. We get a much straight drawn out action story here which does deal with a political side of having superheroes in the world. we do get to see just how Steve will always put the people ahead of anything else in his life. The idea of how Steve learns to cope in the modern world is shown strongly here as he does have help, he does see similar problems people could be suffering from too. The return of Hydra is great to see because we see a more calculated villainous force that keeps everything human, showing that the heroes will need to deal with their own battles before worrying about ones coming from space.

Action/Sci-Fi – The action in the film feels more like a pure action movie, with it including car chases, street shoot outs and more of a pure hand to hand combat, yes, we do get the big action set piece at the end, but we rarely look at explosions as part of the superpowers. We do dive into sci-fi once again by looking at a future we could face with technology being a major part of it.

Settings – The film keeps the settings in and mostly around Washington, which helps play into the political side of the story that is going on.

Special Effects – The effects are not needed as much as most of the other films in the franchise, the ones we do get work very well never taking us out of the set pieces.


Scene of the Movie – Car chase.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Stephen Strange reference doesn’t make that much sense in this film.

Final Thoughts – This is easily the best action film in the Marvel universe, it keeps most of the action grounded staying away from the big time explosions others have had in the past.

 

Overall: The action superhero movie we wanted.

Rating

 

 

Jun 14 2020

ABC Film Challenge – Sci-Fi – N – How To Talk To Girls At Parties (2017) Movie Review

This is under N because of Nicole Kidman role in the film.

Director: John Cameron Mitchell

Writer: Philippa Goslett, John Cameron Mitchell (Screenplay) Neil Gaiman (Short Story)

Starring: Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, Nicole Kidman, Matt Lucas, Ruth Wilson, Abraham Lewis, Ethan Lawrence

Plot: An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon.


Tagline – Talk to the Girl. Save the World.

Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Punk Love Story

Story: How To Talk To Girls At Parties starts as we meet three punks Enn (Sharp), Vic (Lewis) and John (Lawrence) who are rebelling agains the establishment in the 1970s, when they look to go to an after party for a bad, only to end up at a strange party. Enn meets Zan (Fanning) one of the aliens at the party, one who wants to break the strict rules of her people.

The two go in search of discovery, while Zan is being tracked by her species who have been getting worried about what has been happening to her. With a forbidden romance being the new important relationship, which could save the world.

Thoughts on How To Talk To Girls At Parties

Characters – Zan is one of the aliens visiting Croydon, she is starting to question the ideas of her species, which sees her breaking their traditions to learn about Punk, a mission of self-discovery and research for her people, she does come off like most aliens, who don’t understand how to have a normal conversation, with most of her conversations involving her learning rather than communicating. Enn is a punk rock loving young man, he is in a little group, though he doesn’t seem to be completely behind breaking the establishment. He meets Zan to show her about the world of punk, he starts to learn about the bigger picture, experiencing love for the first time. Boadicea runs a punk club, she has always given bands a chance and knows how to read the each person claiming to be a punk. We do get a host of different leadership figures from the alien side of things, each one has a different plan for Zan.

Performances – Elle Fanning is great to watch in this leading role, she does show us a different side to her that needs to look distant, while acting completely interested. Alex Sharp is wonderful to watch to, as he continues to show he is a young actor that is going to be a big name. Nicole Kidman brings the star power to the movie, looking like she truly is enjoying herself, while the rest of the cast are all great to create the world we enter.

Story – The story here follows a punk who falls in love with a visiting alien, where both the younger generations want to fight back against the establishment that has been built up for them to follow. This is dubbed ‘Romeo & Juliet with Punks and Aliens’ that sums this film up correctly, we do have a forbidden love, with two characters from different backgrounds who are looking to stop a battle between the sides, even if the battle is more about aliens needing to learn from the end. Seeing the discovery of punk music is nice to see, it is something we have seen before, with the idea of an alien finding something worth saving that is against what they have been taught. We get plenty of scenes that would never imagine with punks and aliens fighting for the planet.

Comedy/Romance/Sci-Fi – The comedy isn’t the strongest part of the film, but when it needs to get a laugh we can, we spend a lot more time focusing of the romance of what could be the most important part of the film, seeing a human and alien fall in love, which does help us dive into the sci-fi side of the film, which sees an alien cult look to learn from the Earth.

Settings – The film is set in Croydon, we get the punk clubs, full of noise and chaos, while the aliens live in a house, which lets them design it in their own style, which makes them see just how big the universe could be.


Scene of the Movie – Zan sings.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The comedy isn’t the strongest.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun romance story that shows us just how the eyes of people can be opened from a chance meeting, we have great performances from Elle Fanning and Alex Sharp along with a love story that lives through the ages.

Overall: Enjoyable.

Jun 14 2020

Audio Guide (2020) Short Film Review

Director: Chris Elena

Writer: Lee Zachariah (Screenplay)

Starring: Emma Wright, Nyx Calder

Plot: A young woman is told the secrets of the world through an art gallery issued audio guide.

Runtime: 14 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Thought Provoking

Story: Audio Guide starts as Audrey Walker (Wright) is attending an art gallery, along with an audio guide that gives the information on each piece of art, only to learn the guide has the ability to tell people’s life stories, leaving her to want to know more about people and even question the bigger questions in life.

Thoughts on Audio Guide

Final Thoughts – Audio Guide brings us one of the most thought provoking films you will see, if you could learn somebody’s life story of somebody, the truth about history and even willing to learn your own future. When it comes to short films, the biggest question, is always going to be, could this become a full-feature, the answer here would be yes, easily and become one of the more fascinating movies of the year. The movie does do something clever, by having everything, but the audio being in silent in how Audrey goes about her day, letting actress Emma Wright use her reaction visualize her feelings to each story she learns. Audio Guide is one of the best ideas in a movie you will see this year, one that offers a deeper discussion about life.

Overall: Must Watch Short Film.