Tag: 2014

#140RVW

Now that’s more like it. Truly lives up to title; amazing. Still too long & not particularly original, but few missteps; very well executed.

What’s more:

From all of the previews and trailers, this looked awesome. But then I started hearing negative buzz on it and got nervous and downgraded my expectations. (I partially blame this on the curious decision to release the film several weeks early in England. No reflection on England, of course, I just still don’t get why they did this. I’m a big believer in same day release worldwide.) Anyway, this may have worked to my advantage, as I was pleasantly surprised by just how good this movie was. I don’t care what reviews you’ve read – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a great movie.

I’m frankly a bit stunned by the poor response the movie has gotten. I’m beginning to see a trend in opinions on recent genre movies of the past five years, though. It seems to come down to whether you liked the Star Trek reboots or not. I have found myself on the opposite side of opinions with people who disliked the new Trek movies. It seems as though you’re either in the Zack Snyder camp or the J.J. Abrams camp. I don’t know what this means, but I’m going to have to give it some more thought. I loved Star Trek Into Darkness and hated Man of Steel, and I’m finding a lot of people splitting on those two films. Just an observation.

Back to the movie. If you read my review of The Amazing Spider-Man, you’ll know that I found it mostly enjoyable but mostly an unmemorable and unnecessary reboot. Fast forward two years and I found this one worlds better, even though a lot of the same criticisms are probably valid. It’s far too long, it isn’t hugely original, it does suffer a bit from superhero fatigue, the CGI is excessive and the endless action scenes lack any physical or emotional weight as a result. These criticisms could and probably should be leveled at virtually every action picture of the past 10 years.

So what else is wrong? Let’s get all the bad stuff out of the way first:

• Paul Giamatti is completely wasted in this. It feels like he’s in the picture for about four seconds. Strictly sequel-bait. It would have been better to have him be an uncredited cameo. (Of course, the only reason Rhino isn’t counted among the stupidest Marvel villains is that they have decades of bigger mistakes, so less Rhino isn’t problematic for me.)
• Makes the same “too many characters” mistake that all of these movies make, going back to at least Batman Returns, possibly longer.
• If you didn’t like the leads in the first movie they aren’t going to win you over now.
• There is an excessive amount of time spent on the whole “I don’t have a dad” angst. This would have been the best place to edit.
• The product placement is so excessive it that my ticket should have been subsidized.
• There is a character named Dr. Ashley Kafka that is so unbelievably over the top as a morally-deficient German scientist that it brought to mind nothing so much as John Glover’s role in Batman & Robin.
• By the way, Ashley Kafka in the comics is a woman, but they gave the part to a man for the film. This should give you some sense of how much representation females receive here.
• Faceless corporate bad guys; the next filmmaker who populates their movie with cold, mean-looking white guys in bespoke suits who talk about the effects on investors and stock prices should be made to do community service until they promise never to do it again.
• There are a few other things but this is a spoiler-free review.

Quite a damning list, no? So what was good about The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Well…

• The humor. This is the Spidey we’ve been waiting for. Finally the right balance of jokey irreverence and sarcasm, not just the occasional smart-ass remark. Good physical comedy and prop gags. Garfield is a good Peter Parker, but he’s a great Spider-Man.
• The suit. I didn’t dislike any of the suits that have been done before, but this is the closest to the comic yet. The big white eyes is absolutely the final piece to help enhance the Spidey personality and remind us all that this is supposed to be fun, not just a bunch of actiony-angst.
• The look of the film. ASM2 was shot on film instead of the Red digital cameras of the first film. I don’t know if this was the big difference or the change in DPs was, but it looks much better. And while the 3D is still gimmicky, I thought it was better.
• The moral dilemma of involving Gwen. Peter’s promise to Captain Stacy to stay away from his daughter seemed to have no weight in the first picture. Bringing back visions of the character to show Peter’s guilt and misgivings works well. That being said, the on again off again thing drags on.
• While the movie was too long, the pacing was just about right. Sure, it could have used a haircut, what movie couldn’t? But it moved along at a good clip – for the most part.
• I may be in the minority here, but I really liked Jamie Foxx’s Electro. Sure, the dialogue wasn’t very good – this isn’t Ibsen. But he provided an intensity that was expected and a vulnerability that was not. His coming out scene in Times Square is great because you really feel his hurt and that things could have gone another way.
• The Electro effects are surprisingly good. I thought the character design was questionable from the early stills and previews, but it works well in the film.
• Dane DeHaan is a good choice as privileged yet neglected Harry Osbourne. His descent is more believable than most villains.
• Sally Field takes it up a notch as May and she and Garfield have some nice scenes and create a relationship that is much more believable than in the first film.
• I preferred the Hans Zimmer score to that of James Horner’s score for ASM1.
• J. Jonah Jameson does not appear on film, but he and the Daily Bugle are a presence. Yes. I hope they bring back J.K. Simmons…
• Plenty of Easter eggs and teasers for future films.
• There are a few other things but this is a spoiler-free review.

Oddities:

• Big changes in the final cut; I may be wrong, but it seemed as if more than 50% of the spoken lines in the various trailers were missing from the final film. I wonder how much rearranging went on in the editing booth.
• Mid-credits scene. There isn’t one. Instead there is a confusingly scattered scene from the new X-Men movie. It’s really jarring. You’re watching the credits and wondering what cool little stinger you’re going to get and then BAM – you’re dropped right into the middle of a scene in the Vietnam War with no preamble, just instant action – and then it’s over just as fast. It’s not a trailer, it’s not a sneak peek. It’s like the projectionist just accidentally loaded the movie playing in the theater next to you halfway through and then noticed their mistake. It’s bizarre and confusing. It makes you think they’re hinting at a Spidey/X-Men crossover, which they’re not. So why is it there? I found out later that it was a concession Sony made to rival studio Fox to advertise the picture for free in exchange for letting director Marc Webb do ASM2 before fulfilling his previous contract with Fox. Are you kidding me? I’m calling shenanigans…

Could it have been better? Yeah, probably. These things generally could be. But this is a very good movie. It isn’t going to crack the top 5 comic-book movie list or anything, but I really enjoyed ASM2 and I think you will too, if you let yourself.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: C (6 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

 

Main Cast	Andrew Garfield Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Emma Stone Gwen Stacy, Jamie Foxx Electro/Max Dillon, Paul Giamatti Aleksei Sytsevich
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 02 May 2014 UTC
Director	Marc Webb
Genres	Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Plot	Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of supervillains against him, impacting on his life.
Poster
Runtime	142
Tagline	No more secrets.
Writers	Alex Kurtzman (screenplay) &, Roberto Orci (screenplay) …
Year	2014

#140RVW

So good. Very different from the first film, due mostly to the modern setting. Both are excellent for different reasons. Highly recommended.

What’s more:

Captain America: The First Avenger was probably my favorite of the Avengers movies. A large part of why I enjoyed it so much was that it was a period piece. Not only was this wonderfully unique and refreshing, it was extremely important in order to view this character properly – by seeing him in his element.

Cap isn’t always the easiest superhero to get behind. He was created for a very specific purpose: to reflect the changing national mood as the American public began to support the country entering the second World War that was developing in Europe. It was a patriot and sound business creation, and was so firmly tied to the time that the comic was shelved soon after the war ended. Over the years, he has continued to endure with varying degrees of success, often tied to the country’s outlook and tastes. Cap quite simply has often been out of step with time.

So the plan to set the first movie in WWII and then bring him forward to the modern day was perfect. But now he’s got to work in the modern world – something that hasn’t always been successful with the character. The Avengers film did a good job of establishing that those traits of leadership and courage are timeless and that “With everything that’s happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned.”

Steve Rogers adjustment to today’s world continues in Winter Soldier, as he is increasingly disillusioned by the atmosphere at SHIELD. He has insulated himself in their mission as he once was able to do with the US Army, but is becoming aware that his blind faith and commitment to following orders is no longer justified.

Winter Soldier is less a superhero movie and more an action thriller with its roots in the 1970’s conspiracy films. They even bring Robert Redford in, as that is somewhat his métier. Can Cap commit to a “trust no one” approach?

One of the best things about the film is seeing Rogers develop actual human connections, both with teammate Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow and newcomer Sam Wilson / Falcon. Black Widow is always a great character to spend time with, and she works particularly well here as her background and entire outlook on life is so different than that of Rogers.

But it is the relationship with Wilson that is the most special, because at heart Steve Rogers is first, a soldier. One of the best aspects of his character is that even though he is clearly a superhero, he never stops identifying himself as part of the team and just another soldier. His care and understanding of the soldiers surrounding him is always much more instinctual than his behavior in SHIELD, and having Wilson’s story of loss affect him is entirely in keeping with his character. Wilson is a great character, and having a strong black soldier serving his compatriots at a VA hospital gives the movie a grounding in reality that is most welcome. The wings are cool, too.

As for the titular Winter Soldier, my job writing a spoiler-free review is made easier by the fact that Marvel elected to identify him in the trailers as Steve Rogers’ boyhood friend Bucky Barnes, believed killed in the first movie. Frankly, I wish they hadn’t done so. I don’t think they gained anything by not keeping it as a surprise. Comic readers already knew but it might have been a twist for the uninitiated in the audience to get the twist at the same time Cap does.

The character is massively underwritten, and that’s a shame. Everything you get is great, there’s just not quite enough. Although it was a long movie, I gladly would have sat for another ten minutes to have Barnes get a few scenes.

There are also a bunch of characters from the comics that only fans will recognize, and maybe not even then. (If you dress named villains as uncostumed soldiers, how are we supposed to know that they are more important than “mercenary bad guy 3”?)

The acting is good. I don’t really know what more to say than that.

The film was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who wrote the first one, as well as the last Thor movie. It’s good stuff. Not particularly funny, and honestly I wish it was less so. Several times a big action piece would conclude and I’d expectantly wait for the “funny” quip one of the heroes would deliver. Enough of that crap – it’s cheap.

Winter Soldier was directed by Anthony & Joe Russo, who will also direct the next one, and they’re kind of an odd choice in my mind. They’re primarily comedy guys, and tv comedy at that. Arrested Development, Community, Happy Endings, that sort of really funny tv series. I have no idea how they got the gig, but they do a great job.

Visually, the movie is excellent. Great use of practical effects, and a couple of phenomenal chases. I saw it in 3D last night, which I don’t always go for; it was a good conversion. I actually enjoyed it more than most of the live-action 3D films I’ve seen.

Captain America is back, and that’s a good thing. Go see it.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: C (4 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

Main Cast	Chris Evans Steve Rogers/Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Robert Redford Alexander Pierce
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 04 Apr 2014 UTC
Director	Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Genres	Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Plot	Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier.
Poster
Runtime	136
Tagline	In heroes we trust.
Writers	Christopher Markus (screenplay) &, Stephen McFeely (screenplay) …
Year	2014