Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As we near the end of Phase II in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron as the final two installment before beginning Phase III, Captain America: The Winter Soldier adds tons of new paths for the movies in Phase III. It gives you an insight into what Iron Man 4, Ant-Man, Thor 3, a possible Hulk with Mark Ruffalo, and most of all, Captain America 3 might have to offer. It presents tons of potential, which Marvel can take advantage of or just tie off easily. Before I talk about that and really get into some spoilers, let me say a few words about the movie.

The Winter Soldier was one of Marvel’s best movies since 2008. It had a little bit of everything that you want from a quality movie: good acting, some laughs, some tears, some nail-biting, some jaw dropping action scenes, a reliable soundtrack, some amazing effects and scenery, and some plot twists that kept you intrigued. It brought you some heroes you know and love and some new ones as well. It also introduced some anti-heroes, some villains, some super-villains (you could argue) and as I mentioned before, contributed a ton to the Marvel movie-verse.

Image source

Overall, it lacked the romantic connection that the first Captain America created between Peggy and Cap. This is personal preference, but I care about story and I love a good romance. Therefore, what they did in Captain America 1 really worked well for me. I know this because it made me want a relationship between the two even though they never really had it. Sure, in House of M, they got married but they later divorced. That wasn’t satisfying and the closure with Peggy in this movie was as lively as a piece of cardboard, for me. He had cut all ties, she acted like she moved on, and I was not happy! But that’s a total aside, I can’t believe I went into so much depth about that so let me just cut that off now! (You can comment if you want to know how I feel about that whole situation.)

SPOILER ALERT

Now for some spoilers, so turn away, or read even closer. The movie was filled with references to characters in the Marvel universe. Rumlow, the guy who was roasted in the end (but alive) is arguably the Cap’s most consistent super-villain. As Crossbones, he is Red Skull’s henchmen and he is the person who assassinated the Captain in Marvel’s Civil War. You get the idea he’ll make a comeback since they showed his battered body… alive. Also, there is a lot more to Batroc the Leaper than the movie shows. I loved the casting of my favorite mixed martial artist, GSP, as the role. He is sort of a funny villain as he has fought everyone with his huge ego and sense of honor, leaping around ridiculously and always getting beaten. He’s great.

GSP and Cap (Image source)

When Hydra was listing all their threats, there were a few names that appeared but one stood out. Bruce Banner, Anthony Stark, Maria Hill… Steven Strange. OH YEAH! Doctor Strange was mentioned so they have to bring him in soon! I think he might help the team out in Phase III when they finally go to take on the villain of the whole movie-verse (in my opinion), Thanos. Looking forward to that. Also, for those of you who saw it and don’t know who Agent 13 is… she is Sharon Carter, Peggy Carter’s “niece” and Cap’s main love interest, period. (There is hope for the Cap/Chris Evans in this movie-verse!)

But let’s get to the real good stuff, the endings! One shows that Nick Fury has burned the secret stash of SHIELD and will chase Hydra members. (SHIELD really always comes back in the comics, so yeah.) The Winter Soldier checks out his exhibit in the Smithsonian… BUCKY! (We need him to take Cap’s place when he dies!) Cap is going with Falcon to find Bucky. Natasha is going to find herself a new identity. Agent Hill is working for Stark. Sharon is in the CIA. Oh wait, that’s all the boring stuff. Here is the good stuff!

Image source

Baron Strucker, a Hydra big boss, acknowledges that SHIELD and Hydra are no longer powerful, basically. But he is! He has Loki’s Staff that was given to him by Thanos. (Strucker, don’t steal anything from Thanos… maybe he is working for him now!) But even more amazingly, and this was one of the best parts of the whole movie, he has Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Quicksilver, I think, is going to be in Days of Future Past. I don’t know what that means since X-Men hasn’t (unfortunately) been included in the Marvel movie-verse. And more importantly, Scarlet Witch is sort of awesome so between her and Dr. Strange being introduced, that’s just great.

END OF SPOILERS

So all in all, I think most casual movie-goers, Marvel nerds, and film critics will find enough points of greatness in this film to say it was worth the trip. And while I did not love the story, since they teased me with Cap/Peggy in the first one so much, it had enough extra laughs and references to make it worthwhile. Go see it! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

BONUS PUPPY PIC

On a walk

May142013

Hungry’s Movie Reviews: Iron Man 3

Last Sunday, a few days after the grand opening, we decided to add a few extra dollars to the nearly $175 mil opening weekend that Iron Man 3 boasted by seeing it in 3D. Luckily it was an early showing at Century Boulder so it only ran us about $11 a ticket. This review is a week late and it may prove to be better that way because it will contain spoilers. I repeat… SPOILERS follow. I will try to save them for the end and give another warning before they appear if you want to continue reading.

Marvel has done a good job lately creating The Avengers. Both DC and Marvel have gone through countless reboots of characters throughout all of the versions of their movies. Within the past decade Eric Bana, Edward Norton, and Mark Ruffalo have all appeared as Hulk in major motion pictures. The X-Men have been consistent in casting but the only good movie has been First Class. The latest versions of Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man all have my seal of approval. Also, in my opinion, The Avengers is Marvel’s best representation to date. I think I’ll save all this for another post as I continue to Iron Man 3.

Robert Downey Jr. has done an incredible job as Tony Stark and he is the reason that this series is so good. I would not have enjoyed any of the movies in the trilogy if not for him. The soundtrack is as bad as every other Marvel movie soundtrack and stories have not been up to par. The same holds true for this third film although I enjoyed the story the most with the exception of the predictable and disappointing ending. The rest of the movie was entertaining and engaging. I recommend it for anyone looking for a pre-Summer blockbuster and a good old time. Here comes the spoilers and my personal nerdy issues.

The changes made to Aldrich Killian and The Mandarin made for a good movie, but they could have made this trilogy so much better by doing the following. If you noticed in the first movie, there is a terrorist group ran by “The Mandarin” known as “The Ten Rings.” The Mandarin is Iron Man’s arch-nemesis and one of the super-villains of the Marvel universe. He is a highly skilled martial artist and intellectual being that has ten rings of power from an ancient civilization that grants him powers. Each of the ten rings gives a power and you can look those up if you care or don’t know them. Let’s say it would make for quite a fight scene on the big screen but they decided to throw The Mandarin away like he never existed in the comics.

Furthermore, Killian never was injected with Extremis. He helped develop it with Dr. Maya Hansen but the real enemy in that story was Mallen. Mallen was injected and later fought with Iron Man in some brutal fights before finally being blasted to death by repulsors to the head. Killian committed suicide sitting at his computer because of the monster he created. They essentially combined those two characters in this movie. It’s not a huge deal because no one read Earth 616 but this is how the trilogy would have been amazing. The second movie was so bad I stopped watching it. Maybe I’ll give it a second chance. Nevertheless, keep the first movie as is with the ties to the Mandarin. Next, make the third movie into the second and scrap Mickey Rourke. Lastly, bring Mandarin back in the third movie as an actual villain. You can keep the Ben Kingsley being an actor on drugs and everything, but then have him stumble across the ten rings and actually want to take over the universe. Okay, that’s enough ranting and maybe they can take me up on that idea for a reboot or a third Avengers movie.

All in all the movie was well worth the money and I look forward to Iron Man’s return in the upcoming Avengers 2. Dream to be a superhero and workout like them to be really hungry and fit!

Aug292012

TOBI REVEALED! SHONEN JUMP RELEASE SUMMARY

For any of our great followers who do not read manga, especially Shonen Jump, I would honestly advise you to stop reading now and wait for one of our normal posts within the next twenty four hours. For anyone else, follower or not, that has an interest in Naruto, Bleach, and/or One Piece, and is currently up to date on the Japanese releases of those mangas, you might want to keep reading.

I had to write about this as I just finished a few pages from this week’s Japanese release of Weekly Shonen Jump (I’m still waiting for Toriko to be scanned and eventually translated). And with that, I am going to start with the biggest news; this was one of the most obvious/anti-climatic missed opportunities in the history of manga. You have a character, Tobi, who is arguably the largest antagonist in one of the largest and most popular series in history. For years, or what has felt like years, Kishimoto has been stringing us behind the identity of this masked villain who has always behaved differently from your typical main bad-guy. Now, as soon as his name was revealed to be Tobi, all of us super-fans immediately tried to figure out the importance of his name, and with the release of the Kakashi Gaiden arc, no one’s name showed more promise than Uchiha Obito. OBITO. TOBI. It might not be a perfect match, but it’s close enough when you have these types of reveals happen all the time, i.e. A Song of Ice and Fire (I won’t say who or when).

Now, as the series developed it seemed far too obvious that it was Obito to a point that everyone figured Kishimoto would never let the fans easily figure out who it was. Some other clues, the Sharingan was the opposite of Kakashi’s, the ability to know and use Uchiha abilities, and the motive. Sure, Obito wasn’t evil, he wasn’t overly ambitious, but he was mysterious. The Kakashi gaiden arc was short and fans could make up their own opinions about Obito. Although it might have seemed like he was jealous of Kakashi because of Rin’s feelings for him, he asked Rin to transplate his eye into Kakashi. Was Obito plotting some project to take over the world as a small child? I don’t think so but Kishimoto might prove me wrong in the upcoming weeks. There was no way Obito could have expected to survive the cave in that crushed half his body when he was really only capable of using basic Sharingan techniques and fire-based jutsu. We saw him die, or at least we thought we did. Somehow, perhaps with the help of a random Orochimaru or someone else that could corrupt his mind and use his body as a surviving member of the Uchiha clan, as they would later be slaughtered, helped him get to where he is now.

As the flashbacks in this week’s issue show, it seems Obito was a weaker willed Naruto that had a bad break with the cave-in. Team Minato mirrored Team 7, and Obito mirrored Naruto with the exception of that hidden fire and will to overcome everything and be confident even if the abilities aren’t there. Surely, the impact of the Third Shinobi World War, led Obito who was crushed (mentally and physically) to develop Project Tsuki no me, in order to create a peaceful world void of the ability to truly live and be yourself in order to preserve life. Having witnessed and suffered from such a horrible event at a young age could have that sort of impact, and it seems his feelings for Kakashi have somewhat changed judging by the anger he has shown him recently. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking Obito’s side. He has obviously been corrupted and like many others before him, has created an evil plan no matter how he justifies it. I’m just curious how a weak genin could become so powerful, before having acquired the Rinnegan. Shame on Kishimoto to let us all be right and make it the obvious choice, although it leaves for many questions to be answered and will end up being better than making it a no name character from the war that witnessed the Kannabi Bridge destruction and picked Obito’s eye off of him after he was crushed. I personally cannot wait to see how he survived and if Rin, a medical ninja, had anything to do with it since she went missing after the war… Heck, maybe he’s just pissed Kakashi didn’t take care of Rin, which was his dying wish and now he has come back to wreak havoc for the girl he completely was in love with…

For a quick note, One Piece was more or less a filler. The most exciting event was Vergo’s confidence in his ability to crush the Mugiwara crew, Law, Smoker, the Samurai, etc… good luck to him….

And Bleach continues to be getting back to being amazing, despite Kenpachi getting destroyed in a fight we didn’t get to see…. no surprise there.

Captain Commander is pissed off and the troops are getting amped up so let’s see what happens in this huge clash of the titans. Hopefully, it won’t be like Yamamoto v Aizen.