Review of the movie Captain America

Okay, let's get this off the bat first:  Yes, Captain America was worth seeing in the theaters.  :-)

Overall, it was a fun ride, and definitely a comic book feel to the story.  I really enjoyed it.  You sense a "but" coming, don't you?  Well ...  maybe that's coming.  ;-)

But first, the obligatory

***WARNING!***

Possible spoilers ahead!  If you haven't seen the movie Captain America and don't want what's in it spoiled for you, then STOP READING NOW!  You have been warned!

First, let me say that I loved the 1940's scenery.  It was gorgeous!  It was probably my favorite part of the movie.  Also, it was a refreshing change to see a movie that didn't eventually devolve into anti-Americanism; something that I feared would happen in a movie titled "Captain America", in which a Hollywood director might feel the need to add the obligatory anti-American jab just so that he didn't lose cred with his fellow anti-American colleagues in the film industry. 

Well, it was indeed respectful of the era! And good for them! It was also interesting to see Tony Stark's (aka Iron Man, of course) dad in the movie. Oh, you know that they had to tie in CA to Iron Man! LOL  Anyway, I really enjoyed the way they told Cap's story, and I also appreciated the fact that they didn't make his sidekick Bucky a teenager.  While it may make a good story in the 1940s, no self-respecting superhero would ever put a child or teenager in the kind of danger that being X superhero's sidekick would bring.  Remember, some of these supervillains are downright evil, and they'd think nothing of torturing or killing kids, especially if they know they are X superhero's sidekick!

Really, the only reason a superhero would take on a teenage sidekick is for themselves, and not for the sidekick.  But if a given superhero needs the ego boost that having an adoring sidekick brings, then they shouldn't be in the hero business.  Bit I digress...

All in all, I think the movie was great, and overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I give CA a 9.  It would have gone as high as 9.5, but the use of the 3D was totally unnecessary, and thus it earns a demerit from me, as all movies do when it's made 3D solely for the purpose of leeching out more money from us moviewatchers.  See, this is why I generally refuse to go see movies when they are in the theater. 

However, there is a little bitty hope that I could tack that .5 back on, and it wholly depends on what they do with Cap in the next movie with him.  Before I continue, consider the fact that when Marvel Comics first de-iced Cap, it was a mere 20 years after WWII.  While there were certainly quite a bit of social, technological, and many other changes over the course of the 20 years, it's nothing like the kinds of changes that have occurred from 1945 to 2011, which is when Cap was de-iced in the movie!

That has to be taken into account.  That is, they can't go all PC on Cap and have him accepting of all the changes that have come about since WWII.  I'm not saying that they should make him some sort of racist, sexist and homophobe, but to consider that Cap is a product of his age, and coming to terms with all that has changed in society is going to take a considerable amount of time.  In other words, the writers SHOULD explore his attitudes in such a way that doesn't intentionally make him look bad or ugly, but that should still be uncomfortable. 

For example, he can reflect that women in the 40s who dressed like the women he sees in the 21st century were usually called prostitutes.  Given time, he can adjust to the changes, especially in the way that women and minorities have progressed, and he can even say something along the lines that "It's good to see more and more people sharing in the American Dream." 

The writers also might make mention of Isaiah Bradley, another Captain America of the 1940s, and reflect on how the government had engaged in ethically and morally questionable research into creating the super soldier formula.  It would also be a legitimate way for the director to get his anti-American dig into the movie.  I may be conservative, but I was as shocked as anyone when the Tuskegee syphilis experiment became publicly known.  We should all be reminded of the limits of what our government should and shouldn't do, and mentioning Isaiah Bradley can be a very good way of doing that.

If the movie writers do indeed include my ideas and suggestions, then my friends, you will witness the very first time I changed one of my movie ratings!  And believe you me, I will be very glad to change it!  Even if they do make the next movie in 3 effin' D!

Coming soon: New blog banner! Also, have you seen the new Thor movie?

Well... it's on the current temporary blog banner, and it's also the title of this particular blog post.   So...

...do I really need to repeat myself a third time?  LOL

I promise you guys, you'll love the new blog banner!  :-D

In other news, did you guys get your free comics on Saturday? 

And did you go check out the new Thor movie?  I didn't go see it because you all know I hate to pay for movies if they turn out to be crappy, and that's especially so if it's in 3-D!  Why in the world would a crappy movie be any better if it's in 3-D?  

Anyway, so far I've heard mixed messages on Thor.  What about you guys that have gone to see it?  Is it worth my hard-earned superhero money, or should I go beat up the movie producers? 

Adrianne Palicki as the new Wonder Woman? Hmm...

I've been asked over the weekend about what I thought of the news that Adrianne Palicki will be playing Wonder Woman.

At this point, I'm going to wait before saying anything, because one, I want to see what Wonder Woman costume she is going to wear, and two, I want to see what the writers do with the story. Palicki herself is certainly the right height at 5-11 and she seems to be physically fit for the role. Time will tell, however, if she will be this generation's nerd goddess like Lynda Carter was back in her day.

Kick-Ass: Starting a new, not necessarily good, trend in movies?

Firstoff, I have not seen the movie Kick-Ass (which, apparently, did not do well this weekend). Mind you, this might be one of those times in which I go see a superhero movie while it is still in the theaters. You'll know if I do indeed end up doing that. :-D

However, I do have to wonder something, and it's related to the title of this blog entry above. Is Kick-Ass starting a new, and not exactly good, trend in presenting a pre-adolescent child delivering bloody violence, and then receiving bloody violence? It's the "receiving bloody violence" parts in particular that bothers me - in essence, it seems to be making child abuse into entertainment. Child abuse is never entertaining, and I wonder if the movie industry really wants to go down that road.

If, as Bill Clinton recently said, "word really matter", then does that apply to movies that seem almost glorify abuse to a child? I know the likely response: "It's just a movie!", and it's why I will be trying to give the movie a chance by going to see it in the theater, but I was a bit disturbed by some of the reviews that seem to make a big deal out of the child character, named "Hit Girl", saying "the C word" and in her bloody beatings of the bad guys. It sounded like that was the main reason to go see the movie.

Movie trends tend to start this way, with one movie trying to take movie-making "in a new direction", and if enough intellectual types slobber all over it enough as being "ground-breaking", then other movie makers will follow suit by making a movie that "pushes the envelope" some more. Well, now we come to this, in which a child is bloodied by an adult for the sake of entertainment. So my question is, do we really want to "go there"?

Regular blog readers know that I make no secret of my political conservatism, and no doubt because I just said that, new readers will say that I am being "uptight" and "advocating censorship" over a movie's rights to free expression, even though I said nothing of the kind. But rather than shoot the person who is just making an observation, I instead invite those of you who have actually seen the movie to tell me - with as must honesty as possible - if you truly believe that this movie does not try to make child abuse into movie entertainment.

Remember, I'm going to try to see this movie myself so that I can make my own determination of whether the violence against a child is justified for the story, or if it's a movie trying to take movie-making into a new, and not necessarily good, direction.

Just so that this is covered, if you have not seen the movie and don't want what's in the movie spoiled for you, then don't read any possible comments below! You have been warned!

What other superhero movies would I like to see made?

Okay, enough of the boobery of last week! LOL

Now to get back to comics! Whoohoooooo!!! Today we are going with a comics-related Q&A, and that Q is thus: "What superhero movie would I most like to see being made?"

Easy A: A superhero movie of me! Well, what did you expect?

However, if you want to know what superhero movie I would like to see BESIDES one of me, well then I would have to say Green Lantern, whether it's Hal Jordan, Alan Scott, or any of the other GLs. I just hope they can make the green light look cool and convincing!

Chris Evans to play Captain America!

Okay, I can accept Chris Evans playing Captain America in a movie. Oh yeah, baby....! :-D

Also, according to the article, it looks like several movies are planned with him, and also with Robert Downey Jr. aka Iron Man, and then the whole Avengers! Man, it's a great time to be a comics nerd - now and in the near future!

Review of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

Today is my review of the movie, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (SBPE) But first, the obligatory:

***WARNING!***

Possible spoilers ahead! If you haven't read the book or seen the movie Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and don't want it spoiled for you, then STOP READING NOW!

****You have been warned! ***

What I liked the most about SBPE is that my favorite busty superhero chick, Power Girl, makes her first appearance in an animated film. My only gripe about her appearance is the voice chosen for her. I think it was a little too high pitched and girlish for a character who is supposed to be an adult woman. Plus, given PG's reputation as someone who is brash, in SBPE, she almost sounded "Valley Girl". In short, I don't think her voice matched her character.

I also liked the fact that another busty superhero chick, Starfire, also made an appearance. This isn't the teen Starfire from the TV series, Teen Titans, but the adult Starfire from the comics. Unfortunately, she has no lines in the film, which is odd, given that she is known to be outspoken and emotional. Granted, this film was about Superman and Batman, but the right kinds of touches on these two ladies would have gone a long way to making the film better.

Anyway, having read the SBPE storyline when it had hit print some years back, I was curious as to how faithful the film would follow the storyline in the comics. In that, it was very faithful - and perhaps a tad TOO faithful. Granted, the producers of the movie were likely thinking of the annoying comic geeks that would point out EACH and EVERY example of how the film's storyline didn't follow the comic book's storyline, but such translations can be difficult. I think it would have been more important for the film to be entertaining rather than faithful to a familiar storyline.

As far as entertaining, it was just that: entertaining. And if I hadn't already read the comic book version of that storyline, then I probably would have enjoyed it more. What having read the book first did for me, though, was to demonstrate to me how much the film was trying to follow the comic book, and it was a bit distracting. Still, I must admit that it was awesome seeing Supes and Bats in action. That was the best part of the film.

However, there was one scene in the film that I think outdid the book, and it was the appearance of the Silver Banshee. In the book, her appearance is heard first before she is seen. She interrupts the conversation that Superman and Batman were having by belting them with one of her sonic screams. In the film, that scene was made even better by actually hearing the scream. It actually startled me a bit!

Overall, it was a very good movie; one definitely worth watching whether or not you read the book first. But like I said, I think it tried too hard to be faithful to the book, and it messed with its pacing. It's because of this that I can only give it an 8 on a scale in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb.

Green Lantern: First Flight review

Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corps have been making the rounds in recent years, and it's been a very fun ride following it all. For today's blog entry, I will review the recently released movie Green Lantern: First Flight (GLFF).

Overall, I very much enjoyed the movie. It was certainly entertaining and it was cool seeing all those Green Lanterns, and to see them use their rings. It also reinforced the Hal Jordan as a gung-ho jet jockey followed by being a gung-ho ring jockey. I guess the only problem with it is that it was rather predictable. So as to differentiate between Hal and the other GLs, I'm just going to say Hal from here on, because he was the main character anyway.

Unlike the previous 2009 DC release Wonder Woman, which had some unexpected plot twists and pleasant surprises, GL:FF basically followed a familiar formula of the gung-ho smartass learning a lesson in humility and re-dedicating himself afterwards to be a more open and sensitive man. I'm trying very hard to avoid using the word "formulaic" because that word generally has negative vibes, and like I said, it was still a very enjoyable movie. Because of its entertainment value, it doesn't deserve the label "formulaic".

I just wonder if this was rushed through production to get it to the market as quickly as possible, because I think the story could have used a little tweaking to work out the predictability and work in a good plot twist. In other words, I think such tweaking would have made a very good movie even better. I still recommend buying it, and I still give it an 8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb.

Sorry that this post is a day late. See you next week!

Review of Hancock

Over the weekend, I finally got to see the movie Hancock, which I had planned on seeing for awhile now.

I'll say one thing that the movie got right, and that's landings! When I first got my flight powers, landings were very difficult! I often left holes in concrete like Hancock did! The main thing is that the ground comes up so fast, and you have to adjust your eye/foot coordination to react accordingly. Fortunately during my learning curve I never killed anyone, and only once did I accidently injure someone with flying debris from one of my landings (he's okay). However, I did leave lots of property damage, which is why I had tried to keep my landings to open fields where I had room to tumble if I didn't land squarely. It's a good thing that my rough landings are now a thing of the past, but I couldn't help but laugh at Hancock's landings!

As for the movie, I enjoyed the first half of it very much, and I was close to giving it a great review, but the second half was like a whole other movie. Before I continue, let me add this:

WARNING!

Possible spoilers ahead! If you have not seen the movie and don't want the story revealed to you, STOP READING NOW!!! You have been warned!

I think that the movie could have actually left out Hancock's origins for a later sequel. I enjoyed the first half of the movie because you couldn't help but feel sorry for Hancock, because as far as he knew, he was the only one of his kind (superhuman, that is). Who wouldn't feel lonely? I think the movie could have kept to that without going into any origins for this time around. Instead, suddenly another super is introduced, and it turns out that they are the last two of their kind. No explanation is given as to how they got their powers, and it could have been explained that they didn't know how they got them (if you remember, in my "universe", superhumans are considered the next step on the evolutionary ladder).

But the introduction of the other super and going into origins made an odd and distracting disconnect to the story stream, because suddenly the story is taking off into a whole nother direction. It's like the producers didn't think the movie wasn't going to do well, so they decided to slap on its sequel just so that they get both taken care of at the same time. It's because of this odd disconnect that I have to give this movie a rating of 7.5 on a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb. I'd say it's worth watching at least one time, but after that you'll want to go onto another superhero movie.

See you next week!

Review of Wonder Woman

My first thought after watching Wonder Woman was that it should have been given its time in the theater. I think it could have done pretty well.

Most of the familiar elements of her origin story are in this, so much of it shouldn't be a surprise. However, this origin story also includes the warrior Amazon Artemis, who didn't come along in the Wonder Woman (WW) mythos until much later (early 1990's I think), when in the comic books she had temporarily assumed the role and the costume of WW when Diana had failed to live up to her expectations.

Overall, I think the story was well done, and I enjoyed the fact that this movie wasn't made into some sort of liberal feminist rah-rah flick about the power of womanhood and such. This story didn't need that - we already know that WW is a strong and powerful woman. Instead, it made use of a lot of humor, which I think helped keep the movie from taking itself too seriously.

For example, when the Amazons had Steve Trevor under the influence of the lasso of truth, he was compelled to admit certain things, such as what he meant when he said "crap". What I found funny is that the Amazons didn't know of the word "crap" in reference to excrement, but knew of the word "rack" in reference to a woman's breasts!

One interesting scene was when Diana had won the battle that gave her the right to be the ambassador to "man's world" and removed her helmet for her mother the queen to see. In the comic books of this scene, Hippolyta at first scolds her daughter for the deception, and then protests that she be the Amazonian ambassador. However, in the movie, Hippolyta simply hands her the attire as if Diana were any of the other Amazons.

In a way, portraying this scene in that way makes sense. I can imagine Hippolyta internally feeling a sort of maternal pride in seeing that it was her daughter who won the event. Not much later, she admits to Artemis that she wasn't going to be able to prevent her daughter from leaving for much longer. Maybe she realized that her daughter wanted to spread her wings.

Another pleasant surprise is the depiction of what happens when super women are struck. They go flying into walls and buildings and such like the men would. Don't misinterpret this as me saying that I want the depiction of violence against women to be glorified, but rather I'm saying that I'm glad the writers understood that we super women take on damage - and most times a lot of it - in our super battles with men. This is one area in which a liberal feminist take on this scene would have gone overboard in glorifying the strength of womanhood without giving any credible representation of the fact that, when we get hit, it hurts!

It's actually in such times that super women demonstrate their heroism the most. Just as among regular humans the average man is stronger than the average woman, it's also true for superhuman strength men and women. The strongest super strength woman (it's not me, by the way) is just barely average when compared to the super strength men. Pitting the strongest super woman against the strongest super man is a mismatch, big time. Like regular women, we don't bulk up like men do, so we don't get nearly as strong as they do. When super men strike us, we go flying, and when we hit walls or buildings, it hurts.

But some of these super women will not let this discrepancy in super strength stop them from battling super strength men. Folks, considering what these women are up against in such battles, they are brave and heroic beyond measure. They have to be faster and smarter, and they have to take advantage of the fact that most super strength men take too much faith and stock in their super strength to always bail them out. Taking down that first super strength man is the sort of confidence builder that will help that super woman for the rest of her superhero career. A liberal feminist representation of such a battle would rob all the glory of what such women go through getting that first takedown.

But I digress. This is supposed to be a movie review, after all. :-)

Like the super women in my "universe", WW goes flying into walls and buildings when struck. But she comes back to fight some more, and she presses on until the battle is won. She comes away bloodied and bruised, but victorious. There's other aspects of this movie I can touch on, but I think I'll save that for another time when I can discuss it more in a topic about how super women are presented in the movies. Those other aspects deserve a more focused blog entry, so I'll do just that. I hope you'll understand why I am cutting my review a little short, but some of the other things I want to discuss deserve more discussion than what a mere movie review can do.

On a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I give the WW movie a 9, largely based on its entertainment value. I enjoyed it that much.

Review of The Dark Knight

Today - finally! - is my review of The Dark Knight. One quick note before I post my review:

***Spoilers ahead!***

If you have not seen this movie and do not want to know what happens in it - STOP READING NOW! You have been warned!

Okay, now on to my review!

I found the movie, The Dark Knight, to be entertaining on several levels. For one, Batman had to deal with copycat vigilantes. I found that very interesting. I mean, if Batman can take the law into his own hands, why not others? And why should you trust a masked stranger just because he calls himself a superhero? This is part of the reason why in my “universe”, the federal gov’t formed the superhero team that is sanctioned by them – so that the general public knows which costumed “hero” it can trust to be living out the role generally defined as a “superhero” (hmm. That might be worthy of a separate blog entry. I’ll work on that).

Next is the fact that Batman had in the Joker someone he couldn’t figure out when it came to his motivations and his next move. I always wondered what the Joker had on Batman in that he constantly evaded capture by him. Unlike other criminals, Batman, more often than not, is unable to know what the Joker plans to do next, so all of Batman’s knowledge of human nature and motivations as well as that of criminal motivations do little to help him here. The only way Batman was able to finally get the Joker was to think like him. In the process, Batman embraced chaos by sacrificing his own reputation as a “good guy” in Gotham City.

I often have to get into the heads of those I catch as well, so knowledge of human nature is indispensable in my line of work. This means a very good working knowledge of human psychology; as well as broken down into male and female psychology, because – surprise, surprise – men and women think and act differently. For men, it’s easy to distract them with my revealing costume while I take them down. That's why it's designed the way it is. Men can be so utterly simple sometimes.

For women, many of them wrestle with self-doubt – even those that can throw train engines across town – so it’s a matter of working on their psyche as I’m exchanging punches with them. If you’re not female, then I can’t really explain the fragile female ego thing in a way you'd understand, but it explains a lot of why many women do a lot of the dumb things that they do – especially in regards to the kind of men they choose to get involved with. But that’s a whole ‘nother subject entirely, and I’ve digressed long enough from my review of Batman!

Then there’s the sacrifices made by the various characters. Both Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent lost their love interest (who happened to be the same woman). Gotham City lost many citizens and public servants, including the police commissioner. Harvey Dent lost his sanity. Batman lost the trust that Gotham City had in him. And so on. All this chaos, caused by one madman.

But isn’t that how it usually is? I realize that I’m risking someone citing Godwin’s Law here, but the best example of what one madman can cause was Adolf Hitler. Hitler, though, was motivated by power and anger, while the Joker seemed to be interested in chaos for chaos’ sake. Thus, Batman’s dilemma of trying to figure out what the Joker planned to do next when the Joker didn’t know what he planned to do next.

What I found most interesting in the movie was the part towards the end when Batman captured the Joker and had him suspended upside down. The Joker knew that Batman wouldn't drop him, despite all that he had done. At the same time, the Joker said he couldn't kill Batman. The Joker's explanation was, "We complete each other." I'm guessing he means in the Yin and Yang sense, in that Batman represents order and the Joker represented chaos, and not in the "I can't quit you" sense of Heath Ledger's character in another movie, Brokeback Mountain.

Isn't that curious? The Joker citing a philosophy in which order is a part of, to a person who embraces a touch of chaos by playing a vigilante role. What I'm saying is, their roles of chaos/order are not clean and complete, but rather, they have some overlap. Still, their differences are stark enough to pretty much qualify as being on opposite sides of the law (even though they both operate outside it! Arrrgghh!!!).

So at the end, in order to help keep hope alive in Gotham City, Batman accepts the role of being responsible for the death of Harvey Dent (even though he wasn't) in order to give Dent a hero's farewell funeral, since he was a very visible opponent of the crime and corruption in Gotham. At the end of the movie, Commissioner Gordon declares Batman an outlaw and smashes the Batsignal, and Batman must now play the role of - well, a vigilante! LOL He's just not going to have the city's blessing anymore.

Watching that movie made me think of my own role in society. I suppose there is a duality involved when I fight bad guys and gals. They are often chaotic and out of control, and I help bring order into their lives. Most of the time, that involves violence towards them. I suppose in a sense, I need them as well. Otherwise, what would I do with all these powers? I believe I've said before that I am living my dream. Being a superhero is what I've always wanted ever since I was a little girl, so when I got my powers, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

And yet, I suppose that me and the villains I fight are indeed in a sort of macabre dance. But what am I supposed to do - let them run free when I have a means of stopping them? I have to dance that dance, or lives could perish, so dance I must. Fortunately, doing what I must do happens to be exactly what I want to do, so I feel that I'm one of the luckiest people on Earth having what I have to do to be what I want to do anyway. Most of the time, what we want and what we need are polar opposites.

Isn't it cool how a movie helped bring a lot of focus into what I do in my life? That's one of the marks of a great movie.

So on a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I rank The Dark Knight as a 9. I was that impressed with it, and I highly recommend it.

Have a great weekend, and see you Tuesday!

Upcoming animated Wonder Woman movie!

I'm so reviewing this movie once it comes out!

(uh, after I've given my review of The Dark Knight, that is... Still coming, folks.)



By the way, congrats to Heath Ledger on the Oscar win for playing the Joker! I wish he had lived to receive the statue himself.... (:-(

My new favorite superhero movie: The Dark Knight

Finally, FINALLY got to watch The Dark Knight! Seeing as how this has been a crazy week, I'm going to put off my review of the movie until Saturday. THEN maybe next week I can get back on track with my usual M-W-F schedule. :-P

By the way, just so you have an idea on what I thought of the movie, it's now my favorite superhero movie. :-D