Captain America comes of age...

We've had the new trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier for a few days now.  In case you haven't seen it yet though, here it is...

You may notice the new outfit worn by Steve Rogers.  There was always going to be a certain amount of redesign going on for the new film.  Though for me it signifies something of a theme that I feel to be running through the trailer.

Think back to Captain America: The First Avenger with Rogers sporting the red, white and blue of his nation's flag.  Some found the film as a whole jingoistic, and whilst I'm one for finding patriotic chest beating in films nauseating (the flag against the building in The Amazing Spiderman being a prime example), if you can't do it in CAPTAIN AMERICA when can you?! 

Now back to The Winter Soldier trailer and Rogers' new outfit.  Gone are the patriotic colours, replaced by more muted, darker colours.  Only the silver star remaining across his chest.  We also have Robert Redford's character telling Rogers, "to build a better world, sometimes means tearing the old one down...and that makes enemies".  Immediately following this we cut to Nick Fury walking into a room.  This may well be a completely different scene, but add this together with several shots of Rogers looking pensive, thoughtful and uttering the line "I joined S.H.I.E.L.D to protect people" and it looks like you have Rogers considering who his enemies really are?  We know that Rogers had concerns with S.H.I.E.L.D and their development of Hydra weapons in Avengers Assemble, so we already have an element of distrust there.  Gone are the days of World War 2 when it was everyone vs. The Nazis.  The Winter Soldier I hope gives us chance to further explore the complex modern day world of technology and terrorism that Rogers now finds himself in.  A time when the enemy isn't so clearly defined.  All of this will ultimately bring to the fore the characteristic of Captain America that I love best.  He's just a man.  He remembers what it's like to be the little guy, and that's who he's trying to protect, regardless of who that puts him up against.

We haven't even said anything about The Winter Soldier himself yet!  It remains to be seen how true to the Winter Soldier storyline they keep.  The basic idea is straight forward enough to not necessarily need much tinkering with.  If you keep watching until the very end of the trailer, you'll see one thing's for certain.  The Winter Soldier is a bad ass.  In pursuit of The Winter Soldier, Captain America throws himself out of a window onto a rooftop.  He then follows it up with his signature shield throw, and The Winter Soldier simply turns round and catches it out of the air.

April 2014 can't come quick enough...

Pirates invade Hollywood...

...Only this is the kind of piracy that Hollywood, and the rest of us for that matter, won't mind seeing more of.

**Spoilers ahead**

It seems like a strange thing to say, but for those of you who have seen Captain Phillips, it's a sentiment I'm sure you'll agree with.

This is in no small part down to a truly magical performance from Tom Hanks.  Who once again shows us why he is one of Hollywood's greats.  The sequence at the end once Captain Phillips has been saved and is aboard the Navy ship is one of the most moving pieces of cinema I have seen for quite a while.  Add to it the way the medic is continually talking to him to keep him focused, it adds a visceral level of realism to proceedings.

This feeling of realism stood out from the very beginning with the distinct lack of title music and opening titles.  Follow this up with some Paul Greengrass signature close camera work, and a brilliant supporting cast alongside Tom Hanks, and I was immersed.

The real beauty of the film though, comes after the end credits.  It may be 15 minutes later, in the bar sharing a drink with friends.  Maybe it's an hour or two, after the drive home.  Sat on the sofa with a cup of tea and a biscuit.  For me it was the latter.  I was marvelling at the themes of the film, and how they changed and shifted from character to character.  Was it really possible to feel sorry for the pirates?

There's a point in the film when Captain Phillips, in a conversation with Muse, says, "we all got bosses".

This quote is one that got me thinking the most.  It's also one that signifies the films intention to not paint the Somali pirates with the 'axis of evil' brush.  Something that I think it does very well.  There are scenes on the Somali pirate boat, that with the addition of a big glass table some suits and ties, could take place in any number of corporate offices around the world.  The real evil in the film is the one we don't see.  Or the one you only hear on a radio, or a telephone, issuing commands.  Distantly disconnected from the situation and in relative comfort.  The Somali Warlord who isn't getting his hands dirty, or the commanding officer instructing the warship captain to take any means necessary to stop the pirate vessel from reaching the shore.  The film is full of people facing a morale struggle with choices that aren't their own.

Captain Phillips is a superb film.  Relevant and allegorical, with some brilliant acting.  I look forward to watching a film that contains a lead acting performance to threaten Tom Hanks for the Oscar.

Die Hard in The White House...

Or to use it's alternative title, White House Down.

For those of you concentrating, it may have been obvious from the very beginning.  I'm tempted to use the excuse that I was giving the film chance, in reality I was just enjoying myself.  When you get 30 to 40 minutes into the film however, if you hadn't already made the Die Hard connection, you get a big fat 'I'm just Die Hard set in the White House' slap in the face.

**If you haven't seen the film yet, spoilers lay ahead**

Let me set the scene for you.

A techno-geek by the name of Tyler is brought into the White House secure bunker by the bad guys.  Here he proceeds to get himself set up, opening up laptops, logging into systems, laying out a cup holding several lollipops (one of which he unwraps and puts into his mouth).  All the while getting giddy with excitement, much like a kid at Christmas.  A triumphant crescendo of well known classical music (when I say well known, I mean that I recognised it but couldn't tell you the name) volumes up in the background.

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you...

Hopefully for those of you who have now seen Die Hard in the White House, you will know which seen I am relating this to.

Even though the Die Hard link has now been made in my mind, my enjoyment of the film has not been diminished at all.  I am, however, now entering into a game of which White House Down character relates to which Die Hard character.  I came up with the following:

Let's get the most obvious one out of the way first.  Where would Die Hard be

without a variant shade of white vest clad Bruce Willis?

White House Down comes complete with Channing Tatum.  Don't worry,

although he starts off looking dapper in a suit.  He soon discards this for every

heroes favourite, the white vest.  What better way to single handedly take on a

group of highly trained paramilitary types?!

Next up we have our vision of Aryan perfection, fan favourite Karl.  His failed attempts

at killing McClane frequently reduced him to a gun toting rage.  Impervious to pain,

practically indestructible.

Our White House Down replica is Jason Clarke's 'Stenz'.  Equally tough, equally angry.

The only thing we're missing is a final hurrah whereby Stenz rises from the rubble of

the White House in one final attempt to kill Cale.

That brings us to Sgt. Al Powell, whose final act is to overcome his fear of firing his gun.

Thereby saving McClane and finally killing Karl.  His plucky, witting, and sometimes

heartfelt radio chatter keeps our hero going through some of his more difficult moments.

White House Down sees Sgt. Powell replaced by the glamorous Finnerty, played by Maggie

Gyllenhaal.  And whilst a radio is replaced by a satellite phone, you can expect the same

plucky, witty and sometimes heartfelt chatter.

Holly Gennero McClane, hostage who is then discovered to be our heroes significant

other.  Then dutifully used as bait to draw McClane into a trap.  Holly and John have a

frosty relationship at the beginning of the film to say the least.  But the events at Nakatomi

Plaza bring them back together.

....Surely you're starting to get the picture by now?!

Don't worry it doesn't stop there.  Die Hard's antagonist Hans Gruber, is replaced in White House Down by James Woods' Walker.  The villainous techno geek Theo seen in the video clip above is replaced by Tyler.  I'd even go as far as to say that limo driver Argyle...

(you know, the guy who spends all his time with the teddy bear?)

...is re imagined as Donnie the Guide.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I loved Die Hard.  So they could do far worse than to flatter such a great film.

They'll be no Oscars, but you'll enjoy it.

If it was good enough for The Avengers...

I'm a fan of Marvel, and have a great deal of love for what Disney, Marvel Studios and everyone involved has done in creating MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).  I'm also a fan of Joss Whedon.  I'd be lying if I said Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn't a part of my teenage years, and I love Firefly.  So imagine my excitement at the knowledge that these 2 loves were being brought together for Avengers Assemble.  Picture a kid at Christmas, then times it by a very large number.  As well as being an annoyance for Family, Friends and Colleagues, I kept a close eye on how much longer I would have to wait to see Avengers Assemble by using a countdown app on my phone.

So after watching the latest Iron Man 3 trailer (below, for any who haven't seen it yet),

I decided to fire up the old countdown app:

Because where would we be without Iron Man?  Undoubtedly the catalyst for the MCU as we know it today.  Marvel had had big screen outings in the past, as far back as Howard the Duck in 1986.  But even the more notable and recent entries, Spiderman, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, were insular at best, and only just palatable at worst.  The arrival of Iron Man in 2008 changed the landscape for Marvel completely.  Understandably there were things going on behind the scenes to help things along.  The creation of Marvel Studios new base of operations, the appointment of Kevin Feige, and the systematic recuperation of the rights to all it's now stable characters, among others.

For me, the fan, Iron Man was the signal of a new beginning.  A beginning that has now lead us to this, Iron Man 3 and the start of MCU Phase 2.  Let the count down begin.

p.s. since starting to write this post, the countdown is down to:

6 weeks, 5 days, 22 hours, 38 minutes, 15 seconds

Ant-Man just keeps getting better...

A lovely post appeared on my Twitter feed recently from @SciFiNow.  They'd found an article on IFC.com about Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

http://www.ifc.com/fix/2013/02/spirit-awards-mary-elizabeth-winstead-edgar-wright

Having worked together with Edgar Wright on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (as Ramona Flowers, pictured above), Mary Elizabeth Winstead expressed her desire to work with him again at a recent awards ceremony.  In particular when asked about his upcoming work on Ant-Man.

Now that Ant-Man is slated for a 2015 release as part of Marvel's 'Phase 3' and post Avengers 2, we're still a long way off getting anything like concrete casting at this point.  But with Marvel being hot property at the moment, they'll be no shortage of interest in the lead roles.  Knowing Winstead's name could be in the mix makes it all the more interesting.

I could see Mary Elizabeth Winstead as The Wasp, couldn't you?

Next on my wish list is Ultron....

If it ain't broke, don't fix it...

This is certainly the motto employed by the writers and director of Broken City starring Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe.

Wahlberg plays the part of Billy Taggart, ex Police Detective turned Private Eye, with Russell Crowe as Mayor Hostetler.

At the beginning of the movie we see Taggart up in court on a murder charge, having been involved in a shooting whilst trying to make an arrest.  Taggart has killed someone suspected of raping and murdering a 16 year old girl.  A technicality sees the suspect cleared of the charges, whilst everyone knows he was actually guilty.  The implication being that Taggart deliberately shot the man to see justice done.  Taggart himself is cleared of his charges, before being hauled into an office to meet with the Mayor and the Police Chief.  Here he is told that new evidence has come to light that will surely convict him.  The evidence can be made to disappear, but he has to resign.

After Taggart leaves the office we flash forward 7 years where he is now a Private Eye.  Struggling to make ends meet due to his good nature, he gets a call from the Mayor and is offered a large amount of money to follow the Mayor's Wife (played by Catherine Zeta Jones), as the Mayor suspects her of cheating.  As you can imagine, this is just a ploy for a far more sinister scheme that is being orchestrated by the Mayor against the backdrop of his re-election campaign.  The Mayor's Wife turns out not to be cheating, but trying to bring the Mayor down, with Taggart used as a pawn by the Mayor to prevent this from happening.

What ensues is some nice drama, suspense, with gunplay and scuffles.  In the end it boils down to a duel between Mark Wahlberg's and Russell Crowe's characters.  Both have hidden secrets and dirty hands, and when Crowe's Mayor tries using Taggart's skeleton in the closet against him, Taggart finds his shot at redemption by calling his bluff, sticking to his guns and taking the Mayor and himself down in the process.

It's pretty standard stuff as far as plot goes, complete with slow motion exit by a redeemed and triumphant Wahlberg at the end.  Good performances by the leads, and a good supporting turn by Zeta Jones make it above average and good entertainment.  If you're at a loss for what to go and see this week before the big blockbusters start to drop down, you won't go far wrong here.

Silver Lining and the Oscars...

With The Oscars done for 2013, I looked back on the winners and found no surprises, other than that of Best Actress. This year it went to Jennifer Lawrence, and up to that point my main knowledge of her came from The Hunger Games.  When initially offered the part of Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence said she needed several days to think about it. Even though she was a fan of The Hunger Games novels, the scope of the part and the project could potentially go on to effect her future career.  As we know, she took the part, and I must say that it definitely seemed a part that didn't quite sit comfortably with her on screen. It will be interesting to see if that changes in the next instalment, now having one under her belt.  As a result of that performance, I couldn't imagine her sinking her teeth into a role that went on to land her the Best Actress Academy Award.

I missed the initial run of The Silver Linings Playbook at the cinema.  It was a time when I was still suffering the effects of an awkward and unintentional 'man date' situation.  Myself and a friend went to see Ruby Sparks together, not really knowing what it was all about.  As the credits began to roll, we looked across at each other knowing exactly what the other was thinking. What we had seen could only be described as a date movie.  Because of this, and an inkling that Playbook could be another potential 'man date' situation in the offing, Playbook passed me by.

Luckily, due to it's Oscar success, it was brought back for a select few showings.  So off I went, making sure I didn't miss another opportunity.  I had to get over my initial frustration at my local cinema not putting any trailers in before hand (something I've only experienced once before), which lead to me missing Bradley Cooper's opening monologue.  Once I had done this, I knew from the start I was watching something that I wouldn't find entirely comfortable.  In part due to the brilliant performances by Lawrence (Tiffany) and Cooper (Pat), and in part because they are so well supported by the likes of Robert De Niro (Pat Snr.), Chris Tucker (Danny) and Jacki Weaver (Dolores).

Pat and Tiffany are both Bi Polar sufferers.  Pat begins that film in a mental institution, where he has admitted himself to avoid jail time for beating his wife's lover to within an inch of his life.  Tiffany has lost her husband, and subsequently started sleeping with everybody she can.  The mental problems suffered by the main characters are so well executed, and between them Cooper, De Niro and Weaver create a home that is so exquisitely dysfunctional that you can see where Bradley Cooper's Pat has come to suffer from his own demons in the way that he does.  Pat's then dogged refusal to believe that his relationship with his wife is over, and his and Tiffany's using of each other to get what they want, is played out well enough to make you wonder why this would ever be considered a romance of any kind.  So that in the end, I was so convinced that their happy ending wasn't going to happen that I found myself fighting the urge to shout at the screen in frustration.

I enjoyed the film that much that it left me wondering not whether Jennifer Lawrence was good enough for her Oscar, but whether her own amazing performance was verging on being swallowed up by the strength of the supporting cast.  If you haven't seen this film already, get in there while you can for this limited post Oscar run.  You won't regret it.