Captain America The Winter Soldier Film Review

Captain America The Winter Soldier is the sequel to Captain America The First Avenger and The Avengers. Captain America The Winter Soldier is the final film before The Avengers Age Of Ultron and after Thor The Dark World and Iron Man 3, it has a lot to live up to. Especially since some fans felt Captain America The First Avenger was the weakest of the Avenger films.Not only that a percentage of fans felt he was one of the less interesting characters in The Avengers. Well I've seen it and I'm here to let you know how Captain America The Winter Soldier fares against all those other superhero movies out there. Read on Agents.

The Winter Soldier, terrifying. 

It's been an undisclosed amount of time since The Avengers and Steve is still learning to acclimate to his new surroundings. He's taken up residence in Washington DC(bit on the nose don't you think) and he's now working for S.H.I.E.L.D as a full time agent. As missions go down he begins to question Nick Fury and what he is doing for S.H.I.E.L.D, as he questions everything around him and lamenting for everything he has lost, his friends, his world, his innocence. Then Nick gets attacked and Steve is implemented in the conspiracy around that whole attack so from that point on he is on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D with Black Widow and Falcon in tow to help him sift through all the conspiracy crap and to find out who the mysterious Winter Soldier is and what his connection is to Captain America.

With Captain America The Winter Soldier a lot of promises were made. We were given a storyline which involved a character that is a fan favourite to every Marvel comic book reader, the Winter Soldier and he is fantastic. Every scene that he is in is just elevated from your run of the mill action sequence to something deep, dark and visceral. He is legitimately threatening, at times depressing and an all round fantastic live action interpretation of the Winter Soldier. What is unfortunate is that, in my opinion, he is not in it enough and is also not given nearly enough lines. The dynamic between Steve and new guy Sam Wilson aka Falcon is handled well, both are men who have come back from war and don't know how to adjust to the "softer" side of life and there is a real sense of brotherhood here as Sam looks to Steve as both a symbol that needs to be protected and as a friend who needs help. Unfortunately this cannot be said for the "relationship" between Steve and Natasha, shoehorned into this budding friendship is a kind of weird attraction that just does not work because Scarlett Johansson is not great in this film. She is without a doubt one of the weaker elements of an almost perfect movie and on that note I'll mention the other weak link, Robert Redford who plays Alexander Pierce a character who is pretty forgettable. He is just there to put a face to the enemy and what dignified face it is but that's really it if you're looking for more interesting villains look elsewhere.

The story is pretty deep and raises so many interesting questions, for example I honestly don't know how Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D will go on now and I really like that. The ramifications of this movie will be felt throughout the entire series of films dare I say even more so than any other Marvel movie. With Stephen Strange mentioned, the status quo of the Marvel Universe up in the air and an end credits scene that sets up The Avengers Age Of Ultron perfectly this is my favourite Marvel sequel and in my opinion the best Marvel sequel. With intense, focused action and depth that wasn't in the last movie Captain America The Winter Soldier is a fantastic movie for everyone.

Rating: 4/5

Breaking News from Marvel: Michael Douglas is Hank Pym

Michael Douglas has stepped is now a Superhero. Hell he is now an Avenger.
The two-time Academy Award-winning actor will join director Edgar Wright and Paul Rudd in Marvel's "Ant-Man," hitting theaters July 31, 2015.

"With Hank Pym's rich history in the Marvel Universe, we knew we needed an actor capable of bringing the weight and stature to the role that the character deserves," said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. "We felt incredibly relieved when Michael Douglas agreed to step into the part with the charm and fortitude he brings to every character he inhabits, and couldn't be more excited to see what he will do to bring Hank Pym to life."

This is Michael Douglas, I know I'm as surprised as you.

The legendary actor, who earned an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role for his iconic portrayal of Gordon Gecko in "Wall Street," has also starred in numerous modern classics including "Basic Instinct," "Fatal Attraction," "The Game," "Wonder Boys," "Traffic" and many more. In addition to acting, Douglas has also served as Producer and Executive Producer on a number of films including "Romancing the Stone," John Carpenter's "Starman" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," for which he also won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Most recently, Douglas earned a Golden Globe and his first Primetime Emmy Award for his role as legendary entertainer Liberace in the HBO original film "Behind the Candelabra."

Douglas will star as Hank Pym, who first appeared in TALES TO ASTONISH #27 (Jan. 1962), with Rudd starring as Scott Lang in the film. Who saw this coming, not me, I am in absolute shock. Comment below and let us know what you think about this earth shattering news.

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/movies/2014/1/13/21746/michael_douglas_to_star_as_hank_pym_in_marvels_ant-man#ixzz2qJN8g5Qu

Saving Mr Banks Film Review

She's having none of it.

A new film, a new review. Welcome to the Saving Mr Banks film review. Knowing the history of this story I was interested in seeing whether Disney would stay true to the integrity of the history of the Mary Poppins character and the trouble they had bringing her to the big screen and how disappointed author Pamela
P.L. Travers was with the end result. This film was going to be an interesting experience for many reasons but I'll get to that later.

Pamela Travers(Emma Thompson) or Mrs. Travers to her friends is a difficult woman. For the past 20 years she has been dogged by Walt Disney to sell him the rights to her beloved character Mary Poppins. She believes that he will ruin her character, turn her into fluff as a has with Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan. Unfortunately with a lack of funds Mrs. Travers has to entertain the notion that she must hand over this treasured piece of fiction to ensure she won't lose everything.

Saving Mr Banks is filled with wonderful performances that give us an insight into what happened all those years ago. Spliced in between the events with Walt Disney(Tom Hanks) and Mrs. Travers is a heart-warming story about the relationship between Pamela and her father(Colin Farrell) who is clearly the figure in her life who inspired her. As we go through the film we learn all about the genesis of Mary Poppins, Mrs. Travers's love for her father and the trouble Walt Disney had trying to translate the magic of the book to the big screen.

I dug Saving Mr Banks, as I said before there is a lot going for this film talent-wise. Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell and Ruth Wilson to name but a few. The character I was interested the most in the development was surprisingly Colin Farrell's character (Travers Robert Goff). Every time Colin Farrell wasn't on-screen I found myself wishing he was. He gave an absolutely stunning performance as the complex and broken father to Pamela. With the other characters it was the usual affair, actors pushing for Oscars because they know this is a film built for the Oscar season. Tom Hanks is his usual affable self and Emma Thompson plays an uptight, proper English lady. The film is one of the more well rounded Oscar contenders that I have seen recently,look at my Gravity review to see what I think of other films that are going for Oscars next year.
Rating; 3.5/5

Fozen Movie review.

Disney 's latest outing in animation is the tale of two princesses, an ice seller, his reindeer and a suicidal snowman. I know, it is an intriguing mix of characters. I hadn't watched any trailers or looked at any press details so I was going into this blind. I was excited to see Disney's latest 3D animation. Before I go into my review of Frozen I would like to give an honourable mention to the short which was shown before Frozen. I won't spoil any of the details for you but I will say this, the level of technology behind animation is now at a staggering point. The short is without a doubt the best animated short I have seen in a long time. The skill involved in the animation process behind this short is astounding. Now on to the review of Frozen.

When two kids  meet.

There are two Princesses of Arendelle: Elsa (Idina Menzel), the soon-to-be Queen, and Anna (Kristen Bell). Elsa has the ability to create snow and ice, yet has been suppressing these powers after a traumatic childhood incident involving her sister. After letting her cryokinetic powers get out of hand during her coronation, she goes into hiding, only for her emotions to trigger a magical, eternal winter that freezes the entire kingdom. The arrogant Duke of Weselton (Alan Tudyk) plots to turn everyone against "the monster" Elsa for his own fiendish needs.

Anna, a fearless and daring optimist, must journey with mountain man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and reindeer sidekick Sven in an epic journey, encountering mystical trolls, a comical snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad), Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn in a race to find Elsa, save their kingdom from eternal winter, and make things right before it's too late.

What I really enjoyed about Frozen was the characters, Anna is a treat. She's a wonderful protagonist who you just root for throughout the entire film. She has an infectious charm and a fantastic bubbly attitude. Elsa is interesting, as both a protagonist and antagonist she is given an unusual duel role in the film which is refreshing to see. They are given a wonderful supporting cast which compliments them wonderfully. The songs are your usual Disney affair so they are naturally very enjoyable, the humour however is another thing to take note of as it is fantastic, Olaf the snowman gets all the best lines, there are a few exceptions but for the most part the suicidal snowman gets the lion's share. Unfortunately there are some hiccups in Frozen.

Olaf and Sven.

The villain of the film feels rushed, uninteresting and stops this film from being a 5/5 and you feel a little cheated that you never find out about the source of Anna's powers, it just seems like yes there is magic and that's all you're getting. Apart from these small issues though Frozen is a strong film. One of Disney's best in recent years, with the introduction of not one but two Disney princesses and a whole host of wonderful characters this is the definitive Christmas film to bring all the family to, even if the film is set in July.

Rating;4/5