Captain America: The First Avenger

Rating: 5/10

I couldn't find a more opportune instance to use the word mediocrity - because that is that Captain America: The First Avenger is. Could have been better but certainly could have been worse. 

The plot of this Marvel comic is Steve Rodgers, a man who has all the mental traits of true hero, lacks the physicality to ever be a true soldier. Rodger's ultimate desire is to honorable fight for his country in WWII, but is rejected time after time. By chance, Rodgers, finds himself in the middle of an experiment to create the perfect super soldier. Rodger's then is transformed from a 90 pound runt to a tall and    buff Captain America. To make a long story short, Captain America must fight the super advanced Nazi warriors led by the Red Skull, who is trying to take over the world.

Negatives:

I felt that for a big budget super hero flick that this movie would have a lot better visual effects. I felt the effects were just down right awful for most of the movie. Whenever Captain America leaps through the air I can't help but scream "FAKE!". There are so many times that there is a completely blatant green screen. The environments also felt so artificial and had an apparent "movie set" feel.

We all know that Captain America kicks butt, but I never really felt engaged in the action. It just seemed cheezy and boring. The only decent action sequence is the ending climactic battle. I also couldn't help but be annoyed that the bad guys looked so futuristic and dorky. It seemed extremely similar to G.I. Joe. I realize that the bad guys are supposed to be technically superior but it just didn't seem to work for me. 

I would have really loved for the feeling of the movie to be more gritty and real feeling. Even for a super hero movie, everything seemed cliched and over the top. 

Perhaps the most annoying thing about this movie is that the characters are so fake. None of the characters emotions and behaviors feel authentic whatsoever. Another thing is that the protagonist seemed to have no conflicts, no all time low moments. I never felt like I needed to root for Captain America because he already had everything under control. There was no underdog feeling. No reason to root for the hero to overcome anything. Once Steve Rodgers was turned to Captain America, it was like no problem from that point on.

Positives: ???

Aside from all the things I didn't like, it wasn't too painful to sit through. There was a good action scene at the end. 

I can't say anything notable about this movie stuck out for me.

But I am excited to see how the Avengers will turn out.

Overview:

This is definitely a dvd rental. I would see it if you are a comic book fan and if you want to see the Avengers coming out in 2012. This was definitely not one of my favorite comic book movies.

Transformers 3

Transformers Rating: 7/10

Transformers 3 is another classic Michael Bay flick. Explosions, Hot girl, and more Explosions! I don't think you can critique a Transformers movie on the same credentials you can with another film because - let's face it - you came to see robots fight and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. So the criteria for this movie is going to be how epic the action sequences are, how hot the girl is, how engaging it is, and how well it mixes action, sex appeal, and humor.

The plot of this movie couldn't possibly be more original......alien robots taking over. So Sam Witwicky basically finds out that Megatron and the decepticons have a plan to teleport all of Cybertron right on to planet Earth. Sam ends up gathering up all of his old allies to unite to fight the bad robots

Negatives:

The thing that bugs me most is that there are some subplots that are completely useless and therefore extend the movie about an hour longer than it should have been. In the middle of the movie it gets really confusing and you will question why any of it is important. So the whole mid section of the movie gets really dull.

One of the things I liked best from the first Transformers movie is the witty humor. Dark of the Moon is either hit or miss with the laughs. Occasionally there will be a funny line but other times the humor comes off as very forced. Also Michael Bay tries to play off the Hangover with one of the characters which, in my opinion, gets a little bit dry and annoying.

My final complaint about Dark of the Moon is that, even though they got an even hotter Megan Fox replacement, they didn't really play up on her character as much as I would have liked - and the entire male population at that. Other than the opening sequence there isn't a lot showing her off like they did with Megan Fox, so I was a little let down there.

Positives:

Every Transformers movie had those epic robot action fights, but none went as big and epic as Dark of the Moon. Transformers 3 takes the whole autobots vs. decepticons to a whole new extreme. In this movie there was some of the most awesome action scenes I have ever seen. Although the action in the first and a half is scarce, there were two awesome scenes with a tremor-like decepticon and a sweet car chase. 

Now in my eyes, the movie really doesn't even get started until the last hour. Basically New York is over run with decepticons and Sam and the Autobots fight their way through. I can't say how awesome it was. The cg was out of this world. There were some of the best action sequences I have ever seen. My favorite part of the entire movie was when Optimus came out from the rumble and kicked so much ass! I just wanted to stand up and cheer.

Overview:

Yes this movie's plot is dumb. Yes the acting is not the best. Yes some characters are annoying. Yes some lines are stupid. Yes it is too long. But, it is worth going. It has some mindblowing action and visual effects. When I think of a Transformers movie I think of an exciting and fun experience and that's what Dark of the Moon was.



Rating: 6.7/10

So Falling Skies has been a heavily advertised and anticipated post alien-invasion series on TNT. Basically, aliens come and completely wipe out the majority of the human population. The aliens are hard to kill and come with superior weaponry. We don't really know why the aliens are on earth other than they like to strap on harasses to children which then enables the aliens to control them. The main character is a former college history professor, Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) who, along with his 2 sons, fights among the resisting humans named the 2nd Massachusetts. Mason ends up as second-in-command leader and is not highly thought of amongst the other more experienced military commanders. Mason and his eldest son continually get caught up in trying to save Mason's 3rd and harnessed son from the aliens. As Mason leads small missions in alien territory something always doesn't go as planned, which then introduces a new set of characters and/or adds problems to the already enormous fiasco of an alien invasion.

Negatives:

Even though this series is high quality as far as production goes, I feel it gets much too boring much too often. When there is a very rare scene of intensity or action it is very short lived. It lacks that sci-fi action and creativity that everyone wants.When I am watching the action scenes I don't feel as engrossed as I should. I just don't think the mood that is trying to be set quite comes off the way it should. In addition, the majority of the plot seems to be just a bunch of dialogue that is often not very engaging, so I find it gets very dull at some points.

Another thing that I feel isn't very well done is the character relationships. I don't quite feel as emotionally invested in them and their problems as I would like to be, but based on the previews for upcoming episodes relationships may evolve into something more interesting.

My own personal opinion is that the soundtrack and the whole mood of the show should be more mysterious and darker.

Positives:

Even if the action fails to enthrall you as much as it should, the cg is pretty good as far as tv goes and production is top quality. I haven't seen shows that have pulled off the special effects that this one has. The aliens are well animated and come off as scary. The environment feels real and accurate. The aliens are really interesting and you get excited when they get their small little part in every episode.

This show seems to accurately display some of the likely problems humanity would encounter in a post-apocalyptic setting. I think they do a good job with setting up all the roles within the nomadic community. The acting up to this point has also been pretty solid and believable besides a "cheeze-ball line" every once in a while.

After only 2 episodes there are a lot of questions that are unanswered, and I am interested in the show enough to want to continue watching and find out.

Overview:

I think Falling Skies has a lot of potential and places it could go. There isn't another show out their right now on basic cable that matches the production of this one. Right now I would say The Walking Dead is hands down better than this. I am still going to continue to watch Falling Skies, but I really hope they can incorporate more into every episode and pick up the intensity and character relationships. It has a lot of things about that you want to like but sometimes it is hard for you to get into it as much as you want. It needs to be a better job of bringing together all the stuff we want and getting rid of the rest.

Rating: 8/10

From crazy Nazi mutants to winged strippers, no mind control will be needed to convince you to enjoy X-Men: First Class.

With a very stylized approach, director Mathew Vaughn (Kickass) is able to revive the X-Men franchise. It seems as if this new X-Men flick is able to fill in the gaps that its predecessors left gaping open. Vaughn incorporated a mixture of tactful film-making approaches that made First Class a new, satisfying, and fresh experience, whereas in X-Men Origins: Wolverine you left feeling as if you missed something.

First Class introduces you to the lives of Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. It begins with the back story of Erik's life in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany terrorized by the gruesome leader Sebastian Shaw whom also is a fellow mutant. Attention is then brought over to Manchester introducing the psychic Charles Xavier and the discovery of Raven Darkholme (Mystique). While Charles completes his work at his university with Raven by his side, Erik begins on a quest to seek revenge against Shaw for killing his mother. As an agent, Moira MacTaggert, finds herself in the middle of a communist crisis involving Shaw and other mutants, so she seeks out the help of Charles Xavier. On their mission to stop Shaw they find themselves crossing paths with the violently motivated Erik. All of the parties unite to stop Shaw and his followers from starting WWIII between the Soviets and U.S.

As the plot progresses Charles and Erik begin band together the start of the "X-Men" with a group of young mutants, including the young "Beast" to help fight against Shaw. The mutants undergo training at Charle's mansion in Manchester, and we begin to see the beginnings of a relationship between Raven and Erik.

The "X-Men" have a final showdown with Shaw and his fellow mutant followers in a satisfying and epic grand finale.

Negatives:

Although Oscar Nominated, Jennifer Lawrence seemed to fall flat in her role as Raven/Mystique. She is completely lacks any provocativeness as the character and comes off as too immature. Some of the lines from the other mutants seems to cheezy and forced at times also.

The main thing from this movie that bothers me is the ridiculous mutant training and preparation. It is completely full of "cheeziness". I know it is a period of comic opportunity but the whole sequence just comes off as ridiculous.

Positives:

This X-Men ends up as my second favorite of the series, just behind X2. Even being that it is a risky prequel (which never seem to be successes) it answered all the questions, showed us complete and meaningful realtionships between numerous characters, and took us on a ride that had humor, betrayl, and most importantly---ACTION!

Its had roles that were beautifully acted especially by Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw. and Michael Fassbender as Erik/Magneto. Nothing from the film seemed forced just to gain ooh's and awws for the audience's sake. It had gritty and smooth scenes that were directed out to perfection including the opening Nazi sequence (perhaps the best scene). There were some excellent dark and "meaty" scenes that left you satisfied.

This X-Men was dark when it needed to be, fast and furious when it was called for, and added that pinch of comic relief when needed. I felt as if this film was meaningful unlike the 3rd and 4th X-Men films. Vaughn did an excellent job of creating a smooth, slick, and grity feel for the whole film. It wasn't all just meaningless bombs and explosions. If you are an X-Men fan or a comic book fan at all then this is a MUST SEE!