Captain America: The Winter Soldier Movie Review

Summer has come early.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and sees Chris Evans reprise his role as "cap" for the third time, in a movie which is a sequel to the Avengers and the first movie Captain America: The First Avenger. The film follows Captain America who's trying to settle into his new life in the 21st Century, who is working various top secret missions for SHIELD. However, when an unlikely enemy threatens the security of the world, it's up to the cap and Black Widow to save the world.

The film may surprise you in that it isn't actually a comic book action flick but is rather at its strongest when it is a spy/espionage movie. The Winter Soldier is the best movie to come out this year by far and is probably the best movie within this cinematic universe which isn't the Avengers.

The fact that the writers and directors decided to make this film a little bit differently by making an espionage movie is just genius in my opinion. Not only is it new territory in a universe which continues to expand, but the plot is so dynamic and so interesting. I was so caught up in this story and when certain reveals happened which evolved the plot, I was genuinely surprised by them.

It is also probably the smartest written Avengers "set-up" movie again down to a plot which plays on the idea that Captain America should really think about what characters to trust. The film brilliantly brings in elements from the first Captain America movie, has a few small nods to the Avengers and also has a lot of plot elements which drastically change the Marvel universe.

I wanted this movie to invigorate my passion for Captain America because while I liked him, I thought that Iron Man and Hulk were the ones that really shone in the Avengers. Within 5 minutes of the film that passion was invigorated, during an incredible action sequence which sees him board a vessel full of pirates. As soon as he does, he literally kicks someone metres into the air and stealthily takes out the rest of them aboard this ship. Chris Evans, of course, kills it as Captain America.

And that ship-boarding sequence is one of many fantastic action sequences which I thought were just amazing. There's a car chase sequence, an elevator scene and of course the final action piece of the film which I thought were filmed expertly by the directors, as they really did a good job at putting you within the action as it is happening. Its a good looking movie.

I also loved what they did with the characters of Nick Fury and Black Widow, both played convincingly well by Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson. Both characters change sufficiently from the opening scene to end credits, meaning there is sufficient character development.

I won't finish the review by not talking about him; The Winter Soldier. The film sees Captain America try and adjust to modern life, development with Nick Fury and Black Widow, a plot that sees big reveals within the Marvel universe and sees numerous clever twists and turns, and on top of all that you have the Winter Soldier, the biggest badass in Marvel history. There I said it.

I loved how they used him as an important plot device because you actually do care about him. He really is one of my favourite aspects of the film.

If I have complaints then they're only minor ones. Once or twice the plot slows down from it's wicked pace and also I think that some characters were a little under used, particularly the Falcon. Anthony Mackie did a great job with him and I would love to see him in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

If I haven't already expressed how much I enjoyed and loved this movie already, I will now. The Winter Solider is fantastic, it's incredibly enjoyable and an impressively well made film. Go and see it, please:


Rating - A


1 sentence summary - Impressively filmed and cleverly written, The Winter Soldier is a great and enjoyable entry into Marvel's cinematic universe, and is probably one of the best.


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Need for Speed Movie Review

I'm sure you're expecting for me to write about how Need for Speed is an absolute "car crash" considering recent reviews for it. I won't say that, but I will say that it is a very interesting film to review...

Need for Speed is directed by Scott Waugh and stars Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul, who plays a character who's made out to be the perfect street racer. The film sees his character frame for an act of crime which he didn't commit, and when he is released from his prison cell he embarks on an across the country mission of revenge and redemption, with lots of fast cars along the way. There's a lot of cars in this movie, a lot of really awesome ones!

But if you're like me then you need more than dumb entertainment to get your money's worth. Unfortunately, Need for Speed doesn't quite work for me as there are a hell of a lot of things that I really dislike about it. The first issues is almost certainly the pacing, or lack of it. Too often the
movie centred around speed grinds to a screeching halt where we're forced to watch characters that we really don't care about.

What I will say though is Aaron Paul is a fantastic actor, evident from multiple top-bracket performances in Breaking Bad's 5 season run, and he makes the movie a hell of a lot better than it would have been. He has an exciting presence on screen and does well with the character and the material he does have in front of him. He makes the film more watchable than it merits.

The rest of the characters are incredibly unforgettable because you don't care about them and you can't relate to them one bit. They're either clichéd beyond belief or they're forced to regurgitate poorly written humour that left me cringing on multiple occasions.

Between the racing sequences the movie is incredibly boring. This is down to a mixture of multiple factors; mainly the stupidly slow pacing, the forgettable and unrelatable characters and screenplay which offers up the most bland, generic and watered down dialogue that's simply weak and unimaginative. If you're making a movie about a street-racing based video game, offer up some exciting dialogue and cool characters, not this.

The film isn't a complete train wreck when the race sequences are done. They're filmed well and are entertaining to behold. I was very impressed however when I found out that the car sequences were all authentic and real, with CGI taking a back seat for once. It really is nice to see a director create action set pieces and craft them by himself using his own inspiration.

Yet Need for Speed still feels unsatisfying. When we're not watching cars perform dumb and stupid flips and tricks that would never work in real life, we're forced to watch a considerable amount of water-down dialogue scenes which are only there to make Need for Speed a feature-length film. Plus I should probably mention that if you have OCD about a movie having to make 100% sense, I wouldn't recommend this movie because I swear there are more things which don't make sense than thing that actually do. No joke.

 If I'm honest, I would skip this one if you haven't already:


Rating - C-


1 sentence summary - A good lead and some brilliantly crafted car sequences give some credibility to a film which really could have been an abomination had it not had those things!


If I've put in any car related puns in there by accident, I apologise!

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Non Stop Movie Review

I think if I learned one thing from watching Non Stop it'd be that when next on a plane, I may as well just keep my phone switched off!

Non Stop is directed by Jaume Collet-Sera and sees him team up with Liam Neeson after the 2 had already collaborated to make Unknown, back in 2011. The film follows air marshal Bill Marks, a struggling alcoholic and father who receives text messages from an unknown person, claiming that if he doesn't receive 150 million dollars, someone on his aircraft will be killed every 20 minutes. While it would be easy to market Non Stop as an action movie it really isn't. It's more a "Whodunnit" type thriller, one that keeps you guessing until the big reveal in the third act.

As a thriller Non Stop works because it isn't actually obvious who the unknown person is at the start, which does allow a few welcome moments of surprise and suspense to happen. The film is a solid thriller, and has a lot of enjoyment attached to it.

This enjoyment starts with a typically brilliant performance by Liam Neeson. The man is perfect for movies like this because he plays up his character so well, plus is one of the most watchable actors in the world. He's enjoying filming the movie, and you enjoy watching him. His character, you can tell, is trying to be morally correct but he does have a dark side. He isn't the invincible hero or anything, he's slightly vulnerable whilst being a badass at the same time. It gives his character layers so you can actually care about him!

I really did feel the claustrophobia of the movie's setting (a plane), which was something that I wanted to feel. The supporting cast all support Neeson well. Incredibly talented Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o does well with what she has, which isn't a lot. During filming her abilities obviously weren't highlighted by the director. Had she done this after her fabulous and compelling work in 12 Years a Slave, she would have had more to do for sure and could show off her amazing talent.

The film is also fairly different in terms of the way its filmed. I was actually a fan of how we weren't forced to squint and look at the texts being sent on Neeson's phone screen, rather they appeared on to the big screen so we could clearly see them. That could be seen as slightly gimmicky, I chose not to and enjoyed it for what it was, which was stylistic and different.

However my issues with the film starts with the movies genre. The film is solidly good as a thriller, as said before. Yet when the big reveal happens we then have to watch a couple of action sequences and a plane crash sequence. I would have enjoyed them but the movie already established that it wasn't an all-out action film but a thriller, so for me they did seem out of place.

The ending is lacklustre and unfulfilling and to enjoy the film you really have to suspend reality for certain parts of this movie. This is mainly during the climax of each set of 20 minutes when the kills happen. The circumstances which lead up to the kills seem unrealistic because all of the factors that lead up to it have to work absolutely perfectly. I didn't buy them and that's all I will say.

But this is an enjoyable film with fun on offer if you can suspend your disbelief for things:


Rating - B-


1 sentence summary - There is lots of fun and thrills to be had, if you don't take everything too seriously!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

300: Rise of an Empire Movie Review

A very busy March sees us begin with a return to the movie franchise which makes grown men cry...

300: Rise of an Empire is directed by Noam Murro and is written by Frank Miller (author of the graphic novels) and Zach Snyder (director of 300). The film expands the narrative and universe of 2007's 300, taking place before, during and after the events of that film. We learn the origins of the "God King" Xerxes as well as the events which proceeded after Leonidas and the Spartans fought against the mighty Persian empire. Athenian warrior Themistokles must unite the states of Greece together in order to stop Xerxes and his enormous fleet.

Admittedly my expectations for this movie were low, and I think that that contributed to my final opinion of the film. While there are numerous things I didn't like about the film, I was still entertained by Rise of an Empire, in the guiltiest ways possible.

For a start the film isn't for everybody. If you like battles, screaming men and buckets full of blood, then your going to be a fan of this film no matter what! While the amount of blood spilled borders into excessive, it is admittedly still entertaining to watch a brutal Greek thrust is sword into the gullet of an unfortunate Persian.

The film did have my attention throughout and I found myself comfortable with the lore and backstory of the world the movie was taking place in. The film itself has a generally weak plot because other than the Persians and Athenians going to war with each other at sea, nothing else really happens! The narrative was also told through narration via a female voice, which for me was just a weak way for the writers to tell the story.

Sullivan Stapleton plays protagonist Themistokles in a perfectly acceptable way for this franchise and evidently had fun in his role. Eva Green plays Artemisia, commander of the Persian naval fleet, and obviously enjoys herself as well. However her performance does cross the line of being over the top. That's right, her performance is too over the top, and this is a 300 movie!!

The film is forgettable yet satisfying in a lot of ways and entertaining throughout. You walk into a 300 film to watch people fight and you are rewarded with that in this movie. Visually, the film retains the same style it's predecessor had, plus it utilised slow motion shots, obvious green screens and CGI blood in it's action sequences, of which there were plenty. While I said in my Legend of Hercules review that the slow motion was overused, it didn't bother me in 300 because 300 first used that technology. Also, the film is pretty much lifted off the pages of a graphic novel, so should look, sound and feel as if it has been lifted off those very pages.

The film's ending is still somewhat unsatisfying. I'd rather they finished the story in this movie instead of relying on box office funds to maybe finish it in another sequel.

To my surprise, 300: Rise of an Empire was strangely enjoyable. However, problems like a lack of connection to any of the main characters can not go unnoticed:


Rating - C+


1 sentence summary - Bloody, violent, over the top. It's flawed to hell but strangely satisfying!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

2014 Oscar Predictions by Matt Harrison

2013 was a great year for movies, with some tremendous filmmaking talent on display, particularly in the latter third of the year. While the Academy may have snubbed a lot of movies I loved personally (mainly Rush, Prisoners, Saving Mr Banks etc.) the list of nominees this year is pretty darn good. That being said, here is my predictions for who's going to win in all 24 categories.

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)


Best Actress in a Leading Role - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)


Best Supporting Actor - Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)


Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)


Best Director - Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)


Best Documentary Feature - The Act of Killing


Best Documentary Short - The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved my Life


Best Foreign Language Film - The Great Beauty


Best Live Action Short Film - The Voorman Problem


Best Animated Short Film - Get a Horse!


Best Animation - Frozen


Best Music Original Song - "Let it Go!" (Frozen)


Best Music Original Score - Gravity


Best Film Editing - 12 Years a Slave


Best Costume Design - American Hustle


Best Makeup & Hairstyling - Dallas Buyers Club


Best Production Design - The Great Gatsby


Best Cinematography - Gravity


Best Visual Effects - Gravity


Best Sound Editing - Gravity


Best Sound Mixing - Gravity


Best Adapted Screenplay - The Wolf of Wall Street


Best Original Screenplay - Her



and finally...


Best Picture - 12 Years a Slave



Some of those categories are really close, but I went with what I feel at this current moment in time. Anybody agree/disagree with my choices? If so please comment away.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the Oscars,
Matt