Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Dirs. Joe & Anthony Russo (2014)

The merry Marvel movie making machine chugs along as Phase 2 is fully underway. Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World scored at the box office as they capitalized on the runaway success of The Avengers, the third highest grossing film of all time. If you had told a comic book fan decades ago that Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America would be at the center of a billion dollar franchise, they would probably think you were crazier than Deadpool. Despite being integral parts of the Marvel Universe for nearly half a century, they were considered B-list characters while Spider-Man and the X-Men were the publisher's big sellers. The landscape of the comic book and movie industries has changed.

Captain America: The First Avenger wasn't as critically praised as some of Marvel Studios' other releases, but it stood out in the deluge of superhero movies thanks to a period setting and a strong nostalgic feel courtesy of director Joe Johnston, who also helmed the underrated Rocketeer. Since then, Captain America (Chris Evans) has been thawed from his icy slumber, joined the Avengers, and emerged victorious against an alien invasion. In The Winter Soldier, he still finds himself acclimating to a modern world where black and white has merged into shades of gray. After rescuing a freighter ship from a band of pirates, Cap is disgusted to learn that the vessel was a SHIELD installation covertly spying on other nations. He's even less pleased when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his superior Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) drop the bombshell of a new operation that will launch additional Helicarriers into a connected network of surveillance and devastating weaponry.

Cap's concerns are validated when Fury is attacked by a masked mercenary known as The Winter Soldier, who is revealed to be best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), left for dead after a raid on a HYDRA train. Barnes has been brainwashed by the secret organization that has infiltrated SHIELD at the highest levels. Hunted down by nearly every resource at SHIELD's disposal, Cap must rely on a skeleton crew of allies that includes Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), and pararescue trooper Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) aka The Falcon.

Marvel made a risky choice when they selected Joe and Anthony Russo as the directing team. The only substantial credits on the resume of the Brothers Russo were several episodes of Arrested Development and Community. Despite a background in sitcoms, the Russos excelled at creating a vibrant superhero film. Unfortunately, Winter Soldier suffers from an overreliance on shaky cam and rapid editing when it comes to hand to hand fight scenes. Luckily, the camera is allowed to breathe during many of the more elaborate set pieces and there are plenty of them. This time around, Captain America proves why he is a super-soldier during the opening prologue as he takes down a team of mercenaries before a showdown with MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre as Batroc the Leaper. Cap sends a man flying into the air with one kick while slinging his trademark shield off parts of the ship to knock out numerous opponents. He also fights a dozen HYDRA agents inside an elevator and single-handedly destroys a quinjet. Cap's supporting cast also gets their chance to shine with Black Widow kicking ass and the Falcon soaring through the sky with a winged jet pack. Mackie, by the way, is exceptionally charismatic.

Samuel L. Jackson gets more to do here than in past pictures, including an exhilarating car chase through the streets of Washington D.C. Even the use of technology has added to the cool factor with Fury driving an SUV with a heads-up display and automated driving system. There's also a face reveal that puts anything in Mission: Impossible to shame.

Make no mistake, Winter Soldier isn't a hollow series of explosions, there's a lot of heart and gravitas underneath all the CGI. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have imbued the film with the gritty nature of a 70's political thriller. The casting of Robert Redford from All the President's Men and 3 Days of the Condor will certainly attest to that. The geeks have truly won when you have Robert Redford in a Marvel movie saying, "Hail Hydra." Hot button topics like the war on terror, the use of drones, government surveillance of its citizens, and Edward Snowden have inspired the crux of the plot.

In the face of all this turmoil stands the unwavering integrity of Steve Rogers. It's refreshing to see a protagonist who is so earnest and filmmakers who do not shy away from those traits. This is a stark contrast to Warner Bros' attempt to darken the image of the Big Blue Boy Scout, Superman. Though there's an added dimension of humor to Cap through his banter with Widow and Falcon, Chris Evans has truly grown into the role of the super-soldier. The most heartbreaking moment where Cap visits the bedside of an elderly Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and you discover that she has Alzheimer's. Evans and Atwell are excellent in the scene and the CG used to age Atwell is utterly convincing, light years ahead of the shoddy make-up in Prometheus or J. Edgar. At the same time, producers have not forgotten this is a comic book movie. The story takes a turn for the bizarre when Cap and Widow find a hidden chamber containing an archaic computer system housing the consciousness of Arnim Zola (Toby Jones). Thanks to a little voice modulation and a cartoonish accent by Jones, the scene becomes a distinctive method to dump exposition.

Without a doubt, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the best film rolled out by Marvel in the second phase of their slate. It could easily be considered one of the best overall, right alongside Iron Man and The Avengers.

Rating: **** (*****)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Dir. Marc Webb (2014)

I was never against any attempt to reboot the Spider-Man movie franchise. The character has undergone dozens of creative changes since his creation in 1962. However, insufficient time had passed when Sony relaunched the series after Sam Raimi's attempt at Spider-Man 4 fell apart. The memories of Tobey Maguire in the red and blue tights were still fresh in our memories and the reasoning reeked of a desperate bid to keep the rights from reverting back to Marvel. The Amazing Spider-Man was met with mixed reviews, but scored over $750 million worldwide, more than enough to justify a sequel. Not that it mattered; the studio had already greenlit The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Spoilers ahead.

Spoilers Ahead.

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is set to graduate high school and has settled into his role as New York City's favorite webslinger. However, his relationship with girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) hits a bumpy road as Peter remembers her dying father's wish…that he stay away from Gwen to protect her from his enemies. Those enemies are coming out of the woodwork.

Meek Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) is an electrical engineer at OsCorp whose designs were stolen for use in the company's new power plant. He develops an obsession with Spider-Man that turns deadly when he falls into a vat of genetically modified electric eels. He becomes Electro, a being of pure electrical energy bent on revenge. Meanwhile, Peter's best friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to the Big Apple upon news of his father's impending death. Harry learns that he has inherited the same rare disease that has killed his dad and the only hope may lie in Spider-Man's blood. When he refuses to help, Harry is driven to take an experiment serum that mutates him into the Green Goblin.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has so much going for it and equally as much going against it. Many of the action sequences are surprisingly good showing that Marc Webb has grown into the role of a blockbuster director. The film opens in POV as we ride along with Spidey while he swings through the bustling metropolis of Manhattan. The IMAX 3D version feels just like a thrilling rollercoaster ride. This is followed by a fast-paced set piece in which our wall-crawling hero Aleksei Sytsevich aka The Rhino (Paul Giamatti), a Russian gangster who has stolen a shipment of plutonium from OsCorp. Here, Spider-Man is at his best as he breaks out an assortment of acrobatic moves and a steady string of quips. Despite being video game-y, Webb employs Matrix-style bullet time to simulate Spidey Sense as the world slows down while Spider-Man assesses the situation. It's best employed during Electro's attack on Times Square when he saves several citizens from being fried by electrified rails.

Yet, Webb's forte is clearly the smaller, more emotional character moments. These are the scenes where the actors are allowed to shine without being buried by make-up and CGI. While both films have their problems, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone remain beacons of brilliance. No knock on Maguire, but Garfield more closely resembles the Peter Parker of the comics in both body and spirit. He's got the lanky frame and the plucky, nerdy charm necessarily to bring Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's creation to life. Stone effortlessly plays Gwen as a strong and intelligent young woman. Garfield has fantastic chemistry with her and it probably helps that they are also a couple in real life. Their scenes together feel ripped out of a John Hughes movie, especially one in which Peter crosses the street through dangerous NYC traffic to speak with Gwen. There's also a funny bit when the two hide inside a closet, then point out how clichéd it is to hide inside a closet. And nobody told Sally Field she was in a comic book movie. She plays it straight as the doting Aunt May. Field's scenes with Garfield alternate between amusing (an argument about the laundry) and heartbreaking (discussing Peter's dead parents).

Unfortunately, these events are crushed underneath the weight of a bloated script credited to Jeff Pinkner (Lost, Fringe), James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), and the omnipresent duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Transformers). Critics complained about Batman Returns having too many villains way back in 1992. I imagine their heads would explode after viewing this sequel. Not only do we have Electro, the Green Goblin, and Rhino, there's also Colm Feore as a duplicitous OsCorp exec, B.J. Novak as Alistair Smythe the future creator of the Spider Slayers, Felicity Jones as Felicia Hardy aka The Black Cat, and Michael Massee as the mysterious Gustav Fiers aka The Gentleman. The filmmakers have also laid the groundwork for future appearances by Dr. Octopus, The Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, Venom. Studios such as Sony, Fox, and WB have fallen in love with the way Marvel has created their shared universe. On the other hand, they lack the patience and the skill to properly build one of their own. They are so enamored with the idea of a Sinister Six movie that they've forgotten about the present. The sequel suffers from the same lack of focus as its predecessor. Subplots are left dangling and footage shown in previous trailers isn't found anywhere in the final cut.

The most egregious example is Shailene Woodley who filmed scenes as Mary Jane Watson only to land on the cutting room floor. Aunt May working as a nurse to put Peter through college never goes anywhere while Jones, Novak, and Chris Cooper in his lone scene as Norman Osborn could have easily been chopped off. The corporate backstabbing angle has already been done in Raimi's Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, not to mention Jamie Foxx's transformation into Electro is painfully reminiscent of Jim Carrey's Riddler in Batman Forever. Therein lays another problem, characters that go from 0 to 100 with no logic or consistency. Garfield and DeHaan are great young actors, but the script doesn't do enough to establish them as best friends. Harry goes insane fairly quickly and that disease seems to hit him remarkably fast. Nobody bothers to ask why Harry doesn't utilize the same procedures his father used to extend his life. And why does Peter Parker, a scientific genius, still need to watch instructional YouTube videos about how batteries work?

At its heart, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a comic book movie and a certain level of silliness is inherent, but that doesn't excuse how dangerously close the picture skirted into camp. We could have done away with Marton Csokas as the cartoonish Dr. Kafka, Peter seeing the ghost of Captain Stacy (Denis Leary) or Electro playing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with Tesla coils. These goofy elements work to undermine the genuine moments. Too bad the subplots involving Peter's parents (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) had been edited out as they were in the first Amazing Spider-Man. The sequel opens with a poorly done plane crash depicting Richard and Mary Parker's deaths. It all leads to Peter discovering a secret subway car deep within a hidden underground tunnel containing evidence of OsCorp's dirty deeds. The big revelation is Richard Parker encoded OsCorp's spiders with his own DNA. Thus, Peter was destined to become Spider-Man, which blatantly goes against the very core of the character as an everyman suddenly thrust into the role of a superhero.

And was it absolutely necessary to kill Gwen Stacy? The Death of Gwen Stacy is one of the most heralded storylines in comic book history due to several factors. It was released at a time when killing off major characters was rare as compared to today where publishers use death as a marketing ploy to boost sales numbers. Secondly, when characters were killed back then, they didn't return a year later. For eight years, Gwen was a major part of the Spider-Man mythos and her death still resonates to this day. As wonderful as Emma Stone is, her Gwen hasn't had the opportunity to embed in our consciousness the same way. To their credit, the filmmakers did an excellent job in portraying her death; her body hitting the bottom of the clock tower drew an audible gasp from my audience. However, there was really nothing to be gained by paying lip service to the comic book audience. Why go back to Mary Jane when Stone's Gwen was well on her way to being far more interesting?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 repeats the exact same mistakes that torpedoed Spider-Man 3, an overstuffed script with too many subplots and too many characters.

Rating: ** (*****)

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons – Dirs. Stephen Chow & Derek Kok (2013)

Stephen Chow isn't as familiar to Western audiences as contemporaries like Jackie Chan and Jet Li. However, to fans of Asian cinema, his unique blend of martial arts and gonzo humor has separated him from the pack. He came close to playing Kato in the Seth Rogen production of The Green Hornet, but probably felt stymied by working within the Hollywood system. Outside of China, Chow's two biggest successes have been as the writer, director, producer, and star of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is Chow's first film since 2008's CJ7, a saccharine take on E.T. that wasn't as critically praised. Journey is definitely a return to form though hardcore followers may be disappointed that Chow has decided to stay behind the camera. Journey is stepped in Chinese folklore and based on the 16^th century novel, which has been adapted many times for the stage and screen. In fact, it had inspired one of Chow's earliest hits, the two part A Chinese Odyssey.

Journey follows a young Buddhist monk named Tang Sanzang (Wen Zhang) as he travels the Chinese countryside hunting down demons. Tang believes these demons were once good, but turned malevolent because of the cruelties of humanity. The compassionate monk believes he can turn them away from the dark side by singing nursery rhymes. Rival demon hunter Duan (Shu Qi) takes a different approach. Duan uses her martial arts skills and a pair of mystical weapons. One of them is a golden bracelet called the Infinite Flying Ring, which can expand and multiply. Then, there's her version of the Ghostbuster Ecto Trap, a bag that can ensnare any demon and turn them into a paper ornament. Despite their opposing philosophies, Duan falls hard for the sweet natured Tang, who doesn't reciprocate. He is on a path to enlightenment and has shunned Earthly love.

Together, they reluctantly face some pretty nasty creatures such as a pig demon who butchers wayward travelers. Their journey puts them on a collision course to face the legendary Sun Wukong (Huang Bo), the Monkey King who has been imprisoned inside a mountain for five hundred years by Buddha himself.

Journey to the West opens with a sequence heavily influenced by Jaws and flavored with Chow's own brand of comedy and action. A seaside village is attacked by an enormous fish demon, which has been beached onto a long wooden plank, which has been turned into a giant see-saw. Dozens of villagers jump onto it and are flung in all directions. Later, we meet several wacky characters that could have only sprung from the mind of Chow, such as a band of demon hunters who travel in a wooden vehicle powered by breath. We also meet three other hunters each competing for the glory of defeating China's deadliest demons. Fist of the North Star (Xing Yu) is a master of the animal styles of kung fu. The Almighty Foot (Zhang Chao Li) is a white-haired fighter with the ability to expand his right foot to mammoth proportions. Finally, there's Prince Important (Show Luo), a pale and pampered pretty boy who travels with an entourage flinging rose petals at his feet.

The biggest detraction to the film comes from Chow's overreliance on CGI. At best, the special effects look like something out of a video game. At worst, they appear to be on the level of a bad SyFy channel movie of the week. For a fierce warrior, Duan spends too much screen time pining over Tang and coming up with bizarre schemes to win him over. Still, Shu Qi is charming enough to make it work and the idea of a kung fu manic pixie dream girl is intriguing.

Considering the subtitle, Journey to the West is clearly meant to serve as the start of a big-budget franchise, a sort of Monkey King Begins. It will be interesting to see where Chow takes the series. The movie is the second highest-grossing, domestically produced picture in China, automatically green lighting a sequel.. Journey doesn't reach the levels of Shaolin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle, but it is a fun and inventive martial arts comedy.

Rating: *** (*****)

I, Frankenstein

I, Frankenstein - Dir. Stuart Beattie (2014)

Frankenstein's Monster has gone through numerous permutations in the centuries since he made his first appearance in Mary Shelley's seminal work of gothic fiction, first published in 1818. It's doubtful that Shelley ever imagined her most famous creation as a matinee idol action hero. That's just how the creature has been re-imagined in I, Frankenstein, a movie that sprung from the mind of actor/writer Kevin Grevioux, who conceived the idea as a film and graphic novel. The physically imposing thespian also helped develop the Underworld franchise and the two could easily exist in the same universe. In fact, an earlier draft of the screenplay contained references to the Underworld series.

I, Frankenstein picks up right where the novel ended. In a fit of rage, the Monster (Aaron Eckhart) has murdered Dr. Victor Frankenstein's fiancée. Seeking vengeance, the Doctor attempts to hunt down his creation, only to succumb to the elements. The creature buries his "father" in the Frankenstein family cemetery when he is attacked by a group of demons. He is rescued by gargoyle warriors who take him to Leonore (Miranda Otto), queen of the Gargoyle Order. Leonore renames the Monster as Adam and explains the gargoyles were created by the Archangel Michael to defend the Earth from the minions of Hell. Although her lieutenant Gideon (Jai Courtney) wants to destroy Adam, Leonore asks him to join their cause, an offer Adam promptly rejects.

For nearly 200 years, Adam is hunted by the demons until he finally decides to turn the tables. As it turns out, Prince Naberius (Bill Nighy), one of the original fallen angels alongside Lucifer, has been searching for the secret to reanimating the dead. The rules of I, Frankenstein state that demons cannot be killed, but merely "descended," sent back to Hell in a ball of flame. Their only ticket to return is by possessing a body without a soul and only Adam has no soul. Hence, Naberius has been collecting corpses for centuries to prepare for the eventual return of his brimstone brethren. To assist in this endeavor, Naberius, under the guise of businessman Charles Wessex, has hired brilliant electro-physicist Dr. Terra Wade (Yvonne Strahovski) to assist in discovering a method to revive the dead.

I, Frankenstein is every bit as ludicrous as it sounds. Not only do demons morph their faces and burst into flame ala vampires on Buffy, their angelic counterparts "ascend." In other words, they rise to the heavens in a beam of blue light. Yet, this war has remained secret throughout the history of mankind. You'd think someone would have photographed all those fireballs and beams of light from the sky on their iPhone. Not that it matters, except for a lone police officer, ordinary humans appear to be nearly nonexistent in this world. And don't ask how Naberius's corpse collection hasn't rotted away by now. Were they sealed in Mylar?

Aaron Eckhart has amassed a varied filmography from indie flicks like In the Company of Men and Thank You For Smoking to blockbusters such as The Dark Knight and Battle: Los Angeles. He certainly has the good looks and strong chin to be an action hero, but that's not what you're looking for in Frankenstein's Monster. Eckhart doesn't come close to resembling a being stitched together from different body parts. At least, Billy Nighy appears to be having fun chewing the scenery in the manner of a modern day Peter Cushing.

Director Stuart Beattie handles the action scenes competently enough, but your brain will have long checked out after being exposed to so much inane dialogue and nonsensical plot points. Or maybe it’s the tiresome post-Matrix aesthetics that will bore you. Either way I, Frankenstein is a decayed corpse beyond the reanimating abilities of Victor Frankenstein, Herbert West, and Ra's al Ghul.

Rating: * (*****)

Ride Along

Ride Along - Dir. Tim Story (2014)

Is there anything new to say about the buddy cop movie? Recent attempts like The Other Guys and 21 Jump Street brought the laughs by lampooning the genre and satirizing action movies in general. Ride Along is perfectly happy to coast on every convention established since 1982's 48 Hrs. Not a surprise since Kevin Hart has long aspired to having a career like Eddie Murphy and comparisons between the two have been made by many. Hart is perfectly cast as the fast-talking comedic foil while Ice Cube steps into the Nick Nolte role as the stern and short-tempered straight man.

Hart is Ben Barber, a high school security guard in Atlanta who loves playing first person shooting games. He's just proposed to his beautiful girlfriend Angela (Tika Sumpter) and been accepted into the police academy. Ben should be content with his life if not for Angela's other brother James (Cube). James is a hard-nosed detective who doesn't believe Ben is worthy of marrying his sister, let alone becoming a police officer. In an effort to get rid of the little runt, James decides to take his prospective brother-in-law on a ride along. Ben seems ready to throw in the towel when he's forced to deal with a biker gang, a mouthy pre-teen, and a lunatic in a supermarket. Yet, Ben provides improbable help in James's investigation into a mysterious crime lord known only as Omar.

Just as The Heat did with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, Ride Along relies almost solely on the chemistry between Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. Despite featuring four screenwriters in the credits, the script doesn't bother to do anything clever with a recognizable premise. Their idea of comedy involves quoting lines from Training Day and an opening car chase (with Ice Cube driving through a fiery explosion) appears to have been lifted right out of Other Guys. While director Tim Story has shown a knack for character-based comedies (Barbershop), he has a distinct lack of flair for action (Fantastic Four).

It's left entirely up to the leading stars to keep the audience's interest intact as the lackluster plot plods along. Hart is a bit like Chris Tucker with proper restraints. He knows when to play it to the hilt, but knows the right moments to dial it back. His manic energy is a strong contrast to the stoic Ice Cube, who ironically portrays the type of cop Cube railed against in his NWA days. Bruce McGill co-stars as the exasperated superior that's become a genre requirement along with John Leguizamo and Bryan Callen as fellow detectives. Laurence Fishburne manages to kick Ride Along up a notch when he makes a third act appearance as the enigmatic Omar.

Ice Cube struck a nerve when he took to social media to complain after he and Kevin Hart failed to win the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo. They lost to Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Sorry, but Cube must have an overinflated opinion of himself. His supporting work in Jump Street was much funnier. As it stands, Ride Along is a pedestrian comedy strictly for fans of Cube and Hart.

Rating: ** (*****)

Better Living Through Chemistry

Better Living Through Chemistry - Dirs. David Posamentier & Geoff Moore (2014)

The tried and true film noir formula follows a man seduced by a femme fatale into murdering her significant other, then digging himself into a deeper hole as he tries to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice are two of the best examples. Better Living Through Chemistry takes a comedic approach to the basic noir story.

Doug Varney (Sam Rockwell) is a pharmacist and a family man living in the small, picturesque New England town of Woodbury. Too bad his life isn't as equally picturesque. Doug is married to the emasculating Kara (Michelle Monaghan), who constantly undercuts his abilities as a father and a husband. Their son Ethan (Harrison Holzer) is obviously troubled as he paints his bedroom windows black and smears feces everywhere at school. Kara denies anything is wrong and shows more concern for spin classes and bike marathons. Doug's father-in-law, Walter Bishop (Ken Howard), doesn't have much confidence in him either. Despite selling the town's pharmacy to Doug, he refuses to change the name from Bishop's to Varney's.

It's easy to see why Doug would fall fast for the glamorous Elizabeth (Olivia Wilde), the trophy wife to an absentee husband (Ray Liotta). Elizabeth shares with Doug her passions for sex and popping prescription pills. Their torrid love affair ignites something within Doug as he begins concocting his own medications by mixing everything from Prozac to valium. He even manages to become more assertive and reestablish his relationship with Ethan. However, things start to unravel when Elizabeth suggests they murder her spouse by tampering with his heart pills and using the insurance money to run away together. There's also a DEA agent (Norbert Leo Butz) snooping around the drug store.

In spite of a stellar cast, Better Living was released direct to video with very little fanfare. The humor falls flat on its face due to terrible jokes revolving around STDs and poop. For an inexplicable reason, Jane Fonda provides voiceover narration, the kind that unnecessarily spells out every little detail for you. Fonda later makes a cameo as a customer shopping for douche. How classy.

For what it's worth, Rockwell is one of my favorite actors working right now. He truly excels at playing smarmy and conniving characters as evidenced in Iron Man 2 and Seven Psychopaths. Here, Rockwell gets to go over-the-top as Doug spirals out of control as well as play it understated as the henpecked Doug. He's the movie's saving grace.

Better Living Through Chemistry was written and directed by newcomers David Posamentier and Geoff Moore, who have been tapped to pen Paramount's remake of Explorers. You wish the pair had delved deeper into the premise beyond one-note characters and tired gags. Better Living is full of wasted potential.

Rating: * ½ (*****)