Girls With Comics

Was fantastic.

The plot was also another highlight. It was easy as pie to follow. America needs super soldiers to help stop Hitler and Hydra and the rest of those crazy assholes we all know about from World War 2. Thus, Steve Rogers is turned into Captain America. Pretty easy.

I saw the regular 2D version at midnight, and was not let down. The best thing about this movie is how much heart it has. Chris Evans does a great job as scrawny Steve Rogers, and does an equally great job as well, himself without a shirt on. It was humbling to see Captain America make mistakes, and bumbles around at first. The almost God like complex he has in the comics is missing. He’s not perfect, he makes mistakes, and he get’s tossed around a lot, even as Captain America. Fans will get a kick out of the throwback Timely costume he wears at one point, and you’ll even get a glimpse at one of the Timely Cap comics. He even punches a fake Hitler a few times. His relationship with Bucky (played by Sebastian Stan) was touching, and well executed by both actors. While you don’t get a back story on Bucky, you can’t help but enjoy the chemistry the two have on-screen, and you will be touched by Caps loyalty and love for Bucky.

I also enjoyed how good the script was. None of the lines were terribly corny, which was a pleasant surprise from movies such as Thor and Green Lantern. Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Chester Phillips delivered some of the best lines in the movie. My favorite was this:

Doctor: What is this?
Phillips: Steak.
Doctor: What’s in it?
Phillips: Cow!

Every character was well thought out and executed beautifully by whomever played them. Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark was funny and charming, much like RDJs Tony Stark. Hayley Atwell was splendid as Peggy Carter, who was one bad ass woman in this movie. Also, I need to give a special shout to the Howling Commandos. They all looked like how they do in the comic book. It was amazing, and I really enjoyed it.

Of course this movie is worth seeing, so go see it.

-Lauren

This movie is, without a doubt, the most fun I’ve had in a theater this year. I saw the movie in 3D, which was a good idea.

The plot is kind of muddled and doesn’t make much sense, but from what I got out of it, way back in the day an Autobot ship escaped Cybertron, but crashed on the moon. Some important Americans you should have learned about in history class flew up into space, explored the crash site, and left. The ship was carrying the former leader of the Autobots, and some kind of robot bridge that would have saved Cybertron and won the war. After Optimus Prime learns that his former leader is up on the moon, he gets angry at the humans for hiding it from him. They rescue the robot, revive him, and some bad shit happens. I can’t really give much else away because that would be giving away some major spoilers, sorry. Just know there’s a lot of plot holes, some questionable things that somehow don’t follow the other two movies, and Leonard Nimoy plays the lost Autobot leader. Also some of the humans in the movie were working with the Decepticons the whole time, and Chicago gets destroyed.

However, I don’t go into these movies expecting a plot or something that would make sense. I go in for giant robots fucking each other up. And you know what? That’s what I got. In 3D. Optimus Prime kicks serious ass in this movie, as does Bumblebee. There’s some new Autobots in the film, and we have no idea who they are or why they suddenly showed up. Some familiar robot faces also die in this movie. I’m a big enough person to admit I shed a tear at one scene. Over a CGI robot. The action scenes were pretty killer, and the human scenes were surprisingly really funny. This movie is by far the best of the three, which isn’t saying much since the entire franchise (including the cartoon show) was based around selling a toy. So, again, if you’re looking for the meaning of life in a film based around selling toys to 8-year-old kids, you need to get the hell over yourself.

Go see it. See it in 3D. Go see it with some friends, don’t expect any kind of plot, and enjoy this mindless summer film.

-Lauren

I saw Green Lantern. In 3D.

Hm.

So if you don’t know, this movie is about Hal Jordan and how he becomes a Green Lantern, manages to overcome self-doubt and fear, and gets the girl in the end. Pretty basic plot, for what is essentially a basic movie.

This actually wasn’t the worst comic book movie I’ve ever seen*. The acting was good, and the CGI looked *fantastic* in 3D. The biggest problem was the screenplay. I mean, it was a very easy story to follow, but when you have four people writing one movie, things can become muddled. And muddled they became! I’m not sure why Hector Hammond was needed in the movie. He was used very poorly, nor was he that great of a villain. I’m still not entirely sure why Green Lantern didn’t just kick his ass out-of-the-way early in the film. Paralax, as a villain, was great, but again, used poorly.

My other big problem was that I found it very hard to give a damn about anyone in the film. Mark Strong’s Sinestro is honestly the character with the most soul (so to speak), and he’s really not in the movie that much (which is fine, the movie isn’t about him). Ryan Reynolds is a decent enough actor, but his portrayal of Hal Jordan was meh at best. Blake Lively played an ok Carrol, and everyone else was just that. Ok. No one, except Mark Strong, stood out. They all read their lines well enough, but there was little emotion behind them. This is by no means the fault of the actors, but rather, the poor writing.

Wait for this movie to come out on DVD. It’s a great mindless film, or something to have on as background noise. If you have kids though, they will love this movie. If I were 10 years old again, I would love this movie.

*Catwoman, Batman and Robin, The Fantastic Four…those are terrible comic book movies. Also, in case you didn’t catch it, Hal kept calling Carol ‘Sapphire’ while they were flying the jets in the start of the film. How cute.

-Lauren