Out And Back: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

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It's Bucky Barnes.

Not that that came as a surprise to anyone who knows the Winter Soldier story. Or anyone who saw the previews. Or anyone who saw the first Captain America movie (which, in the interest of full disclosure, I did not). The only person in the movie theater who's surprised by the reveal when it happens is Cap himself.

The thing is, the reveal doesn't really take anything away from the movie -- if anything, it became it's primary selling point. "What will Captain America do when he finds out about this?" But that leaves out so many of the other things that are going on in this movie... and I'm still not sure if that's a problem or not.

Because there are a lot of other things going on in this movie, to the point that the Winter Soldier arc almost becomes an afterthought. It's this sort-of mash-up of different themes -- freedom vs. security, sabotage, reconciling your past, accepting your present -- that could easily have led to a mucked-up mess, but it doesn't. Again, though, it did seem like the Winter Soldier wasn't the biggest part of the movie and he probably should have been.

Not to say that the other elements don't work, though. It's a spy movie in more than a few ways. It has action without being overtly action-y, the elevator scene excepted. (And even that was a pleasant surprise to me, in that only one person was being targeted.) It was also the best thing to happen to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- it was just before the movie came out that the show started to get good, and the HYDRA arc that began in the film gave the show real stakes that it just hadn't had up until that point.

I'm convinced they stack the casts of these movies in particular so that Chris Evans doesn't have to carry any more weight than he's capable of. Going into The Avengers, both Chrises were my biggest concern, but Evans especially had never really impressed me in the things I'd seen him in before. But even with his limitations (and perhaps because of them, in a way) he's perfect to play Cap -- he looks the part and he can do the earnestness and steely resolve that the character demands. And even though the Iron Man/Cap relationship (and, separately, the Tony Stark/Steve Rogers relationship) is the most important one in the Avengers, Black Widow is the perfect counterpart for him in this movie.

Robert Redford. Robert Redford in a Captain America movie! What a time to be alive. He's going to stand out because he's Robert Redford. But how he stands out... man.

Playing the part of Washington, D.C., tonight will be... Cleveland? U.S. 6 doesn't go to D.C. ...

Props to whoever got a copy of WarGames into Steve's hands.

Sup, GSP. How you doin', girl from Revenge. (I spent the entire movie trying to place her because there are about six or seven other actresses that she looks like who also would have made sense in that spot. Good thing I'm already a "stay through the end credits" guy.)

I guess you need some kind of verdict. If you're a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, this movie is nothing less than a game-changer. Big things happen and they have real, concrete consequences not only for the people in this movie, but for a lot of other people in the MCU who aren't in this movie. It's not annoying filler like Iron Man 3 or Thor: The Dark World. It's the best -- and most important -- post-Avengers MCU film so far.

Also of some note: Cap gets through this entire movie without firing a single gun.

Also also, breaking into Fort Meade to steal the last Falcon suit better be at least a deleted scene on the Blu-ray.


So that's Loki's staff. Those... do not look like the right hands.

Out and Back: Star Trek Into Darkness (no spoilers)

Friends, I'm gonna be honest here. This was a difficult one to write.

It's not because I didn't like the movie. I did. Let's get that out of the way. It's partly because my writing is rusty and I'm woefully out of practice. This is the first action the blog has seen in six months, and the reasons for that are another story for another day. It's partly because, as a way to get back into it, I've been maybe trying too hard to say something that 50,000 other people haven't already said about it.

But the main problem I had is that it's hard for me to write about this movie without giving away half of it.

So I'll start with the heavier, more philosophical stuff. Kirk disobeys every single order he's given in this movie. But I think his decision to attempt to bring Harrison in alive rather than killing him from the ship and being done with it is his best moment in either of the new films. Whether it's a nagging feeling on its surface about the order he was given or an independent realization that "Hey, these aren't the ideals that we're supposed to be upholding," Kirk gets it here and that scene does a better job of showing that than his peace offering to Nero in Star Trek 2009 did. (and some would say that he didn't really "get it" in that scene at all.)

They continue to push the envelope with Spock, showing just what a Vulcan is capable of when things go pear-shaped. From managing tensions with Uhura after the events of the film's opening, to his own showdown with Harrison, Spock's continual struggle to reconcile his human side with his Vulcan side remains one of the better characterizations of the new films.

Are you a Simon Pegg fan? Did you like him as Scotty in the first one? Then this is the movie for you. In fact, like the first movie, each main cast member gets to do at least one awesome thing, even if it's just give a stunningly threatening speech.

I would very much like to ask Benedict Cumberbatch how the scenery tasted.

Speaking of Cumberbatch, once The Reveal happens, it turns into what you sort of expect if you're familiar with the TOS universe, with more than a few elements of this TNG episode thrown in for good measure.

Speaking of that, oh, the references. A Tribble shows up. There's a major reference that probably only Deep Space Nine fans will get. Dr. Carol Marcus herself is a reference to the original timeline and presents some delicious storyline potential moving forward. (Not sure why they had Alice Eve keep her accent for the part but whatever.)

This brings me to my biggest issue with the movie: The climax is... actually pretty anti-climactic. Star Trek fans have figured out what the filmmakers were going for by the time the movie reaches that point. But I think that even if you're not a fan, there's such a feeling of "they're not actually going to do this" that the moment loses a lot of impact. And that's without mentioning that the fix to the problem gets foreshadowed at least twice.

So I can't make this a completely glowing review. Still, it's worth seeing if you enjoy that sort of thing. Plus, there are Klingons.

Out and Back: Star Trek

I almost didn't bother.

That'll sound strange coming from not only the son of a Trekkie (Mom has the entire original series on VHS. VHS!) but from someone who has more friends that are into the franchise than any human being should be allowed to have.

I don't have to tell any of you out there that there's an inherent danger when you've given the keys to a franchise property. And if there's any group that's more fanatical about accuracy than comic book fans, it's Star Trek fans (Though both pale in comparison to Star Wars fans. Seriously.), and they've seen their franchise fall upon hard times (see: the last two feature films, the entire run of "Enterprise".) J.J. Abrams and company had to get this right. So when I saw the trailers, I wasn't turned off, but I was... concerned. It almost looked too - and I'm about to make up a word here because I'm not sure how else to say this - "actiony" for a Star Trek movie. But practically everyone I trust said this was worth seeing.

They were pretty much right.

In 1966, they couldn't make an original Enterprise that looks the way it does in this movie. It's a "modernized" look, but it doesn't necessarily outshine those that came after it. A move like this needs to look good, and this one does - sleek and shiny in all the right places; and dark, gritty and foreboding in all of those right places.

I don't envy Chris Pine at all. This movie with Lindsay Lohan in 2006 was his highest billing before getting the role of Kirk, and I'm not sure that ever saw the inside of a theater. So going from that to this... not exactly baby steps. But he's up to the task and plays well with everyone else in the cast, which is so important for these characters. Zachary Quinto plays the most conflicted Spock ever (they've done some playing around with Spock battling his half-human side in the movies, but that envelope's never been pushed like this), and everyone else falls into line. Also, and this is as spoilerish and I plan to get, I like when guest stars serve a purpose and don't just show up for the sake of showing up.

One thing I will say, understanding that you don't want the movie to be too long, is that now I kind of want to see a "Kirk at Starfleet Academy" series. Abrams and company did their homework and stayed true to the characters while freshening them up at the same time, so if that's on the horizon, I'll be there.

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Now playing: Our Lady Peace - Not Enough
via FoxyTunes

Out and Back: Transformers

Understand this before anything else, friends: There's a decent chance that I'm the biggest Transformers nit you know. The original cartoon was appointment television for me as a kid. (4 o'clock, Channel 29.) I've got over 100 Generation 1 figures in a box somewhere. I saw the 1986 animated movie in the theater when I was 11. I had a subscription to the comic book, for crying out loud. So when word got out that a live-action Transformers movie was actually being made, it got my attention. Then when the news came that Michael Bay was directing it ... well, I was expecting the worst.

Well, what a nice surprise this turned out to be.

The story is typical of a summer blockbuster, which means you can call it "uncomplicated" and "utterly preposterous" at best. It's less important in these comic book/video game/toy line adaptations, where the main sticking point is getting the origin and the characters right. We'll get to the characters later, but there are enough nods to the original canon back story (and an obvious but appropriately-timed callback to the animated film) that old-schooler me found Perfectly Acceptable.

I don't claim to be any kind of judge of acting talent, but Shia LeBouf's Sam stood out among some mostly unremarkable performances otherwise. (Nit Alert: It's Spike. WTF with this 'Sam' business.) Getting Peter Cullen on board to do Optimus Prime's voice was vital. (Apparently he got a standing ovation when he did his character intro at an advance screening.) That voice is so tied to that character that having someone else do it would have been tough to get past. It's not unlike a security blanket. I'm dead serious. Also, you've seen bits and pieces of them in the trailers, but the full transformations and effects are awesome.

However, it takes too long to get to the meat of the story. In fact, this movie manages to simultaneously be about 15 minutes too long and have a scene or two missing, which is no mean feat. Pacing's never been one of Bay's strong suits.

My biggest worry was that the movie would focus too much on the humans and not enough on the robots, since it's the robots' story that's being told. And sure enough, that's what we got. We really didn't get enough time to get to know the other Autobots. It was probably done that way because most of this movie's target audience is Transformers fans, and the assumption is that they already know the robots' characters and already have their own emotional investments in them as a result. But they still aren't developed enough, which leads to something that happens near the end of the film having a much, much smaller impact than it should. Also, I called the ending about 20 minutes before it happened.

It's not quite as good as the gushing reviews it's gotten, but it certainly isn't as bad as a lot of people like me feared it would be when the details started coming out. It's an enjoyable time-waste if nothing else.