CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Walt Disney Studios/Marvel Studios

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 146 Minutes

Click here to watch the TV spots of Captain America: Civil War on YouTube.
 

In Walt Disney Studios/Marvel Studios Captain America: Civil War, the consequences of the Avengers world-wide actions put Iron Man/Robert Downey, Jr. and Captain America/Chris Evans on opposite sides.

This is a non-spoiler review. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. There is one MCU continuity issue for me, but is a very minor non-issue when concerning this movie.

The thirteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and as of 2016 the 75th anniversary of Captain America, the movie is set one year after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and deals with the events of the past few movies, Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, and based on the 10th anniversary of the Marvel comic book crossover storyline limited series Civil War by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.

Actually this movie is really more of an Avengers movie than a Captain America movie. At the very least, the story is just as much about Tony Stark/Iron Man/Downey, Jr. as it is about Captain America/Evans. You also got to see more of the background of Captain America's friend Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier/Stan. The movie has an ensemble cast of Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan/The Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie/Falcon, Don Cheadle/War Machine, Jeremy Renner/Hawkeye, Chadwick Boseman/Black Panther, Paul Bettany/Vision, Elizabeth Olsen/Scarlet Witch, Paul Rudd/Ant-Man, Emily VanCamp/Sharon Carter, and Tom Holland/Spider-Man.

This is an international movie as the characters travel to various countries - and the MCU country of Wakanda is represented well in the United Nations. There are sub-titles in the movie as several of the characters speak various languages.

The politics of whether or not the Avengers should be under oversight by the United Nations when informed by U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross/William Hurt were very important issues. I am basically Team Cap/Evans, who was against the accords and feels that the Avengers are better policing themselves instead of the government policing them - but the reasons why Tony Stark/Downey, Jr. are for the accords are very compelling, and I totally felt for him and could go for Team Iron Man. I totally understand the reasons which split the Avengers, and I felt for both sides - which is especially sad as they are friends.

Aside from the politics, the theme of this movie is that of loss. There were a few times where I felt for the characters at their loss.

It is awesome to see the Avengers using their full powers and fighting abilities fighting each other. Even without their powers, they are incredible hand to hand martial artists. Also, the number of Avengers, despite the fact that they were split up, makes me appreciate just how powerful a group of Avengers really are - and why there needs to be some kind of oversight with this kind of power. Some of the action scenes were very dramatic done with film strobe usage.

Introducing Black Panther on his 50th anniversary and one of the first black superheroes in American comics, as well as introducing Spider-Man into the MCU was awesome. Black Panther/Chadwick Boseman was done right - and Spider-Man/Holland was awesome and actually had more to do in this film than I had expected. Actually, all of the Avengers had their own scene moments and made you really appreciate them as characters - especially the vulnerable Scarlet Witch/Olson. Even a couple of minor MCU characters had scene moments in the movie, which make me appreciate the scope of the MCU more.

There are a few terrorist acts in the movie - and as a member of my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), I totally sympathized with the first responders dealing with the aftermath of those acts in this movie. It also brings home the idea of world events being bought into the movie.

There is an intense helicopter scene, that hopefully was done with CGI, that was incredible.

For Stan Lee fans, his cameo is at the very end of the movie. You can enjoy the movie without worrying about missing his cameo.

I saw the film at a 9:00 Saturday morning showing and the theater was half-full. There were a lot of kids in the theater. I can only recall one language word in the movie and that was as a reaction word from Spider-Man and is not used as a graphic language word. In fact, the kid behind me had more of a reaction to a simple kissing scene than that one word.

There are two after-credits scenes. In my theater, a lot of people left after the first after-credits scene, but there were still a few people who stayed for the second after-credits scene. It is curious that one of the after-credit scenes in Ant-Man was used in this movie.

Spider-Man will return.

Click below to watch a trailer of Captain America: Civil War from YouTube.



Click below to watch another trailer of Captain America: Civil War from YouTube.



Click below to watch the Team Cap and Team Iron Man trailers of Captain America: Civil War from YouTube.



Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 146 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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IRON MAN 3

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 130 Minutes



Click below to watch the Iron Man 3 movie trailer.



In Paramount Pictures, in association with Walt Disney Pictures, Iron Man 3 - Tony Stark/Robert Downey, Jr. goes up against the terrorist the Mandarin/Ben Kingsley and the scientific conglomerate Advanced Idea Mechanics - A.I.M.

Written and Directed by Shane Black, this sequel is more like a dramatic thriller version of Iron Man than the others, although once the kid Ty Simpkins showed up, the movie started to get a little cute and cartoony. Letting Black direct allowed Iron Man Director/Star/Executive Producer Jon Favreau to concentrate on acting and have more screen time. I have been a fan of Black since Lethal Weapon, especially since I shot an interview with his writer brother Terry Black.

After a New Years Eve party in 1999 with botanist Rebecca Hall, billionaire, playboy, genius Stark/Downey, Jr. meets A.I.M. scientist Aldrich Killian/Guy Pearce in a hotel who enthusiastically wants to work and form a partnership with Stark/Downey, Jr. who promptly blows off the innocent Killian/Pearce.

Years later, as a restless Stark/Downey, Jr. constructs dozens of Iron Man suits - including the ability to mentally control them, a series of bombings by the terrorist the Mandarin/Ben Kingsley leaves Stark Industries former Stark/Downey, Jr. bodyguard, now security chief Happy Hogan/Jon Favreau seriously injured during one such encounter with the Mandarin's/Kingsley's henchman James Badge Dale. Stark/Downey, Jr. declares on the news revenge on the Mandarin/Kingsley.

I liked the fact that there was a much deeper relationship with Pepper Potts/Gweneth Paltrow and Stark/Downey, Jr. despite the love triangle with Stark's/Downey Jr.'s obsession with the Iron Man suits. I also liked the appearance of Rescue. Mark Ruffalo's uncredited appearance was cute.

I had mixed feelings about the Mandarin/Kingsley. I thought Kingsley's acting was good, I just had mixed feelings about what they did with the character of the Mandarin, who in the comics is Iron Man's oldest enemy. Although I did not really mind the Mandarin not really being Chinese, I did not like what they did to the character. Also there are basically three villains in the movie. I personally feel that there should only be one villain in a movie, although I might accept a henchman in a movie if he was not as strong as the villain. I do, however, like that all the concepts in the movie are from the comics, especially from the "Extremis" story arc by Warren Ellis. I will admit that there was a lot of the story that was not made clear to me, until I had read the plot on Wikipedia. 

There are references to the movie The Avengers - but nothing blatant and not really relevant to the plot of the Iron Man 3 movie, so you do not have to have seen The Avengers in order to enjoy the movie. Although Stark's/Downey, Jr.'s near death experience in The Avengers was affecting him in Iron Man 3.

I have always felt the name War Machine for Stark's/Downey, Jr.'s best friend James Rhodes/Don Cheadle was too dark and militaristic for me and I much preferred the red, white and blue Iron Patriot name that was given to Rhodes/Cheadle as the government's "American hero." It is a shame that William Sadler did not have much of a presence, let alone much of a part, as the President of the United States of America as Sadler normally does have a presence. Miguel Ferrer is appropriate as the Vice President and had more characterization with having a daughter. While I liked the fact that A.I.M - Advanced Idea Mechanics - was in the movie, A.I.M. is really an organization of scientists which I missed as an evil organization instead of the organization being a company run by Aldrich Killian/Guy Pearce. I also never got the sense that he was physically disabled. I only really learned of that from reading the Wikipedia article.

For Stan Lee fans - so you can concentrate on watching the movie, instead of looking for him - Lee will appear in a scene where he is a beauty contestant judge.

At the end of the movie, after the end credits, there is a scene with Stark/Downey, Jr. that actually ties in with the opening scenes of the movie.

The film scored the second highest opening weekend of all time as of May, 2013 - behind The Avengers.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 130 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Review

FLIGHT

Paramount Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 138 Minutes



Click below to watch the Flight trailer.



In Paramount Pictures Flight, after flying through a turbulant storm - a drunken airline pilot Denzel Washington makes a miraculous crash landing with his passenger airliner.

Produced and Directed by Robert Zemeckis, in his first R rated film since Used Cars, this is a tour-de-force performance by Denzel Washington. Similar to real-life events, the focus of the movie really is on Washington and his situation rather than on most anything else in the movie. Just as the rough weather was rougher than I thought it would be, the movie is much more dramatic than what the trailer makes it out to be. I could see an Oscar nomination for Washington for this role. With the media staking out his home and the National Transportation Safety Bureau, NTSB, hearing for the plane crash headed by Melissa Leo after him, Washington is in for a rough ride - with the possibility of going to jail. It is a shame that he has this situation as after such an incredible feat to save the plane because Washington, for a time, is called a real American hero for his relevant skills as a pilot. Even with the help of his airlines collegue Bruce Greenwood, his lawyer Don Cheadle, and his new girlfriend, addict Kelly Reilly, Washington is in for a rough time. Even being sequestered in a hotel does not help him. It is sad that it is a tradition that passengers are called souls by the flight crew. John Goodman was a lot of fun as Washington's hippie best friend.

Rated R for alcohol and drug abuse, nudity, language, smoking. Running time: 138 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews