AVENGERS - AGE OF ULTRON

Walt Disney Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 141 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.
 

In Walt Disney Studios Avengers - Age of Ultron, an artificial intelligence robot Ultron/James Spader threatens human extinction - and the Avengers must stop it.

In this sequel to The Avengers, and the eleventh installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers - Age of Ultron is Written and Directed by Joss Whedon, and has an ensemble cast of Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr., Thor/Chris Hemsworth, Hulk-Banner/Mark Ruffalo, Captain America/Chris Evans, Black Widow/Scarlett Johansson, and Hawkeye/Jeremy Renner as the Avengers.

After the Avengers raid a Hydra outpost run by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker/Thomas Kretschmann, they run into twins Pietro/Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Wanda/Elizabeth Olsen who were experiments of Strucker using Loki's scepter. After Wanda/Olsen tries to overwhelm Stark/Downey, Jr. with a vision of the deaths of the Avengers, Stark/Downey, Jr. retrieves Loki's scepter. Stark/Downey, Jr. and Banner/Ruffalo discover an artificial intelligence in the scepter's gem and they use it to complete Stark's Ultron global defense program, designed to save the word. When Ultron/Spader becomes sentient, he believes he must destroy humanity in order to save Earth.

Amidst all the action, the movie sets up the Avengers - Infinity Wars movies with the Infinity Stones, as well as a hint of the Captain America - Civil Wars movie with the conflicts between Stark/Downey and his guilt of the possible deaths of the Avengers, and Captain America/Evans with his idealism on the direction and true purpose of the Avengers. Thor's/Hemsworth's vision in the film of the larger threat puts the movie on the path to tie all of the MCU together.

I liked seeing how all of the Avengers powers and abilities have improved in this sequel, although they had to use various Hollywood tricks to cover up Johansson's pregnancy. Hawkeye/Renner had more to do in this film than he had to do in the last film in which his role was pretty much wasted. It was cool watching the Hulkbuster in action. The Hulk's portrayal was based on the Peter David Hulk from the comic books with a split personality of each personality hating the other - which is intensified with his relationship with Black Widow/Johansson, in which you learn more of Black Widow's/Johansson's background. Black Widow's/Johansson's background is a similar background to a similar character in the TV show Marvel's Agent Carter. Hayley Atwell - the star of Agent Carter - had a cameo as her character, Agent Carter, in Age of Ultron. It was great having Lou Ferrigno as the voice of the Hulk in this movie - as well as Nick Fury/Samuel L. Jackson rallying the Avengers to stand and fight.

Seeing the Maximoff twins being there for each other and the use of their powers was great, especially with Taylor-Johnson running outdoors to give life to his running instead of running in front of a green screen. Due to rights issues, Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver is a different version of  the Quicksilver shown in the X-Men movies. As agent Maria Hill/Cobie Smulders says, he's fast and she's weird, referring to Olsen's hypnosis and telekinesis powers.

I loved the theme song of Pinocchio's I Got No Strings for Ultron's/Spader's theme song. This seems appropriate both artistically, and that Disney owns both films. With Ultron/Spader having access to the entire Internet, Age of Ultron also has a more world-wide scope to the movie than The Avengers did as the Avengers travel around the world dealing with Ultron's/Spader's activities and his army of robots. The end of the movie felt very similar to the end of Man of Steel to me, but was a more positive ending as the Avengers worked hard to save the citizens while they battled Ultron/Spader and his robots.

Stan Lee's Excelsior cameo is during the Avenger's party. Lee says that this is his favorite cameo to date, which possibly may be due to his being a World War II veteran. The TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV episode "The Dirty Half Dozen" - which aired a few days before the movie's opening - sets up the opening scenes of Avengers - Age of Ultron. Then a few days later, after the movie's opening, the episode "Scars" on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up after the events of Age of Ultron.

I was at a preview screening of the movie, and there was Thor and Captain America directly behind me in line. Several people were carrying Captain America shields.

For those who listen to the music and stay through all the way to the end credits, there is only one mid-credits scene at the end of the movie. Joss Whedon confirms that there is only one mid credits scene, although there is a leaked second scene on the net that may or may not have been real and was possibly cut out of the movie, but this second "scene" was still fun to watch.

Avengers - Age of Ultron was on track to break the box office for an opening weekend, with a bigger opening weekend than the original Avengers, but was knocked out of the race due to the Mayweather-Pacquiao boxing match that aired that weekend.

 Click below to watch another movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.

   

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.



Rated PG-13. for violence. Running time: 141 Minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running Time: 129 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE on YouTube.

   

In Twentieth Century Fox's Kingsman: The Secret Service, a smart orphaned street punk Taron Egerton is recruited by tailor Colin Firth/Galahad to join an independent international intelligence agency to stop megalomaniac Samuel L. Jackson from committing genocide.

Based on the comic book, The Secret Service by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, and Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service is basically classic James Bond movies meets the British agents from The Avengers as well as a mix of Men in Black, without the aliens, and My Fair Lady, as the movie follows the recruitment and training of potential secret agent Egerton in which Firth/Galahad sponsors Egerton to compete with other various young potential agents for the Kingsmen, which includes candidate Sophie Cookson, and trained by Mark Strong/Merlin to become the next Lancelot agent. The Kingsmen are modern day Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legends, with leader Michael Caine as Arthur. This is an over-the-top comic book spy film - which is similar in plot to Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six - and is a proposed origin film for a new proposed film series. The graphic violence in the movie is lessened by the comic depiction of the violence, but is still rather graphic.

It seems funny to me, but rather more appropriate to me that Egerton's training from Strong/Merlin did not relate to Egerton's final fight scenes in the movie, despite their relationship - but rather it was Egerton's training from Firth/Galahad which trained him for Egerton's final fight scenes. I wanted to see more of a relationship between Egerton and his dog J.B. which added some comedy relief. Actually, I wanted to see more scenes with the trainees and their dogs. I believe the dogs should have been a major part of their training.

I liked the fact that Kingsman has a world-wide scope, like a true James Bond film dealing with various countries and heads of state, including heads of state Hanna Alstrom and Bjorn Floberg. Having Colin Firth doing 80% of his own stunts made his performance even more believable. I also liked the fact that the Kingmen are gentlemen, with A Gentlemen's Guide for a strict code of conduct since "Manners Maketh Man," This Gentlemen's code of conduct is a major aspect of Firth/Galahad's relationship with Egerton. I also liked the fact that the Kingsmen have a stylish line of tailor's clothes in conjunction with men's style retailer Mr. Porter. The collaborations between luxury retailer Mr. Porter and various heritage brands is the first of its kind to make Kingsman: The Secret Service the first film with outfits from the movie available for the moviegoers to buy.

I was not crazy about Jackson's lisp in the movie, until I found out that his lisp represents a typical "dysfunction" of some form of a James Bond villain and is reminiscent of Jackson's own lisp when he was younger that he had overcome. It is quite ironic that Jackson's character is named Valentine and that the movie was released on Valentine's Day weekend. In a cameo role - based on a combinations of characters from the comic book, including himself - having Mark Hamil using his Joker voice was a little distracting to me considering his character as I wanted to hear his normal voice, but it is cleverly ironic that Hamil is in the movie after being in the original comic book.

It was funny to me that at the end of the movie, while I was leaving, a lady was telling the usher who was cleaning up, "That was a great movie, except for the end. That was so strange." I thought the ending was totally appropriate for a classic James Bond takeoff.

Rated R for graphic violence, language, nudity.

Pancho
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel Entertainment

Rated PG-13

Running time: 136 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.



In Marvel Entertainment's Captain America: The Winter Solder - Steve Rogers/Chris Evans - also known as America's Hero, Captain America - struggles against a high ranking conspiracy as well as a Cold War "ghost" assassin - The Winter Soldier/Sebastian Stan.

In the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Washington D.C. and the World Security Council has the covert agency of S.H.I.E.L.D. empowered with the hardware for a Project designed to preemptively eliminate threats after the events of The Avengers. The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury/Samuel L. Jackson, soon discovers a conspiracy after the recovery of classified data - and soon becomes a target from police disguised assailants, as well as the Winter Soldier/Stan. With the help of the Black Widow/Scarlett Johansson and his new friend, Pararescue war veteran and PTSD counselor Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie - otherwise known as The Falcon - Captain America/Evans goes after the people responsible for attacking Fury/Jackson, the major conspirators and the Winter Soldier - who has a secret connection to Rogers/Evans.

With this film being more of a political thriller, I think that this is the best of the Marvel movies and debuted to a record breaking $96.2 million in North America as of 2014. While Captain America: The Winter Soldier was mostly a serious drama, most of the light comedy in the movie was of  the Black Widow/Johansson trying to set up Rogers/Evans with a date. This is even funnier when you consider that Captain America/Evans is such a piece of Americana that he is now an exhibit at a Smithsonian Museum. For Stan Lee fans, Lee's cameo is as a guard in the Smithsonian Museum.

Being a political thriller, the movie deals with hard core political issues, such as disorder and war, that deal with today rather than the more simplistic issues of disorder and war that Steve Rogers/Evans grew up with in the 1940's. As Rogers/Evans says, "This isn't freedom, this is fear." Having friends of mine who very liberal and are into conspiracy theories, the ideas in this movie hit pretty home to me, just as these ideas hit pretty home to Captain America/Evans. The scenes of the fake police using S.W.A.T. tactics against Fury/Jackson was especially disturbing for me to watch, as I have had classes with the police as a Citizens Academy graduate. Robert Redford as a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official and World Security Council member as well as Fury/Jackson's mentor is an homage to Redford's 1970's thrillers and made the movie especially believable. Having bystanders running away to safety in the background in the various action scenes helped to ground this movie into reality and not just some comic book movie with no consequences.

I liked how we got to know more about Fury/Jackson and Rogers/Evans in this movie than we had in the other movies. Getting to know about Black Widow/Johansson and Falcon/Mackie made these four characters more of a family to me, despite their dysfunctional backgrounds. The relationship between political opposites Black Widow/Johansson and Captain America/Evans was quite interesting and pretty hot, despite the fact that these two character are supposed to get involved with other characters in the Marvel Universe, such as Hawkeye/Jeremy Renner and Agent 13/Emily VanCamp.

I saw the movie during a matinee and the theater was pretty full. The audience reacted positively to the kick-ass action. Seeing Captain America/Evans using his shield as both shield and weapon during the action scenes was pretty awesome. Black Widow/Johansson kicking ass is a given in the movie. A most welcome surprise is that Wilson/Mackie's action scenes as the Falcon were just as good, especially since the idea of the Falcon seems pretty cartoony in the comics to me and could have looked really bad. After watching how they did the Falcon with his exoskeleton wing pack in the movie, I am pretty confident that Marvel will treat all their comic book characters right visually. This is especially important as the Falcon/Mackie is an African-American superhero which is why Mackie wanted to do the movie in the first place, for his son and nephews and nieces. The S.H.I.E.L.D. technology was pretty awesome and formidable, particularly the helicarriers. The movie looks more realistic and more impressive to me especially during the action scenes, which is mainly because the movie was done mostly as live action with very little computer graphics involved.

Since everything in the Marvel universe is connected, the big scale events in Captain America: The Winter Soldier also affect the events in the TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which is about a team in the vast covert agency of S.H.I.E.L.D. under the direction of Agent Coulson/Clark Gregg. After watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I now understand the events of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. better, which will deal with the consequences of the movie on the team's relationships on a very personal, intimate scale. Since Coulson/Gregg is so involved into Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I miss having him appear in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and having Coulson/Gregg relate to his hero Captain America/Evans. Despite the lack of Coulson/Gregg, several S.H.I.E.L.D. characters, as well as several characters from Captain America: The First Avenger reprise their roles in this movie. An Easter Egg mention of Stephen Strange in the movie was of particular delight to me. From the lack of reaction, I think I was one of the very few people in the theater audience who knows the comic book character name of Stephen Strange - who is the title character in the new upcoming Marvel movie Dr. Strange.

There were only two movie trailers shown before Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the theater that I was in, Guardians of the Galaxy and Maleficent, both of which come from Marvel/Disney and both movies are movies that I really want to see when they come out.

I liked that during the end credits there were comic graphics of the movie with an iconic comic graphic of the stars in their roles of the movie. There are two movie scenes during the end credits. The first scene, in which Joss Wheedon directed, is after the credits for the movie's stars have been finished, in which the scene refers to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Most of the audience in my theater left after that scene - but there is another movie scene later after all of the credits at the end of the movie have been finished. The people staying for the rest of the credits were discussing Marvel as I was reading the credits and enjoying the music from the movie. The rest of the audience who stayed all went quiet when the final scene finally aired. I felt this final movie scene was quite moving for the movie.

The very last message before the Marvel logo appears is: Captain America will return in "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.




Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

THE AVENGERS

Paramount Pictures in association with Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 142 Minutes




Click below to watch The Avengers trailer.



In Marvel Studios The Avengers, written and directed by Joss Whedon - the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - the Trickster Norse God Loki, Tom Hiddleston, steals a powerful power source called a tesseract from the counter terrorism and intelligence agency of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division - S.H.I.E.L.D. In order to recover the tesseract, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury, Samuel L. Jackson, then feels it is time to gather together a team of heroes that becomes - The Avengers.

Based on the Marvel comic book, The Avengers - created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby - the team of heroes that Jackson puts together consists of Captain America, Chris Evans, Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr., Thor, Chris Hemsworth, The Hulk, Mark Ruffalo, along with The Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson, and Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner. This team is a dysfunctional group of people - which eventually become Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The team was so dysfunctional, there was one scene where everyone yells at each other because of their hidden agendas. While this all may seem quite dramatic, and the movie is dramatic, this dysfunction of the team also leads to some funny moments.

With Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and The Hulk having their own movies previously produced by Marvel leading up to the ultimate team adventure, of which The Avengers is, Marvel built up quite an audience which lead to The Avengers breaking the $200 million mark for an opening weekend and breaking $100 million in it's second weekend - thus setting a couple of new records. I saw the movie as the first showing on a Sunday afternoon the first weekend and the theater was pretty full. When the movie ended, there was a line for the next show when I got out.

While some of the previous Marvel movies were uneven, The Avengers is the ultimate comic book movie. The super hero battles utilized all of the heroes talents and powers, making the battles intense. All of the Avengers had their own little scenes, which gave them some characterization in the movie, allowing you to get to know all of them - although there was not as much characterization done with Renner's Hawkeye - but it was great to see Renner as the World's Greatest Marksman shoot all of his arrows, even if he was not referred as the World's Greatest Marksman but a master assasin.

Hiddleston as Thor's adopted brother Loki is the bad guy of the movie. Although, there were times that Hiddleston seemed to have just accepted things and had just let himself get captured - which made Hiddleston to me appear to be not as strong, or as evil as a super villain who wants to rule humanity as he should have been. Even though I knew Hiddleston had sinister intentions for doing that, I still felt a little wishy-washy about Hiddleston being the ultimate bad guy as a result. However, Hiddleston's interactions and intense battles with The Avengers makes up for Hiddleston being so wishy-washy. Loki's helmet was straight out of the comics and the helmet really made me believe that Hiddleston was the evil Loki when he wore it. With Hiddleston's helmet on, this was the evil Loki that I grew up with.

I was wondering how they were going to bring Hemsworth's Thor back to Earth - because at the end of the Thor movie, Hemsworth had left Earth. While Hemsworth's Thor did return to Earth in The Avengers, Thor's return was more of an incidental thing in The Avengers rather than his return being a significant plot point. Hemsworth's and Hiddleston's fraternal rivalry was great to see again, as their fraternal rivalary is the basis for Hiddleston's sinister motivation - as well as Hemsworth's sense of responsibility, because it is Hemsworth's brother that is causing all of this destruction.

Hiddleston's army from space was alluded to throughout the film, but it is only until the climax that you actually get to see his alien army. The climax is similar to the climax of the Transformer films and Green Lantern, but The Avengers climax is a much better climax as there are multiple threats in the movie and you can tell the bad guys and the good guys apart. Civilians and military are involved in the climax, and not just as victims. One of my favorite scenes in the climax is of a line of New York City police officers shooting up at some attacking airborne aliens in their defense as the aliens are strafing the police. Jackson's Nick Fury must deal with a scenario straight out of the movie Fail Safe. That scene shows how desperate the situation has turned into, although you have a fairly good idea of how it would turn out.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier as their floating/flying aircraft carrier Headquarters was great, right out of the comic books. To see the Helicarrier take off and fly shows how large a craft it really is. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on board the Helicarrier were dressed in the uniforms just like what they wear in the comic books. While I believe there was a resolution for the tesseract, the resolution was not a big enough resolution for me to truely remember it. If the resolution scene is the scene that I think it is, I have to concentrate to remember that particular scene out of all the memorable scenes in the movie. For comic book fans, comic book creator Stan Lee's cameo appearance appears at the end of the movie - so you can concentrate on watching the movie instead of looking for Lee. Cameo appearances of characters from the other Marvel movies also appear in the movie, with the fate of one such character at stake.

With the Hulk being motion-captured from Ruffalo, this was the most believable to me computer graphic of the Hulk. It was still a computer graphic, but this computer graphic Hulk was much more believable as a character to me than other CGI Hulks. It is nice to know that Lou Ferrigno got to do the voice of the Hulk once again after playing the Hulk in various forms over the years since his TV show The Incredible Hulk several years ago.

I saw the movie in Dolby 3D. The film was shot in 2D and converted to 3D. This conversion was most obvious in the slow opening scenes, and was not very good 3D in the beginning, which made me wish that I did not pay for a 3D show - but the 3D did get better as the movie went on and I enjoyed the 3-D look of the movie.

At the end of the movie the audience applauded. There is a scene during the end credits that alludes to the Avengers sequel. While they did not mention the name, the makeup alludes to some known Marvel villains of whom I am looking forward to as they would make great villains - if they are the villains I am thinking of. At the very end of the end credits, there is a little intimate silent scene. Although, like the guy said behind me mentioned at the end - they should have said something during the scene. It was a great place for a joke.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 142 minutes.

Click for movie reviews of the following movies: Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

STAR WARS - EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE - 3D

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Rated PG

Running time: 136 Minutes


Click below to watch the Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace - 3D trailer.



Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation's Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace - 3D, is a re-release of the classic movie of the Star Wars saga in 3-D. This is the first of the Star Wars films that will be released in 3-D theatrically. This is significant considering that this year 2012 is the 35th Anniversary of the original Star Wars. Given a collectible keepsake of the Star Wars - Episode I -The Phantom Menace - 3D real D 3D glasses to use for the screening - when you purchase a tickit to the movie, while supplies last - is a wonderful marketing strategy for the movie, and adds to the experience when you see the movie with the fans. As the films were meant to be seen in the big theaters, instead of on a tiny TV screen, I definitely wanted to see the movie again in the theater and get the full experience. The people behind me were singing the Star Wars theme song when the opening music started. Most people have seen the movie when it first came out, but there were families who brought their kids to see the movie, and the kids seemed to enjoy the movie.

Originally George Lucas shot the movie in 2D and converted the film to 3D for this edition. While there was more 3D than is usual for a conversion, it was disappointing that there was nothing coming out at you. I only recall 1 or 2 incidences like that, and those incidences were during the pod racing scene. I don't know if that is due to the nature of the technology or if they did not want that happening for the movie. Most of the 3D effects deal with depth going back into the picture - even during interior scenes, which is rare. As a result of nothing coming out at you, the traditional opening ship fly-by was not as impressive as I wanted it to be. I wanted the ship flying over my head, instead of flying into the screen. The best 3D sequence was the pod racing sequence, a sequence which is similar to NASCAR auto racing. This is not surprising as the pod racing sequence was the most popular sequence during the film's initial release back in 1999, so naturally they would focus all of their 3D resources on this sequence.

Since I did not have a movie review blog when the movie first came out, I will review the movie now. The movie itself I have always liked as the best of the movie prequels, despite the fact that a lot of people hated it. Overall, the film has basically a good story and there were a lot of good things about it. The Trade Federation has blockaded the peaceful world of Naboo. Two Jedi Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor are sent to negotiate with the leaders - but the Federation leaders betray them. The two Jedi escape the Trade Federation and head to the planet Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, Natalie Portman, but the Trade Federatoin droids have already invaded Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Neeson and McGregor escape Naboo with Portman. Eventually, they land on Tatooine for battle damage repairs, where they become friends with a young boy - Anakin Skywalker, Jake Lloyd. Jedi Master Qui-Gon is curious about young Anakin - and feels the Force strong in Anakin. So Qui-Gon wants to take Anakin with them to the Jedi Council. The group must now find a way of getting back to the galactic capital of Coruscant and to solve this trade dispute, but someone else sinisterly waits in the shadows.

Granted there was a lot of story detail in the film that many people, including myself, were very critical with. Jar-Jar Ahmed Best was not as annoying to me as he was when I first saw the movie in 1999, but he was still annoying. I could relate to a clueless character like Jar-Jar being suddenly thrown into this situation, but Jar-Jar does not have good table manners. The fact that Jar-Jar eventually becomes a competant ambassador in Star Wars: The Clone Wars shows the growth of the character. The various alien races representing different races like Blacks and Asians could be controversial, but it never bothered me both then and now. The scientific explanation of the Force takes away from the mystical hokey religion aspect of the Force that we grew up with, at least the aspect of the Force my generation grew up with, making the film more of a science fiction film than a science fantasy. This was kind of a disappointment for me, as I liked the mystical energy field aspect of the Force.

Jake Lloyd as the young slave Anakin has the innocent face that was needed for the role, especially when Lloyd leaves both his mother Pernilla August and his home, but Lloyd was not that great of a child actor. Actually, Lloyd's lack of acting works in conjunction to the later films with Hayden Christensen as Anakin - whose acting also was not that great in the films, so in a sense there was a sort of continuity of bad acting in the movies for the character. Actually, I think Lloyd was better as a pilot than as an actor. This allowed him to do things instead of act. Lloyd's relationship with high school aged Natalie Portman as Padme Amidala was cute as Padme is the quintesential unreachable girl. Ewan McGregor was very young in his portrayal as padawan apprentice learner Obi-Wan Kenobi, while Liam Neeson as Jedi Master Qui Gon reminds me of the older Obi-Wan portrayed by Alec Guinness. It was hard for me to imagine young Obi-Wan Ewan McGregor would turn into older Obi-Wan Alec Guinness. McGregor did not seem to fail enough to show the potential growth into Guinness. 

I liked the political aspect of the Galactic Senate, although the impeachment of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum Terence Stamp was almost trivialized - as there is very little of Stamp in the movie, which is a waste of his talent. However, the political aspect of the Jedi Council has always bothered me - especially with Mace Windu Samuel L. Jackson and Yoda Frank Oz being part of the Jedi Council determining the fate of Lloyd, even though they were correct about the eventual future of Lloyd as Anakin, I felt uncomfortable about how they treated the child Lloyd. They were more critical of the child instead of being supportive for the child Lloyd as most teachers would be.

The iconic devilish character of Darth Maul Ray Park had more dialog than I remembered him having, although officially he only had three lines. The lack of dialog does detract from the menacing aspect of his character, although Park does kick Jedi butt - which the fans behind me appreciated. Too bad Park's voice was dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz, as I think Park could become more than just an incredible martial artist that plays such iconic martial artist movie roles. The foreshadowing of Senator Palpatine Ian McDiarmid for the rest of the series is truely foreboding. The introduction of R2-D2 and a naked C-3PO was wonderful to see.

The end credits added additional 3-D credits, with additional music to cover the length of the D credits once the music for Duel of the Fates is over. The credits at the end of the movie still end with the sound of Darth Vader's respirator.

There is also a short 3-D computer animated cartoon from Blue Sky Studios of the character Scrat, from the Ice Age films. Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 at the beginning of the movie is a typical adventure for the character Scrat to undergo, which also includes the voices from the Ice Age movies.

Rated PG for violence. Running Time: 136 Minutes.

Click below to watch the Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 short



Pancho
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Captain America: The First Avenger

Paramount/Marvel Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 124 minutes

Set during World War II, Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger has 98 lb. weakling Chris Evans becoming the subject for an experimental super-soldier serum - and then becomes Captain America.

After being discovered in a block of ice in the present day arctic ruins of a huge flying wing plane, the film then tells the World War II story of Evans. Although it is a simpler time, the country is at war. Despite his physical unfitness as a recruit, Evans is determined to be accepted into the Army. When discovered by scientist Stanley Tucci, Evans is given the chance to develop his natural human potential in a top-secret defense project. After Evans is processed with the super-soldier treatment, Tucci is then killed by an agent of The Red Skull Hugo Weaving - the head of Nazi Germany's research department and their own version of a super-solider accidentally created by Tucci. Weaving uses the Cosmic Cube from the movie Thor to create a series of high tech energy weapons to arm his army of HYDRA in his pursuit for world domination. Without Tucci's support, the now muscular Evans becomes an American USO poster boy punching Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the jaw. Despite the support of British agent Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper the inventor - and father of Iron Man - who supplied Evans his iconic bullet-proof American shield, Colonel Tommy Lee Jones consigns Evans to the USO. Disgruntled at this branding role Jones has put him in, Evans soon goes off to rescue his captured best friend Sebastian Stan - as Captain America.

The cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in present-day New York City sets up for the superhero team movie The Avengers. At the end of the movie is the trailer for The Avengers. Too bad the movie leads up to The Avengers as Captain America sets up The Howling Commandos during World War II, a series I would have liked to have seen.

Although initially I was not that interested in watching a World War II comic book movie, despite my being a fan of Captain America, this is the best of the comic book super-hero movies of the 2011 summer. Evans character as Steve Rogers/Captain America may seem a little two-dimensional, but his sincerity and drive eventually makes you care about him and towards the end he starts to have a little dimension to him - especially when you discover he has become a fish-out-of-water.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 124 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

The Other Guys

Columbia Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 107 min



Click below to watch The Other Guys movie trailer on YouTube.



In Columbia Pictures The Other Guys,  Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are a couple of gung ho urban street cops. And then there are The Other Guys - Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, desk jockey precinct detectives. Ferrell and Wahlberg are stuck in the background who are forced to do the Jackson's and Johnson's paperwork. When Ferrell goes after a high profile multi-billionaire investment banker Steve Coogan for a building code violation, partners Ferrell and Wahlberg soon find themselves linked into New York City's biggest crime.

With the movie as a combination Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop, Jackson and Johnson make a great combo as street cops - but make no mistake, as the trailers may be misleading, the movie is really about the other guys Ferrell and Wahlberg. In fact, several people walked out of the theater when they realized the movie was no longer about Jackson and Johnson early in the movie. Although I think a full movie with Jackson and Johnson really as cops would be a fun movie, and there are talks with making a prequel movie about Jackson and Johnson. Mismatched Ferrell and Wahlberg grew on me as they took on the investment banker investigation - with accountant Ferrell having the hot babes like Eva Mendes interested in Ferrell, and of disgraced Wahlberg's unfortunate meeting with major league MVP baseball player Derek Jeter. After watching Ferrell and Wahlberg in the movie, it makes me realize what a waste it is not to get civilians to sit at the desks to do the clerical and administration of police business so they can free up real cops to be out on the street. Also, while the police do a very important job, it is sad to realize the police are not being paid very much because police captain Michael Keaton has to get a second job with Bed Bath & BEYOND to put his bi-sexual son through college. During the end credits, there are financial graphics displayed, along with the results of fraud schemes in keeping with the money laundering plot of the movie. There is also an outtake of the restaurant scene after the credits.

Rated PG-13 for violence and sexual situations.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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Iron Man 2

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 124 minutes















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Click below to watch the Iron Man 2 trailer.



In this sequel to Iron Man, Robert Downey, Jr., who plays Tony Stark, is now known as the armoured hero Iron Man - and the government tries to order Downey to turn his highly advanced Iron Man suit over to them as a new weapons system. Meanwhile, Russian scientist Mickey Rourke takes revenge on Downey for Rourke's dead father.

This is actually a broader and better story than the first Iron Man movie as we deal with opposition from all sides, including Downey's friends. The movie starts off broader, with Iron Man dropping in at an industry Expo of Stark Industries amidst a chorus line of Iron Man cheerleaders - along with music by AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" as Iron Man's theme song. This is more of a dramatic comic book story about the people, like Christian Bale's Batman in The Dark Knight , instead of an over-the-top Joel Schumacher movie like Batman & Robin. As the movie progresses, we see Robert Downey, Jr. falling into depression and alcoholism as he realizes that he is not what his father had expected of him - and also because of the government continually pressing Downey for access of his Iron Man technology for the sake of national security. Gwyneth Paltrow, despite her relationship with Downey, tries to pick up the pieces of Iron Man's public relations disaster. Paltrow also tries running Downey's company, amidst accusations of Paltrow being inexperienced at the job of suddenly being CEO - while Downey falls to pieces from his depression. Mickey Rourke was very convincing as the Russian bad guy Whiplash, while Sam Rockwell might be a bit over the top as Downey's arms merchant contemporary.

Throughout Iron Man 2 are hints of the future Avengers movie that will be a team-up of the various Marvel Comics movie super heroes, of which Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury would be in charge of - including a scene at the end of the closing credits hinting at the nature of one of the more powerful Avengers. I personally can't wait to see Scarlett Johansson continuing her kick-ass role as Natasha Romanoff - The Black Widow.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 124 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.
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