REVIEW-Captian America; The 1st Avenger

Viewing MARVEL STUDIO's latest installment in the "Avengers" saga made me feel good about the impending franchise and well assured that Hollywood understands the importence of making better movies.

Hopefully, the star-studded ensemble in "The Avengers" (coming May 2012) will be well worth the wait, if "Captian America" is any indication of MARVEL's continued excellence in scriptwriting, acting, editing and production design.

The film's premise centers on (our hero) Steve Rogers (played by CHRIS EVANS ; Fantastic Four) a puny-yet-determined Military enlistee who is deemed unfit for service.

After being noticed by a compassionate U.S. Scientist (played with heart by cameo Stanley Tucci), our man Steve volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals.


What better actor to play the diabolical villian RED SKULL than our favorite MATRIX bad guy HUGO WEAVING (V for Vendetta) who potrays a disfigured Nazi official-gone-rouge, hellbent on harnessing the power of ODIN (Thor's father, for those of you playing at home) which is embedded in a desert artifact that crashed on earth years before.

Expect huge explosions, great car chases, amazing stunts and above average special effects. Also expect a bit of corny chiches and obvious comedic relief - but hey, it's summer, it's MARVEL and the word 'America" is in the title. Shut up and chew ya twizzlers.

Not only was it good to see Hugo Weaving chizel his mark in the movie villian's hall of fame (with Jack Nicholson's "Joker", James Earl Jone's "Darth Vader" and Terrence Stamp's "General Zod") but it was also refreshing to see Chris Evans in a role where he doesn't play a smarmy playboy with a cocky attitude.

I wonder if he begged for that role as a way to further develop his personal best as an actor. Maybe it fell in his lap. Either way, you can see him working from a different performance energy center, and that's a good thing.

Best wishes to MARK RUFFALO (The kids are alright, Shutter Island, Date Night) as he takes over the role of BRUCE BANNER in the Avangers movie. EDWARD NORTON is no longer huge and green.

Directed by popcorn vet JOE JOHNSTON ( Jumanji, Hildago, Jurrassic park 3) this film has the feel of a classic movie like "Raiders" with breakneack action sequences and slick production design. The costumes and shots of New York in the 40's were top-notch. Great use of REAL 3d tech from the first frame to the last. Worth the admission price.


TICKET WORTH: Full price (2D and 3D)
RENT THIS MOVIE?: Hellz yeah! Watch it with the kids.
BUY THE DVD?: Hellz yeah. Blue-ray, 3D - all the bells and whistles.

J/A

New! "The Dark Knight Rises" teaser poster

X-MEN: First Class- Prequel 101

X-Men: First Class takes a cue out of the franchise handbook like STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE and BATMAN BEGINS and returns to the story's beginning; the formation of the X-Men and how the future Proffesor X and Magneto met.

The movie gets crazy dark & dramatic (which is why I believe it's being compared to Chris Nolan's "DARK KNIGHT" film) with minimal comedic dialogue and one cameo. Great effects and top-notch art direction (especially costumes; it's a period piece) made this a slick, glossy X-men film, unlike the dull, pathetic X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE that will probably go down in history as the worst MARVEL spinoff ever, next to (ex-lovers) ELECTRA & DAREDEVIL.

Talk about your super cast: Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto), Dr. Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Darwin (Edi Cathegi), Azazel (Jason Flemyng), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost (January Jones), Angel (Zoe Kravitz), Havok (Lucas Till), and Riptide (Alex Gonzalez).

Kevin Bacon does an ok job as laid-back villain Sebastian Shaw but the acting kudos mostly go to the awesome chemistry between James McAvoy & Erik Lehnsherr for their portrayal of Prof. X & Magneto's alliance and later separation of ideals. Notable mention go to Nicholas Hoult's Beast and Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique. played with charm & honesty.

This is not your average, teeny-bopper, popcorn flick full of fart jokes & homoerotic pranks. This well-groomed MARVEL epic is rife with the American politics of the 1960's; intercut with vintage TV footage of the cuban missile crisis (ask your parents, K?). I rather enjoyed the blending of historical fact and comic book fiction history as in the opening title sequence of Zack Snyder's WATCHMEN (which coincidentally was released early in 2009 to make way for other blockbusters like "STAR TREK" & "UP").

One thing I didn't like was how television commercials give visual spoilers of the finale action sequences. It makes me feel like I've seen the film already. It just sucks. Even so, I still thought it was badass. Hope you like it.

Running time: 2 Hours, 12 Minutes.

MOVIE WORTH: Full price

RENTAL? : Hell yes!

BUY THE DVD? Hell yes again!

"Sucker Punch': GIRLS IN THE MATRIX? HELL YEAH!

"Sucker Punch", the latest film by writer-director Zack Snyder ("300", "Watchmen") and is his first film that's based on his own source material.

This kick-ass popcorn epic is an action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl (Emily Browning) whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality.

Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary.

Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls—the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (a surprisingly good Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish)—to band together and try to escape their terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac), Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino) and the High Roller (Jon Hamm).

The girls engage in Live-action-Anime style warfare against everything from giant samurais to zombie Nazi soldiers,. Forget NEO's classic "Guns...lots of guns" line. These pixie fem fatles cut down armies of hostiles with a virtual weapons arsenal.

Together, with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn), they flip wigs and snap necks all the way to freedom...or do they?

If not for anything else, go to hear the awesome soundtrack featuring bad ass electronica remixes of ANNIE LENNOX, BJORK and others. See this in theaters NOW. It's worth it.

RATED: PG-13

Ticket WORTH: FULL PRICE. Just pay it.

Rental?: Oh hell yeah.

BUY THE DVD?: Oh hell yeah. With all the bells & whistles.

Academy Awards 2011...what a classy gig!

James Franco and Ann Hathaway score a perfect 10 as presenters for the 2011 Academy Awards, filled with moments that are sure to make viral video history and give the event a much needed makeover.

Among the highlights:

• Kirk Douglas (Michael's father- for all you newbies) presented the "PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE" to Melissa Leo (Treme) for her betrayal as the Boston mother/manager of an up-and-coming boxer in "The Fighter". After a hilarious intro by Mr. Douglas (age 94), a visibly shocked Ms. Leo accepted the award, then dropped the "F"-bomb. Ah...good times.

• After a musical number by a tuxedo-wearing Anne Hathaway, co-host James Franco came on stage in drag, sporting a red strapless gown and blonde wig. “The weird thing is..." said Franco, "... I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen.”

• A video mash-up of Bob Hope's first Oscar monologue was projected on a screen behind a podium, as the classic comedian's video image seem to present the "ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS" nominees. The award was presented to the team who worked on INCEPTION by the ever-charismatic JUDE LAW and ROBERT DOWNEY JR. .

THE WINNERS

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
"Black Swan"(Fox Searchlight)
"The Fighter"(Paramount)
"Inception"(Warner Bros.)
"The Kids Are All Right"(Focus Features)
"The King’s Speech"(The Weinstein Company)
"127 Hours"(Fox Searchlight)
"The Social Network"(Sony Pictures Releasing)
"Toy Story 3"(Walt Disney)
"True Grit"(Paramount)
"Winter’s Bone"(Roadside Attractions)

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
"Black Swan"(Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter"(Paramount), David O. Russell
"The King’s Speech" (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper
"The Social Network"(Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
"True Grit"(Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful" (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit" (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network" (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Colin Firth in "The King’s Speech" (The Weinstein Company)
James Franco in "127 Hours" (Fox Searchlight)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christian Bale in "The Fighter" (Paramount)
John Hawkes in "Winter’s Bone" (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in "The Town" (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right" (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in "The King’s Speech" (The Weinstein Company)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right" (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole" (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter’s Bone" (Roadside Attractions)
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan" (Fox Searchlight)
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine" (The Weinstein Company)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams in "The Fighter" (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King’s Speech" (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter" (Paramount)
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"(Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom" (Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"How to Train Your Dragon"(Paramount), Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
"The Illusionist"(Sony Pictures Classics), Sylvain Chomet
"Toy Story 3" (Walt Disney), Lee Unkrich

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
"Alice in Wonderland"(Walt Disney), Production Design: Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"(Warner Bros.), Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Inception" (Warner Bros.), Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas, Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
"The King’s Speech" (The Weinstein Company), Production Design: Eve Stewart, Set Decoration: Judy Farr
"True Grit" (Paramount), Production Design: Jess Gonchor, Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Black Swan" (Fox Searchlight), Matthew Libatique
"Inception" (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
"The King’s Speech"(The Weinstein Company), Danny Cohen
"The Social Network"(Sony Pictures Releasing), Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit"(Paramount), Roger Deakins

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
"Alice in Wonderland" (Walt Disney), Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love" (Magnolia Pictures), Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King’s Speech" (The Weinstein Company), Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest" (Miramax), Sandy Powell
"True Grit" (Paramount), Mary Zophres

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Exit through the Gift Shop" (Producers Distribution Agency), A Paranoid Pictures Production, Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
"Gasland", A Gasland Production, Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
"Inside Job" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Representational Pictures Production, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Restrepo" (National Geographic Entertainment), An Outpost Films Production, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
"Waste Land"(Arthouse Films), An Almega Projects Production, Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Killing in the Name", A Moxie Firecracker Films Production
"Poster Girl", A Portrayal Films Production, Nominees to be determined
"Strangers No More", A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
"Sun Come Up", A Sun Come Up Production, Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
"The Warriors of Qiugang", A Thomas Lennon Films Production, Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
"Black Swan"(Fox Searchlight), Andrew Weisblum
"The Fighter"(Paramount), Pamela Martin
"The King’s Speech"(The Weinstein Company), Tariq Anwar
"127 Hours"(Fox Searchlight), Jon Harris
"The Social Network" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
"Biutiful"(Roadside Attractions), A Menage Atroz, Mod Producciones and Ikiru Films Production, Mexico
"Dogtooth"(Kino International), A Boo Production, Greece
"In a Better World"(Sony Pictures Classics), A Zentropa Production, Denmark
"Incendies"(Sony Pictures Classics), A Micro-Scope Production, Canada
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)"(Cohen Media Group), A Tassili Films Production, Algeria

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
"Barney's Version' (Sony Pictures Classics), Adrien Morot
"The Way Back"(Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment), Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng "The Wolfman"(Universal), Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
"How to Train Your Dragon"(Paramount), John Powell
"Inception"(Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer
"The King’s Speech"(The Weinstein Company), Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours" (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
"The Social Network"(Sony Pictures Releasing), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Coming Home" from "Country Strong" (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)), Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled" (Walt Disney), Music by Alan Menken, Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours" (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3" (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"Day & Night" (Walt Disney), A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Teddy Newton
"The Gruffalo", A Magic Light Pictures Production, Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
"Let’s Pollute", A Geefwee Boedoe Production, Geefwee Boedoe
"The Lost Thing", (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment), A Passion Pictures Australia Production, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)", A Sacrebleu Production, Bastien Dubois

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"The Confession" (National Film and Television School), A National Film and Television School Production, Tanel Toom
"The Crush"(Network Ireland Television), A Purdy Pictures Production, Michael Creagh
"God of Love", A Luke Matheny Production, Luke Matheny
"Na Wewe"(Premium Films), A CUT! Production, Ivan Goldschmidt
"Wish 143", A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production, Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
"Inception" (Warner Bros.),Richard King "Toy Story 3"(Walt Disney), Tom Myers and Michael Silvers "Tron: Legacy"(Walt Disney), Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague "True Grit"(Paramount), Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey "Unstoppable" (20th Century Fox), Mark P. Stoeckinger

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
"Inception" (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
"The King’s Speech"(The Weinstein Company), Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
"Salt"(Sony Pictures Releasing), Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
"The Social Network"(Sony Pictures Releasing), Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
"True Grit" (Paramount), Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
"Alice in Wonderland"(Walt Disney), Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"(Warner Bros.), Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
"Hereafter" (Warner Bros.), Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
"Inception" (Warner Bros.), Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
"Iron Man 2" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount), Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"127 Hours" (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
"The Social Network" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3"(Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt, Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit" (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter’s Bone"(Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Another Year"(Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter"(Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception"(Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right"(Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
"The King’s Speech"(The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler