Theatrical Releases: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

April 4, 2014 / Leave a Comment

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER || April 4th, 2014

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” feels less like a Marvel superhero movie and more like a crime drama. With new faces like Robert Redford as S.H.I.E.L.D. director Alexander Pierce and Anthony Mackie as former “pilot” Sam Wilson whom later becomes Captain America’s sidekick Falcon, “The Winter Soldier” is anything but a retread. With solid performances throughout, one of the best screenplays to come out of the massive franchise yet, and an eye for what makes the perfect action film, this sequel in particular is accessible to everyone.

	What the hell is with this trend of horrible comedy films about sexual relationships that ends up so blatantly over the top and slapstick? “10 Rules For Sleeping Around” is a menagerie of actors you’ve seen elsewhere, like Jesse Bradford (“Swimfan”), Wendi McLendon-Covey (“Bridesmaids”), Chris Marquette (“Just Friends”), and Bill Bellamy, but do not fit into this strange comedy about cheating on your significant others.	PASS
	The found footage horror film trend continues with “Afflicted”. Reminiscent of “Chronicle” where a friend discovers he has special powers, the horror side of this kicks in. Having gotten the power after spending the night with some strange woman he meets while traveling and slowly turning sinister in nature, breaking walls, hurting people, and eventually looking like a demon. The trailer tells the story chronologically backwards, which makes me wonder if the narrative of the film is set up this way as well.	25% MAYBE
	“Alan Partridge” is apparently based on a character that Steve Coogan made famous in the U.K. but who never quite made it here. Now, he’s got a feature film, and at least in my opinion, the humor never quite hits. Most often indifferent to Coogan’s brand of humor, the film is chalk full of deadpan, dark humor that reminds of British comedy like “The Office” to which I never caught on as well.	PASS
	Yet another found footage horror film, this one, titled “Alien Abduction”, is exactly what the title describes. A family that goes on a camping vacation ends up seeing unexplainable lights in the sky and from there on out they are faced with an alien presence. A few things have me excited for this film. It’s a directorial debut with zero pressure to fit into a Hollywood stereotype. There was a short in “V/H/S/2” that explored this idea during a birthday party and worked fantastically as a found footage piece. Plus, most of the effects look practical. To top it off, this is based on “actual accounts” out of North Carolina.	75% MOST LIKELY
	Jude Law is “Dom Hemingway”. The first thing to catch my attention in this trailer is that the humor is brash and gritty, with Jude Law describing all the ways he’s used a gun but never to hunt. The second thing is that Emilia Clarke stars as Law’s daughter whom he hasn’t seen for most of her life. Finally seeing her out of “Game Of Thrones” is an event in and of itself. Lastly, Jude Law playing a very different type may just be worth seeing this film for.	25% MAYBE
	“Flex Is Kings” is a documentary that follows a group of guys from Brooklyn that participate in a form of street dancing called flex where they move their bodies in fluid motions. I really do appreciate what this documentary is and the story of these guys channeling their energy into something like this instead of violence and the more of these films that occur, the happier I am with our current state of things.	PASS
	Look past the overly dramatic music and tones and “Frankie & Alice” could be a decent psychological drama about a woman with split personalities always vying to take control. Starring Halle Berry as that woman and Stellan Skarsgard as her physician, both actors look in top form despite this film having had a limited release a few years ago.	25% MAYBE
	When you think of the Galapagos Islands, you think of Charles Darwin and the study of evolution. But what doesn’t come to mind is a group of people that moved to the islands in 1930 to start a civilization which would end in sex, murder, and plenty of mysteries. “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Comes To Eden” is described as “Darwin meets Hitchcock” which gets me somewhat intrigued.	25% MAYBE
	Taking a smaller budget, more independent look at the apocalypse, “Goodbye World” sees a group of friends taking refuge in a friends Northern California survivalist home. When the Army tries to get involved and when people discover this solar powered fortress to which they weren’t invited, the worst of humanity comes out. With many familiar faces like Adrian Grenier (“Entourage”), Ben McKenzie (“The O.C.”), and Kerry Bishé (“Argo”) this tips the film just enough for me to see it.	50% PROBABLY
	The trailer for “A History of Jazz: Oxygen For The Ears” is mostly cards, which is too bad with so many articulate people willing to speak about the music form. Also, tying in Obama as a jazz listener does very little for me in terms of getting me to feel for the art form. Jazz is not a style of music that I frequent and therefore this documentary is somewhat lost on me.	PASS
	Gina Carano takes another leading role as the bad ass chick looking for answers in “In The Blood”. When her husband played by Cam Gigandet goes missing during a zip-lining trip, Gina goes on the offensive to try and find him. Also starring Luis Guzmán, Treat Williams, and Danny Trejo, there’s enough action in the film but not enough to differentiate it from any of Carano’s other no name films. I’m on the fence about passing but I’m still going to pass.	PASS
	What a great trailer. Garnering the voice of Morgan Freeman and the extremely positive and fitting Imagine Dragons song “On Top Of The World”, this documentary “Island of Lemurs: Madagascar” looks like a powerful step into the lives of these amazing creatures. Seen in IMAX, I’m sure there’s enough heartwarming stories and educational tales for parents to take their kids to, and if I were still a kid, I’m sure I would love it.	PASS
	A low budget demon hunter film titled “Jinn” looks devastatingly boring despite plenty of action laid out in the trailer. But with action must come some discernible story and there is none of that in the trailer, which describes the creation of humans, angels, and “another”, insinuating demons/devils. We’ve seen stories like this before, particularly somewhat better stories like this.	PASS
	The second volume of Lars Von Trier super sexual “Nymphomaniac” film about a woman sharing all her sexual encounters throughout her life with graphic visual representation, more stars and more stories are rolled out for this second half. Having not yet seen the first volume, I cannot speak to many details, but I’m often drawn to Von Trier’s work and with plenty of amazing reviews for the film, I look forward to experiencing this.	THEATER
	Marriage is taken light by almost everything these days so a film like “The Players” really rubs me the wrong way, following a man who is married to a beautiful woman but decides he needs to find a mistress. The films follows him and his friend, played by Jean Dujardin, as they hook up with attractive women, all while making some grand speech about animals being unfaithful.	PASS
	With certain trailers, it really is too bad that they give away almost the entire film. From the trailer of “The Retrieval” which comes with glowing reviews like the highlighted one “damn near flawless”, I can gather several events that take place that I should not know before ever stepping foot into the film. The poster alone gives away details I’d rather not know. The film looks intense as a father and son look to bring a man back to a group of thugs for them to kill but allegiances shift during their journey back.	25% MAYBE
	Scarlett Johansson takes on the super sexy and creepy role of an alien in human skin luring men into her white unmarked van and then bringing them back to her dilapidated flat where they are taken captive. Playing with gender roles and musical themes, this film is definitely not for everyone, but for those patient enough and willing to give themselves over to the idea will be greatly rewarded.
	An interesting documentary about Donald Rumsfeld and his time in office, brought to the screen by Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris (“The Fog Of War”), “The Unknown Known” takes a different approach to the standard sit-down interview and takes Rumsfeld’s own words while in office and feeds them back to him, all while going through the facts of what actually occurred, leading to the Iraq War.	PASS
	The fact that this documentary titled “Watermark” has a world renowned photographer involved almost sways this to me wanting to see it. But up against many other water related documentaries, the trailer for this film just simply does not add up, focusing more on visuals of water throughout the world and touting so many different stories instead of one basic overall theme, there’s too much going on in this film to totally latch onto anything.	PASS