Captain America: Civil War

Spanks – 5

Directors – Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Writers – Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

Starring – Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Daniel Brühl & William Hurt

Release Date – 6 May 2016

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 147 Minutes

Captain America: Civil War could have easily been called Avengers 3 with all the heroes in the movie. It had all but Thor and The Hulk, it introduced Black Panther and a new Spiderman, and it even gave screen time to new Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch. The movie is tied closely to the events of Age of Ultron. Because of the events and collateral damage in Sokovia the government created the Sokovia Accord, which would let the United Nations oversee and control the Avengers. This divides the heroes. There is also a new villain who was a regular soldier from Sokovia until the battle with Ultron.

This is one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It has just enough action, it keeps you thinking what is going to happen next, and was written well. It is funny and the characters work great with each other. Spider-Man was great and this version could be as good or better then Tobey Maguire.

The fight scene at the airport where Iron Man’s team confronts Captain America’s team was done really well. With so many people to focus on, the directors did good with going back to each character so you always know what they are all doing. There was 12 heroes involved which is a lot of people to keep track of.

If you have an IMAX around you, see it there. The airport battle was filmed with an IMAX camera and the sequence is huge.

Ant Man

Spanks – 5

Director – Peyton Reed

Writers – Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and Adam McKay & Paul Rudd

Starring – Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Anthony Mackie, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson & Michael Peña

Release Date – 17 July 2015

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 117 Minutes

I was a little concerned with Ant Man because of the behind the scenes stuff that went on. Not long before production was set to begin the writer and director left because of creative differences. In the end the film came out great. They didn’t change the script to much, and it still had the feel of an Edger Wright movie. My only complaint is that it started a little slow, but after the first 20 minutes or so the pace speed up and turned into a great film.

Ant Man tells the story of Scott Lang. He is a former engineer who was arrested for burglary. Upon release from prison he has a hard time getting a job and is recruited by scientist Hank Pym to “break into a place and steal some stuff.” Dr. Pym is the creator of the Ant Man suit and teaches Scott how to use it so he can save the world.

The movie is very funny. I think it is the funniest of the Marvel movies to date. They also used macro photography for the scenes when Scott is in shrunken form which gave the film a different look then just using CGI. Paul Rudd was a perfect choice for the title roll, even though you wouldn’t look at him as a superhero, which is probably why it works. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next for Ant Man and where that will happen in future Marvel movies.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Spanks – 5

Director – Joss Whedon

Writer – Joss Whedon

Starring – Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders & Anthony Mackie

Release Date – 1 May 2015

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 141 Minutes

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great movie. It has everything the first film has with more Avengers. The film starts with the heroes on a mission to retrieve Loki’s scepter from a Hydra base in Sokovia. When they take it back to to Avengers tower, Tony Stark finds an AI in the scepter’s stone. He and Bruce Banner then try to use it for Stark’s Ultron global defense system. It doesn’t work and the new AI attacks the Avengers and escapes and wants to destroy the world.

With so many characters you would think that the movie would be a big mess, but everyone has their stories progress. They did a good job telling more about characters who have not had their own films like Hawkeye and Black Widow which was really cool.

The movie has a lot of action scenes and the first and last one are a little long. If your not into all that you might get a little bored. I enjoyed it all! It had so much going on with the different characters that it wasn’t a repetitive sequence. This movie is funnier then the first Avengers film but the first one is slightly better. Still well worth the price of admission. Hopefully I’ll have time to go see it again this summer.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Spanks – 5

Directors – Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Writers – Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

Starring – Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan & Anthony Mackie

Release Date – 4 April 2014

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 136 Minutes

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the next chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Captain America is working for S.H.I.E.L.D in Washington D.C and adjusting to modern living. Everything is normal until a mission to free hostages on a S.H.I.E.L.D ship from pirates. While on the ship, he witnesses Black Widow download information from the ships computer. He confronts Nick Fury when he returns to Washington D.C and after that Nick Fury gets attacked by the Winter Soldier. No one is safe and Captain America has to figure out who the Winter Soldier is, who he works for and why are they after members of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The movie has everything a summer movie should have and Marvel continues to make awesome movies. The movie has a great plot and has mysterious characters that you can’t figure out. The film has a lot of story, very similar to Iron Man 3. Captain America and Black Widow have great chemistry together and it was cool that she finally got to have a large amount of screen time to show more of her character. They introduced a new character to the movies called the Falcon and he is another cool character.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the better movies in the Marvel Universe. I am very impressed with how they link all these movies together and I hope that it continues to impress through Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers 2, and beyond.

Pain & Gain

Spanks – 3

Director – Michael Bay

Writers – Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

Starring – Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, Rebel Wilson & Ken Jeong

Release Date – 26 April 2013

MPAA Rating – R

Run time – 129 Minutes

Pain & Gain is based on a true story. It is such a crazy story that that point was reminded to the viewer throughout the movie. It is the story about a trio of stupid criminals in Miami Florida. The plan was to kidnap a man they believed to bad and to torture him to be able to extort him for his money. The plan didn’t go exactly as planned and things just got crazy and out of control.

The actors did a great job at playing their characters. Dwayne Johnson has the best character of the bunch and every scene he is in he says or does something funny. Mark Wahlberg’s character is a jerk and is not a person you want to like and he does that well in this movie. Ken Jeong plays a motivational speaker and he always has a good character.

Pain & Gain isn’t your normal Micheal Bay film. There isn’t giant explosions and lots of special effects that he is known for (and expect). It is just a simple entertaining film.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Spanks – 3

Director – Timur Bekmambetov

Writer – Seth Grahame-Smith

Starring – Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell & Jimmi Simpson

Release Date – 22 June 2012

MPAA Rating – R

Runtime – 105 Minutes

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was an awesome book. The book took history and intertwined the whole vampire conspiracy into it. It did a very good job at this too. The movie, even though it was written by the same guy who did the book, was just a vampire movie with Abe Lincoln as the protagonist. Since I finished the book and heard they were making a movie I was looking forward to it, however it wasn’t executed good at all. The movie wanted to be taken seriously, but it also tried to be campy, when it should have gone one way or the other.

The title of the movie sums up what the movie is about. Abraham Lincoln is born in a world were vampires roam the country. After his mother is killed by one he goes after him when he grows up. He is saved by a man named Henry Sturges who tells him about vampires and he vows to destroy them all.

The movie created a major antagonist vampire who Lincoln must eventually confront. They probably added him to make the movie “more Hollywood”. A bunch of characters from the book were also left out, probably to keep the movie under two hours. I think it would have made a better movie in a documentary style.

The movie looked alright. You can tell some of it done the way it was because it had to be done in 3D. The vampires looked cool and the make up people did well at making actor Benjamin Walker look like Abe.

Since my view of the film is hindered by reading the book, I asked “The Future Mrs. Spanky” what she thought and she didn’t think it worked either. If you want to read how the sixteen president of the United States could have lived it he fought a vampire invasion, go out and read the book instead.