Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joe)

by. Joe Moss
★★½

Well, one thing is for certain...when you watch Avengers: Age of Ultron, if you desired to see a kick-ass, slam-bang, action montage after action montage--YOU HAVE FOUND IT!! Joss Whedon's latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe hits all of those 'labels' and more. But my question is, "Did he hit too much more?" Was this movie forced to become too much to ready the Universe for all of the future film sequels and spin-offs that have been announced. Just a warning...Prepare yourself for INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!

The Avengers needing to regroup after a defeat in South Africa.

I will be the first to admit that this was one of my most anticipated movies of 2015, and I have been one of those fan-geeks who over-analyzed the theatrical trailers to the point of driving myself mad with plot speculation. Joss Whedon (touché, sir) did a masterful job of misdirection in the trailers--that much I will allow to slip in this review. Almost 50% of the speculations floating around the internet regarding what 'must happen' are wrong. Now, that being said, I found myself lost in what the POINT of this movie was supposed to be. There was too much information presented, plot twisting, new characters and back-story intertwining that the movie became lost in itself--for about 1/3 of the film run time.

The film opens where we last saw the Avengers, hunting down the scepter wielded by Loki in "The Avengers." They have finally traced it to a remote location in Eastern Europe (Sokovia) to Baron Strucker's castle where hold-overs of Hydra are at work unleashing the power within the scepter. Enter the Avengers doing their usual wherein they recover what they were after, but there is a twist--Hydra has been performing human manipulations once again. Unleashed are Maximoff Twins, Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

The Maximoff Twins

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), Dr. Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and the crew return to Avengers Tower in New York to regroup, heal [with the aid of Dr. Cho (Claudia Kim)], and relax until Thor returns to Asgard with the scepter to be locked away safely. Except we all know that when Tony Stark is involved, nothing every quite goes as planned when there is an 'untapped power supply' in the picture. Suffice to say that from this point on is where the movie gets TRULY INTERESTING.

After the farewell party gone awry, we see the introduction of Ultron (James Spader), Laura Barton (Linda Cardellini), Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), Vision (Paul Bettany), F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Kerry Condon), and Thanos (Josh Brolin) for the 3rd time.

OK....the visuals were stunning. The cinematography was spot on; the editing was amazing as usual. What really bothered me about this movie was that I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a revenge story, a love story, a revenge story about love, a love story intermingled with revenge...well, you get the picture here. With the introduction of the Maximoff's, we are handed a whole NEW story line regarding their background that is all new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And their initial story centered around revenge against a member of the Avengers team. This is the entire reason they teamed up with Ultron. BUT...then there is one of about 25 plot twists that tweaks that plot line and morphs it into something else entirely.

Beauty and the Beast?

Also circumspect is the relationship between a few members of the Avengers team. There is love in the air that is alluded to MULTIPLE times throughout the film, but it seems to be as confusing to the characters as it is to the audience. AND we are privy to Hawkeye's background (Jeremy Renner) which nobody in the theater saw coming. That added an entire new plot twist and allowed a whole new emotional side of Hawkeye to be addressed by Renner as the film progresses. One that doesn't necessarily add to the plot as a whole.

Lastly, there is a lot of testosterone induced posturing throughout the film between Thor (Chris Hemsworht), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Tony Stark. This seemed overly ridiculous and wholly looked to be a forced add-in to introduce the plot for the next Captain America/Avengers/Thor set of films, wherein information has already been leaked about a "war" coming, and the death of an Avenger.

Overall, I liked the film. Would I watch it again? Sure thing. Was it as spectacular as I had hoped it would be. No. Maybe in a few years after I have watched the culmination of this purveyance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe I will be able to look back on "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and say, "ohhhhhhhh, so that's why that happened." But for now, I was unsatisfied with most of the plot/information overload.

Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service

by William Hill
★★★

Director Matthew Vaughn continues to prove that he has a unique talent for adaptation. I haven't seen his debut film, Layer Cake, but his other four works have all been adapted from comic books. Or if you must be specific, Stardust was a novel first. Still, Vaughn has delivered some top rate action films in the past five years, and following X-Men: First Class, I was excited to see his latest work.

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, played be newcomer Taron Egerton, lives in London with his mother and her boyfriend. He's caught in a spiral of minor crimes involving the gang his mother's lover leads. After stealing a car, he calls in a favor of Harry Hart (Colin Firth). After springing Eggsy from prison, Harry takes him to train to become one of the Kingsmen after the recent death of one of their agents.



On the other side of the globe, noteworthy humanitarian Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) is meeting with politicians from around the globe to reduce the damage done to the earth by climate change. Also, if you didn't gather from a single scene where Jackson is on screen, he is the villain, and he speaks with a Mike Tyson lisp.

What follows is a collection of training montages where the Kingsman trainees are bumped off one by one in a series of exercises arranged by Merlin (Mark Strong). The narrative of the film is traditional heroes quest fare. There isn't a single missed step from where Eggsy leaves from home to the point where he rises above the opposition and saves the day from evil in the final act. Much like X-Men: First Class, the majority of the second act depicts the training of youth and their growing bond, and eventually how they fall apart, though it is through the completion of their training in Kingsman. This isn't to the films detriment, however. As familiar as it is, the formula is pleasing, and the characters are memorable.



Every performance from a primary or even the secondary cast is spectacular. Everyone on screen turns in their best from the first frame forward. Jackson is wonderful as Valentine, who oozes in the same way that a classic Bond villain would through their deeds as they slink their way to the end of their world dominating plans. Firth's Harry Hart is a gentleman in every motion, smooth and fluid in every one of the over the top action scenes, and likable to the very end. But most important, Egerton's turn as a disenfranchised youth turned debonair spy is a sign of a new talent that's coming up out of British television. There is a fantastic transformation from the swearing, beer swilling twenty-something at the start of the film to someone who mirrors his mentor, while still maintaining some aspects of his identity. The homage to Roger Moore era Bond films at the very end reminds us that he's still got that immaturity in his heart. I'd love to see a sequel to see where he goes from here.

The various spoofs and homages to classic spy movies and television shows add color to the film. From the Q Branch inspired gadgets to a hangar full of classic cars and aircraft, and even mention of a shoe phone straight out of Get Smart, Kingsman knows its inspirations, and doesn't try to hide them. A scene where Hart visits Valentine at his house is reminiscent of the Connery era Bond film, where the hero and the villain, wittily circling each other over dinner, knowing that they are destined to face each other later in the story. Pair this with a soundtrack that sounds more like it belongs in Austin Powers, and the tone is complete.

Except for in one instance which is a bit jarring. There is a scene where a character brawls with a large group of civilians, and the fighting is displayed with the same playful, over the top chaos of the rest of the film. However, when the fighting stops, there is a moment of regret. It comes across as half hearted, because Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd is blaring over the bloodbath. This is the only instance where it happens, and due to the setup, you will likely feel little guilt for laughing at the victims.

The cinematography and fight choreography are top notch. Despite quick edits, fast camera movement, and dozens of people on screen at any time during the fight scenes, it's easy to tell who is doing what, and where they are in the room at any time. It's reminiscent of Timur Bekmambetov's work on Night Watch, and Day Watch, sans the elaborate masking and unveiling of subtitles. The camera makes the best of every set in the film even when blood isn't being spilled. The old English settings, the pubs, the slums, they are all given sufficient space, and often containing some amusing touches in the background.



Kingsman: The Secret Service is a fun film, first and foremost. It's a bloody, messy film with a lot of charm and heart. It's style over substance, but the characters make it a lovely experience from beginning to end. Also, Mark Hamill is in a few scenes, and he's worth the price of admission for his few minutes of screen time.

Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★½

I couldn’t have told you one comic book superhero from the next until Marvel launched its Cinematic Universe in 2008 with “Iron Man.” Today, I look forward to each new installment. However, most of their films have not lived up to the enormous expectations. The latest installment from Marvel is “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and with that, Marvel may have finally figured out how to make these movies accessible to everyone.

“The Winter Soldier” takes place a couple years after the events of “The Avengers.” Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) continues to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. helping them fight terrorists around the world. As we open, he’s on a mission with Agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) trying to rescue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from a ship hijacked by pirates. One of the pirates is Georges Batroc, played by UFC fighter Georges St-Pierre, which turns into some fun and wild hand-to-hand combat between him and Cap.

Of course, Romanoff appears to have a separate agenda during this simple rescue mission. Rogers doesn’t like being left in the dark on missions when members of his team are given a separate mission. He takes it up with Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Fury decides he’ll let Rogers in on a little secret mission since he’s so upset about being left out of the loop. S.H.I.E.L.D. is working on something called Project Insight which consists of three upgraded Helicarriers (advanced models of the massive air/water vehicle S.H.I.E.L.D. used in “The Avengers”) which can patrol the globe indefinitely and eliminate threats to world security. Rogers doesn’t agree with this thought process. Fury shares Rogers’ doubts about the program with Secretary Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) who is leader of the World Security Council (an active supporter of Project Insight).

Fury’s suddenly finds himself being targeted by a ruthless assassin called The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). He’s a Keyser Söze-type villain who’s more of ghost story character than anything else; many have heard of him, few see him and live to tell the tale. But here he is, in the flesh. Rogers and Romanoff take off running from him and those who hired him, trying to figure out why they’re being targeted all of a sudden. Thankfully, a new friend of Rogers, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), is trustworthy and proves very helpful.

“The Winter Soldier” is a huge win for Marvel and their ongoing Cinematic Universe. What they’ve done here is taken well known and beloved comic book heroes from this and previous generations and successfully blend them into a modern day setting. This isn’t a just a comic book/superhero movie; this is smart political action thriller more than anything else.

If you were to remove the superhero elements from the script, you’d be left with a tightly wound story about powerful and corrupt people with the good guys trying to bring them down. This, of course, despite many different antagonist elements sprinkled throughout the plot. I think this is the model Marvel has been working toward since they started making all these movies in the same Cinematic Universe. We’ve got the origin story out of the way, we’ve got “The Avengers” out of the way, so it’s time to really take this character and put him into a real world story arc.

While other Marvel movies have attempted this structure with little success, “The Winter Soldier” is the first film to really make it work. That credit should go to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who have worked with Marvel already on “Captain American: The First Avenger” and “Thor: The Dark World.” Third time’s a charm, I guess. The first “Captain America” was dead on arrival and no one was able to salvage that. It was a two-hour preview for “The Avengers” and had very little for the audience to identify with. It was an obligatory film that had to be made in order for “The Avengers” to be the success that it was. As for “Thor,” that’s a hard one to tell. The character isn’t well known outside the Marvel fan base and he’s not easy to relate to. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Chris Hemsworth in the role and Tom Hiddleston steals the show, but it seems to be a hard world to write and bring to life. But Markus and McFeely finally have it figured out with “The Winter Soldier.” It’s as if they wrote a political thriller first, and then stuck Captain America in there as the protagonist after they worked out the kinks in the story. And it’s got the right amount of wit and humor to accompany the story.

Of course, the film is not without its faults. There’s a lot of unnecessary development of the Rogers character despite this being the third time we’ve seen him. Additional development is okay in sequels (see Alvin Sargent’s masterful screenplay for “Spider-Man 2”) but it shouldn’t bog down the pace of the film. After an amazing opening series of scenes, this film grinds to a halt for the remainder or an overly long first act. There’s also plenty of spots where I wasn’t sure who was fighting who and who was on who’s side. When the climactic events occur in multiple locations all at the same time, things tend to get a little muddled. Joss Whedon figured that out, which is why the battle in New York at the end of “The Avengers” is so well put together.

But I can’t take anything away from directors Anthony and Joe Russo. For a couple of guys who’s credits include directing the pilot episodes to two cult television shows (“Arrested Development” and “Community”), they don’t seem to be intimidated by a complex plot, a big studio budget or operating within the realms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel was wise to lock these guys into another film. They handle the story well by letting the plot take center stage rather than the CGI. Sure, there are hundreds of effects shots in this film but they’re used to supplement the film, not steal the show.

The Russo’s have also guided their stars into excellent performances. Chris Evans seems right at home as Captain America. I know I’ve seen him in other films before (including two terrible films featuring another set of Marvel characters that shall remain nameless), but I can’t help but see Captain American every time I look at him now. He works well with Scarlett Johansson too. I felt her character got the short end of the stick in her other Marvel appearances, but her character really takes off here. And I really liked the way the Winter Soldier character is handled. He is the film’s namesake, but the plot doesn’t revolve around him. He intersects the plot at random times causing havoc whenever he appears. He does get some back story, but overall he’s just viewed as a menace. That might not work in some films, but it works great here.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is the stand-alone film Marvel fans have been waiting for. I don’t think fans of the comics will be disappointed at all, especially with the way the characters and the source material are handled. Those who aren’t big into superhero movies should really enjoy it too, especially those who like political thrillers. Because that’s really all this film is. I know nothing of these characters as they appear in the comics, only from what’s in the movies and on the TV shows. But I have become a fan of what this studio is doing. And with everything that’s happened in “Iron Man 3,” “Thor: The Dark World” and now this, I’m excited to see where they’re taking these characters and these stories in the next “Avengers” movie next summer. Just over a year to go.

By the way, there is one scene in the middle of the credits and one after the credits. You’ll probably want to check out both.

Review: Oldboy

by Trevor Kirkendall

★

I was going to pretend that Spike Lee’s “Oldboy” was not a remake of one of the best films of the last decade. I was going to sit there and watch “Oldboy” as if I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was not going to write my review for “Oldboy” and not compare it to the classic film from Chan-wook Park. Then I saw Spike Lee’s “Oldboy”. And now I just can’t help myself.

Josh Brolin helps butcher a classic film

It’s October 1993 as the movie opens. Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin) works in a New York ad agency. To put it politely, Joe is not a very nice person. He’s a raging alcoholic who is only interested in looking out for himself and his business. He doesn’t even want to attend his daughter’s third birthday because he has an important client to meet for dinner. After making a fool of himself at said dinner, Joe wanders aimlessly drunk through Chinatown until he passes out.

When he wakes, he’s in a dingy motel room, but there isn’t anyway out. He’s been kidnapped and is being held prisoner. All he has is a bed, a toilet, a shower, a TV and a copy of the Bible. On the TV, he finds out that his wife has been brutally murdered and the he is the prime suspect. He also learns through a true crime show that his daughter has been given up for adoption. Time passes and after 20 years, he is set free. He’s given a stack of 100 dollar bills, some sunglasses and an iPhone 5.

Enlisting the help of his old friend Chucky (Michael Imperioli) and an assistant at a mobile medical unit named Marie Sebastian (Elizabeth Olsen), Joe sets out to find out who kidnapped him. He keeps receiving calls on his iPhone from a blocked number. The voice on the other end (Sharlto Copley) tells him he has his daughter and he’ll kill her if he doesn’t play the game. Joe needs to figure out who this man is and why he kidnapped him. Otherwise, it’s lights out for the daughter he really wants to know.  

Min-sik Choi and Hye-jeong Kang in the vastly superior
2003 version of "Oldboy"

I fully intended on judging this film as a stand-alone movie and not a remake of one of the best films to ever come from the Korean peninsula. Halfway through the film, however, I couldn’t help but wonder why this film was deemed necessary to be remade. I suppose there are plenty of people who were never privileged to see the original Chan-wook Park masterpiece. The vast majority of the movie going public is probably very unfamiliar with this story. If you’re going to remake something, you might as well make one that most of the people haven’t seen.

But you also need to bring something new to the table. I’m not suggesting that Spike Lee’s “Oldboy” is a shot-for-shot remake of Park’s “Oldboy” but there isn’t any new substance, depth or complexities to the story or the characters that weren’t in the original. This version does not find Lee at his finest form. Far from it. What we have here is a film that seems to scare Lee. He seems timid in his approach to remaking such an acclaimed classic, even if the cinephiles were the only ones in the United States to have seen it.

Lee tries to incorporate too much of a Korean homage to his film. Korean films have their own very distinct voice. It’s much different than what American audiences are used to seeing. Someone could look at a Korean film and think some of the action, pacing, editing, photography and dialogue are on the campy side. While Lee keeps the vast majority of the film feeling very much like an American film, his occasional homages feel largely out of place. One scene in particular involves Brolin fighting a gang of people. It doesn’t quite fit the tone that’s trying to be achieved and comes across looking very out of place.

Furthermore, Lee included Samuel L. Jackson in a minor role. Jackson is typical Jackson: loud speech and plenty of profanity. He’s also dressed in some equally loud costumes too. His costumes scream Asian cinema. His character, however, is distinctly American.

Brolin doesn’t ever come across as the hero he’s meant to be. I found myself easily able to root for Min-sik Choi in the original. Brolin just seems like some arrogant guy that I wouldn’t even be interested in striking up a random conversation with at a bar. You can’t root for someone who isn’t likeable. The screenplay from “Thor” scribe Mark Protosevich gives him absolutely nothing to work with.

The one bright spot in this entire disaster is Elizabeth Olsen who plays Brolin’s investigative counterpart. She’s already carved out quite a career for herself in only a few years. She has easily escaped what could have been an extremely large shadow cast over her by her former megastar sisters. While Protosevich also gives her very little in the script, Olsen has been able to build the character up all on her own. We’re given very little backstory, but she seems much more relatable and much more empathetic. Olsen saves this movie from being completely forgettable, but she alone doesn’t make this a worthwhile venture.

“Oldboy” should have been off limits from Hollywood. If we do have to have remakes, then I think that looking at small foreign films is the route to go instead of remaking overplayed Hollywood films everyone knows. But internationally acclaimed classics such as Park’s “Oldboy” need to be left alone. For those who haven’t seen the original, I recommend you get on that right away. It is available on Netflix’s instant streaming service.

The only catch is the film is dubbed instead of subtitled. That’s a cardinal sin for foreign language films. Rather than reading it, you have to listen to some guy who got paid SAG minimum to sit in a recording booth and mumble his way through a script. And then the final product looks awful because the dialogue doesn’t even match the movement of the actor’s lips (cue jokes about old “Godzilla” movies). While dubbing this classic film’s soundtrack is an extremely disrespectful move, it comes nowhere near the blasphemy of its remake.