Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Did you watch it? Well if you didn't, then do it. Seriously. Now.

This trailer has revived my faith in reboots. At the start of the trailer, we see Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) discussing their weekends. The short conversation brings back much of the light humor from the first film as well as a reminder that Capt. isn't in his domain anymore--keep in mind he was frozen in ice for many decades.

As he jumps out of the plane, it's hard not to smile. "Was he wearing a parachute?" "No. No he wasn't." From those two lines, viewers are reminded of Captain America's greatest superpower: courage. It's cheesy, I know, but that's why Steve Rogers was chosen to be the world's first superhero, anyway. Wasn't it? Besides his super strength, quick reflexes, and devilishly good looks, the greatest thing about this hero is what's inside. It's why we all grew to love him in the first film.

"I joined SHIELD to protect people." This line worked as another great reminder of why we love this hero. The only reason Captain America does what he does is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. He swore that he would use his powers for the greater good of the world. Without his promise, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to be the hero he became.

"Captain, to build a better world sometimes means turning the old one down. And that makes enemies." Oh no! Conflict! What could it be?? We don't know, and that's the point. A good trailer doesn't need to flat-out tell you what the main conflict in the story is. Can they? Sure. But I'm personally a fan of showing rather than telling, which is what the trailer goes on to do.

We are then shown a shot of this man...

Say hello to The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), the newest addition to Marvel's movie heroes. The Falcon, also known as Sam Wilson, has the powers to telepathically communicate with birds and can see what birds see. Who knows if Marvel will stay true to these powers, considering they seem to like to stay away from supernatural powers in their films, but this hero is also highly trained in hand-to-hand combat and, yes, even gymnastics. I'm not quite sure how our new character will be incorporated into the storyline of this film, but at least Marvel can throw him into the Avengers in the upcoming sequel.

"Look out the window. You know how the game works. Disorder. War." It's easy to tell that this Captain America sequel will be much, much darker than the first. After just listening to this one line, as well as watching cars blow up, I suddenly knew that this film will probably not be nearly as light-hearted or comical as the first. Marvel seems to be going down this road with all their sequels. Iron Man 2 was clearly much darker than the first, but then much of the humor we loved from the first film  was brought back for the third installment. The upcoming Thor sequel looks much darker in content has well.

"We want to neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen." "I thought the punishment usually came after the crime...This isn't freedom. This is fear." I guess Marvel decided to take a more real-world approach in this film! Often with government agencies--the FBI, the CIA--people question the morals of the things they do and the way those things are carried out. Captain America takes the stance of much of the general public when Nick Fury tells him that SHIELD is taking a new approach to fighting possible threats. He accuses Fury of what many people accuse the U.S. government of doing--acting without just cause.

Next, we see Captain America kick and punch a group of guys in an elevator. Many explosions follow.

In the ending shot of the trailer, we finally get a better look at the villain of the film. They call him the Winter Soldier, but his real name is...wait for it...almost there...getting closer...Bucky Barnes!! Yup! It's Captain's best, dead friend from the first film. How is he alive? No clue. I'm sure I could ask Google and I'd find out in a matter of thirty seconds but I'd much rather find out when I see the film in theaters--probably on opening night.

Along with the excellent dialogue selections they chose from the film, the makers of the trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier used some very visually appealing shots to even further enhance the effectiveness of the trailer. I'm not usually one to enjoy sequels, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jumping up and down in my seat after watching this trailer.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

With Carl Potts arriving tomorrow, the following seemed pretty appropriate to post about.  I should hope that most of you are aware that there is in fact an Avengers movie franchise, brought to us by Marvel Studios.  This franchise has brought us three Iron Man films, one Thor film with another shortly on the way (October 30), one Hulk film, one Captain America film with another on the horizon, and of course the huge blockbuster that was the Avengers last summer.  

The Avengers grossed $1.5 billion dollars worldwide in Summer 2012.  This gave it the title of "Most Successful Week of All Time" and places it third for "All Time Box Office" (behind James Cameron's Avatar and Titanic).  I personally saw this film 3 times in theaters, which I don't often do.  With the intense box office numbers, it came as no surprise when Marvel Studios announced in July that there would be a sequel to The Avengers and it would be titled "The Avengers: Age of Ultron".  

At the end of The Avengers, there is a short teaser that features Marvel villain, Thanos (see right).  

With the announcement of Age of Ultron, the rumors and speculation that Thanos would be the next villain for The Avengers 2 were readily abandoned and speculation as to who would play Ultron immediately commenced.  As of the end of August, Marvel Studios announced that James Spader would play the role of Ultron. Spader has most recently been in the spotlight for his new show, The Blacklist, which scored top ratings for its time slot last Monday evening.  Spader has just recently sat down with Joss Whedon, the director of Avengers, and his also gotten his entire body scanned to assist with CGI and the creation of Ultron (Spader and Ultron below).

For Spader there will be a fair amount of travel involved if The Blacklist sees itself renewed, as the Avengers sequel is being shot at Shepperton Studios in England (and The Blacklist is of course shot in LA).  

The other recent tidbit announced for this movie comes directly from director Joss Whedon, who has promised that the Avengers sequel will feature even more of Black Widow.  He recently said the following:

"Natasha is a huge part of the sequel because you do want to concentrate on the people who don't have their own franchises. Although she in 'Cap 2,' [and] she's great. She was the most fun for me because she's not a hero, you know, and it's something that I read—and I feel bad that I can't remember who wrote the book—but it's in one of the books explaining, 'These guys are heroes, you are a spy. It's a different thing—it's a different skill set—and you don't have their moral high ground or any of that good stuff.' And that just makes her so interesting to me. So yeah, the stuff I've got going on with her in the second one is killer."

Many fans have been calling for a prequel for Black Widow and Hawk Eye, as they allude far too often to "Budapest" in the first Avengers film.  It seems that the origin story of them meeting may wind up to be something Marvel is too greedy to pass up. 
Overall I would say I am incredibly excited to see what Marvel is going to be producing not just from Age of Ultron, but other projects as well.