Civil War

If you've been online in the past twenty four hours, then you've probably already seen the new trailer for the next Marvel movie installment - Captain America: Civil War.

If not, here it is. Enjoy.

If you're a Marvel nerd like me, then you're probably shitting your pants. 

All your favorite characters, plus some new ones, fighting each other in a battle for righteousness. 

We got the Captain himself, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Bucky Barnes, and Hawkeye versus Iron Man, Black Widow, War Machine, The Vision and (introducing) Black Panther. And then there will be cameos from other characters like Ant Man, Baron Zemo, Crossbones, and the new Spider-man played by Tom Holland (who I hope will redeem the catastrophe that cry-baby Andrew Garfield gave us). 

Anyways, a lot of people have been asking - why are these heroes, who are supposed to be on the same side, fighting each other?

The same applies to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Why are these heroes fighting?

Well, if you haven't read the comic book, Civil War, (which I highly recommend before seeing the movie), the government has issued a Superhuman Registration Act, a legislative bill which requires the mandatory registration of any person based in the United States with super powers. The act arose due to public pressure for accountability following a series of superhuman-related events causing significant damage and death within the Marvel universe. Iron man thinks this is a great idea. Captain America does not. This then escalades into a great battle between those in favor and those opposed.

The comic books features a lot of characters that probably won’t make the movie – including the Fantastic Four, Punisher, Tigra, a lot of the X-Men (who are owned by Fox) and many, many more.

But the thing I’m most concerned about is if Marvel will have the balls to really make this a good and gritty story. (Hopefully, they’ll learn from the success of Deadpool) But I don’t mean that there needs to be dick jokes every thirty seconds or Tony Stark has to say fuck a lot. What I mean is that you have two of the mightiest heroes in the Marvel Universe going at it in a war. And, in war, there is always a loser, and there are always casualties.

From the looks of the trailer, it looks like War Machine will definitely be one of these casualties thus making matters more personal for Iron Man.

I personally can’t wait for the movie.  And I can’t wait to see how they’ll end it. Because, we have two of the most beloved Marvel characters fighting, but one of them has to lose.

WHO WILL IT BE?!

I guess we'll just have to wait until May 6th...

Lincoln Movie Review

When I was on vacation last week over Thanksgiving.  I ended up going on a Disney cruise so I had unlimited access to different movies that Disney has under their different companies which included the Steven Spielburg directed, Lincoln. I saw it twice.  It was absolutely phenomenal.  From the opening battle scene of the movie, you already have the sense of how historically accurate the movie is going to be just by the way they showed the battle scene.  It was ugly, it was brute, it was dark, and it was realistic.  It accurately reflected how most civil war battles actually ended up after the initial gun fire volleys.  Then, it cuts to a scene of two black men having a conversation with someone.  We do not see who that person is at first but, finally his face is reveled and it is Abraham Lincoln, played by Daniel Day-Lewis.  Day-Lewis' acting in one word was phenomenal.  At times, you forget you're watching a high budget movie and instead find yourself immersed in America's past.  You also meet many other characters from the countries past such as Preston Blair, Alexander Stevens, Ulysees S. Grant, and my favorite performance and home town hero for myself, Thaddeus Stevens played by an incredible and inspiring Tommy Lee Jones.  I can go on and on about that acting but you honestly need to see it for yourselves to experience some of the best acting I think I've honestly ever seen.  I personally loved the cinematography in the movie, even though I know some people wanted much more from it.  Personally, I felt it complimented the story and honestly, I don't think they wanted to take away one bit from the absolutely perfect acting.  Another thing that was great was the scenery, the props, the make up, and especially the costumes.  Clearly it was a period piece and they did it in such a way that it was natural and didn't feel like a period piece even though it was exactly as they did wear at the time.  Another thing that was incredible in this movie was the writing.  There were so many memorable lines which is one reason that I say this, but the other, is much more important.  The movie is long, extremely long, and also a period piece and historically correct at that.  Yet, with all of these constrictions, the writing managed to captivate the entire theater of all ages and even myself, who can find myself dosing off in many of movies especially period pieces.  You can obviously tell how I feel about this movie and I feel that I am understating how good this movie actually is.  You have to see it, absolutely.  It is a movie that will be used to teach the civil war, president lincoln, and civil rights in college classrooms and high school classrooms for the century to come, it is just that good, and historically accurate as well.  I think it deserves to win every category at the Academy Awards because it is the full package.  Now, stop reading this and go out and see it.

A Piece of History in Two and a Half Hours

Last Saturday, my brother called and asked if my parents, my other brother, and I wanted to go see the recently released movie entitled Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg. The rest of my family seemed very excited to go see it, and I never turn down the opportunity to go see a movie, especially one directed by such an accomplished and talented director. Besides that, I love history so I was already intrigued. So, following our usual routine we show up to the movie theater five minutes before the 6:40pm showing... and almost crash into a tall man in a heavy winter coat. The line to the ticket booth was incredibly long. As we slowly approached the counter, I realized that more and more people were buying tickets for Lincoln. Long story short, we ended up changing our tickets to the 10pm showing in order to spare our necks from the pain of having to stare up at a huge screen for about 2 and a half hours.

The theater was absolutely packed. I could only stand there in wonder. This movie has really gotten people excited, and after watching it myself I can see why. From the intricacies of Congress to his personal life, this portrayal of Lincoln and the brief span that is covered in the film was filled with rich detail. It was hard to catch it all in just one viewing. I was so impressed with the sets as well as the truly amazing talent of Daniel Day-Lewis who played Abraham Lincoln. Not to discount the rest of the cast and crew who, with all of their skill and hard work, truly made the story come alive. It was just his performance was done in such a way that captured what I would consider the essence of Lincoln. From the funny stories to the distraught husband and father, he really encompassed a complete character, right down to the walk. The cinematography was truly a work of art as well. The cuts and the camera movements themselves drew you into what was happening on the screen.

The effect of the movie was probably the best part though. I was waiting by the exit for my dad, when I overheard one woman who said she was going to go home and look up some more information on Lincoln and his family. All I could think was that this was part of the reason I wanted to go into this industry. The ability to create such a spark in people so that they leave the theater still thinking, still wondering, and better yet, actually act on that curiosity and learn something they may have never thought of before. Even my U.S. history teacher in high school, agreed that it was a great film and was pretty accurate historically (and mind you, this is no easy feat).

Needless to say, I enjoyed this film very much, and whether or not you are a history lover like myself, you should definitely go experience this wonderfully produced story. It may seem like an old one that we hear about all the time in history class, but to see it in such detail and with such strength, you may be surprised that you learned something new. I certainly was. Here is the trailer:
~Amber Capogrossi

Copper

I am a lover of television from 'across the pond.' Some of my favorite 'programmes' includes Sherlock, Doctor Who, Skins, Misfits, Torchwood, Downton Abbey, Merlin, and much more. The newest show that I have decided to watch is BBC America's first original scripted series called Copper. Copper is a period drama that follows an Irish-immigrant detective in New York City during the American Civil War in 1864.

Detective Kevin Corcoran, the lead actor played by Tom Weston-Jones, tries to bring peace to the 'Five Points,' a neighborhood notorious for being plagued with disease and crime. He is skilled in the science of deduction (much like Sherlock) and carries swift justice to those who have wronged the city or someone he loves. In the first episode of the show, which is unfortunately the only one I've been able to see since I only started the series last night, Detective Corcoran displays a father-like affection for a girl from the streets named Annie. She is one of the young girls that has been corrupted by the Five Points and has had to resort to pleasuring men for a living although she does not look more than twelve years old. The detective uses his skills of deduction, and the help of his friends, to find out who has murdered and raped Annie's twin sister post-mortem. Although he tracks down the killer, the man responsible for her death was a wealthy and powerful man in society so he was not punished in the slightest and another man, who learned that he was going to die very soon anyway, volunteered to take his place at the gallows. Detective Corcoran is frustrated with this outcome and the murderer's wife has even asked for Annie's sister to be avenged. I am curious as to how this will play out.
Besides having an intriguing story, Copper has great cinematography and art direction. I throughly enjoyed that the show was mostly shot with a shallow depth of field. I actually commend the focus puller for a job well done. This person clearly knew the blocking of the scenes and could predict movement, took the emotional tones of the scene into account, and excelled in difficult rack focusing situations. This element definitely helped advance the story. And of course the costumes, set decoration, and props were also spot on for that time period. It was beautiful to watch.
I am excited to continue watching this series. I am thrilled that it has been renewed for a second season. Although BBC America isn't available to most viewers unless they have a subscription, the series premiere brought in 1.8 million viewers, the highest-rated series premiere and highest-rated drama series for the channel. I can't wait to watch more!

Spielberg's Lincoln

For many years as I can remember I have always been a fan of Steven Spielberg's films including Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, E.T, Indiana Jones, Artificial Intelligence, The Goonies, and many other great films. He has been a great inspiration to me as well as many other people. He has directed, and produced some of the greatest American films that most people watch today.

His newest movie "Lincoln" stars three Academy Award winners including Daniel-Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, and Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens.

One reason this movie was attractive to me was because it's about Abe Lincoln, one of America's most influential presidents and surely one of my favorites. I remember as a kid in high school loving to learn about Lincoln in the Civil War and what he did to abolish slavery. This movie takes place some time near the end of the Civil War which is sometime in 1865. As the movie progresses it explores Lincoln's tactics and techniques as he works with his cabinet attempts to abolish slavery.

I also chose to post about this movie because it is another movie that is based on a true story, movies I tend to watch more than others. Like I mentioned earlier, in school, i loved learning about wars, presidents, and other moments in history. One of my favorite topics was the Civil War and how our country worked to abolish slavery in the south.

From the love of this historical moment, I am interested to learn more from this film and see it on the big screen.