Captain America: Civil War

This movie block buster season continues with Marvel bursting onto the scene with this newest edition into their universe. Now I have realized in the past I have rated these movies pretty high. I decided to have a far less fan boy outlook on reviewing this film. Now lets get to the review:

Captain America: Civil War- The sequels for Captain America have been written well, and the villains, for each of these movies, have been well done. Unlike the other forgettable Marvel sequels, yes, I am talking about you Thor and Iron Man... Even Ant Man, which was a pretty decent film, was almost a copy of the first "Iron Man". Starting to feel Marvel is pumping these out now, half assed to get to the bigger movies. Then again, they are making millions as they go, so what the hell do I know. Captain America films, I feel, these movies have been better overall.


Plot- In the past, the Avengers have saved many lives in their battles against the odds. People cheer for them, but what about the other half of the people? The ones who were injured during the battles, or even killed due to the overall destruction. Someone has to be held responsible. After another instance, in Wakanda, people have died due to their actions. The government has issued the Avengers to sign a waver stating they will now be "controlled". Meaning they will no longer act by their own means, but rather the government will tell them where and when they can act. Captain America and Iron Man are now at odds about this document. At the same time, Bucky is believed to be the cause of the mayhem in Wakanda. Captain America races to help his friend, and this causes a huge rift between the Avengers.

This movie has everything a comic book fan could possibly want from Marvel Studios to throw at them. They have many scenes of the characters bantering like every day people, which many fans have said they could watch a whole movie of just that, and the film has some of the most over the top action sequences to date. There is even a slow motion, iconic shot, of Captain America holding up his shield has Iron Man blasts into it. This is the cover of the Civil War franchise. Every single hero gets their moment of bad assness (Yes, I made up the word assness). The legendary airport scene, I would have to watch 4 more times just so I can catch everything that happened. Its the royal rumble comic nerds damn deserve to see!

Now, at the same time this is all going on, me as the viewer, did bounce back and forth from team to team. The points made by Tony Stark and Cap made sense. Now the emotional drive between both of them, I related to both, and when you watch the final act, you will understand what I am saying.

Final Verdict- 10/10, This movie has great acting, drama, humor, and action sequences never done before, and it is all done properly. Highly recommend this film for everyone to see in theaters.

Many more films coming out this summer, and I cannot wait to watch them all. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to! 

Deadpool

There are a lot of highly anticipated movies coming to the big screen this year, and this is one of those movies I was eager to watch. This being the first rated R superhero movie, in a long time, since the "Punisher" starring Dolph Lundgren back in the 80's. Anyway, lets get to the review for the movie about the merc with the mouth:

Deadpool- This character wasn't always the popular choice of everyone when he first hit the comic scene something years ago. In fact, he only became extremely popular a few years ago, when he received his own comic title, and new writers focusing on being a funny comic. Readers responded well to this change, making the merc with the mouth instant stardom with cosplayers and comic book fans alike. Years ago, fans were extremely excited when it was revealed Ryan Reynolds would be playing the character in "X-MEN Origins: Wolverine", which was a huge let down, and fans were outraged when the one thing that makes Deadpool great was removed, his mouth.

Plot- This is origin story about how Deadpool aka Wade Wilson obtained his powers, and became what he is today. He is a mercenary for hire, who meets a woman he completely falls for, and everything appears to be going his way. Until, he is diagnosed with terminal cancer in multiple vital organs of his body. Deadpool is approached by a man stating he can cure the cancer, and desperate to become cured for the woman he loves, Wade goes through the process. Unfortunately, it has side effects to his physical appearance, and outraged by this, he vows revenge on the person that did this to him known as Francis.

This movie followed the exact formula that makes the Deadpool character amazing in every aspect of the word. The humor is spot on and Ryan Reynolds does the character justice this time around. There were some parts of the movie, where they poked fun at the first deadpool or green lantern, and it was like Ryan Reynolds mocking his movie mistakes with the fans. If you're a fan of the superhero genre this is a movie you MUST see in theaters. A warning though, do NOT bring your children to see this movie, because it is not your neighborhood spider-man type of movie. Violence and some sex scenes, this was made for the true fans not the family.

Final Verdict- 10/10, a must see in theaters, this time the character got his just desserts.

More anticipated movies coming out this year and I will see them all. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Welcome everyone to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and today I am reviewing a movie belonging to a franchise I hold dear. It is very nostalgic to me, as I grew up watching Ninja Turtles every day after school and Saturday mornings. Now there were a ton of rumors how the movie was going to be done, and I finally was able to see the finished product. Now was it everything the heroes on the half shell should have been, or was I begging to go back to the original 1990 movie? Lets find out as we dive into this review:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-  Ok, for months after hearing all the rumors like the turtles being aliens, and other ways the writers were planning on changing the movie was driving me nuts. Please, don't destroy my childhood anymore... already destroyed Transformers for me. I have to say the new CGI turtles looked pretty decent, but a tad "hulked" out. I mean, they were freaking like 6'8" or 7' tall. To be honest, its hard to believe something that big and bulky could be an agile ninja moving with great stealth.

The plot, well, once it was revealed it truly sounded like something a Saturday morning cartoon villain would try. I mean, releasing a deadly virus to make the people of New York city deathly sick. Then they would use the exacted mutated blood from the turtles to create the antidote to make a fortune. The turtles have to stop Shedder and the foot clan from succeeding in their plans.

Ok, here are somethings that bothered me about the movie:

1) The movie felt rushed as all holy hell. It was like the writers were like, "Hey, you, the audience, you should already know who the turtles are, so lets race through the story." This made the origin story feel weak and really forced.

2) Every chance they got they needed to make a reference to how hot Megan Fox is...we get it, she's hot. I mean, her performance was decent, but nothing memorable. Honestly, any hot piece of ass with some decent acting ability could have filled her spot.

I did like the action sequences they were really top notch, and they really redeemed the movie for me. Plus, the relationships between the four turtles really showing how they were siblings interacting together. How they really loved and cared for one another, and of course all the one liners they had for one another. I liked when they were alone they acted immature, and less like big tough guys. Perfect example, is when they were in the elevator attacking the foot's home base. They began doing a song by clanking their weapons and making noises with their mouths. Classic!

Final Verdict- 6.5/10, It was a decent film for nostalgic reasons, but it had its flaws, nothing severe. If you are a fan of TMNT then check out this movie otherwise I would skip it.

This appears to be the end of summer block buster season, and it was a blast watching and reviewing all the movies. I mean, there will be some movies in the next couple of months, but the block busters won't be here until the holidays. I'm leaving for a month to see Europe, so I won't be here to review the remaining movies of the summer. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Welcome one and all to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and I am here to review yet another superhero movie. Seems like there are going to be many superhero movies this year, and I'll be there to review them all. Today, I'm looking at "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". Did it deliver, or did I want to throw myself into traffic after watching it? Lets find out as we dive into this review.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier-  This would be the 3rd movie involving the characters post "The Avengers". Seeing how the last two were quite the lack luster, I was really hoping this one would hit home. The best part is the characters have already been established in a few movies already, so all the set up is out of the way. This means we get to the good stuff right away, and this movie wasted no time with the action. Right off the bat, Captain America and the Black Widow are teaming up to rescue some captured agents of shield from some terrorists. This scene was so well done, in my opinion, due to the chemistry between the two characters. One by one they take out the armed guards as they have some witty banter. This just made it appear more as if the characters were extremely comfortable in their element.

One thing this movie did right was it gave each character a chance to shine. I got a chance to see more development of the Black Widow as she showed she's incredible intelligent as well as a bad ass in combat. I especially loved how she kept trying to set up Captain America, romantically, when she kicking people across the room, and she doesn't even bat an eye lash in the process. The one thing I found comical was no matter what happened to her, her hair never became messed up. She was shot, thrown around, nearly blown to pieces, and countless other stuff, her hair never seemed to be out of place.... maybe thats her super power!

The newest edition to the line up of superheroes is Falcon played by Anthony Mackie. He really gave off that feeling he would do anything for a brother in arms. He was very likeable and again the chemistry between him and Chris Evans was believable and honest. I really like the look they gave him over the really cheesy comic verison.

The fight scenes in this movie were fantastic, and it really showed Captain America's superior fighting capabilities in hand to hand combat. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way, and its really small.... but i gotta bring it up! Theres a scene in the movie where a bad guy is shooting a gatling gun at our hero, the captain. Now, Captain America is using the trademark shield to block the bullets and run at him. Soooo not a single bullet dared to hit something other than the shield... my point is his legs are completely unprotected. I'm not a combat expert, buuuut if a super solider was coming at me, blocking all my bullets with his shield. I would aim for the unprotected KNEE CAPS, just saying! I guess, when your name is thug #33, you don't think of these things.... oh well!

The villain, played by Sebastian Stan, his character was actually pretty bad ass as the Winter Soldier. It was nice to see that, post "The Avengers" we finally had a villain that could leave an impact. Now, I can forgive this guy, for being the villain in the movie, "The Covenant"... you are redeemed sir!

Final Verdict- 8.5/10, it had many moments of seeing the super heroes as just people, which was very well done. The action scenes were really well done, and the actors were all well chosen for their parts. I would definitely recommend seeing this in theaters, and this movie got me pretty pumped for the Avengers 2.

Well, thats all for now boys and girls, still have a plethora of movies i wanna see this coming blockbuster season. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!

Thor 2: The Dark World

Well, its time for the holiday season, most importantly is great new movies come out around this time. Now, its been awhile since i was able to do a movie review, and that is due to school this semester. I was able to go to the movies, and i made time for my favorite movie genre, super hero films. I saw, "Thor 2: The Dark World", now did it live up to the first movie, or was it better than the original? Welcome back to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and lets dive right into this godly sequel.


Thor 2: The Dark World- This movie like many of the Marvel franchise has taken place right after the attack on New York City, in the "The Avengers" movie. I personally, enjoy this because it really makes everything more connected, and it creates this living breathing, unified world. It has the same cast from the first Thor movie, and from "The Avengers" something i always believed is extremely important in any sequel.

So, Thor returns to Asgard, with his brother, Loki, so he can receive his sentence and punishment from Odin, himself. Anthony Hopkins, an amazing actor, this guy could literally turn shit into gold, no matter the role. He returns to play the part, the king of Asgard, Odin, and he banishes Loki to the dungeons for crimes against Midgard. Theres that subplot, then of course enter the main villains, the Dark Elves, whom desire what every other comic villain desires, complete domination over everything and everyone. I have to say these guys looked kinda creepy, and were pretty well received for the heartless villains. Unfortunately, they were pretty one dimensional, and they really didn't have any wow factor to them. The main villain, and leader, Malakith was a typical head mastermind- cold, ruthless, and ready to kill anything that stood in his way. Been there and done that! He really didn't have anything else to him, that would make me say, "Oh, man that guy was a bad ass villain."

Now, he had to obtain this ancient and mystical power called the Aether, which he could harness it to bring darkness to the nine realms of the Marvel universe, and our hero needs to stop him before its too late. The main plot takes a place on the back burner so we can focus on the character Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman. Honestly, did we really need this freaking character? She, of course, finds the Aether, and it bonds itself to her, which is the power of plot ladies and gentlemen, and no one can defeat the power of plot.

Ok, after this ironic, misfortune, things happen blah blah blah, and of course the Aether is killing Jane, because her body and life force cannot cope under the strain of this incredible power. Thor has to stop the Dark Elves at the same time save the woman he loves.

Now, the things i loved about the movie, hands down the fight scenes were awesome, and very well done with the special effects. The gernades the Dark Elves used, were pretty insane, because when they exploded they cause a temporary black hole effect, and the person or whatever would be crushed. I really loved the relationship between Loki and Thor, the two actors had great chemistry, and they really seemed to have that bond between two brothers busting each others' balls.

Things i didn't like, were how they built up this Aether has being this ultimate destructive force, and it was easily defeated by human technology. Because, Jane and her crew of cronies were there and had the perfect answer ironically.... power of plot, sigh!

Honestly, the movie was better than the original, in my opinion, but it still was a decent super hero movie. Would i go see it again? No, but if it was on cable or net flix i would watch it.

Final Verdict- 7/10, it had some great comical moments, some great actors, action sequences were fantastic, but the villain was boring and the Jane character ruined it for me.... is she really needed for god sakes?


See, you guys next time when i review the newer movie coming out this holiday season, this is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!

The Wolverine

Welcome to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, today, I get to review my favorite movie genres, comic book movies. The big super hero fad cash in, which is going on, and boy are they making ridiculous money doing it... so no way will this ever end any time soon. Now, one of my favorite comic books was the X-Men, and for 10 years now they still haven't really made an X-Men movie that good... I mean "X-Men: First Class" was pretty good, but still there were things that annoyed me about the movie.... then again, those things were just fan boy things, the movie itself was fine. Well, lets tackle the newest installment of the X-Men movies... 10 years later did Hugh Jackman disappoint?


The Wolverine- The movie starts out with Logan in exile, in the middle of no where, living like a mountain man. He's still haunted by dreams and visions of Jean Grey, so this movie definitely takes place some time after X-Men: The Last Stand. Now, as a fan of X-Men, i absolutely hated X-Men 3, and just pretend it was never created. Hell, i had to google the title of X-men 3, because thats how much i have erased it from my memory.

Now, Logan has made a vow to the late Jean Grey, he would never kill again. He gets into a bar fight, and before he breaks his vow, a mysterious woman comes to rescue him in a sense. I like this character, shes looks like a cross between being a vicious killer and your best friend's kid sister that grew up. I don't know what it was about this character, but she was a blast to watch kick a ton of ass.

Now, the obvious thing i loved about this movie is Hugh Jackman, this guy jsut owns the character as Logan/Wolverine. Its been 10 years, and he is as charismatic as he was in first the X-men movie. I dunno, he just seems to nail down the rage factor, and really gives the character life. I mean, his performance really reflects from the actual pages from the comic... Hugh is the wolverine, just like Kevin Conroy is the Batman, and Mark Hamill is the Joker. It would be hard to see someone else playing these roles.

The plot of the movie, it was fast paced and well done.Unfortunately, in these movies the villains are very important, and the villain was a female named Viper. Nothing was special about this character, I mean she did some cool snake like things, like peeling her skin to recover from injuries. She had some crazy poisons, but overall she was really blah and forgettable. The only i can remember about her was the actress playing the part was really hot. Other than that, whoopie-freaking-doo! Then, of course enter the Silver Samurai, another boring villain, and they completely changed him around from what he is in the comics. Unfortunately, if i dive any more into the villains the plot, i will give away the twists, so take it from me... it was pretty was weak and predictable. I did think it was funny how quickly Wolverine forgot his vow to Jean, and began slices mother fuckers up real quick. Then what was the point of the vow then? Waste of time that lil plot point was....stupid.

There were some great action sequences, my favorite had to be hands down the bullet train, and everyone fighting on top of it. The one thing this movie needed and some people might agree or disagree, but it needs to be rated R, not PG-13. To truly get to see Wolverine slice and dice, we need the ability to see some true violence and gore.... thats just me!

Final Verdict- 6/10, it was a good movie, but there are better super hero movies out there. To me this movie lacked a true villain.

There were many other things that happened in this movie, which aggravated me, but they didn't persuade me in my decision of rating the movie. The flaws just disappointed me as an X-Men fan. Scroll down past my sign off and see the things that bothered me. The summer movie season is nearly finished, and there some more i need to review. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!


Spoilers



I hated the Silver Samurai was a body suit keeping the sick old man alive. This villain is a bad ass his mutant powers, and ability to cut through anything. Instead we get a weak ass plot device!

Now, mutant powers can be taken, stolen, or moved from one person or another. Plus, they didn't even explain how the hell thats possible. Because the powers are in the person's genes, and by taking his healing powers, kills him? WTF

I cant stand that Adamantium can destroy itself, which now Wolverine's claws were cut off, and they grew back as the bone claws. Wonderful!