CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

I waited 2 years for this Captain America sequel to be out. Starring Chris Evans (as Steve Rogers aka Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow), Samuel Jackson (as Nick Fury), Robert Redford (as Alexander Pierce), Sebastian Stan (as Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (as Sam Wilson aka Falcon), Frank Grillo (as Brock Rumlow), Cobie Smulders etc, this much anticipated 9th movie of the Marvel Comics cinematic universe was just alright for me.

What is interesting about the Avenger Marvel movies is that they all had embedded plots and characters that hinted at future movies and at the end of the movies, there were easter eggs that provided a glimpse of the movies to come.

In the movie, there was a conspiracy that sought to eliminate Nick Fury to bring down the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.. Everything eventually led back to HYDRA, a terrorist organization, with its many secret agents such as Alexander Pierce, Brock Rumlow, and Winter Soldier, who was Steve Roger's buddy from his distant past. Who was Captain America supposed to trust when the agency he so trusted and worked with seemed to turn their back on him?

Stan Lee, as usual made a brief cameo as a security guard who lamented that he would lose his job when the Captain America suit in the museum he was guarding was stolen. Brock Rumlow, played by Frank Grillo whom I remembered from the TV series "The Gates", was carried away on a stretcher near the end of the movie. He was slated to play Crossbones, another villain, in the future movie.

Now back to the easter eggs. I saw only the first and left the cinema without knowing there was a second. In the first, it was intriguing to find the scepter that belonged to Loki from the Thor movies on display and the appearance of two new characters, imprisoned behind glass chambers. After some googling, it was revealed that they are Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, children of Magneto from the X-Men series. Well, the audience would have to wait for at least another year to be able to catch it on the screen. In the second segment that I missed, it was apparently about Bucky who found his way to the Captain America museum and saw a video or was it a photo of him and Steve Rogers together and memories of his past came flooding back.

Meanwhile, I can only look forward to the "Amazing Spider Man 2" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" coming up soon.

In the real world, I don't think there are any superheroes. Otherwise, the plane MH370 and its passengers wouldn't have disappeared without a trace.

Captain America and Black Widow

Captain and Nicky Fury

Captain America and Falcon

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes

the Winter Soldier

the evil Alexander Pierce and Captain America

Brock Rumlow who would be Crossbones in future sequels

Brock Rumlow

TOTAL RECALL 2012

Today's weather - sunny

The movie with the same title "Total Recall" in 1990 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone made waves as a futuristic sci-fiction movie ahead of its times with fantastic special effects.

As I watched this remake in 2012 starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Bill Nighy, snippets of the original movie, such as the fat lady removing her face mask and the receptionist who changed her nail colour with the tap of a pointer, came flooding back. It is understandable that critics will compare the original and remakes to provide their reviews. Whilst the original movie scored for its originality, this latter movie did not seem to receive accolades of the same nature and fared poorly at the box office ratings.

I personally was quite pleased with this newer version. Frankly, Arnold's acting was terrible and exaggerated and it was then that I first noticed the mega-bitch Sharon Stone before she catapulted to fame with her leading role in "Basic Instinct". Don't get me wrong, Sharon was bad in a good way. Her portrayal of the Arnold's fake wife was excellent although she was killed off fairly early.

I am starting to like the bad boy Colin Farrell since last year's "Fright Night". His personal story is somewhat similar yet dissimilar to Brad Pitt in that they both good looking actors acted in a minor role in some blockbuster movies e.g. Minority Report, before they were discovered by movie agents to take on bigger and juicier roles. However, fame eluded Colin even as he acted as the "Alexander the Great" which could either potentially propel him further in showbiz or make him fade into further oblivion. Sadly, he still didn't quite make it to the Grade A leading man status with the recent movies. For me, I enjoyed his acting in recent movies and I think it is high time Hollywood give him a superhero character to play.

Then again, I absolutely adore Kate Beckinsale. I have been her fan for the longest time since her "Underworld" days. She looked so beautiful even as a villain and she was to "Total Recall 2012"  what Sharon Stone was to the original movie. Starring next to her, Jessica Biel never got a chance to shine.

I also realized that there were some links between the key characters. 3 of them Colin, Kate and Bill were vampires respectively in "Fright Night" and the latter 2 as vampires in the "Underworld" series. Even Jessica played the role of a vampire hunter in "Blade: Trinity". Did someone got them together deliberately for this movie or was this just pure coincidence?

Whatever the case, I enjoyed this movie thoroughly.