ANT-MAN

Paul Rudd, one of my favourite comedy male actor from "The Object of My Affection" from yesteryears, played the lead Scott Lang in this new Marvel comic movie Ant-Man. He has always played a non-leading actor role and this movie should be a big break for him to be more than just a second fiddle.

The other main cast includes Michael Douglas as Dr Hank Pym, Evageline Lilly as Pym's daughter Hope Van Dyne and Corey Stoll as Darren Cross. Dr Pym, a leading scientist from S.H.I.E.L.D. resigned in 1989 from the corporation when he found out that they were replicating his shrinking technology in the form of an Ant-Man suit, which he believed would cause mayhem if it fell into the wrong hands. When Darren, a former protege of Dr Pym's, invited him to a preview of his yet to be perfected new technological product the yellow jacket in the present day, a mortified Dr Pym decided to take the next step to prevent the completion of the yellow jacket.

Pym spied on a criminal Scott for some time, tested him and decided he was the best candidate to wear his Ant-Man suit. Scott, who was recently released from prison and was trying to make ends meet so that he can provide child support to his wife in order to secure visitation rights to see his daughter, was finally convinced to help Pym for the sake of his daughter. Hope, who was dating Darren and was also spying on him for Pym, joined in to train Scott to be ready to don the shrinking suit and lead the legion of ants to fight alongside him.

The movie was light-hearted; there were many comedic moments and was action-packed enough to entertain the audience. It gave new meaning to the name Anthony or Antony. There was also mention of Tony Stark and a brief cameo of Sam Wilson or the Falcon, when the Ant-Man attempted to borrow, or steal, a device from the Avenger's headquarters.

As with all other Marvel comic movies, the audience is rewarded if they stay back until after the post-credits. In this movie, there are 2 easter egg segments where they were treated to a preview of the upcoming movies; one on the female wasp and the other on Steve Roger's Captain America and Bucky Barnes' Winter Soldier.

Scott in the Ant-Man suit

the evil Yellow Jacket

Dr Pym explaining to Scott

a bewildered Scott when he learnt his successful break-in was a setup

Hope

an injured Scott

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

THOR: THE DARK WORLD

It was a while since the premier of the first Marvel movie on Thor. This is the second movie with the same cast Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo and so on.

It follows the story of how Thor enlisted the help of his imprisoned half-brother Loki to combine their forces to fight the battle against the dark elf Malekith, who was woken up from a deep slumber in outer space by his secret weapon the Aether, whose sole purpose was to destroy the entire universe made up of the nine realms.

With his deep voice, Chris was as usual his hunky macho self as the Asgardian thunder god Thor who wielded the weapon Mjolnir. However, it was Tom who stole the thunder from him by putting up an excellent performance as his sneaky and untrustworthy brother Loki who stopped at nothing to betray his Asgardian race and heritage. There was a brief few seconds cameo by Stan Lee as a patient in a mental asylum and by Chris Evans as Captain America.

Overall, this movie didn't disappoint although I wasn't thrilled by the storyline or special effects. This could be attributed to the fact that I have watched too many such movies for it to have an impressionable impact on me. Anyway, I am so looking forward to the next Captain America movie which would premiere in April 2014.

IRON MAN 3

This is a post long due because I watched it at least 2 weeks back. This is another sequel and one of the parts of the Marvel Comics franchise, leading to the other upcoming movies such as Thor 2, Captain America 2, The Avengers etc.

I never used to like Robert Downey Jr. when he was acting in "Ally McBeal" because of his smug behaviour and substance abuse. But he has come clean for some time now and his character actually suits the character to a T. Similarly, I didn't use to like Gwyneth Palthrow but I am slowly having a change of heart towards her. She has been compared to Anne Hathaway in terms of their attraction of bad critics and reviews about them despite their very squeaky clean images and good behaviours. There is just something about them that you don't like even though they are so so nice.

Without giving the movie away, I think I enjoyed this more than "Iron Man 2". At the very, very end of the movie after all the credits is the easter egg sequence and viola the incredible hulk made a funny entrance. So he should be coming up soon, if not next. What a way for the producers to play with the minds of the movie-goers, making them anticipate the upcoming movies for at least a year or two.

MAN ON A LEDGE

 Today's weather - sunny

After watching "Avatar", who doesn't know Sam Worthington? His latest movie "Man on a Ledge", stars Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris etc.

Driven to desperation, a former police officer and now innocent fugitive Nick Cassidy on the run from the law decided to pick a crowded traffic junction in New York City to attempt suicide by jumping off a tall building. But things were not as simple as it seemed and cops were also involved in the crime.


The truth was, Nick didn't want to die. He staged this suicide attempt to draw media attention to his act, in a bid to clear his name, while his brother and girlfriend were across the street in a jewellery vault stealing a $40 million diamond, for the first time, from the businessman who framed him for stealing the diamond and landed him in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Well, the premise is if the diamond was reported as stolen, then he couldn't go to jail for stealing something that was supposedly missing.


It is not the blockbuster kind of movie and didn't pack in the crowds although I feel it is passable. At least I got to watch the trailer for the upcoming "Avengers" movie starring Captain America, Thor, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and so on.

CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE FIRST AVENGER

I was waiting in anticipation when I knew they were going to make Marvel Comics' Captain America into a movie. Just like Green Lantern, I looked forward to who they were going to cast as the lead character. When I read that Chris Evans was finally chosen to play this comic hero, I was even more eager to wait for the release of this movie.

However, somehow I felt Chris is a miscast for the role. The Chris I know and grew to love from earlier movies e.g. The Cell, Fantastic Four's Human Torch, is a very sunny, cheeky and fun-loving guy. Captain America's conventional and solemn Steve Rogers appears to be everything he is not. No doubt this is the first big break for him as the leading man since he came onto the scene, and if this is a success, it will spawn at least 4 more sequels. In terms of career, it is very good for him. But I see him more fitting as other superhero characters such as Flash. 


Recent newspaper reports of him suffering almost a mental breakdown was testament of the tremendous stress he was under. He bulked up so much for the role that it was simply unbelievable. Anyway, I will just enjoy the movie and wait for the upcoming series featuring Iron Man, Thor and Captain America in summer 2012 next year.


Coming back to the movie, I have always not been a fan of the Nazi war setting but I am sometimes amazed by how movie makers weaved history into the script, like in X-Men: First Class and this movie. What really got me amused and chuckling all the way to the end was how they made Chris looked like this scrawny, anorexic, geeky kid who wanted desperately to join the army, before he underwent the lab experiment that transformed him into the tall hunky soldier who later became Captain America. The costume was not as cool as Green Lantern but the shield is a classic.


By the way, I am looking forward to 'Final Destination 5', after watching the trailer shown before this movie screening. I am a huge fan of this cult series and watched every single one of the movies. The thought of a horrible death looming in your face and trying desperately to evade it at all costs is both extremely scary and nerve-wrecking.