Captain America:The First Avenger (2011)

So I got to see Captain America after looking at what I thought of the trailer which is here. I have to say that my expectations of another origin film were met, I am not a big fan of the origin films but have to say as I have no knowledge of Captain America it was interesting to see something I had never seen being done previously. There were some points where it was a bit predictable and the fact that he is going to appear in the Avengers film which is set in present day you knew where it was going to end.

This film was enjoyable with some excellent effects very impressive with Chris Evans looking both very weedy and pumped up. Interesting that they went with a  love interest when they knew he would be around 70 years after the end of the film. I have to say that after the trailer for Captain America I had high hopes for the Avengers but now I am really worried. How can they manage to give each character a reasonable development within the Avenger circle and still have it as a feasible film. While that in itself will be a sequel to Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk and now Captain America it is in essence another origin film. I actually think that they might have been better going for the high budget high value TV series to set these all up, they could have spent 2 to 3 hours on each character and their interactions with each other and the finalise with an ensemble show that features them all.

But back to Captain America this was an enjoyable film and I would recommend that you go and see it if you have any enjoyment out of comic book films, it is one of the better films 4 stars for me.

Fortress (1992)

So I decided to revisit the 1992 Christopher Lambert science fiction thriller where it is against the law for couples to have more than one child and after the death of their first Christopher Lambert and his Wife played by Loryn Locklin are trying to get into either Mexico or Canada when they are rumbled. Shenanigans ensue when Christopher Lambert is caught and ensconced in the Fortress.

Kurtwood Smith is in charge in the futuristic highly technological prison and he is a bit wooden but it works so well and you will understand if you have seen this film or choose to watch it. A nice little twist and an interesting comment very near the end about where some of the people of the future may end up. This is an enjoyable look at the future of the world and the justice system and was par for the course in the late 80' early 90's. I am glad the future did not come out as dark as the predictions of those film makers but i am happy for their vision as it makes the films that much more entertaining.

I would say that this film is 3 stars it is very enjoyable and has a time in place but it looks a bit dated and the acting and effects are a bit ropey even by the standards of the time. There is the dark little look at the end of the film and I wonder if the film maker wanted to end it 2 minutes earlier would have made it a very dark situation.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

I loved the first of this series, I suffered the second and the third was absolutely dire so I went to see this with quite low expectations. Johnny Depp is back as captain Jack Sparrow with a couple of the original cast including Geoffrey Rush as Barbosa and Kevin McNally as Smith. You have new characters with Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane, I felt there was a lot of character development that did not seem to go anywhere with them and what happened at the end was actually pretty obvious. But back to my thoughts and my low expectations, I was not overly impressed with it, the idea was very simple but was really hard for them to get to, the fountain of youth get there and become young.

They seemed to want to take for ever getting there and I was actually quite bored with it, there is only so much of Captain Jack going 'savvy' that is entertaining. It was not truly terrible the performances and cameo role are entertaining and some of the action scenes were interesting but there were 4 or 5 other bit players that had quite large parts but not enough time to fully explain who they were or develop them so you really didn't care that much about them, overall it could have done with being trimmed down by about 30 minutes and 3 or 4 of the characters either cut out or slimmed down so you were not left wondering about them.

Overall I am going to say 2 stars, mostly they are for the performances and the production values which as always were excellent but it is no masterpiece and really not worth seeing.

National Treasure (2004)

After watching the sequel to this film I decided to revisit the original with Nicholas Cage, I seem to have watched a lot of his films recently, however i am not enjoying as many of them as i thought I would. This is a rip-off of Indiana Jones without the Nazi's instead you have Sean Bean who is funding the search for a treasure. He has unlimited resources but wants more in finding the treasure.

Okay so there are many holes in the plot there are many scenes of unbelievably silly things but I cannot help but like this film, there is a level of enjoyment from it that makes me smile and you switch your brain off at the door and enjoy the shenanigans as they happen.

This is enjoyable fluff worth watching if you like that sort of thing, only worth 3 stars from me though.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001)

As part of my discovery of Angelina Jolie I decided that watching the Tomb Raider films would be a good place to go, I have never played the video games or know anything about the character so did not have any real expectations. I have to say that based on the first film I was pleasantly surprised, the action was exciting and there was enough comedy involved to keep me interested and smiling.

There were a couple of actors that I was surprised to see in there including Chris Barrie as the butler and Daniel Craig as the love interest, I was not interested enough in the film to really care about the plot but it seemed interesting enough and made some sense to me, it took it to a super natural place which i was surprised about and I have no idea if it was out of place but as a female version of Indiana Jones while not nearly as good it was still enjoyable.

I give this a 3 star pass mark, interesting enough to be worth watching but overall nothing that special.

Source Code (2011)

Cinema in Falkirk, 2nd April 2011.

Just saw the new film from Duncan Jones the man that made Moon (@manmademoon on twitter) and it was fricking awesome. I am a Sci-Fi and horror film fan so the trailers for this definitely pushed my Sci-Fi buttons and I was not disappointed.

Jake Gyllenhaall never disappoints me I have to say that he plays a character that you like and you are with him from the beginning as he learns things as you do. Now the story is not that original, however there were a few times that I was pleasantly surprised as you have two realities going on. You can guess what is going to happen at times but they deliver it in such a way that I looked forward to it, I think I saw some things coming as I have seen a lot of films.

I think will give this film the first 5 star rating I have given any under my new reviewing system, I really enjoyed the whole thing, there are a few things that could have been done differently on the whole I was thoroughly entertained and intrigued to see what would happen which is the point of films.