Captain America: Civil War

There wasn't a lot of substance to Captain America: Civil War. It basically left me feeling like, "Was that a movie? Did I just watch something?" Some of the action was cool, and I guess the question it raises is interesting, but it's less than memorable.

I didn't see the first two Captain America movies, so I guess I was missing out on a bit of backstory here (and apparently the second Avengers movie would have been relevant as well, which I also didn't see). But I think I get the idea – the Avengers are destroying stuff, and Cap and Bucky were friends when they were growing up. I think I read a review that said it's an interesting dilemma, the fact that so many innocent people die in these things, and that this movie doesn't really provide any answers.

I think it sort of does. Cap's logic seems pretty sound. I guess it's just like in any war. Ultimately you're saving more lives. It's not like they're out there *trying* to kill innocent people. And putting the government in charge of them wouldn't be good. Although there probably should be some sort of system of checks and balances in case one of them is ever less than altruistic. Maybe it works if they're just self-policing.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

The plot was a little empty, but I tend to enjoy fairy tale movies, and this one was creative enough to be entertaining.

I wasn't expecting much from Hansel & Gretel. Roeper didn't review it. IMDb said it was okay, albeit gory, so I decided I didn't need to see it in the theater. The acting wasn't bad. I haven't been a fan of Jeremy Renner yet, and I've never heard of Gemma Arterton before, although apparently she was in Prince of Persia. It was cool seeing Peter Stormare as the sheriff, though.

I liked how the language was modern. They got to use a lot of curse words since it was rated R, and that worked well. 

The Avengers

The Avengers got too much hype, and it went on for too long. It missed the mark in a lot of ways, but the dialogue was good. Tom Hiddleston pretty much made the movie as Loki, and I like Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr., too.

Somehow, I haven't been able to see The Avengers until now. I did request it from the library four months ago, but the library system in this county really sucks in terms of having enough media for the amount of patrons they serve. So, I'm late to the party, and I already knew all of the funny/interesting scenes.

I'm not a fangirl; I'm not into comics at all, but I've spent enough time around them to be bored to tears. I haven't seen The Hulk or Iron Man. I've seen enough parts of Thor and Captain America to know I'm not interested in the rest. I did like Iron Man 2, and I liked Hellboy. They should've brought him in, too. But I guess he's not Marvel.

The Avengers movie got way too much hype, at least in my circles. I heard about it for months before it came out. I didn't like the marketing, either. Too full of itself, maybe. I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of the movie. I do like the Iron Man character, and Robert Downey, Jr., and that aspect was good. The light on Tony Stark's chest is always a distraction for me. I imagine filmmakers are always thinking about when and to what extent it should be visible. I don't think they always made the right decision on that in this movie. Chris Hemsworth does a great Thor; that's a character I enjoy, too. Ruffalo was good.

I watched the featurette on the DVD, and I think it was Whedon (maybe not though) who said something like, "You'll always see Chris Evans as Steve Rogers now, it overrides all his other roles." No, actually, I won't. I see him as the guy from The Losers, which I liked better than this movie, anyway, thank you very much. I like Evans, but he looks kind of weird as Captain America. It doesn't really work for me.

Johansson did a fine job with Black Widow. Renner didn't do anything for me as Hawkeye, though. Loki was a great villain. That part totally worked for me from his first scene. Tom does a leer that's perfect for the role. Going in, I felt like the plot was going to be kind of dumb, but Tom at least made that part of the movie better than I was expecting it to be. I loved what they did with his hair, too; the little bits curling up in the back were a great touch.

28 Weeks Later

This world is great. I think this movie was just as good as the first one. I liked the family theme, and the awesome music works just as well here as it did originally. I didn't like the ambiguous ending as much, though.