Captain America....WOW

I didn't realize that Captain America: The First Avenger was actually coming out so soon. I for some reason was under the belief that it was coming out in the summer of 2012. Needless to say when I saw the trailer during the Super Bowl, I was VERY excited about it.

A couple of reasons I am really looking forward to this movie. I like who they cast for the role of Captain America, Chris Evans is a great choice in my opinion. Now you may know him as the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four movies. Those movies were actually pretty bad, but he was the most enjoyable thing about them. He's also been in a lot of other movies so chances are you have seen him in something.

So the story of Captain America, much like that of Thor, is very different from your typical Marvel movie. It will be a period piece taking place back during World War I. Since this is a period piece there are some concerns with having Chris Evans play Cap. His humor tends to be very sarcastic and modern so he will have to tone it back a bit to make the character believable. I think he is capable of doing that and will do a great job in the role.

They also got Hugo Weaving to play the Red Skull. This was also great casting because I like Hugo Weaving in almost anything that he does. He is immensely entertaining and relishes roles such as this. He will make a great villain and I look forward to checking that out too.

It's hard to say whether I am more excited for Captain America: The First Avenger or Thor. I think it was a good idea to release these two movies in the same summer because while some people may find Thor to be too unbelievable a character, Captain America is a bit more realistic. Essentially Steve Rogers is a soldier who is to small and weak to do much. They give him an experimental treatment, the super soldier serum, and he turns into a huge strong soldier. Essentially what he gets is super steroids. That's at least more believable than the God of Thunder.

Summer can't come fast enough so I can check out these two great movies. I have high hopes for this summer, I just hope that neither movie actually lets me down.

Thor Looks Pretty Awesome

There are two Marvel movies coming out this summer and I am really excited for both of them. For this post I will focus on Thor as I saw this trailer a couple weeks before I saw the one for Captain America.

The reason I am looking forward to Thor is that I don't know much about him. For most super hero movies I go in there knowing what to expect and who the character is and how they act etc. Thor on the other hand is a clean slate for me. Which is nice to go into a super hero movie not knowing what to expect in the least. I also find all sorts of mythology very interesting so the fact a lot of that plays into who Thor makes it all the better.

Natalie Portman is in the movie as well, she is so beautiful I'll watch anything with her in it. I didn't know she was going to be in it so that was a pleasant surprise when I watched the trailer for the first time. They got Chris Hemsworth to play the role of Thor which was a good choice. Many of you know him as Kirk's father in Star Trek, the movie that came out two years ago, he died at the very beginning of the movie. No spoiler alert for that since the movie came out a while ago and it happens withing the first 5 minutes of the movie. Hemsworth definitely looks like Thor which makes it an easy choice.

Another intriguing thing about this movie is how they are going to fit this into the whole Marvel universe they are creating. They want to make an Avengers movie so all these super hero movies are setting up for that. Thor is the most unique of the characters because he isn't human and from another place other than earth entirely. Not to say that Spiderman or the Incredible Hulk are believable characters, at least they are humans and lived in modern society. Thor will provide some challenges and that should make for an interesting movie.

Now from the trailer it seems like the movie is going to be really good. Anthony Hopkins is also in the movie which is nice to see well known actors in these types of movies. This wouldn't have happened 10 years ago. The danger of a trailer is you can get too excited for a movie that ultimately can't live up to the expectations. I sure hope that Thor exceeds the expectations I have for it.

Is The Social Network The Best Movie Of The Year?

I watched The Social Network about a couple weeks ago and I have been struggling with this question. I know many people have said they feel it is the best movie of the year, but I'm not completely sure I agree with them.

I want to get this out of the way immediately and say that I thought The Social Network is an amazing movie. It takes some talent to take relatively boring proceedings and come up with a film that is very exciting and engaging. Scenes where all that happened was computer coding were made to seem like momentous occasions. I realize that is very difficult to pull off and The Social Network does it with very little problem.

The only reason I don't say it is the best movie of the year in my opinion is because I enjoyed Inception a lot more. Now that is my personal preference. I can see why many believe that The Social Network is the best movie of 2010. I have a couple problems with that movie which keeps it from being the best movie of the year.

While the story is based on the origins of Facebook and is for all intensive purposes a "true story", I feel like a large part of the story was dramatized for the big screen. Now The Social Network was not the first movie to take some liberties with a true story, nor will it be the last to do so. Nonetheless it brought me out of the experience to think that this really happened. On a number of levels I just couldn't imagine that is the way things turned out, which brought me out of the experience.

Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg was really amazing. Andrew Garfield also did a great job as Eduardo Saverin. The acting as a whole in the movie was spectacular. In a movie of this type the acting needs to be pin point perfect to lift a movie to the heights that The Social Network often reaches. Despite all that I kept coming back to the notion that the story was too unbelievable.

I know that criticism seems really childish when I say that Inception was my favorite movie of the year, but when a movie is based in reality I can't help but notice when something seems out of place. A movie like Inception is based in another world essentially so my belief is suspended, I am just along for the magical ride. When you tell me something actually happened, then there are certain expectations that come with that.

So is The Social Network the best movie of the year? Well in my opinion it is not, but it is awfully close to being the best movie of the year. It's all subjective anyways and I know many people do not agree with me, but the movie that mesmerized me the most this past year was Inception.

Christopher Nolan Deserved Best Director Nomination For Inception

I absolutely LOVED Inception. So it really pains me to see that as the Oscars are coming up soon that Christopher Nolan was not nominated for Best Director for that movie. The vision of that movie was immense and no one else other than him could have done it.

This movie was totally up my alley. I watch all kinds of movies and don't stick to a particular genre, but Inception was my favorite type of movie. I like movies that take you to another world. This probably stems from my love of video games, being able to escape to another imaginative world other than my own is extremely appealing to me.

The way I feel about these movies is also why it hurts to see them under appreciated when it comes time for Oscars. You see many times people win Oscars for normal roles and nothing imaginative. Fantasy worlds don't tend to be as well received as the realistic movies you see all over the place.

For the 2.5 hrs I was watching Inception I was completely enthralled in the story. I didn't want the movie to end and was very sad when it did. Not many movies make me feel that way. This kind of unique imaginative work is what makes Nolan so great at what he does. Memento was equally inventive and mesmerizing. Nolan didn't win a best director Oscar for that movie either.

Inception had a little bit of everything which is what made it so great. The action was great but it wasn't the only thing the movie had going for it. The story itself was very emotional. You had plenty of suspense and humor as well. It's rare to find a movie that hits on all these things at once. Most of the time a movie gets one or two things done well and ignores the rest. A movie that has it all is truly rare.

If you have yet to watch either Memento or Inception then you definitely owe it to yourself to watch them as soon as you can. While it is nominated for Best Picture, I highly doubt there is any chance of it winning. Which is truly a shame because a movie that visually stunning should get more consideration.