Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Hey there readers, I'm back. Sorry for the delay, I was busy creating my Johnny Mnemonic review for my Rotten Reelz Reviews Video Review (Now available on YouTube!) so yeah I was a bit distracted. Yes I am aware of the high grossing MCU Avengers: Infinity War and no I have not seen it yet. Please, no spoilers.

Instead I thought we could enjoy the dethawed 6'2" blond, bohunk of the 1940s after his Avengers debut. This time around he is working with S.H.I.E.L.D dealing with conspiracies, collateral damage and a ton of action. This is Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Captain...going down?  wink wink.

Captain America (Chris Evans of The Losers, Not Another Teen Movie and Fantastic Four) is adapting to modern life, goes for a lengthy run of 20 miles. That would warm up the limbs. He bumps into a vet Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man) and they bond over being in combat and adjusting to civilian life.

Scooped up for an search and rescue team for a ship in international waters alongside his fellow Avenger, the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansen of Lost in Translation, Iron Man II, The Avengers and Ghost in the Shell) as they assess the situation and drop the terrorists.

Fighting skills by Hydra. Fabulous hair by Vidal Sassoon.

After being a bit pissed at Widow working a different mission on his, Cap grumbles at Director Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson of Pulp Fiction, Rules of Engagement, Iron Man II, The Avengers and The Spirit) about protocol, soldiers needing to have each others back and so on. Head guru spymaster lets Cap in on the new upgraded helicarriers, loaded with rail guns and missile racks, speaking of how wiping out potential threats instead of playing clean up. Both argue their different ideals of how America should respond to threats and Cap is adamant how wrong this rejoinder and stomps off like a diva.

Fury starts investigating how this mass SNAFU to find out who is behind it and is later chased by armed assailants dressed like SWAT. Big question during this firefight...where are the actual cops? Anyone? Fury's poor SHIELD SVU has been blasted something fierce and just when all looks fine, a single armed man blasts his ride, flipping it up and over.

Cap returns home to find a battered Fury hiding out in his apartment and he casually talks to him while passes Cap notes explaining SHIELD isn't the secure, agreeable peace keeping force we are lead to believe when Fury takes a few rounds from a sniper.

Cap's neighbor watches over Fury while Cap gives chase, hurls his mighty shieeeeeeld...and low and behold, our sniper is the same guy that shot at Fury prior, catching Cap's shield in his nifty bionic arm. He hurls it back at Cap and leaps from a rooftop like it's nothing.

Cap and Widow regretting the three bean burritos now.

Head of Council, Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Three Days of the Condor, Legal Eagles and Captain America: Winter Soldier) wants answers. Cap keeps it close to the vest and heads out. His team decides to jump him and we have a decent smack down and chase.

Widow works with Cap to figure out who took out Fury, what the hell is going on and what seems to be a building to a mass conspiracy to take over the world?!

Not to use existing titles too often but this is The Manchurian Candidate, Three Days of the Condor and good old over-the-top comic book action.

With collusion, cloak and dagger motifs, gun play and plenty of suspense; we have a decent machination story line offering plenty of story, intrigue and managing to keep a riveting fantasy trying to remain grounded in reality.

An awesome cast giving a great performance, excellent SFX and a sequel that surpassed its original.

I highly recommend this film for action fans and comic book fans alike.

Not sure how to say it Ludlow, but you look like a weasel.

Comic Flicks of 2016: Captain America: Civil War

So back again, non-sports fans and here we are for Day 3 of Comic Films of 2016. With a substantial $250 million to cover practical effects, training, martial arts, FX explosions, CGI and the odds and ends, you figure this film better take off or that was a huge waste of funds. Coming in after the wake of Age of Ultron and the destruction of the country Sokovia, Earth's Mightiest Heroes soldier on and do their level best to be the men and women the planet need to put down any known or unknown threat to the world but does the world agree? With a brainwashed Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan of Red Doors, The Covenant, Hot Tub Time Machine, Black Swan, Captain America: The First Avenger, Gone, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Ant-Man) still on the loose, Cap's attention is divided from the gig of saving lives and re-patching old friendships. This is Captain America: Civil War.

Seriously?  This is Poster one!?! How many more!?!

While the initial concept hails from the Marvel multiple title crossover in 2006, this Civil War having less players on the field has left audiences divided for Team Cap or Team Stark. Guess Twilight was easier to pick sides. Oh yes, I just did that. A quick flashback to Bucky's forced Hydra days that in 1991, he was to off the subjects and acquire the prize of a galvanized briefcase full of the super-soldier serum. Whether it followed Dr. Erskine's original formula or if it was reverse engineered from Rogers' blood...hell I don't know. Watch the flick for details like that.

One year after the very brief Age of Ultron, a team of Avengers in plain clothes led by Cap (Chris Evans of Not Another Teen Movie, The Perfect Score, Fantastic Four, The Losers, Scott Pilgrim vs.the World, The Avengers, The Iceman, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron) are in Lagos, Portugal tailing potential threats with a bio weapon of which of former SHIELD and Hydra agents. Assigned this is Falcon (Anthony Mackie of 8 Mile, The Manchurian Candidate, She Hate Me, Million Dollar Baby, Eagle Eye, The Hurt Locker, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson of North, The Horse Whisperer, Lost in Translation, The Island, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Lucy and Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson of The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley: The Case of the U.S. Space Camp Mission, Silent House, Red Lights, Liberal Arts, Kill Your Darlings, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Drunk History).

Copywrit and all that jazz

So two talented normals, a super-soldier and a mutant (Yeah Marvel, I said Mutant so SUCK IT!) seems like a real lackluster support staff for what could end up a serious fire fight. Was Vision off learning how to make proper scones? War Machine or Iron Man off on a booty call? Hey howzabout Thor for cryin' out loud!?! So the crisis is more or less averted except Witch's hex power accidentally forced an explosive blast at a nearby building killed humanitarian aid workers hailing from Wakanda (A fictional nation in East Africa, North of Tanzania. Thank you goofy memory. Now remember your girlfriend's birthday EVERY YEAR!!!). With nations of the world seeing this on CNN coverage, this seems to be the breaking point for the world as they have endured mutants, gamma radiated green guys and the Asgardians and heck why not throw in the Chitaurai as well.

The U.N. Demands heroes to be held accountable for everything that comes down the pike creating the Sokovia Accords that will reveal the identities of powered beings, their power levels and basically tag them so they are overseen and controlled to the preference of the world...and all that entitles. This is where it gets sticky. Tony is all in favor of the accords given the horrible SNAFU that was Ultron while Cap feels remaining autonomous and not relying on red tape and second guessing means their response time to crises would mean they could get in there quicker and do the job easier. The team feels divided on this issue as they are not a military team to be regulated but they should be held accountable for all outcomes regardless of good intentions.

With the continuous search for Bucky who is still on the lam, Cap and Falcon track him down to bring him to anyone that could help him just try to get his life back together are operating AGAINST these precious accords that have NOT EVEN been ratified yet. Yeah Marvel, you know how slow the UN operates at. Curdled milk beats it every time! A bombing in Vienna occurs during the signing of the Sovokia Accords and Bucky has been conveniently named the bomber. Among the fallen is the King of Wakanda T'Chaka (John Kani of The Wild Geese, An African Dream, A Dry White Season, Othello, Endgame, White Lion and Jail Caesar) causing the crown prince, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman of Lincoln Heights, Persons Unknown, The Kill Hole, 42, Get on Up, Gods of Egypt and Message from the King) to lead his nation and put aside his thoughts of revenge as best as he can but the Black Panther does not have to wait idly by.

Dark Bucky...

With Captain America flagrantly ignoring the rules, the saber rattlers are getting annoyed and may actually send people out to deal with Cap and Falcon so he assembles a team that is in the same mindset as he is. With that, Tony does the same giving the unrealized damaging effects hero vs hero could cause. Will this be all out war? Can Cap and Iron Man ever salvage their friendship?

A few comments to make here. As an avid comic book reader, no this did not have quite the same impact as the comic version did and that is understandable. More characters and more craziness attached to it. This is the first appearance of Tom Holland donning the red and blue webs as he is now the third person to play Spider-Man in film. Still not sure what Andrew Garfield did to lose the role or why Parker is NEVER allowed to age!?! Marvel, there is a slew of stories well past his high school years that would make awesome films. Hell, how about the Secret Wars!?! And can we get Fox's grubby mitts off the X-Men and maybe toss the Fantastic Four to a competent writer and director? Okay off topic there. Sorry about that.

 Comprehensively, the story has good moments, shows a lot of heart and loss typical of the latter Marvel story arc and gives mixed feelings for everyone watching. Most don't want to pick a side because they were friends and comrades dammit but yeah sorry Stark I am still Team Cap.

How cool is the Panther?  Ice!

Turkish Spider-Man a.k.a. Three Giant Men

Heya folks, Rotten Reelz Reviews making a late appearance...again. Quick question, what do you get when you combine the star spangled avenger Captain America and what appears to be Samson the silvermask doing battle with a merciless, ruthless Spider-Man??? Well you get a confused as hell writer who thought this is such an obscure movie that it deserves a look-see. Yes, hailing from Turkey, imported to Chicken and served up on a bed of rice comes the film that...well maybe a handful of movie critics have debated about. This is 3 dev adam a.k.a. 3 Mighty Men a.k.a. Three Giant Men a.k.a. Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man.

Hmm, Spidey is looking a bit dumpy.

"What in the sam scratch is goin' on??!!" You may be asking yourself and me. Well simmer down and I will endeavor to explain. You see gentle readers, Turkey is known from the 70's and 80's to create knock off movies of popular American titles such as Star Wars, Rambo and even and I kid you not, I Spit on Your Grave. Their governmental censorship is so harsh that movies and TV show depicting nudity, smoking, drug use or even having some booze is always blurred to avoid obscene fines. Hell they can barely use the word gay and have to fall back on marginal. That being said, not all of our movies translate well or again too risque so they have cranked out a few cheapies at the ready for what makes for some interesting viewing if not great MST3K riffing.

Our story takes place in Istanbul where counterfeit dollars are being minted at the behest of Spider-Man (Teyfik Sen of Three Giant Men and Ugly World) and his nefarious Spider's gang...hmm lacks punch doesn't it? Web of Minions? Wall Crawling Weirdies?? Anywho, Spider-Man and his Infamous Friends smuggle artifacts from Turkey to the US of A to dealers and handles payoffs with the phony lettuce, see? J. Jonah Jameson was right, Spider-Man is a menace. Captain America (Aytekin Akkaya of The Dead Don't Talk, Three Giant Men, Yor, the Hunter from the Future and The Ark of the Sun God) is such the hero that his girlfriend infiltrates the Spider's gang and apparently he is completely cool with this. Y'know, it's just one of those things women do... join a den of thieves and murderers.

Hmm, my Tamagotchi died...again.

Moving on, Non-Agent Carter is getting the goods of Spider's gang when she is discovered. Captain America sans shield (the shield would have cost at least 200 bucks) and Santo (Yavuz Selekman of Tarzan the Mighty Man, The Legend of Ararat Mountain and Battal Gazi'nin Oglu) must manuever into Istanbul and break up the gang before any happens to girl whose name NEVER COMES UP. Seriously, they never give her name well enough and I am running on sub-titles here that have probably been poorly translated. And Cap needs a beefy Mexican wrestler to aid him in his time of need? Was Hulk, Thor, Wonder Man, Iron Man and hell even Moon Knight all busy??!!! The Beast was unclogging the drain that day?? The Vision got his with a DNSunlocker virus??!!!

Will Cap and Santo be able to thwart Spider-Man's plans??!!! Will JJ write a scathing editorial??

Folks, this is one of those flicks that you gawk at with your jaw agape and your mind confused. With a lot of the Turkish movies...editing isn't really an issue. Music scores with fade out in films, but in these they just stop dead. Stinger scores or dramatic music can go off and there is nothing dramatic going on. Entire scenes will have dialogue and then poof, piss poor translation to next scene so continuity feels like it went out the frickin window. Our movie is ideal for having a laugh around the living room or a college dorm drinking game. There is a degree of violence in it but nothing so stomach churning you wouldn't see in a TV show in the last 50 years. I think Chuck Connors' Branded or The Virginian is deemed more violent.

Yeesh, they went below budget for Civil War.