Captain America

Despite having to be to work today, O and I decided to head off to a midnight showing of Captain America. I'm not a Marvel fangirl. My love of Marvel basically boils down to the X-Men and whoever gave me Chris Hemsworth's abs as Thor. I have no deep love of Cap. He's too much like Cyclops, IMO, a goody-two-shoes. I always preferred Wolverine, Gambit, etc.

Suffice it to say, I wasn't excited for the movie. But I was willingly to go along to see it. I'd gone to see Green Lantern and even enjoyed parts of it, for Pete's sake.

Overall thoughts: I enjoyed myself thoroughly. There are a few nitpicks I have that really bothered me, but there were things I really liked as well. It was funny. There was no lack of laughter in my packed theater.

I liked what they did with Peggy Carter. She was one of the better written women in a comic movie lately. Especially after watching the dishrag of a Carol Ferris in Green Lantern. Peggy was strong, motivated, and managed to be both of those things without being hard or losing her femininity. You can be a badass and girly. I like characters that manage to have both.

But I must say, I have one big nitpick with this movie. Maybe I'm the only person that it bothered, but it was hard to accept and pulled me somewhat out of the story. I can accept the lame science behind making a super soldier. Whatever. It's comic book cheese, I expect some of it. BUT! If you tell me a shield is going to protect someone from bullets and disintegrating rays because it's made of vibranium and absorbs all vibrations/shocks that hit it, how exactly are you going to expect me to believe it will hit something and bounce back to Cap? You do understand how things ricochet, right, Captain America writers?

Yes, comic book, I know. But for some reason, despite all the other things I could be nitpicking, that's the thing that left me grinding my teeth throughout the movie. Still, despite that, I had fun. Plus, it's almost worth the ticket price just for the bit after the credits. I can't wait.

Overall, I'd give Captain America a B+.

You're Wrong, Now Shut Up

<tirade>
No, not you.  The inconsiderate $*^%#*$ sitting behind me during the 4:35 showing of Green Lantern today.

I paid to watch this movie, not listen to some white-trash, mullet having jackass explain Green Lantern lore to your son/friend/whatever he was.

Don't get me wrong, I understand if he had some questions and you were trying to fill him in on the back story so he could enjoy the movie. I'll even give you leniency and give you a pass on it, even though it was the first movie and was ENTIRELY ORIGIN STORY! If you had just had the courtesy to whisper.

But no, not you classy guy in the nearly sold out showing. You had to speak loudly enough for everyone in a three row radius to hear everything you said. And you continued to talk through at least 10-20% of the entire movie.

When the movie got particularly loud during an action scene, you raised your voice to a near shout to make sure you could be heard.

Really? REALLY?!

You, Sir, are the antithesis of everything great about comics/superheroes/good movies (not that I'm sure Green Lantern necessarily falls into this category, I'm just sayin')/the world! This little tirade cannot begin to cover how much everyone around you hates you for this greatest of sins: talking through a movie.

But what's actually worse? At least half of the "lore" that you spouted is wrong. And not even slightly factually inaccurate wrong. Wrong like you had lumped a dozen super heroes' back stories together and still didn't manage to get a single fact about any of them correct. Seriously? W? T? F?!

</tirade>

How to Train Your Dragon

I went to see this movie with my family on Saturday. I wasn't expecting much, just a fun movie that I figured everyone in the family would enjoy at least a little bit. I left the theater blown away.  This caught me by surprise much the same way Sherlock Holmes did this past Christmas (which I couldn't resist seeing one last time at our second run theater Friday night). I had originally planned to recommend Sherlock Holmes today, since it will be out on DVD tomorrow, but that will have to wait until next week because I want to get this out while it's fresh.

As a writer, there are certain things I consume for entertainment (books, movies, certain tv episodes) that make me wish I had written them. They're not all that common, I have so many ideas of my own that I'll never get through them all, but some things just leaving me saying 'wow' in jealousy. The flip side of that coin is, as a writer, there's almost always something I would have done differently. How to Train Your Dragon is not only one of the rare things that makes me jealous, but I wouldn't change a thing.

The movie is gorgeous and fun, and would have been worth the admission price for those two things alone. But the perfect pacing, the characterization, and the way everything comes full circle make this a move to remember, in my opinion. There is much more I have to say about this movie, so many things I want to geek out over, but I'll have to do it with O, because I don't want to spoil a single thing about this movie.

I can't recommend this movie enough. I wasn't expecting much when I walked in on Saturday, but I'm certainly glad I went.

Sherlock Holmes

When I first saw the trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie, I was disinterested to say the least. Sometimes a trailer is just made for you, it hits everything that makes you sit up and say, "I HAVE to see this movie." Sometimes, apparently, it doesn't. Which leads to a squabble with your significant other about whether or not you are "getting dragged to see that piece of crap movie."

By the time Christmas rolled around he had worn me down. I still didn't *want* to see the movie, but I figured I'd go, watch some explosions, and munch on some popcorn. Not a bad way to spend a Christmas afternoon.

HOLY VICTORIAN BATMAN, WAS I WRONG! This movie grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go until the end. Yes, I knew what was going to happen in a lot of places. There is a reason why my friends and family calling spoiling a movie/book/tv show by guessing how it will end 5 minutes into the thing 'Hazen'ing it.' But it didn't matter. Yes, there are a few niggling plot points, and some things I'd change. But, still. It was like Star Trek, I was loving every minute of it enough that those few things didn't matter.

This movie ended up being easily one of my favorites of 2009. It is, in fact, the only non-Pixar movie I have paid to see more than once. Not only did we go see it again with some other friends, but when it showed up in the second run theater we had a date night and payed to see it a third time.

I wish the women in the movie had been a bit stronger, mostly that they had held up to Holmes and Watson, but I think part of the reason they couldn't was because Holmes and Watson were so stellar. This movie just brings out the total fangirl in me and makes me squee every time I talk about it. If you haven't watched it yet, give it a try. If you have, seriously, go watch it again. I know I will be.