"Captain America"

The Sun movie review: 'Captain America'

Saturday April 19, 2014 | By:Tony Baksa |

HAMBURG — Captain America has got to be the oddest superhero. Unlike Superman, Batman and Spiderman, Captain America has no innate superhuman powers. His abilities are the result of a lab experiment in which he was injected with a serum that resulted in transforming him into the perfect human specimen.

His strength, endurance and reflexes are at a maximum. He never tires. His body renews the serum, so it never wears off. Pretty neat; where can I acquire this terrific substance?

In “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Steve Rogers returns as his alter ego, Captain America, wearing his patriotic costume and brandishing his indestructible shield, to once again save the world.

Isn’t this basically the plot of most superhero movies? But Captain America is different in so many ways. He is more human. He is simple, direct and uncomplicated. I like him and I liked this movie.

I will admit that there was much I did not understand, but I knew I had just seen a good movie.

Let me explain. This may be helpful to anyone else who is planning to see this film. At the conclusion of the movie, I saw an usher reading the credits, as they rolled by. Something told me he was a fan, so I asked him what he thought of this movie. We got into a discussion in which I learned about what I should do to fill in the blanks and help me understand what I just saw.

It apparently helps comprehension if you have seen “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “The Avengers,” in that order.

That very evening, I went to my nearby Redbox©, rented “Captain America: The First Avenger,” watched it, and loved it. The next day, I watched “The Avengers” on Netflix© and found that to my liking, as well.

The result of these viewings led me to a clearer understanding of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” and a new appreciation for this film. I am not sure I like this practice of movie serials, where knowledge of the previous films is necessary, but that is the deal and I am powerless to change it. That said, I can recommend this movie to especially fans of the other two.

Chris Evans as our superhero is perfect. Unassuming and likeable, he gets the job done. The ubiquitous Scarlett Johansson returns as the Black Widow, with special powers of her own.

Introduced in this film is a sort of sidekick for Captain America, The Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie. Our team of heroes is embroiled in an unusual plot.

Captain America becomes the hunted, rather than the hunter. His enemies are many, but one surprisingly shocking enemy surfaces: the Winter Soldier. This throws Captain America into a tailspin of incredulous conflict, especially because of the Winter Soldier’s true identity. I won’t reveal any more, except to say that this revelation is all the more powerful, if you have seen the first Captain America movie.

Samuel Jackson returned as Nick Fury. Robert Redford appeared as a pretty lame villain in a pretty lame performance. Fortunately, Redford does not spoil the movie. What with the personal dramas and the extraordinary action throughout, Redford is a minor quibble.

Brilliantly edited and boldly directed, this film is another hit for Marvel Studios©.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is currently playing in theaters.

OFF OFF BEAT!

The Sun movie review: ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’

Friday April 4, 2014 | By:Tony Baksa |

HAMBURG — Some comedies make you laugh out loud. I’m thinking movies like “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles.” Those great Mel Brooks films are always good for a laugh; lots of them, guaranteed.

There are other comedies that make you smile. Woody Allen’s movies come to mind. Pleasantly wise and insightful, these movies guarantee a good time and a broad smile.

Then there are comedies that try so hard to be funny. The effort is great, but the result is not funny. Wes Anderson comes to mind. His movies are generally offbeat, which he seems to equate with comedy. This equation is sometimes correct (“The Royal Tenenbaums” and “Rushmore”). Other times, not. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is such a film.

This, Anderson’s latest romp, should have been funny. With a star-studded cast and the silliest of situations, this farce would have been funny had it been directed by someone else – how about Brooks? What a missed opportunity that was.

The acting style by the entire cast is wide-eyed absurdist. It never varies. The actors come off like puppets being manipulated by Anderson. You never see one iota of real, flesh-and-blood, breathing human beings.

Here lies the problem. The situations are fraught with danger, yet we never fear for the characters, because they are not real enough to care about. Perhaps Anderson should have animated this movie like his last film “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which was funny, charming and, yes, offbeat; very offbeat. I truly feel “The Grand Budapest Hotel” would have worked very well as a cartoon.

Frankly, the script isn’t very funny. It is painful to watch good actors mug their way through this badly written comedic adventure.

And I didn’t even like the characters. Ralph Fiennes in the lead is especially cloying and annoying. He plays Gustave, a supposedly world-famous concierge at the Grand Budapest Hotel, who caters to rich old women. Set some time between the two great wars of the 20th century, Gustave takes young Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), the hotel lobby boy, under his wing.

Together, these two unlikely characters are off on a Tom and Jerry adventure involving a chase all over Europe. They are being pursued by the family of a deceased rich dowager (Tilda Swinton) who leaves her fortune, including a very valuable painting, to Gustave.

His pursuers, led by the dowager’s evil son Dmitri (Adrien Brody) and a huge cast of villains, most prominently Willem Dafoe, behave like characters in a Road Runner cartoon.

With such a large cast of characters portrayed by so many major actors such as F. Murray Abraham, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Fisher Stevens and many more, the budget for this flick must have been enormous and must have all gone to the cast. The rest of the movie gets short-changed.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” does not look very grand. With all of the running around and traipsing all over Europe, you would think the scenery would enthrall. The palate is bright and colorful, but not pretty. And it should be pretty. And it should be exciting. And it should be funny. And it is not – down on all three counts.