Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Thoughts

The first Captain America movie I watched was the 1990 release, and it was on VHS. I don’t recall it being very memorable. It’s also possible that I was too young to appreciate it. Following that, in my run up to The Avengers, I watched the 2011 release, Captain America: The First Avenger, and liked it, but felt it was weaker when compared to the other individual character movies that led up to The Avengers. So I wasn't overly thrilled or expecting much when Captain America: The Winter Soldier was announced; that said, the trailer looked pretty impressive. In this installment, Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, is a little lost, and rethinks his purpose and direction in life. Amidst that, he also questions the new plans of SHIELD, and is introduced to a new mystery villain.

If the trailer looked impressive, it’s safe to say that the movie is even more impressive. I entered the theater with modest expectations, and left the cinema hall quite satisfied. In The Winter Soldier the plot is well laid out, addressing various narrative components, each adequately satisfying the multitude of requirements that an audience base would look for. The action was visually appealing, with several gripping sequences, the plot was exciting, and maintained a sense of mystery and suspense to keep audiences enthralled. The character development was interesting, and the camaraderie between the Black Widow and Captain America ran a lot deeper this time around. If that wasn't good enough, the mammoth SHIELD facilities and the Helicarriers will blow you away, in terms of cool tech that’s drool worthy. In the final sequences of the movie, there are impressive air battles to the scale of Independence Day. The editing and camera work is also impressive, with some scenes including the initial assault on the ship being quite cool. Watch the scenes in 3D, and it’s even more fun. Captain America: The Winter Soldier clearly works at multiples levels, as even the not so inclined, non-action movie buffs found it to be entertaining. That credits goes to the well managed balance between action and tech, vs. characters and deep story. If you've asked yourself the question what exactly constitutes a solid action movie, the answer is, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Though I’m not a big fan of Chris Evans, and found his over energetic portrayal of The Torch in the Fantastic Four movies bordering obnoxious, he performs admirably as Captain America. He comes across as older, wiser, calmer, and what you’d expect of Superhero and a leader.  His performance is plausible, leaving the audiences with a character whom they can look up to. To balance his seemingly ‘all that is right’ demeanor, is Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson. She does splendidly in bringing the opposite of ‘by the book’ to the Black Widow character, and is convincing as a female action star who can seriously kick some ass. Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury has a memorable action sequence in the SHIELD Chevy SUV, though I’d expect for people to be blown away by the coolness of the smart ride. An interesting addition to the cast is Cobie Smulders of How I Met Your Mother fame; after a while on screen I was like hey, is that Robin?

I caught this one in the theater and in 3D. The visual presentation was really nice, with a large part of it being in broad daylight, looking quite brilliant. Many of the shots are wide and pretty big in terms of scale; quite reminded me of Michael Bay’s work. Sound was also about perfect, with all the action sequences just seeming amazing. Needless to say the special effects, especially the Helicarriers were just magnificent. Clearly two thumbs up for the technical elements.

My Recommendation: Kick Ass (The best rendition of Captain America to date)

Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal - Snapshot

Honestly I hadn't heard about this movie until a couple of hours before seeing it. My friends were in the mood for a movie, and they felt like Tamil, so Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal was the pick of the day. The plot is fairly straight forward, being largely light, with a few serious sentiments such as old school traditional values, and love/relationship myths being touched upon. There is also a family feud, for which the main characters in the movie come up with a creative and humorous solution, possible only in romantic comedies.  Performances are decent, with Udhayanidhi Stalin and Nayantara doing a good job. The standout character is Mayil played by Santhanam; his non-stop comedy being the true entertainer in the flick. Supporting characters Vineethra (Chaya Singh) and her husband Shanmugham (Dr. Bharath Reddy) a Coimbatore-based mill owner, also perform admirably. Overall Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal is a decent movie if you’re looking for something light and have some time to kill. It’s not very deep and doesn't require much thought. There are a few song and dance sequences, and those are a little boring as expected; thankfully they aren't distasteful or bordering vulgar. The long 2 hour 45 minute run-time of the movie was a bit much, but thankfully director S. R. Prabhakaran did a good job in ensuring there aren't any overly slow or dull moments.

My Recommendation: Watch it – (A light, fun, casual, no brainer, ro-co movie)

The Tourist - Thoughts

As someone who follows Angelina Jolie’s filmography, I got to know of The Tourist around the time of its release in 2010. Unlike Wanted, Salt and some of her other movies which immediately caught my attention, The Tourist seemed about okay, but not something I was in a hurry to check out. 3 years after, I finally got around to renting the DVD and checking it out. In The Tourist, Angelina Jolie plays Elise Ward, who befriends a tourist, dragging him unsuspectingly into a secret agenda, one that is also of interest to the authorities, and the mob.

With modest and meager expectations I fired up the movie, which started off slow, yet with a fascinating sense of mystery. What appealed to me instantaneously were the scenic visuals and wonderful cinematography. The bulk of the movie is shot in Venice, and in day light; The Tourist does justice to the locale, with its magnificent grand outdoor camera work. As the plot picks up pace, I found myself wondering if things were predictable or unexpected, and that constant intrigue was a key element of the movie. Though the film maintained a fairly calm pace throughout, with a few action sequences, it remained interesting consistently, holding on to audience attention. The character development is impressive, and in line with plot progression. Being neither a hardcore action flick, nor a very intense plot, The Tourist will work well for casual movie goers, looking for entertainment and fun, with a little thrill. At the end of the day, it’s hard not to love The Tourist, with its functional and intriguing plot, and the excellent performances from the leads.

The plot of The Tourist has an extremely high dependency on its lead characters. That being the case, it was a wise decision to bring on Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, as their character portrayals are simply excellent.  The plot is largely built around the Elise Ward character, and Angelina Jolie is just phenomenal in her sophisticated rendition of Elise Ward. It’s not surprising that she was chosen, as I do recall having seen her in similar confident and commanding roles. Similarly, Johnny Depp is at home as Frank Tupelo, the humor though not obvious, comes across in a gentle manner. He compliments Jolie’s performance, creating for an ideal balance, doing splendidly as the simple, down to earth, math professor. In a nutshell, the two of them will keep you glued to The Tourist, up until the credits roll.

The DVD I was sampling was an Asia region spec, with audio commentary languages including Hindi, and some other European languages. Needless to say I watched it in English, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, which was good. Dialog was clear, and there was some minimal use of positional sound; but the overall audio presentation was on point. Video was very nice, and complemented the lovely outdoor daylight photography of the movie. Though it wasn't the sharpest picture, it was clear and was visually appealing; color tones clearly favoring warm yellowish, brownish tints. The DVD did have the usual extras, but nothing was special or worth mention.

My Recommendation: Watch It (Romance in Venice with a twist)