Thankfully Snowpiercer Was Awesome!

This is more like it! Man it's been a rough couple of weeks for movies. Fortunately this new Joon-ho Bong flick hit theaters just when I needed it the most... when I had begun to lose all hope for this summer.

Snowpiercer is just plain interesting. It's thoroughly entertaining all the way from the source concept: the last remnants of the human race, stuck together in a constantly moving train...

sociological and scientific metaphors abound. And it's just damn fun to watch... from beginning to end. It reminds me of older films like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover or City of Lost Children... that kind of art house film that somehow managed to get bigger than life. This is a BIG art house flick in the best possible way. And it's the kind of outlandish perspective we've been missing in bigger Hollywood movies that somehow seem smaller despite their massive budgets. Not that Snowpiercer had a small budget, but when you compare it to that of expected blockbusters, it's at least half the price.

But enough of that. This movie had an exceptional and often surprisingly cool cast. Chris Evans was clearly having a blast and it's so interesting to see how excited he gets about making movies like this. I hope he continues to choose such solid projects in the future, now that he has some amount of movie star clout to throw around.

Kang-ho Song is amazing as usual. He constantly proves to me that Korean cinema can provide a platform for good actors to be big and entertaining. Ah-sung Ko was also wonderful to watch! I love how much of The Host (2006) made it into this movie. And I love that Bong clearly still trusts these actors. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the epic talents of John Hurt here as well. He's just too damn good. I could list off the rest of the cast, but I really don't want to ruin any of those surprises. Just be prepared to catch a glimpse of a whole bunch of awesome actors you know and love doing their damnedest to make a good movie. It's really quite cool how many people wanted to be a part of this.

Snowpiercer is the antithesis of the studio summer blockbuster. It shows what a big idea can be if it is allowed to flourish. And it proves that two writers working together on an idea is better than an entire stable of producers trying to get their ideas stuffed into one movie. It never wavers from its path and at every turn, the stakes get higher until by the end of the movie I was just so happy I got on the train with these absurd characters.

If you're as sick of movies like Transformers 4 as I am... check out Snowpiercer. It's so much more what Sci-Fi is supposed to be.

I've Already Seen The Winter Soldier Twice...

And this new Captain America film is pretty much everything I desired from the character.

The First Avenger left me stumped because it couldn't find a balance between its action and its story, so when the action finally came it was shoved into a little 15 minute montage in the last quarter of the film. Not to mention the idea of Cap back in WWII is only made really cool by the advent of the same man doing that job in present day with his past keeping him from being grounded. At the start of The Winter Soldier, Cap has clearly buried himself in his work since the events of The Avengers. He hasn't made very many personal connections because he's been in shock since waking up from deep freeze. So imagine his surprise when something from his past comes back to haunt him... something from his old life. Of course, once he knows the truth he's gonna do everything in his power to find that connection and keep it.

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely did an excellent job of just presenting us with the story of The Winter Soldier given the materials they had to work with from previous films. And almost every element worked. The Winter Soldier acts as a force of nature coming in and cleaning up his bosses' messes. And if you've ever been interested in the books, that character begins in almost that very same way.

However, I do wish those two screenwriters were allowed to make a second pass on this script. When the story broke several months ago that they had delivered a first draft and the studio had accepted it without need of revision I was both excited and... scratching my head. Now seeing the final product, I do see a first draft on screen... a very good first draft, but one that probably could have felt more fluid and concise with an additional pass for the writers to figure out their characters' voices.

The biggest complaint I've heard about this stream of super hero flicks of late is that no one ever dies, so there's never any fear for the characters no matter how insane the situation. And there is some truth to that... Even when the filmmakers managed to kill someone important off in The Avengers, that character was willed back to life so that Marvel could have a tv show... a subpar yet sometimes passable tv show (granted it has begun to pick up a little steam of late). So I agree with that sentiment... However, these are comic book movies... and just because Game of Thrones truly makes you fear for all of your favorite characters doesn't mean every series has to do that. I love Game of Thrones, but it is not the model for super heroes and it shouldn't be. Game of Thrones would not be as good as it is if everything did what it does all the time. Now the only really confusing thing to me is how crucial a part Joss Whedon has played in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). When you consider how famous he got for ruthlessly killing off fan favorite characters in series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, it does make you scratch your head to see that he's been so open to so little death in these. But then he only controls The Avengers and can't be in charge of everything.

Chris Evans is doing an excellent job of selling this classic character. Where I was uncertain of the casting before (due to the Fantastic Four), I am now an adamant supporter of this choice. Thank god Scarlett Johansson was in this movie.

On more than one occasion she saved scenes for me because it was clear just how much fun she was having. I'm glad she's becoming such an important part of these films. Samuel L. Jackson had a lot more to do in this flick. And it's cool to see him play in the universe, but at the end of the day he really is just being Samuel L. Jackson.

One really nice surprise was the inclusion of Anthony Mackie as Falcon. This character was critical to the Winter Soldier book run and brought a new life to the film. He played his part with class and even though his "zingers" weren't all that funny, Mackie somehow managed to make them sound so sincere that I accepted them for wholly different reasons. I was also very glad to see Emily VanCamp make an appearance. She's been good for a while now and landed a part that could see a lot more screen time in the not too distant future. The last actor I'd like to mention goes back to the first film and really plays into the brilliance of the screenwriters... Toby Jones as Dr. Arnim Zola. He may have only had one scene, but man was that a cool way to pay tribute to that character. If you haven't seen it yet (who hasn't seen it yet?) just keep an eye open.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier rips Steve Rogers out of the 1940s and gives us the action that we've been asking for. And while I wouldn't call it the best Marvel film in this current franchise, it is a very welcome addition to the MCU.