Captain America – The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel’s first action hero movie that started it all; Captain America- The first Avenger is based on the life of American war hero Steve Rogers (Chris Evens) who went down fighting during the 2^nd World War and woke up 70 years later to find the war has ended and life as he knew is over.

Every comic book addict who has read Cap’s story knows the above gist of Steve Rogers’ life, but what this movie does is that it brings the story of that lovable ‘little guy’ to life and tells it’s audience who exactly Captain America is and how did he come to be.

Setting the tone for almost every Marvel related TV show or movie that is going to come out over the next few years, this movie has gained Marvel an audience who are going to be hooked to their every release in the decades to come.

Captain America is a movie based in the early 1940’s when Steve Rogers turned from a skinny little guy to a tall ‘buffed’ American soldier who becomes the face of American hope as the world went to war.

From story’s prospective the movie just scratches on what will become Marvel’s most talked about and exploited storyline –HYDRA, but what it does brilliantly is provide a solid base to the story of every major character, be Captain America (Chris Evens); Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell); Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) or the  Avengers.

Whiplash (2014)

A movie not for the simple minded, Whiplash is a film which revolves around the lives of a passionate 19 year old musician Andrew (Miles Teller) and his perfectionist professor Fletcher (JK Simmons).  The intense story begins when Andrew enrolls into the ‘Shaffer Conservatory of Music-a prestigious music college’ as a drummer and almost immediately ‘impresses’ Fletcher enough for him to be selected as a member of the sound team under him.  From there on starts the clash of two musical egos; one of Andrew who with all his hard work and dedication does his best to impress Fletcher and Fletcher himself who holds no bar when it comes to pushing his students at all length to get the best out of them and to help him win every music competition.

If you think from there on movie moves to a typical storyline where a student becomes a musical prodigy or the professors mends his ways and becomes a less harsh and better tutor, then you are so wrong and this is exactly where Whiplash differs from any other music related movie. The movie in turn sticks with much more believable reality and showcases pure raw emotions of revenge, loathing and pure determination to prove oneself.

Both Teller and Simmons have done justice to their respective roles and have carried the movie with their brilliant performance and Damien Chazelle as a writer and a director has kept the story simple while bringing a new prospective of looking at a story. Chazelle also needs to be credited for paying special attention to visual details and getting into the mind of a musician, but the place where he lacks and yet differs from everyone else is not going into too much detail and not trying to justify a character in any way. The pure brilliance of this makes the viewer engrossed as to why a character is certain way and yet makes him also wonder why certain people in the movie even existed.

In the end I would say watch the movie for its pure raw brilliance and if for nothing else for Teller’s and Simmon’s brilliant acting. 

127 Hours

Awesome though at times (a lil) over the top performance by James Franco, but I got to give him props for performance as out of 1hr. 35mins of the movie 1:35mins cam WAS on him and he did keep me captivated to the screen rather than me being more interested in the popcorn. The very interesting and positive thing about his acting is that it’s realistic and if you don’t already know what is going to happen with the story you will absolutely feel the agony that Aron (Froanco) goes through each second of the movie.
I will not take anything away from Danny Boyle and would rather give him applause on finding a story with extraordinary emotions and putting it on screen which in no way would have been a easy task as an director.
The true essence of this movie lies in its emotions of Aron as human stuck at the same spot 100 feet below the ground in a huge crack in the world (sorry it’s a Grand Canyon is a beautiful place but I could not figure out how to put it better here).
The movie and story deals with the psyche of a man who has to choose between dying a slow painful death all alone maybe never to be found, or cutting his limb and living the rest of his life a cripple, with a scar on his body reminding him every day of these painful moments.
Franco’s acting takes us through all the emotions that Aron feels, from the desperate attempts to stay alive at all cost, to a man whose only assets at the current situation is Will and Hope and finally to emotional awaking of a boy who thinks he can do anything on his own to a strong willed man who knows he is only a human and his survival and LIFE is only in his own hand.
The Cinematography and the background music of the movie has also done wonders to the movie. Boyle as a director has gone beyond just emotions and has captured Arons thoughts, dreams and above all his desires (be it with water, women, Gatorade or a Falcon).
The famous Arm cutting scene has been excellently portrayed with not putting too much gore or blood into it but still putting enough pain that is not easy scene to be watched even if you are not faint hearted.
Where movie falls is the fact that the mystery of the story had not been kept so as build its hype. Knowing the story and what is going to happen at the end only wants to get TO the end and at that scene. Also it makes the movie just a ONE watch movie that you purely go to see the acting of the main actor. Also though Boyle captures the essence and emotions of Arons for those 127 hrs., he keeps himself confined to it and not look beyond those 127hrs. there is no emotions for what Aron felt when he got out and what all went through his mind or anything else.
I will give 127 HOURS 3.75 out of 5 for a wonderful movie but nothing more as not to make the movie a Classic or anything more than just a good Movie.