I finally saw "Captain America" (2011) last night on DVD. While it's certainly not the best action hero movie I've ever seen, I think that Chris Evans did a credible job as Steve Rogers, the somewhat puny guy who wants to serve his country and fight the Nazis, and ends up becoming an experimental soldier. He's supported by Tommy Lee Jones, who has an important role as Colonel Phillips, and the English Hayley Atwell is pretty to look at as the love interest, although the whole idea that she would participate in the operation as she did in those times came off as a bit unbelievable. Hugo Weaving (with that horrific red face--yuck), is fun to watch as the madman villain who wants to rule the world--he makes Hitler look mild in comparison--and Toby Jones as his sidekick was interesting. I liked the fact that the character who becomes Iron Man's father, Howard Stark, has a major role in this film as one of Rogers' cronies, that added to it for me.
   The plot--was there one? did it matter?--it was basically that Weaving's character, Red Skull, wanted a crystal that contained the most terrible and awesome force ever seen on earth (the occult powers of the Norse Gods), and when he got it, he would go completely into conquering mode and change the globe to suit himself. The transformed Rogers, who has been paraded around as some sort of symbol of United States heroism and freedom, is called upon to battle Nazis and then to stop Red Skull, along with a crack team to help him. Once they discover in fact that Red Skull and his evil organization HYDRA have captured this item and are on the move, they have to lead the fight for freedom and destroy them. Lots of action, explosions, shootings, dead bodies, a real thrilling ride. Although it started out a little slow with the set up, the pace definitely picked up after Evans was transformed into the bulked up soldier-hero who eventually gets his wish to fight for his country. As someone who did not grow up as a Captain America fan--I was more into Superman and Spider Man--I don't have any particular problems with this film that his true fans might. With pretty awesome special effects, a personable hero, a wickedly nasty villain, and a preposterously fantastic storyline, I found it an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. I would say it's worth a watch on DVD when you have a chance.

Was a remake really necessary?

I went to see the remake of "Clash of the Titans" the other weekend. After viewing it, I'm not sure why anyone felt it necessary to do a remake, except that it gave the film maker the chance to do some awesome special effects. Basically, the story is the same as the 1981 movie: young Perseus must go on a quest for the head of Medusa, which is needed to turn the Kraken into stone before he eats Andromeda and destroys mankind in the bargain. Don't get me wrong, the first movie did its part to mess up the whole Perseus myth; this film absolutely muddies it up even worse. Many changes have been made from the original film, most of which were unnecessary and disappointing. The addition of Io was totally pointless, and her storyline destroys the end of the movie. In the original movie, there was more interaction between Zeus and several of the other gods, including Poseidon, Hera, and Athena; here, Zeus and Hades are the only gods utilized very much, and in fact, the picture becomes nearly a showdown between the two, with Perseus in the middle. The little mechanical owl from the first film is used as a throwaway bit in this movie; Perseus doesn't want to use the magical sword given him by Zeus; the huge scorpions have multiplied and are used as transportation; the old philosopher character is gone; the three Gray Ladies(Stygian witches) are monsters instead of old women with only one eye between them; Perseus is the only character with a buzz cut--why?; the whole legend of Danae has been changed--now it is her husband rather than her father who puts her and her child into a chest and casts it into the sea and in this film Danae perishes; you never get to see the entire Kraken as in the first film; the love story between Perseus and Andromeda is gone, and so on. On the plus side, although I enjoyed Ray Harryhausen's special effects in the original, the effects in this movie are quite good. I really liked what they did with Medusa, especially keeping her face beautiful (except when putting the eyes on you) and having her laughing as she chased the characters; and the winged horses were great, especially Pegasus, although why he was referred to as "the" Pegasus and made black, I'll never understand--another unnecessary change. Overall, the only reason to see this movie would be for the effects, as the story is definitely lacking from both the original Greek myth and the original movie. If you saw the 1981 film, don't bother with this one unless you are really into special effects. If you must see it, wait for it to come out as a DVD rental.