Review: Suicide Squad (2016)

I have been looking forward to seeing this for so long, maybe too long.  However the combination of super hyped up excited for an age and the rumours of bad reviews put me on some sort of middle ground in terms of expectations.  I wasn't expecting the best film ever but I was still excited for what it was going to be.

Doesn't it just feel like we've building up to this movie for years now?! I don't know how I managed it but I watched the first trailer and stayed away from the rest, I didn't want to watch the entire movie after about a million trailers and 'TV spots' were released.

Does everyone already know the back story to Suicide Squad, who can have possibly not heard about it in the thousands of trailers floating around.  Anyway, short version is Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assigns group of criminals to do the tasks that the Government cant be seen to be involved with.  With that shes pulls together Deadshot (Will Smith), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Boomerang (Jay Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) lead by Rick Flag (Joel Kinneman) to take down their latest enemy.  Funnily enough, that being someone they released into the world as part of their programme (but that's none of my business!)

The intro to the Squad was probably my favourite part, I liked how each character had their own theme song of sorts, and the graphic overlays were cool, especially in 3D. I'll stick up a spoiler alert now, but I did find it funny that the only Squad member to not have an introduction got killed off within seconds. Um. Way to make it obvious and not shocking in any way at all.

I do have issues with this so lets get them out of the way first, it was a little bit flat.  I was expecting something (a bad guy or plot line) to really peak my interest and it never happened, it never quite reached its peak in terms of story.  Also, does anyone understand why they all became friends, initially I got the idea that they came together to try to escape, then they bonded over having to save Waller or they would all die.  Why didn't Deadshot kill Harley Quin? Why did Boomerang come back after he had the chance to walk away? Why do they care when they are supposedly cold bloodied killers?!

That is all my rants for today, because with all it's faults I still loved it.  I actually liked the fact that they had all bonded and become friends (even if it didn't make sense).  I really liked all the characters particularly Harley Quinn, I cannot wait to see her in her own movie.  She absolutely stole every scene she was in even with Jared Leto's Joker on the loose. The story had its faults but it was entertaining, I didn't fidget at all and forgot all about my ice cream and let it melt :( RIP ice cream...

It was entertaining, but it was bloody exhausting at the same time. Why we had such little time introducing these characters and their backstories just to fill the rest with what felt like the longest finale ever is beyond me. Margot Robbie and Will Smith were amazing, sadly Jared Leto didn't have nearly enough screen time for me to have a proper opinion, and I honestly couldn't give a rats ass about the other characters. Captain Boomerang only gift was his never-ending coat pockets, Killer Croc was 'gangsta' and Diablo was just too busy feeling sorry for himself. Oh and who's side was the katana-wielding girl on?!They were pointless to the story! No, story is the wrong word here, because that was all over the place.

Shouldn't Suicide Squad have been all about trying to get these 'bad guys' to work together? They just fell into line and chummed up within an instant. Sorry for drawing comparisons but the Avengers had a harder time working together than these guys. Also, they're meant to be the worst of the worst, but Deadshot is an absolute sweetheart.

I loved the back stories for each of them as well, which is usually the bit I dislike but as I didn't know these characters as well as some others it was interesting to see where they had come from.  Plus with there being so many, they were short and sweet not half the bloody film showing one person being bitten by a bloody spider! (I thought you liked Spiderman! Sad face.) I did the first time I saw the origin story and then they just kept them coming!!

It was fun to watch, it was better than Batman V Superman, and it wasn't anywhere near as terrible as I had feared it would be, but dang it Warner Bros, you were given enough time to get this right! A popcorn flick at best, sadly.

All in all, I really did enjoy it despite its faults which is all that matters really.  Now I have written my review I can finally read some of these 'terrible' reviews, I have heard so much about!! You er, don't need to look far I'm afraid. I think we're the nice guys :)

Looking Forward to Seeing in the Cinema this Month...February 2016

It doesn't happen very often, but this month Jenna and I are teaming up. There is literally only one movie we're dead excited for. Deadpool!  I could literally watch nothing else in the month of February and still be happy!

11 years in the making now, and we're just days away from the cinematic release. It's been over a year now since the early footage was 'leaked' and we still know very little about the plot. Well, this is Deadpool after all! The USA has it R-Rated, and at the time of writing this, we're still waiting for a UK rating. Very few movies get rated 18 here now, but I've still got my fingers crossed.  I was really hoping for an 18 but in an interview with Ryan Reynolds he confirmed it was 15, he probably knows more than we do!

Ryan Reynolds gets a lot of stick, not all undeserved I accept, but you can't argue with the fact that he was born for this role. No one else can don that iconic red suit and deliver those witty remarks like he can.  As well as take the piss out of his own poor movie choices ;-)

I think there is a good chance I am going to want to see this more than once but with it being NSFD I have limited opportunity, I may force Allie to come with me as well as go with her other half!!

As a total Marketing nerd (hey, it's literally my job) I've loved following the numerous posters for this. There are going to be some very confused girlfriends this month when they watch Deadpool, finally understanding why their dates were so happy to see this romantic comedy:

I thought the 'Skull, Poop, L' emoji poster was my favourite of them all when that went viral.

But then they followed up with this one!

Deadpool Marketing Team, you are my heroes. Where can I send in my CV?  It has to be the best marketing of any film in history, is there not a Oscar category for this?!

Here in the UK, we can get a load of Deadpool on 10th February, 2016.

Review: Fantastic Four (2015)

Yet another case of blogging memory loss, I could have sworn I had written and published this review but I hadn't even started it - What the heck!?  As you all well know I was really looking forward to this and hoping it would not be a disaster after being perfectly happy with the 'rubbish' original...

Reed Richards (Miles Teller) spends his young life working on a teleporter with the help of his best friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), which when working with scientist, Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and his daughter Sue (Kate Mara) realises it transports to an alternate reality.  Reed, Ben, Sue's brother Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) get drunk and decide to test the transporter before the Government can take it away from them.  Unfortunately, the alternate universe is not what they expect and they end up with strange super powers.....

I had such high hopes and said hopes were dashed...epically.  This was nothing like I expected, the CGI and the graphics were amazing which IS what I expected but the story was terrible and really not much about super heroes as much as a really boring story about four boring people (one of which is barely in the film!).  Ben's character barely had any presence at all but randomly got called by Reed near the end to be included in the trip (and therefore become The Thing), Victor von Doom, the supposed bad guy, is ridiculously likeable (and to me more like how I would expect Johnny Storm to be) and Johnny Storm was just plain boring (much like his sister). 

I was so excited to see Miles Teller again, after falling in love with him in Whiplash and he was so unbelievably bland, I couldn't believe it was the same actor.  These were all great actors, so it must have been down to the story or the screen play because it just had nothing about it.  It spent so long on the run up to the 'transporter disaster' and hardly any time on the 'becoming super heroes' part - I fact where it ended, I thought that would be in the first 40 minutes or so.  I get that it is setting up for a series (as per usual) but it is blatantly obvious that Fox have rushed out a remake to avoid losing the rights to the characters and threw in as many up and coming actors/actresses as they could get their hands on to hype it up.

Not good, not good at all.  I am VERY concerned about Deadpool now!!!

Review: Ant-Man (2015)

Boom! Another summer blockbuster released and watched! I’m on fire this year, well on track to get my Showcase Blockbuster card fully stamped, and the free popcorn, drink and tickets will be mine! I had a full college-gang meet up for Ant-Man, meaning we took up almost a whole row at the back of the cinema. Thankfully we got in early enough so got our seats before the screen filled up!  Strangely enough, me and my Dad went on the same night but only took up 2 sad seat...those 2 sad seats were in the IMAX though....

Ant-Man is Marvel’s latest offering, and perhaps a bigger risk than Guardians of the Galaxy was last year. After watching The Avengers save the world and the Guardians of the Galaxy save...the galaxy(?!), how good could a superhero flick about a man the size of an ant be?! That's what have been wondering for the last few months. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a recently released criminal trying to stay clean for the sake of his daughter. After being set up by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to steal the Ant-Man costume, Scott embarks on a new mission to keep the Yellowjacket developed by Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) safe from the wrong hands.  I, however, had every faith that this would be a hit, I knew it was a risk for Marvel but as with Guardians, the bigger the risk the bigger the reward!

Ant-Man was like a breath of fresh air to the superhero phenomenon. As buff as Scott was, he wasn’t there to beat up an army of bad guys to save the damsel in distress. He was a criminal simply trying to do the right thing for his family. The moral boundaries were iffy at best, and the main ‘bad guy’ was an ordinary, albeit extremely intelligent, guy, rather than an alien/monster/robot hellbent on destroying mankind.  I loved that for most of the movie Scott was the anti-hero, had no real interest in actually saving the world more interested in his own gains from being Ant-Man, getting his family to believe in him and visitation rights to his daughter, Cassie.

Some will most likely disagree with me, but I thought the first half an hour or so was very slow. There was enough comedy and smart one-liners to keep it interesting, and we got a lot of character development in that time which was necessary, but compared with the last half an hour, it paled in comparison. Luis (Michael Pena) was my absolute favourite character in that first part though, the way he explained his story was just hilarious and just as funny the second time he did it. I want to see more of this guy, he’s amazing!  Wasn't he amazing, he literally had me in stitches, everything he said set me into fits of giggles - I think I missed a chunk of the movie laughing long after his scene had finished!

The action scenes were so cleverly shot while Scott was in tiny Ant-Man form, but would have been nothing if it weren’t for the moments in between where we got to see what that action really looked like. We all must have looked like nutters laughing out loud at a little Thomas the Tank toy flop onto its side (this was by far my favourite bit of the trailer but was upstaged in the actual movie by the end of that scene!). I also loved the fact that Scott had to rely on his little army of ants to help him in his heist, they were fully part of his team.  I liked this a little bit less, I was itching all the way through the film, every time a hair touched my arm I thought there was an army of ants on me... *judders* - now I'm itching again just thinking about it!!  One thing I did really love was how reminiscent it was of Honey I shrunk the kid, which was one of my favourite films growing up (and the best part of Disney Hollywood Studios!!), Scott was calling his sidekick Antony but in my head he was Anty!

You know what! It's funny you mentioned Honey I Shrunk the Kids! I read earlier that Ant-Man has been in the making for about 20 years now, and it's original planned release was scrapped because Honey I Shrunk the Kids had just come out and everyone thought the two were too similar.

I knew I was going to enjoy this but I didn't realise quite how much.  I usually find the origin superhero films a little bit boring at the beginning but Paul Rudd's wit kept the whole thing ticking along (and also saved a few of those soppy moments that make you cringe a little bit...).  The action was great and the shifts between being Ant sized and human sized made every fight scene different from anything else in the Marvel universe so far. 

Question:  Did anyone else not realise Hayley Atwell was actually playing Peggy Carter until the link with the Avengers later on in the movie?! Or am I just a complete dunce!!  I couldn't understand why they had aged her up until I realised who she was, character-wise! doh!

Are we getting an Ant-Man 2? I really hope so! That mid-credits scene got me excited although I was expecting it to happen. At the very least I guess we’ll see Scott return for the next Avengers movie! Oh, and did anyone else get a little scared they’d missed Stan Lee? I was so relieved in the end!  I elbowed my Dad so hard in the ribs when I finally saw him he yelped in pain!! oops!

Loved loved loved it, hope there is an Ant-Man 2 but in the meantime hopefully we'll see Scott Lang elsewhere in the MCU.

Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

How long have we been waiting for this movie? I think the world and his wife went out to the cinema this weekend to see the long awaiting sequel to 2012's Avengers Assemble (The Avengers to the US residents among us) - the cinema was packed out and we went to see the very late 2D version in the hopes that it would be a bit quieter.  No such luck!

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) tries to protect the Earth from alien invasions using the power of the Sceptre to create Artificial Intelligence in his robot army.  Unfortunately, things don't quite go to plan and its down to Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth),  Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) along with newbies Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to save the world....again.

Do you think there will ever be a superhero film in which the world is perfectly fine on its own?

So this was not what I expected, I expected a replica of the first Avengers but with a different storyline, I thought it would be just as playful and witty and off the cuff as the first, but it wasn't.  Initally, I thought it was a bad thing, I didn't understand why they weren't sticking to the tried and testing formula that worked so well for its predecessor and the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy.  Instead it took a tone more like the Captain America sequel, much more dark and in some ways realistic.  It has to be considered that going through these battles and wars with various monsters and bad guys would leave some psychological scarring, and this touches on that, particularly with Tony Stark (RDJ) and his fears for the Earth. 

We definitely got into their heads a little more than last time. One thing I really enjoyed was the amount of screen time Hawkeye and Black Widow got, they're easily forgotten and so it was a breath of fresh air to see them more.

It may not have been what I expected but that doesn't mean I didn't like it.  There were a few niggles that bothered me, the Russian twins god awful accents and the lack of Thor's biceps but nothing that ruined the film for me.  In fact, the inclusion of a bit of romance, a well kept secret and a developing bromance kept my interest peaked for the majority of the film, but what kept me well and truly gripped was Ultron.  James Spader's angry, calm, uber-intelligent robot just stole the show at every opportunity, took me the whole film to place the voice and I still found out from the credits but he was perfect.  He was the perfect villain.

As much as I enjoyed Age of Ultron, I too have my niggles about it. The romance was a little un-necessary I thought, and kind of came out of no where! The spoilerific (yes, I made that word up) ending which I won't go into detail fell flat, and I found myself glad it wasn't what the film had been hinting at from the very start!

James Spader as Ultron was brilliant! I wasn't bothered about Ultron in the slightest before the film, and I couldn't remove the image of The Office's Robert California until Ultron's reveal, and then I realised just how great the casting was. Still not a better villain than Loki I'm afraid!

There was nothing I didn't like about it, I may have preferred a few more comedy one-liners in there but I think that would have taken away from the overall goal of the film.  There was no messing about either, the opening sequence made way for a fast paced, non-stop, action packed superhero fest.

It was definitely darker, but the running joke about Captain America disapproving of swears never got old, and the scene with everyone gathered around Thor's hammer was hilarious! I'm trying my very hardest here to not make jokes about being able to raise Thor's hammer...

Great cast as always and a few surprise cameos (one that I hoped for didn't appear *sob*) made this just as good as the original but for different reasons. 

Seeing this in 3D IMAX made this an awesome experience for me, but I think the original is just that little bit better.

OH, and can I just say? Worst mid-credits scene ever. Tell us something we didn't know, Marvel!

Thursday Movie Picks #41 - Superhero Movies

This is the first time of jumped on the Thursday Movie Picks band wagon without tagging onto the end of Allie's and this has to be my favourite topic so far.  I'll let Wandering through the Shelves explain Thursday Movie Picks in their words....

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.

Soo I spotted one of my favourites on the hosts own list - Sky High, it was great twist on the superhero movie, but no point going over the same movies again and again so I thought I would choose another three...

Fantastic Four (1994)
Based on the comic book movies that are coming out now, this one seems pretty lame but at the time I loved it.  It was my first experience of a comic book movie and really one of the first superhero movies I really enjoyed.  Having loved this so much when it came out, I am a little apprehensive about the up and coming reboot but The Amazing Spiderman didn't disappoint me so fingers crossed.

Chronicle (2012)
Bit of a twist on the typical superhero movie (and maybe cheating just a tiny bit), I loved how it was a different view on what happens when one day you develop super powers.  Somehow it seems a more realistic approach than squeezing into a lyrca suit and mask and chasing down villains.  Also one of my first films with Dane Dehaan who I love.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
I'm going to go all 'typical' and choose one of the popular ones :-) I can't help it, I absolutely LOVED this film.  Ok the villain was a bit wet and really had no reason to destroy the Earth but everything else made up for it, the soundtrack, the characters, the acting, the dialogue and the CGI work, brilliant.  I remember watching the whole film with a massive grin on my face and it still happens every time I watch it.

Review: Thor: The Dark World (2013)

I had to check with Allie because I couldn't believe we hadn't reviewed Thor 2 when we both thought it was great.  So here it is:

Thor: The Dark World follows on from the events of Thor and Avengers Assemble, with Jane Foster on Earth and Thor back in Asgard preparing to take over the throne from his father.  However, on yet another one woman mission, Jane gets 'infected' by the one thing that can destroy the nine realms and has to be taken to Asgard to be saved and of course help to save the world and the nine realms. I hate it when that happens...one minute I'm shoe shopping, and the next, a planet of aliens is trying to destroy my home world. Such a nuisance!

Is it just me, or was there no real need for Natalie Portman's Jane in this movie?  Don't get me wrong as a romance fan, I like the idea that you get to see the development of her relationship with Thor, however I feel like the story had to be forced to include her character, when not really necessary.  This does not take anything away from the movie, which for me was great. 

That never occured to me actually but you have a point. On the whole romance thing I would have loved a Thor-Jane-Sif love triangle! 

I still love Chris Hemsworth as I did in the first film (mostly for his biceps) and his response to being on Earth (cracking scene with a coat rack - although I have read good points about this, in that the coat rack surely should have been ripped off the wall by the weight of the hammer) always makes me laugh.

As a sequel, I was all ready to be disappointed (as I usually am with sequels) and I wasn't even close and there is only one reason for this..... Loki!! Without saying a word, he stole every scene he was in with his witty one liners, genius facial expressions and brilliant timing he just made this film for me.  One word ... TA-DA!!! I think that's two. I put a dash in it to make it one ;-)

Somehow I just knew that the sequel would be better than the first. I really loved the first too - it's the first film I saw at the cinema twice in years. In The Dark World, it just feels like more is at risk, and the world is in greater danger than before, which makes all the action that little bit better.

The first half of the film was a little bit slow and I was a bit worried for a minute but as soon as Loki made his appearance and they were on their brotherly mission, all became well again. I still love Darcy played by Kat Dennings and her sarcasm and general normalcy in a film made up of Gods, elves and alternate realms.  

Tom Hiddleston was just born to play Loki, I couldn't image anyone who would be able to equal him in the role, let alone do it better. His chemistry with Chris Hemsworth is fantastic, and he just steals every scene he's in. In fact, Loki is so amazing that I named one of my cats after him. It doesn't get much better than that, folks.

A sequel that can live up to it's predecessor, should be watched for that reason alone.  This was a 7 but Loki makes it a solid 9!

Review: Man of Steel (2013)

I saw this film initially at the cinema and recently it's been on Sky Movies near on daily so I managed to catch up on it again and again and again!! It wasn't so bad though because I did really enjoy this, much to the surprise of many of my film fan friends who were disappointed after all the waiting!!

Who wouldn't love a film with that face...and that body in it!!  That would have been enough for me, it could have been 2 hours of Henry Cavill just staring at the camera and I would have given it 10/10.  I'm kidding, sort of! Mmm I'll second that! I was actually sort of gutted when him and Kaley Cuoco split up, they were so cute together! Man of Steel covers the history of how Kal-El became Clark Kent and then became Superman all while saving Earth from the likes of General Zod and his Kryptonian pals.

It is fair to say that I am overall a Marvel girl, I prefer the Marvel films (I'm not a huge comic book reader so I can't comment on that) but I prefer the humour and comedic timing in the Marvel films to the darker more serious DC films such as this and the Batman trilogy.  That doesn't mean I don't enjoy these and this one had its fair share of dry humour throughout, this being my favourite:

See, now I feel sort of awkward commenting on this. Comics wise, I'm a DC fan completely, no doubt. Film wise, I tend to steer towards Marvel for the humour  (what I actually want to say is Thor) Ta-da!!! (couldn't resist!). I saw Man of Steel at the cinema and enjoyed it, but it just didn't have wow factor for me, and it sort of dragged a bit. My other half wouldn't stop raving though so it's totally personal from my side.

Although the film was particularly long, it felt rushed to me.  I am a huge fan of Smallville which took 10 seasons and 10 years to show how Clark Kent became Superman, what this film showed in 30 minutes.  I understand not as much detail can be put into a film and that there is no way it wouldn't feel rushed, so I think Smallville may have somewhat ruined any Superman films for me that covers the time prior to becoming Superman!

Actually that makes a lot of sense! I only started watching Smallville just before the JLA was introduced, and I would rather watch a few episodes of Smallville than Man of Steel.

Aside from that though, I really enjoyed the film, particularly Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, who I thought should have had much more screen time and Michael Shannon as General Zod.  Cavil was a significant improvement on what I consider the boring version offered by Brendan Routh but Amy Adams lacked the tough sarcasm and general know-it-all nature of Lois Lane that I love.

I could say I would watch this again and again but I already have! Definitely recommend it to any comic book movie fans but maybe not to Smallville fans!!

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

I finally went to the cinema to see this last week and I was not disappointed (as I knew I wouldn't be!) I am a huge fan of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man and he completely lived up to my expectations, building on the character from the first film and making you love Spidey even more!! I had to wait till yesterday but I was seriously looking forward to this, the first one is probably one of my all time favourite comic films.

This sequel focuses mainly on Peter Parker (Garfield) trying to find out what happened to his parents as well as battling various enemies including Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) and - all be it briefly - Rhino (Paul Giamatti).  It also continues to build on the relationship between Parker and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), which personally is my favourite part, but I'm a sucker for a love story! How can you not be when it's Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, probably the cutest couple on the planet ever?!

As a big fan of the Amazing Spider-Man film, I had high hopes for this and superficially I wasn't disappointed, the flying scenes were particularly impressive, even without 3D.  The comedy one liners from Spider-Man were there and the love story was there.  However, I did feel like the whole film came across a bit choppy and hard to follow.  One minute it's this bad guy, then it's that one and then this one is back and then oh look another different bad guy.  It almost felt like two different versions had been filmed and then cut and pasted together.  Certain parts of the film felt rushed while other parts dragged on and on.  When I left the cinema, I read the reviews as I do for every film and the Total Film review actually mentioned that MJ was going to be in this film and Shailene Woodley had filmed scenes but they were all cut. 

The comical moments were great, with one exception! Electro in Times Square, cue dramatic music, tens of police officers on standby, guns ready, and what does he say? "It's my Birthday...time to light my candles..." Urghhh... This clip below though? Comedy gold!

I wish I watched this at the IMAX Giant Screen like I did with the first, because some of the action scenes would have been incredible! They were great enough in 2D to be honest. My heart was literally racing throughout the final fight scene, it was incredible. I thought the film was fine to follow, but it all got a bit rushed at the end. There was really no need for Rhino at all, he was only really in it for about 5 minutes anyway.

I personally didn't see the big shock of the film coming, but after it happened I looked back at the whole film and they had been teasing and hinting at it all the way through, dragging it out unnecessarily I think.  I won't put any spoilers in here but it was a shock for me but it was clever as it curves away from what a comic book movie would normally do, if you have seen the film this will make perfect sense, if you haven't - well go and see it and get back to me!

I've read the comics so I knew what was coming, but damn they really didn't try to hide it. I've learnt from this to never like a film's Facebook page until you've seen it, as I saw a lot of people's angry reactions when a screenshot was posted with the caption 'Will Peter have to pay the ultimate price?'.

None of these 'issues' took away from my love of the film though, it held my attention and I was gripped from beginning to end.  I love the actors and the way they play these characters (although never saw Paul Giamatti as Rhino but it worked!!) and I did very much enjoy the story and would happily watch it again and again.

Great filming, great actors and great characters, if only the story had kept up this would have been a 9 for me. I can't give this a 10 because even I will point out some flaws, but I loved it and can't wait to see it again.

Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

I seriously can't believe it's been 3 years since Captain America: The First Avenger! I was so happy to see this on the weekend with my gang. I have to admit, I'm actually more of  a DC girl, and Cap isn't my favourite Avenger, but who doesn't love a good ol' superhero flick? I'll try to keep this spoiler free. Allie being the DC girl, I am most definitely the Marvel girl (and a sucker for Chris Evans in a tight fitting outfit!!) therefore my review may be slightly biased!! Got to see this with my Dad a week or so ago and I'm so glad I saw it at the cinema, there is so much more atmosphere there than in your living room with a cup of tea and a pair of slippers! (I'm rambling again!!)

I'm sorry to say that I wasn't a big fan of the first film, not to say I didn't think it was good, but the story just didn't grab me. I'm not overly excited by war films, and yes, I do understand that's kind of Cap's thing, but that's just me! I'd heard great things about the new one though.  Ooooh that hurts (you wait until the Green Lantern review missy!) I loved the first film, although I am a fan of war films in general so it hit two notes for me.  However, funnily enough the trailer for this film didn't grab me, I honestly thought it looked a bit rubbish, too cheesy and had overly set up jokes. Fortunately, my initial judgement was unfounded once I actually saw the film. 

Safe to say it didn't disappoint me. This was the perfect mix of action, funny one liners, and explosions. There were twists, some expected, one very much so, but some that took me by complete surprise too and I love that. Also, as much as I can't stand Scarlett Johanssen, we got to find out a lot more about her character, and the inclusion of Falcon was a great move too.  I agree, if we are talking about the same twist, I guessed it too, it was so bloody obvious!  Not a fan of SJ, nor Black Widow so her back story and life bored me totally but everything else made up for that, Cap (that beautiful, beautiful man!) was ace, I enjoyed the story (although as a non-comic book reader, there was a huge spoiler on the cover of my Empire magazine which was disappointing and killed one of the 'gosh' moments for me! 

There are plenty of easter eggs for the die hard Marvel fans; Black Widow's necklace was my favourite one, I may have squeed a little in the cinema! The main thing that disappointed me though was that the film didn't really set us up for Avengers: Age of Ultron, which I was expecting it too.  I don't think I would have spotted this unless you had told me Allie so my favourite Easter egg was the mention of Tony Stark having 'a closer look' at the turbines on the hellicarriers, referring to the scene in The Avengers. Plus Stan Lee's usual presence, this time as a security guard in the Smithsonian Museum.

Nonetheless though, I really enjoyed this, Oh, and as usual, make sure you stay till after the credits! They don't play with you like Iron Man 3 did, don't worry. Not just until after the initial credits either, you have to stay until the end of the rolling black and white credits as there are two extra scenes for you to enjoy!

One more thing! If anyone can find out how much Chevrolet paid for the crazy amount of product placement, I would love to know! Love it!

Action, adventure, good guy wins, bad guy loses and plenty of comedic one liners to keep it flowing.  Good shout Marvel :-)