Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

IMDb plot summary: Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier.
Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, and Robert Redford.

Marvel sequels are not doing well for me these days. First there was Thor 2, which abandoned the silly theatricality of the first one for a drab, ugly pile of nonsense, and then there's this. Granted, this movie isn't nearly as bad as Thor 2, but it is absolutely not what I want to see when watching a Captain America movie. I enjoyed the first one a lot, with its cheery optimism and fun characters. This is a political thriller that just happens to involve members of S.H.I.E.L.D., but really, that's not even necessary, it could be anyone. It hardly plays around at all with the superhero aspect at all, which is what I find most engaging. It's not a bad movie -- it's a pretty *solid* political thriller -- but that was absolutely not what I was in the mood for when I got excited about watching this movie. Maybe this is one where I *should* have paid more attention to it going in. If I knew it wasn't really going to be a sci fi movie, I would maybe have been less disappointed... but then again I probably wouldn't have been so eager to watch it.

2.5 stars.

Flickchart: #1028 out of 2219, below Brick and above Following.

Ip Man (2008)

IMDb plot summary: A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun.
Directed by Wilson Yip. Starring Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Ka Tung Lam, and Siu-Wong Fan.

I'm never sure what to do with martial arts movies because no matter how good they are, I always kind of zone out during the actual fighting, which is usually the whole point of the movie. I did think the story surrounding this one was pretty interesting, but the final battle just didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me in terms of the overall story arc. I guess this movie was OK, it's just... not for me.

2 stars.

Flickchart: #1419 out of 2218, below The Fighter and above Rust and Bone.

In the Loop (2009)

IMDb plot summary (truncated because IT'S VERY LONG): The US President and UK Prime Minister fancy a war. But not everyone agrees that war is a good thing. The US General Miller doesn't think so and neither does the British Secretary of State for International Development, Simon Foster. But, after Simon accidentally backs military action on TV, he suddenly has a lot of friends in Washington, DC...
Directed by Armando Ianucci. Starring Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, and Mimi Kennedy.

People kept telling me to watch this, and with good reason. Often political satires bore me, but this one had me giggling throughout the whole thing. All the acting is absolutely perfect, the dialogue is clever and funny, and I keep wanting to quote bits of it to the people around me. (There have been four times or so when I was on the verge of saying something was "difficult, difficult, lemon difficult," which may have been my favorite moment in the whole movie.) While I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending, I liked everything else in the movie, so it's still well worth a watch.

4 stars.

Flickchart: #383 out of 2117, below Philomena and above The Great Gatsby.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

IMDb plot summary: A substance, designed to help the brain repair itself, gives rise to a super-intelligent chimp who leads an ape uprising.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt. Starring James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, and John Lithgow.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this one, but I really enjoyed it. The scenes with the apes are beautiful examples of telling a lot of story and developing clear characters without dialogue -- something I'm always impressed by. It manages to have a lot of good action going on without getting overwhelming or feeling tedious for me. Now I'm especially intrigued to see Dawn sometime.

4 stars.

Flickchart: #506 out of 2216, below They Live and above GoodFellas. It's slightly too high because it's above the original Planet of the Apes, which isn't accurate, but it's close.

Jesus People: The Movie (2009)

IMDb plot summary: When Pastor Jerry gets some troubling news, he sets out to create a contemporary Christian pop group that will reach his son - before his teenager dies and goes to hell.
Directed by Jason Naumann. Starring Joel McCrary, Edi Patterson, Damon Pfaff, Richard Pierre-Louis, and Lindsay Stidham.

Guys... this may be the best Christian movie I've ever seen.

Well, excluding blockbuster epics like The Prince of Egypt which a lot of Christians don't count as "real" Christian movies anyway. This is infinitely better than awfulness like God's Not Dead or sloppy movies with good intentions like Courageous. This one nailed the more amusing aspects of churchspeak, but it was done snarkily enough that I wondered if it was really a Christian movie (a little sad that if a movie's good I assume it can't be Christian but not surprising given the track record). But, nope, the writers and director are all Christian, and it shows in a positive way. I fully expect this movie to sit better with Christians than non-Christians -- not because of preachiness, but because it's somewhat in-jokey. Half of the humor was recognizing people I know in these characters. In a move that's beautifully appropriate for a movie that's clearly made for Christians rather than for others, it doesn't feel the need to squeeze in an awkward or unrealistic salvation sequence. If it has a message at all, it's a quiet, subtle one about integrity and not compromising your ideals.

I also really appreciate how despite the characters clearly being parodies, there's a surprising amount of truth and depth to who they are, and the movie never truly ridicules them. From the ditzy nonbeliever who doesn't really understand this Jesus stuff but wants to get along with everyone, to the super adamant everything-is-black-and-white college preacher kid, to the oblivious but sweet pastor, the movie never really mocks any of them. While I'm sure I would have enjoyed a leetle more bite, I did enjoy the kindness with which this movie treats its characters.

Now, it's far from perfect. There are moments when the movie wanders, the fact that there's a nonChristian chilling in a Christian band is never really addressed, and there's a major plotline that is wrapped up sloppily and awkwardly at the end. But as a whole, this is so far beyond any of the recent slew of Christian movies that it EASILY gets a pass from me. And anyone who's been involved in any kind of Christian arts group may enjoy it as much as I did.

Flickchart: #379 out of 2222, below Gravity and above Beautiful Boy.

4 stars.

Man of Steel (2013)

IMDb plot summary: A young itinerant worker is forced to confront his secret extrastellar origin when Earth is invaded by members of his own race.
Directed by Zack Snyder. Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, and Diane Lane.

Man, these Superman movies just get darker and darker, don't they? I wasn't a big fan of Superman Returns or anything, but it at least had a bit of fun campy factor to it, thanks to Kevin Spacey hamming it up as the villain. I hoped Michael Shannon would do the same thing here, but this may be the only time I've actually been *bored* by him in a movie. There's just not a lot to ENJOY about this movie. It's gloomy and dreary visually, awkward in its storytelling, and couldn't care less about developing its characters. Zod had an opportunity to be an incredibly interesting villain, and instead he just... doesn't really do anything. The movie is also far, far too long for the amount of stuff that actually happens. This movie pretty much exemplifies why I don't like the "gritty superhero reboot" trend: It's incredibly depressing.

1 star.

Flickchart: #1683 out of 2215, below Saw and above Suez. The fact that it landed only 2 spots below The Lone Ranger definitely confirmed that I have Lone Ranger too low.

The Lone Ranger (2013)

IMDB plot summary: Native American warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice.
Directed by Gore Verbinski. Starring Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner, and Tom Wilkinson.

This is... a weird one. There are moments when I catch glimpses of what it could (and, I think, should) have been: a very silly western adventure flick. The final action sequence on the train was surprisingly entertaining, with plenty of good sight gags and fun moments. However, there is a LOT of weirdness before it. The movie is FAR too long, and it bounces back and forth awkwardly between actual serious issues (like mental illness or stealing land from the Native Americans) and goofy slapstick. Not to mention the completely bizarre and unnecessary framing device of the kid in the museum, and the fact that the movie can't make a definitive decision on whether it's going to contain fantasy elements or not. It's just a weird mess, and that's really sad, because parts of it are SO much fun. But this script needed to go through about six more rewrites before it was ready to be filmed.

2 stars.

Flickchart: #1681 out of 2214, below Willow and above Saw. That is a bit too low for it. I may have to do some tweaking later.