The Road to the Avengers: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Of the comic that make up the basis for which the Avengers and it's prequels are based on, Captain America is the one that I loved as a kid After a few years of reading it, I was introduced to the Avengers and then the West Coast Avengers, which i doubt we will see a movie about. While following Steve Rogers as the Captain as he lived the nomadic life around the U.S. I was also collecting old comics from the early 70s when Captain America teamed up with Falcon. Somewhere in here, others portrayed Captain America as Steve Rogers lost his way. And so did I. I was a fan of Marvel's Paladin, our lawful good hero who did what was needed because it was for his country and every question he had he kept to himself because a good soldier doesn't question his orders. This was interesting to me, fighting for the system even though you are becoming disillusioned by the system. And then when you can take it no more, the hero removes himself from the system. I would have continued to read the series had it continued to follow Rogers as teh main character and shown me how a true patriot deals with a government that is less than it is supposed to be. Sure, they could have had someone else playing at Captain America, but that should have been in the background, as Rogers was the key. But, they didn't do that. You could go issues at a time without even a whisper of Rogers and then it would be a couple of panels about how he was out finding himself. Instead we got comics about fighting without any of the turmoil. I was genuinely sad the day I cancelled my subscription, especially so because I also ended my Batman subscription at the same time (Batman had just wrapped up the Year One storyline which I thought was brilliant, and went back to that 80s whack-a-doodle of the month format - they guy who ran the comic shop tried to get me to hold on a little longer because Year Two was about to start, but I couldn't do it) I had moved to the X-Men as my main Marvel title by this point, though I still kept getting the Amazing Spiderman. I actually stopped collecting those within another year as I had discovered Vertigo and Image comics and was reading a lot of one-offs and mini series by small presses. Pretty soon, I even stopped buying those and was putting all of my money into AD&D even when our group broke up to go to college because I was reading the pulp fantasy novels set in the Forgotten Realms and buying the books and maps to set my own games there which never properly materialized.
This movie had little to do with any of my memories of Captain America. This Captain is based on the updated story, with the updated costume. This Captain America is a soldier first and a super hero only incidentally because someone needed to step up and he could and did. I have read some of the modern Captain America related series - trying to get through that whole Dark Avengers thing and ultimately taking a break which has lasted about a year and a half now, because it was too many series pulling in too many directions. Captain America in these comics was okay. I completely missed the whole Ultimates thing in the Marvel Universe and have always intended to read it, but haven't yet, so don't what influence that had on this film, but I suspect little.
Watching Captain America rushing into a battle while firing away with his pistol is hard to get used to but ultimately I can accept this interpretation because He's a soldier first. The harder thing to accept is Chris Evans face/head attached to the skinny actor that played the pre-serum Steve Rogers body. That is just freaky looking and more than a little unsettling.
Ultimately, I liked this movie. The character of Captain America stays true to himself and like this whole solider-out-of-time angle that they bring us at the end. The comic book aside for a moment, this is also the most accessible film of the four in the series I've watched so far. They really should have had more of Rogers in the modern times at the end. He's certainly got to be upset that everyone he knew is dead or in their late 80s or beyond. It's also a little sad that the second most interesting female lead of the four films (after Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts) won't be making a return unless it's in flashbacks - I though Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter was one of the better characters I've seen so far in any of these films.

Captain America: The First Avenger on IMDb

The Hunger Games (2012)

When you're the fan of a book or set of books, there is always a bit of trepidation when you hear that a movie is coming out based on it or them. Movies are never the book, there is just so much you can't do in a movie, though there is some argument that a mini-series (if done properly) can do justice to a book, but lets stick to movies. Sometimes, they get it very right like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and the first Harry Potter movie. Sometimes, they get it wrong, like with the Golden Compass. Thank god this is one of the former.
I watched the previews and ads along with everyone else before this movie hit the theaters, and then I tried to block it out since then, as I didn't want to hear any reviews, especially the internet forum type of thing where people listed what was left out or what was changed. There is time for that after you've seen the movie and decided for yourself if it was good or not. Before the release, I read that Suzanne Collins was very happy with how it turned out. And the only review I listened to after it came out was from the friend who had turned me onto the books, and she loved the movie. Both of those were good enough for me.
And I was not disappointed.
First the props - casting was amazing. Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherlin, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks were all perfect for their roles and in fact looked very much like how I imagined the characters while reading the book. I expected Snow to be a little thinner and Haymitch to be a little heavier, but that was quickly forgotten. Interestingly, I imagined Snow as being Donald Sutherlin while reading the books. Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth did not look at all how I imagined Peeta and Gale, respectively. But you know what? That's okay. Both of these young men put in performances that made me forget about my preconceptions.
The special effects and costumery were top notch. The fiery outfits for Katniss and Peeta were great, as was Katniss's interview dress, they were all toned down from the descriptions in the book though. But they still worked.
Now the cons - there are really only two that I have, and they're both small nitpicky fanboy kinds of things, well maybe more movie fanboy than Hunger Games fanboy, you be the judge. Caesar explaining tracker jackers as being genetically engineered wasps seemed out of place. They could have gotten by just fine with explaining the effects and showing the insects and let us work out what it was, which they did do the animal pack at the end. The other issue were the boys hair-dos for the guys from the 'professional' districts. They all looked very 2010, which is around the time they would have been preparing to shoot and I think they're going to look dated in a couple of years. I think if they had allowed for some variety in these four or five boys it would go a long way towards stopping this potential datedness.
As you can tell I'm very happy with what I saw and should not be surprised to hear that I'm eagerly awaiting the sequels. And I'll make sure and thank my friend the next time I see her, for turning me onto these books and suggesting that I will love the movie, too.

Hunger Games at IMDb