Marvel Studios keep opening the doors on their catalog every summer and Captain America is the latest to enter the spotlight. The movie matched the superhero himself: average at best.

Not to sound like a hater, but the draw of Cap himself isn’t really that strong. He’s really a B level guy in the superhero world as far as I can tell. Average man Steve Rogers tries to join the army during World War II and is turned away multiple times for his physical inadequacies. A chance meeting with Dr. Abraham Erskine gets Rogers into the Super Solider program where all of those nagging little physical inadequacies are erased. Enter Captain America to fight for the side of good.

The movie is really well made. It looks fantastic, the backdrop of the US circa 194x is well established and very believable. Great use of color, it’s well shot and staged and the FX are all done very well. The cast is great to, I think this is Chris Evan’s best work. He makes Steve Rogers a very likeable and loveable guy and he makes great moves in the action scenes (Caps’ fighting style is pretty unique, probably the best part of him). Everyone surrounding him is very good too, he has very good chemistry with Haley Atwell who plays Peggy Carter. They get most of the laughs together and Howard Stark (Iron Man’s father) role was much bigger (and better) than I thought it would be. Hugo Weaving as the villainous Red Skull (who is so hardcore he doesn’t think much of Hitler’s efforts) is great too, the effects for creating him are a particular stand out.

The movie has a very long lead in, there’s a lot of character development and set up with most of the action in the last half hour of the movie. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does make the pacing feel off. It’s a bit of a drag to be honest. After some time the first action scene comes and it’s pretty short, then a bit later there is a rescue scene and then when the good guys go on the offensive, we get a montage of Cap and some troops taking out some enemy bases. While what is shown is good, there’s really no reference to where they are or what they’re doing. Feels too broad, like it’s just a generalization. That decision didn’t sit well with me. While it’s a good movie, I don’t feel any need to see it again.

The end of an era. It sounds like a lot of pompous hot air, but it’s a true statement for millions of people around the world. 7 books written and 8 books made in 10 years, the Potter series has been a blitzkrieg of entertainment to say the least. Deathly Hallows part 2 is a fitting end to the series, we’ve been very lucky to get movie adaptations of this quality from start to finish.

Part 2 starts right where part 1 ends, Lord Voldermort has discovered where the Elder Wand is and has taken it by force, leaving Harry and his friends with the task of finding and destroying the remaining Horcrux’s which will make Voldermort mortal. Fail in this task and the results are catastrophic.

Thousands of words, miles of film and countless man hours led to this conclusion. Any new comer to the series can’t start with this film, there is no way they would understand what’s going on and why everything works the way it does. It’s actually a hard movie to write about because so much has led up to this. Let’s try to break this down to the essentials.

The whole series has been made with incredible care and detail. The entire cast is spot on and fantastic. Dan, Rupert and Emma have grown up on screen and completely embodied these main characters. I don’t think anyone can read the books and not see these three in their minds as they read. They’ve gotten better and better with every movie and it shows in the finale. They’ve worked with amazing actors (Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman) which helped them greatly. Matt Lewis as Neville Longbottom finally gets his time to shine. With such a fierce and large evil side on display, the brotherhood and love of the good side standing behind Harry is a sight to behold. Many major characters lose their life in the last book and that weight has made it onscreen large in part because of the actors.

There are some amazing special effects done here. The dragon sequence is particularly stunning and much of the final stand at Hogwarts is incredible too. A lot of background work was done so well in this movie, a lot of people won’t realize how much of the movie was actually digitally created. It feels like a real breathing world which is important for the characters to live in. While the time and extra money to convert the movie to 3D was made, it only worked well in a handful of scenes, hardly worth the extra cost to the viewer. It’s not very prevalent and it dims the brightness of the picture so I’d recommend sticking to 2d showings.

This movie is the shortest in the series thanks to careful pacing and editing. The movie hits the ground running from the start, but the finale doesn’t feel as rushed as the book did. There’s a lot of ground to cover in the movie, but everything is shot and cut to a fine point. The battles aren’t drawn out and desensitizing. While there is mass chaos on screen, it never feels disorienting. The quieter scenes aren’t marred to rush to the next set piece, but they don’t drag either. The characters are able to breath in each scene which kept me completely engaged. There’s a lot of big moments in the book and many of them were done perfectly. Harry’s Walk, The Kings Crossing and Epilogue sequences are all really great. In fact, I thought the Epilogue worked better here than in the book. While I don’t agree with all the changes and how some scenes were shot (Molly Weasley’s big line with Bellatrix) it seems kind of trite to complain about at this point. Most of the changes do work, just look at the last scene that Snape stars in, brilliantly done.

Part 2 works so well that it’s arguably the best in the series. The movies all work together as a whole and are faithful, if altered translations. If you want the complete story, the books are right there to read. At the credits I felt a pang of sadness. Even though the story finished with the last book 4 years ago, there is now no more Potter lore to look forward. It’s all done, finished, complete. It was a satisfying journey, one that may not be repeated for quite some time. I kept thinking about the movie days after I had watched it. A lasting impression, something only my favorite movie can give me. I guess the first step to avoid the withdrawal is to take out the books, something I realize I’m long over due in reading again.

Dark of the Moon lumbered into theatres recently and after being insulted by how bad Transformers 2 was, I was really wary of this one. I enjoy Michael Bay movies, I know what I’m in for when his summer blockbusters flash their stuff. Transformers 2 was a rushed trainwreck of a movie and I’m happy to see that Bay and his team pulled their shit together and made a fun movie to watch again.

The Decepticons are up to no good again, setting a trap for the Autobots to bring their home planet, Cybertron, back from the ashes. The human race isn’t going to come out on top if the Decepticon’s plan comes to fruition. Shia LeBeouf and most of the previous cast are back to run around the Autobots feet while all hell breaks lose. Hey, some humans need to help out the giant robots save the planet. Of course the movie has it’s fair share of problems, long run time that could have been pulled in here and there, forced humor, really awkward moments (the talk in the RV with Sam and his parents comes to mind first), but the movie makes sense and is often a lot of fun to watch. There are some really great action scenes and the mindblowing special effects (really some of the best CG ever put on screen, there’s many parts where it looks like there are real giant robots being filmed. Amazing composite work between CG and live action). It’s still cool just to see Optimus Prime and company transform! The addition of filming in 3D was done with a lot of care and it shows. Bay took all the right advise and kept just about all of it to adding depth to the scenes instead of that terrible “pop out at you” stuff. The technology forced him to shoot in wider and longer takes and that just helped every action scene pop and be memorable. The action scene on the highway was thrilling and the squirrel suit jump team sequence was some fantastic filmmaking. Carnage never looked or sounded so good.

Transformers 3 is a Michael Bay movie that works well. Knowing that, you’ll know what to expect so you can set your expectations accordingly. But lets be honest here, Transformers was a terrible cartoon to begin with. We ain’t talking about sterling source material to begin with. It won’t win over any of the hardcore haters, but you can’t please everyone all the time.

Last years Oscar contender, True Grit continues to prove that the Cohen Brothers are easily one of the best film makers working today. A remake of the book of the same name (and movie from 1969), it’s such a treat to watch a bad ass Western these days. A classic tale of revenge, young Mattie Ross hires a Marshall, Rooster Cogburn to find her fathers killer, Tom Chaney. She’s a tough girl who won’t take no for an answer, hell bent on seeing Chaney be punished for his senseless crime.

True Grit is awesome from top to bottom. A great script that is surprisingly funny is brought to life by a fantastic cast. Jeff Bridges (who has been on a roll these past few years), Josh Brolin (him too, thanks to the Cohens as well) and a surprise casting choice with Matt Damon as LeBeouf fill out the main cast. But the real star here is Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie and she’s amazing. The entire movie rides on her shoulders and she kills it in every scene. She’s relatively new to the business and at 15 years old her performance was that much more impressive.

Watch it!