Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) updated thoughts

This movie in my opinion is good, but it wasn’t as good as The Last Jedi. Things that I found slightly boring are when there weren’t any action sequences, however, there are some action sequences that dragged on for too long, for example, the lightsaber fights between Rey and Kylo. In addition to their lightsaber fights, they didn’t seem to fight to kill each other; they seemed to just hit swords or in this case lightsabers.

The one thing that this movie tops over Last Jedi was the setting and special effects, however, they didn’t top the fight sequence on the Salt Planet between Kylo and Luke. Some people and fans had an issue with the fact that Rey has become a powerful Jedi in a presumably short time, even though it was explained why she becomes this way in the film. I, on the other hand didn’t mind her power upgrade. Because it led to some cool things in certain action sequences and downtime in the plot.

Another thing that fans and people disliked was how Palpatine was included, I will not spoil how and why he came to be in the film. However, I didn’t mind his inclusion. The only thing I wanted more from him is a better fight sequence between him and Rey. It seemed that their fight sequence was rushed and maybe the creators did this because they wanted to wrap up the Skywalker Saga. Or, wanted to show how powerful Rey is as a Jedi. I think that the creators could have handled their fight sequence better, in many ways it reflected Palpatine’s demise in Revenge of the Sith and maybe that was their intention. 

There was a nice cameo in the film that deals with Kylo, which I never thought would happen but I’m glad it did and this led to a certain redemption story for a certain character. This was my favourite part of the movie. A Youtuber I watched, said that this character’s redemption was set up since the Force Awakens. And, was a plot that was carried out in the Last Jedi that Rian Johnson wanted to develop. That paid off in this movie: the last movie of the trilogy that JJ Abrams directed. This was my favourite part of the film because the character had an arc, which was compiling enough to keep me engaged throughout the latest trilogy of Star Wars movies. 

Overall, this movie I think was a slightly weak addition to the Star Wars saga but had some great moments, which I’m grateful for. 

Season 1 follows the events after Agent Coulson dies in the Avengers movie and gets resurrected in Marvel’s Agents of Shield. 

The series develops with a mystery on how Coulson was resurrected and the story revolves around Coulson being the acting head of Shield, eventually taking the title for real; in addition, having to build a team to stop the rising evil: the evil that comes is the Extremis project from Ironman 3 being facilitated by Project Centipede, funded by Hydra. 

The Extremis serum in the series is a better version than the one in the movie: Ironman 3 allowing the injected to be resurrect from death. The main purpose of the serum was to create a super-powered army for world domination. 

My favourite character is Grant Ward an agent on Coulson’s team because of his cool demeanour. 

An episode was released before the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which kind of spoils the fact that Hydra has infiltrated Shield. 

Agent Coulson and the team find out that Hydra was behind Project Centipede and tries to stop them but not without finding out the true allegiance of one of their team members.

I think it would have been more beneficial for the MCU, if say the reveal of Hydra infiltrating Shield featured Captain America in the TV show. His appearance would boosts the ratings by drawing audiences from the Marvel movies. Its harder to boost TV show ratings than earning money from movies in theaters. If Marvel plays their cards right balancing cameos in the story of their TV show episodes, I believe their TV show ratings would be higher. Sure Marvel kind of did this by featuring Lady Sif and Coulson himself but these character's recognition is not as high Cap's or Ironman's.

Yes Coulson did sort of steal audiences' hearts from his death in the Avengers movie and you might say isn't this enough to carry audiences from the MCU to Agents of Shield? I would disagree. As I believe loyal fans of the MCU were originally Marvel comics fans and Coulson did not originate from the comics he was created for the big and small screen. So because of this many viewers of the MCU don't watch Agents of Shield regarding Coulson. 

I can't speak for everyone but the reason why I started watching this show, was because I wanted to see what Marvel could do on the small screen 

I understand that actors who focus on movie roles are far more expensive to hire compared to TV show actors. However, I'm sure Marvel could make deals where these movie actors would be paid for not only being in one episode of a TV show but to have multiple short appearances over the series' run. Sure this kind of promises that a Marvel series runs for a number of seasons, but what if it gets cancelled? in this scenario I'm sure Marvel would agree to have these actors and their characters be featured in the MCU, in their own TV shows, or other Marvel related series.  

For existing actors in Marvel TV series, most of the time movies are far more expensive, provided the film makers know their films are going to be successful so the return of those movies is far greater than the return of TV series. In this regard my guess is that if a Marvel show ends or gets cancelled one or more of the actors/characters would be brought over to the movies instead of another Marvel TV shows. 

Overall I think that the series had a mediocre start but it gets better. Stay tuned for my season 2 review.

At the start of this season, the team has to stop the Chronicoms from killing a relative of the head of Hydra; because if he dies then Shield would not have been formed, as they were created to stop Hydra. After watching this episode, I believe it was one of the best openings to a season of the series. 

The relative of the head of Hydra is a complex character, he is not just an innocent character to be saved by the good guys, which creates interesting stories to be told. Also what is great is that the super-soldier serum was introduced. This was a great way for this series to reference the MCU.

It's nice seeing Coulson back after not seeing him in season 6, as the actor played a different character. There is an interesting crossover from Agent Carter, in the form of Daniel Sousa, it was cool seeing him again. This season points out racism, sexism, PTSD, and panic attacks, which is a nice touch to increase awareness of the audience. 

Episode 4 focuses on Daniel Sousa as a continuation from episode 3 and it's cool to see more screen time with him and Coulson. This episode also gives screen time to Enoch and he gives the comedic beats to the episode. An older Fred Welfred Malick: the relative to the head of Hydra in present-day is in this episode, when our heroes have time-traveled to the 1950s. This Fred Welfred Malick is more menacing which is awesome and now the Chronicoms are working with Fred to take out Shield.

Episode 5 has more Sousa, which is great to see as his role isn't just a extended cameo. Fred Welfred Malick died, this is a shame as he was starting to become a great villain. There is an interesting plot that develops for May, as whomever she touches; feels their emotions. This is a result of what happened at the end of season 6, now she is not always cold and guarded, this is great because as viewers we get to see new and interesting character interactions. 

Because of the alteration to the timeline, Project Insight is happening 40 years earlier and Bruce Banner is also mentioned which is cool; more connections to the MCU. There is a touching moment between Sousa and Daisy about goodbyes because they are time travelers and this was done to foreshadow a growing relationship between them.

Daisy and Sousa get kidnapped by Malick's son, Nathaniel; he wants Daisy's powers, I think that this is a pretty cool development in the plot and I believe it's a first for the series that the villain has the same powers as the hero. The Chronicoms have developed the ability to adapt to have human personalities, which makes them more dangerous, as they attempt to takeover Shield. We find out that Mack's parents are dead, however, Mack is still alive, which re-confirms that the series has incorporated Endgame's time travelling logic.

There is an episode where Mack and Deke are stuck in the 1980s: 1982. The episode focuses on them which is cool, as it gives them more character development before the series ends. Sibyl is another bad guy character of the series, who is a Chronicom. She is a pretty cool character as she is calm and collected contrasting Nathaniel who is a harsh and aggressive character. 

The story that develops about Mack and Deke, is told by Deke to May. Deke didn't seem sad or upset, so it's obvious that Deke and Mack get rescued. In the 1980s, Coulson's mind is on a hard drive that Deke connects to a TV monitor and he is part of the Shield team that Deke started in the 1980s. The reason why Coulson's mind is on a hard drive, is that his body was destroyed in episode 6. The way the writers included Coulson in this episode was cool and interesting, it would have been more so and a bold choice; if Coulson was in a TV monitor for the rest of the series.

Episode 10, is where we see Nathaniel developing his evil plan against Shield that involves young John Garret: nice to see this tribute to the late actor of Bill Paxton. 

Jiaying is back again working with Shield because Nathaniel is hunting Inhumans to steal their powers to give to people he thinks deserve those abilities, this was a nice way of involving another character from Shield's past. Daisy finds out that she has a sister: Kora. And, the end of the episode Jemma is kidnapped by Nathaniel. This is important to the entire plot of the season, because Jemma is the only one who knows where Fitz is. Fitz has been missing for most of this season and he has been the only character who has been foiling the bad guys' plans. 

Nathaniel kills Jiaying and before she dies, Daisy gets has a moment with her. She tells her that Jiaying is her mother. This Jiaying is a younger version from what we have previously seen because of time travel. This was a nice end to Jiaying's story because Daisy gets to interact with a not evil Jiaying compared to earlier episodes of the series. 

In the last episode, May and Kora combine their powers to save the day: Kora used her abilities by magnifying May's powers to make the Chronicoms feel emotion so they stopped being the bad guys. 

It was explained that Fitz came from the original timeline via the Quantum Realm, which was cool. This might be a further hint that characters like Daisy might be featured specifically in the future Antman movies.

Episode 13: What We Are Fighting For features the last mission of the team together, this is kind of sad, however a fitting ending to the series. The last sequence was the team sitting together in a circle talking about the present lives and their futures, I wouldn't be surprised if Disney+ took some of the heroes and placed them in a spin-off series; if they don't end up in the movies.

This CGI version of the drawn animated movie The Lion King was an amazing feat for Disney. Want any products related to this movie, click here. The CGI gave this movie a realistic feel, the animals looking like real birds and lions, etc. However sadly, realism is the reason why this movie falls flat in comparison to the animated movie. In the original movie, the animals were more expressive and real lions don’t have many expressions on their faces. Also, because the setting of the movie had to be realistic like the animals featured, the colours used to make the world was simple and slightly boring. One of the environments that looked great, was in the final act: Pride Rock was on fire and Simba and Scar were fighting for the throne. To add to the negatives, even though the voice cast was great; something stood out to me like a sore thumb: young Nala’s voice actress didn’t sound convincing. Present day Nala is voiced by Beyonce and I think young Nala should have been recast because she didn't she didn't give me Beyonce vibes.  In conclusion, even with the movie’s faults it still was a great achievement for Disney and weirdly still re-watchable.  

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a great movie because it was a great sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger. The best thing that stood out to me is the story. The story is basically about Steve Rogers finding out that his best friend in life who he thought was dead is alive and has joined the bad guys. This created a great mystery in the movie, which developed in Captain America: Civil War. The action sequences were amazing too. What's also was cool to see was Captain America’s new friend Sam Wilson. Who will become the new Captain America in his new TV show, which is part of the Disney + streaming service. He is a cool new character for the MCU and a nice replacement to Bucky in the sequel to First Avenger. Overall this movie had great action, story, and characters for a sequel and I hope to see more of them in future installments after Endgame and in the Disney streaming service.  

Click the hyperlink in the review above to buy Captain America related products. 

Toy  Story 4 was a good movie with great laughs, but I think it isn’t as  good as the first 2 Toy Story movies. Simply because the film didn’t  focus on the Andy/toys dynamic. It would be interesting to see if there will be a Toy Story 5 without certain characters, because of what  happens in this movie. Though still have Molly as the Andy replacement just slightly older maybe 2-3 years old, from what she was in this film. This movie was almost a bottle episode for a TV show as there were only 2 locations that the movie focused on. This was weird to experience but  after a while, I got used to it and I’m sure if you found it weird you would get used to it too. My favourite character in the movie would have  to be Buzz because I think he is the coolest toy in the movie and the direction Toy Story 4 took him was unexpected and cool too. Buzz was  extremely humorous throughout this movie, the funniest he has ever  been. 

There  is something that happens at the start of the movie that deals with an  exclusion. I thought it was kind of strange, however by the end of the  movie it was earned. I thought it was a nice touch to the ending. I  remembered watching the movie, and at first thinking I couldn’t see  Pixar doing another sequel. Though as you know from the start of this  review and me thinking more about this film it’s possible for a Toy  Story 5. Overall the movie was a great ride with emotional beats that  were earned.