Captain America: The First Avenger

So, after seeing Thor, my expectations for this movie admittedly came way down, and I'm glad they did, because if they had stayed as high as they were, I would have been really disappointed.

Like Thor, Captain America was nothing more than an origin story setting up for the Avengers movie. I guess I would say it was a decent movie, but a great stand alone movie? I'd have to say no.

Chris Evans gave a typical performance, not bad or lacking in any way, but typical.

I was probably most impressed with the cg used to make Evans look like a scrawny kid, AND how much he bulked up for the version of him after the procedure.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this movie. I was what I was expecting, no more, no less.

I'm hoping that them corners cut on Thor and Captain America will be made up in the Avengers movie.

Although I was excited to see an origin story of Professor X and Magneto's relationship, I'm not gonna lie, I had some concerns about James McAvoy playing the character that the wonderful Patrick Stuart has made so iconic to us.

Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy McAvoy as an actor, but lets face it, Patrick Stuart has some very large performance shoes to fill.

I think a big part of what made it work, is that this version of the Professor is so young compared to the Professor we've come to know in the other X-Men movies. He has more spontaneity, he's a bit of a ladies man, and although he's intelligent enough to see right away what is coming with the conflict between mutants and everyone else. With the sequels that I'm expecting with this new string of X-Men movies, McAvoy will have time to have his version of Professor X grow into the mentor and leader that we see in Patrick Stuart's portrayal.

Michael Fassbender plays Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, and I loved him. Lehnsherr was a complicated character to play in this movie, especially once we learn what happened to him while in the concentration camp, we see just how conflicted this character is. He's not all bad, but he's afraid in, what is ironically, a very human way, of what will happen when mutants become obvious to the general public. I found the performance both subtle and powerful.

The story line for me was about what I expected from the X-Men franchise. I personally don't go to these movies expecting to have an exceptional intellectually experience, but I do expect to be entertained, and that I was.

Also, look out for some really fun cameo's in this movie from favourites from the X-Men franchise.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Release Date Moved Up

Paramount Pictures has moved up the release date for Transformers: Dark of the Moon a couple of days from July 1, to June 29.

This movie was always guaranteed to be a huge blockbuster, before even a script was written or a title given, and now, we're going to get to see the next chapter of the story a little earlier than expected.

Paramount also released a new clip from the movie, which you can see above, featuring Josh Duhamel explaining to some of his troops the risks of getting some payback.

Very noticeably, none of the trailers include one shot of any Transformers in action, but since this is the first Transformers to be in 3D, to me, it sounds just like Michael Bay to make our first experience of our favourite robot friends be in the theatre, 3D glasses firmly in place. At this point, I think I'll actually be disappointed if they release a trailer with any Autobots or Decepticons in it. This is one movie I'm pretty stoked to see in 3D.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Johhny Depp gave another great performance as his iconic character Captain Jack Sparrow.

The movie opens with Johnny executing a complicated, and quite clever plot to save his faithful first mate, Gibbs from the gallows. When the plan backfires in the last moment, the real adventure begins.

Sparrow ends up being conscripted by none other than Captain Barbossa who has become a Privateer in the King's Navy, but all is not as it seems. Sparrow also hears, from several sources that he's been putting together a crew in London, problem is, that's the first he's heard about it.

Eventually, Jack crosses paths with an old lover, Angelica,  played by Penelope Cruz, who is also the daughter of the legendary and terrible Blackbeard, wonderfully played by Ian McShane. Or is she?

In order to access the powers of the Fountain of Youth, there is a special ritual which must be performed, involving two chalices belonging to Ponce deLeon, the original explorer that went in search of the Fountain of Youth, and a tear from a Mermaid.

Along with all this, there are not two, but three different parties racing to get all the components for the ritual and get to the fountain first.

For me, the absence of Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom mattered not at all.The story line was just as strong, the adventures of trying to get everything they needed for the fountain caused more than enough mayhem, and Johnny Depp was great, yet again.

Look out for cameos from Judi Dench and Keith Richards. Also, for those of you who were at the theatre last night and left before the end of credits......................well, this is The Spoiler Free Movie Review, so I can't tell you what happens, but you're gonna want to find out!

Oh, and one last thing, as far as seeing this movie in 3D, I'm gonna say take it or leave it. I don't think it was worth my extra cash. It seems like only a few scenes were filmed in 3D, and I felt like the scenes for the productions companies had more interesting 3D animation than most of the 3D scenes in the movie.