A Non-Spoilery Look At Captain America: The Winter Soldier

52eb193e743f2

When it comes to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there are two types of people who will be watching over the coming months.  Those that are comic book fans and those that are not.  This is an important point, because what many believe to be the big reveal is, in fact, not the big reveal for many who will watch it.  Either way, that reveal is to me, an avid (rabid?) comic book fan, is about the fourth most important thing you should have picked up from watching this movie.  My point being this, when you’re watching keep an eye out for some of the smaller things because in a movie about subterfuge, subtlety is often key.

As I mentioned in Disney Film Project’s 2014 Preview Episode, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a movie drawing on a number of key things.  To start with you have to remember that S.H.I.E.L.D. is a spy agency, and in modern culture due to certain events, such things aren’t looked at favorably or heroically.  So it became necessary for the creators of the film to roll with that in order to create a story that will, I promise, lead to a better, stronger, and more heroic organization then what you’ve already seen.  To be more specific would be spoiling this movie and a bit of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Winter Soldier was a character introduced to comics in 2005 by Ed Brubaker as part of what was considered to be another revival of Captain America himself.  Pretty much right off fans were excited despite that they knew the “big secret”, because the journey was about Cap discovering it for himself and then working to track down The Winter Soldier and help him to regain his self and sanity by regaining his memories.  In comic books, this involves a Cosmic Cube (movie fans will call this the Tesseract), and is going to be the basis for Captain America 3: The Hunt For The Red Skull (okay I made that title up, but that’s what I want it to be).  By the time you get up from your seat, you’ll know what related device will be the Chekhov’s Gun for that film when it happens.

Also in 2005, as part of the Ultimate Universe from which much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe derives, came a story called Ultimate Nightmare created by Warren Ellis.  In it Nick Fury pulls together a strike team including himself and three superheroes: Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon.  Sound familiar? It should, this is the same team that was picked for this movie.  This team is one of my absolute favorites to come from the Ultimate Universe, and it made me extremely excited to know they would be at the core of this movie.  Seeing them on screen, the buildup of absolute trust that they accrue toward each other throughout, and watching their character growth in this movie is one of the major reasons this movie is enjoyable.

5330c34b9b716

Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falon, is done fantastically in the film.  He’s always been a hard character to present well, but also since 2005 he’s really come into his own as a solid character who no longer feels like a tag along / second fiddle.  He is after all the second most important Captain America partner (the term “sidekick” doesn’t fit him. Keep in mind too that in comic books he’s not only teamed with Cap, he’s actually put on the uniform and been Captain America, and is actually an Avenger.  He also got awesome mechanical wings and guns which make for some of the best action moments in this film.

After you get up from the film you’ll probably want to look up these names as they most likely play into future Captain America movies based on the way things are going (hint: you’ll already have seen 3 of them):

This movie is just extremely solid for the first part of a storyline that took more than 5 years to tell in comic books.  It is designed in the same magical way that Marvel has created all their movies from Iron Man forward: appealing to movie fans, and appeasing the comic book fan at the same time.  It’s a mix that other movie and comic companies simply haven’t yet, and may never, figure out how to deliver on.  Will everyone like this movie? No, overall a lot of Avengers fans didn’t like Captain America: The First Avenger.  But plenty will love this movie and it is going to rock a lot of socks, and the box office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k0kkSHiiPE

Follow us for more updates: Facebooktwitteryoutubetumblrinstagram

Full Sail University Returns As Primary Sponsor Of The Florida Film Festival

Full Sail University Logo Florida Film Festival

Full Sail University Returns for 11th Year

as Primary Sponsor of the Florida Film Festival

Full Sail University is proud to return as the primary sponsor of the 23rd annual Florida Film Festival (FFF) held April 4 through April 13 at the Enzian Theater. 2014 marks Full Sail University’s 11th year as the primary sponsor and 17th year with the Festival.

“For more than a decade, Full Sail University has been proud to serve as the primary sponsor of this meaningful 10-day film festival that Enzian offers the Central Florida community,” said Garry Jones, President of Full Sail University. “We look forward to sharing in the many educational and entertaining events included in the 2014 schedule, and we congratulate our students and alumni whose film projects are showcased within the festival’s programming.”

Full Sail student and alumni credits can be seen on several films throughout the festival. The short film, The Cyclist, which will hold its world premiere during the FFF, features the work of Full Sail graduates Kellen Voss (producer and sound designer) and Donald Shults (production sound), and the short film The Past, featured in Best of Brouhaha was directed by Full Sail alumni Sean Sida & Garrett Callahan.

Attendees of the festival will also have the opportunity to see the work of over a dozen Full Sail University Film students who visited local farms and markets including Palmetto Creek Farms, Lake Meadows Farms, and East End Market to produce short documentaries showcasing how food is prepared and the importance of these farms to the local community.

Contributing to the educational elements of the festival, Full Sail University’s Program Manager of the Film Production MFA, Maylen Dominguez, will be moderating the panel discussion “Perseverance: Women in the Industry” on Thursday, April 10, from 11AM–12:30PM at the Enzian.  In addition, Dave Franko, Full Sail’s V.P. of Academic Affairs, will be moderating the panel “Pushing the “Curfew”: A Case Study from Short to Feature” on Friday, April 11, from 11AM–12:30PM at the Enzian. These film-focused panel discussions are free and open to the public.

The 2014 Florida Film Festival will screen more than 170 feature and short films representing 26 countries. Of the films selected, 137 have premiere status. The festival features a vast array of forums, parties, and special events including celebrity guest appearances by Academy Award-winning actress, Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking), film and television actor, Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), and actor, director, and producer, Giancarlo Esposito (AMC’s Breaking Bad).

About Full Sail University:
Full Sail University is an award-winning educational leader for those pursuing careers in the entertainment and media industry. Founded in 1979, Full Sail has been recognized as one of the Top Five Game Degree Programs by Electronic Gaming Monthly, one of the Best Music Programs by Rolling Stone Magazine, and one of the Best Film Programs by UNleashed Magazine. Recently, Full Sail received the “21st Century Best Practices in Distance Learning Award” from the United States Distance Learning Association, was named the “School/College of the Year” by the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges, and was recognized as one of the Top 100 Social Media Colleges by Studentadvisor.com.

Full Sail offers on-campus and online Master’s, Bachelor’s, and Associate’s degree programs in areas related to animation, art, business, education, graphic design, film, marketing, web development, music, recording arts, sports, and video games. Full Sail graduate credits include work on OSCAR®, Emmy®, GRAMMY®, ADDY®, MTV Video Music Award, and Spike VGX Video Game Award nominated and winning projects.

www.fullsail.edu
www.twitter.com/fullsail
www.facebook.com/fullsailuniversity

Follow us for more updates: Facebooktwitteryoutubetumblrinstagram