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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:50 pm    Post subject: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Reply with quote



Frankly I was never a big reader of the Captain America comics. I didn't take the time to learn the background and find out just what his special abilities were. His costume seemed a little too showy, and I really didn't get the whole shield thing.

A shield? Really? What can you do with a shield except hide behind it?

That just goes to show what happens when a young man doesn't do his homework, eh? Sad

Thank God for the movie, a crash course in the First Avenger and everything that makes him awesome.

Chris Evans is the perfect blend of the American farm boy and the kick-ass soldier. And those scenes of his transformation from the skinny kid who got sand kicked in his face to the near-indestructible hero are pure movie magic. This guy's super-powers are definitely something you can take to the bank.

Only one thing bothered me. The film doesn't quite succeed in convincing us that Hydra is even worse than the Nazis . . . and separate from the Nazis . . . and not allied with the Nazis.

I Googled the question, "Why didn't Captain American fight the Nazis?" and I found a website with this article.

6 Reasons Why Captain America fought Hydra, Not Nazis

It mentions the fact that the people in Europe don't take kindly to movies that reduce Nazis to mere comic book villains. Better to come up with something Nazi-like but not quite so entrenched in people's minds as the best example of the worst in human nature.

Then of course there's the merchandising angle: action figures of evil Hydra characters are okay. Action figures of Nazis — a cultural no-no if ever there was one.

And so, the movie pits the Captain against Hydra — despite the fact that Hydra wasn't a major player on the global scene until the war had ended. Even though Red Skull was himself a Nazi creation (and protege of Hitler), he didn't take over as the head of Hydra (which already existed) until after WWII.

I'm glad I didn't know that. The departure from canon might have soured the movie for me just a little. But it does explain why the movie seems to ignore those pesky Nazis and the trouble they were stirring up back in the 1940s.

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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steve Rogers was born in NYC, Bud.

They don't do much farming in them thar parts.
Laughing
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Steve Rogers was born in NYC, Bud.

They don't do much farming in them thar parts. Laughing

Well yeah, but my statement was about Chris Evan -- who was born in Boston, where they don't do much farming either. But he's got that corn fed, red-blooded American look that was needed for Captain America, and he's cashing in on it handsomely (so to speak Very Happy ).
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the comics :

The Nazis were the prime villians (along with the Japs) in the early forties when Cap was created and made for great easy to hate bad guys at the time.

After the war Cap went on to fight bank robbers and other petty criminals and in doing so lost some of the awesomeness of the character.

Most superheroes died out during this period.

In the early 50's Communists became the peril to freedom, and Cap (along with the Human Torch and Namor the Submariner) was resurrected to counter them. It didn't have the same effect, even though the Korean War was going on. Commie fighting Captain America lasted only 3 issues until fading out again.

Then in the early 60's the superhero craze began anew with Marvel leading the resurrection of the genre with The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. (I know DC predated them with the new Flash, Green Lantern etc. However they had a more sci-fi angle and fought a rogues gallery of foes.).

When Captain America did come back he needed another major foe to go up against.

Evil super powers were required that embodied the villainy of Nazis and Commies, but that were pure creations of the writers and editors.

Thus Hydra and AIM were invented as nefarious enemies of freedom. (Today we have such idealistic characters embodied as ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.)

The films wisely underplayed the Nazi connection, although a hint of it was still there. It would not play as well in Europe today, just as a Japanese evil group (like the Black Dragons) would effect Asian distribution.
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Custer
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, some parts of Europe may be a bit sensitive about Germany's National Socialists, and their depiction in fiction... other parts less so. I think I spotted a few not very friendly Germans in Wonder Woman, set a decade or two before the Nazis reached prominence, while there are quite possibly some villainous types from their part of the world in Dunkirk, the current "explosions and shouting" movie that is doing pretty well in a number of countries.

A good point about the merchandising aspects of using Hydra instead... and of course there are countries that wouldn't allow swastikas to be depicted on comics covers.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 12:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Custer wrote:
Well, some parts of Europe may be a bit sensitive about Germany's National Socialists, and their depiction in fiction... other parts less so.

And now we've got Neo-Nazis demonstrating in Berlin! What IS the world coming to! Shocked
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has a trivia item for this movie that caught my eye. Very Happy
________________________________

~ Howard Stark's flying car made an appearance on Agent Carter (2015), finally in perfect working order. The vehicles were also used by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents in the Marvel Comics Universe (made by Tony Stark), and appeared on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).

Note from me: The version that Agent Coulson's flies around in is a thing of beauty. Very Happy




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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That flying car...Known as LOLA , was a real beauty! I just wish my old 63' Pontiac Catalina covertible would have done that!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has 129 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ (At around thirty-seven minutes) Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter) touches Chris Evans' chest as he emerged from the pod upon turning into Captain America. It was improvised, and the surprise on her face is genuine, as she admitted in interviews. She was very taken by Chris' physique and nearly broke character, ruining the take that made it into the film, as a result.

Note from me: Proof positive the chicks dig a man in uniform, especially a superhero uniform — and they dig them even even more when they're OUT of uniform! Wink

~ H.Y.D.R.A.'s futurist aircraft take their designs from actual World War II German concepts such as the Horten H.XVIII flying wing bomber and Triebflügeljäger fighter plane.

Note from me: I've said it before and I'll say it again: one of the greatest tragedies in history is the way an evil empire like Nazi Germany had brilliant scientists and designers creating new and wondrous technology they wanted to use to enslave the world. Sad







~ The comic book version of Captain America's shield is most commonly said to be a mixture of Vibranium and Adamantium. Vibranium = the shield's ability to absorb vibrations; Adamantium = the shield's (near) invincibility. However, because Adamantium is part of the X-Men/Wolverine mythos, which film rights are owned by Twentieth Century Fox, the Adamantium part had to be left out of this version.

Note from me: Sometimes the benefits offered by copyright protection serve to inhibit interesting uses of a concept that would in no way rob the copyright holder of revenue.

~ Shields made of different materials were used depending on what was needed for the shot. Rubber shields were used for when Captain America punches people with it. For scenes where he put the shield on his back, magnets were used to keep it in place. In many of the scenes where he is seen throwing the shield, Chris Evans would mime out the actions of catching and throwing the shield, with the shield being added later, using CGI.

Note from me: I've often wondered just how Steve could swing that shield over his head and have it stick to his back. Very Happy

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tmlindsey
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Love the movie and Chris Evans is perfect in the role. In fact, I have yet to see him an anything where he isn't excellent.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

I agree. Both Chris Evans' physical appearance and his acting talents gives him the ability to portray heroic characters.

Wow . . . what a man! Cool

Frankly, I'm intensely jealous. Sad

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

He played THE HUMAN TORCH in two FANTASTIC FOUR movies also.

His CAPTAIN AMERICA was much better!

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tmlindsey
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
He played THE HUMAN TORCH in two FANTASTIC FOUR movies also.

His CAPTAIN AMERICA was much better!

Indeed, but Captain America is a far superior film in every way, as well.

The thing for me is, for some actors all I see is the actor, not the character. Their personality or quirks overpower the character. With Evans, no matter if it's douche bag Johnny Storm, a dull-witted teen in Not Another Teen Movie, or Steve Rogers, he tends to believably become the character, IMO. Not many actors do that for me.

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