Yes, No, Maybe So: Captain America Winter Soldier

Two multi-syllabic would be 2014 blockbusters teased us yesterday. We already looked at those X-people, so it's time for the more substantial offering Captain America: Winter Soldier. And, listen, I know that on the internet you're only supposed to talk about such things within the hour they debut so this makes me at least, what, 30 hours late? Though I type like The Flash with super speed I have other things in my life! This is why I can't always be there for the superheroes the second they're begging for attention. And when aren't they, really? The superheroic are SO needy and they take up so much of the internet's time. We should all stop enabling them but until the demi-gods, aliens, mutants, and super soldiers stop being the lolcats of film blogs (i.e. instant traffic draws) the madness will truly never end.

Question: If I wore horizontal tripes would it make my chest & shoulders look this broad / great?
Answ--- hey, you don't have to be mean!

THE TRAILER. Let's break down the good captain's promo after the jump. Are you a Yes, No, or a Maybe So for round two with super soldiered Chris Evans?

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Thoughts I Had... About Our First Look At "Grand Budapest Hotel"

In the interest of speed and efficiency, and before all this good icing melts, my uncensored thoughts as they come to me...

• This poster looks good enough to eat. Literally. All I see is a tiered heavily frosted chocolate cake and I want it in me right now. Put it in me!

• Remember when people made such a big deal of Natalie Portman's nudity in "Hotel Chevalier" even though it was only like side butt? Will their be profile nudity in this hotel? And if so whose? My guess is Léa Seydoux though its unlikely to occur at all.

• The title signage is like delicate decorative pastel frosting (I have not eaten dinner yet, can you tell?)

• So pleased that Ralph Fiennes' career seems to be on an upswing again -- I believe he's the protagonist and butler here -- though I read the weirdest headline the other day (I didn't click on the link) about The Invisible Woman, his second directorial effort, being a misfire of a vanity project. I have seen the movie and I can't for the life of me think why it would be considered a vanity project (though "misfire", maybe) when Fiennes is SO much more handsome in real life than he allows himself to look as Charles Dickens. And Dickens doesn't even come across all that well in terms of character, either. He's no outstanding citizen in the movie. 

• Can Ralph Fiennes please do playful homages to Tim Curry and Forrest Whitaker and other famous butlers when he hits the talk show circuit. Please?

• Did Oscar winner F Murray Abraham get a new agent or something? Totally back! Homeland (sinister!), Inside Llewyn Davis (wonderfully judged cameo), and now this.

• This poster reminds me of the architectural minimalism of Chris Ware or maybe it could have been done by illustrator Max Dalton who did great stuff for Matt Zoller Seitz' new book on Wes Anderson. I want to read that book. Did any of you get it yet? 

Max Dalton print of Wes Anderson characters

• My favorite Wes Anderson movies are The Royal Tenenbaums (#1 by a margin of 375 imaginary city blocks), and Moonrise Kingdom. Hotel Chevalier and Fantastic Mr Fox tie for third. No, really.

• My best friend used to live super close to the exterior of The Royal Tenenbaums on Convent Avenue here in  NYC and I used to stare at that building in melancholic wonder every time it entered my field of view. 

• Wes Anderson is the ideal person to make a movie about a hotel because structures are like actual characters in his movie: the train in Darjeeling Unlimited, the submarine in The Life Aquatic, the tree in Mr Fox, the vertical home in Tenenbaums, and so on...

• When will Oscar voters ever warm to Anderson? Beyond the writers branch who (wisely) gets him.

• I just noticed that Anjelica Huston's name is not on this poster and it suddenly doesn't look as tasty.

Curio: Capturing Gravity

Alexa here. Like many, I saw Gravity this weekend in all its IMAX 3D glory. I was astounded by the experience, since it is as close as I'll ever come to a spacewalk.  Yet, like Nathaniel, I was underwhelmed by what remained. As I watched Sandy's floating tears I thought, Finding Nemo was subtler in conveying this, "just keep swimming" and all that. But, wow, space, man! 

by Peter Stults

With that in mind, here's a selection of alternative posters for the film...

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Thoughts I Had... While Staring at This Poster for "Nebraska"

Behold the new poster for Alexander Payne's Oscar Bait, 2013 Edition. Thoughts I had... brought to you uncensored as they came to me while staring at it.

• This is why I shave my head.

• Gee, do you think this movie is in black and white? Black and White In Your Face

• Alexander Payne's ERASERHEAD

• DERNHEAD

poll by twiigs.com

• So proud of them for not caving to pressure to campaign Bruce Dern as supporting. Now let's hope they also admit that Will Forte is a lead as well (Fact: Road trip movies about two people travelling together have two leads. See also Thelma & Louise, Two for The Road, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Y Tu Mama Tambien, etcetera) 

• Recently I forced The Boyfriend to watch Alfred Hitchcock's last film Family Plot (1976) and halfway through (he's clearly hating it) whilst Dern is making a confused face onscreen he says "why is everyone in this movie so ugly?"

• The Descendants was Alexander Payne's worst movie (still puzzled by the avalanche of praise if not the Oscar nominations). Can he redeem himself and make another Sideways? 

• When the Best Actor Nominees are announced, if Dern is among them, I promise to mock up all their movie posters like this just for comparisons sake: PROFILE vs. PROFILE!!!

• How many people do you think type in urls when they see websites listed at the bottom of movie posters or at the end of trailers?  NebraskaMovie.com 

Your Thoughts?

P.S. Oh and the movie's new trailer

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Her"

Before we begin let us celebrate the coming of another Spike Jonze movie and one that has the prestigious closing night gala spot at the NYFF this year. Jonze has yet to make anything less than very memorable (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where the Wild Things Are not to menion numerous iconic music videos).

Let us also bask in the saturated colorogy of Her's poster

Mmmmm never have I loved reds bleeding into pinks before... perhaps it's the hypnotic turquoise of Joaquin's eyes? They're like pools of inviting water thatinduce hypothermia once you've dove in. They're so hypnotic I didn't even notice the mustache and I hate face carpet unless it's evenly spaced about the room. (in other words: beards are fine) 

But we are here for the trailer and our Yes No Maybe So verdicts (after the jump)

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