'Captain America 2' & 'Dom Hemingway' Reviews

Captain America: Winter Soldier is the latest installment of the Marvel cannon and the second Captain America movie. Steve Rogers(Chris Evans) now in present day is a S.H.E.I.L.D. hatchet man cleaning up messes he does not fully understand. Rogers becomes aware of corruption within S.H.E.I.L.D. when a wounded Nick Fury(Sam Jackson) shows up in his apartment and both are almost killed by the mysterious Winter Soldier. Rogers joined by the Black Widow(Scarlett Johansson) strike out on their own to discover the identity of the Winter Soldier and who is behind him.

The action is captivating, the machinations of the mystery are satisfying, and the performances have significantly more depth than earlier incarnations of the characters. Most notably Evans and Johansson are given a lot more to actually act with and develop. But.

At this juncture Marvel Studios is a well oiled machine. They can churn out satisfying narratives consistently, they have enough source material to continue mass producing these movies for a hundred years. But we are reaching a point of saturation. We are reaching a point where all the magic and artistry and excitement towards these characters and these stories is completely lost. Captain America: Winter Soldier is not a bad movie but it is not an original movie. It is shackled by the well-trodden Marvel Universe which we already know intimately. It is entertaining but no longer enthralling on the way to becoming monotonous.

Watchable but for how much longer?

Rent It.

Dom Hemingway is a so-called dark comedy about an unlikable and egotistical gangster released from prison after a twelve year stint. The titular character is portrayed with too much relish and not enough artifice by the overly smug Jude Law. Dom gets out of prison, goes on a coke, booze, and prostitute binge, gets on a train to France to meet his former gangster boss, does more coke, booze, and prostitutes, loses his big payday, and after he's done more coke and booze tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

The movie seems to be channeling the same kind of thoughtless machismo evident in Wolf Of Wall Street: an equally tragic unfunny movie about excess. Tonally Dom Hemingway is profoundly inconsistent, it feels like some kind of manic thriller with terrible jokes shoehorned into moments of emotional fervor. The script comes across like some film school bro's A Clockwork Orange fan-fiction. Jude Law as Dom delivers a number of ill-advised self-indulgent soliloquies that come off tasteless and flat rather than funny or roguishly charming(presumably the intention).

Jude Law's performance as Dom Hemingway in Dom Hemingway is confusing to say the least and utterly self-satisfying to say the most. It is supremely clear Jude Law is taking an exorbitant amount of pleasure in acting out Dom's deviant and despicable behaviors. What is not apparent is any real acting or portrayal of a believable and three dimensional character. Jude Law may be having a lot of fun but unfortunately it is in no way transferable.

A sophomoric and chauvinistic man-child's fantasy. Thin and unpleasant.

Don't See It.