PCP in Theaters - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As a comic book fan, I'll see pretty much any superhero film, no matter how good or bad. Fortunately, when the films wind up actually being good, it's a nice bonus for me because at least I didn't waste two hours of my life by seeing the film.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 9 out of 10.

Marvel Studios has done a great job of building up the characters in their film universe tied to The Avengers. CA:TWS is Cap's (Chris Evans) first film since the events of The Avengers, and it is a far better film than his first one, since we now know the character a lot better than we did a few films ago.

Here he's back, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside Scarlett Johannson's Black Widow and Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury, in a story that if you strip away the superheroes and special effects, is really almost a cold war spy thriller. Something sinister is going on within the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. (man that is annoying to type out all the periods), something that will have far reaching consequences for both the cinematic Marvel universe, as well as it's TV expansion Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Externally to the agency, Cap also has to deal with the mysterious Winter Soldier, a bad-ass that can go toe to toe with Cap in a fight. I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the plot on the off chance that you haven't read the spoilers on the internet already, and instead encourage you to go see this film in theaters. It was easily better than Iron Man 3 or Thor 2, (which I've seen but won't be posting the reviews for until this summer), and is the best film in this universe since The Avengers itself.

I will say that aside from the great thriller plot, and the awesome and fun action sequences, including a memorable one in an elevator, I also enjoyed the little shout-outs and moments of humor. Black Widow had some very funny moments in the film, especially her running efforts to find Cap a date. There was also a Stephen Strange mention, and an awesome shout-out to Samuel L Jackson's Jules from Pulp Fiction late in the film. The film also has not one but two post-credits sequences, one setting up the events of The Avengers 2, and the other for Captain America 3. Given the success that Marvel has had with the characters in this universe, I'm looking forward to this August's Guardians of the Galaxy, just to see how that all fits in with the story they have planned. But while you're waiting for Guardians, go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier, if you haven't already. It's definitely one of Marvel's best films to date.