Marvel Movie Minute • Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Minute One Hundred Twenty Three: From Close-Range Arrow Fighting to A Bird in MotionRobin Burdge from Karate Kid Minute and Sword Boys joins us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-twenty-third minute of The Avengers...What happens when Hawkeye runs out of arrows? We get to explore that in this minute in great detail. First off, how does he even get them out of his quiver? It doesn’t look like arrowheads could make it out of its top. We try to figure out the system he has for selecting arrowheads. Is it a combination system with the buttons on his bow? Or more like an up-down-select set of buttons? And how many extra arrowheads does he keep in his quiver? Another question that comes up relates to pulling arrows out of victims to reuse the shaft. Is there a button on the trigger than leaves the head behind, which is why there’s no arrowhead on the one he struck down this Chitauri with? And does he have some sort of sanitation system to clean the viscera off the shaft before reusing it? So many questions...
That takes us to his exciting escape from the Chitauri chariots heading his way to blow up the top of the building. It’s his handy grappling hook arrowhead, and that creates all its own questions. How does that little head hold so much weight? What’s with the cable? And how does it attach to his bow? Regardless, it does save Clint’s life, even if he’s in a lot of pain afterward. Of course, Kate Bishop’s watching from the across the street, lest we forget.
Meanwhile, Hulk’s taking out Chitauri on a building top and then is surrounded by nearly two dozen more that blast him. Why doesn’t he jump out? We discuss in detail, before heading to the helicarrier where we see a jet called into action from Jenny Agutter’s member of the WSC and Maria Hill taking note. Very busy minute. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• Karate Kid Minute
• Fright Night Minute
• Superman & Lois TV Talk
• Sword Boys
• Robin on Twitter and Letterboxd
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
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• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

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Minute One Hundred Twenty Two: From Erik’s Secret Safety to Quickdraw Archery on the RooftopLester Clark and Kynan Dias from The Exorcist Minute join us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-twenty-second minute of The Avengers...There’s a space where the film might have made more sense if Erik was blinded by his passion for science and willingly did all this work to make this machine, only to realize at this point that he was wrong. That’s not the story we get, and so the fact that Erik somehow knew to build a safety into his machine feels very heavy-handed to us. But the story needs to be moving along quickly as we’re entering the climactic finale and just need to make things quickly understood. 
That takes us to Thor using his incredible leg muscles to stabilize himself on this chariot as he takes out several Chitauri before completely getting knocked off by a leviathan crashing through what turns out to be the Baxter Building, at least based on the real world address. Why was this poor friendly sea cow of the skies flying through a building? Well, turns out Iron Man was shooting it with lasers and chasing it. No wonder it’s running and likely scared!
Tony decides to do his little Jonah move which speaks to the fact that he really didn’t know or understand the actual story. That aside, we get to see his Thigh Side-Winders in action! The explosion does throw him to product placement corner before we return to Barton on the roof. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• Tune in to The Exorcist Minute, follow it on Facebook or Instagram, and join The Exorcist Minute Facebook Group to be a part of the conversation
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• Trailer #1
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
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Minute One Hundred Twenty One: From Nat’s Tuck-and-Roll Landing to Erik’s Big Reveal... AlmostLachlan Thiele from the Quiet on Set Podcast joins us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-twenty-first minute of The Avengers...Nat nails her landing on the tippity-top of Stark Tower, and luckily they have walls so she doesn’t roll right off. What’s perfect about her landing is the fantastic match cut we get from her flipping her hair (certainly required in every film by this point) to Loki doing the exact same thing. Those gorgeous locks. The filmmakers clearly knew what they were doing with this moment.
But what is Loki looking at? It’s not Nat because she’s behind and above him. It’s not Clint because he’s 400 feet below him. It’s not Hulk because he hasn’t arrived yet. We stew on it and think perhaps he didn’t realize she leapt from her chariot so might be scanning the skies for her?
That does take us to the arrival of Hulk, which gives us plenty to discuss. The humor. The “puny god” line. Loki’s speechifying. The film style where if it’s not in frame, it doesn’t exist. Asgardian pain tolerance. The awkward shifting of antagonist with the end of our villain in a comedy beat. It’s a great moment but certainly brings up many angles of discussion.
We end our conversation back on the roof with Nat as she talks to Erik about his machine. It’s a shame it’s a bit of an exposition dump, but we are at that point in the film where they’re trying to hurry us through to the end. Still, Erik does give us a line here which certainly feels like it’s setting him up as a tremendous villain in future films. It’s a shame he was never used in that capacity. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• The Quiet on Set Podcast
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• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
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• Script
• Trailer #1
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

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Minute One Hundred Twenty: From Fury Recognizing the Council’s Decision to Black Widow’s Leap of FaithFather David Mowry, Chaplain of the Movies by Minutes community, joins us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-twentieth minute of The Avengers...Ah, the World Security Council. We have fun delving into the complexities of a shadow organization like this, and how it relates to SHIELD. And Fury’s positional relationship to them – are they all equal in their roles or is Fury subordinate? And if he’s subordinate, should we care more that he’s not listening to them? The answer is no because 1) Fury’s on the side of our heroes and we have a relationship with them, and 2) it’s Samuel L. Jackson.
But why the decision to use a nuke instead of something a bit smaller? It hasn’t even been an hour since the attack started. Wouldn’t they try some other methods first? This leads us to talk about the type of film we’re watching – it’s a superhero film. We need superhero-sized threats. Just as we’ve discussed previously how it wouldn’t be the same if the might of the US military was here fighting along side the Avengers, it wouldn’t be the same if they were fighting simple missiles. It needed to be a nuke.
Still, we’re not thrilled with more of those implications brought on by the choice.
From there, we find Black Widow being pursued by Loki and Clint offering to help. Aside from some elevation complaints, it’s a wonderful sequence and leads to a great gag as Loki catches Hawkeye’s arrow before it blows up in his face.
We end our conversation talking about Nat’s crazy leap, the dodgy effects, and Father David’s final Christ and the Cape segment this season. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• Check out Father David’s website or find him on Twitter
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

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Minute One Hundred Nineteen: From Cap Lost in a Looking Glass to Cap Lost in His ThoughtsFather David Mowry, Chaplain of the Movies by Minutes community, joins us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-nineteenth minute of The Avengers...We’re back with Cap in that little side mirror. What were they trying to say here? Or was it just something to do because it looks cool and perhaps feels a bit more like an image you’d find on the pages of a comic book? We land on the latter. Regarding Hawkeye’s message to Cap, however, we have no idea how he knows there’s an issue in the bank. He’s 400 feet in the air, after all, on the top of a building.
That takes us to our deleted scene where we get more backstory with Beth the waitress as she flees the Pershing Street Cafe, makes it through the streets, sees Officer Saunders get killed by a Chitauri blast, then gets taken herself. She ends up in the 42nd Street Bank as a hostage with dozens of other civilians, where we find her in the theatrical cut. There’s some odd and uncomfortable Holocaust imagery and themes here that come across more in the deleted scenes, but even without that, it raises too many questions for us. Why are the Chitauri rounding people up and killing them in this way? Why not just gun them down in the street? And why does their bomb only seem to work on two planes? 
All that said, we have a great fight between Captain America and the Chitauri, not to mention a fantastically cool escape that Cap does, as the Chitauri are disintegrated by their own bomb. That leads us back outside where Cap’s dazed and looks at all the damage, and Beth the waitress just might actually recognize him. His mask did get ripped off, after all. Anyway, it’s a confusing scene but does have some fun action. Plus, we get another Christ and the Cape from Father David! Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• Check out Father David’s website or find him on Twitter
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
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• Trailer #1
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

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Minute One Hundred Eighteen: From A Game of Follow-the-Arrow to Our Second Odd Mirror Shot of the FilmIn the one-hundred-eighteenth minute of The Avengers...It’s the second half of our fantastic single shot traveling from hero to hero, and we’re here for it. In this minute, we follow Hawkeye’s arrow to the Chitauri it hits to the leviathan it crashes into to Hulk and Thor on the back of the beast. It’s quite a ride! Unfortunately, this does lead to more devastating treatment of our dear sea cows of the skies – the leviathan. Hulk and Thor team up to take this poor beast down, and sadly, it crashes into Grand Central Terminal where it not only dies but its eyeball explodes. Who thought that was a good idea to depict? This film already had its fill of eyeball trauma with the ocular extraction instrument, but now this? It’s just awful. 
It does lead to a great punch as Hulk pounds Thor. Before this, they seemed a bit antagonistic but this might just be the start of their love/hate relationship as they both learn they’re comfortable beating on each other. Erik, on the other hand, is by himself and comes to on the roof of Stark Tower. We try to deduce why he doesn’t go through the same pop art Warhol color trip that Clint went through and think we landed on something that works. We end the minute with a bit of Cap taking out a Chitauri and another funky mirror shot that may not be as cool as the filmmakers thought it was. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
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Minute One Hundred Seventeen: From Nat Being Sure to Clint Pointing an Arrow... Right at UsJames Anderson and Colin Parker from the Timeline Scavengers podcast join us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-seventeenth minute of The Avengers...Steve gives Nat a boost and it’s quite the maneuver. It leads us to bring up the wonderful Heidi Moneymaker yet again as she does amazing work as Scarlett Johansson’s stunt double. Is this her? Is it Scarlett? No idea, but we celebrate Heidi all the same. She goes on to take down the Chitauri on the chariot, and she ends up piloting it via blades sunk into the back of the Chitauri pilot. Ouch! It’s intense.
This leads us to yet another fantastic shot in the film. It’s a oner that starts with Natasha on the chariot, brings Tony in to help her and then Cap, takes us up to Clint battling from the rooftops, and goes on from there. That’s all we get in this minute, though. Regardless, it’s fantastic. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• James on Twitter
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• Find Timeline Scavengers Podcast and other projects involving James and Colin on Scavengers Network
• Jamie Benning’s Filmumentaries
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• Trailer #1
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
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Minute One Hundred Sixteen: From Tony Complaining About the Lack of Invitation From Thor to Nat Asking for a BoostMike Gravagno from The Superhero Show Show and Movie of the Year joins us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-sixteenth minute of The Avengers...Tony’s upset that Thor didn’t invite him to play, but why isn’t Tony more concerned about, you know, helping non-supers, like Natasha and Clint, or perhaps actual New York citizens? Well, we all really know that he’s in it for the great stories he’ll be able to tell later, right? We also get to deal with the leviathan, which for some reason now decides it’s going to fly through a building. But is it? We ponder the existence of these creatures, wondering if they’re really gentle giants like whale sharks forced to do the bidding of the Chitauri, perhaps even controlled by someone on board their mother ship. Perhaps all it’s wanting is for someone to help it. Unfortunately, Hulk doesn’t care. (He also doesn’t care about anyone working in this building or who will have to repair it.) He leaps onto the leviathan and then... somehow pulls it off course. We try to figure out how this happens. Can Hulk change mass? We end the conversation talking about Natasha taking on the Chitauri on her own and being exhausted from it, yet still pushing forward. We love that about her. We’re not as much fans of her Black Widow’s Bite, wishing she were given more opportunities to do interesting things with it. Still, she does get to end the minute with the decision to get boosted up by Steve – pretty badass. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• The Superhero Show Show
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• PopFilter on the web, Twitter, and Instagram
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

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Minute One Hundred Fifteen: From Fury Watching the News to Tony Praising HawkeyeFilm Critic Ewan Graf from the Quiet on Set podcast joins us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-fifteenth minute of The Avengers...After a run through the various news feeds Fury’s tapped in to, we get to chat a bit with Ewan about Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and why we like him so much. We also get to touch on the potential conflict in the deleted scenes between Fury and Hill, and how this connection to the World Security Council certainly plays more prominently there. 
We then head to Manhattan and find Hawkeye directing traffic (or at least Tony) from the top of a nearby skyscraper. He’s doing what Cap told him to do, but how does that work? We’re a bit mixed on if we like Hawkeye being used in this way, because it really feels like they were trying to write more ways for him to make sense as an Avenger. At least they could’ve given him more cool arrows!
We also chat about Iron Man’s trajectory and how Andy traced it on Google Maps, finding that it works and deciding he doesn’t need to go to New York City now that he’s done this bit on Google Maps. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• Listen to the Quiet on Set podcast
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• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

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Minute One Hundred Fourteen: From Thor Taking Flight to A Lightning-Induced Explosion at the PortalIn the one-hundred-fourteenth minute of The Avengers...Thor’s off and away! Natasha’s looking tough! That’s right, Steve’s been busy giving orders and everyone’s following as he’s now proven himself to be team leader. Even Hulk listens to him! We do ponder the journey the character of Hulk takes through this franchise and acknowledge that this was a necessary bit of character development for him as they couldn’t just have a giant, green, uncontrollable monster rampaging every time he hulked out. But we do miss scary Hulk.
Hulk’s smashing does give us a chance to talk about the buildings in the area and exactly how many Chitauri he takes out (hint: it’s not many). We also get to marvel at his ability to take out Chitauri chariots midair. As for Thor? It seems he took a lap or something because yet again, he doesn’t seem to be coming from where he just left on his journey to the top of the Chrysler building. But it does put him in a place to do some cool lightning work. Too bad some of the shots look fake. And it’s actually the closeups that bother us, not the wider shots. Tune in!
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Film Sundries

• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
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• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

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