Alright, since I"m knocking out all these Best Picture movies pretty fast, here's like, three different movie reviews for the price of one. Just kidding, I don't have ads. Maybe I should do that?
Mad Max: Fury Road
This movie is pretty much the best car chase ever. EVER.
Have no idea what's happeneing? That's okay, just know that it's awesome.
I mean, there's a dude with a flamethrower guitar, like for real.
Also, I'm amazed at how Tom Hardy can act with like literally two thirds of his face covered all the time.
Anyway, Mad Max kind of came out of nowhere over the summer. Since everyone was getting pumped about Age of Ultron (and subsequently let down HARD), this movie, after several years of buildup and a cast change (Mel Gibson is ((thankfully)) nowhere to be found), had a lot of stuff riding on it (Terribly sorry about the pun). You've got Tom Hardy in the title role, being awesome.
But the real big deal here is Charlize Thereon as Imperator Furiosa. You know that female action hero that Marvel has refused to release a movie for, or the one that every other movie has turned into a sex kitten? Furiosa is all your dreams come true. She's awesome, she kicks butt, and she's got a great story. That's not even to mention the band of pregnant ladies she's helping escape the citadel.
You've got Nicholas Hoult being crazy too, which he does a good job with.
The film is visually stunning, always exciting, and completely unique.
Will it win Best Picture: Probably not, but hey, if it does, I'll drink to that.
Spotlight
When I went into this movie, I was readying myself for a movie that was going to be hard to watch with lots of A-listers yelling at each other. Thank God that is not the case. Spotlight manages to strike the perfect balance between a watchable movie and an expose' on an awful series of events.
The acting is excellent, very down to Earth, not a lot of showing off just for the sake of it. I especially enjoyed Michael Keaton (who is redeeming himself after Birdman for me). Despite being an all star cast, I actually believed them as all of these normal people.
It's about the Boston Globe reporters tasked with the investigation of allegations of abuse within the Catholic church. Not exactly your usual Friday night fare but it's a beautifully and tastefully done piece that cuts straight to the heart without any excess vanity.
Spotlight is not a melodrama. That is precisely why it works. Absolutely worth seeing.
Will it win Best Picture? Signs point to yes. And I'd be perfectly happy with that.
The Big Short
Just a note: if you're photosensitive, I wouldn't really recommend seeing this movie. The editing is frantic and could cause seizures if you're sensitive to that.
Anyway, on to the movie.
I didn't love this film despite its best efforts. I laughed a couple of times, but most of the time it just felt rather meh.
Christian Bale's character takes up far too much time in this movie for a character that easily could have been developed in two or three scenes. The movie soars whenever Ryan Gosling is on screen, and Steve Carrell is basically playing Michael Scott with anger issues, which can be kind of fun. The ending is effective, but it just takes too long to get there. The pacing is the Achilles tendon of this movie. It's alternately lightning fast and slow as molasses.
I liked the devices they use to explain some of the more complicated economic stuff (i.e. Margot Robbie sipping champagne in a bathtub, Selena Gomez playing poker, Anthony Bourdain cooking stew) but I still felt confused for chunks of the film (my mom did too, so it's not just me being two weeks into AP Econ).
Ultimately, those of you who loved The Wolf of Wall Street will probably either find a kindred spirit or an eager ripoff. I am somewhere in the middleground on that one.
Will it win Best Picture? Not a chance.
I'll be back in the next couple of days with The Revenant, Carol, The Danish Girl, Room, and whatever else I can squeeze in.
-Randi
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Into the Woods
Another Christmas, another movie musical.
Into the Woods, considered the most accessible of Stephen Sondheim's challenging canon, has made a movie debut at last. And just as it did on Broadway, is garnering everything from confusion to cheers to... more confusion.
I was admittedly a little hesitant about this one. I'm a pretty big fan of the original Broadway production with Bernadette Peters in the role of the Witch. A musical movie that does not have a lot of Broadway people in it is usually a warning sign for me that I might be getting something that does not do a fantastic score justice (see Les Mis). And Into the Woods, which features actors who have done musical movies before i.e. Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia, Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect which kind of counts I guess, Daniel Huttlestone was a standout Gavroche in Les Mis (edit: I found this out after the first draft of this post but Lilla Crawford who plays Little Red was Annie on Broadway in a production that closed about a year ago). Anyway, not a lot of Broadway people in this show that is very Broadway. Into the Woods score is not in any way pop, like the tunes of Frozen or even the bit-of-both in Les Miserables (sorry for all the comparisons). This initially worried me.
However, I am happy to report that I quite liked the movie. I think it is one of the better results of what is beginning to be a new era for the movie musical.
Into the Woods is the most accessible for a reason. It takes some of your favorite old fairy tales, and then some new stuff, and basically runs with it, examining morality and wishes, and that happily ever after rarely turns out like we think it should. It's about delving into the psychological depths of some of the world's most beloved characters.
It follows the baker and his wife, cursed with barrenness by their next door neighbor, the witch, and how they intertwine with stories like Cinderella and Rapunzel and Jack and the beanstalk and Little Red and so on so forth. It plays off of your Disneyfied expectations of these stories to create something new and not entirely nice.
Which is awkward, because Disney produced the movie.
Therein was another of my doubts about ITW. It was created as a rebuttal to the sanitized fairy tales the youth of American grew up (and are still growing up) on. A PG rating for a musical that could easily be rated R in its original content produced by a company famous for child-safe sanitary fairy tales? It was puzzling to say the least.
And therein was probably the biggest, but one of the few, gripes I had with this film. Did you know Rapunzel dies in the original? Did you know that Cinderella's prince and the Baker's Wife do more than just kiss? I'm not trying to be on my high horse or anything of that nature, but I feel that it took away some of the emotional punch of the story, all in the name of getting it a kid's rating in order to perhaps entice some families. The kid behind me started crying when Milky White, Jack's cow, died. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the things these kids would have to deal with later on in the movie.
However, that was one of my only gripes. This movie surprised me in how good it actually was.
There is not a bad singer in the bunch, thank God. Meryl Streep positively kills it as the Witch, one of the most demanding Sondheim roles. She absolutely commits to it. James Corden and Emily Blunt are perfect for the Baker and his Wife, possessing that kind of every-person quality necessary for this kind of thing. Lilla Crawford brings a Broadway edge to the role of Little Red (which makes sense, since she was in the latest Annie revival that closed about a year ago). Little Red is easily my least favorite character of the bunch in Into the Woods, but Crawford manages to make it more likeable in the film, which surprised me so, so kudos for that. Daniel Huttlestone, who killed it in Les Miserables, plays Jack of beanstalk fame, and does an excellent job. It's a little weird to see someone who actually looks Jack's age playing him (it's usually someone in their late teens early teens) but Huttlestone is really good and his singing sounds fantastic. Again, it lends that credibility to it. What works on stage doesn't always work on film, and it'd look super weird to have some late teens early twenties guy playing a kid in a film, even though it works in the show.
I was just a tad disappointed in Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, but only in regards to her singing. It's not that it was bad by any means, I just feel like it did not fit the character as well as a more classical soprano might have. although Kendrick's acting is spot on. She's a very endearing Cinderella. On the other hand, Chris Pine has a pretty good singing voice as the Prince (and gets easily the best moment in the show along with Rapunzel's prince), his acting is so phoned in it takes you out of the story. Luckily, he's not that involved in a lot of speaking scenes. Rapunzel and her Prince are super minor characters, but both are excellent, and I have no bad words about either.
On another note, can we stop putting actors who don't have more than five minutes in the movie top billing on the poster? Johnny Depp makes a very creepy wolf and does good with what is given to him, but he is literally only in it for one song. From the way they were promoting it, I thought that maybe they'd given him some extra stuff, which is confusing, but they didn't.
In technical aspects, the movie also excels. The costumes and make-up are a fantastic compliment to the story, and I especially adored the Witch's costume post-transformation (I promise, that's not a spoiler). The set and production design are just the right blend of realistic and fairy-tale, and the actual Woods themselves are just perfect, so props to the set team. And the orchestrations and music are just beautiful, and props to putting in the first Night Waltz from A Little Night Music in the scene at the ball, that's a really neat Sondheim easter egg!
Anyway, I really did enjoy the movie, and hope this continues to bring movie musicals that are good adaptations that are made to work on screen as opposed to just copying what was on the stage. They're different, and that's not a bad thing.
Into the Woods, considered the most accessible of Stephen Sondheim's challenging canon, has made a movie debut at last. And just as it did on Broadway, is garnering everything from confusion to cheers to... more confusion.
I was admittedly a little hesitant about this one. I'm a pretty big fan of the original Broadway production with Bernadette Peters in the role of the Witch. A musical movie that does not have a lot of Broadway people in it is usually a warning sign for me that I might be getting something that does not do a fantastic score justice (see Les Mis). And Into the Woods, which features actors who have done musical movies before i.e. Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia, Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect which kind of counts I guess, Daniel Huttlestone was a standout Gavroche in Les Mis (edit: I found this out after the first draft of this post but Lilla Crawford who plays Little Red was Annie on Broadway in a production that closed about a year ago). Anyway, not a lot of Broadway people in this show that is very Broadway. Into the Woods score is not in any way pop, like the tunes of Frozen or even the bit-of-both in Les Miserables (sorry for all the comparisons). This initially worried me.
However, I am happy to report that I quite liked the movie. I think it is one of the better results of what is beginning to be a new era for the movie musical.
Into the Woods is the most accessible for a reason. It takes some of your favorite old fairy tales, and then some new stuff, and basically runs with it, examining morality and wishes, and that happily ever after rarely turns out like we think it should. It's about delving into the psychological depths of some of the world's most beloved characters.
It follows the baker and his wife, cursed with barrenness by their next door neighbor, the witch, and how they intertwine with stories like Cinderella and Rapunzel and Jack and the beanstalk and Little Red and so on so forth. It plays off of your Disneyfied expectations of these stories to create something new and not entirely nice.
Which is awkward, because Disney produced the movie.
Therein was another of my doubts about ITW. It was created as a rebuttal to the sanitized fairy tales the youth of American grew up (and are still growing up) on. A PG rating for a musical that could easily be rated R in its original content produced by a company famous for child-safe sanitary fairy tales? It was puzzling to say the least.
And therein was probably the biggest, but one of the few, gripes I had with this film. Did you know Rapunzel dies in the original? Did you know that Cinderella's prince and the Baker's Wife do more than just kiss? I'm not trying to be on my high horse or anything of that nature, but I feel that it took away some of the emotional punch of the story, all in the name of getting it a kid's rating in order to perhaps entice some families. The kid behind me started crying when Milky White, Jack's cow, died. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the things these kids would have to deal with later on in the movie.
However, that was one of my only gripes. This movie surprised me in how good it actually was.
There is not a bad singer in the bunch, thank God. Meryl Streep positively kills it as the Witch, one of the most demanding Sondheim roles. She absolutely commits to it. James Corden and Emily Blunt are perfect for the Baker and his Wife, possessing that kind of every-person quality necessary for this kind of thing. Lilla Crawford brings a Broadway edge to the role of Little Red (which makes sense, since she was in the latest Annie revival that closed about a year ago). Little Red is easily my least favorite character of the bunch in Into the Woods, but Crawford manages to make it more likeable in the film, which surprised me so, so kudos for that. Daniel Huttlestone, who killed it in Les Miserables, plays Jack of beanstalk fame, and does an excellent job. It's a little weird to see someone who actually looks Jack's age playing him (it's usually someone in their late teens early teens) but Huttlestone is really good and his singing sounds fantastic. Again, it lends that credibility to it. What works on stage doesn't always work on film, and it'd look super weird to have some late teens early twenties guy playing a kid in a film, even though it works in the show.
I was just a tad disappointed in Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, but only in regards to her singing. It's not that it was bad by any means, I just feel like it did not fit the character as well as a more classical soprano might have. although Kendrick's acting is spot on. She's a very endearing Cinderella. On the other hand, Chris Pine has a pretty good singing voice as the Prince (and gets easily the best moment in the show along with Rapunzel's prince), his acting is so phoned in it takes you out of the story. Luckily, he's not that involved in a lot of speaking scenes. Rapunzel and her Prince are super minor characters, but both are excellent, and I have no bad words about either.
On another note, can we stop putting actors who don't have more than five minutes in the movie top billing on the poster? Johnny Depp makes a very creepy wolf and does good with what is given to him, but he is literally only in it for one song. From the way they were promoting it, I thought that maybe they'd given him some extra stuff, which is confusing, but they didn't.
In technical aspects, the movie also excels. The costumes and make-up are a fantastic compliment to the story, and I especially adored the Witch's costume post-transformation (I promise, that's not a spoiler). The set and production design are just the right blend of realistic and fairy-tale, and the actual Woods themselves are just perfect, so props to the set team. And the orchestrations and music are just beautiful, and props to putting in the first Night Waltz from A Little Night Music in the scene at the ball, that's a really neat Sondheim easter egg!
Anyway, I really did enjoy the movie, and hope this continues to bring movie musicals that are good adaptations that are made to work on screen as opposed to just copying what was on the stage. They're different, and that's not a bad thing.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
I'm Going To Talk About Iron Man 3 (But This Is Not My Review)
Yesterday, my mom, my sister, and I squeezed into a crowded theater to see Iron Man 3 on opening day. I was beyond excited. Marvel's first follow up after Avengers, with good crowd reaction thus far. I had my stuffed pig, Agent Coulson, and a bottle of Diet Coke I managed to sneak in. The promos starts to roll, and I was expecting nothing more than an excellent summer blockbuster.
The movie starts to hit it's stride. I'm sitting back, rolling with it, laughing a lot. Then, Tony is in a discussion with Rohdey when something goes wrong. I think perhaps the arc reactor is spazzing out, that maybe the Mandarin is messing with him. And then Jarvis says it. Tony Stark, you just had a panic attack.
I cried right then and there in the theater. My mom and sister can attest to it.
I don't know if you guys know this, but I happen to have an anxiety disorder. I had my first panic attack on my birthday last year. It sucks. It's not cute, it's not a quirky personality trait. It sucks, a lot. In fact, when I went to see Angers on opening day last year, I had to leave in the middle of the film because I started panicking. I hate it. And I still have that going on.
But you know got me through a lot of the unbearable things? The first day of school, the field shows in the strait jacket of a marching uniform, the unidentifiable fear that plagued me when I least needed it? Superheroes. The Avengers in particular.
To see Tony Stark struggling through something I struggle with was immensely powerful for me. I could hardly believe it when I saw it, and I applaud that film makers for their choice to include it in the film, and I also applaud RDJ's accurate portrayal.
Needless to say, I feel a lot braver now.
-Randi
The movie starts to hit it's stride. I'm sitting back, rolling with it, laughing a lot. Then, Tony is in a discussion with Rohdey when something goes wrong. I think perhaps the arc reactor is spazzing out, that maybe the Mandarin is messing with him. And then Jarvis says it. Tony Stark, you just had a panic attack.
I cried right then and there in the theater. My mom and sister can attest to it.
I don't know if you guys know this, but I happen to have an anxiety disorder. I had my first panic attack on my birthday last year. It sucks. It's not cute, it's not a quirky personality trait. It sucks, a lot. In fact, when I went to see Angers on opening day last year, I had to leave in the middle of the film because I started panicking. I hate it. And I still have that going on.
But you know got me through a lot of the unbearable things? The first day of school, the field shows in the strait jacket of a marching uniform, the unidentifiable fear that plagued me when I least needed it? Superheroes. The Avengers in particular.
To see Tony Stark struggling through something I struggle with was immensely powerful for me. I could hardly believe it when I saw it, and I applaud that film makers for their choice to include it in the film, and I also applaud RDJ's accurate portrayal.
Needless to say, I feel a lot braver now.
-Randi
Monday, April 22, 2013
Best of 2012 In Cinema
Welp, four months after 2013 has begun, and I'm posting my best-of lists. Here goes.
(These are in no particular order, by the way).
1. The Avengers. I'm pretty sure anyone who regularly reads this blog is tired of me going on about The Avengers, so I'll just stop with that for now. But yeah, best blockbuster of the year, hands down.
2. Argo. Yup. Even Oscar fame has done little to tarnish the reputation of this fantastic little movie. A nail biting, riveting, and altogether triumphant in just about every way, Argo lives up to the hype.
3. Silver Linings Playbook. A dysfunctional movie about dysfunctional people that made my dysfunctional side happy.
4. The Hobbit. Coming back home to Middle Earth after eight years was one of the best homecomings I've had the privilege to be there for. Desolation of Smaug is going to be the most amazing Middle Earth adventure yet.
5. Les Miserables. This also needs no more praise from me seeing as it's all I've talked about for the last two months. Or sang about really.
6. The Hunger Games. I admit it, I am a teenage girl who loooooves the Hunger Games. The action, the acting, the tension. It's all there with Hunger Games, despite a few problems I had with it. Catching Fire can't get here soon enough.
7. The Perks of Being A Wallflower. I fell head over heels in love with this book when I first read it, and I think like the movie even more. More than an adventure into mental illness, and also more than a teen movie. Emma Watson and Ezra Miller are the standouts here, but the rest of the cast does an excellent job as well.
8. Skyfall. Kick butt theme song, kick butt action sequences, witty dialog, and an excellent story. A triumphant return after the lopsided Quantum of Solace. The best Bond movie to date.
9. Beasts of the Southern Wild. A unique take on the urban fantasy genre with an astounding debut performance by then six year old Quevenzahne Wallis. I want to be her when I grow up.
10. Life of Pi. The philosophical journey of a boy named after a French swimming pool and an adult Royal Bengal Tiger, that may or may not in fact be a tiger. Ang Lee's take on Yann Martel's instant classic of a novel is intriguing, visually dazzling, and an extremely memorable adventure. I didn't think I would like this one nearly as much as I did.
There were more, but because I consider myself a film critic, I feel I must submit a top 10 list.
I would like to mention here that I am so so sorry to hear about the death of Roger Ebert. He was an amazing figure in the cinema community whose reviews have always been a pleasure to read. Rest in peace, Mr. Ebert.
-Randi
(These are in no particular order, by the way).
1. The Avengers. I'm pretty sure anyone who regularly reads this blog is tired of me going on about The Avengers, so I'll just stop with that for now. But yeah, best blockbuster of the year, hands down.
2. Argo. Yup. Even Oscar fame has done little to tarnish the reputation of this fantastic little movie. A nail biting, riveting, and altogether triumphant in just about every way, Argo lives up to the hype.
3. Silver Linings Playbook. A dysfunctional movie about dysfunctional people that made my dysfunctional side happy.
4. The Hobbit. Coming back home to Middle Earth after eight years was one of the best homecomings I've had the privilege to be there for. Desolation of Smaug is going to be the most amazing Middle Earth adventure yet.
5. Les Miserables. This also needs no more praise from me seeing as it's all I've talked about for the last two months. Or sang about really.
6. The Hunger Games. I admit it, I am a teenage girl who loooooves the Hunger Games. The action, the acting, the tension. It's all there with Hunger Games, despite a few problems I had with it. Catching Fire can't get here soon enough.
7. The Perks of Being A Wallflower. I fell head over heels in love with this book when I first read it, and I think like the movie even more. More than an adventure into mental illness, and also more than a teen movie. Emma Watson and Ezra Miller are the standouts here, but the rest of the cast does an excellent job as well.
8. Skyfall. Kick butt theme song, kick butt action sequences, witty dialog, and an excellent story. A triumphant return after the lopsided Quantum of Solace. The best Bond movie to date.
9. Beasts of the Southern Wild. A unique take on the urban fantasy genre with an astounding debut performance by then six year old Quevenzahne Wallis. I want to be her when I grow up.
10. Life of Pi. The philosophical journey of a boy named after a French swimming pool and an adult Royal Bengal Tiger, that may or may not in fact be a tiger. Ang Lee's take on Yann Martel's instant classic of a novel is intriguing, visually dazzling, and an extremely memorable adventure. I didn't think I would like this one nearly as much as I did.
There were more, but because I consider myself a film critic, I feel I must submit a top 10 list.
I would like to mention here that I am so so sorry to hear about the death of Roger Ebert. He was an amazing figure in the cinema community whose reviews have always been a pleasure to read. Rest in peace, Mr. Ebert.
-Randi
Friday, December 2, 2011
Random Quiz From Tumblr.
Yep, I'm on the Tumblr now (all the time). Here's a random quiz I found so as for you all to know me better.
1. What was the last movie you watched? It was either Hanna or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
2. The last noteworthy thing you did? Started recording a song with my brother. Or held a door open for an old lady. I suppose that's noteworthy to her, right?
3. Last book you read? All the way through would be Lost Voices by Sarah Porter (mermaids, singing, competition, cool world building, and all that other stuff). Last book that I just randomly read was Julie and Julia.
4. Last thing you felt guilty about? I recently bought Sucker Punch, a movie I've blogged about before, and it made my mom really uncomfortable because of the movie cover and how they were dressed, which I completely understand.. I actually threw it away a couple weeks ago. I also had issues with the way it was marketed. When I saw the film on Red Box, it was cool, but they used a slutty dream sequence for the cover of the DVD, and it really made me question to whom the film was aimed towards; Middle school boys or girls? So yeah, not the best purchase I've made. Mom, if you're reading this, sorry about that.
5. Last thing that scared you? It was either a horror movie TV spot or my cat trying to kill me.
6. Something you still wonder about? Mermaid anatomy. How do they go to the bathroom or whatever? Stupid, I know.
7. Last album you listened to? The Slytherin EP by Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls.
8. What is something you're proud of? My musical skillz. I got 'em. Music is one of the things I'm really good at.
9. Name one friend of yours? The Diabolical Diabetic. We watch actions movies together and scare people at Target.
10. Last question. What do you want for Christmas? It's a long list, but a TARDIS with the Doctor, a hippo, the Weasley twins, Dobby, and some good movies.
Thanks for reading this stupidity. I swear the next post will be about something more serious.
-Randi
1. What was the last movie you watched? It was either Hanna or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
2. The last noteworthy thing you did? Started recording a song with my brother. Or held a door open for an old lady. I suppose that's noteworthy to her, right?
3. Last book you read? All the way through would be Lost Voices by Sarah Porter (mermaids, singing, competition, cool world building, and all that other stuff). Last book that I just randomly read was Julie and Julia.
4. Last thing you felt guilty about? I recently bought Sucker Punch, a movie I've blogged about before, and it made my mom really uncomfortable because of the movie cover and how they were dressed, which I completely understand.. I actually threw it away a couple weeks ago. I also had issues with the way it was marketed. When I saw the film on Red Box, it was cool, but they used a slutty dream sequence for the cover of the DVD, and it really made me question to whom the film was aimed towards; Middle school boys or girls? So yeah, not the best purchase I've made. Mom, if you're reading this, sorry about that.
5. Last thing that scared you? It was either a horror movie TV spot or my cat trying to kill me.
6. Something you still wonder about? Mermaid anatomy. How do they go to the bathroom or whatever? Stupid, I know.
7. Last album you listened to? The Slytherin EP by Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls.
8. What is something you're proud of? My musical skillz. I got 'em. Music is one of the things I'm really good at.
9. Name one friend of yours? The Diabolical Diabetic. We watch actions movies together and scare people at Target.
10. Last question. What do you want for Christmas? It's a long list, but a TARDIS with the Doctor, a hippo, the Weasley twins, Dobby, and some good movies.
Thanks for reading this stupidity. I swear the next post will be about something more serious.
-Randi
Thursday, November 17, 2011
7 Things That Irk Me In The Twilight Saga.
As I was looking through my local events paper this morning (no good bands coming here, no good movies coming out this weekend) there was a cut out poster for the new Premiere of Breaking Dawn part 1 featuring Edward and Bella pretty much naked and wrapped around each other as per usual. My mum and I both flinched.
"Part 1. How original." I snickered.
In honor of the new Twilight movie (honor isn't the right word, but craptastic didn't fit my flow of words), I have to admit something very shameful I did around a year ago.
I read every single last page of the Twilight Saga. No joke. And almost barfed when I finished, 'cause that stuff is ridiculous, disturbing, wrong, and poorly written.
So Here's 8 reasons why it's disturbing in no particular order.
NOTE: This isn't hating on Twilight fans (only the crazy ones who throw things at you if you don't like them. I've met some of those). Just the horridness that is Twilight.
Some of these are for the books, some of these are based from the movies.
1. The Vampire mythology is all wrong. Vampires don't sparkle, they aren't fairy princesses. They also by nature don't want to spend their life in high school over and over as Edward does. That's wasting your stupid immortal life. And boring. All the time in the world and you picked to go to school? That's just messed up.
2. The acting in the films is some of the worst I've seen. The first movie was on FX the other day (I was going to see if Wilfred was on) and I burst out laughing a couple times at the stupidity of the screenplay, the acting, and reminding myself I read this piece of work. Kristen Stewart has no emotion what so ever, and couldn't convince me of anything she was saying. Robert Pattinson is particularly wooden and there's really nobody else in the film to alleviate any of this. That one Taylor kid shows up twice, and he's here just to show off his six pack (which I will admit is kind of hot, but no me gusta).
3. Edward and Bella's relationship is....disturbing. He watches her while she sleeps. He stalks her everywhere because he "just knows" that she's going to get in trouble. I just can't stand to think of anyone I ever date watching me sleep. It's completely wrong. And yet, girls are all "EDWARD IS THE HOTTEST AND SWEETEST AND KINDEST AND MOST CONSIDERATE VAMP EVA OMGZ". Not really.
4. Bella has issues. She can't do anything without Edward, tries to kill herself when he leaves her "for her own good" or something like that doesn't make sense, and she literally only cares about her precious fairy boy friend. The only person who exceeds Bella's level of obsession with Edward is Edward's obsession over Bella. She was not fun to read about, she annoyed the living life out of me, and was depressing in all ways possible.
5. When Bella has her demon baby, it grows up really fast because Stephanie Meyer is a cop out and Jacob starts to be in love with it or something. It's disturbing. I constantly wish I'd never read these stupid books, but I really really really wish I'd never thought to pick up Breaking Dawn. Ugh.
6. If there's one thing that was only mildly bothersome while reading the books, it's that Bella's dad isn't in the picture. At all. She has no parental guidance and it shows. That's unrealistic to me. Parents are never not involved when their kids fall in love with sketchy vampires. It was like Stephanie Meyer just said "I hate parental guidance, but I don't want to kill them, so let's just have all the parents be super spaced out." Not particularly sure why this bothers me so much, but it does.
7.Every single time I walk into a bookstore, there is some girl wearing a "Bite Me" shirt browsing in the young adult section for RPatz posters. She'll see me and smile ravenously, bounce up to where I'm picking my latest escapes and ask with much enthusiasm "Don't you just love Twilight?" and smile in anticipation of the imaginary fangirling we're about to do.
"No, I found them disgusting." I mumble and wonder where they put the Neil Gaiman books.
She will then promptly insult me and bounce away, off to pay for her hundreds of dollars in merchandise.
I can't do into a book store without this happening. No joke. It sucks. Yes, I know, not completely related, but close enough.
So what I'm really trying to say is.........
1. These books are disgusting.
2. These movies are horrid.
3.....
HARRY POTTA FO'EVA!
-Randi
"Part 1. How original." I snickered.
In honor of the new Twilight movie (honor isn't the right word, but craptastic didn't fit my flow of words), I have to admit something very shameful I did around a year ago.
I read every single last page of the Twilight Saga. No joke. And almost barfed when I finished, 'cause that stuff is ridiculous, disturbing, wrong, and poorly written.
So Here's 8 reasons why it's disturbing in no particular order.
NOTE: This isn't hating on Twilight fans (only the crazy ones who throw things at you if you don't like them. I've met some of those). Just the horridness that is Twilight.
Some of these are for the books, some of these are based from the movies.
1. The Vampire mythology is all wrong. Vampires don't sparkle, they aren't fairy princesses. They also by nature don't want to spend their life in high school over and over as Edward does. That's wasting your stupid immortal life. And boring. All the time in the world and you picked to go to school? That's just messed up.
2. The acting in the films is some of the worst I've seen. The first movie was on FX the other day (I was going to see if Wilfred was on) and I burst out laughing a couple times at the stupidity of the screenplay, the acting, and reminding myself I read this piece of work. Kristen Stewart has no emotion what so ever, and couldn't convince me of anything she was saying. Robert Pattinson is particularly wooden and there's really nobody else in the film to alleviate any of this. That one Taylor kid shows up twice, and he's here just to show off his six pack (which I will admit is kind of hot, but no me gusta).
3. Edward and Bella's relationship is....disturbing. He watches her while she sleeps. He stalks her everywhere because he "just knows" that she's going to get in trouble. I just can't stand to think of anyone I ever date watching me sleep. It's completely wrong. And yet, girls are all "EDWARD IS THE HOTTEST AND SWEETEST AND KINDEST AND MOST CONSIDERATE VAMP EVA OMGZ". Not really.
4. Bella has issues. She can't do anything without Edward, tries to kill herself when he leaves her "for her own good" or something like that doesn't make sense, and she literally only cares about her precious fairy boy friend. The only person who exceeds Bella's level of obsession with Edward is Edward's obsession over Bella. She was not fun to read about, she annoyed the living life out of me, and was depressing in all ways possible.
5. When Bella has her demon baby, it grows up really fast because Stephanie Meyer is a cop out and Jacob starts to be in love with it or something. It's disturbing. I constantly wish I'd never read these stupid books, but I really really really wish I'd never thought to pick up Breaking Dawn. Ugh.
6. If there's one thing that was only mildly bothersome while reading the books, it's that Bella's dad isn't in the picture. At all. She has no parental guidance and it shows. That's unrealistic to me. Parents are never not involved when their kids fall in love with sketchy vampires. It was like Stephanie Meyer just said "I hate parental guidance, but I don't want to kill them, so let's just have all the parents be super spaced out." Not particularly sure why this bothers me so much, but it does.
7.Every single time I walk into a bookstore, there is some girl wearing a "Bite Me" shirt browsing in the young adult section for RPatz posters. She'll see me and smile ravenously, bounce up to where I'm picking my latest escapes and ask with much enthusiasm "Don't you just love Twilight?" and smile in anticipation of the imaginary fangirling we're about to do.
"No, I found them disgusting." I mumble and wonder where they put the Neil Gaiman books.
She will then promptly insult me and bounce away, off to pay for her hundreds of dollars in merchandise.
I can't do into a book store without this happening. No joke. It sucks. Yes, I know, not completely related, but close enough.
So what I'm really trying to say is.........
1. These books are disgusting.
2. These movies are horrid.
3.....
HARRY POTTA FO'EVA!
-Randi
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The Great Week of Movie Watching! Part 1
Hi everyone! I've been watching a ton of movies lately, new and old. So I'm gonna sum 'em all up in a four part series.
The Help- First of all, I loved the book to the point of suffocation and this movie had high expectations. And it got as good as it could get. I'm not going to go into plot detail, just general over-view.
1. There's one of thing that the movie has that the book didin't: Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Stone with an amazing cast of supporting characters. I forgot the name of the lady who played Celia Foote but lawdy she was funny. The ending made me want to cry more than the book did and I really loved watching it. Like, I never thought WHEN IS IT GONNA BE OVER!?!?!? I loved sitting in the theater with my mum and laughing and crying and listening to other people have the same reaction
NOTE: The following review is writted (that was on purpose) by my fantabulous brother CALEB...
Schindler's List- I spent most of my life hearing about Schindler's List as a really great, really graphic, really emotional kind of movie. but in my whole life, I had never seen it. so Randi got it off Netflix. I watched it, and I must say that it was one of the best I've seen. I love Liam Neeson for his always epic acting, and this movie's probably his best (that I've seen at least. I've yet to see taken, which I was told is great). The black and white is hard to get used in a way, but it's not a negative at all. The picture quality itself is just as good as any movie made today and seeing that kind of quality in black 'n white is definitely a great effect. Color is used only twice in the movie, both times to show significant important things. If you wanna see what the holocaust was like, the closest depiction of it is this movie. No hidden violence here. All shown, all the time. Best movie I've seen in a while.
KEEL BEEL VON AND TWO (otherwise known as the two part film known as Kill Bill)- Quentin Tarantino has one of the best imaginations. Ever. I know, ranking such abstract things as imagination is super unfair. But Quentin Tarntino must be something of a genius. I think so anyway. But alas, I'd never seen Kill Bill, which is like his second most popular, well-loved, well-reviewed film (first goes to Pulp Fiction obviously). So I invited my best friend, the Diabolical Diabetic overe to watch them with me. And I loved them more than I loved the previous two movies. It had everything I love: Action, drama, weird swords, weirder people, long lost kids, tricked-out trucks, assassins, crazy asians, all done tongue in cheek. I won't give anything away, 'cause youu need to see these for yourself. It's a thrill ride fo' sho'.
That concludes part 1!
Love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi
The Help- First of all, I loved the book to the point of suffocation and this movie had high expectations. And it got as good as it could get. I'm not going to go into plot detail, just general over-view.
1. There's one of thing that the movie has that the book didin't: Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Stone with an amazing cast of supporting characters. I forgot the name of the lady who played Celia Foote but lawdy she was funny. The ending made me want to cry more than the book did and I really loved watching it. Like, I never thought WHEN IS IT GONNA BE OVER!?!?!? I loved sitting in the theater with my mum and laughing and crying and listening to other people have the same reaction
NOTE: The following review is writted (that was on purpose) by my fantabulous brother CALEB...
Schindler's List- I spent most of my life hearing about Schindler's List as a really great, really graphic, really emotional kind of movie. but in my whole life, I had never seen it. so Randi got it off Netflix. I watched it, and I must say that it was one of the best I've seen. I love Liam Neeson for his always epic acting, and this movie's probably his best (that I've seen at least. I've yet to see taken, which I was told is great). The black and white is hard to get used in a way, but it's not a negative at all. The picture quality itself is just as good as any movie made today and seeing that kind of quality in black 'n white is definitely a great effect. Color is used only twice in the movie, both times to show significant important things. If you wanna see what the holocaust was like, the closest depiction of it is this movie. No hidden violence here. All shown, all the time. Best movie I've seen in a while.
KEEL BEEL VON AND TWO (otherwise known as the two part film known as Kill Bill)- Quentin Tarantino has one of the best imaginations. Ever. I know, ranking such abstract things as imagination is super unfair. But Quentin Tarntino must be something of a genius. I think so anyway. But alas, I'd never seen Kill Bill, which is like his second most popular, well-loved, well-reviewed film (first goes to Pulp Fiction obviously). So I invited my best friend, the Diabolical Diabetic overe to watch them with me. And I loved them more than I loved the previous two movies. It had everything I love: Action, drama, weird swords, weirder people, long lost kids, tricked-out trucks, assassins, crazy asians, all done tongue in cheek. I won't give anything away, 'cause youu need to see these for yourself. It's a thrill ride fo' sho'.
That concludes part 1!
Love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Casablanca: Lives Up To the Hype
So Casablanca is one of those classic movies that nobody I know seems to have seen, so I decided to finally use my powers of Netflix and check it out.
In short, this is one of if not the best romance I've seen. And the answer is simple.
It's so darn good.
There's no other excuse. It's just good.
The dialouge is beautiful (here's looking at you kid) and there just isn't anything that annoyed me int he movie. It was delicious from start to finish.
You should check it out. I know a lot of people have issues with it because it's old and what not but put black-and-white aside and turn on subtitles and you'll get caught up in it anyway.
Much love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi
In short, this is one of if not the best romance I've seen. And the answer is simple.
It's so darn good.
There's no other excuse. It's just good.
The dialouge is beautiful (here's looking at you kid) and there just isn't anything that annoyed me int he movie. It was delicious from start to finish.
You should check it out. I know a lot of people have issues with it because it's old and what not but put black-and-white aside and turn on subtitles and you'll get caught up in it anyway.
Much love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review
Well, considering the first time I tried to do it I ended up crying, here is a full, very biased review of the last Harry Potter adventure.
SPOILERS FOR THE SUPA FANS AHEAD!
We start off where we left off in Part 1 with Voldemort stealing the Elder Wand from Dumbledore (small tear ensues).
Then the trio rob Gringotts, sneak back into Hogwarts, you know the story.
First all the stuff I liked:
-McGonagall (Maggie Smith) dueling Severus Snape (The great Alan Rickman) in the Great Hall and then bringing the light back to the room just made my heart swell.
-The Dragon!!!!!! DRAGONS!
-Helena Bonham Carter did a wonderful job of pretending to be Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix. That's a hard task to accomplish and she does it so well.
-Neville (Matt Lewis) really gets to step up in this part, and Matt really just topped off the whole film. It's been a joy to see him grow from scared little klutz to the hero depicted here.
- The Prince's Tale/ Snape's Death are the only places I let myself sob during. I loved it to pieces. I was so happy.
-The Room of Requirement chase scene with the Fiendfyre and everything. Oh my Lady Gaga, that was awesome.
-The awkward Voldemort/Draco hug of AWESOME! That made me laugh so hard.
-Ron's little one liner as he gets Hermione into the Chamber of Secrets. The whole theater laughed.
-Yes, you knew it was coming. THE RON/HERMIONE KISS! It was tremendous and funny and the theater cheered loudly the two times I've seen it.
-Molly Weasly/ Bellatrix. I'd been waiting for that since the first time I read the sequence in the books.
-VOLDEMORT CONFETTI!
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
I think the Prince's Tale could've been a bit better, but I had such high expectations that would've been impossible to reach them in the first place.
-THEY DIDN'T MEND HARRY'S WAND!!!!!! What was this?!?!??!!??!?!/ It would've taken five seconds to film! I would rather have Harry mend his wand than Neville's motivational speech.
-As much as I like the Bellatrix and Voldemort confetti, I would've prefered the original deaths.
-What happened to the Cloak of Invisibility? Not even mentioned even though it's one of the freakin' Deathly Hallows!
I was happy with the film. It was a fitting send off. I'm gonna miss the premieres and such as the years wear on. But knowing Hollywood, be prepared for re-makes.
I'll write a report on the premiere itself when I get the time.
Much love and Sonic Screwdrivers,
Randi
SPOILERS FOR THE SUPA FANS AHEAD!
We start off where we left off in Part 1 with Voldemort stealing the Elder Wand from Dumbledore (small tear ensues).
Then the trio rob Gringotts, sneak back into Hogwarts, you know the story.
First all the stuff I liked:
-McGonagall (Maggie Smith) dueling Severus Snape (The great Alan Rickman) in the Great Hall and then bringing the light back to the room just made my heart swell.
-The Dragon!!!!!! DRAGONS!
-Helena Bonham Carter did a wonderful job of pretending to be Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix. That's a hard task to accomplish and she does it so well.
-Neville (Matt Lewis) really gets to step up in this part, and Matt really just topped off the whole film. It's been a joy to see him grow from scared little klutz to the hero depicted here.
- The Prince's Tale/ Snape's Death are the only places I let myself sob during. I loved it to pieces. I was so happy.
-The Room of Requirement chase scene with the Fiendfyre and everything. Oh my Lady Gaga, that was awesome.
-The awkward Voldemort/Draco hug of AWESOME! That made me laugh so hard.
-Ron's little one liner as he gets Hermione into the Chamber of Secrets. The whole theater laughed.
-Yes, you knew it was coming. THE RON/HERMIONE KISS! It was tremendous and funny and the theater cheered loudly the two times I've seen it.
-Molly Weasly/ Bellatrix. I'd been waiting for that since the first time I read the sequence in the books.
-VOLDEMORT CONFETTI!
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
I think the Prince's Tale could've been a bit better, but I had such high expectations that would've been impossible to reach them in the first place.
-THEY DIDN'T MEND HARRY'S WAND!!!!!! What was this?!?!??!!??!?!/ It would've taken five seconds to film! I would rather have Harry mend his wand than Neville's motivational speech.
-As much as I like the Bellatrix and Voldemort confetti, I would've prefered the original deaths.
-What happened to the Cloak of Invisibility? Not even mentioned even though it's one of the freakin' Deathly Hallows!
I was happy with the film. It was a fitting send off. I'm gonna miss the premieres and such as the years wear on. But knowing Hollywood, be prepared for re-makes.
I'll write a report on the premiere itself when I get the time.
Much love and Sonic Screwdrivers,
Randi
Saturday, July 16, 2011
It All Ended (Sort Of) Deathly Hallows Review
Well the End of an Era is here (song necessary).
My little promo poster is hanging above my bookshelf. My tie and Spectra Specs are in a keepsake box. I've picked it over with other Potter fans.
Deathly Hallows part 2 made me laugh, cry, cheer, scream (mentally) and many other things. It was a wonderful wild ride that I'll never forget.
Everything I doubted in this film worked. I was disappointed with only two details but otherwise I was completely overjoyed. Harry Potter gets the send-off he deserves with a big bang and crying fans.
Go see it. I can't even talk, just go see it.
My little promo poster is hanging above my bookshelf. My tie and Spectra Specs are in a keepsake box. I've picked it over with other Potter fans.
Deathly Hallows part 2 made me laugh, cry, cheer, scream (mentally) and many other things. It was a wonderful wild ride that I'll never forget.
Everything I doubted in this film worked. I was disappointed with only two details but otherwise I was completely overjoyed. Harry Potter gets the send-off he deserves with a big bang and crying fans.
Go see it. I can't even talk, just go see it.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
True Grit REVIEWED!
Hello faithful readers! I'm here to review the 2010 remake of the already fantastic True Grit. Cohen Brothers always do a really good job with whatever they're doing and this is no exception. Starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and bursting onto the scene in her first mainstream role Hailee Steinfeld.
Story- The typical I WILL AVENGE MY FATHER! Type deal, but it was still interesting to watch. Mattie Ross' (Hailee Steinfeld) father has been killed by some guy named Tom Chaney and she hires Marshal Rueban "Rooster' Cogburn to go kill him/bring him in to the authorties to be killed. Then LeBouef (that's the only part of his name I remember, played by Matt Damon) joins the mix. So those three go out to catch this guy in unsettled Indian country.
Action, laughs, tears, whiskey, shooting contests, awkward silences, and general awesome ensues.
Go watch it. I'm too lazy to write more because I want to watch it again.
Story- The typical I WILL AVENGE MY FATHER! Type deal, but it was still interesting to watch. Mattie Ross' (Hailee Steinfeld) father has been killed by some guy named Tom Chaney and she hires Marshal Rueban "Rooster' Cogburn to go kill him/bring him in to the authorties to be killed. Then LeBouef (that's the only part of his name I remember, played by Matt Damon) joins the mix. So those three go out to catch this guy in unsettled Indian country.
Action, laughs, tears, whiskey, shooting contests, awkward silences, and general awesome ensues.
Go watch it. I'm too lazy to write more because I want to watch it again.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Waiting For Superman: Review and Thoughts
If you've been watching all the good movies of 2010, you've stumbled upon Waiting for Superman. It's a relevant documentary on our school system and why it needs change, taking you inside the lives of the families so caught up in the struggle of good education.
This is an important film. This will blow your mind.
Anyway, this movie goes into areas such as:
-The inefficient things needed to be completed to fire an incompetant teacher (I believe there are 24 complicated, often un-necessary steps)
- Some of the people who are stepping up to help reform education and get the ball rolling in the right direction (People who have started KIPP and the Canada schools).
- A handful of families and their journey to a better education for their kids, sometimes ending in heartbreak, which only brings the whole reality of the situation closer.
-The politics and unions who are causing some pain in the lives of the good teachers and how the horrible teachers stay in schools.
This movie in one word is bittersweet. About half of the movie is spent in the lives of the families who are in the "lottery" to get their kids out of the "drop-out factories" (the term for thousands of schools where less than half the classes will graduate). We find out who goes in the end and who stays. IT's very powerful and hugely gripping It's insane the fuss made over this. People are screaming for a better education for their children.
That's another thing. This movie is largely saying that we get away from what this is about: Preparing kids for the future. IT becomes about the adults as it leans more towards politics, more towards correctness, and inefficientness.
Being a middle-schooler and watching this was so odd. They're talking about my peers in public school.. It's weird. In some odd way, it hits close to home.
The title comes from one of the educators in the movie (it's very late here so some of it is slipping away but I believe his last name was Canada). He said one of the most heartbreaking moments of his life was when his mom told him that Superman wasn't going to be there to save the day. It works so well, 'cause I believe a lot of people really are waiting for some super hero to come in and get us out of our mess. It's relevant.
I've experianced the bad teachers of our system too. I had a third grade who used a microphone to yell at us, refused to teach sometimes, complained about how stupid we were, and couldn't teach when she did. I'm not legally allowed to mention her name, but it was bad. The prinicipa who had hired her had retired the previous year and the powers that be soon got the message that this person could not teach. Loud and clear. At least six kids requested a change of class or switched schools (I was transferred to a private school where we go to church) and soon, that angel prinicpal took steps necessary to get her out.
But the fact is, most of the time, requests like these are ignored, and kids educations are damaged forever.
So it's time to stop waiting for superman
Or the Doctor to come in with his sonic screwdriver.
Or.... well you get it.
Love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi
This is an important film. This will blow your mind.
Anyway, this movie goes into areas such as:
-The inefficient things needed to be completed to fire an incompetant teacher (I believe there are 24 complicated, often un-necessary steps)
- Some of the people who are stepping up to help reform education and get the ball rolling in the right direction (People who have started KIPP and the Canada schools).
- A handful of families and their journey to a better education for their kids, sometimes ending in heartbreak, which only brings the whole reality of the situation closer.
-The politics and unions who are causing some pain in the lives of the good teachers and how the horrible teachers stay in schools.
This movie in one word is bittersweet. About half of the movie is spent in the lives of the families who are in the "lottery" to get their kids out of the "drop-out factories" (the term for thousands of schools where less than half the classes will graduate). We find out who goes in the end and who stays. IT's very powerful and hugely gripping It's insane the fuss made over this. People are screaming for a better education for their children.
That's another thing. This movie is largely saying that we get away from what this is about: Preparing kids for the future. IT becomes about the adults as it leans more towards politics, more towards correctness, and inefficientness.
Being a middle-schooler and watching this was so odd. They're talking about my peers in public school.. It's weird. In some odd way, it hits close to home.
The title comes from one of the educators in the movie (it's very late here so some of it is slipping away but I believe his last name was Canada). He said one of the most heartbreaking moments of his life was when his mom told him that Superman wasn't going to be there to save the day. It works so well, 'cause I believe a lot of people really are waiting for some super hero to come in and get us out of our mess. It's relevant.
I've experianced the bad teachers of our system too. I had a third grade who used a microphone to yell at us, refused to teach sometimes, complained about how stupid we were, and couldn't teach when she did. I'm not legally allowed to mention her name, but it was bad. The prinicipa who had hired her had retired the previous year and the powers that be soon got the message that this person could not teach. Loud and clear. At least six kids requested a change of class or switched schools (I was transferred to a private school where we go to church) and soon, that angel prinicpal took steps necessary to get her out.
But the fact is, most of the time, requests like these are ignored, and kids educations are damaged forever.
So it's time to stop waiting for superman
Or the Doctor to come in with his sonic screwdriver.
Or.... well you get it.
Love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Hunger Games Movies Do's and Don'ts
Allrigt, you know what the Hunger Games is. You have to by now. But if you don't, here goes:
*deep dramatic voice*
In the post apocalyptic place where America once was lies PANEM! Twelve Districts, one captiol and the Hunger Games every year.
Basically, the Captiol sends two tributes from each district to fight to the death in an arena for their enjoyment. And whoever is the last one standing gets fame, glory, immunity from other games, and food for their poor districts.
Katniss and Peeta get sent to the games, yadda yadda. I won't tell you the rest because you probably know it by now.
Anyway, Lion's Gate is doing a movie adaption of it. And here's what's up:
They've approached ALEX PETTYFER as Peeta. Now I think this would be fine but for one thing.....
Alex is a fan girl's dream, and then the Hunger Games will turn into Twilight if he is cast.
Otherwise, I think he'd be cool.
THE ACTRESSESS FIGHTING FOR KATNISS:
Oh my gummy bears are actressess desperate these days! Alyson Stoner and Jodelle Ferland, both former Katniss hopefuls have posted pictures of themselves dressed up as Katniss, complete with fake bows and climbing rocks. I SAY THIS IS IMPROPER! The Hunger Games was all about media fraud and propaganda and fame and other things. These two should be condemned from Katniss Movie Portrayal.
IT'S A BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTION
I mean, honestly, there's going to be something wrong. We all know it. let's just set our expectations low and see what happens.
*deep dramatic voice*
In the post apocalyptic place where America once was lies PANEM! Twelve Districts, one captiol and the Hunger Games every year.
Basically, the Captiol sends two tributes from each district to fight to the death in an arena for their enjoyment. And whoever is the last one standing gets fame, glory, immunity from other games, and food for their poor districts.
Katniss and Peeta get sent to the games, yadda yadda. I won't tell you the rest because you probably know it by now.
Anyway, Lion's Gate is doing a movie adaption of it. And here's what's up:
They've approached ALEX PETTYFER as Peeta. Now I think this would be fine but for one thing.....
Alex is a fan girl's dream, and then the Hunger Games will turn into Twilight if he is cast.
Otherwise, I think he'd be cool.
THE ACTRESSESS FIGHTING FOR KATNISS:
Oh my gummy bears are actressess desperate these days! Alyson Stoner and Jodelle Ferland, both former Katniss hopefuls have posted pictures of themselves dressed up as Katniss, complete with fake bows and climbing rocks. I SAY THIS IS IMPROPER! The Hunger Games was all about media fraud and propaganda and fame and other things. These two should be condemned from Katniss Movie Portrayal.
IT'S A BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTION
I mean, honestly, there's going to be something wrong. We all know it. let's just set our expectations low and see what happens.
Friday, February 11, 2011
The King's Speech, Five stars, Two Thumbs Up, Hands In The Air
Where did I get all these hands?
I must've picked them up at the movie because I think everyone in the theater had the same reaction in the end, judging my the standing ovation of a movie that came out a month ago.
So here's the deal: King George the V (Colin Firth) has a speech issue. He stammers due to childhood issues, and his dad (Dumbledore, Michael Gambon), and teasing and other such matters. So they call in this unortohodox speech therapist Lionel Louge (Forgive any spelling errors). And when World War II breaks out, he has to give his war time speech via radio, which is the climax of the movie.
Anyway, bit by bit shall we?
Actors- The obvious two best preformances were Colin Firth and Geoffery Rush, King George and Lionel respectively. Helena Bonham Carter was showing off her diversity in a normal-ish role (I'm so used to seeing her as Bellatrix or the Red Queen or something crazy that when I finally see her out of character I have to tell myself several times, "THIS IS ACTUALLY HELENA!"). And whoever the two kids playing Elizabeth and Maragaret Rose were incredibly adorable!
Story- How anyone can make speech therapy so energizing is beyond me. I'm a lost cause ADD child and this movie was, like, two and a half hours and I was enraptured the whole time. And ITS ABOUT SPEECH THERAPY! It was hugely amazing and I'm running out of adjectives, so lets move on, shall we?
Cinematography (sp?)- I loved the whole look and feel of the Speech Therapy office. It was a gritty kind of beautiful. Lower class London at it's finest. The couch is losing it's stuffing, the wall is a commotion of scuffed up colors. The royal settings had a very regal, stuffy, confined feel to them. Lots of reds and rich dark colors.
Rating- Alright, as weird as it sounds, I give this to those who have concerned parents. The movie is reated R..but
If you're kids can handle the F-word, we're good. There were incidents of smoking, some alcohol, and the only time they really cursed was in speech therapy as a way of getting out stress and not stuttering. I talked to my mom about why they put that bit in (she works with much more orthodox speech therapists) and she said that that's actually pretty normal in treatment. Anyway, it was a very light R-rated movie. If you want to take a thirteen year old, it wouldn't disturb them.
(By the way, if you don't trust me, and I don't blame you if you don't, IMDB has a good parental guide on the movie, as they do with most films).
Overall: Refer to the title
I must've picked them up at the movie because I think everyone in the theater had the same reaction in the end, judging my the standing ovation of a movie that came out a month ago.
So here's the deal: King George the V (Colin Firth) has a speech issue. He stammers due to childhood issues, and his dad (Dumbledore, Michael Gambon), and teasing and other such matters. So they call in this unortohodox speech therapist Lionel Louge (Forgive any spelling errors). And when World War II breaks out, he has to give his war time speech via radio, which is the climax of the movie.
Anyway, bit by bit shall we?
Actors- The obvious two best preformances were Colin Firth and Geoffery Rush, King George and Lionel respectively. Helena Bonham Carter was showing off her diversity in a normal-ish role (I'm so used to seeing her as Bellatrix or the Red Queen or something crazy that when I finally see her out of character I have to tell myself several times, "THIS IS ACTUALLY HELENA!"). And whoever the two kids playing Elizabeth and Maragaret Rose were incredibly adorable!
Story- How anyone can make speech therapy so energizing is beyond me. I'm a lost cause ADD child and this movie was, like, two and a half hours and I was enraptured the whole time. And ITS ABOUT SPEECH THERAPY! It was hugely amazing and I'm running out of adjectives, so lets move on, shall we?
Cinematography (sp?)- I loved the whole look and feel of the Speech Therapy office. It was a gritty kind of beautiful. Lower class London at it's finest. The couch is losing it's stuffing, the wall is a commotion of scuffed up colors. The royal settings had a very regal, stuffy, confined feel to them. Lots of reds and rich dark colors.
Rating- Alright, as weird as it sounds, I give this to those who have concerned parents. The movie is reated R..but
If you're kids can handle the F-word, we're good. There were incidents of smoking, some alcohol, and the only time they really cursed was in speech therapy as a way of getting out stress and not stuttering. I talked to my mom about why they put that bit in (she works with much more orthodox speech therapists) and she said that that's actually pretty normal in treatment. Anyway, it was a very light R-rated movie. If you want to take a thirteen year old, it wouldn't disturb them.
(By the way, if you don't trust me, and I don't blame you if you don't, IMDB has a good parental guide on the movie, as they do with most films).
Overall: Refer to the title
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