Trailer: The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies (2014)

Holy crapballs! It's almost here! The final installment of The Hobbit, titled The Battle of the Five Armies! I am beyond excited about this. When we were travelling a couple of years ago, I read The Hobbit aloud to my husband, who had never read it, on the millions of hours of flights we had. We finished it a few days before the first film was released and of course we went and saw it right away. The hubs is the most annoying person when it comes to book to movie adaptations. He spent most of the film whispering to me, "That's not how it happened in the book!" Now you know how I feel with every adaptation ever, my love. 

Anyway, no matter the discrepancies, you cannot discount the amazement that is the battle scenes in these films and my goodness are we going to get it with this one! I've been looking forward to it since The Hobbit was announced! You think TLOR was epic with its battles? Wait until you see this one! Not only is there Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) to deal with, but there's Azog (Manu Bennett) and his orc armies (which were not in the book), the men of Dale's claim on the legendary treasure and Thorin Oakenshield's (Richard Armitage) greed and pride, and finally the Elves... so much stuff! 

Nice to see the heavy presence of Bard of Dale played by Luke Evans who I've just noticed has been cast for a remake of one of my favorite films, The Crow. Will there be more necromancer story line and will they use that to explain how Sauron (Sala Baker) managed to come back? I think so! What do I most want to see? More of my favorite character, Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt)! More Gandalf (Ian McKellen) saving some hobbit ass and my second favorite wizard, the quirky Radagast (Sylvester McCoy). Legolas (Orlando Bloom) looking pretty as pie and beating the crapola out of Bieber... I mean, orcs... yeah, orcs. And the Eagles! 

So much excitement! What are you waiting to see?

Love Gee 

xoxo

Movie: Oldboy (2013)

Oldboy 
Action, Drama, Mystery

I've had this movie sitting around for a while now, something about the preview made me not too keen to watch it right away. Wow it was amazing, I can't stop thinking about it!

This Spike Lee (Malcolm X) remake from the hugely popular 2003 Korean movie of the same name starts off pretty average. Joe (Josh Brolin) is an ignorant drunk until one morning he wakes up from a bender to find he's been kidnapped and held prisoner with no explanation. His only company is a small television set from which he discovers that he's been framed for the murder of his ex-wife. After being held captive for 20 years with no visitors, he is suddenly and mysteriously let go. He has only a few days to figure out who captured him and held him for 20 years and why, or they will kill his daughter.

I really, really want to give away the twist that made this movie so awesome...but that would spoil it. Go and watch it, it's totally worth it. One of the most underrated films I've watched lately. Also, Elizabeth Olsen's (younger sister to the Olsen twins) boobs and Samuel L. Jackson as a bad guy! Special mentions to Lance Reddick (Fringe, Lost) and Michael Imperioli (Sopranos, Californication).

4 out of 5 twists...

Movie: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men: Days of Future Past
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

I love X-Men... need I say more? I don't think so but of course I will...

So many awesome characters, so many awesome actors. We got to see everyone we wanted to see, even if the main X-Men we're used to didn't get that much screen time. I'm a little peeved Anna Paquin got cut to a bare 3 seconds at the end of the film but I'm sure we will see more Rogue in the extras when the DVD is released. Shawn Ashmore as Bobby/Iceman, Daniel Cudmore as Collossus, Booboo Stewart as Warpath, Lucas Till as Havok... and I haven't even brought out the big guns yet!

So the story revolves around Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) of course. I have no idea where Kitty (Ellen Page) got the send-someone-back-in-time power from. Did she have that in the comics? I can't remember... But anyway, she sends Logan back because apparently he's the only one who can handle it. Young Xavier, played by the amazing James McAvoy, is in a bit of a slump after Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) left him for Erik/Magnito (Michael Fassbender/Ian McKellen).. oh, yeah, and Erik crippled him... So this film is (mostly) set after the events of First Class. Logan has to pull Xavier out of it with the help of Beast (Nicholas Hoult) in order to save both the mutant and human populations from destroying themselves with giant killer robots called Sentinels (seriously, The Matrix again anyone?) designed by antagonist Dr. Trask (Peter Dinklage). Like giant sentient robots are ever a good idea!

Quicksilver was one of the best things about this film. I remember when the trailer came out some people thought he would be lame.. but no, he is awesome! The small part he plays in the film really stuck in my mind and when I watched it recently for the second time, he was just as good. He's played by Evan Peters from American Horror Story who does a fabulous job. Hope we see more of him in the next films. I also thought the meeting of the two Xavier's was excellent, how cool to meet your future self... and who else would be able to kick young Xavier's ass back into gear but older, wiser Xavier (Patrick Stewart)? Stand out performance was definitely James McAvoy.

I'm a little disappointed that Taylor Kitsch's role of Gambit hasn't reappeared. Gambit was always one of my favourite X-Men and the little teaser we got of him in Origins: Wolverine just wasn't enough for me. I would have thought the timeline would be perfect for him too... Bring back Gambit! Also, the reappearance of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Cyclops (James Marsden)! I did a little swoon there but we all knew they were both coming back didn't we? Yes, I watched the cartoons as a kid... And you can't have an X-Men film without Storm (Halle Berry).

I love X-Men. Keep 'em coming. Which X-Men is your favourite? Who do you want to see in the next film? Let me know in the comments!

4 out of 5 Marvels...

Movie: Anna (2013)

Anna
Drama, Thriller

Also known as "Mindscape", this film has such an interesting concept but the preview doesn't show you very much about it. John, played by Mark Strong (Kick Ass, Sherlock Holmes), is a detective of the mind: he takes people back into their memories and goes in himself as a witness. I immediately thought it might be a bit like Inception and began picking up hints from very early on. John said something about being able to see him as a distant figure in memories and just before that he saw a guy in the distance. From the preview I gathered he's being charged with something and that they are using a mindscaper on him to find out what happened.

John stopped mindscaping because he his memories of his wife's murder kept sneaking into other peoples memories while he was working... but of course he runs out of money and needs to go back to it. His friend gives him Anna's - Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story) - case. Anna is very smart, very troubled and very complex. I spent most of the movie trying to figure her out and the rest trying to figure out if any of it was real...

Good movie, well shot. I really enjoy the psychological thrillers that keep you guessing. Farmiga's performance is perfect. I'd really like to see her in a different role though, she always plays the freaky girl... The twist at the end was totally predictable but I liked picking out all the bits throughout the film. Not terrible, not fantastic...

3 out of 5 dreidels...

Bonus Post: Guardians of the Galaxy - Trailer 2!

Oh Marvel, we do love you so! 

Movie: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Edge of Tomorrow
Action, Sci Fi

Bloody Tom Cruise (Top Gun, Mission: Impossible)... Sometimes I wish he would retire, he creeps me out just a little bit. He's so tiny and old and he's still making these same movies over and over again... they've gotten more of a sci fi twist lately as well. I have to admit the movies he stars in are never crap but I'm always a little discouraged at him being the action male lead. It's probably just me...

Aliens have invaded and caused Groundhog Day... that's what I got from the preview anyway... This is the second film that I've watched lately that has aliens or machines that rip off the sentinels from The Matrix. Have the alien development departments not got any imagination anymore?

Also starring Bill Paxton (Agents of SHIELD, Twister), Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter, Braveheart) and Emily Blunt (Devil Wears Prada, Looper), Edge of Tomorrow is very much like every other sci fi / action film you've ever seen starring Tom Cruise.

That is all.

3 out of 5 sentinels...

Movie: Grand Piano (2013)

Grand Piano
Mystery, Thriller

I was already a bit jaded on this film after watching just the preview. I knew there would be lots of awesome piano playing which is what I was looking forward to. What I wasn't looking forward to was the thriller side of it... really? Play my pretty, or die! *evil laugh*

Tom, played by Elijah Wood (Lord of The Rings, Sin City) is the brightest piano player of his generation married to the brightest movie star of her generation (Kerry Bishe). Tom has been avoiding performing for 5 years after choking on stage, until his wife sets up a comeback concert. I would be so peeved at her for doing that. Not only does he have the pressure to play well after the failure of his last performance and his wife has set him up this lovely comeback, but he is also being threatened by some crazy person who just so happens to be played by John Cusack (High Fidelity, Being John Malkovich).

In saying all that... I did want this movie to be terrible... but it wasn't entirely. Even though Cusack is a disembodied voice for all but 5 minutes of the film and I actually thought it was all in the pianists head until people started dying, I didn't hate it. The plot was wafer thin and the one part that was interesting was cut off. It's not something I would normally pick up and enjoy... but it wasn't terrible... Kudos to Elijah Wood for actually playing most of those pieces, amazing. Can't say I'll be watching this again though, that's why it gets:

2 out of 5 conductors...

Movie: The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro

The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro
Action, Adventure, Fantasy

I actually really enjoyed the first one of these and was surprised to hear some people though it was crap. Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Peter Parker is funny! He has this wicked sense of humour I love in the character. Then there were people bitching about how they've just made the Spider-Man movies and why remake it again... but this is a different time in Peter Parker's life and Tobey Maguire did pull out so they had to remake it if they wanted to make any Spiderman movies at all, so yer. *shrugs*

Shall we talk about Mary-Jane (Shailene Woodley) who was supposed to be in the movie but had all her scenes cut? I saw a few interviews about why that happened and they pretty much said they didn't want Peter to look like a sleezy player. We all know that Peter and Mary-Jane have this thing going on later but right now it's all about Gwen and to introduce another love interest into it would distract from the Gwen storyline, and gosh are they cute together. I've got such a huge girl-crush on Emma Stone and everything she does. It is unfortunate we didn't get to see Mary-Jane in this one but we will see her eventually.

I'm a little disappointed in Jamie Foxx.. I don't know why... maybe because Django Unchained was so good and this role is so different. Dane DeHann on the other hand, wow! He is amazing, every role I see him in just gets better and better; Chronicle, Kill Your Darlings and now this. I also LOVE that Stan Lee appears in all of the Marvel movies, it's always makes me laugh to see him.


I do love superhero movies!

4 out of 5 spiders on drugs...

Movies: Mass Post... Part III

Huzzah! Uni is finished for the semester! Well, sorta... I do have exams in a couple of weeks... but in the meantime, blog post! Today is about a few films that left me saying "Huh?" or were just a bit strange...

I have to start with Only Lovers Left Alive because I watched this one the most recently and I'm still thinking about it. It's a vampire movie... but it's not like any vampire movie I've seen before. It's very jaded, and yet it's a love story. Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton) (and yes, I wondered whether they were the Adam and Eve) have been alive (dead?) for many, many years. They have been married several times and although they sometimes live together they are apart at the beginning of the film. Adam is a popular musician who is toying with the idea of putting an end to his eternity while Eve spends time with other vampire friends in Tangier. Then enters Eve's sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska) who is a total spanner in the works. I loved the conversations between Adam and Eve, their dry, intellectual humour was my favourite bit. The soundtrack was amazing, Hiddleson and Swinton's performances were brilliant. I fell a little bit in love with both of them... Don't expect a conclusion to this story though; it leaves you hanging, wondering what's going to happen next.

If you know someone who has a love affair with their computer then watching Her will make you even more confused. Technology has advanced so far that we are using Artificial Intelligence instead of Operating Systems (like Windows) and the main guy (Joaquin Phoenix) orders a brand new AI (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) who grows and learns as you talk to them and set them tasks. The thing is, this guy falls madly in love with his AI... It's all kinds of weird and sad... until almost suddenly you realise how normal of a relationship it is, which makes it even weirder... I was pretty disturbed by the time the film ended, but I think it was because I'd accepted the relationship between human and AI as normal. The film is long and there is lots of talking. It's pretty mundane really. But the ending still has me thinking about it. Give it a shot. Also featuring Amy Adams (Man of Steel, American Hustle), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids).

I picked up Sexy Evil Genius because it has some of my favourite cast members ever: Seth Green (Buffy, Entourage) Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy, Gossip Girl), Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Gallactica, Riddick) and Harold Perrineau (Romeo + Juliet, Sons of Anarchy), plus William Baldwin (Backdraft, Forgetting Sarah Marshall)... can't go wrong with a Baldwin right? Ha! It's set in a bar where we are all waiting for our crazy ex-girlfriend Nikki (Sackhoff) to show up and tell us why we're here... That's pretty much it. As we wait, we tell stories of all the crazy things that Nikki used to do and speculate as to why she has called us all together like this. I spent the entire movie wondering what the hell and in the last 10 minutes or so when it's all revealed... I was still wondering what the hell was happening. I would watch this movie again. Such a simple concept. Give it a go.

We might go back to the normal Gee Spot programming from now on cos I just saw the new X-Men and I'm about to watch The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and they both need full posts, right? There might be a Books mass post sometime too... Anyway, all fun! Stay tuned!

Love Gee

xoxo

Movies: Mass Post... Part II

A bit more of a serious note today with some heavy dramas that I've seen lately.

We'll start with the amazing Dallas Buyers Club based on the true story of AIDS sufferer Ron Woodroof, set in the 1985. Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) fought the FDA for years over the illegal drugs he was taking that were actually improving his quality of life as a HIV patient. He goes from being anti-gay to having a transgender best friend and business partner. After his discovery of alternative treatment drugs he starts up the Dallas Buyers Club: a loophole in the laws that allows him to legally sell memberships rather than the drugs themselves. Who knows how many lives he saved / extended with this endeavor. After watching this movie I can see why Jared Leto and McConaughey won Academy Awards for their performances, they were both amazing, especially Leto. Worth a watch.

The Book Thief is an adaption of the book by Markus Zusak, which I haven't read yet but is still on my to-read list after having watched the movie, so that's saying something right? Narrated by Death (Roger Allam), set in 1939 Nazi Germany, we know this movie will have some tense / sad parts, and man does it ever. The story revolves around Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) who just loves to read books in a time when books and knowledge are dangerous things to have. I don't want to give anything away but it's a really lovely story...right until it's not. Also starring Geoffrey Rush, who I just found out was born very close to where I was born. I would watch it again, probably after reading the book.

I had been waiting for 47 Ronin to come out but I hadn't heard anything about it except that it was a samurai movie starring Keanu Reeves (The Matrix). It's based on an old legend about a group of ronin - samurai without a master - who avenge their fallen lord. What I didn't realise about it was that there was going to be such a fantasy element to it, I suppose I should have known better though... The first beast scared the hell out of me purely because I wasn't expecting it. The animations are obvious but the creatures and the art itself is fantastic, as is the film style. I enjoyed it but then again, I enjoy a lot of foreign films... This is pretty Westernised though considering. It didn't do very well according to the box office but it's another movie that I would watch again.

That'll do for today. I have some rather strange movies lined up for tomorrow's post, so stay tuned!

Love Gee
xoxo

Movies: Mass Post... Part I

I've watched a heap of movies lately so this will probably be a multi-post as well but I thought we'd start with some of the more kid friendly ones and then I can have fun berating the not to so awesome ones in a second post... how's that sound?

The theme song for The Lego Movie has been stuck in my head ever since I saw this movie. It just randomly explodes out of me sometimes... "Everything is awesome!" I loved this movie, especially Batman (Will Arnett) and Superman (Channing Tatum) and Green Lantern (Jonah Hill). Starring Elizabeth Banks (Hunger Games), Alison Brie (Community), Will Ferrell (Anchorman), Liam Neeson (Taken), Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption), Chris Pratt (Guardians of The Galaxy) and a whole range of others. Made entirely in Australia, even though we were the last country to have a release date. Worth watching more than once to catch all the Easter Eggs. Everything is awesome!

I can't remember who recommended me Space Pirate Captain Harlock but it had been a while since I'd watched any anime and when I saw the preview for this one I was immediately captivated by the awesome space pirate ship, Arcadia. I watched it English dubbed, which I don't normally do because they just can't seem get the same inflections as the Japanese do, but this was dubbed really well! I loved the animation style though the husband complained that it felt like he was in a video game... that was what I liked about it! The story is a bit long winded, I had to watch it twice to follow the whole thing and even then I'm still confused by the very end... But totally worth it. Apparently there is a manga too but the animation on it is not quite as awesome as the movie, which I would watch a third time.

Mr Peabody & Sherman is a brand new, digitally animated film based on the characters from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle Show! I was pretty excited when I saw the title because of course I recognised the name and I'm a sucker for these reminiscent type films. Mr Peabody (Ty Burrell) has built a time machine in order to teach his adoptive son Sherman (Max Charles) history. Of course they hit a few snags on the way, the least of which is Penny (Ariel Winter), a girl from Sherman's school who teases him about being a dog and then gets lost in ancient Egypt. There's a rollcall of important people throughout history and Mr Peabody comes out with some of the most hilarious puns. The kids will love this one.

(Not exactly kid friendly but I couldn't resist...) After the fastest earning Kickstarter program ever, the Veronica Mars Movie was funded by fans worldwide nine years after the show ended... and it was totally worth it! If you're a marshmallow like me, you would have been just as excited that all of our tweeting to stars Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring, as well as writer and director Rob Thomas, finally paid off in a Kickstarter campaign that clicked over faster than the seconds. It's $2million goal was fully funded in under 10 hours! That is some crazy fans right there. So Veronica (Bell)  is now a lawyer and of course Logan (Dohring) find himself caught in a bit of a bind and in need of her help... So she dusts off the detective gear and gets to work. Classic Veronica Mars, exactly what the fans asked for! Will watch again for sure.

That's all for now but don't worry, I have a massive list of movies lined up for you.

Love Gee
xoxo

Movie: Much Ado About Nothing (2012)

Much Ado About Nothing
Comedy, Drama, Romance

There's a few reasons I watched this. One, it's Shakespeare and I'm an English major. Two, it's a Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, The Avengers) film and I love him. And three, it has a brilliant Whedonesque cast. I also heard it was filmed entirely at Joss' house and who doesn't want to get an inside look at that? Beware, it is a Shakespeare play so the dialogue is archaic and you really must pay attention. It is also filmed entirely in black and white but I think it works better that way.

I spent a lot of time star spotting in this movie. The two verbally dueling leads are played by Amy Acker (Dollhouse, Person of Interest) and Alexis Denisof (Angel, The Avengers) and they are backed up by an amazing cast including Nathan Fillion (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Castle), Clark Gregg (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Fran Kranz (The Cabin in the Woods, Donnie Darko), Sean Maher (Serenity) and Tom Lenk (Transformers, Argo). I spent more time pointing out actors to my husband than listening to the first half of the film.

I didn't mind it. Like I said, I didn't pay a lot of attention at first but then by the second half I was into it. Maybe it took a little while to get used to the Shakespearean. It was quite funny in places as well. I will probably rewatch it somewhere along the line as part of my study.

3 out of 5 Whedons...