Movies

X-Men: First Class (2011)

 in Movies by

Starring

James McAvoy – Charles Xavier
Michael Fassbender – Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
Kevin Bacon – Sebastian Shaw
Rose Byrne – Miora MacTaggert
Jennifer Lawrence – Raven/Mystique

Summary

“When Bryan Singer brought Marvel’s X-Men to the big screen, Magneto and Professor X were elder statesmen, but Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) travels back in time to present an origin story–and an alternate version of history. While Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher) grows up privileged in New York, Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner) grows up underprivileged in Poland. As children, the mind-reading Charles finds a friend in the shape-shifting Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Erik finds an enemy in Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), an energy-absorbing Nazi scientist who treats the metal-bending lad like a lab rat. By 1962, Charles (James McAvoy) has become a swaggering genetics professor and Erik (Michael Fassbender, McAvoy’s Band of Brothers costar) has become a brooding agent of revenge. CIA agent Moira (Rose Byrne) brings the two together to work for Division X. With the help of MIB (Oliver Platt) and Hank (A Single Man’s Nicholas Hoult), they seek out other mutants, while fending off Shaw and Emma Frost (Mad Men’s January Jones), who try to recruit them for more nefarious ends, leading to a showdown in Cuba between the United States and the Soviet Union, the good and bad mutants, and Charles and Erik, whose goals have begun to diverge. Throughout, Vaughn crisscrosses the globe, piles on the visual effects, and juices the action with a rousing score, but it’s the actors who make the biggest impression as McAvoy and Fassbender prove themselves worthy successors to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. The movie comes alive whenever they take center stage, and dies a little when they don’t. For the most part, though, Vaughn does right by playing up the James Bond parallels and acknowledging the debt to producer Bryan Singer through a couple of clever cameos.”

–Kathleen C. Fennessy from Amazon.com

Review

There was so much happening all of the time during this movie. This movie was telling the story of the X-Men before they were The X-Men. It followed them from where they started off and how they came to be the X-Men and the process of them training to save the world from Sebastian Shaw.

The movie was a little confusing and at few points and I lost what was going on but you could quickly figure out what you missed. This may have been due to the fact that I have not seen any of the previous X-Men movies (something which I plan to change soon.) But the C.G.I’s in this movie were done very well.

And some of the costumes/makeup which was done was quite impressive.

The movie was set in the past and starts off with showing Erik Lehnsherr, later named Magneto, while he was a child. He was separated from his parents in a Nazi camp and it showed him getting angry and using his power. That was how the movie opened up. It got you intrigued and you wanted to watch some more.

This movie, I would say, would be for ages 14/15+ because there was quite a lot of violence. Especially in a scene were Sebastian Shaw broke into the mutants hideout and killed every single security guard and it was kind of creepy, especially when it is raining bodies – literally.

But otherwise this movie was still really good. I liked how in some of the scenes, when it was showing the past, they filmed in a different color. They filmed in a black/white/sepia color so it made it look older which was a really nice effect.

It was an enjoyable movie and I do recommend it, so I hope that you enjoy.

Thor (2011)

 in Movies by

Starring

Chris Hemsworth – Thor
Natalie Portman – Jane Foster
Tom Hiddleston – Loki
Anthony Hopkins – Odin

Review

WOWOWOWOWOWOW. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

BEST. MOVIE. EVER.

As you can tell I am extremely excited and absolutely loved this movie. It had action, it has myth, it had romance, it had a really hunky actor playing Thor, and a great woman playing Jane.

This movies graphics were great and so colorful and bright.

The story line in this movie was also really intriguing. Thor was cast out of Asguard, his home world, because he defied his father. He was sent to Earth where Jane, played by Natalie Portman, hit him with a car. Jane studied stars and anomalies which happened in the universe and she found Thor, who she did not know was “Thor”, who had come out of some anomaly. The story then follows the journey between the two worlds and how they collide. It follows Jane and Thor and how Jane tries to get Thor home but falls in love with him in the process.

I was excited for this movie to start with but I was curious to see how they were going to do an entire movie on Thor and I have to say that they did it exceptionally well. It kept you interested and just entertained. It ended like there was going to be another one and there had better be another one because it ended like a cliff hanger and I have to know what happens next.

This is a definitely a must watch even if you don’t like this type of thing because you may be surprised to find out you do.

So go and check this one out from your library. 🙂

Up and Coming….

 in Books / Movies by

This year is not even half way done yet so there is tons of time for some great books and movies to come out. I thought I would share some of the ones which I am most excited for and am counting down until they are released or published. If you have any which you would like to share, please do. I love getting feedback and thoughts from my readers.

But first let me list some books I am excited for.

Books

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (May 8th)

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (May 1st)

One Direction by One Direction (May 22nd) (I am not interested but I thought that I would share anyway)

Tiger’s Destiny (September 5th) (Already read it but the ARC does not come with the last 3 chapters – I have to wait to finish and review it  🙁 )

Until I Die by Amy Plum (May 8th)

Now let me do the movies.

Movies

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (for my mom and I am a little intrigued as well)

Marvel’s The Avengers (CANNOT WAIT – OMG)

Dark Shadows (looks hilarious)

Battleship

Men in Black 3 (who’s pumped “ME”)

Snow White and the Huntsman

Prometheus (probably won’t see it but it still looks good (dad will probably watch it))
and
G.I. Joe: Retaliation

There are many more books and movies which are coming out but if I listed everything it would take ages.
If there is a book or movie you also feel you want to see, please let me know in the comment section because I love to hear my readers tastes.

Happy Reading and Movie Watching!

Battle: Los Angeles

 in Fun / Movies by

Summary

Battle: Los Angeles is a war movie first, science fiction second. It’s got it all: a burned-out retiring sergeant who gets drawn back in because, dammit, the Marines need him; the guy who’s about to get married; the guy who’s still a virgin; the guy suffering from shell shock and who just might crack; the newbie officer with a lot of book learning who you just know is going to freeze under pressure and have to be shepherded by that burned-out sergeant, who learned his lessons on the battlefield… and so much more. There’s not a moment in this movie you haven’t seen before–the only twist is that the enemy is alien, so whatever shred of concern you might have for raining heavy artillery on a fellow human being can be cheerfully cast aside. But clichés are clichés because they are efficient and effective, and despite the profound familiarity of Battle: Los Angeles, there’s no denying the movie rips along (though two-thirds of the way through you may have forgotten who was the virgin and who was the shell-shocked guy–but really, does it matter?). The look owes a debt toDistrict 9, a hand-held, vérité grittiness, with most of the CGI carefully given a dingy, dirty look so that it meshes with the urban landscape. Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) does an impressive job of spitting out ham-fisted dialogue like he really, really means it, while the rest of the cast is suitably generic. This is an unrepentant love letter to the military; many viewers, faced with the unsettling chaos and moral ambiguities of real wars, will find this mythologizing not only soothing, but even moving.

–Bret Fetzer from Amazon.com

Battle: Los Angeles

Battle: Los Angeles (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Review

Wow. Just Wow. This movie was done so well. I am one for some violence but there is a limit to it. I cannot watch gruesome movies with blood and guts (like Saw) and I am not one for those really creepy movies (like Alien). I was not initially interested in this movie but my mom had gone to the theatre to see this movie the day it came out. She never really does that, especially for a battle/alien movie. She was raving about it and I was like ‘yeah yeah, probably another one of those stupid battle movies – there are already enough of those.’ But then my mom got my father to order the movie. The day that it arrived was the day that it was watched. I really was not interested because I had seen Independence Day and I had a feeling that it was going to be like that. It was kind of similar in a few aspects but mostly I was wrong. This movie was amazing!!!!! It is in like my top 10 (along with Matrix – review coming soon.)

Yeah there was a lot of violence and there was an extremely high body count, but this was not blood and guts. There was some blood but nothing too bad. There were a part where they had to dissect an alien and that was a little gross but otherwise this movie was really well done. It seems to have a mix of Transformers, Alien, Independence Day in it.

But I have to say this. I am going to use Transformers as my comparison movie as many people have seen it. In Transformers the army people acted all valiantly and acted as if they did this by regular routine. You only got a few glimpses of some people being afraid. This movie is the complete opposite. It was like a documentary in the sense that you really saw the fear in these soldiers as they were doing their duty. You saw that they really did not want to go out and face the enemy but they knew that they had to as they were the only people who could do it. Then at one time they had a lot of pressure on them and you saw that they were afraid but you saw the determination in their eyes and you saw that they had to do it.

This movie was quite sad in a few parts because how some of the people died. These people, these soldiers, gave up their lives to save civilians. Took bullets (or blast rays or whatever the guns were that the aliens used) for civilians as it was their duty.

I also have to say that the trailer is deceiving. It looks like it was going to be filmed in “shaky cam” but it really was not. There was a few moments in the beginning but then it really was filmed normally and anything that was kind of shaky was not noticeable. If anything, it added to the effect of the movie.

This movie was really amazing. The filmography was done extremely well. The graphics were done extremely well too. This movie did have quite a lot of graphic (not in the Transformers sense) as they did have to make many building be destroyed and they did have to have theses ships of the aliens.

This is a movie for older teens. I recommend this movie for 14 year olds and up as it is too violent for people younger. I say that guys would definitely love this movie because there was so many different types of guns. Rocket launchers, machine guns, sub machine guns, hand grenades, C4 (not a gun but it makes a “BOOM”). Don’t know if these are what they are called but just throwing some names out there (not a gun expert) 🙂

So hope that you enjoy and just to leave you off, I wanted to share two of my favorite short conversations from the movie. It definitely did have its funny parts. These aren’t my words and no offense is intended. Just he context in which they were used made them so funny.

LCpl. Richard Guerrero: So what’s your take on this, specs?
Cpl. Kevin Harris: I don’t know, extraterrestrial?
Cpl. Lee Imlay: You mean like from space?
Cpl. Nick Stavrou: No Imlay, from Canada.

and…

SSgt. Michael Nantz: Stavro, Harris, the lieutenant needs recon on a bus. If it runs, bring it back here… Either of you know how to hotwire a bus?
Cpl. Kevin Harris: Um, Stvrou can. He’s from Jersey, sir.

-both from IMDB.com

War of the Worlds (2005)

 in Adventure / Books-to-Movie / Interesting / Movies / Young Adult by

Starring

Tom Cruise – Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning – Rachel Ferrier
Miranda Otto – Mary Ann
Justin Chatwin – Robbie

Summary

“Despite super effects, a huge budget, and the cinematic pedigree of alien-happy Steven Spielberg, this take on H.G. Wells’s novel is basically a horror film packaged as a sci-fi thrill ride. Instead of a mad slasher, however, Spielberg (along with writers Josh Friedman & David Koepp) utilizes aliens hell-bent on quickly destroying humanity, and the terrifying results that prey upon adult fears, especially in the post-9/11 world. The realistic results could be a new genre, the grim popcorn thriller; often you feel like you’re watching Schindler’s List more than Spielberg’s other thrill-machine movies (Jaws, Jurassic Park). The film centers on Ray Ferrier, a divorced father (Tom Cruise, oh so comfortable) who witnesses one giant craft destroy his New Jersey town and soon is on the road with his teen son (Justin Chatwin) and preteen daughter (Dakota Fanning) in tow, trying to keep ahead of the invasion. The film is, of course, impeccably designed and produced by Spielberg’s usual crew of A-class talent. The aliens are genuinely scary, even when the film–like the novel–spends a good chunk of time in a basement. Readers of the book (or viewers of the deft 1953 adaptation) will note the variation of whom and how the aliens come to Earth, which poses some logistical problems. The film opens and closes with narration from the novel read by Morgan Freeman, but Spielberg could have adapted Orson Welles’s words from the famous Halloween Eve 1938 radio broadcast: “We couldn’t soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night, so we did the best next thing: we annihilated the world.”

–Doug Thomas from Amazon.com

From MoviesOnline.ca

Review

This movie was really good but pretty creepy. There was a lot of blood in this movie. I don’t mean blood like people got decapitated but the creatures machines would suck the blood out of you and then later you would see the machines expel large amounts of blood and there would be pools of blood all over the place. Quite disconcerting and quite creepy too. If your don’t like this type of thing, this movie may not be suited for you.

There was no good role modeling in this movie. Ray Ferrier was a very irresponsible dad. In the beginning he called his son all types of things. As the movie progressed he seemed to change and be more responsible because he realized if he did not buck up his ideas when he was going to die, along with his children and I don’t think he wanted that.

The acting in this movie was done really well. Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin both played the annoying and non-listening children. I got so annoyed with the children and the dad because the dad did nothing to make the children to shut up. But it probably portrayed a typical American family :).

This movie was filmed with a kind of tinge. I am not sure what the tinge was but it seemed to be a metallic, green, gray tinge to it which added to this surreal effect. It was quit an interesting idea because then it put everything kind of not in the present. It was showing that it was set a few years back.

Also the aliens were pretty creepy and the machines were creepy too. They were really big and they had these like tractor beams which disintegrated your body and pulled it up to the machine but left your clothes behind and Ray was eventually covered in body bits even though it was never explicitly mentioned, you got the idea. I am actually not sure if the beam pulled you up or just disintegrated you on the spot But don’t really want to know.

I think that this movie was done really well and is a definite see, but I recommend to be over the age of 14/15 because it was pretty creepy.

It was exciting though and definitely a classic which everyone should see at least once. I will be reading the book really soon and watching the original War of the Worlds which I am excited about. 🙂

Check out CommonSenseMedia.org’s review of the movie as it has more information. I just want to warn you though that CommonSense does sometimes give spoilers because they say what is said and everything which is seen. But there are no spoiler warnings on their sites.

I hope that you enjoy.