The Avengers And The Marvel Movie Marathon

The Avengers Assemble on May 4th!  To prepare Venessa (who is my movie watching buddy) and I had a Marvel Movie Marathon this week, watching Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America.


As I embarked on my journey of Marvel movies, starting with X-Men, I never really read comics.  X-Men piqued my interest in comics and before I saw the movie, I did my homework.  But if you know anything about comics, you know there is a lot of backstory and crossovers and reboots and what not.  In other words, THERE IS A LOT TO READ.  I mean, A LOT.  I appreciate the art and the care and devotion that go into a comic.  But after getting, maybe, ankle deep into the X-Men universe, I’ve basically limited my comic reading since then to some Deadpools, some Star Wars and the Elf Quest series.  So when the first Iron Man movie came out, I was excited to see the movie, but time and circumstances were not what they were when I did the type of homework I did for X-Men.  I still think about reading through the comics, but I really like just enjoying the movies as they are without knowing all the established comic history of Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor and Captain America.  Too often I’ll read the source material of some movie or show, and as much as I try not to, I will still compare.  It’s been fun enjoying these movies without some kind of expectation I’ve built up in my mind.


It’s funny that I even had this marathon though.  We, rather, Venessa and I, watch these movies ALL THE TIME.  But I haven’t had a chance to talk about them on my blog so now I get to!


I’ve already expressed my thoughts on Thor and Captain America here so I won’t repeat myself.  Though I will add, having never seen any movies with Chris Evans in it, I was skeptical of Captain America.  I really knew nothing about the actor or the character.  But Chris Evans is very good, and makes Captain America, a character that could come off as corny and a little too perfect, very likable and sincere.


Iron Man, is, and likely will always be, my favorite.  I’m a fan of Robert Downey Jr. so knowing he was in this movie I had to see it, especially after his career missteps.  To me he was the best thing on Ally McBeal before he was let go and once he was gone I stopped watching that show.  It was great to see him back and that he’s been consistently good in the movies I’ve seen him in since.  He’s so good that even my husband, in the middle of our Iron Man 2 viewing, randomly threw him a compliment with, “That guy is good.”  Yes, he is.


Iron Man 2 seems to generate some controversy from commenter’s on sites like ew.com and movies.ign.com.  I like it.  The first is still better but I enjoy the second one and I liked that Tony was really tested in this one.  And how can you not like Sam Rockwell or Don Cheadle as James Rhodes, who I wish had played Rhodes in the first movie.


Now, for The Incredible Hulk… Well, Venessa liked it enough to want to watch it again.  This was the first time I’d seen it and I can see why fans, from some of the comments I read on the internet, didn’t like it.  It was a bit dull.  I could see the actors were devoted and wanted to make it work.  It just didn’t for me.  I didn’t find the characters all that interesting.  And just before the action started, I got up to throw some clothes in the wash not too worried about what I would miss.  I figured Venessa could fill me in.  I was just not feeling that one.


But I’m still really excited about seeing The Avengers.  I’ve been hearing good things about it on the internet and the reviews have been positive.  Even better that it’s just in time for Mother’s Day, which, to me is the best Mother’s Day present!  It’s become a tradition for me to see my Marvel movies on Mother’s Day.  For the last two years, it just happened that way.  In 2010 I saw Iron Man 2 on Mother’s Day, and in 2011 I saw Thor.


So who else is excited to see The Avengers?

The Thief of Bagdad

The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks that’s full of action, adventure and exotic locales.  It’s loosely based on One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights.  It’s about a thief, who falls in love with the Caliph of Bagdad’s daughter.  Using a stolen magic rope, the thief sneaks into the palace with thoughts of plunder on his mind but stops when he sees the princess for the first time.  The thief’s associate learns what happens and talks the thief into sneaking back into the palace to kidnap the princess he is in love with.  Three princes from far off lands arrive to win the princess’s hand in marriage.  The thief takes the opportunity to disguise himself as a prince in order to get into the palace and close to the princess to kidnap her.  But he has a change of heart and can’t go through with it when he finds out the princess was going to choose him as her husband.


What follows is an adventure to different lands, through treacherous volcanoes, undersea sets and a city in the clouds.  There’s a magic rope, a crystal ball, a flying carpet and horse, as well as a cloak of invisibility!  This reminded me so much of Disney’s Aladdin and the TV series Arabian Nights.  I only mention those two because they are the only things I’ve watched that have had anything to do with the stories they are based on, because obviously, this movie was made in 1924 waaaaaaaay before those two were even a twinkle in someone’s clever brain.


I loved every minute of The Thief of Bagdad.  I don’t watch enough silent films.  I've seen a handful and I really need to watch more.  This was the first silent film I've seen that starred Douglas Fairbanks and he is just so charismatic and light on his feet!  His stunts are wonderful!  Oh, and the sets and special effects are brilliant!  I grabbed some screenshots of some of my favorite scenes:

I probably shouldn't have started with this one because it was hard to really capture what is going on here.  This is an underwater scene, with kelp swaying back and forth as the thief swims to the bottom of the ocean.  I just loved the green lighting and movement of the kelp and the thief as he swims through them.

This is an underwater cavern where there are siren-like mermaids calling to the thief.  Look at this place!  Isn't it gorgeous?!  The green lighting and the glow of the crystal chandeliers hanging down is so pretty and everything here is so ethereal.

The castle in the clouds.  I should have gotten a better screenshot but you can just see the flying horse there.  This is where the magic box and the invisibility cloak were found.  Again, wonderfully lit and really serene and lovely.

The palace walls.  I love the glow coming from behind the wall and lighting up the guard on top.  And the design and texture on the wall is great!

This is my second favorite shot, after the underwater cavern.  I don’t know if that’s window or a screen but it’s beautiful!  Look at the lovely scroll work on it!  And the little twister to the left… you’ll have to watch to find out what that’s about!

I wanted to include a shot of just how epic this movie is with the crowd of people and the set design for the city of Bagdad.  I did a bit of research on Wikipedia and it said this movie cost two million dollars and was the most expensive film of the 1920s.  And to me, not a dime was wasted!

Another lovely shot.

So, I loved it.  Venessa watched some with me and really liked it.  And I think you will to.  It’s streaming on Netflix or you can watch here on Archive.org.  Give it a watch!  You won’t regret it.


P.S. Happy 8th Birthday, Venessa!

Movie Madness: Transformers, Dark of the Moon and Don't Even Bother

We rented Transformers: Dark of the Moon the other day from Red Box. What a waste of $1.29. But I would have been even more upset if I had seen this in the theater last summer because this movie made no sense!

The second one didn't either and you would think they’d correct that but no, they didn’t. They just made it worse. Ugh, seriously, after watching Inception the first time I knew what had happened and why. Too bad I can't say the same for Transformers 3. Some of my biggest pet peeves with this movie follows (Spoilers below):

1. The top half of that skyscraper leaning over and held in place by another building: It made no sense to me. That is not structurally possible, is it?! I mean, God, I hated that. Then that tentacle Decepticon thingy running through the building. If it wanted to kill them so bad, why didn’t it just blow the damn thing up!
2. Rosie Huntington-Whatever: I didn’t mind her as a replacement for Megan Fox. But that damn white jacket that never got dirty really got on my nerves. And all she got to do was look hot, scream “Sam!” a million times (yes, I know what his name is!) and she told Megatron he was somebodies bitch? I guess that was supposed to be cool?
3. How many times did they fall through glass windows and not get cut up by that? I don’t get it! Since when does glass not cut the hell out of you when you fall through it that many times?! Even Die Hard pointed this out when John McClane went running through it bare foot then had to pull a huge piece out of his foot. And look, even Terry thinks it's ridiculous too!: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/12/03/terry-gilliam-on-dark-knight-tintin-and-transformers/.
4. The people jumping out of windows: Why? What were they supposed to do? I thought the military couldn’t get into Chicago? They made a point of trying to get the bridges down. So where did they come from? Why were they there? Again, what were they supposed to do? I’m pretty sure they were jumping out of windows. They didn’t jump from any planes because they were shot down by the Decepticons, right? I guess I could have gone back to find out but I wasn’t about to waste my time.
5. And seriously, Michael Bay, you know men were dragging their wives/girlfriends to this movie, the least you could have done was give the ladies some eye candy. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson were not enough. Were they shirtless? No. The movie gets an F- just for that. Even some English dude, whose all Shakespearean and serious about movie stuff, knew what the ladies wanted when they went to see Thor (which is the ONLY reason I wanted to see Thor on Mother’s Day (and I was really looking for another excuse to use this pic)).

So in conclusion, Transformers: Dark of the Moon was a big waste of time and it made me want to throw squirrels at Michael Bay, Dixon-style:

Movie Madness: Immortals and Breaking Dawn Part 1

I got to enjoy a four day weekend and with that I saw two movies. I saw Immortals with my husband on Thursday for my birthday and then on Sunday, I saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 with my friend, Caz. So the verdict (and FYI there will be spoilers):

Immortals

The Good – Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff (sidekicks are always fun) and some OK fight scenes.

The Bad – Theseus (really, this is the new Superman?) was dull and I totally did not buy him trying to fire up an army to fight. You couldn’t tell the gods apart other than Zeus, but only because he was mentioned by name, as well as Athena, who, again, was mentioned by name. I did recognize Poseidon but only because I’ve read The Lighting Thief and know Poseidon carries a trident. Otherwise, who the hell were the other gods there fighting the Titans? Oh, and there weren’t enough abs and we saw this in 3D and didn’t care for it. It looked blurry and dull. Boo.

Breaking Dawn Part 1

The Good – I LOL through the whole movie.

The Bad – The movie. But of course I was expecting that since I did read the book. And I’m really disturbed by the fact that I remembered that damn styrofoam cup and straw Bella drinks her blood from and that she was eating fried chicken when she got sick and discovered she was pregnant with the demon spawn. Seriously, in a house of blood suckers who hunt wild animals for blood, they have a cup and straw readily available? It was probably mentioned in the book where it came from but who cares. And I mean, really? The first thing that comes to mind after getting sick after eating undercooked chicken is you’re pregnant? And that’s not all but I really don’t want to get into it. And since I did read the book I know I will not be seeing Part 2 only because a whole lot of nothing happens so why bother. At least in part one we got to watch Bella turn into Gollum (Caz's description that was very appropriate) and were totally grossed out with Jacob imprinting with Renesmee (worst. name. ever.).

So not the greatest of movies but I did have a good time so that’s what counts! The last movie I saw in the theatre was Fright Night so it was good to get out and catch up with what’s out there and now it’s got me in the mood to see more movies. The new Sherlock Holmes is coming so I’m totally looking forward to that (LOVE Robert Downey Jr.!) as well as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (haven’t read the book yet but not sure if I will bother before the movie) and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (but only for Jeremy Renner. Tom Cruise, Boo.).

Soooo… anyone else see any good movies this weekend and what new ones are you looking forward to?

Movie Madness and What’s New on the Shelf!

I would have posted this on Monday, but a certain little girl wanted everyone to see her first video review...

Anyways, over the weekend I saw Fright Night! Yes, it was awesome. Two words: Colin Farrell. Even better, the vampires DIDN’T SPARKLE. Oh no, they were scary and bad and oh, David Tennant was awesome with his dueling diva sidekick. There were laughs, there was plenty to jump and cringe at and I saw one of the best uses of a Century 21 sign on a vampire! You go Toni Collette! Mom’s rule and vampires drool! The best part was seeing the movie with friends who were not afraid to enjoy the movie and laugh, jump and talk about the movie afterwards while wandering around the mall window shopping.

It was nice to get out and see a movie. Lately I haven’t been watching very many. Sad indeed because Tombstone had been sitting on top of the TV for almost 2 WEEKS! Horrible, I know, it’s an awesome movie! Believe me, after watching Fright Night and re-catching the movie-watching-bug I corrected that asap! And now I need to see the original Fright Night.

But that did not keep me from adding more books to the shelf. Oh no, because I got my library card finally! Here’s what I picked up for myself:

Lost Horizon by James Hilton

A book I heard about during the opening of some No Reservations episode. It’s supposed to be about finding Shangri-La or something.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I think enough time has passed to finish up this series. I was super excited because a kind librarian got “the key” to a locked room to get this for me. I’m about half way through it now and, well... it’s kinda getting on my nerves... anyways, you’ll find out when I review it.

And these came in the mail on Monday from Amazon:

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

I’d been seeing this book all over Amazon so it had been on the back of my mind. Then one day in Barnes and Nobles I happened to flip it open and saw the prettiest inside cover I’ve seen in a book so far.

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

I’d seen this one on a couple of blogs I visit and the cover art caught my eye. This will be the next book Venessa and I read together (We finished the The Trouble With Tink. Video review next week!). There’s a character named Emma who, after reading the back of the book, I know I will like.

If you happen across The Map of Time or The Emerald Atlas at a bookstore, stop and pick them up just to get a feel for them. The covers are so lovely and, hopefully I’m not setting myself up for disappointment, they feel magical. And they’re so shiny!

Harry Potter and Thank You Michelle for Your Persistence That I Should Read These Books to Become an Obsessed Potter Nerd

The weekend is over and if you haven’t seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2…WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! In honor of the last movie, based on my favorite book of the series, I wanted to start my blog off right with my thoughts about the last Harry Potter movie EVER (No!)…

First, I have to comment on the whole HP 7.2 experience: Regal stinks (at least the Jacksonville theater we went to) and I’m dying to see this movie again at our AMC theater here in Tallahassee. I saw a Soccer Mom and an older lady, in her late sixties/early seventies, both wearing Mischief Managed t-shirts. How awesome is that?! Watching young and old and everyone in between filling up the theater was exciting to see. Then hearing those same young and old sniffling and cheering won’t be anything I’ll ever forget. It was a good crowd for a 12:50pm show time.

Now, how about them trailers? Yeah, I was a bit disappointed with what we got stuck with (in no particular order):

Hugo – What is this movie even about? Horrible trailer. NEXT.

The Dark Knight Rises – Yes, please! Gary Oldman FTW!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – I’ll see it but I get the feeling it won’t be as good as the first.

Some movie where elves wrapped a polar bear… moving on…

Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Andy Serkis! As Caesar! I'm totally seeing this movie!

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (and in case you need it, SPOILER ALERT!):

1. The Beginning. Yes, we know Voldemort has the Elder Wand, yadda yadda yadda, let’s get to the good stuff!

2. Who do I speak to about renting Shell Cottage for the summer?

3. Hermione as Bellatrix (or Helena Bonham Carter as Emma Watson), funny, but let’s move it along now because I'm really anxious to see the ...

4. Dragon! The part I’m more excited about because vault, horcrux, treasure multiplying, yadda yadda yadda…

5. Escape from Gingotts on the Dragon! Yes! The Dragon flying through the air was beautiful and one of two scenes from the whole movie that was truly lovely, cinematically.

6. What in the world did they rub on their hands after getting out of the lake? Hand sanitizer? And don’t tell me Dittany because they’re hands looked fine to me and there was nothing about the treasure burning them like the book.

7. Pale, British boys taking off their wet shirts does not compare to Thor. IT DOES NOT!

8. I was okay with the explanation of the mirror. I guess.

9. Neville Longbottom emerging from the tunnel behind Ariana’s portrait!

10. Neville revealing Harry to everyone in the Room of Requirement. I almost started cheering! And did you notice the Harry Potter theme playing over that scene? I loved it!

11. McGonagall dueling Snape! LOVE!

12. The castle statues preparing to defend Hogwarts and McGonagall giddy with excitement when using that spell for the first time. I was giddy too!

13. Establishing the defenses of the castle sent chills up my spine as I watched the “Magic”.

14. Seeing Ron and Hermione in the Chamber of Secrets destroying the cup horcrux was fun since we only heard about it in the book.

15. But why couldn’t Ron have just told Hermione he remembered what Harry said in Parseltongue to open the locket in Part 1? Talking in his sleep? Really? How would Ron have known that he was saying something like “I’d like fries with that” instead of assuming it was “Open the damn door”?

16. Never cared about Ron and Hermione’s first kiss so moving on…

17. Fiendfyre! And I like that Harry destroyed the tiara with the Basilisk fang instead of using the Fiendfyre. It makes more sense rather than stopping the momentum of the movie to explain what Fiendfyre was and what it could do, when the movie audience already knew Basilisk fangs could do the same thing.

18. I was fine with the explanation of Harry able to sense the horcruxes when they were near. I was worried how they would find them knowing they had a good idea what the objects could be by the end of Book 6 but none of that was discussed in the 6^th movie.

19. I really enjoyed the whole battle sequence and how awesome was Kingsley blasting some Death Eater away?!

20. Snape’s death was even more brutal than the book! But how else could you kill such a powerful and skillful Wizard? I thought this was done better in the movie than in the book and it made it that much harder to bear when…

21. SNAPE TOLD HARRY HE HAS IS MOTHER’S EYES! We all knew this was coming. We all knew the significance of “Look at me.” But that one additional line pushed me over the Emotional Edge of No Return!

22. Thank goodness Fred’s death happened off screen because see above…

23. Then of course, the moment (or rather, memories) we were all waiting for… THE PRINCE’S TALE! A young Severus and Lily lying under the trees together. That quick scene alone was enough to convey how much Severus loved Lily. It was lovely, yet heartbreaking knowing how it all ends... with Severus holding Lily’s lifeless body! SERIOUSLY, HOW COULD YOU, MOVIE?! Didn’t you already push me off the edge after the “You have your mother’s eyes” line?

24. AND THEN THE FOREST AGAIN! And thank goodness for waterproof mascara!

25. When reading the Deathly Hallows, it was always hard to imagine what that piece of Voldemort’s soul - that had been in Harry - looked like, so I was very pleased with the way it was interpreted in the movie: slightly indecent (just as Harry described it in the book), disturbing and grotesque.

26. I like how the camera lingered on Narcissa Malfoy when she discovered Harry was still alive. Would she tell Voldemort? The Malfoy’s fate, I believe, hinged on her decision and I liked that the movie showed how that one decision was another contributing factor to the weakening of Voldemort’s power.

27. I would have loved a “Dumbledore’s Army!” from Neville but his touching speech as he took a stand against Voldemort worked for me.

28. Molly and Bellatrix duel! I would have liked a longer duel but then again, it wasn’t that long in the book either and Bellatrix still lost so I’m a happy camper.

29. I liked that Nagini was loose and attacking while Ron and Hermione tried to destroy it with the Basilisk fang. It just made it that much more exciting when Neville chopped it’s head off with the Sword of Gryffindor!

30. Harry vs. Voldemort: Extended Dueling Edition!

31. But that took them away from the heat of the continuing battle and only Harry witnessed Voldemort’s death, which weakened the whole point that this was not just Harry’s fight but the whole Wizarding Community’s.

32. Epilogue was alright. I got teary eyed when Harry reminded Albus Severus he was named after the bravest man Harry knew and when the movie faded out because IT WAS THE END! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Overall I really, really liked the movie. Neville needs his own Indiana Jones-like action adventure and I’m calling it now: Alan Rickman receiving his first Academy Award nomination and winning! OR ELSE. Is it too early to start talking about a reboot?