Five Things Friday: Five stars who completely changed my opinion about them in the last few months.

Happiest of Happies, dear readers! I do hope that you had an amazing NYE and had loads of fun.

Today, for our first FTF post this year, I bring a list of actors and actresses that changed my opinion of them during the last few months. I might have disliked them for their bratty appearance or been indifferent to them overall, but hey, ladies and gents, you can rest assured now that Natasha of LOTCG likes you know (I do know that they can’t sleep at night knowing I disliked them :D)

Angelina Jolie

I mainly hated Jolie because my ex boyfriend loved her (yeah, I was real grown up back then), so when I went to see Maleficent I was like “Okay fine, I will just take a gracious hit for the team”.* The movie isn’t really her best movie, but she is good in it, and I really enjoyed her as the evil woman I had always secretly been fascinated by in the Disney world.

Chloe Grace Moretz

Ah, Chloe Grace. I thought you were such a brat. Well, you probably are, but since I based my perception of you on the character you played in the disastrous Barnabas Collins: Dark Shadows, I do apologise and am sorry. Carrie and If I Stay are both movies that endeared her to me. Her performances are solid and I could find nothing wrong or irritating about it. You go girl!

James McAvoy

I do think Bkushi would defriend me if I ever hated on McAvoy, so I am so relieved that I never did, although I was very indifferent to him. Then, I saw X-Men, and I felt glorious sunshine over my face as I was awakened to his brilliance.

One of my favorite genres are superhero movies, there is no two ways about it. However, save a few exceptions, they are not overly deep and the characters are very one dimensional. James McAvoy takes his Professor and makes you believe that he is who he says he is, not just some oke wanting a paycheck. Anything with his name on is what I will be watching next, because this guy is heading to my favorite actors list so fast it’s not even funny.

Scarlett Johansson

Despite the fact that I can’t ever manage to type her surname correctly, and always have to go back and effing fix it, I realized that Scarlett (note lack of use of damn surname) isn’t nearly as bad or talentless as I always said she was. I really, really liked her kick ass retaliation retribution in Lucy, and her Black Widow in Captain America, Winter Soldier, was better than the annoying Black Widow she sometimes plays.

Shia LaBeouf

What is it with these ridiculous surnames? Anyhow, I read a lot of celebrity news on the internet (as a vice and when I don’t want to work). The Beefster REALLY loves his attention so I felt very MEH about him because I hate attention ho’s. I watched Lawless and was reminded that even though he was a twat and probably a bit of a narcissist, he could act at the end of the day.

What is your opinion about these stars? Do you have anyone else you would like to add to this list? Let me know! 🙂

January 2, 2015January 1, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Five Things Friday, MoviesTags: Angelina Jolie, Black Widow, Carrie, Chloe Grace Moretz, If I Stay, James McAvoy, Lucy, Maleficent, Scarlett Johansson, Shia LaBeouf 10 Comments

2014 Movies: Part 2

Allrighty, to celebrate the very last day of the year, here is the second post of my movies of 2014. There will be a third post as well by tomorrow or Friday (depending on how I feel tomorrow, ya know) with the last batch of movies I watched this year that was also released this year.

Happy new year, and thank you for supporting this blog!

The Other Woman

I seem to have stumbled into way too many Cameron Diaz films lately, which is just sad as I don’t really like the lady all that much. This one was okay for the formulaic romcom it was aiming to be though. I liked the all around team spirit of the ladies and the determination to bring a womanizer down.

Divergent

I know a lot of people hated this book adaption, but I thought it was okay and the casting was decently done.

I, Frankenstein

One of the worst movies of 2014. I can’t recall anything good to say about it. I don’t know how anyone involved in that movie thought they would get moderately good reviews from it.

Lucy

I know many people had beef with Lucy but I found this dark sci-fi thriller very entertaining and well produced.

Need for Speed

Movies just shouldn’t try to be other movies, if ya know what I mean.

Noah

I still maintain that this is the worst book adaption that will ever happen. I had issues with the length of the movie and the CGI particularly.

What did you think of these?

December 31, 2014December 31, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Movies, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Divergent, Lucy, Movies, Need for Speed, Noah, Reviews 6 Comments

Movie Review: Lucy (2014)

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is twenty five and lives in Taipei as a student. Her new boyfriend asks her to deliver a case to a Mr. Jang (Choi Min-Sik), and she refuses multiple times, but he cuffs the case to her arm and she is forced to enter the hotel and deliver the package.

Her boyfriend is shot before her eyes and Mr. Jang’s henchmen drags her to a suite, where she is forced to open the case. The case contains a new synthetic drug CPH4, and before she knows it, the drug is implanted in Lucy’s abdomen, and she must deliver within 24 hours or die when the plastic bag inside her disintegrates. Lucy is kept captive while waiting for the flight, but one of her captors kicks her and the bag breaks, opening it and pushing all those drugs into her system.

The effects are remarkable; something Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman) has hypothesised about but never had a hope to witness. Lucy contacts him and tells him what is happening to her and agrees to meet with him in twelve hours.

Lucy: We’ve codified our existence to bring it down to human size, to make it comprehensible, we’ve created a scale so we can forget its unfathomable scale

Meanwhile, there are still men with CPH4 in their bellies on the way to different countries. Lucy contacts Police Captain Pierre Del Rio (Amr Waked) in France to tell him what is happening, and he is convinced to take action. All three men are taken by the police and rushed to hospital, but the Taiwanese drug cartel takes also arrives to take the drug. Chaos ensues, but Lucy is able to get all three packets of CPH4 from the now dead drug mules.

As Lucy’s access to her brain capacity increases, she becomes telekinetic and able to manipulate people and matter. With these mind-blowing powers comes the knowledge that her body cannot bear the drugs infinitely and that she isn’t infinitely strong enough to survive all the mental capacity she is now subjected to. As she races to Professor Norman, Mr. Jang is still on his pursuit to get his drugs back. Can Lucy share her knowledge before her face off with Jang or her meeting with her own death?

Rating: 8/10

I saw this movie over this weekend thinking that we were actually going to watch Sex-tape because some of my friends claimed they were too scared to watch Lucy. I am so happy that I got to see this instead because yet another Jason Segal and Cameron Diaz movie is not at the top of my to-do list.

Lucy is a movie that is actually worth the hype. I get why people would want to see it. Gripping story plus good action usually wields excellent results.

I really enjoyed Scarlett Johansson, and Analeigh Tipton wasn’t enough on screen to irritate me. The story had an excellent pace and I really thought that even though the hypothesis was far-fetched, the story did what it could to remain believable. As Michael said in this blog post, we need more female leads in action movies that don’t constantly send out sexual innuendos and need a man to save her. Lucy did everything herself, she kicked ass, her tale didn’t revolve how tight her clothes was (ahem, Black Widow, Scarlett) and the men ended up awed by her powers.

Thoughts while watching:

Firstly, don’t trust the Taiwanese. I did not spot any Taiwanese in Lucy that had a smidgen of dignity.

Can Morgan Freeman please, please do the voice over for my life?

I need Lucy’s super skills for traffic every Monday morning.

Don’t date guys you meet in a drunken adventure in a club at night, and more importantly, leave the first time when he asks you to do something questionable outside a high powered hotel.

Spanish/French/Whatever cops with crooked noses are surprisingly hot. Maybe it is the accent?

Even though there are some questionable scientific discoveries, I really had fun watching this. Morgan Freeman looks and sounds like the highly qualified professor that he portrays, and then the man dumbstruck with the fact that what he has hypothesised has happened.

Reasons why I really liked it:

Female kicks ass – there are not nearly enough action movies, or any genre of movies for that sake, that hosts a female lead who seriously kicks everybody’s ass, finds a way to save herself and not need a man to do it.

Oh, science. I enjoyed Morgan Freeman as the Professor and I just enjoy movies where science is celebrated and explored.

Good acting, lady. My usual range of comments about Scarlett Johansson is not always flattering, but she deserves accolades for Lucy. I thought she coped exceptionally well with having an unimaginable amount of life threatening drugs in her system. SJ was a superhero at the end of the day, and I didn’t even feel sorry for anyone she took out of her way – they truly deserved that.

Good recipe of drugs, drama, action and sadness. What do you do when you realise that you have unimaginable knowledge for a short time and then you will die? You contact the leading academic in the field, lure the madman out who is responsible for your upcoming death, give the police of France a day they will never forget and kick serious but. I wasn’t bored even once, I didn’t wonder when it would end and the action scenes weren’t boringly drawn out till I wanted to cry.

Recommendation: You won’t be ruining your day by watching this, but if you are scared easily I won’t recommend it. Go give it a try!

September 16, 2014September 15, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Movies, ReviewsTags: action, Amr Waked, Analeigh Tipton, Choi Min-Sik, CPH4, Lucy, Morgan Freeman, Movies, Pierre Del Rio, Professor Samuel Norman, Reviews, Scarlett Johansson, Sci-Fi 9 Comments

Thoughts 9.1

Firstly, this post was initially incredibly whiney, (sadly not WINE-y). I edited a lot to make it not seem like an incessant moan session, so if you are reading this, know that I love you (in a purely unfreaky way) enough to change a post to positive. It started off one night as I forced myself off the internet (you freaking addictive thing).

It is September, which means Spring. I am so happy it is warmer. To the Northerners reading this, Winter is coming. You all at least get some snow while all we do in SA is get cold. I can’t wait for November, I am going to the coast (major dancing, partying and loafing will be involved, all on the beach)

What is happening quite soon:

I am doing the Colour Run in Johannesburg. It is my first time doing this and I really can’t wait.

I am up for a two week practical Chemistry class. That means two weeks of not dealing with work which is the best thing to happen since sliced cheese.

Speaking of South-Africa, here is a cute article about slang words South-Africans use.

Can people just not be such asshats?

I have this huge confession that I LOVE Kate and William. They are so sweet, and I don’t care if feminists think that she should do more with her life than pop out babies. Some women want that, just FYI, and it is their free choice to make. Anyway, I am super excited that they are having their next baby! So everyone who is moaning about the British money being wasted or whatever bug you have up your ass, just be happy for once that a couple is happy.

Another case of sever ass-ism are the people who left two Labrador puppies in a dustbin. My sister will now adopt one and the brother will go to another safe place. This is not the place to mention what I will do to the people that did that, but let’s just say for now I hope they end up in a dustbin without food or water. Would seem like justice.

Movies watched recently

Not a whole lot, but I saw One for the Money Friday night while drinking wine with my sister (the wine couldn’t even save that plot) and I saw Lucy in cinema Saturday. I also saw THAT was epic and I had such a good time with it, so keep an eye out for the post!

I am busy reviewing some Marvel films for my Marvellous Monday Blogathon. The table with available movies to watch is updated every Monday as the instalment post is posted, so hop over and takes a look.

Reading List:

To finish:

A Faint, Cold Fear – Karin Slaughter

Dead to the World – Charlaine Harris

Angel’s Fall – Nora Roberts. Yep, I am actually re-reading this for the gazillionth time.

To begin:

Dead as a Doornail – Charlaine Harris

A Game of Thrones – George R.R Martin

Series

After finishing the glorious Sherlock, I haven’t watched anything new. I was playing around with Vampire Diaries season three as part of my plan to catch up with all of it, but I am still not finished. I am going to start True Blood soon, with some light-hearted New Girl in-between because I just love that ridiculous show.

A hot guy, because I can

And this one that Zoë sent me. Because we understand that so well

September 12, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Books, Game of Thrones, Movies, Quotes, Series, Thoughts, WeekendsTags: A FAint cold fear, A Game of Thrones, Charlaine Harris, Colour Run, Dead as a Doornail, Dead to the World, George RR Martin, Karin Slaughter, Kate and William, Lucy, Marvelous Mondays, One for the Money, September, Sherlock, South-Africa, Spring, Taylor Kinney, Thoughts, Wine 2 Comments