Movie Review: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Endgame

Plot: After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos’ actions and restore order to the universe

After 10 incredible years of the MCU, it seems that every single moment has led up to this film. Fan or not, you have probably heard of the staggering success of this film the last weekend – 1.2 billion dollars within one weekend. It is absolutely insane, yet no one seems overly surprised. I am not. I got my ticket for the first release in South-Africa. I get grumpy with spoilers but I don’t have meltdowns, yet I suspected I would have one if someone spoiled this form me. I will keep this review as spoiler free as possible, because if you have eagerly awaited each of these films as I have, you deserve to have it unspoiled for you.

Overwhelmed, emotional, shaken, surprised. That is pretty much how I felt. It became inevitable with the lead up to this film not to ask if a major superhero would die, but which one would. I will tell you that whatever happens feels completely right for that character, like they were always written for it. It is sad, but it feels like the perfect ending.

There are two character developments which feels… weird, even for Marvel. The one I will literally never be able to unsee but the actor involved handled it with charm and comedic ability. But still. It felt like a personal attack on the most beautiful character. The other one was quite hilarious but showed good character development. I am sorry, I am not really making any sense, am I?

It is a mammoth film, with a running time of three hours and 1 minute. It is a feat that I in particular didn’t feel that the film was drawn out, it is written well enough and is entertaining enough that the film runs without ever feeling that unnecessary time was wasted.

What worked well in this film is that the focus was very much on the original 5 superheroes. The Avengers crew has become way too large over the last couple of years and Avengers: Infinity War’s ensemble cast was large enough to host a high-school reunion of a really robust year. I don’t think it is too much of a spoiler to mention that when the rest of the avengers return, it is worth it and at the exact right moment. It is also really beautiful with the focus on one character’s reaction specifically, and you will have to have been dead inside for a thousand years not to be touched by it.

I will probably return with another review once the spoilers are out everywhere. Further than that, it was good and powerful and I enjoyed it. It has been a wild ride, and a beautiful one.

Love you 3000 😉

Rating: 7.5/10

Movie Review: Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man

Plot: Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

Ant Man is really the only Marvel film I haven’t specifically gone to see in cinema in the last five years. I finally sat down to watch it a while ago, and it halfway confirmed my suspicion that a movie about a superhero the size of an ant would be silly, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t end up enjoying myself quite a lot.

antman-ants-Featured

Anyone who has ever seen Clueless will tell you that Paul Rudd is the most adorable person to have ever person’d (not a word, but going with it). He also hasn’t aged in the 23 years since Clueless and looks exactly the same, adorable person he was back then (although with a lack of photographic evidence I can’t really comment on whether he was as ripped back then). He takes on a big role and sort of becomes an Avenger as Scott Lang, an engineer who has some bad taste in friends, and is recruited for a big role when he steps out of prison.

Joining the Ant Man cast is Evangeline Lilly, as Hope, the daughter of inventor-technology-extraordinaire Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Hope is smart and successful and plays a double agent between her father and the rapidly mentally deteriorating ex-protégée of Hank and current evil person and CEO of Hank’s brainchild company Pym Technologies, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll). She’s also love interest of Scott Lang, because plot reasons, and she’s also not allowed to put on the suit – initially I was like poor move Marvel, not allowing her to put on the suit because of her lady parts, but the movie does try to explain it as daddy has lost mommy this way and can’t lose his daughter this way too (I’m not convinced, but at least the sequel is titled “Ant-Man and the Wasp”, where Hope becomes the Wasp. Hope is great, looking amazing in her black suits and amazing hairstyle and kicking ass while being a central part of the plot. I also really enjoyed Michael Douglas, it is good seeing him look so well after his cancer diagnosis a few years back, and he adds gravity to the movie and manages to deliver some snide remarks and sarcastic comments while he’s at it.

One of the best things about Ant-Man is Michael Pena’s performance as Luis, Scott’s former cellmate and criminally-inclined-but-still-cool-person. Not really sure why Marvel would want to tap into the stereotype of Mexican criminals, but Pena manages to make his character a hit and especially hits it off with his amazing storytelling skills.

I also enjoyed seeing Judy Greer again, she’s great and as always after seeing her in something, I wish I could see her become a leading lady in a film. She’s been in Hollywood for ages and yet has never been the sole focus of a film, which is a shame in my opinion. I liked how she wasn’t portrayed as the villainous ex-wife of Scott, but rather a mother and an ex-partner who would be open to allowing more visitation rights to the seriously cute Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) once Scott sorts himself out.

I enjoyed Corey Stoll as the villain, but I really wish there were just a bit more depth to the backstory and more explanations why he lost the plot quite so badly and turned from protégée to “I want to kill everyone” type of person. He quickly becomes the madman, and I don’t always understand why.

I also suffered some confusion, and would advise people to watch Marvel films in the order they come out in, because I got the events quite mixed up in my head at a stage.

Ant-Man had a lot of good things going for it, and it is as warm hearted as a Marvel superhero movie can and will get. I missed out on Ant-Man and The Wasp in cinema (cry cry cry) but will definitely watch it when I can. I hope that Hope gets her chance to kick some ass and become part of Luis’ excellent storytelling skills.

Rating: 7.5/10

Watched, Read, Loved: September 2017

Yay! Spring is here in South-Africa and I couldn’t be more excited. When the weather is so much better I am so much better. Getting to work while the sun is actually up makes me a much nicer colleague.

I’ve been doing a couple of Parkruns. My work gave us all the opportunity in taking part in the Discovery Pulse challenge, which made me realize (again) how little steps I take each day. I’ve been trying to average it at 5000 steps, but that is already a challenge. The challenge officially began on the 27th of September 2017, and I really am working hard to do everything healthier – eating, sleeping, more exercise, less stress (HA!). It runs for three months and I will definitely let you know how it progresses.

movies logo

Movies

The Fate of The Furious: Continuing the ridicule of series that is the Fast Franchise, Dominic Toretto this time abandons his family for some obscure reason. I really enjoy these films because they are so brain dead and is just easy entertainment, but this one was particularly ridiculous.

Hidden Figures: So.Much.Love. It is heartwarming and beautiful with excellent performances, and I am so happy the film was released in such an important time in history. Not only is it about racial prejudice, it is about female empowerment, determination, love, courage and there are also great scenes of the early days of NASA.

Walk the line

Walk The Line: I was SO proud when I finally watched this – I’ve had the DVD on my shelf for many years now, and I remember hearing people rave about it but I never really made the effort to see for myself. Well, it was great, and a great Blindspot choice for me.

the-girl-on-the-train

The Girl on the Train: It was okay. I enjoyed Blunt (I always do), and her supporting female co-stars where all very strong. I also really do like Luke Evans. The big plot twist – I caught it half right so I was marginally impressed. Definitely not as good as Gone Girl, but interesting all the same.

Easy A (Official Movie Poster)

Easy A (2010): Emma Stone is one of my favourite young Hollywood stars. She’s just so incredibly talented and really funny. Easy A is some of her earlier work and she’s hilarious as Olive Pendergast. If I ever have daughters I hope they are like Olive – not willing to take bad behaviour from friends, loyal, hilarious, inventive and wildly inappropriate.

Wild Child

Wild Child (2008): Many people wouldn’t necessarily like this film, but I really do. It is one of my favourite teen movies, and although it isn’t as sharp as Easy A, Mean Girls, Heathers or Clueless (other favourites), it still remains one of the nicest things to watch, reminiscent of a time where Emma Roberts and Alex Pettyfer were clean cut, sweet individuals (probably not that sweet).

australia

Australia (2008): One of Baz Luhrman’s work I have had the least exposure to, Australia is a tribute to the wild and terrifying glory that is the continent of Australia. Hugh Jackman is ridiculously attractive, wildly blown out of proportion delicious, and the dainty and unexpectedly hilarious Nicole Kidman impressed me with some of the humour she injected into her character. This was definitely a great watch and I will watch it more in the future

clueless

Clueless: Clueless is one of my favorite “high-school” films. It is so silly and sweet and Paul Rudd is so adorable and Alicia Silverstone is so friggin adorable. You can’t feel bad after watching something like this, you just can’t.

books

Books:

gone girl

Gone Girl: Gillian Flynn I actually started reading this after The Girl on The Train, because it made me want to explore more thrillers. I am really enjoying so far and finding the writer pretty good at telling a story.

Hot Rocks: Nora Roberts I can’t decide whether it will be worth my time actually reviewing this. I’ve now successfully proven to bestie that I can actually read and review a book and then just not remember it, and it might very well happen with this novel. It wasn’t bad and I actually had a pretty great time, but it feels superfluous reviewing every single Nora Roberts book I read

Movie Review: 28 Thoughts while watching Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Civil war poster

Plot: With many people fearing the actions of super heroes, the government decides to push for the Anti-Hero Registration Act, a law that limits a heroes actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will continue to be destroyed, but Captain America feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world. This escalates into an all-out war between Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, and Spiderman) and Team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Sharon Carter, Scarlett Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man) while a new villain emerges

DON’T READ IF YOU ARE AVOIDING SPOILERS!

Rating: 7.5/10

  1. Why isn’t this titled Iron Man: Civil War? Was that the first fight between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark? (The lame comments gets worse, promise)
  2. Let’s just focus for a few seconds on the fact that this entire fight starts with Tony signing something, The Captain refusing and because they are both pigheaded, a big brawl starts. MEN.
  3. When did Rhodie become an Avenger?
  4. That scene with Tony Stark and the lady at the elevator at MIT is really very sad.
  5. Vision is like the strict dad. No fun allowed.
  6. Can I please learn to Sparta kick like Captain America?
  7. I will also pay a lot of money for fighting skills like the Black Widow.Civil war natahsa
  8. And also – her hair in time of upset – it remains perfect and I want her secret.Civil War BP
  9. Black Panther!!! How great does he look? I love it.I didn’t expect him to be Prince what-what, that was a surprise. Also, the country/area’s name is Wakanda? American source material, I tell you.
  10. On a serious note – I love that the cast is looking more diverse these days.
  11. But on another note – how are only TWO of the Avengers women? That is not very diverse – are the Avengers Donald Trump supporters?Civil war audi2Civil war Audi
  12. Let’s play a drinking game – every time you spot an Audi onscreen you take a shot of Jagermaster.
  13. Is there a slightly love vibe between Vision and the Scarlett Witch? For interest sakes, does he have… all… the equipment of a man or how does that work? And isn’t he something like Tony’s best brain parts? Does that mean that Tony also fancies Scarlett Witch? So many questions!
  14. How does Steve feel to have dated a girl and her grandmother’s sister? Steve is a fox!
  15. Captain America in sunglasses and a cap. (hehehe for my pun) – it works really well.
  16. The fight scenes were incredible, well choreographed and not over the top. Although, the buses flying everywhere at the helipad? That was the height of preposterous. Does Stark Industries cover the bill for all the damage the Avengers wreck?Civil WAr barnes
  17. Bucky Barnes. Such a great character and Sebastian Stan brought everything to the table as usual. Sebastian broke my heart with all his sad and soulful looks, though I loved the camaraderie between Steve and Bucky.
  18. How sad is Penny’s funeral? Seriously, how much must our guy handle? Penny’s inclusion broke my heart because she’s the only thing that Steve had left from the world he existed in and new well.
  19. PLOT TWIST! As mentioned above, how does he feel that he does a cross generational dating vibe going on?
  20. Steve can pull me closer like he did that helicopter. MY GUY.
  21. I want to bitch and moan that husband Chris Hemsworth is not in this, but really, there are about ten million characters already in here. Same goes for the green guy – I ADORE Mark Ruffalo and think he’s great as Dr. Bruce Banner. But I don’t think the posters would have been big enough for the cast if they were included.
  22. I really liked the Black Panther. He looks great. The character is also really solid – there is a goodness in him that was definitely missing from the havoc the Scarlett Witch wrecked in Age of Ultron.
  23. Daniel Bruhl! Great appearance by a solid actor.Civil war cia
  24. Some Martin Freeman too. I hope he has some more time in future movies – Marvel can do with some of his experience and class acting.
  25. I need to watch Ant Man really soon – I wish I could have seen the film before I saw Civil War – because my cutie pie Paul Rudd is his cute self.
  26. The new Spiderman… why is his aunt Marisa Tomei and why is he so young? I just can’t.
  27. Spiderman’s talking is only second to Tony Stark’s incessant talking, and if I have to be honest there is only enough space for one talker in the franchise.
  28. I enjoyed the end and appreciated that it didn’t end with a truce because everyone’s mother is named Martha. Not that I’m pinpointing to anything else.

Ultimately, Captain America: Civil War is Marvel at its’ finest. What did DC think in sending in the substandard BvS when it was so obviously made to go up against this? There is no competition. Marvel has established its’ characters and they follow a successful if generic formula, and it works every time. I thought the story was a bit rushed and Daniel Bruhl did not get nearly enough show time or even a few flashbacks. Only when he’s achieved what he wanted to achieve you get insight into why he is doing what he’s doing.

Civil War is also sporadically like a Game of Thrones episode – there are too many characters to follow and you end up looking at things like how nice the costumes are and the action sequences. Captain America has always been the best Marvel films in terms of material, and this one slipped just a bit in that aspect.

However it does not change the fact that Civil War is a fine piece of work – the action sequences are thrilling and authentic looking (except Audis flying here there and everywhere). Of the new appearances I enjoyed Black Panther the most, and Spidey way last because really, why a reboot when the last cutie pie Andrew Garfield movie was released only last year or something?

Anyway, good job, Marvel. You entertained me really well.

Also, these arms:

Civil war arms

Movie Review: Clueless (1995)

clueless

Plot: A rich high school student tries to boost a new pupil’s popularity, but reckons without affairs of the heart getting in the way.

Rating: 7/10

I’ve been dying to see this. It feels that I missed out not seeing it as a kid. That would have made me so much more attached to it than I am now. I found the first part of the movie a complete letdown.  Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) might not be a vicious Regina George from Mean Girls, but she is a ditzy pain in the ass with no morals or work ethic. Her determination to completely change Tai (Brittany Murphy) from the original girl she was to a drone plastic was irritating AF.

tai-cher-clueless

Once I realized that this is in fact an adaption of Emma, the novel by Jane Austen, things looked up because then the main character made sense – she’s a lonely, rich and pretty girl and utterly Clueless about herself and everyone else in her life. The movie lacks otherwise because there is no background given to the character except a few lines that her mother died when she was just a baby. The things Cher says and does is cringe worthy at points and really illuminates that she knows nothing despite her façade.

The 90s fashion was hilarious. Gosh, did people really wear that?! The outfits on the men were really painful to see.

Paul-Rudd-in-Clueless-paul-rudd-20205163-1280-720

I always liked Paul Rudd but never understood everyone’s attachment to him. Now that I’ve seen Clueless I totally get it. He is so damn cute as Josh. He makes the perfect romantic lead and is so frigging adorable.

This movie’s last half is better than everything before it. It ends strongly, making up for the stumbles in pace along the way and the irritating chirping of teenage girls worrying over become heifers because they ate four M&Ms. Any girl wants a guy to stumble over his words when sitting next to her, and that scene was the most adorable thing.

Clueless is not a bad movie but I think I missed that whole adoration thing – it would probably have had a nostalgic grip on me if I had watched it as a teen!

Blindspot 2015: Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Romeo and Juliet Poster

Plot: Shakespeare’s famous play is updated to the hip modern suburb of Verona still retaining its original dialogue.

Rating: 7.5/10

The 1996 adaption of the timeless story of two hormonal teenagers made it onto my Blindspot list for three reasons – I love Baz Luhrmann’s work and this is one of the few movies I haven’t seen of him, I adore DiCaprio and young DiCaprio was my dream boy as a kid and I mean Claire Danes was a lady I loved a whole lot before Carrie Matheson (because DIE BITCH DIE).

Romeo and Juliet other

Baz Luhrmann has a very characteristic directing style.R&J had the same feel of all his movies – straight out flamboyance everywhere compared to the poignant and sweet love scenes. It is such a strong contrast and achieves to highlight that no matter how crazy life can get, romance is still the sweetest thing there is and will remain unchanged through history. The modernization of the classic can overwhelm the senses initially but is well done – there are such ghetto scenes, the Montague’s and Capulets’ are depicted more as mobsters than anything else with both families being overrun with hoodlums.

Romeo and Juliet Paris

I think apart from DiCaprio and Danes my favorite performance was that of Paul Rudd. Man, he is such a cutie. He managed to be Paris perfectly – a lovely, vacant pretty boy that was only placed in the story to act as the final catalyst to Juliet’s rash decisions.

Heeeyyyyy
Heeeyyyyy

DiCaprio… sighhhhhhh. He is so perfect. Young Leonardo is so beautiful. Old Leonardo has evolved into something like royalty in Hollywood, and is really hot in all his distinguished glory. However, this young Leo is so sweet and his acting is raw and powerful. I doubt that this movie would have been as effective without him as Romeo. He is the perfect personfor this role.

Before crazy-eyes-Matheson, Claire Danes rocked
Before crazy-eyes-Matheson, Claire Danes rocked

Claire Danes was also a great choice for Juliet Capulet. She is sweet and innocent and fresh, and an anomaly compared to her gaudy family. She and Leo had wonderful chemistry throughout the movie and there are a few scenes where I held my breath because it was so lovely and sweet.

I can’t tell you how many times I thought “TEENAGERS” throughout this movie, because really – the rampant hormones in this film caused all the drama. I mean – falling in love, getting married and dying seems a little extreme in the span of only three days.  I don’t think anyone on this planet doesn’t know how this story ends – but I kept thinking how horrible I would have reacted if I didn’t know the end and I saw that unfolding – there would definitely have been things travelling through the TV screen!

My Blindspot list has really intense and wonderful movies on, so while I enjoyed this movie a lot and would recommend it to fans of Shakespeare, DiCaprio, Danes and Luhrmann, it won’t ever end up as my number one at the end of the year (because I already know which one is going to be number one!)

Movie Review: Perks of being a Wallflower (2012)

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-ZA
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

perks-being-wallflower-poster

Recommendations to watch a movie don’t always deliver on their promises, but I received enough to take a chance and watch this. It was a quiet Sunday night and being as it was only 1 hour and 45 minutes meant it went quickly and enjoyably. Amazingly enough the story is so well developed and everything gets explained in such a short amount of time. The cast isn’t exceptionally famous – Emma Watson and Dylan McDermot lead in that department, but the support cast were amazing and contributed towards the success of the film.

Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a shy teenager who is nervous about becoming a freshman in high school. He is so shy that he the only person he talks to on his first day is his English teacher Mr Anderson (Paul Rudd), who immediately notices his potential in the subject.

Charlie eventually makes friends with two seniors, Sam (Emma Watson) and her stepbrother Patrick (Ezra Miller). They become friends when they take him to a diner and Charlie even manages enough courage to join them on the dance floor at a school dance. At the house party afterwards, Charlie smokes weed and then tells Sam that his best friend committed suicide the previous year. It is one of the many sad things that surround Charlie and Sam and Patrick introduces him to their misfit friends.

Patrick, who is gay, tells Charlie about his relationship with Brad (Johnny Simmons), a popular and supposedly straight athlete. Charlie agrees to keep it quiet because Brad is terrified of his own homophobic father finding out. Charlie also starts helping Sam with preparations for retaking her SAT exams so that she can become a student at Pennsylvania State University. Sam kisses Charlie one night even though she plans to date someone else, and tells Charlie that she was molested as a little girl and also about how troubled her life was before she changed herself.

Charlie starts to date Mary Elizabeth (Mae Whitman) for a bit but eventually her overbearing nature leads to a breakup that Charlie handles extremely poorly. All his friends are furious with him for kissing Sam in a game of Truth or Dare (he had to kiss the prettiest girl in the room) and afterwards Patrick tells him it might be better if he steered clear of them for a bit.

Charlie’s condition worsens and he keeps having flashbacks to the car crash that killed his favorite aunt Helen (Melanie Lynskev).

Brad’s father finds out that he is gay when he catches Brad and Patrick having sex. He beats Brad as predicted and Patrick and Brad breaks up because of him. In the school cafeteria there is an altercation and Brad refuses to stand up against his friends to protect Patrick. Patrick hits him after Brad calls him a faggot, and Brad’s friends immediately start beating him up. Charlie comes to his rescue and saves Patrick, but can’t remember how he beat so many boys that were all larger than him. Afterwards he is reunited with his friends.

Sam finds out that she has been accepted into University and that she needs to leave immediately. She and Charlie kisses and when she touches his leg he immediately moves away because it triggers childhood memories.

The following day Charlie keeps having flashbacks of his aunt and calls his sister. He tells her that it is his fault his aunt died and she immediately notices that Charlie is suicidal. She calls the police and Charlie is taken to a mental healthcare facility where he starts recovering. His doctor finally gets him to tell that his aunt molested him as a child, and when his parents find out they are heartbroken. He is eventually able to go home, and when his friends return for vacation he and Sam kisses again.

Rating: 8.5/10

Perks is a beautiful, beautiful movie. It has been a while since I’ve seen a movie of this quality. It manages to address so many issues in society: depression, sexuality, molestation, and guilt and peer pressure. It reminded me to be kinder towards teenagers – not only do they have all these issues to deal with but they are also locked up with another 1000 bunch of walking hormones for eight hours a day.

Charlie was such a sad and powerful character. As more of his past comes known your heart just continues to break for him. Eventually when I found out what really happened to him I was so angry and sad.

Emma Watson, post Hermoine Granger, is entertaining to watch. From the days of the Philosopher’s Stone she has developed exponential acting abilities, and I would be the first to say that her previous franchise didn’t use it correctly. She is sweet as Sam, a nice girl who has had rough patches in her life. As an actress Emma should stick with these quirky, intelligent roles, it really suits her.

This is definitely the best coming of age film I’ve seen ever and I highly recommend it. It is a good enough movie for older people to watch even though the movie is about teenagers.