The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Starring: Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage,
Director: Peter Jackson

 

 

 

Finally, the wait is over.

 

For 3 years in a row, it was a tradition for myself, my husband and a best mate to go and see the Lord of the Rings movies on Boxing Day. When "Return of the King" was released, we were devastated. As we walked out of the cinema we asked ourselves, what the heck do we do next Boxing Day?

 

Luckily, we had a couple of Harry Potter movies to fill in the time and some others, but when we heard that Peter Jackson had taken over the direction of "The Hobbit", the excitement began to build again.

 

Originally, another brilliant director, Guilermo Del Toro, (Hellboy and Pans Labyrinth), was meant to direct, but pulled out for some reason. So instead of letting the idea sink all together, Peter Jackson renigged on an earlier promise and took up the reins.

 

Slowly, the cast was built, press releases made and Peter began to release his video blogs on facebook. We all watched and waited with baited breath until the first trailer came out and then we all cheered.

 

After re-reading the book, I wondered how he would do some things and if he would deviate or stay as true to Tolkien as possible. As with any book to movie adaptation, some changes are necessary and with this, I think he's done a fantastic job, well with the first instalment anyway. The rest remains to be seen.

 

As soon as the music started, my friend turned to me and said ''oh shit, I'm crying already".

 

The introduction to the movie, in my opinion, is well done. Although some deemed it unnecessary, I felt it was a nice tie in for those of us who are fans of the movies. Bilbo (Ian Holm) and Frodo (Elijah Wood) introduce us to this new tale about young Bilbos adventures with a company of dwarves.

 

We see Bilbos first meeting with the legendary Gandalf and are soon after introduced to 13 dwarves who almost eat poor Bilbo out of house and hole.

 

Most of the dwarves are unknown, but there are a few who some may recognise. The mighty Thorin Oakenshield, played by the dashing Richard Armitage, and one of my favourite characters throughout the first movie, was amazing. He drew attention as soon as he was on screen and rightly so.

 

Young Kili, is played by Mr Aidan Turner. Those UK Being Human fans out there may recognise him as Mitchell. Him and Fili are the ''One Directioners" int he company, the young, good looking dwarves.

 

The rest of the company are made up of Bombur, Bifur, Bofur, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori and Ori. I had trouble telling most of them apart, but it didn't make it any less entertaining.

 

Wonderful cameos from Lord Elrond, (Hugo Weaving), Lady Galadriel, (Cate Blanchett), and two that made the geek in me squeal, Brett Mackenzie from Flight of the Conchords and Lee Pace who was recently in Breaking Dawn Part 2. Lee looked magnificent as the elf Thranduil astride a gorgeous elk.

 

Another cameo that will make the nerds out there happy was the wonderful Sylvester McCoy, who plays the wizard, Radagast the Brown. Sylvester is better known to some as the 7th Doctor in the Doctor Who series. He was great, I really enjoyed seeing this character and hope he's in more of the movies.

 

What else can I say about The Hobbit? Visually beautiful once again. Stunning New Zealand locations and fantastic sets, costumes and make up.

 

As I am not a fan of 3D movies, I saw this in 2D and thoroughly enjoyed it. I truly cannot wait until Boxing Day next year.

 

 

 



Les Miserables

Les Miserables (2012)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried.
Director: Tom Hooper

 

 

When I was in high school, I had the great fortune to go and see the stage play of Les Miserables with our English class. I fell in love almost instantly with the pure power of not only the story but the music and the utter passion of this beautiful story. It was a love affair that has continued through my life.

 

Last year, I purchased the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables at the 02 in London. I spent most of the almost 3 hours sobbing and remembering how much I loved the music.

 

When I heard that it was being remade into a movie, and that it would be a musical, I was ecstatic.

 

The first trailers to arrive saw Anne Hathaway singing Ï Dreamed a Dream" and I was pretty impressed with her voice. I was incredibly sceptical upon hearing that Russell Crowe had been cast as Javert and was doubtful that he would pull it off.

 

How wrong I was.

 

From the opening titles, it was clear that this was going to be one powerful 2 hours and 41 minutes.

 

Hugh Jackman plays Jean Valjean, a prisoner in 19th century France who has served 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. Hugh is almost unrecognisable as Valjean but gives a stunning performance as prisoner 24601.

 

Russell Crowe is passionate and imposing as Inspector Javert, the police inspector who vows to hunt down Jean Valjean when he skips parole and goes missing.

 

Valjean, upon obtaining his freedom, goes straight back to stealing but meets a priest, played by the original London Production Jean Valjean, who forces him to question his life and turn things around.

 

Year later we see him as the successful Mayor of a town and owner for a factory who employs the poor unfortunate Fontine, played by Anne Hathaway. Fontine is working to send money to the inn keepers who are looking after her infant daughter, Cosette.

 

Fontine falls on hard times and Valjean tries to save her, vowing to look after her daughter if anything should happen to her.

 

Meanwhile, Javert discovers the Mayors secret and tries to bring Valjean in for breaking parole but fails and the hunt begins again.

 

He escapes to the Inn where Cosette is living with the Thenardiers, played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter..........these guys were brilliant. They drip evil and ooze shiftiness, the perfect pair to play such despicable characters.

 

Upon paying a large sum of money to take Cosette off their hands, they escape to Paris where they manage to evade Javert once more and begin a life as father and daughter for many years.

 

Cosette, now grown, (Amanda Seyfried), knows that her 'father' has something to hide, but doesn't know what, and then her world is turned upside down when she meets Marius, (Eddie Redmayne) and falls head over heels in love.

 

Another beautiful performance from one of the London Production cast by Samantha Barks, who plays the daughter of the Thenardiers, Eponine. This girl is gorgeous and has the most stunning voice to match her angelic face. I was in tears when she sings of her love for Marius, knowing he will never return her affections. It's heart wrenching.

 

Of course, the climax comes when Jean Valjean realises Çosette is in love and tries to help Marius at the blockades against the French soldiers to make sure he survives.

 

The face off between Javert and Valjean is fantastic and the final scene of the movie had most of the theatre sobbing, especially my friend and the lady at the end of the row.

 

This movie deserves to win every award it is put up for. It was incredibly well cast and very powerful. I can't wait to see it again.

 



Men in Black 3

Men in Black 3 (2012)
Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Jermaine Clement.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

In the third installment of Sonnenfelds Men in Black movies, we find Agent J (Will Smith) faced off against a new big bad, Boris the Animal, played by Flight of the Conchords Jermaine Clement.

When Boris escapes from a maximum security space prison, he heads for earth, hell bent on taking out Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who put him in prison almost 50 years ago.

Agent J is sent back in time to save his partner and make sure Boris doesn't succeed in his plans to kill his partner before he can put Boris in prison.
A much better continuation of the franchise. Wasn't overly keen on the second movie. There was something about Lara Flynn Boyle that I really didn't enjoy.

Seeing Josh Brolin as a younger Agent K was great. He really could have been a younger Tommy Lee Jones.

I also loved Jermaine Clement. He's such a fantastic actor with great chameleon like qualities.

Will Smith was his normal self, but you really wouldn't want it any other way with these movies.

The twist at the end was well done and kind of warms your heart a little. Not sure that they could really squeeze much more out of this though, would depend on the story.

Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows (2012)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfieffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Chloe Grace Moretz
Director: Tim Burton

 

 



A few months ago I reported about how aprehensive I was about this movie. The trailers really didn't do anything for me, which for a Tim Burton fan was quite dissapointing.
Well, I am happy to report, that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
We have recently returned from a mega six week holiday to the UK, France, Abu Dhabi and Thailand. So you can imagine how many movies I had the opportunity to watch on all those flights!
The first of six movies was Dark Shadows.

Tim Burton once again works with his favourite crew of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Danny Elfman. There's also the quintiscential cameo from Christopher Lee.
Fans of the original 1970's tv show will know the storyline of Barnabus Collins well. Having never watched it myself, I cannot comment on how faithful they stayed to the original story.
Johnny Depp plays the tortured and cursed vampire Barnabus Collins, who is cursed by a witch after he rejects her sultry advances in 1772. She buries him alive, or undead in this case, where he stays for two centuries before being unearthed by a crew of workman in 1972.

Barnabus returns to Collinwood Manor, his ancestoral home, to find a much changed and very troubled Collins Family, helmed by Elizabeth Collins (Michelle Pfieffer).

Now I'm not a fan of the 70's, and therefore generally don't like anything set in the drug hazed, hippy days of free love and disco, but this was actually quite well done.

The make up on Johnny is a bit strange, and the acting and set design all very kitsch, but all in all, the storyline was engaging and quite funny.
Didn't love it, but certainly didn't hate it as I had predicted.

Worth a look for Depp and Burton fans.

(Please excuse the spelling, too lazy to check)

My Week with Marilyn

My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Starring: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Toby Jones, Judi Dench
Director: Simon Curtis

No, I was not named after Marilyn Monroe. My parents just liked the name. I was never a huge fan and didn't know a whole lot about her apart from what Hollywood thrusts in our faces. She lived a somewhat tragic life towards the end and was seen as the most beautiful woman of her time.

This movie is about a short period of her life in 1956, when she went over to England to film "The Prince and the Pauper" with Laurence Olivier. The book, "My Week with Marilyn", was written by Colin Clark, who in the movie is played by Eddie Redmayne. Clark had gotten a job working for Oliviers production company and ended up being tasked with finding Miss Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller a house to live in while they were there and basically being a personal assistant to Laurence Olivier.

Laurence Oliver (Kenneth Branagh) and his wife Vivian Leigh (Julia Ormond), are most excited to have the infamous American actress work with them, but soon find out that she is rather troubled and unreliable. Marilyn goes nowhere without her acting coach and those on set soon find out just how insecure and troubled an actor the blonde bombshell is.

Marilyn arrives on set hours late and fails to deliver lines on cue, demanding take after take. Veteran actress Dame Sybil Thorndike (Dame Judi Dench), takes her under her wing and heaps praise on her to bring her out of her shell. But things continue to go wrong and Marilyn continues to take pill after pill, spending much of her time shut up in the cottage.

When Arthur leaves to go back to America to visit his children, Marilyn finds comfort and solace in the arms of Colin Clark who is besotted with her. A seemingly strong bond develops and Marilyn relies on Colin constantly, calling for him at all hours of the night.

Michelle Williams did a good job as Marilyn, but I think the credit has to go to the hair, make up and wardrobe team. She certainly didn't blow me away as I had expected, although she did have some uncannily similar poses to Marilyn and must have studied her endlessly to portray her.

What I wasn't keen on was how much they made her look like the product of Hollywood, a very dumb blonde who was only worshiped for her curves, not her character. One wonders what Marilyn was really like before Hollywood got their hooks into her. Was she really as stupid as this movie makes her out to be?

Of course there is controversy attached to the book/film due to the fact that it was written quite awhile after the events took place and there were few around who were involved that could refute anything that Clark claimed. Was it just a boys fantasy or is this really what life with Marilyn was like? I guess we'll never know.

Good performances from supporting cast, Emma Watson, Dougray Scott and Toby Jones.

All in all, an interesting look at just what a frail creature Marilyn Monroe supposedly was.

John Carter

John Carter (2012)
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Defoe, Thomas Hayden Church, Dominic West.
Director: Andrew Stanton

I decided to put the French Movie Poster of this one up because I found the US version so incredibly boring but regardless, none of the posters really do it justice.


What a great scifi action movie this was. I didn't really know a whole lot about it and only hired it out of curiosity but was pleasantly surprised.


Captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), is a Civil War Veteran who is chasing his dreams of finding gold. But the story isn't that simple and while we are led to believe that he's just a washed up soldier looking for his fortune, the story deepens and we are drawn into an adventure that spans across the universe.


John is accidentally transported to the planet we know as Mars and meets a race of 12 foot tall barbarians who take him prisoner. He soon learns through meeting the Princess of another race, that the planet is at war and he has the skills to save them. 

It does have a few Avatar overtones, in that a human comes along to help an alien race, but I also found incredible similarities to Star Wars: Phantom Menace, especially in the music and creatures that make up the planets inhabitants. There was also some Princess Leia comparrisons in there, but far enough removed that you couldn't pick it apart. Mark Strong puts in a great performance once again as the alien villian and I really enjoyed seeing other great British actors like Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West and James Purefoy in the cast of Martians.

The cutest of the 'creatures' would have to be the Martian doglike thing that follows John Carter around. It is surprising adorable for something that looks like a giant turd with legs! I'm sorry, it's the only way I can describe it. You tell me, what does it look like to you? There was one other thing but I think I'll keep it PG!!




For all the hype that Avatar got, it really wasn't that special. This movie seems to have gotten little hype but really deserved so much more. I thoroughly enjoyed this and found it to be a very entertaining way to spend a school holiday night with my kids. I had to laugh towards the end when, without prompting, my 7 year old daughter decided to comment on one of the big green aliens with "Thank God Yoda came along!".

A few scarey battle scenes, but I really thought this was a great adventure movie with a well written script. I recommend it for over 10's or mature under 10's who understand how a movie is made but can appreciate a good story. My daughter loved it, as did my 12 year old son.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow and Thomas Horn
Director: Stephen Daldry

When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I knew that I'd need a box of tissues because I teared up even in the trailer! They played a U2 song over the top of the trailer and it just worked for some reason and peaked my interest as all good movie trailers should.


When we first meet Oskar, we know there is something very special and different about him. The relationship he has with his father, Thomas Schell (Tom Hanks), is also very special. Oskar and his father are dreamers and thinkers and Thomas often likes to send his borderline aspergers son on spectacular quests and adventures around New York City, chasing answers to questions that really don't make sense to anyone other than the father and son team.

Sadly, fate intervenes in Oskars life and the terrorist attack on New York City in September 2001 takes the life of his father among hundreds of others. Oskar is devastated and doesn't know how to grieve. He has lost the one person that truly understands him and challenges the way he see's the world. Oskar begins lying to his mother, played by the very dowdy looking Sandra Bullock, and starts to look for answers.

His adventures lead him on a chase around New York City to find someone that knows something about his father and the final mystery that his father left him.

This is a heart wrenching film with incredible performances by Max Von Sydow and the young Thomas Horn, who shows unbelievable skill beyond his years in the role of Oskar Schell. This wonderful young man could teach many so called accomplished hollywood actors a thing or two(*cough cough* Channing Tatum, Mark Walberg).

There is no message attached to this movie, it's not about 9/11 in any way, shape, or form, it's just the story of a troubled young boy whose world is turned upside down by the death of his father.

Amazing.