Absence makes the heart grow fonder..............

After a long absence from updating this page regularly, I thought it was time I get back into it and hopefully hone my writing skills somewhat rather than letting them dwindle away to nothingness.

A few movies have missed out on being reviewed in the last few months, but I will endevour to catch up on a few that made an impression on me.

So what am I looking forward to? Here's a few that I know of.

Guardians of the Galaxy - I must admit to not knowing anything about this Marvel Group at all but the trailers certainly make it appealing.

The Boxtrolls - This just looks way too cute for words, very original and lots of fun. 

Hunger Games: Mockingjay - I am tiring slightly of the franchises like this, but I did enjoy the last one. It will be interesting to see how they deal with Phillip Seymour Hoffmans passing before filming concluded. 

Dracula Untold - Another Dracula remake? Will see this because I LOVE vampire movies and am incredibly curious, but I don't hold much hope for it sadly.












Paddington - Something I loved as a kid. With Colin Firth dropping out as the voice of Paddington, whoever they get to replace him will make or break this.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Starring: Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Martin Freeman, Aidan Turner, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lily, Luke Evans, Lee Pace. (and all the dwarves!!)
Director: Peter Jackson

 

So I'm going to start of by saying, if you didn't like the first one because you think Peter Jackson is cashing in and don't understand how he can make three movies out of one rather short book, then stop reading right now and don't bother going to see it, because you won't enjoy it and you'll just complain even more.

Ok, so all the PJ fans still with me? Good, read on.

Ok, so movie number two in the second epic trilogy of Tolkien movies directed by Peter Jackson has been much anticipated by some of us and for me, I am happy to say I enjoyed it. I think I liked the first one better as it introduced us to a new set of characters  as well as bringing back some much loved ones.

SPOILERS AHEAD

With The Desolation of Smaug comes the introduction of a few new characters, Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans), Tauriel the Mirkwood Elf (Evangeline Lily) The Mayor of Laketown (Stephen Fry) and Beorn the Skinchanger (Mikael Persbrandt).

The story continues with a flashback of Thorin entering the Prancing Pony in Bree under the watchful eye of some rather shady looking characters, watch out for a cameo in the first five minutes, where he happens upon Gandalf, who urges him to begin the quest to take back Erebor.

We then find our little company of dwarves and one hobbit one year later already on the quest, being chased by Azgog the Defiler and his pack of Orcs. They are chased into the rather gigantic residence of Beorn the Skinchanger, a large man who happens to take the shape of a bear on occasion. He agrees to help them on their way because while he dislikes dwarves, he hates orcs even more.

Their journey takes them into the sickly forest of Mirkwood, where they not only part ways with Gandalf, but where their adventures and near misses continue. That is until they are captured, and aided at the same time, by Legolas, Tauriel and a large band of bow wielding, high cheek boned, pointy eared, blue steel faced elves.

Thorin is immediately taken to Thranduill (Lee Pace), King of the elves of Mirkwood, who tries to deduce what the small company of dwarves are doing within the Elven realm. Lee Pace is brilliant as the cold and stoney faced King and those eyebrows could have spin off movies of their own!

Bilbo eventually comes up with a cunning plan (Baldrick style) and helps the dwarves escape from the clutches of the evil but ridiculously good looking elves, but not before Kili develops a friendship with Tauriel, who finds solace in the company of the tall and good looking dwarf.

A barrel ride down some gorgeous NZ river rapids, some fancy footwork from Legolas and some bumps and bruises, see the dwarves arrive in Laketown at the base of the Lonely Mountain where Smaug the Terrible still supposedly slumbers in the deep recesses of Erebor. Laketown outcast, Bard the Bowman (the rather intense looking Luke Evans), helps the dwarves get into the town and tries to help them until he finds out what they plan to do.

Meanwhile Kili is suffering from an arrow wound to the leg and is left behind with Bofur, Fili and one other dwarf while the rest continue their journey to the Lonely Mountain.

Gandalf meets with Radagast to discover the evil purpose of the Necromancer who has set up camp at Dol Goldur. He comes face to face with the Necromancer only to find an ancient evil has returned and is captured and caged, helplessly looking on as the orcs begin to amass preparing to  attack, led by Azgog.

The dwarves arrive at the base of Erebor and find the secret door, where Bilbo is pushed into going down to steal the Arkenstone using his hobbity powers of stealth and invisibility. He is met by the stupendous Smaug, the giant red dragon who has slumbered beneath an enormous pile of gold and wealth for 60 years and is still not willing to part with it. After some banter between the two, he realises what Bilbo is trying to do and the Benny Hill music is queued and ready for the chase around the mountain.

Tauriel arrives in Laketown with Legolas and the orcs and helps to heal the rather sick looking Kili while Legolas kicks some orc butt and chases the leader of the orcs across the bridge away from Laketown.

Another cunning plan sees the dwarves cover Smaug in a layer of gold trying to outwit him, but all it really does is doom the residents of Laketown where the movie fades out and we have to wait another twelve months to find out what happens.

END SPOILERS

 

Did I enjoy it? Yes I did, but I felt there were some things missing and some things a bit overdone. The CG used with Legolas and the arrow shooting was a little bit too much, even though some of the ways the orcs perished are pretty inventive and reminiscent of Legolas' excellent bow skills from Lord of the Rings.

I also enjoyed some of the tie ins from Lord of the Rings, although my husband hated those bits as he is very much of the opinion that he shouldn't tie the previous movies in with this one at all due to the fact that the books were written in the opposite order to the movies being made. As a fan girl, I loved it.

The closing song, "I see Fire" by Ed Sheeran is perfect and it's one of those songs that I just love listening to.

All in all, another enjoyable instalment from Peter Jackson, but it will anger a lot of people. One more to go, and while I'm looking forward to it, I'm also dreading it as I know it brings another brilliant trilogy to an end. Whatever will we see on Boxing Day 2015??

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger (2013)
Starring: Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, Tom Wilkinson, Helena Bonham Carter.
Director: Gore Verbinski

Johnny Depp has been a part of my movie going experiences for a VERY LONG TIME. I've been a fan since 21 Jump Street way back when, well.......a long time.

Now, don't get me wrong, while I love most of what Johnny does, some of the stuff he chooses to take on really doesn't hit the mark. I really didn't enjoy Public Enemies, Dead Man, The Libertine or Secret Window. So the rumours flying around about this movie have been really bad, most people saying it's not worth seeing, the acting is terrible, Johnny was just rehashing Captain Jack and putting a different name to the same character. Well after finally watching it on Bluray, I can tell you that our whole family thoroughly enjoyed it.

Not really knowing the story of The Lone Ranger very well, I'm just going to say that it was a decent storyline, not epic, and I loved Johnny in it. Him and Armie Hammer together actually make a great comic duo. Throw in Helena Bonham Carter as a one legged madam of the old west and hilarity ensues.

Now it wasn't perfect, and I can totally understand people not liking it, but I think Gore Verbinski really has borrowed from a lot of other movies to try and make this work and it's just fallen short of being a great film. It's a good film, but not a great one.

Some fantastic action sequences with the trains, almost a homage to the old black and white films in some parts. And the horse is brilliant.

Costumes, cinematography and make up on Johnny, especially the dead bird, are really quite kitsch but fit the period that they've set this in.

Well worth it just for the laughs, but remember to take your brain out before watching so that you don't overthink it. It's a popcorn film, nothing more.

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Christopher Eccleston, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo.
Director: Alan Taylor

                    

In the last 2 years, I have become a huge Tom Hiddleston fan, even going so far as to wait around with a bunch of 20 somethings for 12 hours just to see him in person. Tom is a fan girls dream. He is tall, handsome, charming, English and can actually act! I know, I know, it's a matter of opinion, but this is MY page, therefore, I'll state my opinion if I want to.

Thor, along with Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk is part of the Avengers series and each movie follows another in terms of storyline. Tom Hiddlestons' character, Loki, has now been in three of the movies and has been well received by the popcorn movie going public.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET, PLEASE STOP READING NOW.
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Odin (Anthony Hopkins) begins our new chapter with a history of some of the races of the nine realms, including the Dark Elves, led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) who is intent on bringing darkness to all through the use of the Aether, a liquid form of evil that destroys all that it touches. Hundreds of years later however, Odin is unaware that the Aether was hidden by his own father after the Dark Elves were defeated, laying dormant while Malekith slept with those that remain of his race.

Following on from The Avengers, Loki has been taken back to Asgard by Thor and is imprisoned in the dungeons below the Throne room for his crimes against the nine realms after a bit of a dressing down from Daddy.

Meanwhile back on Earth, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), is missing her blonde haired Asgardian God and mopes around London looking for signs that he may return when her intern Darcy (the hilarious Kat Dennings) takes her to see a phenomenon in an abandoned building. All signs point towards Thors return, but in the meantime, Jane is sucked into another plane and comes into contact with the Aether, which seizes it's chance and infects Janes body.

On Asgard, Thor speaks to Heimdall, the Guardian of the bifrost, asking him how Jane is, when Heimdall realises something is wrong as he can no longer see her. Thor immediately returns to Earth, only to find Jane showing off some new, rather lethal powers of her own. Thor whisks her back to Asgard to see if his healers are able to help, much to Odins distress, when they are attacked by the newly awaken Dark Elves.

Thor enlists the help of his disgraced brother, who reluctantly agrees and their quest to defeat Malekith and restore Jane to her normal self begins.

There was a lot of humour in this film, which really lightened it up for me, and with the return of all but one of the cast from the first movie, I found this to be a brilliant and engaging sequel. I would even go so far as to say I enjoyed this more than the first one.

The stand out for me...............was Christopher Eccleston as Malekith. The make up was absolutely fantastic and he is pretty much unrecognisable. He really was the embodiment of a dark elf. His elaborately braided hair was stunning and he had such an overwhelming presence whenever he was on screen.

                                                        
I also loved seeing Chris Hemsworth really settling into his role as Thor. In the first movie I found he was almost awkward, over did the accent a bit and the blonding of his eyebrows and hair was just a bit too much. They started righting some of these wrongs in The Avengers but seem to have really found the look with this film. His relationship with Jane is very sweet and the chemistry between him and Natalie Portman is definitely there. Very much enjoyed the one minute shirtless scene and the scene on the London underground where the random office worker takes the opportunity to bump into his chest and feel him up...........who wouldn't!!

The two major cameos were so well done that I won't spoil them here even though I've given a couple of things away.

While I haven't seen it myself, apparently film critics Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, reviewed this last week and hated it. I really don't understand why film critics that obviously don't enjoy popcorn films, or films based on comic books would even bother when they would rip it to pieces even before viewing it. People like that should stick to their old fart films with no action, adventure or enjoyment. God I hope I'm not like that when I'm older and am still going to see comic book movies in years to come and thoroughly enjoying them.

For those seeing this at the cinema, STAY UNTIL THE VERY END!!! There is a bit after the minor credits, then a bit after the major credits. But if you're a Marvel fan, I shouldn't have to tell you to stay until the end. :P

I really enjoyed this and have enjoyed discussing it with my family over lunch today. Please remember, this is a popcorn film, not a film for people that like to be mentally challenged. Take your brain out, and enjoy!!!

                         

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (2013)
Starring: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T Jackson, Anthony Head, Stanley Tucci, Jake Abel, Nathan Fillion.
Director: Thor Freudanthal

My son and I both love this series of books, combining Greek Mythology with modern day kids in a heroic situation is kind of brilliant and really gets kids interested in ancient history. However, after the only minor success of the first one, I really didn't think a second one would ever come about and was very surprised when I read this was being made. Some say Chris Columbus was just waiting to finish all the Harry Potter hype before concentrating on further films, maybe that was true. Regardless, I'm happy to say this was a worth sequel.

I really love sequels that bring back the same actors and blend almost seamlessly into the previous movie. I think you could easily sit down and watch this movie straight after the first one and while you would notice a few changes in the actors themselves, it's pretty well done.

Percy's adventures take him across the seas this time to the legendary Sea of Monsters, or what we humans call the Bermuda Triangle, in search of the mythical Golden Fleece. Percy's two best friends accompany him once more but this time they have a new companion in the form of Tyson, the Cyclops half brother of Percy.

Sadly, Pierce Brosnan did not return in this sequel to play the role of Chiron the Centaur, but Anthony Head does a great job filling in. I also love the addition of Stanley Tucci to the cast as Dionysus, God of Wine, cursed by Zeus to forever drink water. Stanley Tucci is fabulous in whatever he does these days.

Noticeably missing were any cameos from either Sean Bean as Zeus or Kevin McKidd as Poseidon. I wonder if they didn't offer them enough money to come back or they weren't interested in coming back.

All that aside, a great film for the school holidays, no swearing, obviously a bit of violence in fighting monsters etc, but a fantastic ride through Greek Mythology once more.




Oblivion

Oblivion (2013)
 Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko.
Director: Joseph Kosinski

 

If you're not a fan of Tom Cruise, then I suggest you stop reading and don't bother hiring/watching this movie. This movie is pretty much 95% Tom Cruise, with very few other actors even in the film.

Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) live on a suspended platform high above what was once earth. Set in the future, earth has been devastated by an alien species and Jack and Victorias job is to maintain the droids that patrol the ruins seeking out any alien stragglers and repairing broken robots.

Everyday is the same, until one day, Jack discovers that they are not alone and that the truth has been withheld from them for a very long time.

I found this movie gripping and very well told. I think being a scifi fan is an absolute necessity with a movie like this, otherwise it will just bore you to tears.

Visually stunning, but paints a very bleak picture of our beautiful planet.

Tom Cruise is brilliant as Jack and really throws himself into the role. I really wish people would stop judging him by his personal life and start seeing him for what he can be, a fantastic actor.
Smaller but no less important roles from Morgan Freeman and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones) make this an entertaining piece from the scifi genre.

Definitely worth a look.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

Starring: Jamie Campbell Bower, Lily Collins, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Lena Headey, Aidan Turner.
Director: Harald Zwart

                        

I love reading.

Reading, like watching movies, takes you away to another world. Sometimes it's a world that challenges you, or makes you cry, but usually, it's a world that you can escape to and believe in vampires, werewolves, faeries and really good looking guys that fall for the plain girl on a regular basis, or even put you in the thick of history itself. The printed world, is one that is rich in potential movie scripts. However, taking a book and bringing your favourite characters to life can be tricky. Some books, especially successful series like Harry Potter and the Vampire Academy series, have a very loyal fan base, and when you mess with what their pre-conceived ideas of how a character should look, or how a film adaptation should go ahead, you're dicing with death, something the Marvel and DC comic people know all too well. Regardless, you're always going to have a larger market of non-readers that only see the movies, and in most cases, this is the audience they pander to and hope will bring in the big bucks.

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare is a series that I started reading about 2 years ago and have recently finished the latest book, City of Lost Souls, which was another great story in the world of the Shadowhunters.

The casting for this had to be pretty spot on and when I saw that Jamie Campbell Bower was playing one of the main characters, Jace Wayland, I was pretty disappointed. Jace is meant to be angelic, drop dead gorgeous, the kind of guy you just can't resist, and Bower just doesn't do it for me. Clary, played by Lily Collins, is meant to be a fierce red head whose life changes irrevocably when Jace comes into her life.

        
Clary lives with her artist mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey) in an upstairs apartment in New York City. When she begins to draw strange symbols and starts seeing things that other people can't see, the truth of her past and her family begins to unravel before her.

When she goes to a night club with her best friend Simon and witnesses what she thinks is a murder, the life that her mother had tried to hide from her, comes crashing in.

Clary is approached by Jace, who tells her that because she was the only one that could see him and his friends in the night club, that she is not a mundane (a human), that she must be a shadowhunter, a race of beings who hunt demons and live by the Angel Raziels word. Clary starts to investigate more, but her mother is taken and the hunt is on to find her and save her before it's too late.

Aided by Jace and his friends Alec, Isabella and a Warlock by the name of Magnus Bane, Clary delves deeper into the world of the Shadowhunters, dragging her best friend in with her on a journey that will change her life forever.

After walking into the theatre with very low expectations, I am happy to say that I walked out wanting to see it again. It was one of the better book to movie adaptations that I have seen in recent months, (the other being Warm Bodies), and I am also happy to say that Jamie Campbell Bower worked very well as Jace.

I was also incredibly happy to see Aidan Turner as Luke Garroway, Clary's mothers boyfriend. His part isn't huge in the first book and he wasn't overly present in the movie, but his story gets better as it goes along.

Best piece of casting goes to Jonathan Rhys Myers as Valentine, the bad guy in the picture. He was brilliant and I can't wait to see more of him.

I am really looking forward to the next movie now, and hope they continue to be true to the books, only making small changes. If they do, they will have won me over.