The Avengers: Age of Ultron teaser trailer

I wasn’t planning on posting anything before I have time to do some changes but I just have to! In case someone has missed this. Looks AMAZING! May cannot come soon enough!

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Man of the Day – Tom Hiddleston

This gorgeous Brit has his 33rd birthday today and to honour that I created a new series called “Person of the Day” to celebrate the individuals of the entertainment business. I have already mentioned that even though I haven’t been aware of him that long, he has affected quite a lot to my future plans. I’ve always been a sucker for this British upper class style and he is the perfect example of that. The man has the manners, the humour, the voice and accent, he can carry the suit and is confident enough to make fun of himself. And that smile. Plus he’s able to quote Shakespeare whenever needed. All in all, I’m really glad he exists, it gives me hope that there are others like him.

Like most of the people following TV and movie world came to know him as Loki (if you haven’t seen him greeted in Comic Con last summer, it’s about time: YouTube), the mischievous brother of Thor, the thunder-god of Norse mythology, played by Chris Hemsworth in Marvel Universe, so did I. In Thor Hiddleston went a bit unnoticed even though he is the best part of the movie but after The Avengers he became everyone’s favourite villain. And already during the marketing campaign for Thor sequel The Dark World, the studio and makers of the film knew how to draw audience to cinemas by building the marketing campaign around Hiddleston. He is the man who women want but at the same time he is that funny that, I assume, it is really hard for men to hate him. Plus he plays Loki. So, if you haven’t seen three movies mentioned, do see them. I wasn’t a fan of comic book films before The Avengers and now I’m getting geekier everyday.

Apart from being mischievous semi-god, Hiddleston is classically trained actor. He went to Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after completing his education in University of Cambridge. For four more days he is playing the title role in Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare play Coriolanus in West End. And apparently he is very good in it. I’ll be seeing the cinema version of the play in couple of weeks, I’ll let you know what I thought. Other known roles of Hiddleston include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s role in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which I liked a lot and he’s very charming in it, Captain Nichols in Spielberg’s War Horse, where he is with his buddy Benedict Cumberbatch, so I should definitely watch it, and Freddie Page in the Deep Blue Sea where his character is very repulsive which shows well how good actor he really is. The film itself is quite tedious and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but that’s just my opinion. In the future we’ll get to see him in Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive that has been touring festivals to quite good response and in the new The Muppets movie, Muppets Most Wanted. The man surely stays versatile.

So, if you haven’t yet gotten to know the actor Tom Hiddleston, I recommend to do so. He seems genuinely nice person with a great sense of humour and a massive amount of talent to portray any kind of role. And he is the second sexiest man of the world.

Happy Birthday Mr. Hiddleston!

 

The Oscar Predictions 2014 – Audios

Here we go. The last before the last one. Unfortunately I’m writing this at school and I don’t have my notes (a word document) with me, so I’m gonna swing it. I do have Gold Derby where I can check the ones that I’m predicting at the moment, but not the ones that I still have bubbling under.

 

Best Score

12 Years a Slave – Hans Zimmer
Her – Arcade Fire
Gravity – Steven Price
Saving Mr. Banks – Thomas Newman
The Book Thief – John Wiliams
All Is Lost – Alex Ebert
Captain Phillips – Henry Jackman
Frozen – Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

The first five ones are the ones that I’m predicting at the moment. The one on the top to win. I might be a bit biased because Hans Zimmer happens to be my favourite composer. I hope the Academy will go with the quirkiness of Arcade Fire like they’ve gone with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network) but then again that seems to be the only example of that. The composer branch has always been notoriously biased, they seem to choose the same composers from year to year and then perhaps letting one “new one” in. This year it’s probably Steven Price, who, I just noticed, also composed Attack the Block that had great soundtrack (and is a surprisingly good film). Ok, now I like him more. John Williams is John Williams, the man who’s been nominated for staggering 48 times for the Oscar and won five times. Alex Ebert just won the Golden Globe so I don’t know what to think of that. Henry Jackman has gotten a lot of praise for his work in Captain Phillips, but to me it sounded like Zimmer’s work, especially in the end it was so much like Inception’s Time that it was bothering. So I’m not impressed. And Frozen’s soundtrack is lovely. I’m listening it right now. And have been so many times since I saw the film.

Best Song

Frozen – Let It Go (Idina Menzel)
Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom – Ordinary Love (U2)
The Great Gatsby – Young and Beautiful (Lana Del Ray)
Her – The Moon Song (Karen O)
Short Term 12 – So You Know What’s It Like (Keith Stanfield)
Despicable Me 2 – Happy (Pharrell Williams)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Coldplay)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Ed Sheeran)
12 Years a Slave – My Lord Sunshine (David Hughey and Roosevelt Credit)

I’m not able to be objective with this category. I detest U2 AND Coldplay. A lot. Both bands makes the shivers to go through my body. Disgusting. But I’m still thinking that the first one at least will score the nomination but I so much hope that it will not win (shame on you Hollywood Foreign Press for choosing it instead of Let It Go!). I’m not sure there will be five contenders in this category. I bet Menzel, whom I hope they will bring to the actual gala, she’s amazing, U2 and Keith Stanfield will get the noms. And maybe Lana Del Ray. To me that song is nothing special and I’m not that in to Del Ray now when my heart is healed again. Happy is playing a lot in Finnish radios too. And I like I See Fire but I doubt the Academy will like it as much. But all in all I hope they will bring all the acts to the stage this year, it would be interesting. I’ve posted Let It Go so many times already to this blog, that I’ll go with the other favourite of mine this time:

Best Sound Mixing

Gravity
Captain Phillips
Rush
All Is Lost
Inside Llewyn Davis
12 Years a Slave

At the moment I’m leaving 12 Years a Slave out but I might change my mind before Thursday morning. Gravity obviously is my favourite for win. The soundwork is impeccable in it. The silence especially. Rush also is very good, all that screeching of tires, rain falling etc. Captain Phillips works too but I got to admit that I don’t understand a lot of sound department work but I’m always fascinated by those making-offs where they’re explaining what they are doing. And apparently all the things happening at sea are in need of special sound work and I’m betting on that now. Plus one film with musical element. But to be honest, this is basically guessing from my part. In the following clip pay attention to great soundtrack too:

Best Sound Editing

Gravity
Captain Phillips
Rush
All Is Lost
Pacific Rim
12 Years a Slave

Same list except that I’ve changed Inside Llewyn Davis to Pacific Rim. I’m not sure it should be that identical. Maybe not? I have to dig into these before Thursday. Cinema Audio Society have just released their nominations but I haven’t had time to check them yet, so there’s still a change I’ll change my predictions in this category. At least Lone Survivor (the box-office champ of the weekend) is getting attention. And then again, CAS is not the best predicting the Oscars. We’ll see.

Tomorrow it’s turn for Animated Feature (that I’ve actually have already finished predicting; here), Documentary and Shorts. That’s it, I guess. Oh, btw, ever-hot Chris Hemsworth is announcing the nominations. Here’s the link to watch the nominations announcement on 5.30 Thursday morning Pacific time (that’s 3.30pm in Finland).

Until tomorrow!

Rush Review

Rush (2013)

directed by Ron Howard
written by Peter Morgan
starring Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde & Alexandra Maria Lara

Rush is a story based on true events of the Formula One season 1976. It’s a story of two rival drivers, James Hunt and Niki Lauda. It’s a story of heroism, bravery and discipline. And it’s a movie that is really well made.

The director Ron Howard knows how to make you sit on the edge of your seat. Or like in my case, almost stand up before realizing I’m not actually watching the race but just a movie. Everything in the film is top-notch. The cinematography is beautiful; the rain has rarely looked so amazing. The editing is perfectly made; it supports the excitement of races perfectly. The sound of the whole film is of course well-balanced, although I got to say I would have preferred in some points the soundtrack (Zimmer once again makes amazing composing job) rather than the noises that the cars are making. But authenticity is there in sounds of tires screeching, and after seeing the film, I really wanted to watch some Formula One races again.

Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda is impeccable. I would give him an Oscar nomination. And Chris Hemsworth, who, to me, has always only been a hunk, truly shows he can act. And he’s also naked. A very nice plus for us females. All the other actors are making a good job as well but they are only support characters, this story is about those two men and about the winning.

Besides the thrilling races, this story has a heart. You support both drivers from one lap to another. Both of them are only humans even though Lauda might seem a super human from time to time. And if the story went like that in real life, these guys had one hell of a year.

I truly recommend this one. The race to the Oscars has started. Hopefully this one is in it.

Stars: ****½ (out of 5)