Captain America: Civil War Review

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016)

Directed by Brothers Russo

Written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (comics by Mark Millar, characters by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby)

Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Daniel Brühl, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Emily VanCamp, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Chadwick Boseman, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd & Tom Holland

Synopsis (IMDb): “Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.”

First of all, Captain America: Civil War is not really a Captain America movie, it’s The Avengers film. To me that means that I like it better than other Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Or at least it has been that way so far. And you know what, it still stands. New Captain is very good.

The film is a bit too long but as the ass-kicking still looks good, well, actually, I thought that some fight choreographs were even better than in previous MCU films, it hardly matters. Obviously those scenes need to top each other if you want to place your favourite superheros against each other. Apart from fighting or fleeing, the tone of the film is very sobering as the team ponders what is right and what is wrong and are they too far gone. But it’s still classic MCU and there are great, witty lines written for everyone. Especially for Tom Holland who plays new Spider-Man. He’s absolutely great! I kind
of like to think that he steals the show. And is probably the best Spidey on silver screen ever. Perhaps. I need to see the film again to judge that truly. Just wait for the homage to Star Wars, I couldn’t help to cheer a bit in that scene. Yay!

Tom Holland might steal the show a bit but everyone involved is great. Obviously. They’ve been playing those characters for some time and some of them really have become them (hint: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans). To me it’s funny how much I like Cap these days as the first Cap film wasn’t my cup of tea. Oh, and all you Sebastian Stan fans; this film is for you. He gets A LOT of screentime. Paul Rudd has great scenes too, I loved that! Ja Hawkeye gets much more time too that I expected, yay for that too, I’m still a big Jeremy Renner fan. On the down side, I’m not sure if I was that into Black Panther and he is going to get his own film… I’m a bit worried about it.

It’s hard to say anything clever of this kind of film. Summer has officially started, popcorn flicks are here (yeah, yeah, there was already one Superman s**t, but who wants to remember that?)! This one is a great one! I recommend to see it. It helps a lot if you’ve seen the other Marvel Cinematic Universe films to keep up. At least the ones with The Avengers. The plot is based on them. Go enjoy! Pure entertainment.

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Soundtrack to My Life Movie Tag

Couple of days ago I read Abbi’s nice post of Soundtrack to my life movie tag that is originally from Le Cinéma en Rose blog and wanted to do my own. So, here we go.

Opening Credits: Favorite Childhood movie

This must be a tie between Star Wars (New Hope) and The Wizard of Oz. I watched them both whenever I went to my grandma’s as we didn’t have VCR at home. Although as this is opening credits, I got to choose Star Wars! What’s more classic?

Waking up: A film that got you out of a movie watching slump

Well, that actually just happened. I hadn’t watched any films during this month until the day before yesterday and that was The Change-Up that I watched. Hotness of Olivia Wilde gets me out of bed.

School: A movie you had to watch for school that you ended up loving

Hard one. I got to say Catch Me If You Can. I had seen it before I watched it again and again for my Scriptwriting course but I started to like it much more after analysing it to threads.

Falling In Love: A director you love so much you want to watch all of their movies

David Fincher is my longest lasting love.

Fight: Movie with the best action sequences

The Dark Knight. I love those thrilling driving sequences. Very cool bombings also.

 

Break up: A movie you didn’t finish and do not intend to finish

Four Rooms. I just hated it. A lot.

Hanging With Friends: Movie you think everyone else should watch

Begin Again. I love, love, love it! It made me fly the first time I saw it and world looked so much better afterwards.

 

Breakdown: Movie that seriously affected you/had you crying your eyes out

I’m a huge cry-baby, so there are many but the most… Brokeback Mountain. I might not cry the most but the sadness of it is heart-breaking. “Jack, I swear.” I just watched that final scene (spoiler, obviously) again when I looked it up and yes, it made me tear up.

 

Roadtrip: You favorite series (more than 3 films)

Star Wars. Hands down. Just ditch the first three. I never want to watch them again.

Flashback: Your favorite movie from 5 years ago

Five years ago? I’m just gonna go with my fave that was released about that time. And that’ll be… Wow, there are some very good films released 2010 and -11… But as a favorite that I watch again and again because of them:

(That’s Thor if you didn’t realise.)

Getting Back Together: What movie can you not stop re-watching

Titanic. I must have seen it something like 50 times.

Wedding: A movie that is really special to you

Fellowship of the Rings. It reminds me how much I actually love movies and how much I want to be in the industry.

Moment of Triumph: Longest movie you’ve ever watch

I think it must be Gone With the Wind but it’s not very triumphant as I love the film! But the one that I struggled with is Tarkovsky’s The Mirror. I just don’t get it.

Death Scene: Movie you wish had ended differently

Friday Night Lights. It is just let down. Way too realistic. And it’s just unbelievably sad if someone’s best days are in high school.

Funeral: Movie with the best or worst epilogue

The best: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I still love the fact how he named his son.

Tag can go to anyone who wants to participate! 

 

Past-Oscar Thoughts And Some for the Future too…

It’s over again. The awards season and especially the Oscars weekend. This year I was “forced” to spend it alone compared to those past Oscar weekends that I’ve spent with friends watching films and eating well and debating about dresses and who should or should not win. But thanks to social media, it was very easy to stay touch with my girls and continue debating during the red carpet and show itself even when there’s 1000 km between us. 🙂

Thoughts… Well, apart from Sam Smith winning over Lady Gaga I thought all winners were deserving and none of the wins made me angry, quite the opposite. Especially happy I was obviously for Leo (I think everyone was!), Lubezki (again), Mark Rylance (which I predicted correctly!), Morricone for music, Ex Machina for visual effects and of course for the Best Picture going to Spotlight which was my favourite film of the season! Here’s my review of it if interested. I still don’t get why people were so surprised by its win? Justin Chang of Variety puts it to words why it was the best choice to win.

When it comes to the show itself, I wasn’t a fan. I don’t like Chris Rock and especially now when the whole attention was on #OscarsSoWhite discussion, the show was awfully repetitive and not very funny. And really; bringing out all these minority representatives? Kind of obvious and a bit weird. At least to me. Thankfully many of the attendees made the point clear; there should be better offers for people of minorities in movies and from my point of view, I believe we’re on a right track where TV is leading the field (think of Scandal or anything from Shonda Rhimes or Orange is the New Black or Modern Family etc.). It’s good to make people think but as the winners proved, Hollywood hardly is the racist part of the US as already the best director and cinematographer  of the year (and the year before that too) are Mexican.

In reference to my predictions, this year I got 75% correct which is good but not my best (that being 82% if I remember correctly). The ones that I got wrong were the best song, visual effects (wonder if anyone got that right?!), two short categories I predicted wrong (hard ones as I hadn’t seen any of them) and I got sound mixing wrong when I chose The Revenant instead of Mad Max and also editing when I had The Big Short instead of Mad Max. Oh, I’m also very glad that Mad Max won that many Oscars! Go Aussies! ❤ Btw, I always predict at Gold Derby site and again those “experts” lost to users and I keep wondering why they call them Experts?! Even I beat most of them…

What about the future? Well, I already have my short list of possible contenders here at IMDb, check it out! There’s Michael Fassbender with two films, The Light Between Oceans from Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) with bo and brand new Oscar winner, Alicia Vikander, and Weightless from Terrence Malick with cinematography by Lubezki and co-acting by e.g. Natalie Portman, Benicio Del Toro, Christian Bale, Holly Hunter, Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling and Cate Blanchett (some cast, huh?!). There’s also (for techs) Star Wars spin-off and new X-Men and Star Trek movies coming out this year and there’s Morten Tyldum’s (The Imitation Game) Passengers with JLaw and Chris Pratt (he’s also in Magnificent Seven this year). Btw, I just noticed that this girl, Haley Bennett, is in three of these films mentioned so far, bet she’s the It Girl of 2016. Never heard of her before, remember the name! What else?! There’s already Sundance certified Manchester by the Sea (Casey Affleck getting the most of the mentions and also Michelle Williams), another Michelle Williams vehicle in Certain Women and of course The Birth of the Nation that was bought by Fox Searchlight with $17,5 million and will be released in October to be ready for the awards season. And there’s also my “the most awaited” film, La La Land, a film by Damien Chazelle who did amazing Whiplash, the best debut for ages, and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. ❤ There’s also so, so many other “looks great on a paper” films that makes 2017 look promising again. Go and see yourself. I’ll get back to that list in May when Cannes has had its say.

P.S. I liked Cate Blanchett’s dress the best but only she could’ve wear that dress. Only she.

Pretty Valentine 2016 Top-10

I wrote this six days ago and I had all the intentions to publish it on Sunday. Apparently my real life kept me so busy, I totally forgot but because there’s never enough beauty in the world, Happy belated Valentine’s Day, folks!

As I’ve been sick and still trying to get over it, I treat myself with some nice photos of hot movie people that I’ve only come across lately or only just realised that these people are actually hot. Counting down from the newest hotness. Hopefully you enjoy watching beautiful people in beautiful pictures as much as I do. Happy Valentine’s Day! 

10)

Freddie Fox. Lovely face, great half-smile. Flamboyant and interesting. English. Check The Riot Club and Pride and what I’ve heard, also Cucumber, the TV series that I haven’t seen.

9)

Julian Morris. Born in London, mother from Zimbabwe, father from South Africa. Smile. Plays cute guys. Check New Girl & Pretty Little Liars.

8)

Aaron Paul. Yeah, from Breaking Bad. Those blue eyes. I love his eyes. And the way he says “bitch”. In Breaking Bad, he’s the ultimate bad boy that you just have to rescue. P.S. I’m still watching Breaking Bad, so please, don’t spoil it to me.

7) 

Tom Hardy. I actually said some time ago (after Bane) that I don’t find him hot. Obviously, there was something wrong with me. Obviously. Idiot (= me). So let’s have another look just to make it obvious that it was me who was wrong and for hotness check Inception and Lawless. For talent; anything he’s done.

6)

Alicia Vikander. What’s not to like? She’s annoyingly beautiful, so talented, stylish and yet she seems to have “’em balls”. She also has Michael Fassbender. Yeah, I kinda hate her. And love at the same time. Check anything she’s done and for hotness I guess The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a good bet, they have nice chemistry with Armie Hammer.

5)

Gerard Butler. Apparently it took multiple viewings of multiple “lady films” for me to realise that Butler is hottie. The voice, charisma or that bad boy attitude. OR accent, obviously. Check P.S. I Love You or The Ugly Truth if you can. But he’s kinda hot also in How To Train Your Dragon (and 2) and that’s only his voice.

4)

Bobby Campo. I saw him in Scream the series (TV) and found him attractive. I’ve probably forgotten his face next year this time but for now, he can be one of my valentines.

3)

Max Irons. Eyes, again. Features of his face too, I guess. Check The Riot Club (which, btw, is nice for anyone, like me, who has a soft spot for snobby English upper class brats that are quite handsome, speak impeccably beautiful English and are arrogant and smart plus dress themselves well) and also Red Riding Hood if you can tolerate the fact that it’s really bad. Max is Jeremy Iron’s son, good luck with living up to his dad’s reputation.

2) 

Oscar Isaac. Talent. Enormous talent. That is just really, really hot. Also, he looks very good and I like his smile. And his body. 😀 But the real point is the talent. He has been the movie world hero of lately to me with his capability of being anything, just check The Force Awakens (for hotness and funny side of his), Ex Machina (for total creepiness) or Inside Llewyn Davis (for being real). He is unbelievably talented and I’m so glad I have so many films of his still to watch. And did I remember mention is musical talent too, the clip is from the film 10 Years, it’s worth to check too, a lot of name actors playing nice small parts.

1)

Domhnall Gleeson. Again, the talent. Then the hair, eyes, smile, the whole package. There is something very endearing in him. I saw him in Soho when they were taking photos for Esquire magazine in London last October. I still regret that I tried to play it cool. He’s hot and so, so talented and I really would like him to be my valentine for real. Love him! Check anything but my favourites are Ex Machina, Anna Karenina and About Time. And I’m sure I will just love him in Brooklyn. ❤

Fairytale Year in Review

Now, when the year is almost over and I will be partying mostly what’s left of it and actually hang out with my real life friends, it’s time to take a look at my year in the blog-verse.

I had much less traffic this year than I did in 2014 but then again, I posted much less and I was very inconsistent, e.g. I didn’t write a word for five months… As my new year’s resolution, I promise I’ll try to do better. Apart from Homepage, other favourite posts have been my Analysis of Casablanca (made for school originally), “If You Can Dream It You Can Do It” and many of those Best of the Best lists (which I will be writing one more time this year when listing the best films of the year on the last day of the year). And apparently yesterday’s post of Jared Leto has been a huge success. 😀 My top-3 countries of visitors are US, Germany and for some weird reason, France. “Cary Fukunaga” has been, by far, the most popular search word(s) that will link people to my blog. No complaints there, he deserves all the attention coming to his way. Sunday seems to be the day I should post and the late hour of 11pm is the target time (no surprise there if my readers are from the States). Again, my dear readers, let me know if there are some special posts that you like more than others and I’ll try to do my best and write more about them. 🙂

Then… Let’s take a look how I did with all my self-challenges. Badly being the key word here.

50/50 ended up being 8/113 + 4 that I watched double or more times PLUS those that I will watch during these few days. I think that the next year I’ll go for 10/150 or something like it. Something I can actually reach. I definitely should read more though. The best book I read this year was the familiar one; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. No surprises there. Films I will go through later. But apparently X-Men: Days of Future Past and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are high on my list of movies all in all as I watched them twice this year. And Jurassic World, or perhaps Chris Pratt’s nipples (yay for Chris’ take on objectifying men; it is their time), seems to be THE film for me since I’ve seen it three (!) times since July. Chris Pratt in general was THE crush for me this year.

I did watch two films from my IMDb-250 list. Two. Wohoo. What’s wrong with me, those films are great! I watched The Graduate, not my cup of tea and to me definitely too hyped. Hated the way it looks. Ugh. The other one I just watched yesterday; The General by Buster Keaton (1926). He was a funny man! I enjoyed the film. Obviously it’s old but the story works and so does Keaton. But he’s no Chaplin, I have to say. I will continue tackle the list next year as well (and probably the next one after that too…). I also set up a TV Challenge in September. I haven’t watched too many from that list but I did finish watching the first season of Orphan Black and will definitely continue. I started The Affair and while it’s not bad it hasn’t gotten me hooked either. I didn’t watch five episodes so I need to give it another chance still. And I need to finish Outlander season 1, still four more episodes to go.

On personal side I have two lists; former 101 Things in 1001 Days that I changed to 55 Things in 555 Days; take a look! I only managed to do one so far but that’s kind of huge one as it is living abroad. As I told in the beginning of autumn, I moved to Amsterdam to do my exchange. I’m still there (though right now I’m visiting Finland for Christmas) and I’m planning on staying. I don’t have a proper job, I will loose my student housing in a month and I really need to find an internship to finalize my studies. So, wish me luck! And  if anyone knows any nice marketing/branding/event management internships in Europe (or elsewhere if I can get a permit) preferably in entertainment/sports business, let me know! Oh, I did start to take selfies every month, here’s an example:

I also have my Bucket List here for everyone to see. I haven’t achieved any of those goals, I think I need to start now.

In general note, the end of the year has been great. I loved my studies in Amsterdam, I got to know a bunch of great people that I really, really want to keep in my life in the future too. I’ve been pondering a lot if I’ve deserved all this happiness that I’m feeling now but then again, the spring and the last year were heavy ones, so, I guess, I have deserved some easy times for a change.

New Year’s resolutions? I promise to graduate. I promise to make changes to make me healthier. I promise to be easy on me. I promise to stay in touch with people that matter and I promise to try to remember not to hold on to things that are not worth it and just let them go. Any resolutions there?

I’m not wishing you Happy New Year yet as I hope you’ll come back in few days to see which films I liked the best this year. 😉

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Finally. It’s been a bit busy in my life lately. But here we go.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015)

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Written by Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams & Michael Arndt

Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac & Carrie Fisher and the creator(s) of BB-8

Ok. So I’ve seen this one twice now. I think I will see it at least one more time in cinema. At least. It IS that good. It’s Star Wars. The original. Let’s just already forgot that prequels ever happened. Ugh. The Force Awakens is the real deal. So, thank you, thank you, thank you J.J. Abrams! You’re the man!

Where should I start? Ok, easy one, the characters. I loved it when seeing this on the premiere night everyone was cheering for all the comeback characters in the beginning but when the film went on, the new characters got their share of cheers as well. And deservedly so. Oscar Isaac as Poe is cool (almost) like Han Solo himself (well, not THAT cool but cool anyhow), John Boyega as Finn is a great addition of young, innocent child-like character who still has his secrets and Kylo Ren to me was a huge success! Very nice baddie. And all the new minor characters worked for me greatly.

It was a bit sad to see how old Harrison Ford has gotten or how Carrie Fisher has done something to her face but they still rock. But I’m so glad the main attention is focused on new characters. Especially Rey and BB-8, whom I, by the way and to upset a whole lot of people, find the best droid in the series. So, yes, he beats R2-D2. I can’t stop wondering how they do that. How a bunch of medal or plastic or whatever it is can be so much alive and relatable? It’s unbelievable.

And then there’s Rey. I already  read a perfect piece of Rey from Entertainment Weekly: “Rey is many things: a survivor, a scavenger, an isolated figure looking for community, a pilot, a mechanic, a warrior… and a girl. But her femininity isn’t a weakness. It isn’t a strength, either. In fact, it isn’t a thing. That is not only remarkable, it’s what makes Rey the most revolutionary thing about Star Wars: The Force Awakens and hopefully the thing that translates best as this phenomenon travels the globe.” I recommend you to read the whole article. It contains spoilers but it carries the whole meaning of Rey. Yay for Rey!

There’s been some vague complaints about the script in all around the world wide web. And yes, it’s silly, there are probably some holes in it (I don’t care now, we need to see the rest of the story before judging those) and some of the dialogue is cheesy as hell. But you know what, that’s the same case in the original trilogy and I love it! The tone is perfectly balanced the way it feels like galaxy far, far away. They tend to be overtly dramatic with too long pauses and gazes there but at least it feels true. And so much better than in prequels. Ugh… remember that love scene in Attack of the Clones… You don’t? Let me remind you:

See? The Force Awakens writing is Oscar caliber compared to that!

That I admit that the story could be a bit different. It is the only complaint that I have. But again, I think we need to wait for the rest of the episodes, to see how it rolls out. And ok, at least right now, the new music that Williams has composed is not as strong that the original one but I’m not sure if anyone is able to compose anything like that anymore? The second time I was watching the film, I really tried to pay attention to it but it was a bit hard to catch… What do you think?

All in all, Abrams and co have made a great film.  More than great actually. I believe we have a classic in our hands that will invite new generation to the galaxy far, far away. And I could not be more happy about it. I grew up watching Star Wars and I think everyone should. It’s a privilege. Welcome back!

Rating: ****¾ (out of 5)

P.S. I continued listening to the soundtrack and it’s actually quite good…

 

The Best of the Best – Movies of Music

Yeah. I’m kind of cheating here. Like I tend to do quite often with my Best of the Best lists. So, this is the listing, idea gotten from a blog of Cinema Disco Parrot when she made a top ten of her favourite musicals. Well, I thought of making the same but then I just noticed, surprisingly I don’t like musicals. Weird. I though I do. But all these 12 films that I mention here have gotten me 10 or 9 in IMDb and that means they’re really good and I think that is good line to draw when making a top ten list, or what do you think? BUT as I said, I cheated and following films are not necessarily musicals but films either musicals or ones where music plays important part of the story.

Let’s go. So, two films just bubbling under top 10 are worth of mention too.

Walk the Line

Pitch Perfect

And then to my actual TOP-10. The Best of the Best of movies that include music in one way or another. Clips of some of my favourite parts of the film. Including music. Videos might contain spoilers.

10)

CRY-BABY

I’m quite sure there are a lot of you who haven’t seen this one. You should. I’ve loved it since I was a kid. And Johnny is as hot as ever. It’s trashy, it has young Ricky Lake and porn star turned actress Tracy Lords and it even has Iggy Pop! Recommended all the way. Good fun!

9)

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

There’s no way that I could have done this list without Disney musicals. This is the first of three.

8)

ALMOST FAMOUS

I know what it is to love music. A band and follow them wherever they go. I love this film and this scene is the best scene in the whole film. It’s hard to explain how cool it is to travel with or after some band on tour. There’s some kind of magic. And Kate Hudson has never been more beautiful than as Penny Lane.

7)

THE PIANIST

A “little” different music film. Usually films with music are on the cheery side of the notes. The Pianist is devastating. But so well done. Adrien Brody really earned his Oscar for the role of Wladyslaw Szpilman.

6)

FROZEN

I have no idea how many times I have already shared that video. At least four in this blog, I think. Well, once more. I love that song! ❤

5) 

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

I just realised I don’t have Mary Poppins on this list. And apparently I thought it’s worth of 8/10. Hmph. Don’t know about that. But at least I have Sound of Music here. I love that song. And all the others in the film as well. I could’ve chosen any of them but that’s classic. Julie Andrews was and is amazing singer.

4) 

THE WIZARD OF OZ

When I was a kid and were sick my mum took me to my grandma to recover while she went to work. It was the best place to be when sick. She made me Nutella sandwiches and I was able to watch Star Wars  or Wizard of Oz. I couldn’t do that at home. It was so nice. You forgot you were sick when you were shipped to Oz with basket full of Nutella sandwiches.

3)

BEGIN AGAIN

It feels kinda wrong to put this tiny little film with Keira Knightley and Adam Levine on top of Julie Andrews and Judy Garland but I just absolutely loved this film when I saw it couple of years ago. It made me feel like I was flying. Kind of believe in the world again. And it describes the effect of music in your life so well. Oh so well.

2)

THE LION KING

Of course this is on the list. My god that is amazing opening for a film. And that film is still amazing. Hakuna matata!

1)

MOULIN ROUGE! 

That is not unfortunately the original clip of the film which they have actually managed to keep out of YouTube. At least I couldn’t find one. But that is by all means the best part of music of any musical ever. I absolutely love it! But again, I could choose any of the songs in Moulin Rouge. Whatthehell, here’s another:

There you go. I thought this would be easy and quick post to write but nooooo. I’ve been here for hours listening to all of those great songs from great movies. Two best things in the world; movies and music. *sigh* How about yours? What are your favourites? Which films that music is in the lead role would you recommend? I have, by no means, seen all of them.