Man of Steel

Hmmm... another movie that has already made it to DVD... :p

 

So... Man of Steel... Hmmm... what can I say about it...

 

It is a Superman movie which is I guess slightly different from the normal generic Superman movies.

This one goes back to as far as Superman's origins and his parents and all.  I am not sure if it is similar to Smallville, as I never watched that series.

 

Superman is a man of steel, due to many factors... for starters, cause he is an alien like the Doctor from Doctor Who except the Doctor has 2 hearts and can live forever and regenerate and so on.  I am not entirely sure about the life span of Superman though but we know about his thing for Kryptonite.  It is explained in the movie about that as well.

 

My verdict for Man of Steel is that too many buildings were destroyed... Those buildings seem like it is made of probably paper or Tofu as they were so easily destroyed, but I guess it has to be the case as they are aliens fighting and I guess Earth buildings are probably not very strong to aliens. 

 

It also gives me the lesson on Superman's origins and how he became who he is.

 

He is pretty good looking eh... The S and the reason for the outfit is also explained.  So, do watch it if you do want to know some background on Superman for maybe... a date with a guy interested in Superman or maybe just some general knowledge.

 

Jor-El: You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.

Would I watch it again? Erm... it is not exactly my kind of a movie, but I guess I would if I am in the mood for it or if my imaginary bf wants to watch it... haha...

Till next time...

Monsters University

OMG!!! I am sooo late in this review that I am still thinking if I should do it...

I mean... the DVD is already on the way out... :s  I mean... it is already out... lol...

 

So... for the minority of people out there who have yet to watch this movie and do not know anything about it, Monsters University is a predecessor of Monsters Incorporated.  It tells of the tale of how Mike and Sully became besties in Monsters Incorporated.  Monsters Uni is a time when they were sworn enemies and so on... you have to watch the movie now to see why that is the case and how they became besties... hehe

 

Let us just cut to the chase, my verdict for Monster's University is it is ok...

"Awww... Don't look at me like that... " says ALSY...

Yea... it is just ok, cause I guess I expected more.  I loved Monsters Inc.

It was one of the movies my bro used to play repeatedly on tv and we used to even recite the lines to it and the wait was so long and I expected this huge cool amazing probably awesome avatar kind of a movie, given the years between the original and the prequel.

 

If I just wipe away all that expectation of that movie, I can say it is probably a good children's movie and now that the kids have watched it.  It is time... time for Monster's Inc! ^_^ 

 

Will I watch it again?  Hmmm... probably if I have a few mates in for a Monster's night... :)

 

Mike Wazowski: I've been waiting for this my whole life! I'm gonna be a scarer!

We all know (if you watch Monster's Inc) that he never became one... but why? :p

Till next time,

Les Miserables Review

Les Miserables is one musical that is pretty dear to me, as it was my very first musical that I participated in.  If I'm not mistaken, there was another movie on it before and I did not find it really that great, but when I saw that at the end of 2012, there was going to be a Les Miserables movie with Anne Hathaway in it, I was ecstatic.  I kind of love Anne Hathaway, cause she so pretty... lol... I just like her movies in general and her looks aren't part of it.  You believe me, don't you... 

For those who do not know what the movie is about, I'll try to summarise it for you.  This movie is set before the French Revolution towards it where people are suffering and life is tough and then the younger folks are trying to have a change.  Anne Hathaway is the supporting actress, playing the part Fantine a factory worker being fired and she has a daughter.  Hugh Jackman is the main actor, playing the part of Jean Valjean, a prisoner who was released from prison who escaped parole and went missing for 8 years and was found again and went missing and so on.  Russel Crowe played the part of the Javert who is a very rigid man who thinks he is right and everyone in prison is bad and even if they served their sentence, they are still bad.  Amanda Seyfried plays the part of Cossette, Fantine's grown up daughter under the care of Jean Valjean after her mother passed on.  Besides that, there is also Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the part of Madame Thenardier, one of the caretaker of Cossette while her mum was working in town I think.  

Last Wednesday, I went to UniMovies for the movie with my friends as it is more fun to watch a movie with my friends, right...  I actually downloaded the movie already but have not had the time to sit down and finish it.  In general, the musical was pretty awesome in my opinion, Anne Hathaway did a very good job as Fantine.  She was very emotional and of course, everyone else did a splendid job as well.  Javert really did not have to die like that I mean seriously, it just made the movie a little gory.  Anyway, you need to watch it to understand what I mean, though it is 2 hours and 38 minutes of singing, if you pretend they were talking, it would not be so bad I think. I liked the movie and my favorite song would be On My Own.  I really like that song because I kind of feel it for whatever reason there may be, I feel a connection to it.

The video is by Lea Salonga a Filipino Soprano singer playing the part of Eponine, daughter of Monsieur Thenardier and Madame Thenardier.  She was in love with Marius, who was in love with Cosette.  Poor gal...  The song is about how she is on her own and in love and wishes he was there with her but he is not.  :(

Anyway, please give this movie a go if you do not mind musicals as it is a good movie nonetheless.

Silver Linings Playbook Review

Silver Linings Playbook is a 21st century American romantic comedy-drama film adapted from a novel by Matthew Quick.  It is based on a man, Pat Solitano played by Bradley Cooper who has bipolar disorder.  He has lost his house, his job, and his wife, and is living back with his parents, played by Jacki Weaver and Robert DeNiro, after being released from a psychiatric hospital.  Pat is determined to rebuild his life, try to find the silver lining, remaining positive and trying to reconcile with his wife.  He meets Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence, a recently-widowed sex addict who makes a deal with him.  They both became closer, forming a bond.

The movie is pretty successful receiving 8 Academy Award nominations, achieving 4 Golden Glove Award nominations, with Lawrence tripping on her way up to collect her award after winning Best Actress; 3 BAFTA nominations, with David Russell winning for Best Adapted Screenplay; 4 Screen Actors Guild nominations, winning in 4 categories including Best Film and Best Actress.

Let's see what did I like about this film.  I was told that it was awesome by my good friend, Mik so I had to check it out.  My Mum also told me to check it out since they won some awards as evidently stated above, they won a lot of awards.  

So, let's start, for a romantic comedy fan that I am, I find this movie average.  I mean it isn't bad, just average.  I did not feel the movie much.  I liked the Christmas touch to it during the dance competition and when I saw DeNiro, the first thing that came to my mind was Meet the Fockers.  This movie had a very strong cast and it is a wonderful film with its peculiar romance and where almost every character in the movie has a twist to them.  For example, DeNiro had OCD and other characters had their quirks. 

In general, I would recommend this movie for viewing cause it is a good movie with a great cast.  

The only way to beat my crazy was by doing something even crazier - Pat

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Related Articles:

• http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/blogs/get-flickd/45-stars--silver-linings-playbook-20130218-2emqj.html
• http://www.thevine.com.au/entertainment/movie-reviews/silver-linings-playbook-movie-review/
• http://www.joreviews.com/blog/2012/11/21/silver-linings-playbook-movie-review/

Anna Karenina Review

Anna Karenina is a theatrical romantic drama film based on a 1877 novel by Leo Tolstoy.  It is set in the  late 19th Century, Imperial Russia where the aristocratic Anna Karenina travels from Saint Petersburg to Moscow to save her brothers' marriage.  Anna Karenina has a son with her husband, a Russian Statesman.  On her journey to Moscow, she meets the cavalry officer Count Vronsky and they had some sort of attraction to one another.  This man was supposed to propose to Kitty, who is the younger sister of her sister-in-law.  Kitty invites Anna Karenina to stay for the ball after she has resolved her brothers'marriage problem.  However, during the ball, Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky danced, igniting the spark that was there.  The story explores the feelings that Anna Karenina had which questions her happiness and marriage.   

Anna Karenina is directed by Joe Wright who is also the director of Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007).  Keira Knightley plays Anna Karenina, making it her third collaboration with Wright, while Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as Anna Karenina's husband and Count Vronsky, respectively.  
This 2012 British theatrical romantic drama film has earned 4 nominations at the 85th Academy Awards and 6 nominations at the 66th British Academy Film Awards, winning Jacqueline Durran both prizes for Best Costume Design.  Besides that, Anna Karenina also got 6 nominations at the 17th Satellite Awards including a Best Actress for Knightley and Best Adapted Screenplay for Tom Stoppard.  Anna Karenina has earned a worldwide gross of approximately $56 million.    Based on all that info above, I watched this award winning movie and I thought it was great.  I would say it is very theatrical as randomly you will see that they are on stage, like they are performing in a theater but it's not a theater but a movie.  The movie was very artsy as I would call it.  I have not read the book before and did not know what the story was about.  Overall, I was very impressed with it and look forward to reading the book one day.
There was also violence to it, where jumping onto train tracks happened a few times and a horse falling and breaking his back, writhing in agony which then leads to Vronsky shooting the horse, killing it.  Most probably not a movie for children as I believe they would not understand it or be undisturbed by the violence.  Anna Karenina was a just a woman who believed in her love and because she decided to have her affair and wanted a divorce, she had to live with the consequences.  
I loved the costumes and the ballroom dancing which is different from what I know of ballroom dancing.  It was beautiful and artsy.  Would love to learn that dance and the costumes were beautiful.  Made me wish I was born in that generation just for the clothes.  In general, the movie was beautifully choreographed with people being at the right place at the right moment and the dancing was all very synchronized.  
In conclusion, even though some might think this adaptation of Anna Karenina is not a total success, it is definitely a breath of fresh air to romantic drama movies and Knightley did a pretty good job playing Anna Karenina in my opinion.  I would definitely watch this movie again. 
Anna isn't a criminal, but she broke the rules! - Countess Nortston