Category: Films

Is There a Perfect Order to Watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Movies?

Well… there might be?

Or there might not.

The truth of the matter is that with Avengers Endgame showing up in less than a month, an event which is the culmination of 11 years and 21 feature films, a lot of people, including me, are trying to catch up and reinvesitigate everything leading up to this momentous occasion. All of which led me to wonder what is the best way to deal with the rewatch (not to mention that at some point in the future, I’ll be doing it all over again with Monki, I hope) Continue reading “Is There a Perfect Order to Watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Movies?” →

Incredible Video Flawlessly Edits Dozens Of Famous Characters Into One Coherent Scene – Airows

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Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

There’s something incredibly cool about the art of editing. It can transport you from one time and place to another in a fraction of a second. Kuleshov developed the idea of “creative geography” when it came to film editing and now, here’s an extreme example of how it can be put to an extremely effective use. While this might be a tad long, it nevertheless is worth watching.

Cinema’s greatest scene: ‘Casablanca’ and ‘La Marseillaise’

Casablanca is widely remembered as one of the greatest films of all time, coming in at #2 on the AFI’s top 100 list and similarly regarded by many other critics. You can quibble with its exact rank, but it’s at least undeniable how iconic Casablanca remains. Even now, more than 70 years after its 1942 release, few movies have ever produced as many enduring quotes. Continue reading “Cinema’s greatest scene: ‘Casablanca’ and ‘La Marseillaise’” →

May the Fourth Be With You: Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans

PLSDSP_AlbumCoverPalette-Swap Ninja, whom I have never heard of before, is a parody band who focus on geek culture. This year, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope and the 50th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band they did what anyone would naturally do — mashed up the two.

That’s right, it’s Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans! #PLSDSP Continue reading “May the Fourth Be With You: Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans” →

Weddings and the West Coast – USA summer 2015 – Week 1

2015-06-17 20.24.19(this is the first of three parts and very long – just giving you fair warning)

Last January, 2014, I was visiting the US for my niece Riley’s bat mitzvah. This was my second time returning to the motherland since I’d left and as with the time before, I took the opportunity to visit friends in LA and San Francisco. While I was in LA I met up with my good friend, brilliant actor and former roommate JR. A few weeks earlier, JR had gotten engaged to the beautiful and charming Natasha, whom I’d heard about but this trip was my first time meeting her. It was great! Then at one point, JR and I were just shooting the breeze and he said “Listen… If you say ‘no,’ I’m screwed because I don’t know who else fits so will you be my Best Man.” I man enough to admit there were tears and hugging and of course I said “yes!” Continue reading “Weddings and the West Coast – USA summer 2015 – Week 1” →

Review: Tomorrowland

tomorrowland posterTomorrowland channels the pop cultural idea of Walt Disney and wears its heart on its sleeve… and while that’s okay, I expected more from Brad Bird.

Opening with the “gosh, gee willikers” approach of young Frank Walker to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York (side note, someone should do a piece on the cultural impact that particular world’s fair has had on popular culture) to show off his home built jet pack to Nix (Hugh Laurie). Their dialogue basically sets up the rest of the film: Continue reading “Review: Tomorrowland” →

Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron

avengers-age-of-ultronAvengers: Age of Ultron, as far as I’m concerned, works. Now, to be fair, I’m a fanboy. I’m predisposed to like it and be far more forgiving than others who don’t know Marvel from marvel. This doesn’t mean I can’t find fault with certain elements (I do) but it does mean I’m more willing to give it a bit of lead. I’m also not so tied to the source material that I’m going to freak out becuase something happened on screen differently than the way it happend in issue #183 of the comic. Intention and execution count for a lot with me, as do target audiences and the desire of the writer/director (not to mention the studio) to please as many people as possible. Continue reading “Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron” →

Review: Ex Machina

Ex machinaWhat makes us human?

This is a question long posed by science fiction literature and films and Ex Machina is the latest to take a stab at answering the unanswerable. The plot itself is simple. Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a programmer working for a Google-like search engine company called BlueBook. He wins a company wide lottery to spend a week at the home of company founder Nathan (Oscar Isaac). While there, he discovers he’s been set-up and the real purpose of his visit is to “test” an android, Ava (Alicia Vikander) to see if she truly possesses artificial intelligence. This is done through a series of interviews, where Caleb and Ava exchange nuance-heavy dialogue.  Continue reading “Review: Ex Machina” →

Review: Kingsman – The Secret Service

From the opening scene onwards, there is almost no way to not understand this film is a love letter to the spy/thriller films of the 80s and 90s. And if you still don’t get that by the end of the film, you should have your License to (watch) Film revoked. There is just as much nostalgia here as there was in last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy, if a little more bloodshed.

Turns out Kingsman is a bespoke tailor shop fronting an incredibly well funded gentleman spy outfit, kept purposefully small so they can forego government intervention and just get to the job at hand – namely saving the world.

Continue reading “Review: Kingsman – The Secret Service” →