Review: Much Ado About Nothing

(This was movie #4 of my 4 movie marathon day.)

How do I become friends with Joss Whedon?  If this is how he spends his vacations, filming Shakespeare adaptations at his absolutely stunning house with a troupe of enormously talented actors and friends, then sign me up.  Much Ado About Nothing is damn near perfect, the melding of two brilliant minds across 400 years.  It’s clear that both Joss and his cast have a deep understanding both of the subject matter and the Shakespearean dialogue, and I hope we get to see a lot more of this sort of thing from him, once The Avengers 2 is done filming.

Much Ado About Nothing tells the story of two romances that take place as a prince comes to stay with a local governor.   Continue reading

Review: Man of Steel

(This was movie #1 of my 4 movie marathon day.)

The superhero movie as we know it was born in 1978 with Superman, starring Christopher Reeve.  The posters claimed “You’ll believe a man can fly” and we were given a movie that seems very dated by today’s standards.  Reeve, clad in spandex, soared on wires in front of a blue screen in many ways seems silly to modern audiences.  Clark Kent was the squeaky-clean all-American, still standing up for “truth, justice and the American way” 40 years after his introduction in the comics.  It was undeniably goofy, but timeless in a way.  It gave us a modern yet dated world, where reporters dressed like they were in the 1930s yet boarded helicopters from the roof of the Daily Planet.

Of course, superhero films have gone through many incarnations since then. Continue reading

Movie Marathon Planning

Movie Marathon Planning Schedule

Last year for my birthday I had a movie marathon.  I saw Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Brave and The Avengers in the theater in one day.  Yes I paid for a ticket for every film.  I decided to do it partially because it just seemed like a fun idea, but also because I wanted to break my previous record of 3 films in a day in the theater.  I picked the day in advance, knowing which films would be available for viewing and waited for the showtimes to be posted.  It all worked out, I was able to schedule everything in what I anticipated to be an ascending level of quality (I had already seen The Avengers by this point).  Everything went smoothly and I had a great time and some friends even joined me for Brave.

So, naturally, I decided to repeat the event this year, making it an annual birthday tradition.  I decided on having it this Saturday at the newly refurbished theater that is the closest to my house (a different theater than the one I went to last year).  I chose a range of movies that would give me a variety of styles and hopefully a good scattering of showtimes.   Continue reading

Not Exactly a Review: The Cabin in the Woods

It seems a bit silly for me to review a film that came out over a year ago, just because I finally got around to watching it.  So instead of a traditional review, I’m instead going to offer up some disorganized thoughts about The Cabin in the Woods.  (For the record, I give the film an A.)  I didn’t see it in the theaters mostly because we generally don’t go see horror films, both out of personal taste and a general lack of quality.  I’ve never been one for the sort of “jump out and get you” scares, but prefer more cerebral horror.  Give me Hitchcock or The Exorcist over Saw any day.  (We also don’t see a lot of comedy in the theater, but that’s a story for another time.)

Obviously I should have known better, considering the script was by Joss Whedon and one of his frequent collaborators, but the trailers didn’t help the situation.  They presented it as a standard “cabin in the woods” type thriller with a sci-fi/conspiracy twist.  That sort of thing has been done before.  So after it was released I read the plot on wikipedia and it seemed more creative than I had originally supposed, but still not enough to get me to go see it.  However, I recently read the script online out of curiosity which changed my mind, and I finally rented The Cabin in the Woods.  Here are my thoughts: Continue reading

Trailer Tuesday: Much Ado About Nothing

Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.

When Joss Whedon announced that he had secretly filmed an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing with his acting troupe at his house as part of a stay-at-home vacation, I freaked out.  I wasn’t alone in this either.  The idea of Whedon doing Shakespeare is perfectly brilliant.  We should have all known it was bound to happen, considering the references to the Bard in his shows and films (“We few, we happy few…” “We band of buggered.”).  Take a look at the trailer and read on for my thoughts:

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Patrick Stewart Fights to Stop Violence Against Women

Just in case you needed another reason that Patrick Stewart is awesome, there’s this video, which has been making the rounds lately.  Many people tend to criticize celebrities who speak out in support of or in opposition to an issue, a cause, or a politician, though most only seem to criticize when the celebrity supports a position they themselves are opposed to and have no problem when a celebrity supports their side.  Aside from the fact that celebrities have the same right to voice their opinions as any other person, they also are in a special position given their fame.  And in no way is violence against women or empowering women a “political” issue, no matter what some people may try to say.  Take a look (Click here to read more from the woman who asked the question on her blog):

Are Patrick Stewart’s opinion and views more important than yours or mine?  No, of course not.  However, they are in a special position because of who he is.  Celebrities can reach a much wider audience than the average Love Pirate with a blog.   Continue reading

Trailer Tuesday Update: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Update:  So a new S.H.I.E.L.D. trailer is out, this one giving us a much better glimpse at the new series (which will be airing on ABC this fall at 8PM on Tuesday nights).  Take a look and read on for my updated thoughts (you can see the previous trailer here):

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Trailer Tuesday: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.

(Update: A new trailer has been released and you can read my thoughts on it here.)  Yes, I realize that Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a movie and that this is not technically a trailer.  But too bad, because I could not be more excited about S.H.I.E.L.D., the expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which continues the story from The Avengers and is being overseen by the incomparable Joss Whedon.  Take a look: Continue reading