Movie Madness: The Avengers rule!

In one word:

AWESOME!!!

Some random thoughts (because I'm still a bit tired from my crazy weekend in Germany and Luxembourg and can't seem to get my brain to function rationally, and I really wanted to get this out before it hit the screens in the US):

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Movie Madness: time for the OSCARS!!!

So tonight is another one of those random nights in which I kind of wish I was living across the pond again, just so I could participate in and enjoy the madness that is the Academy Awards (a.k.a. the Oscars). I used to enjoy the show (and rooting for my favourite films) quite a bit, but since moving to Europe I've rarely had the chance to indulge in the craziness... 9h time difference with L.A. and the fact that it's on Canal+ (pay extra) definitely put a damper on any celebrations... So in Spain people don't really pay much attention to the Oscars. Hell, most people don't really pay any attention to the Goyas either (Spain's equivalent). I've only done anything Oscar-related here my first year in Uni when we organised an Oscar pool at the dorms and stayed up to watch it! (but of course, any excuse is a good excuse to stay up and party, so lol!) I've managed to stay up and watch it on a few other occasions, including once in Belgium... but this is the first time in like forever that I'm participating in an Oscar pool, albeit long-distance! My aunt's sister's family in the US apparently do this every year and since we've been communicating a lot via Facebook lately (we met last year in Paris, big coincidence our both being there at the same time) and discovered we have similar tastes (books, movies) and she invited me to join in! It gives the proceedings a bit of an added thrill for me. Fun! :o)

Unfortunately I'm not as well prepared for the Oscars as I have been other years (too many movies I haven't seen yet: Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris, Albert Nobbs, Hugo, Beginners...), the Academy's upping the number of films in Best Picture category complicates things, and later release dates in Spain don't help (Hugo just came out this weekend)! So I kind of figuratively flipped a coin in some categories while filling out my ballot, but here are a few I did give a bit more thought to... I have no way to honestly judge who "should" win, so I'm just saying who I would vote for if I had the chance, plus who I think might actually win it (if different).

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Movie Madness: The Three Musketeers

I don't think there's any other way to classify this one than under Movie Madness, because the latest outing of my all-time favourite swashbucklers is definitely more than a bit mad!!!

I've been seeing this poster hanging up in my local movie theatre for almost a year now:

(warning: some spoilers ahead)
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Movie Madness: Summer Movies 2011

I've been pleasantly surprised by most of the movies out this summer. I think it's actually been the best in a few years! We got several comic book heroes, wacky pirates, a few angry apes, avenging wizards, a couple of original westerns, some period films and a few bitter disappointments.

These are just a few thoughts on the movies I've seen this summer (I don't think I've forgotten any), in the order of my having seen them. Most of of these have been out for so long (and some are probably on dvd already) I'm not going to walk on eggshells worrying about spoilers, although I'll try not to yell out "it was Col Mustard in the dining room with a knife!". :p

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Movie Madness: Thor - Popcorn Season begins!

ARRRGH!!! I had the bulk of this post written and ready to post for April 30th... just needed to add in a short review on Thor and find some pics to illustrate it... but the movie left me feeling so blah I couldn't bring myself to write it and instead packed my bags for a trip... and then was gone without internet for 10 days and then and then... dammit time sure flies!!! So just ignore the fact that this says April... I was mostly written on April 29th except for the Thor part.

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And so it begins... with Norse God Thor blasting his way into the cinemas this weekend (in Spain we got it a week before the US!), the cinematic summer is now upon us! To think, it's still April! May Asgard find us prepared. :p

"What's this?! You haven't written a word about movies in months, and you're starting up again with a popcorn flic?!?!?!" Not only have I been mum on the subject of the silver screen for far too long, I haven't even been to the movies in a month! scandalous! :D A mix of fatigue, un-interest in what was playing on the screens (the cinematic doldrums between Oscar season and summer are depressing...), oh, and a little incident on a bike that kept me immobile for a while. I'm going to try to bring back my movie-going standards of old, and take advantage of the draft posting option and write my mini-reviews for Monthly Movies as soon as I get back from the film (instead of leaving it to do them all at once when I can't remember as much and laziness kicks in at the idea of having to prepare a long post with reviews, posters and links).

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Movie Madness: POTTER!!!

Tonight's THE night!!!

I finally get to see the Beginning of the End with friends of mine in Luxemburg (so English!!! no dubbing, yay!!!). I've already heard from my sisters that it's fabulous... so very excited! I think the hardest thing will be waiting 8 months for the 2nd half of the story, argh!!!

Last year I prepared for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with Potter Wednesdays when I rewatched all the previous films on dvd and reviewing them here on the blog (Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix). For this movie I wanted to re-read all the books, but I couldn't bring them with me to Belgium, so I just rented Half-Blood Prince on dvd to dip back into J.K.Rowling's magical universe. No need to mix up a batch of frenzy, I already got a fabulous dose last week in London when I happened on the World Premiere at Leicester Square!

If you want to dip back into the Potter Universe before watching the latest outing, you can either click on the titles above to re-visit my reviews, or you can head on over to Pop Classics where a Classicist gives her unique view on each of the films (very interesting reads!).

And you can be sure I'll be getting a Potter review out ASAP! ;o) 

I'll try to avoid spoilers... :p

Movie Madness: crazy premiere in London!

Talk about walking into a madhouse! My sister and I were trying to cross Leicester Square tonight to collect our Mamma Mia! tickets with enough time to have dinner before the show... and found our paths blocked by a horde of screaming people!

My sister's like: "Thursday night? Oh, probably a movie premiere... I wonder which one it could be?... noooo... wait a minute! not... HARRY POTTER?!?!?!?!"

We found ourselves at a corner of the Square amongst a crowd of people looking up at a big screen showing the highlights of what was going on in the "fenced-off" zone (protected by Death Eaters no less!).

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Movie Madness: Iron Man has landed, it must be Summer!

Right? At least in Movieland. Once the big blockbusters a.k.a. tentpoles start making their appearance, then it's definitely a sign that summer is upon us! (Just ignore that fluctuating mercury and the rain clouds that refuse to go away)

So in case you hadn't guessed, I went to see Iron Man 2 last weekend as part of my weekly father-daughter ritual of a cinematic adrenaline injection (well, sometimes I convince him to see less "exciting" stuff). Oh, and before anyone reading this across the pond says "huh? Doesn't Iron Man come out this Friday?! as in today?!", let this European who's frequently frustrated by months of waiting for movies from across the pond chant: "nah-nah-nah-nah-naaaaaaaaaaaaah!" :p (sorry 'bout that, apparently 2h of man-child on the big screen leads to childish behaviour on my part... I'm just glad I wasn't the one driving the car home! lol!) (and I actually wrote most of this right after I got home from the movie... haven't had time to polish it and post it until today though!)

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Movie Madness: The Cove

Woah!

What can I say, these guys sure know how to get their message out, albeit in a highly manipulative-tug-on-the-heartstrings kind of way.

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Having fun with the Force

ALL NEW! Star Wars Gangsta Rap: Chronicles

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Atom Originals | Star Wars Gangsta Rap

"Star Wars fans never die (...) they multiply" Indeed! ;o)

Movie Madness: BASTERDS!

Now that was FUN!!!


Inglourious Basterds = A fairy tale version of the end of World War II... a rather bloody one I might add! (albeit not as bloody as I feared coming from Tarantino)



My hat's totally off to Daniel Br�hl... man can that guy act, and in any language you throw at him! I've now seen him (sans dubbing) in German, English, Catalan, Spanish and French... and none of it has seemed to faze him! He brings his characters realistically to life each time (my favourite so far is still the Spanish film Salvador).

The ladies in this one also do a knock-out job, and manage to look glamorous while doing so (even with some crazy dude poking his finger into her bullet wound, ouch!). I've enjoyed Diane Kruger in other films (Joyeux No�l), but I think it's the first I've seen of M�lanie Laurent.










As for Brad Pitt... well let's just say he kept a big smile on my face whenever he was onscreen! What a crazy-ass character they gave him to play, and he totally pulls it off! And loved the accent! :p


What else? Oh yeah, THANK YOU Tarantino for being linguistically realistic!!! Why would a German SS officer interrogate a Frenchman in English (for the good of the American audience of course, pffft!)? Well here because he has reached the end of his French abilities and has heard the dairy farmer can speak English! So very reasonable! The Germans all speak to each other in German, the French in French, the Anglos in English. And if characters' linguistic abilities don't coincide, bring in the translators! Now that's how I like my films, multi-lingual! :o)