8.23.2012

 

Midnight in Paris

PG-13, 94 minutes
Official Website | IMDb
Overall Grade: B+


Plot: Gil, successful screenwriter, budding author, is visiting Paris with his fiancee Inez and her parents when they run into a couple that is friends with Inez. Gil (Owen Wilson) proceeds to chafe under the worldly, smug, know-it-all attitude of the other man whom Inez is fawning over. He gets completely tipsy at a wine-tasting and insists on walking back to the hotel in order to in take in the ambiance. As the bell tolls midnight, he is cajoled into an antique taxi which whisks him away to the Paris of the 1920's, thick with American authors and famous artists of all nationalities, from whom he proceeds to learn a lot about having confidence in his writing and living his life.
Review: I probably would have liked this film more if I knew all the authors and artists it references. Anyway, I will shamelessly admit that I watched this for Tom Hiddleston's portrayal of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Though he only has a few scenes, Tom looks dapper as always in period clothing and his American accent is superb. I listened the whole time for his original accent to break in somewhere but nope! Well done, Tom!
Anyways, despite my initial motivations, it was an enjoyable film. And you really start to like Gil especially when Inez starts yelling that he's going crazy because he thinks he's traveling back in time.
Other things of note, the nameless tour guide is played by Carla Bruni, whom you might know as the wife of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. And Inez's father is played by Kurt Fuller, aka the angel Zachariah on 'Supernatural', so that lent an unintentional creep factor to my viewing - as it now will for other 'Supernatural' watchers.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:28 AM

8.18.2012

 

The Long Earth

by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter, 336 pgs, hardcover
Series: Long Earth series #1
Overall Grade: B+

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:30 PM
 

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

by Steven Pinker, 696pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B+

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:29 PM
 

The Social Conquest of Earth

by Edward O. Wilson, 297pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: C-


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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:26 PM

8.13.2012

 

Memnoch the Devil

by Anne Rice, 354 pgs, hardcover
Series: The Vampire Chronicles book 5

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 8:52 AM
 

The Witching Hour

by Anne Rice, 965 pgs, paperback
Series: The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, spin-off from The Vampire Chronicles

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 8:50 AM
 

Journal of a UFO Investigator

by David Halperin, 289 pgs, hardcover

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 8:36 AM
 

H.I.V.E. : The Overlord Protocol

by Mark Walden, 377 pgs, hardcover,
Series: H.I.V.E. book 2

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 8:36 AM
 

The Night Eternal

by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan, 371 pgs, hardcover
Series: The Strain trilogy book 3

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 8:36 AM

8.11.2012

 

Thor: Tales of Asgard

not rated, 77 minutes
IMDb
Overall Grade: B

Plot: Teenage Thor chafes at being kept in the boundaries of Asgard and never allowed out on adventures to prove the mettle and combat skills he believes he has. So he convinces his slightly younger brother Loki to stowaway with him on the ship of the Warriors Three, and hence to search for the sword of Surtur. Unfortunately, he manages to accidentally provoke a war with the Frost Giants on their convoluted trip back to Asgard. Etc. etc.
Thoughts: I'm still new to the Marvel-verse, so I'm not sure how this straight-to-video cartoon is supposed to fit into the Marvel mythology, or if it's even intended to. Odin still has both eyes here. And Amora is instructing Loki in magic?! And as I have discovered reading some issues of 'Journey into Mystery', young Loki is a delight because of his mischief and distinct lack of bitterness and emotional baggage that encumbers his adult self. This is a story about Thor though, and Loki is just the prevalent sidekick here.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:42 PM
 

The Deep Blue Sea

R, 98 minutes
IMDb | Official Website
Overall Grade: C+

Plot: Set in post-WWII England, Hester Collyer is unhappy in her loveless arranged marriage to a judge. She falls in love with a contact of her husband's, Freddie Page, a former RAF pilot, a devilishly good-looking man who is perpetually in search of a job. Most of the film consists of timeskips between Hester's current unhappiness, her falling out with her husband, and better times with Freddie before she realizes that he doesn't love her.
Thoughts: Yes, I totally watched this because of Tom Hiddleston (who plays Freddie). And yes, I knew there was a nude love scene (though not that it was only 10 minutes into the film). Whatever my motivation, this is a sad, unhappy film. The first scene has Hester attempting suicide, and things never really get better. There are happier moments, such as the scenes when Hester and Freddie initially get together, but no one is happier by the end. There's no action to speak of, and a lot of messy emotions get played out to no resolution. I'm pretty sure most guys wouldn't enjoy watching this, and it isn't a fluffy chick-flick for the ladies either. So maybe you should just watch it if you want to see Tom Hiddleston play a good-looking jerk... I mean, a good-looking jerk who is not a Norse god.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:25 PM

8.05.2012

 

Batman: Under the Red Hood


PG-13, 75 minutes
IMDb page | Official Website
Overall Grade: B+

So there is a lot of Bat!canon that I don't know about apparently - like multiple Robins. Anyway, the story begins with Joker torturing and killing off the (second?) Robin, one Jason Todd, before Batman can save him. Flash forward 5 years and a mysterious new character, Red Hood, shows up in Gotham. Part vigilante, part crime lord, using a red hood disguise that many have used before. This mysterious man says and does things that make the ever-angsty Bruce Wayne think that maybe Jason Todd isn't so dead. But then, what happened to him?
Lots of action. Bat angst. Banter from two former Robins. Worth the 75 minutes, even if you swim in the Marvel universe like me.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 4:26 PM

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