[Traverse's Scrapbook] Movie Reviews and Mayhem

[Rosela]

My deepest, deepest condolences. He's in a better place now, and you gave him a loving home and a wonderful life while he was here. There's not much to say in the wake of a loss, but know that we're all here for you.

[Sal Mander]

What better way to celebrate cats than sharing some cat facts!

Click here for knowledge.

[Traverse]

Thanks guys, and thanks Sal, The Oatmeal makes everything awesome.

[Traverse]

So this is the longest video I've ever done and features 4 movies! So for anyone who understandably wants to skip around I start talking about John Wick, at 4:20 move onto The Lego Movie, Begin my long rant about Jupiter Ascending around 7:23, and 16:00 on is about Kingsman Also I apologize for all the fidgeting, I had been waiting for a chance to sit down and talk about these films for a while so I was fairly giddy if that makes sense haha.

[Traverse]

So I have found quite the love with the band Flight Facilities, and I am head over heels with this music video, as it is a combination of just some sweet smooth beats, and Sam Rockwell, who I absolutely love. If you aren't familiar with him I recommend seeing Galaxy Quest (a simply amazing movie) or The Way Way Back (another amazing movie for different reasons), he is in quite a few flicks, but those are two of my favorites featuring him.

[Traverse]

33 So I have quite a lot of movies to talk to you about and not the drive or vim to put them into video format. I went to Anime Boston this Friday - Sunday and had quite a wonderful time. I cos-played as Sera from Dragon Age Inquisition, and it was my first real cos-play, I really enjoyed it and got a lot of great responses to costume, as well as meeting a lot of other Dragon Age cos-players (though no Sera's) and some Mass Effect one's as well. I've been going to this for quite a few years now and I think a good chunk of the fun is everyone dressing up from a scale of nerdy T-shirt to looking like professional individuals that just stepped off a movie set. If I find a few good pics I'll post them up here at a later date. Anyway so I have a lot of movies to get to and not sure in which order to do them but I figured I'd start with the ones that had most recently come out in theatres and I had seen. A look at So I did not have the highest hopes for this movie, as I didn't realize at first that it was a direct adaptation from the original Disney cartoon, and I didn't particularly like that choice, more on that a bit later though. A couple of friends went to see it and they said it was one of the worst things they had seen. A lot of people were joking to go see it just for 'Frozen Fever' the little Frozen short they played before the film, which was quite cute. So with all of these details in place my bar was very low going into this movie for a number of reasons. Plot: So this film goes a bit more in depth with the lead in to the Cinderella tale, illustrating the Mother played by Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), and an entire pristine family life before the inevitable tragic turn around. The beginning of the movie illustrates this point, something something about always being brave and kind and so on, which is sweet and then gradually gets to the point of ridiculousness in how many times it is mentioned, though not until the last 20 or so minutes of the movie. Since everyone knows the rest of the plot to Cinderella I won't go into it anymore. Overview: I'll start by saying that Kate Blanchett plays a perfect stepmother. Also the King played by Derek Jacobi (Corvinus from Underworld) was a character that I enjoyed a bit more than I thought I would. I think my favorite character in the whole movie is sort of the head of the guard or perhaps a military advisor I forget if they name his role specifically and what it is because I believe he is only referred to as 'Captain.' The actor's name is Nonso Anozie, and though he plays a lot of random characters in a number of movies, I know him best form his role in Game of Thrones. He was basically my pillar throughout a movie as a character whose intentions and plot I did not previously know about going into a classic who has been redone again and again. He was the sensible smart talking individual that keeps encouraging Rob Stark's (I mean Richard Madden's) character Kit to go get the girl, directly opposed to Stellan Skarsgard (Thor) who plays a quite hate-able character trying to get the Prince to marry for money and increased land and all that. As for Lily James (Downtown Abbey) and Richard Madden (Rob Stark, Game of Thrones), I can't say I completely loved their performances, but if there was one reason I was going to this movie and one reason I knew I wasn't going to walk away empty handed it was because of Richard Madden Sure I prefer him with a bit of stubble and swaddled in furs, but I'm not too fussy, and he did pull off the suave Prince pretty damn well. I was also very surprised that Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter, Most Any Tim Burton Movie) was the Fairy godmother, but she was a fun little treat thrown in there as well. What was not a fun little treat were the gosh darn lizards that become footman in this movie. They were absolutely horrid, their teeth frightening, and the movie kept on giving you unnecessary shots of them. I think it was for humor, but I just wanted to not see them ever again. There was something about the both scenes of the Pumpkin turning into a carriage and its affiliated parts, and then again when it is transforming back at the end of the evening that I just did not enjoy. A large part were those gosh darn footmen, but in both scenes though everything is obviously meant to be lighthearted there is a very real danger of Cinderella being squished by a pumpkin that I just did not like. That I am sure is a matter of taste, however, but I would be interested to see other peoples views on those scenes. There are a couple other aspects I could go into, I honestly don't think the step sisters are worth mentioning, there could be some debate as to whether Lily James talking to mice was adorable or just appeared insane as the animals don't really talk back to her in so many words, but those are the biggest chunks of my thoughts after having seen the film. Overall it was enjoyable, but not if you're looking for something new of different from a Cinderella movie. Cinderella was never my particular favorite, so I won't be getting it on video or be superbly interested in watching it again, my Disney weakness will be when they come out with the liveaction Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson More reviews to come, and many different types of movies as well!!! Stay tuned and safe travels! -Traverse

[Aventis]

Hey! I'm not sure if you actually take requests or not, but... Here's for hoping! I recently saw a movie called St. Vincent that I thought was well done. I would love hearing your take c:

[Traverse]

Oh my goodness I just watched that recently and absolutely loved it I will definitely post a formal review of it here soon! That one completely slipped my mind of recent watches, thanks for reminding me!

[Traverse]

34 This one won't be the most insightful of reviews as I was enjoying it with fellow Miz staff over Skype with lot's of sassy commentary and frivolity but today we look at: Plot: Airplane! was released in 1980 and is a hardcore parody movie with rarely a serious moment. It features lot's of classic actors from the day, and many famous cameos along the way. The plot is that the main character Ted (Robert Hayes) is trying to get his girlfriend Elaine (Julie Hagerty) back, she happens to be an airline stewardess, and dumps him right before leaving on a flight, but he gets on the flight she is taking and happens to be the only individual with any flying experience when almost the entire crew and passengers are struck with food sickness in already bad weather conditions. Overview: This is a movie that I had never before seen, much to the chagrin of the people in the room with me when I announced it during the Skype chat, I have experienced older parody films such as The Kentucky Fried Movie made just a few years prior, so this was not new, but also did not carry the same nostalgia it might have if I had previously viewed it. That being said there is an entirely different type of enjoyment to be had in films when you and your friends (whether in the room or over voice chat ) have a nice humorous running commentary going along with the film. I did enjoy the film and thought it was humorous on various levels, everything was over the top, utterly ridiculous, and most things that occurred, such as the many many random deaths were rarely ever questioned or acknowledged. A great choice for staff movie night, and I can't wait for the next one!

[Traverse]

35 A look at Overview: So I went and saw CHAPPiE quite a bit ago and have been meaning to do this review for a while, as I immensely enjoyed the movie for various reasons. One thing that I think begs explaining before I jump into this review, however, is the South African Rap Group Die Antwoord. I was introduced to them perhaps about a year ago, and if you know who they are and saw a trailer for this movie (The normal one vs. the one that was clearly directed at the stereotypical Michael Bay audiences) that they are in the movie. If you do not know who Die Antwoord is I would recommend looking up one of their music videos, they are quite the interesting group, but disclaimer a couple of their videos in particular go for shock value, so prepare yourself. I took a liking to them after learning that Lady Gaga learned of them, saw them as the kind of very different and awe inspiring act that could bolster her own image and offered them some amount of money to go on tour with her, they refused, she got pissy and they made quite the intense music video and song ripping her apart. Alright I think that's enough about them let's get into the movie! Plot: The movie is set in the not so distant future where the main human character Deon (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) has designed a series of robots that act as policeman and do quite a fantastic job at it. You are immediately introduced to Patel's rival Hugh Jackman, who is trying to make a much more expensive bulkier (and a hell of a lot scarier) robot police model that keeps getting turned down. Though Patel is basically the VIP of the company he works at, quite the prize to the Boss lady Sigourney Weaver, he dreams of making actual artificial intelligence, and when not in the office works night and day in his flat on it. Meanwhile Yolandi and Ninja (Their names in the movie and in Die Antwoord) are struggling as Ninja is a criminal who owes a lot of money to some jerk named Rhino, and gets the grand idea of getting Patel's character after abducting him to try to turn off the police robots in order to pull a heist. There's a bit of back and forth here, but Patel takes an important chip in order to re-program a rejected robot of the force with the artificial intelligence he has created, but CHAPPiE instead of being raised by Dev Patel as he is essentially a child, is left in the care of the thugs to varying effect. Overview: Phew okay, that was kind of a lot. The main reason I enjoyed this movie is it was not what I was expecting, it was gritty which does come with the folks that made District 9, but far more touching than I imagined. Probably the most lacking part of the movie for me was Hugh Jackman's character as it was the most one dimensional thing ever. He was a giant dick the whole movie and that was it, though I suppose you need that sometimes. There is a very amusing and interesting interplay between Dev Patel and Yolandi and Ninja. Patel has a very clear line of things he wants to teach and have CHAPPiE experience, which directly counters Ninja's goals of very much wanting to use CHAPPiE for his own ends, while Yolandi becomes a very maternal figure to the robot, whose voice actor is Sharlto Copley who you may know as King Stefan from Maleficent. CHAPPiE is a very sympathetic character whose growth is extremely believable and interesting to watch, as he does go from child to adulthood over the course of the movie. I was also quite pleasantly surprised by the ending, which again threw me for a loop, which is always nice in this world of horrendously overdone formulas. If you are a Die Antwoord fan their music is the entire soundtrack, which I personally enjoyed and if you are looking for action packed, but a bit more on the cerebral side I would definitely recommend watching this.