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Strangeness Abounds, on January 13th, 2011 |
 Ladyhawke directed by Richard Donner
Buy It Now: on Amazon
Description: Matthew Broderick plays a young thief who comes to the aid of tragic lovers Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is cursed to become a hawk every day at sunrise and Navarre (Rutger Hauer) who turns into a wolf at sunset. The curse was cast by an evil sorcerer-bishop (John Wood), and as Broderick eludes the bishop’s henchmen, Navarre struggles to conquer the villain, lift the curse, and be reunited with his love in human form.
This review is based upon a copy the author bought.
StrangenessAbound’s Review: The film Ladyhawke (1985) has stood the test of time fairly well, which I’m happy to see. I fell in love with this movie when I was fourteen (I still have my VHS copy and because I haven’t bought the DVD copy like I’ve been planning, I had to play it again to write this review XD) and I love it still today.
The cinematography is well rounded, astounding and beautiful. There is not one shot that didn’t work towards bringing out my emotion as a viewer. Richard Donner’s direction seems to have worked very well for the story the actors and the plot needed to express. The costuming is first rate and looks as though someone actually studied medieval-era French clothing before putting fabric together.
Parts of the dialogue were a little off-putting to me because I kept saying to myself, “They wouldn’t have said that!” Twice or three times, a couple of characters say, “He’s going to kill me.” I think it’s safe to say that that phrase didn’t start being used until the late 20th century.
I had to scratch my head at the music and why it was chosen. Did they not think that something like an 80’s pop beat accompanying The Philharmonia Orchestra would sound weird and even bad just a short time later? Don’t get me wrong – when the orchestra (and just the orchestra) kicks in, it’s memorable and rousing. But the music is the part of this film that has aged so badly that a remake of Ladyhawke may be in order sometime in the future.
Matthew Broderick’s performance as Phillippe “The Mouse” Gaston is, in my opinion, well done. Broderick shows Phillippe’s dynamic growth as a character nicely. John Wood’s performance as the evil Bishop of Aquila steals the show. He is wicked without resorting to wide gestures or overacting. It’s Wood’s ability to use only his eyes to show what he could be thinking that sells the Bishop to me. Rutger Hauer is cast as Etienne Navarre and while I like Hauer a lot in Blade Runner (1982), I thought his performance here was a little contrived, but nonetheless, effective in bringing out emotion in me. Michelle Pfieffer…I just didn’t care for her performance at all. I believe the casting directors should have brought in an unknown actress for this role. Pfieffer doesn’t need to act in this movie – she just stands and looks pretty. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when an actress stands about, looking pretty, so I’ll admit to bringing my pre-conceptions to the table when I watched Ladyhawke again.
Despite the anachronisms, Ladyhawke is not a movie to be passed up. I’m a romance junkie at heart and this movie is perfect for me. Now I’m off to get my DVD copy to my doorstep – my VHS copy has been loved enough that there’s “popcorn” and static all over the place. :)
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 Strangeness Abounds
StrangenessAbounds may be more of a truthful moniker than the author will admit to -- when she is not obsessively finding "just the right word," exploring the taste of various chai lattes or arguing over what is canon in "The Legend of Zelda," she is planning her next sushi outing. "StrangenessAbounds" is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction as well as being an editor and English teacher. She graduated in 2009 with her BA in English and is working towards her MS in English. She can be contacted through e-mail.
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Strangeness Abounds, on December 28th, 2010 |
Buy It Now: on Amazon.com
Amazon.com Product Description:
Clear some space for the third chapter of the funniest freakin’ trilogy in the galaxy! Once again, the Family Guy alliance travels far, far beyond the beyond the boundaries of good taste to bring you an outrageous sci-fi spoof filled with hilarious humor, adequate animation and a happy ending (giggity). So get ready to experience the lighter side of the Dark side with Peter Solo, Chris Skywalker, Princess Lois, Stewie Vader…and some surprising new faces. May the laughs be with you!
StrangenessAbound’s Rating:
**This review is based upon a copy the author bought**
As a Star Wars geek to the bone, I’m compelled to watch many parodies of the Star Wars series. Seth McFarland created a trilogy of Family Guy parodies to make fun of the classic Star Wars series respectively entitled, Blue Harvest, Something, Something, Something Dark Side, and the latest edition, It’s A Trap. All the parodies feature the voices of the original Family Guy characters as well as Star Wars veterans such as Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Billy Dee Williams.
I suspect that a viewer of these parodies must also be a viewer of the regular Family Guy series to get all the jokes and running gags. While the vast majority of the jabs are thoroughly Star Wars-centered (you can tell at least Seth McFarland is a serious fan of the series), there are several jokes that come only from Family Guy (i.e. the central family’s dislike of their daughter, Meg, is projected onto the parodies by turning her into various monsters).
In the angled up-scrolling introduction trademark to the Star Wars series, the writers of It’s A Trap tell the audience to “lower their expectations,” but I found It’s A Trap to be just as funny and as strong a satiric social comedy as it’s predecessors. Blue Harvest and Something, Something, Something Dark Side may have had more jokes, but It’s A Trap was especially good for me because it is the parallel to Return of the Jedi and here’s why: RotJ is often acknowledged as the weakest edition to the classic trilogy. This may be because of the entrance of the Ewoks. Their cuteness and cuddliness was good for younger members of RotJ’s audience, but I consider it to be a plot weakness (although I’ll never turn down a snuggle with Pamela’s stuffed Wicket ;) ). In It’s A Trap, the Ewoks are still fuzzy and darling, but are quite violent, as I wanted to expect with miniature bears. An example of this would be the scene in which an Ewok is shot by an AT-ST walker. The Ewok’s companion pokes it a few times, but then tears off its arm and eats it when the live Ewok understands the other one is dead. Several times, I caught myself saying, “Now THIS is what RotJ should have looked like!”
Of course, It’s A Trap, Something, Something, Something Dark Side and Blue Harvest should be a part of every Star Wars fan’s library. I’ll say this as well: these parodies are best watched in a geeky group with drinks. ;)
Strangeness Abounds
StrangenessAbounds may be more of a truthful moniker than the author will admit to -- when she is not obsessively finding "just the right word," exploring the taste of various chai lattes or arguing over what is canon in "The Legend of Zelda," she is planning her next sushi outing. "StrangenessAbounds" is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction as well as being an editor and English teacher. She graduated in 2009 with her BA in English and is working towards her MS in English. She can be contacted through e-mail.
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LamoreVincera, on December 19th, 2010 |
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Buy It Now: Amazon.com
Description: Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim. A bass guitarist for garage band Sex Bob-Omb, the 22-year-old has just met the girl of his dreams – literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him.
This review is based on a copy I bought.
LamoreVincera’s Review:
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World starts out with the classic Universal logo translated into 8-bit glory, and the timeless studio theme rendered into MIDI sound. If the idea of this does not make you laugh, chuckle, giggle, or squee in some fashion, you can just put the movie down. It isn’t for you.
The plot is cute, and somewhat nonsensical – a “normal” Toronto kid falls in love at first sight with Ramona Flowers, an American girl who’s just moved to the city. The twist is that she’s got seven evil exes who have formed a league, to “control the future of [her] love life”, and in order to really, truly date her, he’s got to defeat them all in one-on-one combat. Also, Scott Pilgrim, while presented as “normal”, isn’t. The movie doesn’t tell you this, but these evil exes are fighting the “best fighter in the province”. (I personally have not read the graphic novel series this movie is based on – a slight I intend to correct – but that’s what the source material says.)
 That is actually my one, lonely criticism of the film – Scott Pilgrim is supposed to be a Badass Normal, and something of a ladykiller. He’s not the nicest of guys, which gets pointed out often. So who do they cast? Michael Cera. He’s okay, but… if you’ve seen one Michael Cera role, you’ve seen them all. He does “bumbling nice guy” very well, but doesn’t entirely seem to fill the role he signed up for. When Ramona decides “yeah, I’ll date you”, it doesn’t completely ring true. It’s not that Cera is a bad actor, just that, at the back of this reviewer’s mind, he didn’t completely fit. I will say that 1) opinions are like armpits (everyone has them and they all stink), and 2) he certainly gave it his all.
That being my only criticism, here are the good parts. And when this film is good, it’s mind-blowingly awesome (provided that you fit into the first paragraph’s intended audience.) The supporting cast is stellar; Mary Elizabeth Winstead is so winning that, hell, I’d want to date Ramona Flowers too. Scott’s fellow band members (“Sex Bob-Omb”, get it?) are both great, but Allison Pill steals scenes she’s in with her snarky, deadpan line delivery. Outdoing her – and that’s not easy – is Kieran Culkin as Scott’s gay roommate, who has some of the best lines in the movie and several of the best running gags.
The “league of evil exes” has a few notable members – Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, the upcoming Captain America) as Lucas Lee, the second evil ex and movie star. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) as a popular band’s bassist and vegan with special powers; and Jason Schwartzman (Marie Antoinette, Freaks and Geeks) as her seventh ex. (I’d say more on him, but it’s a spoiler. Just know that you’ll enjoy him.) The performances are all hilarious.
 The best part, though, are the hundreds of little gamer in-jokes that director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) has slipped in. Yeah, that’s the Zelda theme. Yes, he just grabbed a 1-up and essentially hit replay. Who knew playing Dance Dance Revolution like you mean it could give you such awesome fighting skills? Yep, you just heard the Sonic the Hedgehog music. And when the enemies die, they don’t bleed – they explode into coins, as it should be. If I were to recount all the little gaming shoutouts they’ve got here, this would be one hell of a long article. Half the fun of the movie is picking up on all the tiny little things that they’ve jammed in there.
Edgar Wright’s direction lends itself wonderfully to the half-graphic novel, half-movie setup. The cuts are quick, the special effects are awesome, and the fight scenes are meticulously choreographed. He obviously did his geeky homework – when he wrote the owners of the Zelda theme, he called it a “lullaby for this generation”. By his work on this movie, I’m guessing he is a geek, but if not – welcome to the club, man. You’re our honorary guest.
If you’ve ever had the “Where the hell does Link keep his sword?” conversation, or know the Final Fantasy battle riff, or have ever wanted to bash your head into a wall while playing Mega Man, this movie’s for you. Sure, if you can commiserate with the whole “wanting the girl of your dreams” setup, you might get some enjoyment out of it – but unless you are a true geek at heart, you won’t get the full impact. Chances are, if you’re on this site, you will. It’s highly recommended that you pick up a copy. You’ll need the repeated viewings!
I can’t get a version of this that doesn’t have embedding disabled, so if you want to see a piece of the movie – and its awesome music – go here. The song is “Black Sheep” by Metric, with vocals by Brie Larson.
 LamoreVincera
LamoreVincera has been a geek chick since the third grade, when she discovered Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, and a penchant for blond-haired farm boys. She has a lifetime-long love of fantasy, sci-fi, history, and medicine, and is currently working on achieving her dream of becoming a midwife, as well as working on a novel. She can be contacted at LamoreVincera @ hotmail . com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
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TDF Pamela, on November 29th, 2010 |
 Nathan Drake thinks this news sucks, too. Did you hear that sound, fangirls and fanboys? That was the sound of my little Nathan Drake fangirl heart breaking.
Actually, it was the sound of me shouting, “NO! GODDAMMIT!” when I read that Mark Wahlberg has confirmed that he’s playing my beloved treasure hunter in the upcoming film adaptation of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.
You might remember that I was rooting for Nathan Fillion because honestly, he’s perfect for the role. He’s got the charm, the snark, the ability to look vulnerable while still kicking ass.
I’m not really a fan of Mark Wahlberg. Sure, back when I was twelve years old and he was “rapping” and dropping his pants on stage, I thought he was pretty cute. But he hasn’t impressed me at all with his acting chops, and for fuck’s sake, people, am I the only one who remembers The Happening?
I just cannot see the guy playing Nathan Drake. I can see him butchering the lines and looking pissy the entire time, but I can’t imagine he’ll be good at it.
Or maybe I’m overreacting a bit, heh. I’ll say now, if Wahlberg is good in the role, I’ll happily eat crow. But… I don’t have my hopes up. Not at all, especially after reading these quotes from our articulate actor:
“David is one of the best writer/directors I’ve ever worked with,” Wahlberg told MTV. “The idea that he has is just insane. So hopefully we’ll be making that movie this summer.”
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Walhberg also confirmed rumors that Russell is writing roles for acting heavies (and “Goodfellas” costars) Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. “I’m obviously in whatever David wants to do, but the idea of it is so off the charts: De Niro being my father, Pesci being my uncle. It’s not going to be the watered-down version, that’s for sure.”
WHAT.
I’m sorry… WHAT?! What watered down version? The video game’s storyline wasn’t exciting enough, so we have to fuck with it and jazz it up? With Joe Pesci?
Again, maybe I’m overreacting, but… maybe I’m not. I’m so afraid this movie adaptation is going to be a clusterfuck of massive proportions.
TDF Pamela, on November 22nd, 2010 |
 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
I was wary of seeing the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I’m a huge fan of the books. I’ve read the series many times, though I’ve only read the last book three or four times. It’s my habit to re-read the series at least once a year, I love it so much. With most book-to-movie adaptations, I can separate the canons in my head. I like the Lord of the Rings books, and I love the movies. They exist as separate things.
Not so much with Harry Potter. I guess because I’ve read the books so many times, I’ve developed too strong a mental image of how things should look/happen. Most of the movies have been disappointing to me. The first two were too kiddy and fluffy for my taste; Prisoner of Azkaban looked great but the story was totally screwed up; Goblet of Fire substituted dragon chase scenes for plotlines that really matter; Order of the Phoenix, actually my favorite, was the closest to my mental version; and Half-Blood Prince was an awful exercise in stripping away all of the emotion out of the story.
So I went to see Deathly Hallows with no small amount of trepidation. Because I didn’t see it on opening day (blame the Fanfiancé), I’d heard lots of people saying that they loved it, that it was true to the book, so on and so forth, but I still kept my expectations low.
I definitely wasn’t disappointed. In fact, I think this might have been the best of the movies so far. That statement comes with a caveat, though: if you like the book version of Deathly Hallows, you’ll like the movie. If you didn’t care for the book, then you’ll probably think that the movie is boring.
I liked the book, so I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. It is deliberately paced (says the Fanfiancé: kinda boring), but it stayed true to the book’s storyline without adding silly diversions like dragon chases or omitting important information. The slow pace serves to establish Harry’s own disappointment in Dumbledore and his frustration at not knowing what he’s supposed to do other than the general, “Find Horcruxes and destroy them.” Because we as audience members might get frustrated with the lack of forward movement through part of the movie, we can better sympathize with… er, certain characters who also get frustrated. How was that for avoiding a spoiler?
As Deathly Hallows part one is directed by David Yates, the same director who helmed Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, the visual style remains consistent, and luckily, it’s a very nice style. Everything is a bit desaturated, which works very well to instill a sense of the bleakness that the wizard world is feeling. My one complaint about the style was the use of hand-held cams in random scenes. I get that it’s used to try to make the audience feel the urgency, but it’s nauseating, and during one chase/fight sequence, I felt more like I was watching a Bourne movie than a Harry Potter movie.
Also consistent is the understatedness of the acting. It bothered me in Half-Blood Prince; it felt more like the characters weren’t reacting at all. But in Deathly Hallows, it feels more like shock. I’m not sure if I can put my finger on why it works better in this film, but it just felt less sterile.
Bring tissues if movies make you cry. I welled up several times and cried outright at the end, and thank goodness I grabbed extra napkins on the way into the theatre.
I have to say, this is the first Harry Potter film that’s really done it for me. I enjoyed it, both as a movie and as an adaptation of my beloved books. July cannot come quickly enough.
 TDF Pamela
The Discriminating Fangirl, who is more likely to answer to Pamela if you shout it at her, is the proud owner of an MA in English, focusing on children's/young adult literature and popular culture. Because of her ample free time thanks to being gainfully unemployed, she reads voraciously. She also loves geeky movies and tv shows, reads comic books as often as she can buy them, and when she's procrastinating, she enjoys playing video games. She can be contacted at t.d.fangirl @ gmail.com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
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