Between hope and fear: Catching Fire (2013)

Title: Catching Fire
Language: English
Year: 2013
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutchinson, Liam Hemsworth
My Rating: 5/5

"Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.” --imdb

Went to see this film last night after my last class of the fall quarter. And can I just say - I was blown away.

As a die-hard fan of the Hunger Games books,  I give kudos to the director for a successful book-to-film adaptation. Just like there are imperfections in even the best works of literature, the book Catching Fire is not flawless. And this is where the film succeeds - it leaves out the flaws and fill their places with something suspenseful, moving, and powerful. It really deals well with the themes of hope and fear, as it serves as the transitional piece between the first film (fear) and the third and last one (hope).

A few things I especially LOVED:
- the arena
the clock setup in the book was impressive enough, but the movie! the movie! In the movie the arena is set up so cleverly and visually beautiful, and let me just give you one small spoiler - there is a trick to do with the cornucopia. Yes, be expectant.
- Mags
The sacrifice. Need I say more?
- the victory tour (okay I'm sorry I'm not going in chronological order)
I cried so much during that part of the movie. Jennifer Lawrence did a superb job of portraying the fear and anger of Katniss and the districts people. It is extremely believable, personable, and touching.
- Effie
It is not only her bazillion beautiful costumes that are breathtaking in this film, but also the emotions that she lacked/was not supposed to have in the first film that struck me. Effie is so human in this film, which is all the more touching.

These are just a few things out of the many that I absolutely loved about this movie. If I get time I'll write a longer post about the parallels between this film and our society today, because there are plenty!

(source)

To conclude - go see the movie, people! It is gripping, it is intense, it will make you laugh as much as it will make you cry.
May the odds be ever in your favor,
Vanessa :]

paradise lost: Oblivion

Title: Oblivion
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko
Metascore Critic Rating: 54
IMDb User Rating: 7.1/10
My Rating: 3.5/5

"A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself."

I'm sure when you saw this trailer  in theaters you were thinking, "Wow, I bet that movie is gonna rock!" And then you never got around to seeing it. It's okay. You didn't miss too much.

Oblivion is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure that follows the monotonous life of drone repairman, Jack (apparently Tom liked the name Jack this year), and his "effective teammate" Victoria. They live in a house in the sky and have a glass pool that they go skinny dipping in. By the way, Tom Cruise, not ageing.

Top left: Tom Cruise in 1986
Bottom right: Tom Cruise in 2013
Whatever he's on, I want some.

When the movie first began I got a strange case of deja vu. "Wow, I think I've seen this before..." And I sort of had. The director of this movie, Joseph Kosinski, was also the director of Tron: Legacy. So, needless to say, these visuals were stunning. Paired with a fantastic soundtrack, courtesy of M83, the movie managed to evoke some feeling.

Oblivion - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack from NoddingToMusic on 8tracks Radio.

The movie opens like Tron, the opening sequence a montage of killer visuals, epic music, and a wonderful voice over from Cruise. He explains everything you need to know before the opening title flashes across the screen.

Kosinski nailed the futuristic look...again. The entire set looks straight out of Tron: Legacy. The man knows how to shoot movies. He can evoke feeling without the use of dialog. He could make you cry just by panning a camera. Now if only he could find a better script (I would love to see what he would do with the script for The Matrix).

The film has very subtle nuances that you might miss while watching it:

Like the fact that there are canyons made from the streets of New York City.

Hey, look! The Library of Congress (I think). This feels like National Treasure...
*suddenly, Nicolas Cage*

"Just another day in [post-apocalyptic, radioactive, uninhabitable] paradise."

While the script for Oblivion is weak in the emotional department the movie makes up for it with some wonderful acting from the entire cast. It's been a long time since I've really enjoyed watching Tom Cruise at work. And of course Morgan Freeman was fantastic as always. His introduction is wonderfully thought out in the ever classic Freeman style. But I won't ruin it for you.

One of the other things I enjoyed about this movie was Tom Cruise's character. His quirkiness was perfectly portrayed by Tom. The baseball cap was a nice touch I thought.

Like I said above, this movie could have done with some more depth. So many possibilities were missed with this script. But there were enough twists to keep me interested. I feel like they could have drug out the suspense a bit longer. They spill the big secret before you're even halfway through.

I'd love to write a deeper review for this movie, but there's not a lot to go on here. So take of it what you may.

Check it out and tell me what you think :D

fairytale land: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Title: Oz the Great and Powerful 

Year: 2013

Language: English

Director: Sam Raimi

My Rating: 3.9/5

I watched this film on my thirteen-hour-long plane ride from New York to Beijing. The overall impression is that it's a great means of in-flight entertainment, however it wouldn't be as indulgent if I had first seen it in the movie theater.

What I mean is that the special effects are spectacular, truly displaying a beautiful fairytale land for the audience, achieving what older version of the Oz story couldn't. The scene where Oscar first "landed" in the wonderland is breathtaking; a whole new realm is created in the film, one that is dreamy, delicate, mysterious, and magical all at once. Also, the computer-generated characters are really well made too, especially the little china girl. Her fragile presence adds the element of empathy to the story, evoking a tenderness from the audience. One more thing that I liked is the ending, when Oscar made genius use of his magic tricks to defeat the wicked witch. "Setting the stars on fire" is truly the ultimate innovative, poetic, and romantic way of describing fireworks. 

What I didn't like so much: the character-building of the wicked witch and the good witch. I'm not sure if it's the makeup application, or the costume, or something, these two characters just appear kind of tacky to me, like they belong to Barbie world or something, not in a movie where everything else looks pretty legit. That's about my only complaint, I guess, besides the fact that the plot is super duper predictable, but oh well, it's a well-known fairytale, so that's on the acceptable side. 

Again, I enjoyed the movie, but I wouldn't watch it a second time, nor would I have been awed if I saw paid to see it in a movie theater.

xx

Vanessa :]

Book Expo America adventures :D

On June 1st I attended the long-anticipated BEA--Book Expo America at Javits Center, New York City with my friend Julia. What can I say, the whole experience was just amazing, worthy of a minute-by-minute breakdown blog post, and today I'm going to try my best to describe the highlights.

I booked a hotel near Javits Center, and Julia came to sleep over the night before. The next morning we got up super early (aka 6:30 am) so we could get to BEA before 8! We thought we were fairly early, but as soon as we walked into the main hall, we were shocked by how! many! people! were! already! there!!! Seriously, the place was crawling with people.

Julia & I, bright and early in the morning from Javits Center

After we got over our oh-my-god-what-is-going-on panic, we got ourselves registered (we bought tickets online, so we didn't have to stand in the walk-in line, which was an interesting length, let me just say). We got our own Power Reader badges with green lanyards and our names printed across, as well as a bag of free books! The bag was so heavy we had to get them checked at baggage check area (where there were people checking whole suitcases of books!).

When we're done with that we went into the main events hall for author breakfast. We had to pay extra for this, but it's always great to hear Chris Matthews talk about stuff. The author speakers of that day were the very Helen Fielding who wrote Bridget Jones, and two others (John Lewis and Diana Gabaldon) that I unfortunately don't know as much about. On a side note, the breakfast was deleeeeeecious! I had a blueberry muffin, a scone, and an everything bagel with yummy cream cheese!

Following breakfast, we went through the main entrance, where free totes were given, to pick up more free books! When we were in line, we heard the Sarah Dessen would be signing at 10:00 that day, and tickets would be given out at the Power Reader lounge. Oh my, I was so excited that I literally sprinted to the lounge as soon as we got into the main exhibition hall. Poor Julia, she's a swimmer, not a runner... 

And and and, thank God that I ran, because we got two of the last few tickets! Phewwww. If only I came a few minutes later, I would've had to go home without meeting Sarah Dessen, who honestly wrote all of my favorite books in 9th and 10th grade.

In the morning, we just walked from booth to booth, collecting cool gadgets and books, meeting with book lovers like us, etc. The venue was divided up into sections mostly according to publishers; big publishers had overhead hanging signs that were easy to spot. At the Scholastics area, they were handing out free copies of the Hunger Games!!! And this children's book booth that we passed by were handing out helium balloon pets that were the cutest things ever! Look, you can actually walk it :)

ignore my random face :p

At 10:00 we got our signatures from Sarah Dessen, on her new book The Moon And More. She was really nice, she had on a cute white dress that I so wanted to ask where she bought :P Here's a (slightly blurry) pic of her signing my book (she personalized it too! it says, "To Vanessa"):

check out my dog too :P

 Then I got an autograph from Elizabeth Norris, the author of Unraveling. She was very friendly, we talked for a little bit. And guess what--we have twin dogs!!

 They have tons of cool stuff--like the books from the Harry Potter movies!! Watch out for the tusky one in the middle..

 I'm wearing the badge in the pic, it has a read pin that says "I read YA" on it.

All day we wandered around like this, picking up awesome stuff and talking to authors and fellow readers. It was a great experience because I've never known that you could be such a cool nerd reader! There are simply so many people who share the love of reading that it surprises as much as delights me.

To end the perfect day and this blog post, here's a selfie of Julia and I in a cute cafe in Korea town. We had an awesome ice bowl with green tea ice cream, red beans, and lots of yummy fruits!

xx

Vanessa :]

Momento Mori: The Great Gatsby (2013)

 

Title: The Great Gatsby

Language: English

Year: 2013
Director: Baz Luhrmann
My Rating: 5/5

"The Great Gatsby" follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan(Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without of the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles."

Done in Luhrmann's iconic theatricality, the Great Gatsby is one gem/explosion/firework/insert noun describes something spectacular of a film. From beginning to end, the film is loaded with drama, symbolism, extreme attention to details, and the pursuit of perfection.

Set in 1922, as the plot summary says, "an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks," every scene is done with glimmer to the max. The extravagant party scenes, Gatsby's mansion, the trips to New York City, everything is purposefully over-the-top, overwhelming the audience with as much amazement as disgust towards their lavish ways of life.

Two personal highlights: 

- the cinematography

Okay, I gotta admit, this is a bit way too broad, but the cinematography is so excellently unconventional or unconventionally excellent (you could say both, really) I have to mention it. The angle from which the camera films is at times deliberately unusual, and fantastically genius. One example is when Carraway is invited over to the Bucchanan's for dinner. The dinner is mostly shot from overhead, the camera gliding over the table over and over as the dinner carries on. Bits of conversation (mostly gossip) "floats" in the background, giving the audience just enough information to keep up with the story without wasting time on unnecessary minutia. 

- symbolism of the green light

I loved this theme when I read the book two years ago (which I believe I should certainly revisit over this summer). The green light, anchored right at the front of the Bucchanan household, is the source of Gatsby's endless hope and motivation. When he stares at the green light night after night, he sees not the light but Daisy, the potential of their past and future. He sees hope--but unattainable hope. Once he and Daisy spark up the old flames, the hope is, in essence, lost. Once the hope is gone, there is nothing to keep Gatsby going, and greed makes him yearn for ever more. At the end of the movie, Carraway stares at the green light, still blinking unchanged, through the bay fog, despite Gatsby's death; he sees what Gatsby must have seen in that thin beam of light, and realizes how much has been forever lost.

A few beautiful GIFs to end this post!

xx

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: Sara's Most Anticipated Movies of 2013 | Part One

Happy Tuesday everybody!!! Vanessa did her most anticipated books of 2013 last week, so today I'm going to do my most anticipated movies of 2013.

This is in no specific order other than by release date. Buckle yourselves in, here we go.


Title: Jack the Giant Slayer
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, and Bill Nighy
Release: March 1

Synopsis: A modern day fairy tale in which the long-standing peace between men and giants is threatened, as a young farmer leads an expedition into the giants' kingdom in hopes of rescuing a kidnapped princess.

You may remember Mr. Hoult from Warm Bodies and X-men: First Class. I've loved this story forever so this movie is a huge must-see for me. Plus Bill Nighy! I mean come on, who doesn't love The Science Guy?

Jack the Giant Slayer - Trailer

Title: Oz the Great and Powerful

Starring: James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, and Mila Kunis

Release: March 8

Synopsis: A small-time magician with questionable ethics arrives in a magical land and must choose between becoming a good man or a great one.

I have been waiting for this movie since it was announced. It looks brilliant! The screen pictures look fantastic. 

Oz the Great and Powerful - Trailer

Title: The Croods

Staring: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener

Release: March 22

Synopsis: The world's very first prehistoric family goes on a road trip to an uncharted and fantastical world.

FIRST OF ALL the synopsis has the word fantastical in it so it MUST be good. The trailer sold me. I don't care if it's for small children, I will see this film. 

The Croods - Trailer

Title: jOBS

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Annika Bertea, J.K. Simmons

Release: April 19

Synopsis: The story of Steve Jobs' ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

Things you should know about Sara: she is obsessed with anything to do with Steve Jobs. I own his biography and a whole bunch of films about him. I've done countless school presentations about him and Apple Inc.. If this movie isn't perfect I'll cry. I'm counting on you Mr. Stern. 

jOBS - Exclusive Clip

Title: Iron Man 3

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle

Release: May 3

Synopsis: When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man. 

OKAY more stuff you need to know about Sara: she is obsessed with Marvel Comics. I live for these movies. I've watched Avengers far too many times. I've found all the easter eggs and I've already got a plot in my head for the second movie. 

Iron Man 3 - Trailer

Okay, can we just talk about the beauty of this trailer? I'm a huge film geek, and this is the best trailer I've seen in years. The music is brilliant, RDJ's narration is spot-on, and the visuals are stunning (as usual). We've got a new director which means an entirely new angle on Iron Man, which is definitely a good thing. If you're a huge Iron Man/Marvel fan like me and you want to know exactly what is happening in this trailer (because there's a lot going on here) head on over to Den of Geek where they break the whole thing down for you. 

Title: The Great Gatsby

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire

Release: May 10

Synopsis: Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavis lifestyle of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. His is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy. 

First, if you haven't read the book you're missing out on good-old-fashioned-really-hard-to-understand-and-read-all-the-way-through American classics. I've read it. It's good, difficult, but good. 

The Great Gatsby - Trailer

Leonardo DiCaprio is God and deserves a darn Oscar already. The backtrack of the trailer is really good too. 

Title: Star Trek : Into Darkness

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch

Release: May 17

Synopsis: After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. 

I'm a major Star Trek: Next Generation fan so I love this stuff. Plus. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH. He's my man. 

Star Trek : Into Darkness - Trailer

I think J.J. Abrams is a fantastic sci-fi director. He knows exactly how to shoot films like these. And Benedict at the end. Just wow. 

Title: Epic

Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Beyoncé Knowles, Colin Farrell

Release: May 24

Synopsis: A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group of characters in order to save their world.

Because of reasons (this opinion may change in the future). 

Epic - Trailer

Title: After Earth

Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Isabelle Fuhrman, Zoe Kravitz

Release: June 7

Synopsis: After a crash landing, a father and son explore a planet that was evacuated by humans 1,000 years earlier. 

Who doesn't like Will Smith? Who doesn't like Will Smith in post-apocalyptic settings? In addition, his son is in this, as well as Isabelle Fuhrman. 

After Earth - Trailer

Title: Man of Steel

Starring: Henry Cavil, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon

Release: June 14

Synopsis: A young journalist raised by his adoptive parents after he was transported to Earth in infancy from the dying planet of Krypton finds himself in the positive to save humankind after Earth is attacked.

Well, it's not the best synopsis, but can't give too much away. According to everyone at Comic Con it's pretty good. I'll take their word for it. 

Man of Steel - Trailer

There's another, more recent trailer up for this movie. But I'm in love with this one. 

Title: White House Down

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Richard Jenkins

Release: June 28

Synopsis: A Secret Service agent is tasked with saving the life of the U.S. President after the White House is overtaken by a paramilitary group. 

Channing Tatum running about in a suit with a gun. What more do you need. Plus, I like the premise. Bit like Red Dawn...hopefully better. 

White House Down - ET First Look

Title: Despicable Me 2

Starring: Steve Carell, Al Pacino, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove

Release: July 3

Synopsis: Gru, the girls, Dr. Nefario and the unpredictably hilarious minions return, along with a host of new characters.

Welp, the synopsis is crap. But the trailer is golden.
Secondary trailer is out as well. 

Despicable Me 2 - Trailer

These are mostly just the mainstream movies that I'm excited for. I realize that there are 12 on this list. I lost count. Whoops. 

Part Two will be materializing in the near future with movies for the second half of the year. 

[Source: IMDB]