Double Feature: Doctor Strange (2016) & A Little Chaos (2014)

Welcome to a much more star-studded double feature! It feels like I don’t watch enough mainstream films anymore but as I am trying to catch up with the few Marvel films that I haven’t seen, I landed on Doctor Strange a few weeks ago but just couldn’t find a worthy pairing for it until well, A Little Chaos the other day which is a period drama but still has the weight of a bigger film to match up. I am working on a few filns that are supposed to leave Netflix in June so those reviews should be coming up.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Director: Scott Derrickson

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins

While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts. – IMDB

I am not going to lie that I had my doubts about Doctor Strange, but it ended up being surprisingly good. I have my issues with Marvel that everyone else doesn’t always seem to have especially in terms of The Avengers and Loki. I find that Marvel movies in general suffer from weak villains who don’t have enough presence to make them threatening. But then can we really blame a superhero film because we know the named superhero will become victorious in the end. However, as much as I still dislike using a bunch of Western actors in source material Asian roles seems ridiculous, I honestly do love Tilda Swinton as an actress because she is unique and then the villain is Mads Mikkelsen who did a fairly decent job as well. To be fair, Doctor Strange is a fun role as Marvel injects a lot of humor in their franchise which is a good approach. Benedict Cumberbatch, known for his Sherlock Holmes role definitely had what it takes for it since those roles other than the deductive abilities swapped into a superhero abilities were quite relatable.

The action here was different mostly because it was about shifting and illusions, something like what you’d see in Inception. There are lots of great moments and some comedic moments to lighten up the mood. Apparently the world of MCU is always on extremes of being on the brink of disasters, luckily the heroes always find their strength to make it a little better and in Doctor Strange’s world and his manipulation of time, things can just reverse itself. I may sound sarcastic or maybe a little tired of superhero films, but Doctor Strange is okay. Its fun but nothing outstanding in the MCU realm. The feelings I have towards Doctor Strange are starting to feel lesser and lesser everyday as I start to feel it being forgettable. I enjoyed it more than I expected so that gets a lot of points there. Plus, that ending was all about setting up for a next film or at least an upcoming villain perhaps.

A Little Chaos (2014)

Director: Alan Rickman

Cast: Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Helen McCrory, Jennifer Ehle

Two talented landscape artists become romantically entangled while building a garden in King Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles. – IMDB

I’m going to be honest that I love believe that Alan Rickman is a talented man however, I have a lot to catch up in his filmography. With that said, it came as a surprise to me that A Little Chaos was his work as a director. I’m a big fan of period dramas. One of the main selling points is the costume design. In A Little Chaos, it delivers very well especially highlighting the contrast between Kate Winslet’s Sabine De Barra being her normal non-royalty outfits where she gets dirty and they are very basic compared to say the extravagant French royalty with their wigs and big dresses. Matching with the beautiful costume designs is of course my favorite thing about period dramas and that is the score. From the moment the score started in A Little Chaos, I was in love with it. It was so beautiful and matched the scenes so very well. Kudos to Peter Gregson on a great job!

Another really great point of A Little Chaos has to be for those beautiful period drama settings. In this case, it is set in France and the King’s Gardens of Versaille. I’ve been to Versaille back in 1994 and to this day, I still remember a lot of the beautiful environments there and I was just 8 years old back then. This movie has a lot of focus on the whole gardening aspect and the passion for it and how this brought together the two main characters. The cinematography and production set of it all is done really well. Aside from this, the cast here is lead primarily by some familiar faces like the ever so elegant and talented Kate Winslet who is stunning as this female gardener who breaks the societal norms of this period. Paired with her is the also very talented Matthias Schoenaerts who I love so very much not just for his charming appearance but his acting chops. Of course, acting as both director and the King Louis XIV is Alan Rickman and well, we also somehow always get these little supporting roles with Stanley Tucci. The cast here does deliver quite charming and beautiful performances for their characters.

Now, where A Little Chaos loses its appeal is really in the story. For most of it, it feel disjointed and to be honest, it can be boring because there isn’t anything too extreme about it. The romance is quite subtle where its just exchanges of glances and small conversations. It jumps to events that happen that don’t really seem to make any big differences but to bring in some circumstance for people to meet up. There is never any huge turning point that happens. I know what was meant to be that moment but it never feels like it had enough build-up to make it worth it. It just felt rather flat and disjointed and if it wasn’t for these charming talented cast on screen dazzling us with their performances, this would have been a snoozefest. Sad to say, but if the script was a little better, the outstanding character created for Kate Winslet’s character Sabine de Barra and the hints of chemistry between her and Matthias Schoenaerts who plays Andre Le Notre, the King’s gardener would have been quite the romance to watch. Still, it fell short of its potential.

Netflix A-Z: Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

Next up on Netflix A-Z is our P selection! It really wasn’t much of a decision here! I haven’t seen an animated film in a while and I just needed time to relax and just be entertained.  Mind you, I’m a fan of Madagascar to a certain extent but my feeling towards Madagascar is something like my current feeling of Ice Age. However, Madagascar has always been able to entertain me a little more.  I guess that’s a plus so there are higher hopes of a spin-off movie working.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

Director: Eric Darnell & Simon J. Smith

Voice Cast: Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon, John Malkovich, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, Peter Stormare

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.-IMDB

 The goal of most animated films is to entertainment.  Penguins of Madagascar should have one goal: entertaining families.   Animations are aimed towards a younger audience usually and Madagascar franchise has always had that sort of appeal.

Penguins is a hard one to pinpoint. It really is a sequel to the previous Madagascar since it shows them escaping the circus.  It gives it some continuity and context to what is going on.They definitely have comedic value. This animation should be probably more engaging for children especially with the cute and cuddly penguins and the not too long run time mixed with constant action and some funny visual comedy. Its also quite colorful and energetic.  For adults watching this, it still has a fun value and the humor has its smart moments especially using actor names in the context of sentences. We had a good laugh over catching those bits.

While our heroes are the silly penguins and its a lot based on their absurd and spontaneous plans, it adds in a villain just for them called Dave who is an octopus that lost its popularity at zoos because of penguins. Dave disguises intelligently as a successful scientist and while being a villain, he also is pretty old school especially when he is being voiced by the talented John Malkovich and is bad at technology. In contrast, our side heros is an elite group called the North Wind put together but a wolf, polar bear, seal and snow owl. An abnormal group still but one that has some fun moments when interactimg with the penguins since they are rather more professional and uptight and the penguins are not. All this is to say that the balance and character design is done well.

One of the outstanding parts of any animation are their voice actors and this cast has some big names that add a lot more to the characters. I previously mentioned John Malkovich as our villain. I’ve always thought that he has a rather distinctive voice and he just grasped the character of Dave so well that it actually made us find him rather fun to watch.  In North Wind, there is Benedict Cumberbatch (which I totally did not recognize before), Ken Jeong and Peter Stormare.  While I don’t think that the North Wind group in particular was a huge part of the movie or even memorable, I do think that Ken Jeong and Peter Stormare did a good job as their roles as the dorky (and sometimes angry-ish) seal and the big softy polar bear respectively. On that note, our stars of the show Penguins hold a few familiar looking names but none other than Chris Miller than I seem to recollect however, they are enthusiastic and energetic and breathes a lot of life into the Penguins we know and love from the Madagascar series, keeping them as fun to watch.

Overall, Penguins of Madagascar was a fun and entertaining watch.  It doesn’t take a lot of attention to understand whats going on because it has a simple plot.  I can say that because I watched this 2.5 times over three days but each time I was doing something else and still enjoyed it but didn’t get lost despite missing different parts.  Its a nice one to put in the background.  However, I do believe there is some appeal to kids because of its bright colors and energetic characters along with a rather action-packed and/or silly parts that are put rather frequently throughout the film.  Penguins of Madagascar is a good one!

Have you seen Penguins of Madagascar? Are you a fan of the Madagascar franchise?

Opinion Battles Round 14 – Who Should Be The Next James Bond?

Round 14 of Opinion Battles and we pose an important question: Who should be the next James Bond? Spectre is coming out this Friday in Canada and I have my ticket already so its just waiting to go see it. It did take some effort to arrive to my choice but for me, Tom Hardy can do a great job at it. He’s the right age, classy, charming, lots of style and can handle some good action sequences. Check out the other choices and drop a vote on who you agree with the most!

Movie Reviews 101

 

Who should be the next James Bond?

 

We have Spectre out in the cinema and Daniel Craig’s four deal Bond contract up, we are left wondering will he return for another outing as the iconic spy or is it time for someone new? We have looked at who we want in the next tuxedo but who do you think is the best choice?

 

If you like what we are doing here and would like to join in on Opinion Battles our next subject is Best Biographical if you are interest email moviereviews101@yahoo.co.uk by 15^th October 2015

 

Darren – Movie Reviews 101

 

Luke Evans

 

When I first saw this question I wanted to say Dan Stevens because of age but with only 3 years on Stevens Evans has bought us ‘No One Lives’ where Luke plays a killer that has military training, Fast &…

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TV Binge: Sherlock (Season 3)

I’m not sure 3 episodes of 80-ish minutes is called binging TV but I have no idea why I didn’t make time to watch Sherlock sooner.  I guess its because I know its going to be another 2 years before the next season comes out.

Last week, I got around to seeing Season 3 of BBC’s Sherlock.

Right when I was just thinking how awesome Season 1 and 2 was and how really, other than Sherlock coming back to life, how could they top that, they did it.

I officially declare that Benedict Cumberbatch is THE BEST Sherlock Holmes EVER! I just love him so much.  That guy can act the pants off at being Sherlock.  He adds this hilarious (and insensitive) touch to him.

Plus, they kind of trick the audience because we never really know whether to believe how he survived jumping off a building.  All the theories was so fun to watch.

And, just Martin Freeman being his partner has this amazing chemistry between the two. Its this unspoken thing.  The whole reveal that Sherlock does to “surprise” Watson is hilarious!  He’s so oblivious of just how crazy this is for everyone else. And Watson’s reactions were priceless…

Its only 3 episodes, about 80 minutes each more or less.  The first brings Sherlock back and kind of links him back into the life of John Watson.  The next episode jumps into the whole John Watson getting married and knowing this Mary Morstan character a little more.  Let me tell you, she does mesh very well because she understands both Watson and Sherlock’s character really well and compliment both of them, which is really awesome.

During this whole time, the cases revolve a big story with a final end game that kind of really takes things into perspective and the finale of Season 3 with a particular character who is manipulative and villainous Charles Augustus Magnussen who has a hold of everyone’s secrets in an underground vault and he reveals a huge secret.  This character is played by Lars Mikkelsen.  I’ve never seen this man in anything else but he was out of control and just OMG! Seriously, thats all I have to say.  When I watched this guy on screen, he made me all psyched out because he was so good at being a villain.

Aside from the villains, a lot of side characters had a lot more place and Sherlock and Mycroft’s family comes into play, making them more humanly 😉 I loved how Molly gets a little more screen time and in somewhat of a awkward way but it works for her character.

Sherlock Season 3 rocked my world.  I don’t believe that anyone can be better at being Sherlock than Benedict Cumberbatch and no one can have a better chemistry in this dream team than him with Martin Freeman’s John Watson.  I totally loved it! 🙂

Now, the wait for 2016 and Season 4!

Have you seen the BBC Sherlock? What do you think of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and/or Martin Freeman’s John Watson? Which secondary character do you like the most?

Sickness and Catching Up with Sleep (and TV)!

Since I missed my personal post on Sunday because I was sick to death coughing and sneezing all day. I feel like the blog’s been a bit empty, maybe its a good time to share a bit about what has been going on.

For the first time in forever, I took 2 days off of work not for vacation but for sick leave.  Right in between the deadline which I technically don’t have a day to spare.  The stress level is skyrocketing but yesterday, I went on the annoying wait and hunt for the doctor at the walk-in clinic that took me 6 hours to finally get treated from lining up 2 hours in the morning to get my appointment to waiting for the appointment and then sitting at the clinic waiting for the doctor to get in after she was an hour late to arrive.  Oh the world of free healthcare in Canada or maybe its just Quebec’s problem.  Either way, the final diagnosis was that I had an ear infection.  I was sent home with ear drops and antibiotics. YAY! First step to the road of recovery, right? I was disappointed because I ended up missing the Fantasia Fest movie that I wanted to go see, but I was way too sick to go and I shouldn’t go around infecting others. *pats myself on the back*

I was expecting that I would be able to go back to work yesterday but when I woke up, dizziness was all I felt.  I was so tired from those antibiotics fighting its battle or whatever its doing in there, that I had to just sleep.  I called the office with my hoarse and almost vanishing voice and told my coworker that I wouldn’t be able to make it but that I will try to go in to pick up some work if I was feeling a bit better. I did end up eventually doing that after getting 3 more hours of sleep.

Other than getting an immense amount of sleep that both my mom and boyfriend has agreed that I need and probably deserve after the roller coaster of emotions of a weekend (that probably didn’t help my healing from this virus or cold or whatever you would like to call it). I did manage to catch up on TV series.

First up, I caught up with the 2 episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyways? I thought it was pretty good.  Then, I started watching Under the Dome and caught up with the past 4 or 5 episodes.  My mind is a blank as to which one they are at right now but its actually pretty awesome so far.  I really like it. I know a lot of the cast from various movies and TV shows and I’m really interested in seeing how it turns out.

I also started Sherlock from BBC.  I’ve been meaning to watch it for a while and haven’t found the time to.  These are crazy long episodes compared to normal so I’m still watching Season 1. Benedict Cumberbatch is pretty awesome. The guy who plays John is an actor I love as well 🙂

Its probably been one of the most tiring and crazy weekends in ages but at least, things are starting to look up.  I can’t wait to be well and able to talk again like myself again! In the meantime, its a good opportunity to reset some good sleeping habits! 🙂

I have about 400 emails to catch up with and I will tend to that tonight! 🙂 Things should get back to normal soon once I find the energy to write up reviews and figure out the photo challenge 😉

Stay healthy everyone!

What TV series  have you been watching or catching up with?

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Star Trek Into Darkness is one of my most anticipated releases of 2013 and last night I finally got well enough and suppressed my cold enough to head out and catch it.  May is a tight month so there is no missing out on this week’s because next week we have Fast and Furious 6 to see.  Back on track, I really wanted Star Trek to succeed because I’m not much of a Star Trek fan ever but the first one surprised me so much and I fell in love with it.  Its one of my absolute favorite movies.  Lets see how Into Darkness went…

Director: J.J Abrams

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Weller, Alice Eve

When Starfleet is under attack by one of their own, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is sent to take his team First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto), Lieutenant Uhara (Zoe Saldana), Bones (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg) and Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin).  They set off under the orders of the admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) with their newest advanced weapons of torpedos to go to a deemed uninhabited area of the Klingon planet to hunt and terminate the fugitive (Benedict Cumberbatch).  However, the challenge is to try to avoid war with Klingons or head to head challenge.  When Captain Kirk decides to change his plans and capture the fugitive instead to further investigate the situation and to attempt to avoid starting war with Klingons during their sudden appearance while their spaceship is under maintenance to regain full power and capability, things start turning bad.  The situation gets a lot more serious and it turns into determining who is the friend and who is the enemy?

Thats a crazy vague synopsis in my opinion but for some of you who haven’t gone to see it yet, I’m trying to keep all the surprises for yourself to discover.  You know why? Because this movie deserved every ounce of it.

Unlike the first one, Star Trek didn’t have that same beginning that impacted me to just get drawn into the movie.  This one starts off still in an intense sequence but is slower to lead you to the actual plot.  You can tell right away that there’s a darker concept to the whole story.  Its about Captain Kirk learning how to be himself but also thinking about the consequences and his crew.  Its a story about right and wrong and possibly honor and family.

Above everything, this is an action sci-fi thriller.  I’m not a big fan of sci-fi but Star Trek has me hooked.  This one lacked a bit in the beginning sequence but when it finally picked up after 15-20 minutes later, it was non-stop action that had me at the edge of my seat.  My eyes were literally glued to the screen waiting to see how Kirk would react, what logically correct thing Spock would say, what comeback Scotty would have and everyone else on the starship.  The team that we came to love and became familiar with in the first one.  I love movies that manage to keep the same cast from lead to supporting and simply adding a few other characters to help the story along.  Alice Eve’s role was quite good and I think she will be a great addition if there are any future Star Trek movies.

The villain in this one was so complicated.  It was also what had the twists and surprises at every corner.  The fugitive was Khan played by Benedict Cumberbatch.  I haven’t seen this guy before but he sure looked all kinds of sinister and evil.  He was crazy manipulating. I have to say that he was a pretty awesome villain because for a moment there, I started wondering if he really was a bad guy. There just seemed to be a deeper part to his story.

I could’ve described Star Trek Into Darkness with just a few words.  INTENSE, ACTION-PACKED, THRILLING, FUN! This is definitely right now the best movie of 2013 so far.  It always surprises me how I get nervous about seeing it and it always kicks some serious ass! I love coming out of a movie and being so happy and fulfilled as I was with this one!! I’m definitely recommending this one.  Its one you don’t want to miss this summer 🙂