My Hometown Blogathon: Montreal, Canada

Caz at Lets Go To The Movies hosted their first blogathon.

The theme is based on everyone’s hometowns.

The idea is to do a little bit of research to put together a blog post about your hometown and link it to film. – Let’s Go To The Movies

This is a pretty exciting blogathon for me because Montreal has been one of the go-to places to film movies.  In the last decade (or maybe more), Montreal has been turned into Paris or New York just to name two.

FILMS SET IN MONTREAL

Finding movies set in Montreal and isn’t a Quebec production tends to be harder to find.  The first to come to mind is The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry. I don’t remember that movie much but it includes popular location like the Notre Dame Cathedral set in Old Montreal.

Taking Lives with Ethan Hawke and Angelina Jolie is set around Montreal.  Its been a while since I’ve seen it but it takes place in various other smaller towns around the province of Quebec as well as the metropolitan area. Life of Pi is also in that basket where I’m not sure the exact location.

However, some notable Quebec productions set in Montreal are:

• My Daughter, My Angel
• Bon Cop Bad Cop
• Incendies
• Polytechnique

Thats just to name a few because the list does go on…

FILMS FILMED IN MONTREAL

Increasingly, the amount of films shot in Montreal are growing.  Just this year, there’s been at least 4 films around my work area that has been filming.  Over the years, here are few titles that I’m familiar with in the list that I found.

A few surprises to me was Batman & Robin, Johnny Mnemonic, Death Race and Get Smart.

Some of the more famous titles are that the majority of The Day After Tomorrow was filmed in the Old Port of Montreal and around the city. Gothika also has a few scenes, one notably in a downtown park.  One of the biggest one that involved a lot of the Chinese community as extras including one of my mom’s good friend was The Art of War. Another one is the I’m Not There which I know takes a scene from the building right in front of my building in Old Montreal. Another one that I walked past a few years back on St. Catherine Street was The Factory where I saw John Cusack walking across the street in the scene from afar.  One that was filmed next to my work building and had a whole set and actually a lot of the Mont Royal view of Montreal (with an CGI wall) is Warm Bodies.  The biggest one of recent is X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Along some of the other titles that were shot in Montreal but I’m not sure where are these:

• Upside Down
• Orphan
• Journey to the Center of the Earth

While some of these had theirs shot in the Cite du Cinema in studio in Montreal, they also include Source Code and Immortals.

FAMOUS PEOPLE IN FILM BORN IN MONTREAL

Apparently there’s not a whole lot of famous people in film born in Montreal because I could only think of William Shatner.

And if you really want to stretch it, then there was one scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier with Georges St. Pierre fighting.  Does that make him an actor? Probably not. But he’s born in Montreal too.

My research also lead me to find that Emmanuelle Chriqui is also born in Montreal. She was in a movie that I reviewed a few months back called Women in Trouble.

FAMOUS PEOPLE IN FILM WHO GREW UP IN MONTREAL

Other than William Shatner, another famous person raised in the surrounding areas of Montreal is Christopher Plummer. Thats pretty cool, right? The man in one of my favorite musicals, The Sound of Music and who also did the extremely awesome movie, Beginners raised in Montreal, love it! 🙂

How can I do this category and not mention this next one?  The voice of Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon being his most memorable role in my mind, and thats Jay Baruchel. Although born in Ottawa, he was raised in one of the Montreal boroughs.  Wikipedia says he still lives there, and I have no idea how accurate that is.

Overall…

Montreal is becoming a growing place to shot a movie even though not many are set here.  Its diverse cultural architecture gives it that advantage.  Having European influence in Old Montreal and Cite du Cinema studios, its having a lot of nice opportunities.  In the summer, walking around Montreal, its hard to not see little no parking panels for filming times for certain movies.  With bigger Hollywood ones, there are even road closures and security to block off the road.  Its definitely an exciting time.  I look forward to seeing what other movies are filmed here.

A huge THANKS to Caz for coming up with this My Hometown Blogathon! I had a lot of fun researching Montreal and its filming locations and film sets along with certain actors.  There were some films that I already knew but some took me by surprise.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

I’m super behind on writing reviews mostly because I’m being mega lazy after tiring and long days at work.  But, I’m not slacking off.  I did try to entertain you all with food reviews and we all love to look at delicious food, right? Enough of the silliness…back to business.

I told you that I had wanted to go to a bundle of summer movies.  Two Sundays ago (I know I’m super late), my friend and I went off after dinner to go see How To Train Your Dragon 2.  I’m a HUGE fan of How to Train Your Dragon.  I mean, if I could have a room full of dragons especially Toothless, I’d do it.

Umm…okay, let me tuck away my crazy for a second and just go straight for the review 😉

Director: Dean DeBlois

Cast: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington

Its been five years since Berk has welcomed dragons into their lives as friends and companions.  Hiccup’s father, Stoick (Gerard Butler) is now trying to put on the Chief responsibilities on his shoulders much to his reluctance.  He doesn’t feel like he’s fit to take on the job when all he wants is to discover new places with Toothless. However, on one of their discoveries, they land on a iced island where they meet Eret (Kit Harington) who is a part of dragon catcher crew who helps complete the dragon army for the deadly Drago Bludvist. Drago is bad news and everyone will soon learn just how bad.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a pretty great sequel.  It doesn’t quite match up to the first one but its pretty damn close to it.  The animation is beautiful as before and the story carries on with lots of heart and even tugs at some heartstrings.  The voices are the same as before and still with lots of enthusiasm.  With the additional voices of Cate Blanchett, she never disappoints. Plus, this time around, with the dragons as part of the life in Berk, there are more dragons to see.

Its an adventurous journey for Hiccup and his group and a lot of  comedic moments as always.  The whole venturing into the new lands and discovering more plus bringing back Hiccup’s mom in the process gave it a more emotional aspect.  Cate Blanchett does a great job as Hiccup’s mom, Valka.  We understand a bit more of Hiccup in the process while this whole journey also helps him learn about himself. In the end, isn’t that really what Hiccup’s story in How to Train Your Dragon is about? On a simple level, its about finding a balance and peace between the dragons and Berk but the relationship of Toothless and Hiccup really bring a lot of heartwarming and heartbreaking moments.

Whats great about animations is that the villain is usually really well laid out for its audiences, young and old.  This one’s was Drago Bludvist, a crazy man trying to build a dragon army.  He has a secret weapon and he’s a tough guy to beat that even Stoick is a tad intimidated by him.  Drago is a great villain for this series. He’s not only dangerous to the Vikings but also the dragons.  There wasn’t one moment where I cheered for him.  I guess thats why he’s done so well, right?

In this sequel, the other characters from the first get a little bit more time also.  They haven’t quite developed much on the characters but they work great as the comic relief to make the more intense moments softer for the audience.  The addition of Kit Harrington as Eret and he sparks the flame of Ruffnut who makes for some pretty hilarious scenes and dialogue.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a great sequel that almost matches to the first.  Its beautifully animated for one.  Plus, the story never has any lingering dull moments with its excitement of discovery and surprises while also having an emotional ride as it tugs at our heartstrings to watch the familiar characters we’ve grown to love in the first one go through hardships.  Especially when Toothless and Hiccup’s relationship is put to the ultimate test.

Dreamworks has been putting out hit after hit with such surprising enjoyable animations.  It makes me hopeful for what they could possibly think up next 😉

What did you think of How To Train Your Dragon 2? Is it worthy sequel? Did you like the new characters? 

Genre Grandeur – Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist (2008)

Check out my entry for MovieRob’s Monthly Genre Grandeur. April was all about Romantic Comedies. I had a hard time choosing one to write about but in the end, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist was my final choice.

A HUGE thanks to Rob for putting this together and being so awesome about my very last minute entry. Remember to check out the other great entries as well.

May will feature crime movies so if you haven’t followed him, you definitely should and catch up with the reviews. Or maybe, you have one you’d like to share 🙂

MovieRob

For our last guest entry in this month’s Genre Grandeur (before my finale), I present you with a review from Kim of Tranquil Dreams.  If you don’t already follow her site, I urge you to do so.  Her site is filled with great movie reviews, photo challenges, workout updates  and lots of interesting recipes.

without further ado, here’s her review…..

Romantic comedies are one of my favorite genres.  When Rob chose this for April, I stared at the screen and started wondering what to choose.  I think 30% of my collection (at least) is romantic comedies.  Plus, I’ve already reviewed most of my faves on my own blog so after some debate, I decided to not go mainstream and chose Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008)

Director: Peter Sollett

Cast: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Ari Graynor, Jay Baruchel, Aaron Yoo, Rafi Gavron

Nick is…

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This is the End (2013)

Continuing with my 2013 movie viewing! I have a few more to go before the year ends, probably even heading into 2014.  Lets get the show on the road since the next few days might be more 2014 plans rather than movie reviews.  My boyfriend wanted a comedy the other night and honestly, I don’t own a lot of those so This Is The End was the first to drop into the DVD viewing. Despite everything, I’m still a bit skeptical since I don’t like a lot of similar humor to others and I have a hard time being able to laugh at something that actually looks ridiculous stupid. Lets see if it did manage to give me some LOLs 😉

Director: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogan

Cast: Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson

Good buddies Jay Baruchel go to visit Seth Rogan in Los Angeles.  After a day of hanging out, Seth convinces Jay to go to James Franco’s housewarming party where a bunch of celebrities are also.  Reluctantly, Jay goes and during the night, the apocalypse hits them.  Jay, Seth, James along with Craig Robinson and Danny McBride are now barricaded in James Franco’s house until help arrives.

First of all, I’d like to make it clear than when I see Jay Baruchel on screen, I can’t help but cheer a little and hope he does good because he represents Montreal, my beautiful city.  The first shot when he arrived, he was sporting a Habs cap and even though I’ve given up on hockey, it does represent the city very much. I did a little ” You go, Jay” plus fist pump while my boyfriend shook his head and smiled.  And then by the end of the movie, I started thinking that I really can’t wait for How To Train a Dragon 2 and I wanted to see some more of Hiccup….

Second, I honestly enjoyed this a lot more than I expected.  James Franco doing funny is something I haven’t quite grasped yet and Jonah Hill really doesn’t tickle my funny bone (or maybe he does because the funny bone doesn’t make me laugh either).  Anyways, I’m not going to get technical with my terms.  You get what I mean.  And then Craig Robinson and Danny McBride is who again? I’ve never seen these dudes before so okay, the only guy fairing any form of humor for me was Jay and Seth.  But, this was funny in a stupid, shut off my brain sort of way.  And I was in one of those moods, so it all worked out.

The BEST part of the movie though was not possibly the six guys but rather all the cameos from the other celebrities.  Emma Watson was hilarious and awesome.  Channing Tatum was a huge OMG LOL moment, if you know what I mean.  I haven’t decided if I really liked Michael Cera’s cameo but it was a bit weird in my opinion.  Rihanna did get a few moments and Jason Segel had one also (and I spent a few moments trying to remember his name).  I’m sure there was a whole bunch of other people that I was naming as they popped up but I can’t remember them now.

I’m going to have to be extremely honest and say that some parts of this movie did have me yawning and I think, it just has to do with not really enjoying the humor they wanted me to like.  Still, I had a blast in the beginning and at the end.  Plus, its like a comedic way of setting out a story about bromance and at the very end, redemption/selflessness.  Whatever you want to call that.

All in all, I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as the bunch of reviews that I did see when it first came out but surprisingly, a lot of it worked for me also.  The cameos were extremely memorable and hilarious and the guys sported some nice comedic moments as well.  Not my favorite comedy but it was a very different experience and a pretty enjoyable one at that! 🙂 Comedy is something I don’t want to say I’d recommend or not, its so personal so if you like these guys, you’d want to give it a shot. If not, well, what can I say, maybe you want to see Emma Watson, not as Hermione but still being pretty bad ass? 😉

What did you think of This Is The End? Are you a fan of any of these six guys?

Christmas Marathon: Dragons:Gift of the Night Fury (2011)

Do we have any How to Train a Dragon fans out there?  I am a huge fan of that Dreamworks animation.  Its one of my favorites.  Everything about that movie is just perfect to me.  So when this movie came out, I had to get it.

DRAGONS: GIFT OF THE NIGHT FURY (2011)

DIRECTOR: Tom Owens

CAST: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson

This is a very short animation clocking in about 20+ minutes.  However, for the How to Train a Dragon fans out there, this does live up to it. Its a holidays spinoff of the movie.  Christmas on the island of Berk is called Snoggletog.  As everyone on Berk prepares for the holidays, their traditions quite similar to ours with Christmas tree made with shields (I think) and decorations, one day the dragons all fly off and don’t come back.  Hiccup accidentally gets dragged in and realize that during the winter holidays the dragons celebrate it in their own little way as well.

It gives us the same style as the movie itself.  We get back all the characters like Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, etc.  It gives us a lot of fun moments and a lot of humour.  I saw How to Train a Dragon before my reviewing days on here but maybe one day, I will review it since I do own the movie.  Still, I think that Jay Baruchel does the voice of Hiccup amazingly well and mostly because he also gets cast into those roles.  I hope this lasts for him at the very least.

Also, they do give us a little extra since it is only 22 minutes with a second feature of about 15+ minutes called Book of Dragons and teaches you about the different dragons with how the Book of Dragons came to be.  They are pretty much teaching you, the audience how to be a dragon trainer so its pretty cool. I think if children are in the picture when you watch this,  it’ll be a fun day for them.

Overall, this is a fun Christmas animation with all the features of the original with laughs and adventure. For me, just give me that cute look Toothless does and I’m already happy. And this one has cuteness overload.