MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (2012)

A brilliant film by Joss Whedon (director), reimagining Shakespeare's play, Much Ado About Nothing.

Similarly to the adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio, the dialogue remains unchanged, while the surroundings are modern.  Though it can hardly be compared to this:

(Yes, that is a real scene from Romeo and Juliet)

A black and white, low budget film, and surprisingly the actors do not attempt any fake, or even sincere British accents.  Somehow, this makes the dialogue much more graspable.  The interaction with the outdated dialogue is far from awkward, and feels very natural.  Whedon brings his general humor to the film, with scene choices, as well as actor and character choices.  While all the dialogue remains unchanged, the delivery is far from so.

The plot doesn't matter entirely all that much (in terms of whether or not to watch the movie), but if you haven't seen or read the play, it's about matchmaking, and betrayal, and rivalry, and more betrayal, and lots and lots of alcohol.

Fun facts:

-The entire film was shot in 12 days while Whedon was directing the Avengers simultaneously

-To cut costs, it was filmed at Whedon's house

-The party scene filmed was an actual party that Whedon had, where many of the guests were just that. Guests. And were provided with real alcohol.

Fun facts courtesy of IMDB

Really, if you enjoy Whedon's films or shows, you will enjoy this one.  If you enjoy Shakespeare, you will enjoy this one.  If you like obscure movies, which somehow piece together something wonderful on a low budget (like I do), then you will really like this one.

Check out the trailer and see if you're still not interested.

Having just seen the movie now, for the first time, I highly recommend checking it out.*

ME: 8/10
Tomato Meter: 84%
IMDB: 7.3/10

This one had some bad reviews from people (despite the scores above), so I expect someone out there to probably not agree with my views on the film, and I would like to hear your opinions on this.  Really.

*Small after-note:  I did watch with subtitles, and I think that was helpful, though I don't know it was completely necessary.

Enjoy!

DUCK SOUP (1933)

(imdb)

So having been gone for awhile, we’ll pretend I went back in time to bring you this.  

This is my absolute favorite b/w film.  Staring the Marx Brothers (no, not Karl and Carlo), and their classic antics.  Duck Soup currently stands as number 60 on AFI’s list of top 100 movies of all time.  This is not very far up the list, but keep in mind how many movies are out there.  Well over one hundred.  It follows the path of Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) and his dictatorship-esc leadership of the country of Freedonia.  With classic one-liners like:

Mrs. Teasdale: Notables from every country are gathered here in your honor. This is a gala day for you.

Rufus T. Firefly: Well, a gal a day is enough for me. I don't think I could handle any more.

And song lyrics, like:

Rufus T. Firefly:  The last guy nearly ruined this place, he didn't know what to do with it.  If you think this country's bad off now, just wait 'till I get through with it.

If you like sarcasm, and terrible jokes even a fraction of how much I do, I highly recommend this film.   It also has one of the greatest, and committedly quiet jokes I have ever seen in a talking film.  I strongly suggest you take the 3 minutes to watch this, even if you’ve seen it before.  I’m laughing right now as I watch it. 

The Marx Brothers are one of the main contributions to my love of older movies, and terrible jokes.  My mother is probably very disappointed in the latter.  I grew up on these movies, and they’ve helped shape me, for better or worse.  Here is a link to this film and if you haven’t seen it, I suggest you brush up.  

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v172497429BYa7aeQ

Hope you enjoy this, and hopefully I'll be back more often.

10/10

IRON MAN

Okay, so this was Marvel studio's first introduction to the Avengers.  As seen on previous posts, we are going to ignore The Hulk.  For all intensive purposes, The Hulk does not exist outside of The Avengers (2012).  So, being the FIRST introduction to the Avengers, Iron Man had to carry a lot of weight.  I find if difficult to believe that anyone reading this is not aware of who Iron Man is, as the Marvel universe has become a pretty large part of our society (something about which I am very happy).  But, in case you don't know, I will give you a brief overview.

Tony Stark is the character that inhabits the suit that is Iron Man.  Tony Stark is Bruce Wayne with a social conscience, and greater intelligence (this is not to say Bruce Wayne is stupid, but he kind of is compared to Tony Stark).  I say that he has a social conscience because, in the movies at least, he learns his company is doing something immoral, and he tries to change it, and uses his intelligence and good fortune to help people.  This may be through theatrics and violence, but who doesn't do that? *cough* BATMAN *cough*

Anyway, I remember not knowing anything about Iron Man other than that he was a superhero, and that I liked Robert Downey Jr. in the one other movie I had seen him in.  So, naturally, being 16 and pretty nerdy yet having no prior knowledge of this character, I freaked out upon seeing the trailer.

I mean, look at all those explosions!  What's not to love?  Who even cares about the story?  Robert Downey Jr. is causing explosions and created a big metal suit that has laser blasts.  Don't confuse my sarcasm for not enjoying this movie.  I love this movie, but after re-watching that trailer, I realize why 16 year old me loved it too.  Finally, nerdy things were cool again.  And this started a golden age of fandom that has continued far past my younger self's dreams. 

I have not talked about this movie at all, so here's the rest of what you need to know.  That trailer was a teaser.  This movie is about far more.  It's about responsibility, it's about being able to live with your decisions, and it's a little bit about blowing things up.  It's about relationships, and subverting expectations, and owning up to who you are.  Tony Stark is Iron Man.  Bruce Wayne might be Batman, it would explain how Batman can afford all his toys.  Clark Kent might be Superman, they look awfully similar, and Clark is the worst reporter ever (as he always misses the excitement).  But Tony Stark IS Iron Man.  I love everything this movie has to offer, and I think it's an important movie to look deeper into.

9/10

Think I give too high of ratings?  Well tell me that, or I'm just going to keep my grading scale ridiculously easy.

For now, I'll be writing what I know.  So...

MORE MARVEL MOVIES!!!

*This will probably continue until someone gives me a 

suggestion for a new movie and/or genre to look into 

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

 (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Many of us have seen this movie by now, as it made $94,320,883 opening weekend (IMDB), but I still think it's important to talk about it.  This was an enormous gamble on the part of Marvel studios, because until now they had only tried to introduce fairly well known comic series to the public.  Yes, there were some speed bumps when they sold some of the characters, like Spider-Man, X-Men, and The Incredible Hulk to Fox Studios.  Sure, Fox did okay with Spider-Man 1-2, and X-Men 1, but we can all rest easy that those are back in good hands.  We won't discuss the Hulk attempts.  We just don't have to, and I don't think anyone wants to.

"What does this have to do with Guardians of the Galaxy?" you might be wondering.

Shut up, be patient, I'm getting there.

Marvel had to take some time to rebuild these characters from the ground up.  I realize many people were upset when Spider-Man got rebooted, but you go back and watch Spider-Man 3 and tell me the premise didn't need to be burned down to the ground and rebuilt with a new Peter Parker.

(No one understands me.  And not even

because I'm a giant spider-person)

And this brings us back, FINALLY, to Guardians of the Galaxy.  An obscure reference that even long-time Marvel nerds like myself didn't know existed (Though I should point out I was pretty committed to the X-Men and Spider-Man universes).  This movie was Marvel testing their limits.  They wanted to see if they could make people fall in love with characters they didn't know already, and premises perhaps too far "out-there" for everyone to appreciate (like a kid being taken from Earth to be eaten, but instead becoming an outlaw).  But, like most Marvel movies, it contained enough element of heart to be completely worth watching.  It's funny, and entertaining, it's not overly deep, and doesn't require you to think very much, but still deals with emotional situations.  It's a comedy, it's an action, it's sci-fi, and it's Marvel.  In fact, just saying it's Marvel should be enough to get you to see it if you haven't already.  I would highly recommend this movie, but I would recommend it only with the expectations that it's entertainment.  Don't go in expecting a masterpiece of cinematic profoundness.  Go in expecting exactly what you would expect from a movie with a machine-gun firing racoon and Chris Pratt who listens to 80's rock/pop music while fighting aliens.  

It's just a truly wonderful movie.  As in full of wonder.

7/10

Spoiler Alert!  

For those of you Marvel fans who are familiar and used to staying after the credits for important scenes, this is not one of those times.  It's just Howard the Duck.  If you don't know who Howard the Duck is, that's okay.  You don't need to know.  He just makes a wise-quack at the Christopher Walken look-alike played by Benicio Del Toro.  It's really not worth it.

END NOTE:

I know not everyone is looking forward to it, but I think it's going to be great.  Coming soon from Marvel:

Feel free to argue with me or agree with me in the comments below!

I've started a movie review blog.  I will do my best to keep it updated, and make an effort to give everyone an honest, and interesting blog to look at.  I can't know yet how often this will be updated, but I'm hoping to post something at least once a day.  Unfortunately, I am still in school, and this will undoubtedly limit my ability to keep up with this blog as much as I would like.  Ultimately, I want everyone to appreciate movies and film as I do, and understand why I like or dislike movies and directors, and their choices.  I'll do what I can to keep you entertained, and hopefully I can help you broaden your perspective.  -T