I want to start off by saying that this was definitely the best season of Game of Thrones so far. So many good moments to choose from, but I've narrowed it down to 20 for your pleasure. These are based on shock value, impact on the plot, and straight awesomeness. So re-live season 4 below with my top 20 moments. Enjoy.
SPOILER ALERT
20. Arya heads to Braavos
Valar Morghulis
19. Stannis gets the Iron Bank's support
The true king gets money and the most powerful bank on his side
18. Drogon is out and about
"A dragon can't be tamed"
17. Ygritte Dies
"You know nothing Jon Snow"
16. Arya and The Hound
End of a "friendship" and the start of a new Arya
14. Daenerys banishes Jorah
Karma's a bitch
13. Stannis saves The Wall
The true King acting like a true King and protecting the realm
12. Sansa plays the Game of Thrones
Finally
11. Daenerys locks up her dragons
A Mother locking up her Children *side note: dragons can only grow as large as the places they are in
10. Wildlings and Giants attack The Wall
Giants riding Mammoths!
9. Bran finally finds the Three Eyed Raven
Skeleton wights, Children of the Forest, Bran flying? (Bran's vision)
8. Petyr pushes Lysa out the Moon Door
She gone.
7. Reveal behind Joffrey's murder
Olenna Tyrell and Littlefinger: Ultimate tag team
6. Daenerys takes Mareen
The champion fight before this was even cooler
5. White Walkers sacrifices baby
They have been converting Craster's babies this whole time?!?
4. Tyrion's trial / speech
Gut wrenching trial with an epic ending (Just give Dinklage the Emmy now)
Below is my review and grade for the movie ‘Godzilla’. I
wrote this assuming you have seen the movie, or do not care about spoilers.
[SPOILER ALERT]
Let them fight!
What I liked about the film
Act 1/Bryan Cranston – Right out of the gates we are hit in
the face with the most emotional scenes in the movie. The first third of the
movie really captivated me and it created humanity in this world that was
relatable. Bryan Cranston’s performance tears at your emotions, and I
immediately bought in. The scene where he has to close the door on his wife was
heartbreaking. Even though I had seen that shot in the trailer, It still got to
me. Also, when he is trying to get the real answers for what is happening, you
are rooting for him as an audience member. His portrayal of this damaged,
conflicted character completely sucks you in.Then I really enjoyed the end of
the first act when everything is building up to the reveal of the first
monster, it has thriller aspect to it.
Visuals – How they depicted Godzilla and the other monsters
in the film was magnificent. It almost made me squirm in my seat whenever they
showed a close up of the monsters. I definitely had a lot of “oh, shit” moments
going on in my head. The visual effects were phenomenal, and they looked
completely realistic.The way they
walked and fought through the different cities was great. I especially loved
the scenes of Godzilla swimming with his “fins” out, or the impact of him
coming out of the ocean. However, my favorite scene visually has to be when the
paratroopers are sky diving down into the city right near Godzilla with their
red flares streaking. That was one of the most beautiful shots I have ever seen
in an action movie.
Directing – The director, Gareth Edwards, I thought did a great job in the film really making the
audience apart of the story. The way he shot a lot of the scenes really made us
see everything that was happen from the human perspective. Doing so, it creates
even more fear and terror, as we seem just as hopeless as the humans running
for their lives in the movie. Even though I feel this was a little over done, I
like the scenes of the news broadcasting the fights on TV. It definitely was
good break in the action, and added a little humor to the situation.Going back to the scene of the paratroopers
sky diving; when he put us inside of Aaron Taylor Johnson’s goggles, that was
very cool. It gave you a better scale of Godzilla, and made you think how absolutely
ridiculous and terrifying this must be.There were a lot of key decisions made from behind the camera, and it
definitely paid off.
Act 3 – The last 20
minutes of this movie is what made the film worth going to see. The ending
fight scene is
by far the best part of the movie. The fight between Godzilla
and the two other monsters was exactly what I wanted to see, I just wish there
could have been more of that. I understand that they needed to build to that
point, but I’m just being selfish and wishing we could’ve seen more of the
monster’s fighting. Regardless, the visual effects were stunning and
terrifyingly realistic. I wish I could go back and just watched this part of
the movie again. Then obviously the best part of the fight was when Godzilla used
his radiation fire breath against the monsters. Not only is that cool enough by
itself, but when he opened one of the Muto’s mouths and breathed fire down his
throat.… that was one of the most bad ass things I have ever seen. The movie
did not fall short in this aspect of the movie and I am happy that they got at
least this part of the film right.
What I didn’t
like about the film
Act 2 – I probably
could have taken a nap during this entire part of the movie, and I probably
would’ve enjoyed it more. It hurts me to say that I was actually bored in the
movie theatre when this part of the film was occurring. I just felt liked it
dragged on and there wasn’t a lot of meaningful plot lines. For example, Aaron
Taylor Johnson and that little boy he helped on the train…what was the point of
that? I just felt the film lost its humanity after Bryan Cranston was killed.
Cranston’s character was the person who brought the audience in and made us
care about this world and these people. Then once that was taken away from us,
we had no connection with Aaron Taylor Johnson’s character, and it just felt
forced. Speaking of…
The Ford Brody character/Loss
of the human element – This is nothing against Aaron Taylor Johnson, because I
think he is a good actor. However in this movie, this character just fell
short. I think it’s a
combination of poor writing and ATJ’s inability to
display different emotions effectively. I felt like he had the same facial
expression for the entire movie. As I said above, it felt like the movie forced
us to relate to this character, and it didn’t work. We weren’t as emotionally
invested into Ford, as we were to Bryan Cranston’s character. So I didn’t seem
to care about him or his storyline. The connection between him and Elizabeth
Olsen was fine, but I felt like there needed to be a stronger storyline
involved. I just felt myself waiting for the end to happen and to see the
monsters. A film like this should have the audience enthralled with the
pressures and issues that the humans are dealing with, and then, oh yeah,
there’s a freaking monster coming out of the water. That would’ve elevated the
end of the movie even more if they had that platform to build off of.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and I would
recommend the average movie-goer to go see it. They definitely captured
Godzilla perfectly, and the visual effects are phenomenal. I liked how they
made Godzilla an anti-hero, and a ‘protector’ of earth. There are some
magnificent scenes that were amazing to watch in the theatre and there were
more surprises than I expected. The movie does drag on during the middle of the
film, and it hurts the movie as a whole. Also, this is a film where the
trailers were very well done and made you believe something different, which is
disappointing. However, Bryan Cranston and the ending fight scene is what made
this an enjoyable film.
Below is my review of ‘The Amazing Spider Man 2’. Don’t
worry if you have not seen the movie, there are no spoilers.
What I liked about the film
Visually great/Good
action- This was the best aspect of the film. All of the action sequences
are beautifully shot and the effects looked great. The way they visualized
Spider-Man swinging around New York City and fighting, was something that the
first Spiderman Trilogy never really gave us. I never read the comic books, but
it looked like this movie was jumping straight out of a Spider-Man issue. I
didn’t feel like it was corny, and it definitely could have been. Even the
sequences with Electro, there were some great shots and stunning visual
effects.I caught myself saying in my
head many times, “shit, that was pretty awesome” and it takes something pretty
stunning to make me say that to myself.
Relationships –
This was a big key to the movie and definitely one of the strongest parts of
the film. This movie was very relationship driven, and as audience member, I
really felt that their connections were real. Once again, this is something
that could easily be seen as corny and forced (ex. Christian Bale and Anne
Hathaway). However, each interaction made sense and made the story interesting.
Whether it was Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey, Peter Parker and Harry Osborne,
Harry Osborn and Electro, Peter Parker and Aunt Mae, Spider-Man and Electro…
there were so many important relationships, yet each one of them worked. Which
is huge tip of the cap to the actors…and
on that point…
The acting- Now
looking at the cast list, you could assume that this movie would be well acted.
However, everything doesn’t always turn out that way. With what the actors were
given, they really embodied their characters and drew you in. They really
brought out the emotions of the audience in some scenes, a.k.a. good acting.
Also, I really enjoyed the take on Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey that was
created in the first film and continued into this one. Andrew Garfield’s Peter
Parker seems a lot more grounded in reality, and is way more relatable. On that
same note, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacey is a well done female character who isn’t
just clueless damsel in distress. She’s very intellectual and actually plays a
legitimate role in the film. With that being said, the new additions to the
franchise were great as well. Jamie Foxx was great as Electro (I could do
without the voice) but he convinced me that a bumbling nerd could turn into
this angry, misunderstood villain. [side note: I thought Jamie Foxx as Max
Dillon was hilarious, some reviews did not feel the same way, but I thought it
was funny] Then there’s Dane Dehaan, who kills it in this movie. Even though
his character was a little misused (I get into that later) he really took the
role on and did a good job.
Spider-Man- I
feel like they nailed the character of Spider-Man in this movie. He’s very
confident and loves being Spider-Man. From what I know about Spider-Man (mainly
from that awesome 90’s morning cartoon show), he is cocky, funny, but actually
does his job well. That’s what they portrayed in this movie, which really
worked and it made the movie more enjoyable. He would be making fun of the
villains, cracking jokes, goofing around, and still kicking people’s ass. I
thought it was fun and helps separate Spider-Man from the crowded genre he’s
in.
What I didn’t like about the film
Overcrowded- Once
again a Spider-Man movie suffers from trying to pack too much into the script.
Now this movie was nowhere near as poorly done as Sam Remy’s Spider-Man 3, but
many things did seem similar. There were too many sub-plots in this movie, and
it was just jumping around from issue to issue. It never gave the audience
member sufficient time to really dive deep into the main plot of the story.
There were definitely storylines in this movie that were not needed, and it
seemed like this movie is was just a set-up movie for future films (Sinister
Six), which is disappointing. They tried to fit in too much and it just came
out too hectic and not very focused.
Tone- I am
conflicted on this subject because I liked the tones they used in the movie,
but they should’ve just picked one. The movie starts out with this ‘comic-book’
style movie, that’s very fun and entertaining, and I liked that. Yet throughout
the movie, they intertwined that tone of the film with a lot of dark elements
and realism. I like that take on a super hero as well, because it grounds it in
reality and make its more relatable. However, they needed to pick one or the
other! I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about the film because it kept
changing tones throughout the movie. It made the film very uneven and if they
would’ve stayed with one style, it would’ve been a lot better I feel. A movie
can have light tones and still have a sense of realism (ex. The Avengers), but
this movie made the transitions very drastic, and made it pretty obvious.
Music- This is a
little ‘nitpicky’, but it is worth mentioning. Music in a movie should not take
you away from what’s happening on screen, and I feel like that’s what happened a
few times during this movie. For those who have seen the movie, when peter is
listening to Phillip Phillips in his room…terrible. However, don’t get this
confused with the score of the film. The score was fine, and I actually like
that Electro had his own music whenever he fought. Yet there were a few moments
in the film that really turned me off because of the music that was chosen
(almost like ‘The Great Gatsby’).
Misuse of Characters-
Minor Spoiler Warning: I will try and
not to ruin too much, but if you have seen any of the marketing for this movie,
this won’t be that big of a surprise. Harry Osborn. There were definitely some
plot stretches in this movie (little boy standing in the street at the end) but
none worse than the use of Harry Osborn at the end. I loved what Dane Dehaan
did with Harry throughout the film, and his relationship with peter was great.
I even bought into the reason why he became angry and evil. However, everything
did not need to be seen in this movie. All of a sudden he’s on the brink of
death, and can immediately fly this hovercraft with no training at all? Once
again I feel like they just pushed storylines that didn’t need to happen. The
Green Goblin was not needed at the end of the film, and they just rushed the
character. It seems the writers wanted us to just assume a lot of things during
the movie, and that’s not good story telling. Most aspects of a film should be
explained and have a purpose. I felt like the creators of this movie glossed
over that detail in the film. Also, Rhino was just terrible.
Overall, I did enjoy watching ‘The
Amazing Spider-Man 2’. I recommend seeing the movie, especially in the
theatres. I was definitely entertained and it was a good super hero movie.
However, it does not cross that line into a good movie outside of the genre.
There is a lot of missing pieces and it some cases too many pieces, which
definitely hurt the movie. This film had all of the elements to be an even
better movie, but they tried to fit too much into the script, and it seemed to
fall short on making an impact. All in all, it is a fun superhero movie with
great visuals and good acting. The average movie go-er will enjoy it, or at
least I did.
Hello everyone, 2014 is here and we have whole new year of movies ahead of us. I wanted to take some time and help educate/get you excited for what you can expect coming soon in the world of film. So without further ado, here is the list for my Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2014:
*Trailers Included
Honorable Mentions
The Hobbit: There and Back Again
Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Dumb and Dumber To
Horrible Bosses 2
10. 22 Jump Street
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum
Release Date: June 12, 2014
You get it? It's the sequel to 21 Jump Street! Sadly, I think this will be a down year for comedies, but this movie looks to be promising. I didn't originally like the first film, but after watching it a few more times, it grew on me. I hope the sequel keeps the same type of vibe, but changes the plot dramatically. Unfortunately after looking at the trailer, I don't think that is the case. The plot seems to be exactly the same, but they're just in college this time. I have complete faith that there will be some laugh-out-loud moments, but I just hope this doesn’t turn into a ‘Hangover 2’ type of sequel. Seeing them in college though could be funny, and I always love seeing “College douche-bags” in films and we're almost bound to see one in this movie.
9. 300: Rise of an Empire
Starring: Sullivan Stapleton, Lena Headey, Eva Green
Release Date: March 7, 2014
Epic! This is the type of sequel where I don't care if it is the
same exact plot as the first movie. As long as it's as badass as the first, then this should
be a good movie. I really liked the first 300, and I'm assuming that this one
will keep the same type of action, but just on an even bigger scale. A lot of the
cast members returned and so did Zack Snyder as Producer, who was the director
of original.
We're at #8 and we've already reached the highest ranked comedy on the list. Like I said before, this will be a down year for comedies but hopefully this movie will fill the void. The main reason this makes my top ten is because of the cast, and because it's a Seth McFarland movie. Although I'm not a big of him being an actor in the film, I am a huge fan of Seth McFarland's type of comedy. I thought Ted was hilarious, and I’m sure this movie will have that same type of humor. Also, it revolves around how messed up the old west was, so it could be a very funny combination.
7. Captain America: The Winter
Soldier
Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan
Release Date: April 3, 2014
2014 will be another year where super hero movies thrive and kill
at the box office. Can Marvel do no wrong? It's almost disgusting how much
money their movies make and how almost every one of them is good. The first
Captain America was definitely the weaker of the first phase movies
that came from Marvel, however it was still a solid film. I have no doubt that
this one will be even better, because they have already have confirmed a third
movie. As long as Marvel keeps putting these types of quality movies out, I
will keep seeing them.
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, Ian
McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Peter Dinklage
Release Date: May 23, 2014
And the super hero movies continue... I'm not the biggest fan of the
X-Men movies. I haven't even seen all of them, but this one looks very good.
This might have been one of the best trailers that I've so far this year. The
concept of this movie is super interesting because they are combining the
characters from the original X-men movies with the prequel movies they made.
I'm always a sucker for time travel movies, and the cast they assembled is
mind-boggling. I’d be very surprised if this movie turn out to be a bust.
5.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Starring: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell
Release Date: May 23, 2014
Another
sequel! This seems to be the year of the sequels, and I still have one more to
go on my list. However unlike 300, I hope this movie takes another angle on the
overall story, which it seems like it will. The movie takes place years after
the events from the first film, and the plague has already came and gone. The
remaining survivors are at an all-out war with Ceaser and his army of monkeys.
What else would you want? This origin story of the ‘Planet of the Apes’ really
fascinates me, and I think they are taking a very dark and in-depth approach to
it, which I like. This movie will grow from the great platform the first film provided, and will become a fully entertaining thriller. Also, just watch the
trailer and try not to get excited over that.
4.
The Amazing Spider Man 2
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx, Emma Stone, Dane Deehan, Paul Giamatti
Release Date: May 2, 2014
When
Sony decided to reboot the Spider Man property so soon after the first trilogy,
I wasn’t that excited about it. However, I really enjoyed the first ‘Amazing
Spider Man’ movie and especially Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. I liked how
they modernized the characters and the story to make it seem like it could fit
in today’s world. My anticipation for this movie keeps rising as we get closer
to the release date and learn more about this movie. Many critics having been
raving about this film and one in particular has said that this could be the
‘Dark Knight’ of this franchise. Which obviously gets me excited because ‘The
Dark Knight’ is one of my favorite movies and is no doubt the movie that put
Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy as one of the best of all time. As for
Spider Man, that is some pretty high praise for a movie that hasn’t been
released yet, but after thinking about it, I can totally see that. One of the
main reasons ‘The Dark Knight’ is so good, is because the villain drives the
film and I feel that is how this Spider Man sequel will be. The villains are the
characters who make the hero, and are usually the most intriguing. In ‘The
Amazing Spider Man 2’ we are getting three doses of villains. Also, since the origin
story of Spider Man has already been told, they can dive deeper into the
villains’ backgrounds. Jamie Foxx (Electro) and Dane Deehan (Harry Osbourn/Green
Goblin) are phenomenal actors and I feel will they will steal the show in this
movie, which is a good thing. Sony
has already confirmed two more Spider Man movies, a ‘Sinister Six’ and ‘Venom’
movies to follow. They obviously have faith in their villains, and that is great to hear.
3.
Interstellar
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain
Release Date: November 7, 2014
I
know less about this movie than any other movie on this list, but I don’t care.
I am giving this a favorable position mainly because of two people, Chirstopher
Nolan and Matthew McConaughey. Nolan is one of my favorite directors, and
Matthew Mcconaughey is having the year of his life. Ever since he graced the
screen with his portrayal of Wooderson in ‘Dazed and Confused’, I have loved
McConaughey as an actor. I am glad now he has gotten some great roles and is
getting the respect/attention he deserves. This movie has a phenomenal actor, a
phenomenal director and movie plot that reads, “A group of explorers make use
of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel
and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage”. Uhhh…yes
please. Until I hear anything more, this movie is right up my alley.
2.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Benicio Tel Toro, Lee Pace
Release Date: August 1, 2014
Who?
Those were my thoughts exactly. Marvel is taking a risk and rolling out one of
their most unknown properties onto the big screen, and I am super excited.
Here’s a quick bio of the group (they explain more in the trailer); they are a
group of intergalactic misfit warriors who come together to help protect an orb
that can destroy (you guessed it) the universe. They’re like the Avenger’s B
team, but in space. Sounds pretty dumb right? Oh, and I forgot to mention there’s also a gun wielding, talking raccoon, and a walking tree in the group. Still with me?
So before we go any further, I want to state that I have never read a comic
book or even knew who this group was before this movie was announced. However
after learning more about the movie these past few months, I have become overly
intrigued with this film. This is mainly because I can’t wait to see how these
characters fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man, Captain
America and the rest of the crew. This movie will be different from every other
Marvel film that we’ve seen, and I’m excited to see something new. This film
will have a lot of comedic elements to it, and having Chris Pratt (from Parks n
Rec) as a ‘Han Solo type’ lead character is going to be great. However, there
will still be a lot of action as well because these characters are real super
heroes who can kick some ass. For example, one of them is called Drax ‘The
Destroyer’ and the only female, Gamora, is known as “The most dangerous women
in the universe” (#nerdalert). Finally, they have a great cast behind this
movie. Chris Pratt is hilarious and is becoming an established movie star; Zoe
Saldana was great in Avatar, Star Trek, etc.; and Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel
voice Rocket and Groot respectively. It’s hard for me to give this movie
justice, but just watch the trailer and you will understand what I mean.
Uga-Uga-Uga-chaka!
1.
Godzilla
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen
Release Date: May 16, 2014
Godzilla
is back, and it is legit. Get that 1998 version out of your head, because it looks
like this one will be done right. This is a dark, terrifying take on the story,
and I’m enthralled with this idea. Yes the premise is that a large creature
surfaces onto a city, but it looks like this movie is more than that. There
seems to be a certain realistic take on this story that doesn’t make the
premise look so absurd. It almost has a “Rise of the Planet of Apes” or
“Walking Dead” feel to it where the situation is unfathomable, but it sucks you
into this world and makes you feel like this could really happen. Then on top
of that, it takes that apocalyptic idea and raises it to a whole new level. I
have complete faith that this movie will engage me immediately and keep me on
the edge of my seat throughout the entire film. Also, they have assembled a
great cast that is led by Bryan Cranston. From what he has shown on Breaking
Bad, Cranston can go through an array of emotions and really capture your attention. Even in the trailer you can see the emotion he gives and it makes
you believe that he can’t fathom what is happening to his world at that moment.
Once I saw the teaser and the full length trailer, I was completely sold on
this movie and it confirmed everything I hoped for. The trailer also hints at
other monsters appearing and has a nice homage to the original Godzilla. I
believe this will be a breathtaking and thrilling movie that will please many
movie going audiences, and it is my most anticipated movie of 2014.
