The Avengers!

The Avengers is one of the greatest superhero movies that I've seen. It's got the perfect balance of comedy and action sprinkled with a little bit of drama. In this movie, Nick Fury brings together a rag tag group of exceptional people after Loki of Asgaard steals the tesseract from SHIELD. Ok, I'm going to stop pretending like you don't know what I'm talking about. If you didn't see it, or any of the other superhero movies that led up to this, then you're crazy!!!! Basically the main plot of this movie in short is that Loki wants to take over the world and rule the people, thinking that freedom is bad for us. So he uses another alien race's army to take over our world, but the Avengers stop him!

We have Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye saving the day. A little surprise for tv fans was the appearance of How I Met Your Mother's Robin Sherbotsky making an appearance as Fury's Number 2 , Agent Hill. She did a pretty good job, but  I always have a hard time taking her seriously in a non comedic roll. Also, the hidden gem of this movie was Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. There have been many attempts at making a successful franchise off of the Hulk, but have all miserably failed. But Mark Ruffalo brought the most amazing humility and humor and sarcasm to the character. Even the Hulk persona was funny. One thing that cannot be forgotten about is the awesome bromance that is blossoming between Banner and Stark. They both have so much in common, and I believe that they are best friends! Loki's character really stepped it up after the movie Thor. He's not just an immature villain, but he really does have a suaveness/coolness about him that is just mesmerizing. If only his fake hair wasn't super distracting and awful. He looks like a bad Severus Snape.


One other thing that I really got a kick of in this movie was all the references that Captain America didn't know, but then he knew the reference about the wizard of Oz and was super excited.

The bonus features with this movie are definitely worth it. There is the first ever Marvel Gag Reel! It was set to some pretty fun music and was fun to watch. Then there were lots of extended and deleted scenes. I wish that the deleted scenes had been added, but the movie was already 2 1/2 hours long.

My favorite Iron Man comment: "Clench up Legolas"
Andrew's Closing Thoughts: Assemble!!

Up Next: Back to the Future

Austin Powers: Goldmember

So this third movie really ups the ante as far as celebrity cameos, backstories and spoofing. I like that we learn about Austin and Dr. Evil's past, but it's definitely not my favorite.

This time we meet up with Austin in the future again, at the filming of a movie about himself. While Dr. Evil is coming up with a plan to destroy the world with a tractor beam, Austin stops him in his tracks and sends him to jail. However, another villain has entered the game, and that is Goldmember, a Dutchman who is obsessed with gold. He kidnaps Austin's dad Nigel, played by the wonderful Michael Caine. Nigel is a pretty bad father, not really being there for Austin in any kind of fatherly way, but rather as a friend. Regardless of this, Austin goes back in time again to the 70's to save his father. Along the way we meet an undercover agent named Foxxy Cleopatra, played by the one and only Beyonce!
She does a pretty good job, mainly playing the straight man in the all the jokes, and wowing us with all her different hairstyles. They save his dad, but Dr. Evil then escapes and starts his process to destroy the world again. Due to being treated badly, Mini Me switches sides and becomes a mini Austin. He leads them to Dr. Evil's submarine lair, where their final toe-to-toe takes place. Once Austin has him at gunpoint in, we learn that not only were he and Dr. Evil roommates at Spy School, but they are also brothers!! Their feud is over, which leads us to wonder if this is really the end of Austin Powers???!!! Maybe, maybe not. Scott finally becomes evil, just like his dad has always dreamed of. He blames his balding and his anger all on Austin Powers, and vows to take his revenge now that Dr. Evil is maybe not so evil anymore.

Noteworthy Cameos in this one: Tom Cruise, Gwenyth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, Danny Devito, Steven Spielberg, Britney Spears, Fred Savage, Nathan Lane, Katie Couric, John Travolta and the Osbourne clan.


Andrew's Closing Thought: I love gooooold!

Up Next: Either The Avengers, or the Back to the Future Trilogy!!! depends on if we buy The Avengers  when it comes out next week.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

So last night Andrew and I watched the other 2 Austin Powers movies, but I was way too tired to write the posts about them.  This sequel is my favorite of all the AP movies. Mainly because of Heather Graham, I love her! I also really like this movie because they are intentionally spoofing different spy movies.


So we meet up with Austin right where the first movie ended, on his honeymoon with Vanessa. Turns out she was a fembot the whole time because she tries to kill Austin and blows herself up. He's not heartbroken for long though. His opening credit sequence involves him dancing around his hotel naked and then joining in on some synchronized swimming. Meanwhile, Dr. Evil decides the best way to stop Austin Powers for good is to steal his mojo. He then goes back in time to 1969, when Austin is frozen still. Then his accomplice Fat Bastard steals Austin's mojo while in his frozen state. Fat Bastard is one of the grossest, most vomit inducing characters that Mike Myers has ever created.  On the flip side, Andrew thinks that Dr. Evil is one of the funniest characters ever. Anyway, learning that his mojo has been stolen, he then travels back in time to go get it back! He then meets Felicity Shagwell, a CIA agent. She is Austin's soulmate and match in every way, except she doesn't have gross teeth.  Their attraction is undeniable, but Austin refuses to shag Ms. Shagwell because he has no mojo yet. In order to find Dr. Evil's lair, Felicity sleeps with Fat Bastard, which leaves Austin feeling betrayed once he finds out.

Felicity and Austin find the volcano lair, but alas fail at accomplishing their goal this time around. Later though they find Dr. Evil's moon lair, and finally stop him from destroying the world. However Austin fails at retrieving his mojo, only to realize that he had his mojo all along. He and Felicity ride off in the sunset!

Some notable cameos in this one include:Jerry Springer, Rebecca Romaine, Rob Lowe, Will Ferrel, Tim Robbins, Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, and Jennifer Coolidge.

One of the greatest things about this movie is the introduction of Mini Me, Dr. Evil's miniature clone. He is so cute and funny. His presence leaves Scott feeling even more disconnected and unloved by his father. We also learn that Scott was not a test tube baby, but in fact the love child of Dr. Evil and Frau.

Andrew's Closing Thought: Send in the CLONE!

Up Next: Austin Powers: Goldmember

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

This movie is a not so oldie but goodie. It's just a movie that is plainly meant to be goofy and fun. Our first introduction of the title character involves and choreographed impromptu dance in the streets of London in the sixties. His nemesis Dr. Evil evades him again, and Evil becomes chryogenically frozen for 30 years. Austin must then do the same as he is the only one who can stop Evil.  Austin is the extreme seventies swinger, so it's pretty funny when he re-emerges in the 90's.

Dr. Evil tries his best to be an evil genius but is just a bit behind the times and doesn't really know what evil is. He also has a artificially created son named Scott. Austin has a tough time adjusting to the modern day as well, especially with his super awful disgusting gross teeth, which his partner Vanessa can't help but point out all the time. After lots and lots of shenanigans, the final duel between these two occur when Evil plans on drilling through the earth's core and put a nuclear bomb down the tunnel. Austin and Vanessa stop him even through the face of ill tempered sea bass and fem-bots. Alas Evil escapes again.


 

 This picture is from an alternate ending!

This movie has a few great cameos: Will Ferrell, Clint Howard, and Carrie Fischer.

This is also a movie that is mainly made up of tons of different comedy skits, which everyone remembers and quotes all the time!! My brother would do a Dr. Evil impression foooreeeevveer, so when I watched this it kept reminding me of my brother.

Sorry this post is so short. We've all seen Austin Powers, and I just started a new job and am pretty sleepy today! :)

We don't currently own Austin powers #2, but will buy it before we continue on this journey since we also have #3.

Andrew's Closing Thoughts:.......................

Up Next: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

August Rush

When this movie first came out, I thought it was so awesome. However every time that I watch it, I can't help but think it's ridiculous. First, we have Lyla ( Keri Russel!) and Lewis ( Jonathan Rhys-Myers). Lyla is a Julliard cello performer, and Lewis is a wannabe rockstar. They meet and fall in love, but alas, they only have one night together before fate (Lyla's father) pulls them apart. Well, Lyla gets pregnant but never see's Lewis again. After getting in a fight with her dad, she gets hit by a car. The baby is delivered, and her dad puts him up for adoption, forging her signature, and Lyla goes on to believe that the baby died in the accident. Ok, in what hospital would this pass!!??? Call me crazy, but adoption rules are pretty strict, and I think they usually require somebody to be present when the mother is signing over the kid. Oh well, if this ridiculousness hadn't happened then there would be no movie.

So, what we learn from this movie thus far, is that when classical and rock mix and have a baby, it's a really weird baby who's best friend is music, and who can hear music in any environment he is in. He relies on this noise to lead him to his parents. Evan Taylor/aka August Rush (Freddie Highmore) is this weird kid. He grows up in a boys home in upstate New York. But he just happens to have a sense that his parents are still out there and want him. The music tells him this of course. He runs away to NYC, gets mixed up in a group of ruffian orphans who entertain on the street, then bring all their earnings back to Wizard (Robin Williams). Evan is finally able to play an instrument and is a musical prodigy. He can pick up any instrument and master it within thirty minutes. He becomes Wizards main money maker, and he of course hopes to exploit him. Well since Evan is a naive boy who didn't even know what whistling was in upstate NY, he allows this to happen for a little while. Then he runs away and finds sanctuary (literally) at a church where he is able to learn about music composition. The church then sends him to Julliard where he thrives, and ends up writing his own orchestra titled August's Rhapsody. He uses August Rush as his name so that the state won't find him and take him away, since he's only 11 yrs old (Wizard's idea of course). This will be performed in Central Park by the NY Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the meantime when all of this is going on, we are able to catch up with what's going on with his parents. His dad is some businessman in San Francisco who is super angry all the time and has quit music, and has never been able to really let go of his love/loss of Lyla. He had no idea there was even a baby. He eventually decides to chase after her, and so he hunts her down. Unable to find her, he goes back to NY hoping that music will heal his soul and so he starts playing again. He also hopes that somehow he will find her in the Big Apple. Lyla has been living in Chicago, but then her dad is about to die and he tells her the truth of what happened to the baby. She then goes on a mad search for her kid in NY. She moves there and agrees to play with the Philharmonic. Coincidence?! She hopes that by playing, her kid will find her. Just as by playing, Evan hopes his parents will find him. Crazy people.

All of this angst and dreamy talk about the power of music culminates at the Central Park Concert. Lyla plays her song, then walks away. Then after a final battle with Wizard, Evan conducts his concert. Then Lewis makes his way to the concert after seeing Lyla was playing there. While Evan's song is playing, Lyla sense's that it's him and turns back and walks towards the stage, at the same time Lewis sees Lyla and follows her. She pauses at the foot of the stage, and see's her son, which she has actually seen a picture of. Evan turns around and sees these two standing hand in hand and just knows that its his parents, and without speaking a word, Lewis gives a slight nod of the head signaling that he understands everything.

The music is very original in this movie, which is a cool thing. The acting isn't bad either. It's just the constant talking of the power of music that I find silly.

It's still a good movie, just be ready to either completely make fun of it, or go along for the ride and believe!

Andrew's Closing Thought: Completely absurd, but not bad

Up Next: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Atonement

This is a pretty tough movie to watch. The very first time I saw it, I was so lost and hated it. The ending was awful! However, after watching it a second time I was able to kind of understand things better and appreciate the poetic justice of the end of the movie.

This was Keira Knightley's first big movie after Pride and Prejudice, and her leading man is James McAvoy! Ummmm how can this movie be bad?? There's lots of reasons. There are a lot of time jumps in this movie, and so you can get lost in those, and also you don't really know what's real and not real.

Andrew was checking the time on this movie like every 30 minutes seeing how much time was left. I don't think he enjoyed it very much.

So in this movie, we have Briony, who is a very ambitious little 13 year old girl who has a passion for writing and also has a huge imagination. Her older sister Cecilia (knightley) is a Cambridge schoolgirl at home for the summer. Robbie is the housekeeper's son at their house but was also put through Cambridge through the generosity of the girl's deceased father. So, Robbie and Cece have an unspoken love for each other, never acknowledging their feelings due to difference in social class. Well one day they are hanging out by the fountain at their house and a piece of a vase breaks off in the fountain. Cece's pissed and strips down to her slip to go and get it. She and Robbie have an argument and they both leave feeling as though things have changed. Briony sees this event take place from her bedroom window and doesn't really understand what just happened, but it leaves a lasting impression on her.
 

Robbie attempts to write a letter to CeCe apologizing for the afternoon's event, and on his way to the big house for dinner, he gives Briony the letter to deliver. Unfortunately he accidentally gave Briony the wrong letter, and she instead has a scandalous letter that Robbie wrote but never meant for CeCe to see. Of course Briony is such a busybody that she must be in everyone's business so she reads it. She and her cousin Lola discuss the contents of this letter and determine that Robbie is a "sex maniac" which is very disconcerting to her, since she has had a crush on him for years.  On the way to the dining table, Briony walks in on Robbie and CeCe being intimate in the library, which thus confirms her new thought of Robbie. Later that evening some little boys disappear so a search party is assembled, and while Briony is searching, she comes upon her cousin being raped. As she is the eye witness to this, she assumes that is must be that maniac Robbie.


He then gets sent to jail,but because WWII just happened, he is given the option of either staying in prison or becoming a soldier. Cece then becomes a nurse. Later Briony will follow in her footsteps. The rest of the movie is just bizarre and a lie. To make a long story short, Briony becomes an author, and writes her 21st book Atonement. This is when she tells the truth of what happened on that fateful night. Through the entire second half of the movie, we are under the impression that Robbie and CeCe reconnect during the war and are together, so we are happy about that right? Well the truth is that Robbie actually died during battle before he could ever reconnect with CeCe, and CeCe also died the same year he did, under a tunnel that was flooded during a bombing. Briony gave them in her book the eternal happy ending that she prevented them from having, so that she might come to peace with her terrible mistake.



<-- That's them dying










The person who really did rape her cousin Lola was Sherlock Holmes from the amazing new BBC series Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch. He has a creeper mustache in the movie, so it of course had to be him. Later on he marries Lola, so that she can never take the witness stand against him in the case that Briony ever wanted to change her story and tell the truth.

The second time around this movie isn't as awful. It's easier to follow, but the movie is still slow-going. There is little dialogue throughout and we end up just listening to silence while looking at pretty scenes. Which there are plenty of pretty scenes. One of the good things about this movie is that it shows some really great cinematography. I guess that's why it got 7 Academy Award nominations.  I guess also watching it a second time is better, because you know what happens. When I first saw it I was so pissed at the ending, that it wasn't some grand romance like I was led to believe in the previews, which might be why I had such a negative attitude towards this movie.

 This gorgeous green dress apparently has beat such legendary dresses from movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's and Gone with the Wind, and has been deemed the 'best of all time' by In Style Magazine.

Andrew's Closing Thought: This was the worst movie we've had to watch so far.

Up Next: August Rush

The A-Team

Andrew and I both really love this movie. It's the perfect movie for you if you love action movies that you have no idea how things are going to happen.

Even though the people in this movie are often sweaty and gross, I don't mind it like I normally do. Maybe because there is a good amount of comedy thrown in with all that grime.

This movie also has a pretty stellar cast. Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel! I also really love the guy who plays Murdock. He is just so crazy and endearing in this movie. However, I don't like B.A and Patrick Wilson. For one, I don't like BA's character. He just seems like such a little child in this movie and quite frankly I didn't care about his dilemma with being passive or aggressive. I don't think Mr. T's version of this character was like this. Also, I don't think Wilson is a good villain. He is just like a dumb fratboy as Neeson so aptly describes him.  He should stick with singing opera.

For those who don't know the plot of this movie, there are these 4 Army Rangers who have somehow come together despite being way different, and have become the best covert team the United States has ever seen. That is mainly because they are mainly willing to do anything, and Hannibal comes up with some pretty crazy plans.  Well, they are framed of stealing a mint plate that counterfeiters use, and killing their favorite general. They get court marshalled and get separated to different prisons. Well of course with the help of the villain, they escape through means of faking a death, leaping out of a bus, being hijacked while tanning, and having a vehicle storm through during movie time. They recover the supposedly dead guy (who was the one who framed them) and the plate, only to have to come up with some more crazy plans to keep it. The best part about this movie, which gives it a really great flow, is that when these huge action sequences and plans are coming together, you are seeing it unfold at the same time that the teammates are learning of the plan. Eventually the Team save the day and win, except for when the government turns on them on the last second. Then they are going to be sent back off to jail until Jessica Biel slips Bradley Cooper the key to escape after a quick lip lock. If only we knew what happened next! Unfortunately this movie didn't have the box office boom that it deserved and so there are no sequels in the making as of yet.

This is another definite must see if you haven't!

Andrew's Closing Thought:  I love it when a plan comes together

Up Next: Atonement